Do you have these challenges running your business?

Challenges:

Building business in a 3^rd World Country!

I just had my work-flow disrupted because I have NO electricity.  I know what you are thinking, but you would be wrong, I did PAY my electricity bill. The issue is when you work your business from a 3^rd world country (what-ever that means- maybe a future blog) you have challenges. Believe me this is not the first time. I am walking out of my house right now and going to sit here and finish this blog. My air-conditioning also is off and according to what I know the temperature is 95 F outside but that is a lot better then inside the house as it might rise to 100 F.  But how do I handle these sometimes daily occurrences is what makes the difference.

A Real Life Example!

I have been in a middle of a video conference with some highly influential individuals and my internet goes down. Since I have digital phone number to the USA, guess what my phone goes down as well. They just saw me “disappear” from my  meeting and I can’t call them from my cell phone because it would be extraordinarily expensive as it is over $2.50 US dollars and some meetings last two hours, sorry but I do have a budget and that is not going to happen, unless under very important circumstances.  Now as a human being my virtual stress meter just shot up to a very high level.  I can just say “ I give up, I can’t do business here” – which by the way I have said a few times already or I can learn from this. How can I learn from this?

Pre-Plan and Stay Calm

I just lost connection with people that I am meeting with, what are they thinking, do they think that I just hung up and left my own meeting.  At first they did think that, but after this happened a few times before I get onto any call using video or phone, I tell them point blank- that I sometimes do have issues with electricity and internet connection, please bear with this situation if this does happen. If this does occur in this call, I have a back-up plan and I will get back to the meeting as quickly as I can. If you don’t see me back in 15 min, please note we might need to reschedule this.

I then will attempt to connect with the portable modem I have, or race to my mother and father in laws house , one mile away and connect there,  go to the church office, and or go to a public place that has wi-fi connection. This can be an extra challenge as if I do go to a public place it can take a good 15 min to get set up again and login to go back to the meeting. Today, I can’t do that as I have a person coming over in a little bit and I can’t leave them here in my house while I go off and find a connection.

Duck Analogy!

One of my good friends, who went into ministry after many successful years as a broker/owner of a large satellite office for a large insurance company told me once.  You have to remain calm, no matter what you are going through at the time. You have to stay professional at any cost. If you do, you will be more successful in the long run. He explained to me and gave me an analogy that I still remember 12 years later.

Be Like a Duck

Be like a duck! A Duck, what does that have to do with business? He told me that on the surface when you look at a duck (being from Minnesota originally, I have seen lots of them) when they are swimming they are very calm, their heads are up, they look like they are just gliding on top of the water effortlessly. However, if you dip your head into the water near their flowing body, you will find that their two little webbed feet are frantically working to create that glide-like motion.

Right now since this just happened, I need to make a decision. I need to make sure that I can work without using the internet, thus this blog post, which was actually going to be worked on later today, I just did it now. I had this on my to-do list, so I knew it had to be done, so I just moved this up to a higher priority. Just re-arrange my schedule plans.

“JUST DO IT”- NIKE

So just like Nike has said for many years – JUST DO IT.  Or as the late Jim Rohn said in a talk he gave that was published on Youtube – Just Do it, and Do it, and Do it. When you get to where you want to be or the goals you have set for yourself or your company you just keep on doing it. Do it till you no longer are alive.  He was talking about even when someone who has achieved a rung in the corporate ladder or just won an award for achievement based on excellence he would congratulate them and say Just Do it.

Plan of Action

What we Do is really up to us, we know what we need to do every day, we know what our unproductive hours are and what are productive hours are, or at least we should. We know that if we don’t do it every day as business owners and professionals we are not going to thrive. Building a business from day one is not easy, sometimes not fun, sometimes very challenging, but we as entrepreneurs know this is the journey we must take; this is the path we must walk.  We need be calm like the duck and show others that we are professionals. I remember what Toyota used as their “tag line” in the Super Bowl commercial a few years back that I really liked “ Keep moving forward “! Or my good friend David Whiteford a Champlain for the Hennepin jail district and former business owner said all the time- “keep on keeping on”-

PS. Want to do more with your time on a daily basis, you might want to take a look at this, for me it was a no-brainer and I use it every day , as long as I have internet connection that is. http://www.globalbusiness101.com – let me know what you think of this or of this blog, comments are very much appreciated.

P.P.S.  Oh by the way , waited for one hour, still no electricity, waited for the person that was going to come over, told her to leave nothing she could do anyways. I went to brother in law to get my older cell phone since the day before I dropped it in the ocean taking cool pictures of my son and does not work. Brother in law gave my old cell to his son which of course he was not there. Went back, locked house, went to Pizza Hut in town to do finish this blog and also have many more email’s to send and calls to make using Google Voice through Wi-Fi, see if that works.  My appointment that I had set up a time to talk to, emailed me and called me, so I have to reschedule our time together, I am sure he will understand.  You guys who live in the USA and other developed countries take so much for granted, I am saying this with tongue in cheek, I also did when I was there.

Spreading the Word!

A Movement!

Just recently I got involved with a movement that has been around for well over 100 years. I first heard and actually talked to someone who was part of this a few years back. It was guy I met at a networking event. We talked for quite some time, since he was a financial planner and at that time I was working for a merchant processing service.

He told me that he along with some other business owners do some great things within the community and because I am a believer, I asked him what exactly did he do that helps the community. We got together for lunch shortly afterwards and he tells me he is part of the Gideons. So I was intrigued, as I know when I have gone to hotels, inside the room usually is a bible by the Gideons. I really wanted to join then, but since I was not my own independent business owner but a statutory employee- ( what-ever that means), I could not join. I was however invited to their website to look over and also invited to two breakfasts that they had within a few weeks of each other- just to get some idea of what they did and meet other business owners. It was like a hole new way of networking but more networking the word then our businesses.

However, after some time, I lost contact with that person then we moved away to help out my mother in father in law in their ministry down in Honduras. We have been helping them with medical clinics, once / quarter to outside areas of the town they live in. We also have helped with social media, website development, and now even live broadcast of our services on Sunday and Tuesday night prayer meetings.

The Invite, Tragedy and Blessing

We then had an invite to host the Gideon group at our church, and they came in one evening and introduced themselves and went through some stories that were quite amazing. One that I will not forget is of the miners that were trapped in the mine in Central America. I remember it from the news and it was horrible that all these people were trapped and could not get out. The interesting thing about this was that a girl got a new testament in Spanish and brought it home the night before the tragedy occurred! Her dad, took the bible from her and said "you are not going to read this, I will not allow it" and put into his top jacket pocket.  Well the next day, he went to work as usual and went down to the mine. He was the leader of that crew so everyone followed him down.

All of sudden the ground shook and the mine caved in. It was a horrific picture to imagine people were down there for a long time with no water, no food and no oxygen, but they had their lights. When , they discovered all the bodies, they also found that little bible. The great thing was that it was signed by the fathers dad, with a note saying- Daughter, I was wrong. He then signed his name along with all the other miners to accept Christ into their lives.

I was just amazed at this and other stories that they had shared with us, that when the meeting was over and they asked who wanted to help spread the word, I was the first person to go up.

Why is this significant. Well just recently we went to distribute about 200 bibles to a military school here in San Pedro Sula. The captain of the entire school, signed the bible on the spot and was very thankful for us coming there.  The next day, we then picked up from the distribution center our lot of bibles that we are going to spread out in schools, jails, hotels, motels, medical clinics and hospitals in this year. Since we had space in our facility, we requested that the rest of the inventory would be placed with us. I had no idea at the time, but that amounted to well over 150 boxes- over 11,650 bibles. We will be spreading the word as business owners to many places.

Spread the Word! Life matters more then ever!

If you are a business owner and have a heart to help the lost and share the word, please I urge you visit this site, and allow the Gideons to come into your church and share with you what they are doing. http://www.guideons.org

Pray that we can spread the word more then we have already done, and make a impact in our country and around the world. Hope you become part of this great movement of God. Great success to you and your business.

Ps . I know this is unusual post, but I had to share with you my heart as well as business concepts and ideas. I hope you find that refreshing!

“The sower soweth the word.”—Mark 4:14

Here are just a few pictures from last weekend!

Packing up from the distribution center to our location!

Take a mini-vacation - in a matter of minutes!

View the world from your computer!

• St. Julians
• Spinola Bay

Once in while a technology comes out that you have to take notice of. Many people from around around the world are viewing web-cams. Why ? Simple, people like viewing live broadcasts from around the world. Imagine just taking a break from your hectic daily schedule. Clicking on a camera of your choice and then just take in the scenery and relax for a few moments.

Well, one of my clients who is a friend of mine is working with a company that just does that. I am working with him to help him create new clients. He has personally set up two web-cams where he lives in Malta and I am able now to share with you the actual working cameras. (Click the link or picture above - too see a beautiful bay in Malta)

He is always looking for great places to put these cameras and I want to help him. They already have over 62 cameras and they are setting up more and more each day. Heck, I might have another 4- 6 live Video Cameras going up in Florida and Honduras before the end of 1st quarter.

What I also like is that if for some reason you missed a preview of the day, because you were busy and you didn't have chance to look, they actually do a time lapse of the previous day. It is so great to be able to review the previous day and see the sun rise and the sun set.

They are looking for more world-wide locations and I would be glad to help my client find these locations. We know that people like taking mini-vacation as the site already have over 1 million unique visitors to this site on a monthly basis.

The owner of the camera does not pay a dime for the camera, but there is a very affordable charge to run the software. However, that cost can easily be made up as the manager of that territory will find other business within in the nearby location and be able to offer advertising for the local businesses that is very affordable.

In addition to all of this, the owner of the camera will be placed on the site, they will also be able to embed their camera into their own website, blog or where-ever they want including Facebook. So not only will they get exposure by being on the main site, but also be able to show this to their clients and customers.

I think once this hits mainstream everyone will be able to take a mini-vacation all around the world for free. Sometimes when a business owner works 12-14 hours, a break away from it all, is a welcome addition to the schedule.

Is your name important to you?

+Preston Odenbrett

How many of you like your name, how many of you love your name? I am almost sure that most of you love your name because it is a name that has been with you all your life. Right? So then the next question is what about your business name?

If you love your business name and you want to bring your business to the "next level" please read on.

I just witnessed a demonstration by a good mentor to me J.J. Ulrich that talked about something that he has been creating in his mind for years. I am not sure if you are like him and me, but if you have been self-employed back in the 1990's you will follow this story. If you are not, I will get you caught up.

Back in the 90's when I was in the advertising business producing a coupon-advertising paper that went to the local community, I would have never dreamed that I would be a position today that can not only revolutionize my business but my clients as well.

I just witnessed a new way of doing business that "blew my mind" that I can't even go to sleep. Back to my story:

I started out with a notepad, pens and walked the street. I talked to every single business owner I could from dawn to dusk. I created relationships that I still have today because of my hard-work and my tenacity to never give up.

I have been through many industries and seen many tools that can help create efficiencies in my business. Now I know this will date me, but like I said for the younger crowd, I will catch up in a hurry.

Here is what I used to create my contacts, create business and to create a living for my family.

• Notepads/Pencils/pens
• Sticky pads
• Note cards
• Daily planner- ( Day-Timer, Franklin Planner)
• Spreadsheets- Excel, Word, Powerpoint
• Database- (Act and some others I can't even remember)
• Telephone - Dial
• Cell phone ( Huge)
• Smart-Phone
• Desk-top computer
• Laptop
• Database integrated software for Blackberry, Nokia, Android
•  Online systems like Sales Force/ Act Online  

Just to name a few tools - does this list look familiar? Why did I need all of these tools, because anytime you have job you need the right tools for the job. You have to invest in something and spend time teaching yourself or going to classes to learn all of it.

Well what if you could have all of this in one easy to use portal, What if you could create time for your self so you can spend time with your family- How about spending time with your wife instead of your computer or your kids instead of the smart phone.

Want your name to stand out amongst the crowd? If you do, watch this video and then pre-register by clicking on the graphic below before your competitor finds out about this. Oh, did I mention it is available for any budget.

CLICK THIS LINK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO
Watch this video - in 15 min you will be excited- I promise you -

Thanks for your time today! Happy 2013 in your business and your life.

Business around the Globe

I can't believe how fast the world has changed. In just 22 years, I have seen the big telephones that they called cell phones shrink down to something you can put in your pocket. That was unheard of back then. A computer that actually is on a cell phone called a Tablet or smart phone, I am sure the thought was there by some, but the technology was not. 

With this advancement in technology, people have learned that the place they live is small in comparison to the rest of the globe. We are learning to accept people for who they are and what they do and why they do what they do based on custom and where they live.

I look at my small business and I see that I am getting clients from all over the World, - Thialand, India, Italy, England and many more locations. It is great to have conversations with business people who think like you do, but they do thigs different, they see things from a different perspective, and I think that is healthy.

The challenge that I found is that I have to figure out what time zone they are in before I call or even email them. While I am awake, they are asleep. When I am planning to go to bed and rest for the day, I need to stay up just a bit longer to be able to talk to them.

We even have technology that is going to be released soon that will allow us to meet in our video conference room with up to 16 or more people on video and have unlimited amount of people can be in on the call.. This will be great for anyone that does webinars already, but are limited or have to pay a small  fortune to have more participants. 

People can even attend if they are on the beach with a good internet connection while holding in their hands their tablet or smart phone. What is amazing and I believe a game changer is that each one of the participants can speak their own language so there is no "lost in translation" issues- With 140 languages that will be automatically translated with a 1/2 second delay, it looks like the world is getting smaller.

I hope I will be one of the limited individuals that will be selected as a Beta Tester, cause I could sure use this before it gets released. I got the email yesterday that I might just have that oppportunity. If I do, do you want to test it with me? Looking for participants around the globe. Just contact me or leave comments here.

If you want to know how to tie all of this into your business or your profession, you also need to check out a site a business portal that my team is building. I think once you see this, you will want more information and just for you we will not charge you a dime to use it. 

Future Marketing 101 - Ready to be Blown Away!

Image provided by Microsoft Clipart/Images