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Sometimes, you have to make a decision on what is best for your business. Sometimes, these decisions can be difficult and even frightening. Often, as the needs of customers change, you also have to find ways to alter your business to keep up.

While there are plenty of classic products and services that customers will always want and need, the way these items are provided must change through the years.

What customers expect from businesses will be different tomorrow than it is today. In order to keep your business fresh, cutting edge, and what the customer is looking for, you have to be prepared to make changes.

Sometimes, these changes can be small. You may only need to do something like change your logo and your business stationary to gain a fresh look. These kinds of changes are not difficult to make, and they can happen with a relatively low amount of stress.

However, sometimes, the changes you will need to make can be very difficult, time consuming and stressful. Sometimes, you will have to change the very scope or vision of your company. When these types of changes come along, you cannot just decide to alter things. You cannot just make the statement that your business will change and expect everything to fall into place.

Instead, to make changes that will truly provide your company with the new image that it needs, you have to change the very way you think. Often, a mistake that business owners make is thinking they can will changes to happen without putting their heart into it. Often, they try to change things without any true idea of what actually needs to be changed.

If you are a business owner and you see that something is going to need to be different, the first thing you need to do is change the way you think. Most likely, you are very proud of the way you set up your company, and you think that everything is set the way it should be. You may be very attached to the way your business is, or you may just be comfortable with the way things are running.

You will need to recognize this and prepare yourself for the changes you will have to make. This way, if you go into the changes knowing that things will be different and new but best for the company, then you will be prepared to take the steps needed. In everything, change is inevitable. As a business owner, the change has to start with you.

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Strategic planning has a big part of any business, whether you call it that specific term or not. In order to make the most of strategic planning, you will need to understand just what it is. Strategic planning encompasses many things, including the scope of your business, your business goals, and the mission of your business, your business procedures, and plans for various situations.

As you can see, there is a great deal to strategic planning. However, have you put the time and thought into this planning as it deserves? Most likely, you have not. However, here you will find four tips to making the most of strategic planning no matter how small or large your business may be.

1. Choose people to include on a small team. If you have a very small business, you may have an extremely small team. However, it is important to include others in the strategic planning process. You will need to choose people who are positive and professional. You will also need to choose people who understand your business and can think of new ideas and actions.

2. Include all of your employees in the process. By involving all of your employees, you will be able to get a better idea of your business as a whole as well as the needs of your workers. Have them write down their ideas on how to improve their particular job. Also, ask them for their thoughts and suggestions on your business as a whole.

3. Do not just jump in headfirst. Of course, you are going to need to have meetings or strategy meetings per say. If you walk into these meetings unprepared, you will most likely get very little done. Make sure you spend some time in advance deciding what areas of the business you want to work on and what types of plans you wish to put into place.

4. Know that it will be a work in progress. No strategic planning ends with just a few meetings. The whole planning process will be something that is ongoing throughout the whole life of the business. No matter what is happening now, something new will happen in the future. Understanding that planning is ongoing will help you better handle it today.

Strategic planning can be invaluable. Chances are, you have done a little of this planning in the past. However, in order to make the most of it, you need to organize the process and get others involved.

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I was both excited and mortifi ed by this experience. I was planning on getting married to a beautiful Berliner, my first love. The thought alone of moving to another continent felt like a shock. After I returned to Berlin, my relationship fell apart within mere weeks. I tried to explain to my fiancé that I simply needed space to understand what’s happening to me as a consequence of this light shaft experience. He simply couldn’t grasp why, from one day to another, I had left him emotionally. 

We had been together for almost seven years. I loved this man deeply, yet I tragically broke his heart into a million pieces, only to follow some unnamable force that was driving me into a mysterious direction I couldn’t even explain. It was a real low point in my life, and I lost many more friends because I became strangely obsessed with my bizarre need to go to America. I couldn’t articulate my reasons; I could only offer comparisons in an attempt to justify my terrifying decision. I managed to completely polarize my life to the point where I had effectively stripped myself of everything I had come to rely on, except my determination to bring out the best in me. For me to be faced with the choice of my highest purpose wasn’t a question of love, it became a question of life or death.

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There are two different kinds of marketing plans. There is the plan that will help you get long-term business. This type of plan usually involves a slow and steady advertisement that will keep customers interested. The second kind of marketing plan is specifically made to get quick business.

The quick plan usually involves a massive marketing saturation that will get attention for your company immediately. This type of plan is not necessarily for getting long-term clients and customers. Instead, it is all about getting an immediate sales boost. Often used during slow times, the plan can help you hear bells when your cash register rings immediately.

Do you need immediate sales? Here are some ways that you can quickly drum up sales for your company.

1. Get your name out there fast. Since you are trying to market quickly and efficiently, use every media outlet you possibly can. This can include local newspapers or magazines, the radio, and even local bulletin boards. Many people forget the power of the bulletin boards, which you will find at many grocery stores and restaurants. Do not be afraid to post a flyer or even a business card on these boards.

Media saturation is the first step to getting quick business. Of course, this will take marketing money, but the cost will quickly be overcome by the new business that you gain.

2. Offer a special promotion. When you want to get business quickly, you can gain quite a bit of customer attention simply by offering a sale, a coupon, or a promotion. Just make sure that the promotion is limited time. This way, people will have a reason to come into your business immediately.
When you decide to set up a promotion, make sure that you make it truly appealing to potential customers. If you offer something like five percent off, you will not get much attention. Find a way to offer real savings without losing too much of your revenue.

3. Change your look, and announce it. One great way to get business quickly is to change your company's look. You can do this with new colors, a new logo, and even a freshly painted location. You can then let people know that your business has a new look and they should come by and see what it is all about.

When you experience slow times in your business, then you will definitely want to get that cash register running quickly. If you take quick steps, you can find business that you never even knew existed.

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As a young girl, I dreamed of Hollywood, but in my 20s I wasn’t exactly attracted to America in the same way, perhaps because of the Cold War and the fact that I lived in Berlin, which at the time was still a divided city. It was a fl uke that I ended up going on an art trip to Manhattan in October 1991 with my Polish graphic design professor. However, the moment I landed in The Big Apple, I felt like I was coming home, which was a total surprise to me. 

I’d traveled extensively and been to Africa and lots of beautiful cities all over Europe, but I’d never experienced this intense sense of belonging anywhere else. I felt immediately compelled to separate myself from my student friends because when you’re in a group, you can’t listen to your inner voice so clearly. I really felt I needed to walk around the city on my own. One evening I was sitting by myself on a bench in Washington Square Park when I had a glorious epiphany.

As I sat on the bench, I saw the early-evening skyline lit up behind the historic park as I watched two policemen majestically riding by on horseback. I must have spontaneously tapped into the—I guess what you could call—quintessential collective “American Dream,” one of the most exciting dimensions of human potential. I could literally see thousands of souls arriving from the old countries and landing in great anticipation on Ellis Island.

I could feel the hopes and prayers of these ambitious, courageous people, each in their own way eagerly wanting to shed their past in the pursuit of their new future. As they reached for their highest goals, they erected skyscraper after skyscraper until the city itself became a living statement of human ambition in all of its glory and brutality.

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With your business, you customers are, of course, the heart of the company. Without customers, you would have no sales. Without loyal customers, your business will be left to the whims of the rising and falling market. One of your main goals should be working to gain and then keep customers.

Here, you will find six easy steps that you can take to keep customers. Most likely, you have plenty of ideas how to gain business, but it is equally important to keep that business. Consider implementing these ten steps within your own company.

1. Offer services and products that people just will not be able to find anywhere else. You can achieve this by offering a wide variety of items or by offering the best prices. You have to give customers plenty of choices if you want them to come back.

2. Provide an experience that they will love. One of the reasons customers become loyal to a business is because the experience they have when they shop. This means that you should offer superior customer service, and you should provide a pleasant atmosphere and a professional environment.

3. Always be willing to display confidence in your company. Customers will be much more likely to continue working with a business when the owner and employees are all proud of the company. If you are not proud to sell a product, then do not sell it.

4. Give customers a reason to come back. We all love a fun rewards program. You can offer your customer a free gift when they purchase a certain amount or they make a certain amount of purchases. This way, they will have a reason to visit your company over and over again.

5. Provide a quick and easy way to buy. If you offer speedy checkouts or fast and efficient service, you can definitely make an impact. One sure way to send business elsewhere is to make it hard for customers to do business with you. Make it easy, and if you can make it easier than your competition, you will definitely keep your customers.

6. Offer the products and services that people are looking for. If you insist on carrying things that clientele in your demographic are not interested in, then you will lose customers. Be willing to listen to your customers and provide them with the things they want or need.

Finding new customers can be relatively simple. Keeping those customers can be difficult, but it does not have to be. Simply follow these steps and keep your customers coming back.

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Part of owning and running a business is facing the fact that, eventually, you will no longer be there for your company. If your business is successful, you will one day be leaving it to someone else, whom you hope will run it with the same success that you have had. If something were to happen to you right this moment, what kind of legacy would you leave your business?

Would your company be able to take your plans and your dream and make them a reality? Would the impact you had be able to keep your business running successfully? You want your business to continue in the successful path that you lay out. Here are some tips for leaving a legacy for your business.

There are a couple of questions you must ask yourself. Each of these questions will give you an answer that is going to change how you react and what action you need to take. It is important that you consider this carefully since your legacy and your business will depend on the actions you take now.

1. Have I hired employees who genuinely care for my business? Part of leaving a legacy means that you leave a part of yourself in the employees who are left to run your company. Make sure that you choose at least a couple of workers who invest themselves in your business at least to an extent in the same way you have.

If you leave your business to employees who are not invested, then they could either sell your company or close it completely.

2. What am I working toward in my company? If you have no real goal or no real vision for your company, then you may be just spinning your wheels. Are you working simply to get by, or are you working because you care? If you are just getting by with no clear goal or dream, then most likely, that is what you will pass along in your business.

You have a choice. Either you can give your company meaning, or you can leave it empty. This choice will directly impact the legacy that you leave.

Of course, you hope that it will be many, many years before you ever have to leave your business in another's hands. However, you must think about your legacy now so that you can work to create the one you want. Legacies do not just happen. Since the fate of your business is up to question, make sure you construct the legacy you want to leave.

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One year later, I finished my schooling and moved to Berlin, which was a big transition. I was accepted into one of the best art universities in Germany—a great privilege because at the time they only allowed about 30 people into their annual program out of more than one thousand applicants. I studied feverishly and soaked up everything—painting, sketching, black and white photography, all the classic arts—you name it, I did it! Ultimately, I graduated summa cum laude in both my master’s and bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication. 

My education encompassed everything from traditional art, such as portraits, nude chalk sketches, abstract painting, mixed media, comic illustration, silkscreen printing, etching, welding, and all the way through computer animation and graphics. In 1993, I created a virtual Internet art installation called “Fishing for the Heavenly Body” for my master’s work. The piece was way ahead of its time and anticipated the collective, collaborative, human interaction of the World Wide Web. It was through this innovative and visionary art installation that I was able to land a dream job at Wired magazine a year later and become one of the first web designers in the world.

This is an excerpt from my new book, Sole to Soul: How To Identify Your Soul Purpose and Monetize It, which is available now!  To download a free chapter and order, please click here.

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When you own a business, one of the things that you want to avoid at all costs is surprise. Really, the only surprise that you want to see is a surprising rise in sales. Any other unexpected thing can be frustrating, stressful, and even detrimental to your business. What is the best way to avoid surprise? The answer is planning. If you take the time to plan, then you will be ready for any unexpected issue that may come your way.

The truth is, unexpected things will happen in the lifetime of a business. There will be times when accidents happen, when business slows, or when you have to make changes. This is all a part of the life cycle of a business. Planning for these unexpected issues is the key to helping your company survive.

There are two main areas that you want to plan for and be prepared for. These two areas include growth and change. Both of these are inevitable for a business, and both will happen on a fairly regular basis. If you do not plan for them, your business could suffer badly.

The best way to plan is to do two things: have a backup option and have a procedure. While you may think that, since growth is good, you do not really have to plan for it, just react. This is not true at all. Growth can be a time of stress and decision-making. You will have to plan on how to handle the growth. Will you hire new employees? Do you have room in your current location to grow, or will you need to move?

There are many, many questions that come along with the growth of a small business. Instead of just reacting when things happen, if you already have a plan of action ready, the growth process will go smoothly and you will not lose customers along the way.

The second area is change. We all know that things change within the world and within business. What people expect from a business will change on a regular basis. If you are not prepared to make changes, then you will quickly be left behind.

Although you cannot plan exactly when changes will need to take place, you certainly can plan for the changes. If you already know that changes will need to happen, you will not be so frustrated when they come along.

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My father was an inventor, an alchemist, and a visionary—a true trailblazer in his own right. Growing up I spent a lot of time helping him in his laboratory, where he invented hydrogen car engines in the early ’70s, high-pressure water pumps, and all sorts of other amazing patented creations. He was especially fascinated with perpetual motion, centrifugal force, and water-oil based emulsion— all principles that he turned into highly advanced prototype engines. Entering my dad’s laboratory was like crossing over into a different dimension, an inner world full of ideas, emotions, and experiments.

Between learning about the elements as well as basic mechanics, my dad taught me how to go straight from a vision in your mind’s eye, to a quick sketch on a piece of paper with lots of black fingerprints, to a real functioning engine that would run flawlessly for decades and decades. He was never one who did a lot of technical drawings. When it came to his inventions, there was no back and forth sincehe never doubted his Divine downloads, and for that matter, neither did anyone else. The blueprints in his head were so clear and precise that he could always implement them right away and then perfect the machine iterations as he went along. My father’s brilliance lit a spark within me, too. I always felt special being around my big creator-daddy. Every day with him was an adventure, a pursuit of a bigger goal, a better future, a well-oiled engine. Yet, we never arrived. We never reached a finish line.

When I was 17 years old, my father passed away as the result of a brain tumor. It was a tragic event, and I did not want to let him go. I was by his side when I saw his soul leave his body. It was at that point that I realized I could see beyond ordinary reality. A fraction of my soul went with him into the Upper World. I could see another dimension, a heavenly place. I knew I was left with no choice. I was going to have to fully realize my own dream because my father’s dream had been so tragically aborted before he could reach a sense of completion. My father’s passing made me angry about dying in vain. Since I didn’t want to die with any of my potential unfulfilled, I went for my dream with a trailblazing ferocity. His death gave me the jet fuel I needed to take off.

This is an excerpt from my new book, Sole to Soul: How To Identify Your Soul Purpose and Monetize It, which is available now!  To download a free chapter and order, please click here.

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