Grouper Discounts

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-mon-minding-crowdsourcing-jul27,0,4860442.column

While reading about a new discount email campaign. I really liked the last sentence of the article. "It's giving people a reason to come in," I think that every business can apply these ideas to their own business. They can find new ways to bring people in the door. Even if you do not send out mass emails every day. You might think of a new way to give them a reason. Not a reason to see you or say high, but a reason to find a solution and market their product or purchase their product with you.

Book Recommendations

I have started to read a couple of books about management and business planning.  I just picked up Steve Forbes new book, and just started.  I am planning to complete book reviews to help inspire and guide entrepreneur's.  No complete review yet, but one to come!

Closing the deal

Yesterday was a great day.  My first big prospect said yes.  I was excited, and left beaming.  I then got to my car and received an email from another prospect.  They are going through some more regulations and need some more time.  Suddenly I realized everything is not as easy as I thought.  I got a Yes and it felt great, but I realized the time between the Yes and money is a long time, and how can I shorten it.  I know now that I can have contracts ready the next day.  I can have them to back up as soon as the proposal is complete.  I can email them the contract to review it before I come in for a final signing.  I am still looking for ways to speed those deals up.  I know now that the hardest part is waiting.  I am trying to learn how to be patient and accept the things that I cannot change, but work hard at those that I can.  Somedays that success story seems really far away.

Writing your own success story

I was reading a story about a business that has taken a turn and grown to have significant revenues.  It is interesting and always inspiring to read those stories.  It makes me think about myself and what I can do to one day have that success.  It provides significant inspiration, but again it does not show any path or roadmap.  It is great to hear about success but I need to hear about people working hard to get to the success.  What they do to accomplish what they are looking for, and how they get there.  I hope to explore those challenges on this blog.  The challenge for my week has been patience.  We have a contract waiting to be finalized.  It is hard to just sit and wait for it to be completed.  

Finding Your Work Hours

Today I just could not wake up.  I got up at seven thirty but went back to bed.  I finally pushed myself out of bed at eight fifty.  I beat myself up when I wake up so late.  I think I fell victim to not properly planning out my day.  I have tried to map out the next few weeks, but sometimes I am left with an odd day out.  Today was one of those days.  It is a great day to catch up and get things done and set up, but it is easy to slack off.  I am trying to find what works for me and what time I like getting up and when I will be the most productive.  I guess it is just balance.  

Drupal City

I was tipped off about a new CMS open source website builder called Drupal.  I had never heard or seen of Drupal before.  I thought that it would be pretty simple and was ready to get it done in a weekend.  A week and a half later I finally have some semblance of a website.  www.meek-associates.com is up!  It feels good to have something up.  Some simple lessons I learned was that I do not have or do not know how to work with photoshop.  I had to use some friends who has the software to change colors.  Uploading the template was easy when I found that I could find tutorials on youtube.com.  I have a lot of updates to complete on the website, but it feels good just to have something started.  

Office

We currently have an office space.  We have been on the road, and are scheduled to be on the road for the next two months.  It is hard to justify the office space.  It is nice to have a place to separate just for work.  I wish there was a formula to plug in and know if it makes sense to keep the space.

Training

Today was spent in an office receiving training for a potential deal.  It felt great to hear from experts and also think about the business from a larger view.  To think about overall goals and activities.  It is hard to see things from thirty thousand feet when I am trying to get things moving on a daily basis.   I know it is important to have goals and a focus, which I think I have, but you cannot turn down business at the beginning if it does not fit exactly inside your business.  At least I hope not.