NETWORKING: Success OR Are you working yourself into a "Net"?

Many small businesses these days are using networking as a business development strategy to either meeting potential strategic partners, find sales leads and/or as a vehicle for advertising their businesses services and products. At the heart of networking is increasing your business revenues, building strategic alliances and lucrative relationships. Keep in mind that people do not do business with business cards, therefore networking offers an opportunity for business people to develop a rapport with each other and cultivate long term relationships and friendships.

Pamela Small, Founder & Publisher of Refresh & Renew magazine, Refresh & Renew e-newsletter and RefreshandRenew.com says that “Networking is essential and there are so many ways or types of networking – speed networking, singles networking, membership (exclusive or inclusive) networking, business industry or activity oriented networking - however the first thing to do is to find a networking forum or avenue that you feel comfortable with and that also suite your personality and business objectives”

Given that networking is so popular, and as a small business, have you asked yourself lately - Are you networking successfully? Or are you Working yourself into a "NET"? Intuitively we know what success means – Getting the sale, deal or eventually signing the contract! The ultimate success indicator of networking is – increased business revenues from the relationships you cultivate.

But networking can also become a “net” that you could find yourself tangled up in! You know you have worked your way into a net when you find yourself networking 80% of the time and getting Zero to at best 20% success results. Many clients I have talked to admitted that their periodic networking efforts have generally yielded little results in terms of increased business revenues and they don't know what they are doing wrong!

Another way to work yourself into a net is when you find yourself spending too much time networking and not working for your business that it begins to compromise the daily operations of the business – not to mention the financial cost you are incurring! You definitely know you are in a net when you can not follow up on those business cards that you have collected and watch them as they keep accumulating on your desk! Any one of these symptoms will certainly be a red flag to warn you that something is not working and your business is in trouble.

So how do you take control of the situation and/or increase your chances of success when a networking opportunity presents itself? From a preparation stand point, I suggest that you come up with a follow-up strategy before you even think of embarking on a networking business development campaign. In terms of presentation, have your marketing material in order and have a rotation system of what to take to which networking events, otherwise you would just end-up giving the same people the same material.

In order to achieve greater success while in a networking situation, keep in mind that networking is:
(a) Not about ‘hunting’ so leave your guns and the shark approach at home - its about farming – nurturing, patience and as certainly remembering to calibrate your approach based on the weather!
(b) Its not about making a transaction on the spot; but making a relationship that could lead to a transaction, so stop selling and start serving;
(c) Always keep in mind that people can read through your eyes what you are up to, so stop prejudging and judging people before you know them.

People choose to do business with people they like, and networking is about a leaving a lasting positive impression.” Cheryl B. Walker-Robertson, Certified Etiquette Consultant with Protocol says “There are fundamental dos and don’ts business people should keep in mind in order to maximize a networking opportunity or be successful at it. The Dos are: “(1) Have an objective for the number of people you will help at the networking event; (2) Network with those who stand alone at or near the food table or bar. They are easiest to talk to; (3) Listen attentively, after you have asked an open-ended questions, through your network, you may be able to meet their needs and could open doors for you too;(4) Plan to spend time after the meeting to talk with fellow business people; (5) Look for ways to develop your business relationships, such as inviting Someone to breakfast, lunch or your office.

On the other hand, the following are definitely DON’Ts: “(1) Don’t monopolize the conversation by talking mostly about you, your product or your service; (2) Don’t stay with those you came with or approach people you know already because you are nervous or intimidated to talk to those you don’t know; (3) Don’t rush into a conversation about what you can do, without clearly understanding the prospect’s problems. Remember: A prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. (4) Don’t be a card dropper, handing out your own business card to each person you come in contact with, quickly moving on to the next! Its bad etiquette to hand out your card and not ask for the other person’s card in return; (5) Don’t let the cell phone get in the way – not knowing or practicing good cell phone etiquette can be a deal breaker.

So next time you are networking, I hope you will remember these wise recommendations to avoid working yourself into the Networking NET. Good luck!

Originally published in 2005; then in May 2009 on FB. Copyright @ 2005 Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA/Brighten the Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.  

Smart Business Strategies for Surviving the Recession:

Strategies that small businesses need to manage the recession are completely different from those of large companies (Corporations). However, this is not to say they cannot find models that are fitting the small business characteristic and that are effective at making small businesses survive a recession. Many of my small business clients are struggling during this recession and they have been asking me – “What can I do to avoid going under during this difficult time. I always tell them you must have smart strategies. And the next question is always ‘What does this mean?”. The most important thing to understand is that there are five strategy categories or perspectives from which a business can choose to develop their strategic actions i.e. Management oriented strategies; Business Resources oriented strategies; Knowledge oriented strategies; Business Operational/Internal Systems oriented strategies; or External Environmental oriented strategies. This is very simplistic, but practical presentation of strategy, but the main point is to illustrate here that as a small business, you need to be aware of your strategic choice orientation in order to be clear about the intentions and significance of your strategic action objective, impact and outcomes or results.

Comparatively, large companies usually focus on macro-level strategic actions such as economic indicators trend and downturns; i.e. focus on rates of business growth vs. growth in absolute terms; focus on what is happening on their quarterly profit and lost statements because they are accountable to their shareholders; results in post-effect interpretations; Cost retrenchments – i.e. cutting jobs to in order to reduces HR expenses (in a small business for the most part they already operating with limited manpower capacity so there are no job to cut- and may end up laying off employees they need to actually maintain their operational efficiency –sot this is not a best alternative, but a last resort); Strategic re-engineering – as large organizations they are not as flexible, agile and quick to change their structures, processes, objectives, performance measures and/or incentives because of their entrenched business routines and automation (Frederick Taylor)


On the other hand, Small business strategic choices should focus on micro-level indicators that take into account small low-cost incremental strategic actions guaranteed to yield high results, impact and return on investments.

(1) Revenue/cash inflow strategies i.e. focus on cash flow statement as an indicator for what’s currently happening to the company’s cash inflow; this allows the business to primarily focus on strategies that are cash inflow oriented because this is what’s likely to keep them in business during the course of the recession; monitoring cash flow statement instead of being preoccupied with the profit and loss statement is important because in a recession there are going to be loses because of the slump, the idea is to survive or weather the recession till the economy starts to pick-up. However it does not mean they ignore controlling cash outflow causes or strategies, but the questions is which ones have a sustainability impact in the meantime;

 
(2) Revenue diversification strategies i.e. focused on revenue generations strategies not revenue reallocation strategies. Revenue retrenchment is not always the best way for small businesses to save their companies because they need strategies that bring in revenue flows; cutting cost is only a measure for recycling the same money already in the business so that you can direct it to priority areas or appropriate budgets so that you can stay in business – it is a maintenance strategy and not a revenue generation strategy. Focus on what are other services the business has the capacity and capability to provide without incurring additional cost of doing business in order to generate supplementary income while the core services are not paying or bringing in the revenue that they need to be bringing.

(3) Market/Service/Product mix Objectives: reassess the business objectives (maybe goals) – that would help the business adjust to the prevailing economic conditions. An example would be focusing on Market/services or product MIX strategies: and there are many alternatives a business can pursue in this strategy – i.e.:
• Assessing core service/product offerings; alternative/complementary services/products; and markets i.e.
• Old services/products to new market
• New services/products to old market;
• New services/products to new market base

(4) Strategic alignment: because of their small size small businesses/companies are quick to shift and have the agility to respond to external changes like an economic slump; therefore is just as important for them to look at their structures, processes, performance measures and/or incentives.

(5) Structures: Internal and external business structures. What are the internal & external operating structures and how do they impede or enhance efficiency and effectiveness; how can the business structure be modified to align with ongoing changes without necessarily “compromising” the core business model; What are the reporting structures and how do they impede or enhance decision making – change to participative management (Douglas McGregor –“The Human Side of Enterprise) where decision making authority is dispersed rather than the hierarchical management; this requires maybe redefining job competences and levels of occupational authority as well as accountability so that employees are able to have a common understanding of the business goals. Seeking and incorporating “unusual suspects” as strategic partners or alliances –Seeking out the intangible assets of the business.

(6) Processes: what are the processes in place and how do they incurred the cost of doing business; the objective is to find hidden “bureaucratic” or “red tap” business processes (e.g. technology mediocrity to non-value adding networking routine) so that they can be modifies to reduce the cost of doing business; what aspects of the doing business processes can be outsourced rather than be maintained in-house: keep in mind that in a recession all business are suffering and this presents an opportunity for negotiating favorable rates because they are willing to attract business also to stay afloat;

(7) Performance measurement – this goes to the earlier point that small businesses use their cash flow statements to measure performance rather than their profit and loss statements; other measures that they can take into consideration are tied to their operational processes e.g. in-sourcing vs. out-sourcing; in terms to time management - the level of your employee rate of productivity should not be based on when they punch in and out on the clock, but by what they produce while they are at work. It also ties into having efficient processes and procedures.

(8) Incentives – give or negotiate with your employees; strategic partners and suppliers or everyone on your supply chain the incentives that will maintain them or such that they continue wanting to do business with you.

Original Copyright @ Tuesday May 26, 2009 at 11:40pm (FB), Edited January 27, 2011 by Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA/Brighten The Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.

TO THE ANCESTORS

Do you think of your ancestors – Ancestors dead and living that made you who you are today? I find that as I outgrow being young, I think of the ancestors -the  ancient,  modern and immediate that influenced my  life, my decisions, my world view, that helped defined the person I am today and shaped my life’s direction. Whether it was a great fortuitous positive influence, or whether it was a painful negative drawback, somehow the ancestors - a random encounter with Spirits you did not choose to impact your life,  are a part of who you are today! Involuntarily, they have made you be the person you like or don’t like to be here and now.

As I sit in my kitchen this evening, I started thinking about those ancestors that influenced my life.  My ancestors were not ancient or modern…they are more immediate, far removed only one to two generations away. My grandfather, who was a man ahead of his time, even before feminism was “in vogue” and believed that only through education can a girl child, especially an AFRICAN  girl child, expand the options of her universe, and thus imprinted that virtue in my DNS, my mind, even my skin, from as way back as I could remember. As a result today I stand here with a PhD after doing it twice! Yes twice! Having finally conquered as a Warrior of higher education in the battlefield prejudiced against mature post graduate students! Because of him, I have the privilege of choice and know that no matter what my destiny I will survive!

I think of my brilliant father, who never went to college; could not go to college even if he had wanted to, because the chains of extended family responsibility consumed him, but who despite his own smoldered dreams, empowered me, gave me my tenacity and my voice! Who taught me about the world of power – covert and overt – how to manage it; how not to abuse it or toy with it; and how to stand up to it no matter what the circumstances! My ancestor father, who also taught me never to swallow my soul and told me that it was okay to explore the options of my universe as long as I understood and accepted that there was the price to pay for that choice as long as the price be worth the salvation; Who preached the wisdom of his philosophies and told me that civility is not a sign of weakness, and taught me to brighten the corner where ever I was and not wait for some deed of great at some point in time! For both my maternal and paternal grandmothers who showed me by example and without words not to settle for anything less and thus taught me to wait till the right one comes along, and the right one comes along!

And for my living ancestor, my Mhamha, who with her intelligence could have become a Samurai in any profession she choose, yet embraced being  an RN because other choices were not within her reach because she was born a generation too soon. Instead she is a Samurai in her duty as a mother and her faith such that she banked so many prayers for me and my siblings, my blessings continue to overflow. By watching her example, she taught me about the power of faith! Thus I do acknowledge one timeless ancient ancestor - above all else my Almighty, who shows me every day that only through faith are all things possible.

I say thanks to the Ancestors for being the Spirits that made me to be the person I like ME to be today.

Copyright @ March 3, 2011 by Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA/Brighten The Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.

“Agree with God not your emotions”

The other day, I got a one line email from my former Pastor which said: “Agree with God not your emotions!” For some reason I opened it and after reading the one liner I believed the universe was speaking to me, and I thought I got the message. But I found out today that there was more to the message than what I thought I understood.

I have always believed that the universe speak to us out of context. This means that when you get clues, signs, symbols, messages not matter what they are, they do not always come in the right order or the at the right time or place to make sense, but if you file these tid-bits pieces of information, eventually the whole bigger message is eventually revealed…our challenge is having the ability of instant recall to put these pieces of information together and finally get the bigger message as a whole.

Well I had a disturbing dream which made me work up at 4:23am Saturday morning! Thereafter I could not go back to sleep and I lay in my bed mulling in over my disturbing dream. I call my girlfriend at about 5:45am to brainstorm my dream and to get some grounding because my emotions were swirling within me at 200miles/minute. After a brief conversation I got back to my dream and started running it through again, but 30 more minutes of going in circles in my head, I finally decided to get up and get ready for my all day Saturday seminar. Had the music going on but for some reason it was not working for me to rearrange my frazzled nerves. So I decided to have some ginger lemon tea and turn the TV on.

TV was the last thing I needed but I went ahead and turned it on to CNN anyway…not what I needed. Then I started surfing the channels and saw Morning Inspiration on BET…did not feel like being preached to, I thought, but I clicked and tuned in anyway, still sipping my strong ginger tea. Pastor Dr. Michael Murdock was on. I have seen him but never listened to him at all…something about his presentation style, but for some strange reason, his presentation style seem to resonate with me this morning, though I did not follow or pay attention to the first five minutes of his sermon. Then he started talking about the Law of the Mind…and he was mention something about Lance Armstrong’s book “it’s not about the Body” and my buzz word – having FAITH! Then I tuned in. He narrated how Armstrong talked about his recovery being from the ability to control his mind and having faith….Now I am a strong believer in having FAITH and having Faith in God’s divine power and intervention in my life. So once I tuned in, I realized that this was the GOD message that had been prefaced by the one line email message I got from my former pastor “agree with God not your emotions”!!! It was the prayer that I needed. Here are some of the actual words that served as my message got from his sermon:

LAW OF THE MIND: Faith is the only way to conquer fear! (He referenced Psalms 119/91/37)

LAW OF RECOGNITION: What is it that you are not seeing? Everything you ever wanted is there around you, but you cannot see it; maybe because you are not expecting it

LAW OF TWO: There are differences in the seasons of your life; the differences are not time – it’s a person, i.e. a person can create a new season in your life and you are actually always one person away from your season! For example, if you are poor and seeking wealth, the difference between poverty and prosperity is a person;

What the Pastor was inferring here was it only takes one person to change your life forever. I have always believed in another sermon another Pastor preaches on the 24hr miracles. So as I was sitting there and I started thinking, I already know this, how come it not informing my consciousness to deal with my dream and the circumstances I was currently in….What is it I am not seeing…” Like a light bulb I realize that I was listening to my emotion and all rationality and objectivity had gone out of my reasoning! Agee with God, I chanted, Agree with God…

THE LAW OF PLACE: Everything contained contents an invisible instruction/an assignment! Your place is a sign, a seed to allow u to multiply. Your place of assignment is always to a person or to a group of people. There is a place - where the blessing of God is there for you! When you are where you belong you have no RIVAL! When you are where you belong you u THRIVE! Where ever you are supposed to be, your prosperity in there… (Another light bulb went on…and I am thinking how could I have been so distracted?) Then he referenced a book by Joel Osteen called “The place called There” to emphasis his point.

LAW OF HONOR: If you fail in life, it’s because of the person you choose to dishonor; If you succeed in life it’s because of the person you chose to honor. All blessing come through a chain of authority (hence respect your mother and father). God rules the world through conversation – if I change your knowledge, I change what you do. In the information you get from your conversations, LISTERN TO THE SOUND OF HONOR!

Wow…my mind is still reeling with translations. I almost missed the message because I was too quick to conclude that the initial message was THE message. The message was bigger than I originally thought! In my distraction, I had forgotten the phenomenal, dynamic, dimensions of God’s divine universe. I am still digesting these messages as I write this note facilitating my seminar! AGREE WITH GOD, NOT YOUR EMOTIONS!

Copyright @ Sunday July, 18 2010 on FB, (Reposted on BlogSpot February 27, 2011) by Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA/Brighten The Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.

Conscientious Objector: A REVOLUTION SWALLOWS ITS LEADERS IN 2011 (PART 2)...

Conscientious Objector: A REVOLUTION SWALLOWS ITS LEADERS IN 2011 (PART 2)...: "My father was one of the revolutionaries of the Zimbabwean struggle and he used to say to me all the time “A revolution swallows its leaders..."

A REVOLUTION SWALLOWS ITS LEADERS IN 2011 (PART 2)

My father was one of the revolutionaries of the Zimbabwean struggle and he used to say to me all the time “A revolution swallows its leaders” when we get into political debates. I remember asking him once what he meant by this statement and he simply said, “If a leader does not know or choose when to step down graciously, then the law of nature (in the form of  a revolution) is bound to take them down!”  I nodded as if I understood his explanation, but I really did not grasp it. I was only 10, maybe 12 years old. My father was my inspiration for loving politics. He had a lot of charisma about his tolerance of it.

 But before this statement, I also remember once asking him why, despite all his past sacrifices for the struggle for Zimbabwe and present political engagements, he never hungered for political power? For political positioning and why he stood by and watched his compatriot curve out political power and got positioned into lucrative political positions at the independence of Zimbabwe? It angered me that he got nothing out of his struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe! That he never got acknowledgement for it, in some way or other after the sacrifices that he made….which included us having our house bombed with Molotov cocktails (home-made petrol bombs) during the Zhanda days of the Zimbabwean revolution. (My mom, sister and I almost died in that bombing incident).

Zhanda - For years I had a dream that haunted me of an all consuming fire flames lapping at me and a cloudy white mushroom overcoming me such that I could not breath! Then suddenly I would wake-up in a cold sweat.  I had that dream for many, many years and could never understand why it always recurred or repeated itself so identically? It was not until I was an adult living in America I realized that the dream was my babyhood trauma of remembering that Molotov cocktail bombing incident of our house! I was only a baby when the incident occurred!  The dreams also stopped when I left my homeland. I also remember my father always in hiding from the Rhodesian government, so the family story goes. Growing up, for years, I was used to my father disappearing and then reappearing with no logical explanation! The disappearing acts coincidentally stopped when he went to the Lancaster House Conference in the UK to participate in the “negotiated” the peace treaty for Zimbabwean independence!

Anyway, moving forward in 1996, the first time he mentioned  “a revolution swallows its leaders” statement, I was home on vacation from America and my father stopped by the house one afternoon and we found ourselves talking about his political passions. Just him and I. It was the time he was passionate about the promise of the new opposition political party –the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM). I was concerned. I had asked him, why he was now aligning himself with ZUM, which seemed infested by disgruntled political pariahs, and I also felt that they were “using” him as their sounding board because he was non-threatening to the ruling regime, so if anything, there did not seem much for him to gain by supporting the opposition, except putting himself and us in danger! For years, I had felt that he had sacrificed so much and yet he had never benefited from his sacrifices! I also felt that he was always inventing excuses of why he did not get his own! I had secretly thought he was always pulling his punches when it came to his politics, thus he was a political coward! How wrong I was!

That afternoon, I realized he made political scarifies for the common good, not for his personal gain!  I remember telling him that politics was not for idealists! Then I also remember that after I said that, he looked at me with the pride of amusement at my passion yet at the same time the wise look in his eyes told me I had a lot to learn. His eyes also told me (now I realized) I reminded him of his younger, passionate political self!  But in response to my belligerent, enthusiastic comments and reasoning, he remained engaged in our conversation and that’s when he said to me – “A revolution swallows it leaders!” It sounded like a profound statement, but I did not understand the insightful depth and wisdom of it! Not then anyway. My father was a great orator so I was used to profound statements whether I understood them or not. In this case, it was a statement out of context and ahead of its time for me to grasp or appreciate its meaning!  Yes he tried to explain, but the, magnitude of his meaning – the epiphany - was to come later!

What did I know? In 1996, I was a newly graduated MA political student from an American University. I was a newly “educated” self-confident radical twenty something, I looked at things differently and had my head full of new perspectives and ideologies (not that I necessarily agreed with them but I understood the logic or rational for them). So I had experienced (theoretically) different political world views and had drunk a diversity of political views in my education! You did not negotiate with betrayers, with sell-outs and there were other ways of doing politics…and government!

Well now in 2011, with all the events unfolding in North Africa and the Middle East, a revolution swallows its leaders makes sense! Overwhelming sense! When a people are willing to die for liberation, a leader, no matter how powerful needs to realize that the beginning of his end has come!

In Part 1 of “A revolution swallows its leaders” published February 2010, I wrote that:

“A revolution swallows its leaders. This is the natural progression of socio-political dynamics. It’s not their choice to be swallowed, but it’s a factor of time, trends and change. But they have options. These options are: Reinvention; Innovation and Diversification. Unless they are willing to reinvent themselves; innovate and diversify their ideas, their political platforms, their agenda, their worldviews, their values, beliefs, culture, geography and paradigms then being swallowed is inevitable. It’s a natural progression of human evolution.” @2/2010 –DocNdoro/SLIPPA

Today, I must add a fourth option: Gracefully stepping down!!! So, I am not surprised at what’s happening in Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya..etc…even Milwaukee, WI, USA.  It happened in Eastern Europe with the fall of the Soviet Union. What I do not understand in this dynamic revolutionary process though is how these leaders are so out of touch with the fact that the wheels of change are turning and its beyond their humanly control to hold on to power? I guess power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely….even the common sense of the mind!!!

 I once wrote a college paper about Democracy and my argument was democracy is not about the regime, the government in power…it’s about the people, therefore “elections’ are not a definition of democracy but an process of how power changes hands. On the other hand, democracy is about how the people exercise their power whether it’s by the ballot or by protest! It was a paradigm shift from how I defined as well as regarded democracy!

Copyright @ February 23, 2011, Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA/Brighten the Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC

Conscientious Objector: Taming the Monster Ball...When it feels wrong, it’s wrong….

Conscientious Objector: Taming the Monster Ball...When it feels wrong, it’s wrong….

Taming the Monster Ball...When it feels wrong, it’s wrong….

Originally published on FB July 2010...

I just can’t believe what I spent my treasured morning doing...deflating a stupid so called “Bumper Ball”. I am frustrated, annoyed and irritated all at once to think that I should have known better not to buy the stupid toy. But in the store it seems like such a great idea! On the box it said – “Sizzlin’ Cool, Bumper Ball....Bounce! Tumble! RoIl & Spin!” ....well I had imagined my son rolling down my slanted back yard in it and having a blast of a time...of course my reward would be....buying myself some well deserved R&R moments.

Well, I brought it home Tuesday evening. Wednesday all day the ball was on my mind. At the back of my mind a little voice kept saying, this might now be such a practical toy, but another little voice kept saying just try it, it may work out and imagine all the fun Za would have. So when I got home that evening I decided to inflate it and see. By then my son was also curious to find out what this ball was all about...the pictures of the box show a lot of kids on some prairie having a blast with it (not to mention that my reading garden is no prairie, nor does it resemble anything like it!!!) Anyway I was determined to make it work.

All folded up in the box it looked small. Za takes it out of the box and as he starts unfolding it in my living room. I say out loud more to myself than my baby sitter who was getting ready to leave...”It seems big”. As I insert the electric inflation pump I realize that there are 20 little inflation clear socket holes feeding into separate air pockets I have to go through to get the ball fully inflated. There is a sinking feeling in my heart, but I quickly smoother it with my persevering determination. At this point I am more focused on the joy I am imagining for my son having and of course the peaceful moments I am earning myself!

I start filling it with air. After inflating about 4 of the big air pocked I realized the sucker is getting bigger, taking over my living room. No problem, I think, and decide to take it downstairs to my basement living room which has more space. Despite the challenge of trying to fit it through the door then down the flight of stairs and thinking “how will I get it out the door when it’s fully inflated, I continued to inflate anyway when I got downstairs!

It’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger with each air pocket I fill in! I think it was at about the 8th socket hole of the 10 big air pockets when my Son looked at the ball, then at me, then at the ball again and said matter of factly “Its big!” and he walked away to continue playing on my elliptical glider . That did me in. All the determination I had been feeling, despite my doubts just ebbed out of me and I instantly crushed. In its place frustration laced with some anger took root! How could I have put myself in this situation! A second later as I am starring at my handy work, I instantly realized that was not the worst of it...Before I can return it to the store, I now had to deflate it to fit it back into the now tiny box by comparison!!!. It had not been cheap - $53 bucks! New determination fueled by hate of the monster ball was emerging.... It was going back! Za said again “It’s so big” and I calmly turned to him and just said “time for bed”. I tossed the now huge partially inflated red MONSTER ball over the couch were my treadmill was and gave it one meaner look before leaving the room!
Thursday morning, I opened my basement door and it was still there...I don’t know where I expected it to go, but I had hoped by some miracle it would have deflated by itself overnight so I wouldn’t have to deal with it manually – wrong – it was still as huge as the night before.

Friday morning, that’s today, I get my son off to school, then I go for my walk, come back get my coffee and laptop and head for the basement psyching myself to tack the ball. As I sit sipping my coffee I pretend it’s not there but its presence was ominous behind my sofa. This morning, with the quiet house to myself, I should have been reading my book club novel - The Passage. But NO, I now have to deflate the stupid Bumper Ball! As Regis and Kelly come on, I watch them for a little and decide to tackle the monster ball, thinking, I will be killing 2 birds with one stone and making me feel competent again.

As I begin, to my horror, I realize I have to squeeze the hard little inflation air sockets in order to get the air out! After doing bumper bulge I know it will take me forever so I had the brilliant idea of getting my vacuum cleaner to suck the air out...but the tight little socket holes don’t open up when I put the vacuum mouth over them. Back to doing it manually again...I do 2 more and it’s too slow so I just decided to lay on top of the monster ball pockets with my whole body and squeeze 2 sockets at a time. BINGO that seemed to work wonders ...for a while as the air was swished out much faster! Then as I am lying there with my face almost on my carpet l it dawns on me...I am like I am lying on top of two huge breast squeezing the nipples of each to let the air out!!! ...I was comical and ridiculous at the same time so I started laughing hysterically, so hysterically that tears are running out of my eyes. I am alone. I don’t care. And the relief is the monster ball is getting defeated! I also realized that I laughed so I would not cry.

The frustration I had felt for not taking heed to my intuition, judgment and my bad decision-making was still simmering and smoldering within me. I have been here before - with the “dysfunctional” huge sand box in the backyard I bought the beginning of summer and which still does not have sand in because it came with a small impractical square plastic for a base for the sand!! It never keeps the sand in the sand box because every time it rains the sand washes away from the bottom. I think some of the morons who make some of these children’s toys must not have children! My boyfriend called just as I was recovering from my hysteria and I tell him my morning saga. He fell out laughing with me for a while. He knew exactly where I was...he assembled the sand box!

As I sit here finishing this article at 1pm Friday afternoon, with the fantasy of my serene morning now gone, I am still not sure who needed the taming - ME or the MONSTER BUMPER BALL!

Originally published on FB on Friday, July 30, 2010 at 1:51pm

Copyright @ July 30, 2010 (Edited and republished February, 2011) by Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA & Brighten the Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.

Conscientious Objector: A Framework of Possibilities for Small Business Gr...

Conscientious Objector: A Framework of Possibilities for Small Business Gr...: "A while back I had the pleasure of giving a presentation to 50 small businesses who are participating in a new initiative called the En..."

A Framework of Possibilities for Small Business Growth in the Globalization Era.

A while back I had the pleasure of giving a presentation to 50 small businesses who are participating in a new initiative called the Entrepreneur Pioneer Initiative (EPI) launched at Rutgers University – Newark . As the designer and developer of EPI’s nine month training program my presentation was to share the philosophy that informed the training program design, structure and course content components of this initiative. Here is that presentation:

“Let me first start by saying, I really hate the word “training” although I have been a trainer for many years! The idea of training people - implies to me wanting to make people conform to a certain mold of thinking, or doing, or getting them to fall in line with a certain ideological standard!

I have worked for many years with small businesses to know that entrepreneurs are rebels with a cause, although some of you are rebels WITHOUT a cause who think you have a cause! The fact that all of you are pioneer entrepreneurs coming from families where you were the fist to start a business, you definitely are rebels!

So we are not here to ‘train’ you! I can say that while we are going to call it training - for lack of a better word – think of the program as putting out business information so that you can access the “Framework of Possibilities” that are out there to help you realize your growth plan.

It’s a great time to be a small business, especially in this era of economic globalization. This is the time for small businesses. They can do more with less – thanks to the technology and super information highways, business innovation is at the grasp of all small businesses - not just the big corporations. The implication is if you can do more with less you have just increased your profit margin. The other thing is we are operating in a global economy that means your customer demographic just expanded. You can now find the very same potential customer demographic in every county in the world! That’s a good thing.

“But are YOU prepared and ready to tap into these opportunities?”

Last night I was listening to Andy Stern, President of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) being interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show. Rose asked him if he believes capitalism dead or whether we moving towards ‘socialism’? He answered: “National capitalism as we know it is gone, it’s been replaced by Global capitalism!

Well people, global capitalism is a different kind of business animal we all need to get used to. Globalization is here to stay. You can hate it, ignore even pretend that it does not exist, but whether you like it or not you are being forced into it. Your competition is no longer the business next door, in your neighborhood or just your country. Your competitors are all over the world and they are coming right to your door step to take your customers~!

Lets see ~ “How many of you are doing business globally? (4 hands went up); How many of you are doing business in the United States? (All hands went up)

Well whether you know it or not, you are doing business globally, you just choose to focus on the United State? However, DON’T assume that your competitors are making the same choices! They will come and take your customers right on your doorway! That’s the take away lesson right there. And we have anticipated that by having an International trade component in this training program. Joel Reynoso from the US Export Assistance Center is going to talk on that. The US Department of Commerce has so many resources to help you do business abroad. Your competitive advantage as a small business in the United States is that you have immense resources. But if you are not taping into them you are going to be surpassed by those small businesses in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. That’s inevitable.

“How many of you have a website”? (2/3rd of the hand went up) That means you are advertising globally and you don’t even know it!
“How many of you are selling products” (1/2 of the hands went up)?
“How many of you are selling services” (1/2 of the hands went up)?
“How many of you are selling both products and services” (6 hands went up!)

Well you all should be selling both products and services! Sometimes people just buy your product because they like your customer service so rethink what services compliment your products. On the other hand, if you are just thinking I am selling services, this is not a sustainable business model, you are going to have to come up with products or partner with someone with products that compliments your services! Look for those usual suspects that you can partner with to diversify your business model and client portfolio that why we have included a strategic alliance seminar in this program, as well as a Brand Building & Brand development in this program that LaTanya Junior, CEO of www.TCB360.com will be presenting. She will tell you brand building is not your logo! Also forget ‘marketing’ ~ it’s a meaningless label if you don’t know your brand personality or characteristics.

Now let talk about the philosophy that informed the design and development of this training program: We were thinking business growth, business innovation, what does this all mean – these labels – Think about.

“What is business growth?” Well, a business growth is not like a baby you see growing physically. No, growth is a mental state of mind. You start using the information to strategically inform your business decisions making – then you will find that growth is inevitable. When your business model is set up for growth you will grow! But you have to be conscious about how you want to grow. So our job in this initiative is to take you out of working in your business, into g-r-o-w-i-n-g your business! Networking, translating information and acting strategically are going to be major skills in your business growth process. What does this mean?

It means - We want you to become strategic thinkers who are able to take the information that you will get in this program and translate it into information that informs your business decision making through strategic behavior. If you get out of this program with an “Ahha” moment or having experienced an epiphany that jolts you into rethinking or reexamining how you have been doing business, then we have achieved something.

In order to do this, you have to have the mindset to tap into what being offered. Like I said we are not here to train you, but to expose you to a framework of possibilities that your business can tap into. As such we have great expectations of you, we are not here to teach you your craft, but we need you to come with some fundamental understanding of what your business model is about – i.e. What are you selling? What are your strengths? What are your Weaknesses? Or threats – and small businesses know their immediate threats, but there are always blind sports? And maybe what you think are your Opportunities? Giving you a framework of possibilities is an attempt above all else to flesh out those opportunities with you – but then again there are other skills that should be in place – Do you have the capacity? Do you have the capability? Do you have the intellectual capital?

The training program is in structured in 4 parts:

Enterprise Resource Management module– This is an old phrase in business. We specifically take an inventory of all the business asserts and resource capital internally that you need in order to have the capacity and capability to grow your business; People capital, intellectual capital, relationship capital, technology capital, fixed and fluid business capital, etc.

Business Growth module – What business growth state of mind? What is your brand, and what is your brand DNA? What’s your business’s worth? We take it since you have been managing your businesses for a while – you have an idea who your consumer customers are? Because if you don’t, you fell into the wrong program! So you have some major home work to do between now and June 19

Procurement/Contracting module– Are you fit to do business with the public and private sector, ~ GLOBALLY? How do you do business domestically and globally? As the public and private sector continues to outsource their business functions to that growing community called the “Third Sector” also commonly known as the “nonprofit sector”! Its huge and growing, its diverse and its buying goods and services just like everyone else.

.Global Business & Innovation Conference: Finally the program cumulates into a c1 day conference where we will have several panel themes: What is a GREEN Business? What are some of the small Business Innovations out there? What are the small business strategies? What does the future of small business look like globally? Etc, etc, etc…

So be ready, be prepared – and have a strategy of how you are going to maximize your participation in this unique program we have had the opportunity to bring to you.

Thank you.”

Written & Presented by Dr. T.D. Ndoro at the Rutgers EPI launch.

Copyright @2009 SLIPPA (Strategy Leadership Institute in Private & Public Affairs) ______________________

Copyright @ May 2009, Dr. TD Ndoro (DocNdoro) Co-Founder - SLIPPA (Strategy Leadership Institute in Private & Public Sector) and CEO - EDCTrainers, LLC