Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

Work Life

3 Positive Strategies to Finish Your Day Strong

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date March 17, 2014

Most business professionals today that we coach are overwhelmed. They get to the end of the day with an ever expanding to-do list and fall exhausted into the evening commute. They return the next morning after reversing the commute and fall exhausted into their desk chair, thinking, “Here we go again…”

And yet there are those who do more in a day than most do in a month. Who increase their sales with greater productivity and get out of the office earlier. Who make a life and a living.

You wonder, “What is their secret?”

One of their secrets is this: they finish their day strong.

They understand that the concluding actions of yesterday ring loudly as you greet tomorrow-becoming-today.

Want to join them? Here are 3 Positive Strategies to Finish Your Day Strong:

Complete a Task

Daily, you face unanticipated interruptions. You put out unexpected fires.

These chronic productivity hiccups prompt you to experience incompleteness. Some days, you rarely complete a task and that’s an emotional drain.

Find a task, even a small one, to complete before you leave for home. Arrange your desk. File papers or documents. Make tomorrow’s to-do list. Anything.

Completing one task at the end of your day creates a positive sense of satisfaction that greets you the next morning. It’s refreshing to walk in and re-experience yesterday’s success. It launches your confidence for completion in a new day.

Commit to fun with family and friends

You read a lot about work/life balance which looks great from 30,000 feet. Yet from where your feet hit the ground, it’s a tough act to balance.

Commit to fun with your family and friends for this evening as a starter. Define fun with them. Playing “Pretty, Pretty Princess” with your daughter. Tossing football with your son. A romantic meal you cook at home for your Honey. Shooting hoops with the guys. A spa trip with the sisterhood.

Commit to fun. Schedule it. Budget it. Do it.

Increase your productivity with it.

Cut off the TV

If you go to sleep immediately following the evening news or an episode of The Walking Dead, guess what your subconscious works on overnight? Fixing the national deficit. Catching a murderer. Running from zombies.

Instead, cut the TV off at least 10 minutes before you go to sleep. Write in your Work Positive Gratitude Diary and name 3 positive experiences from the day. Give your mind something positive to process. Wake up more refreshed.

Finish your day strong. Do more in an hour than most business professionals do in a month so you can leave the office earlier to do what you love with those you love as you Work Positive in a negative world.

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps professionals increase sales with greater productivity and get out of the office earlier. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.

Work Life

3 Tips to Work Positive at Your Office Party

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date March 5, 2014

Announcements of office parties are met with either go-for-it’s or groans.

The go-for-it’s are the ones who enjoyed last year’s party or just look forward to any social experience.

The groans are the persons who remember last year’s with disdain or generally avoid socializing with their work mates.

Whichever you are, here are your 3 Keys to Work Positive at Your Office Party:

Relax

Groaners often sense a need to be more extroverted, or jovial, or ________ than usual. They feel a game of square pegs and round holes coming.

Relax and be yourself. If you prefer to talk with just a few people in a deep conversation, do that. If you’re a social butterfly, then have at it.

Avoid the extra stress of acting outside of your “normal.” This stress often drives excess alcohol consumption which leads to all kinds of behavior once your inhibitions are released.

Relax. Enjoy being you.

Remind Yourself about What You Can Control

If you’re simply being you, then you have a pretty good sense about what you can and cannot control. Work within what you can control, not without it.

Avoid attempts at “perfect,” i.e., telling the perfect joke or, laughing unduly long at someone else’s. There are some things you can control about the office party, but there are more that you can’t. Do the best you can at controlling those things you can.

For example, if the party has no ending time established, and your daughter’s dance recital or son’s band concert is the same evening, be present until the appropriate time for the commute to your child’s event. Provide a courteous “thank you” to your leader— teammates if you’re the leader—and planners and excuse yourself with the explanation.

You are the only mom or dad your child has. Control what you can.

Resolve to Enjoy

As with all things Work Positive, focusing on the positive and filtering out the negative sets your mental attitude for an enjoyable evening. Of course you may choose to spend the rest of the year socializing with a different group of people. Of course some of the people present get on your last nerve on a regular basis.

Yet, you can resolve to enjoy yourself before you arrive. Think about previous pleasant office party experiences. See those happening again. Focus on someone you know will be present and what personality qualities you enjoy of theirs.

You really do see what you’re looking for.

Regardless of whether your attitude is “Let’s go for it!” or “Groan,” employ these 3 tips to Work Positive at your office party and enjoy the experience!

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they can leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.

Operations

Why Embracing Diversity Will Make Your Taxi Company Successful

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date February 11, 2014

The twenty-first century has seen the nature of taxi businesses change massively, with their purposes changing and evolving. Whereas taxis mainly used to be associated with picking old ladies up from the shops during the day, taxis are now used throughout the day and night, picking people up from the airport and helping drunk teenagers get home from nightclubs. The diversity of the market and the options available means that opening a taxi company is now a valid business opportunity. However, for it to truly succeed, you need to celebrate diversity. Here are some areas to consider:

The Nature of Your Drivers

Most customers say that if they feel uncomfortable in a taxi during a journey, they will never use the company again. By entering a taxi with a stranger, a customer is putting themselves in a potentially vulnerable situation. For this reason, you should be absolutely certain that your taxi drivers are aware of appropriate etiquette and political correctness before you employ them. As part of this, it is well worth drawing up a code of conduct and getting each driver to sign it before they start. This way, you should be able to guarantee a pleasant experience for your passengers.

The Safety of Your Taxis

Getting people from A to B as quickly as possible is an important part of the job and, the quicker the service, the more people you’ll be able to carry in the day. However, safety is your most important priority for the day as a safe experience for your passengers will result in a professional image that encourages repeat custom. If a passenger feels unsafe, it is unlikely that they’ll return.

Accessibility of Your Taxis

Finally, you’ll need to consider the accessibility of your taxis. Small city cars are great for fuel economy, but they are unable to carry a large number of people. Likewise, large vehicles are great for if you’re bringing a group of people home from a night out, but aren’t very practical during the day. Due to this, it is wise for you to have a mix of vehicles that cater for all times and situations. As a part of this, you have to consider other factors such as disabled access. Proper disabled taxis are a rather niche corner of the market, but it is a sector of the market that is well worth investing in. Purchasing one from somewhere like Allied Mobility once more shows your professionalism and allows you to cater for every possible need.

People & Relationships

3 Positive Ways to Cure Customer Rage

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date January 29, 2014

According to a survey conducted by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, about half of all American households experience customer service-related problems. Over two-thirds of those customers were “very” or “extremely upset” about the company response when they complained. Over one-third reacted by yelling at the rep while the number of consumers cursing nearly doubled to 13%.

If we surveyed your customers, how would they rate their experience with your business?

Our team recently had the opportunity to experience customer care after new purchases. We discovered three positive ways to cure customer rage and create exceptional experiences.

Ask Great Questions

While it’s easy to just “get started” with what you know, the companies our team liked best first asked great questions. They began at 30,000 feet, i.e., big questions about our business goals, hopes, dreams, frustrations, and fears.

Then they drilled down to specific ways to accomplish our goals with the least amount of frustration in implementation. They helped us put it in place and taught us how to do it independently.

What great question will you ask a customer today as you give exceptional customer care? Such questions show interest and a willingness to listen.

Listen and Then Answer

After asking great questions, these companies listened to our team’s response.

Really listened.

What a gift! No FAQ list. No anticipation or presupposition.

They employed the active listening technique of accurate empathy. They let us know they were listening by using some of our words in their response. Such empathy lowered the learning curve for us, eliminated accompanying hesitations, and made it all more manageable.

How will you listen first and then answer today as you give exceptional customer care?

Give Respect

Our team had the sense that the reps were walking up the steep learning curve with us. That they could see from our perspective. They wanted to help us understand. They desired to serve us without making us feel ignorant at best and stupid at worst.

They respected us.

Every phone call and email was their “pleasure,” “why we’re here,” and “please let me know what I can do for you.”

One even asked for an update to see how she could help without our asking!

How will your customers know you respect them today? Respect lessens rage every time.

Sure, it’s a busy season for everyone. What a wonderful opportunity for you to create an outstanding customer experience in a crowded, hurried-up market that expects to get angry.

Give exceptional customer care today as you ask great questions, listen and then answer, and give respect. As you do, you Work Positive in this negative world!

About the Author

Work Life

3 Ways to Cure Holiday Overwhelm at Work

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date January 6, 2014

Has your to-do list grown overnight?

Yes, it’s “the most wonderful time of the year”…and yet many of us miss the wonder of it all due to the overwhelm at work that accompanies the holidays.

Here are 3 ways to cure your holiday overwhelm at work starting today:

Focus on Positive Strengths

From Madison Avenue to Your Street, you are shoved toward an impending sense of lack during the holidays. This scarcity mentality afflicts you at work as well, shifting your focus to the negative.

Today, make a list of what’s going well with your business right now. Jot some notes about the strengths of 2013. Include percentage growth of revenue, significant product developments, additional team members, customer problems solved, and new referral relationships.

Begin your work day by reading over this list. This single strategy pivots your mindset from negative—what I don’t have—to positive—what we’re doing well. Since you see what you’re looking for, you will add to your list daily as you discover more positive strengths.

Focus on Positive Situations

Overwhelm produces anxiety which shuts down our strategic ability to focus on positive situations. We see Mt. Everest in its entirety instead of the first step that leads to the second step which gets you to the summit. Rather than focusing on what you can do, you shut down because you can’t do it all at once.

Today, make a list of what you can do. Think of these as positive situations from which you leverage the kind of forward motion your business wants to reach your goals. Focus on this list and prioritize it. Pick one activity and do something to check it off. Keep building on the positive momentum you gain from this activity and move forward some more.

As you achieve more, your focus on these positive situations sharpens like a laser. You discover more positive situations and your attitude shifts from overwhelm to accomplishment.

Focus on Positive Signals

Overwhelm emerges during the holidays more as a reaction to the realization that the year is about to end than anything else. You reflect on what wasn’t done, how little time you have left to do it, and the impending sense that it’ll be undone as you begin 2013.

Honestly evaluate what you accomplished toward your 2013 goals now. Strategically act on the positive situations you can now using your positive strengths accrued through the year. Determine what barriers prevented further growth.

Then assess the positive signals emerging as 2013 nears completion that will serve as your springboard to positive growth in 2014. What are the positive strengths? What are the positive situations? How do these project positive signals in 2014?

Focusing on these positive signals gives you excited anticipation for the upcoming new year, curing the holiday overwhelm, and helping you truly enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

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