Building Up Managers and Leaders

Communicating Your Business Ideas...

2012-02-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

One of the great challenges that we face in business is being able to effectively communicate who we are and what we do. The challenge that we often run into is that we, as business technicians, understand at a deep level what our business is all about, but can't always get the right message across to others.

Whether you are thinking about a prospect, and investor, or a banker, people want to know what the actual message of your business is and what is in it for them. You may have the most incredible concept in the world, but it is only relevant if there is a benefit to those you are speaking with.

It is ideal to boil down your message into a simple and straight-forward analogy. If you can compare your business to something well known to make a connection for solving a relevant business problem or challenge, then you can create a connection. For example, Cloud Interview is a web-based interviewing company that connects business people the way Facebook connects friends and acquaintances, solving the challenge of making time for interviewing your next top talent. Another example would be the question that I often ask with MuRF. Have you ever hired someone that you ended up wishing you had never met? When they answer yes, you move to... MuRF helps you avoid those people and find the good people. The way match.com make marriages, we connect people with companies..

If you can create the right understanding, then you can move people toward the conversation that lands the next big deal, convinces the banker to give you that loan, or persuades investors to take a risk on you.

Good luck in your business!

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholand.com
jodynholland@gmail.com

Confirm!

2012-02-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Once you have the concept in mind, you need to find a way to confirm whether or not you are on the right track with your business ideas. I have seem some fantastic people have really bad ideas as well as having some brilliant ideas. They key is to be able to distinguish between the two.

This is often difficult for an individual to do on their own ideas. To complicate things, your personality will play heavily into the way in which you evaluate your ideas. Some people will think that their ideas are amazing regardless of any support from others, while others will beat themselves up and never take their brilliance to market. You need a group of people that will be honest with you and supportive at the same time.

In my case, I have put together a "master-mind" group of people who don't pull any punches when I share my ideas with them. This is not a paid group of people in my case. It is a group of people who are also looking to grow and expand their businesses and who understand the types of concepts that I come up with. They are quick to find the reasons that an idea might fail, which pushes me to really work through my concepts and see the idea from all angles.

The key for you, as a leader, is to be open enough to invite the criticism. Keep in mind that it is criticism of an idea or a path towards an idea, not of you. If you can learn to separate yourself from your ideas, then you can be significantly more honest about what they really are and whether or not they have a likelihood of success.

The next level of confirmation would be pre-sales. If you can get enough commitment to turn a profit over and above what it cost you to put the concept together, and do it with people who are willing to buy your idea before it is even finished, then you have a good idea. If nobody is willing to buy into your idea, then you may want to really think about whether or not spending the money to build it is going to be worth it. As with everything, thinking through the process is critical.

Facebook was not a profitable idea in the beginning. It was a great idea, just not one tied to money. In the not so distant future, I believe that their IPO will prove that the idea has financial merit as well. Most great ideas that become great companies had people who surrounded themselves with smart people that could fill in the gaps and do whatever they were not able to do themselves. I would encourage you to continue building your ideas. Get your concepts clearly defined and then confirm with others whether or not they have financial and marketable merit.

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com
jodynholland@gmail.com

Success is easy!

2012-02-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

Success really isn't that hard. Just make a definite decision about what you want and be willing to give up plenty to get it. --Jody Holland

Depending on how you define success determines how easy or difficult it really is. The more aggressive your definition of business success, the more willing you must be to give up other parts of your life to attain it. This thought has haunted me over the last few years as I struggled to define what success really is. I looked at the way business works and the way that traditional businesses are built. This is the conclusion that I came to. I, like thousands of others, was going about it all wrong. I was trying to create elaborate plans to build a mighty business kingdom to fulfill someone else's vision of success. The reality was, I had not made any definite decisions about what I wanted until fairly recently.

I wanted to build a business that enabled me to travel, work from anywhere, maintain balance in my life, and create a very solid financial platform from which to continue growing. Enter my "brain buddy," Dan Johnson. Dan and I get together regularly to plan, think, and drink (mostly coffee). We began to formulate a hypothesis about the new face of entrepreneurial thinking. It begins with the idea of CONCEIVING an idea.

If you want to blow up your business (figuratively and financially - not physically), you will need some C-4. In this scenario, the first "C" is the concept. In order to come up with the right concept for your future and for your business, you need to define what it must look like for you to be happy. To me, I absolutely cannot be chained to a desk!

Fill in the information. For me to be truly happy in a business, I must have the following...

1.________________________________________________________________________

2.________________________________________________________________________

3.________________________________________________________________________

4.________________________________________________________________________

Now, begin to define what you will truly enjoy doing, what will make enough money, and what will fit your absolutes. I am confident that you can come up with something great if you put your mind to it. I want to hear your business concepts as comments on this blog. Submit them and I will give you my feedback on what is missing. Be sure to let me know what your absolutes are. For example, if you want a flexible schedule and don't want to have to go to a specific place every day, then opening a retail business with set hours isn't likely your cup of tea. This works for your ideal job just as well as for your ideal business.

I will be anxiously awaiting your comments!

To Your Success,

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com

Be Who You Are!

2012-01-23T07:30:00.001-08:00

"Be who you are are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss

I remember reading a lot of Dr. Seuss when I was young and picked it back up again once I had children. I have found the simple and logical wisdom embedded in the whimsical stories to be an excellent way to live my life. This particular advice has been really helpful to me. When we try to live our lives in a way that makes everyone else happy, we end up being the ones who are miserable. I believe that we were designed with a purpose and an intent. I believe that we were made to do something and we find our greatest happiness when we discover what that "thing" is that we were made to do.

There are three (3) primary characteristics about YOU that will determine what you are supposed to be when you grow up. If you understand how to map these things into the right career, you achieve your happiness as well as achieving success. If you try to fit into someone else's image of who you are and what you should do, you will be met with frustration and disappointment. The challenge is less about what you are capable of doing and more about what you were intended to be doing. Here we go...

1. What ignites your passion? The first area of who you are that you must fully understand is what things get you excited. Your work-type interests are the types of activities that you do that don't feel like work. They feel like play and fun. Once you identify the things that you simply enjoy, you will find yourself heading down the path of success whistling instead of trudging through the trenches of struggle to win a battle. You may get your spark from social interaction, or from the enterprising side of business, or from creating and following structured plans. Whatever it is, you will be happy in the right interest areas and miserable in the wrong ones.

2. Where do you fit? The second area that you must fully understand is what does your behavioral profile say about you and what direction you should take? William Moulton Marston studied the behavioral tendencies of people in the workplace in order to understand what brought them success, in what roles, and for what reasons. How we communicate, how we focus, even the ways in which we lay out our days, weeks, and months are determined by our temperament at work. If you are working in a role that "fits" you, then you will be happy, focused, and successful.

3. What are you capable of? The third area has to do with your cognitive ability and thinking style. I do not personally have the desire to injure my brain enough to be a statistician. That isn't how my brain works. My cognitive abilities are in line with someone who manages people and businesses. When we get into a position that is beyond our cognitive ability, it will be both frustrating and disappointing. When we get into a position that is below our cognitive abilities, we tend to get bored and become unfocused. We need to be able to operate in our intellectual sweet spot. I have often seen highly intelligent people struggle more than average people. The reason for this is that they "need" constant stimulation. Very few jobs provide that. People with lower levels of cognitive ability often find their niche' quicker in life and stick with it. Regardless of your overall cognitive ability, you need to understand what that level is and find a position that provides just the right amount of intellectual challenge for you.

When you put all three (3) of these areas together, it is like mixing the key ingredients to make a concrete career for yourself. If you have ever mixed concrete, you know that leaving out just one ingredient will ensure that nothing works right. You can simply dump Quickcrete (concrete mix) into a hole, not add water, and expect it to hold. You have to understand your interests, temperament, and cognitive abilities in order to find your perfect spot in life. So... "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." --Dr. Seuss

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland

www.jodynholland.com

806-355-5567 office

Destiny is a choice!

2012-01-20T06:32:00.001-08:00

I hear people talk about achieving the destiny on a regular basis. Most people, however, talk about destiny as if it is something that has already been determined for them. It isn't. Your destiny is borne daily in the choices that you make. It is the moments when life throws you a curve that you either crumble or stand up, bow your chest, pump your fist in the air, and decide that you are in control. You may not be able to control of the circumstances in your life, but you can can make new choices with every new circumstance. I look at people like Donald Trump who have been knocked down over and over, but always end up at the top again and I realize that they are only there because they chose to be. Had Trump not chosen to define himself the way that he did, he would be broke. Had Ted Turner listened to the people in his life who told him that he couldn't achieve anything, he wouldn't have. Had Michael Jordan listened to his high school basketball coach at his first tryouts, he would not have been the greatest basketball player in history. My point is that each of them looked at what was happening in their lives and decided that they would take control of the situation and turn life in their favor.

They blew up the notion that they had not choice. They blew up the idea that they weren't good enough, smart enough, fast enough, tough enough, or anything else. They decided that they truly were the master's of their own destiny. We often underestimate the power of our choices. We underestimate our ability to control every aspect of our lives, emotions, and ultimately our destiny.

I hope that you will join in my "deciding" that you will be in control of you. You were given a brain and give the ability to choose. Don't waste that by giving up control of your choices and allowing others to determine where you end up in life. You should choose to do more, be more, and have more.

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland

www.jodynholland.com

www.myjudolife.com

(806) 355-5567 office

Celebrate Success!

2012-01-19T05:56:00.000-08:00

"No matter how small, do celebrate the achievement." --Joseph Sugarman

So often in life we beat ourselves up for what we don't achieve and discount the wins that we do have. If you take a close look at what we are being taught through the media, you see that we are being told that we need to be skinnier to be happy. We need to be richer to be happy. We need to take a vacation to a remote island to be happy. We are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands of messages every day telling us that we need to have more to have really achieved. I disagree with that.

I think that the way my mind works, and what I have seen repeatedly in others, when we celebrate doing something right, anything, then we end up doing more things right. When we focus on what we did wrong and ignore our wins, we have fewer wins. Whether you are focusing on a New Year's resolution or focusing on a sales and marketing goal, you need to set small milestone goals that help you along the path.

An example of this would be when someone says that they are going to turn sales around in an organization. So often, people will indicate that they intend to increase sales by 30% or 10%, or whatever number they come up with. They forget to establish what the daily behaviors will be that lead to that increase though. When we begin to lay things out, we often find that the increase is not that significant in reference to the number of sales that have to be closed. If we break down the process even further, we see that we need to make five phone calls per day, 1 presentation per day, and 3 sales per month (as an example). We need to celebrate the calls, as well as the new business. We need to pat ourselves on the back for each positive step that we take towards our goals. This keeps us motivated, driven, and focused on succeeding.

If we don't celebrate each small victory, we become progressively less likely to attain the big victories.

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com
806-355-5567 office

Management By Discrimination

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is my interpretation of a story told by Dan S. Kennedy. If you have not read Dan's books, you should buy ALL of them and read them. He is fantastic!

Why"Management by Discrimination" Makes So Much Sense

NoRules, Dan S. Kennedy

Intheir book Sacred Cows Makes the BestHamburgers, Robert Kriegel and David Brundt observed that "it's nearlyimpossible to motivate individuals to change when your path is blocked by thesacred cow: treat everyone the same.” They note that the Ida of treatingeverybody the same is a remnant of the union agenda of equality in theworkplace. These are anchors around a leader’s neck. And this is still themost commonly taught, believed, and attempted approach to managing people today.The much more successful and, when logically analyzed, sensible approach isJimmy Johnson’s. In sync with Coach Johnson, these authors note that you can’teffectively manage the superstar the same way you manage the journeyman,motivate the creative talent the same way you motivate the bookkeepers. Doingso stifles creativity, dedication, enjoyment of work, and psychic satisfaction.It creates energyless drones.

Alongtime friend told me of the attack of the efficiency experts at his company. A big Fortune 500 corporation acquired the odd littlemanufacturing and direct sales company that was a cash cow. Then they sent inthe high-priced consultants as the prelude to imposing some real management onthis ragtag operation that was making nothing but money. The consultant triedto do the same time-and-motion studies on the inside sales reps as the did themanufacturing people. Unfortunately, this company’s number one salesperson, bya big margin, was virtually immune to such analysis. He showed up some days at7:00 a.m., other days after 10:00 a.m. He read the racing form and called hisbookie. He took a coffee break after almost every call. He “wasted” incredibleamounts of time on a woefully disorganized file system, wandering the halls,joking with the secretaries , even taking naps. However, when on the phonewith a qualified prospect, he was, in direct sales parlance, a stone-coldkiller. He rarely missed. So at the end of every month when all the dustsettled, he outsold the others three or four to one. In an average month, hemade the company about $50,000 net. Can you guess the end of this story?

Theconsultants went back to the executives in the Fortune 500 ivory tower and told them how completely disorganized,inefficient, and undisciplined these sales people were—especially THISsalesman. They predicted tremendous increases in productivity if a toughmanager went in and imposed some discipline on these people. So the Fortune 500 bigwigs dutifully dispatchedone of their sales managers, a former career military officer, to whip thetroops into shape. He laid down the law. Everybody will be treated exactly thesame. Everybody will put in a nine-to-five day. Everybody will work forty-fiveminutes on the phones, fifteen minutes off. And so on. In very short order, thenumber one salesman walked and went to a competitor who, as IBM’s Tom Watsononce advised, had better sense than to try to force wild geese intoformation. In ninety days, sales dropped by nearly a third. Eventually, theFortune 500 giant divested itself ofthis company for less than half of what they paid for it. Had they managed bydiscrimination rather than dictum, they’d have been a whole lot richer.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

www.jodynholland.com

Managing Today's Stress...

2012-01-12T13:39:00.000-08:00

Stress Management

Benjamin Disraeli once said: “Men are not the creatures of circumstances. Circumstances are the creatures of men.” I have always liked this quote because ithelps me to maintain perspective in life. There have been countless times that I have wanted to stop and say poorme, or why me. I have wanted to feelsorry for myself. Everytime that I beginto feel this way, my mother’s voice pops into my head with “Ooooh a party! Can I come to your pity party? I do love parties! (Extreme sarcasm). My parents never let me sit around feelingsorry for myself. They always taught methat I had control over my situation. Icould choose my attitude. I was incharge of me. I can remember verydistinctly saying at times, “I choose to be angry.” Even though I might have been making a badchoice, I was at least taught to view this emotion as a choice.

This was a valuable lesson because stress is a part ofeveryone’s life. We have stresses athome, at work, in our social lives, with extended families, and in virtuallyeverything that we do. Some stressmotivates us to become better and some paralyzes us with fear. The key that we have to discover is not howto manage the stress, but how to manage our perceptions of the situation. If you are like most executive, you startyour day early, end it late, and run a hundred miles an hour the wholetime. Most executive truly believe inwhat their organizational mission is or they would not push themselves as hardas they do. They feel that they can andwill make a difference in the lives of those that they serve. This mission focus helps to keep things inperspective for many people. Thechallenge comes when the stresses of the daily grind seem to outweigh the valueyou receive from fulfilling your mission. John Miller, author and speaker, wrote a book titled QBQ: TheQuestion Behind The Question. Inthis book, he discusses the types of questions that we ask when we are in tensesituations. He helps us to learn exactlywhat many of our mamas already taught us. You do have a choice as to which questions you ask. You do have the option to ask questions thatempower you to be in control of your emotions and your situation. You do also have the choice to give upcontrol and let life happen to you.

I have found that the happiest people I know feel a sense ofcontrol over their environment. Theyhave control over how they interepret what happens in their day and that helpsto keep the stress levels low enough that the rewards of the job still matter.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

www.jodynholland.com

Did You Hear What I Didn't Say?!

2011-12-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. Peter F. Drucker

That can seem like a bit of an odd statement at first. What is it that "isn't" being said? Research shows that the vast majority (93%) of the message interpretation is based on non-verbals. This would mean that our tone of voice, our facial expressions and our body language are where the real message lives.

The sad truth is that our education system, at least the public one, does very little to formally teach the skills of being a great communicator, particularly when it comes to listening. 45% of your time in a business setting is spent listening. As a leader, if you don't get the right message the first time, you will eat up a lot of time and resource trying to shift direction, priorities, and responsibilities, and often doing it wrong.

One article I read in the Harvard Business Review indicated that as much as 85% of all business problems related to poor or mis-communication. With this skill being so vital, why don't people spend more time on it? I think the challenge can be related to generationally.

Traditionalists believed that "No news was good news."

Boomers believe that feedback is done in the annual performance review.

Gen-Xers were without supervision a lot as youth and therefore look for feedback at the end of projects, but want to be left alone otherwise.

And, the Millennial generation communicated via technology.

It seems that each generation has had its struggles related to effective communication. The key is to personally accept responsibility for making yourself more effective in each of the critical aspects of communication. This is done through learning and through having an accountability partner.

I would strongly encourage you to attend a training on effective communication. I particularly encourage you to learn about active listening and non-verbal aspects of communication. Then, find someone that you trust and that you will listen to that can "read" you and let you know what you are really saying with your body, regardless of the words coming out of your mouth.

For more information on when MuRF will be conducting classes on effective communication, check out http://www.imurf.com.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

MuRF Systems

806-355-5567 office

jody@murfsystems.com

Naughty Vs Nice

2011-12-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

I have seen several of my friends post on FB recently about being on the naughty list at Christmas. It got me to thinking about a few things that have shaped my life and seem to have shaped the lives of other entrepreneurs.

1. Quite a few of us entrepreneurs misbehaved when we were young, at least by the standards of others. We questioned authority. We did not agree with everything that we were taught. We challenged why we need to show our work when we already knew the answer, or why we needed to slow down so the teacher could teach the way that "they" knew how to teach. We thought for ourselves, and that was not socially acceptable in school. I remember very few teachers that ever encouraged me to do it my own way. I do, however, remember having my father sit with me in Algebra in 8th grade while the teacher explained that I would fail if I did not show my work, even though I was right.

2. Quite a few of us entrepreneurs took unnecessary risks when we were young, as well as now. The risks that we took were not always physical risks. They could have been social, emotional, or even physical. There was something about accomplishing things, even dangerous ones, that seemed to make us feel alive. There would never be a way for us to go back to society's standards of safe again once we had tasted the adventure. I jumped off of cliffs into water, drove fast, and loved sparring with people. Others put their thoughts out there for the world to see, even if they knew the world would disagree. Others still would go against the grain on everything from thought to relationships. The point is, the risk was in our DNA and there was no escaping it.

3. Quite a few of us entrepreneurs took independence of thought and action to a whole new level. It is amazing, looking back at the first 39 years of my life, the number of things that I did "because" I was told not to or that I couldn't. The fastest way to get me to try something dangerous was to tell me it could not be done. The fastest way to make me successful was to tell me it was impossible. You can't tell most entrepreneurs "NO" and expect to actually get them to follow along. Entrepreneurs lead the way. They defy conventional ideas of acceptable. They do what they feel they need to, not what they are told to do.

So, I raise my glass to toast all of the rule-breakers, the defiant warriors, the men and women of this world that have said NO to the way it has always been done and started down the path of their choosing. For without these individuals, progress would come to a grinding halt. You naughty entrepreneurs are my inspiration this holiday season!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
www.jodynholland.com
www.imurf.com
(806) 355-5567 office
jodynholland@gmail.com

ROI For Training

2011-12-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

In today’s competitive andeconomically volatile market, business managers and owners can no longerapprove spending without substantial justification to support their spendingdecisions. They are asking their in-house managers and outside consultants to provideproof that their training programs are resulting in positive returns oninvestment.

Organizations that are committed toputting forth the time, money, and effort required to ensure that trainingresults are connected to a business need and result in a monetary benefit canemploy several methods for doing this. One is to examine the consequences ofnot training; another is to analyze performance records. By not training, thecompany risks poor management of it’s resources (equipment, manpower, supplies,raw materials, product quality, increased turnover, poor employee selection,etc.) Probably the best-known method is a cost/benefit analysis, which can showthe extent to which their training programs result in observable, measurablebehavior that contributes to the bottom line. Below are five methods ofdemonstrating the cost/benefits of providing employee development and training:

1. Obtain data to demonstrate thechanges in behavior, e.g., that gathered through surveys, questionnaires,on-the-job observations, post-program interviews, focus groups, performancemonitoring.

2. Isolate the effect of training,for example, through the use of control groups (train part of the group andcompare to group not trained), trend lines (track measures for comparasion),and forecasting models.

3. Convert the data to monetary valueby focusing on a unit of measure, determining a value for that unit,calculating the change in performance data, determining the annual amount forthe change, and calculating the total value of the improvement. For example,determine the average production for a unit and measure it over time during andafter training.

4. Tabulate the program costs: thisis the value of the cost of taking people away from their jobs for thetraining, including salary and benefits. Compare this to the ROI as measuredabove.

5. Calculate the return on investmentby dividing the net benefits by the costs times 100 percent.

When performed properly, studies ofreturns on investment can provide substantive information upon which to basetraining support. In one report it was found that a study of the returns ontraining investments made by seven production units shows that there aresubstantial financial rewards from a well-designed training program. The organizationsin the study realized returns ranging from a low return of 30 percent to a highof 7,000 percent.

Possibly, the underlying factorinfluencing the returns on investment for all types of training is that eachtype has a different effect on productivity. The Institute of Personnel andDevelopment (“What Makes Training Pay?” 1997) separates training into twocamps: “pay back” and “pay forward.” “Pay back” requires a measurable financialreturn. “Pay forward” looks at benefits that will occur down the line, e.g.,better team or individual behavior, better staff identification with companygoals and objectives. Whatever the method of calculating return on investmentfor the various types of training, one caveat is supported by the literature:The impact of training tends to vary positively with the level of capitalinvestment when the training is conducted properly and related to identifiedneeds.

Employers tend to pay lower startingwages to workers who require more training. Thus, even though these workersrealize the full rewards when their wages increase after training, they have,in fact, “paid” for their training by accepting an initial lower startingsalary than other workers who require less training (Barron et al. 1999).However, just as increasing productivity is not the only reason businessestrain their workers, increased wages are not the sole reason workers seektraining.

Training empowers and motivatesworkers. Employees who receive training through a business's commitment toemployee development are better able to manage their own career development,become self-starters, and retain a sense of self-worth (“What Makes TrainingPay?” 1997). They also reap personal benefits from employer-provided training.Workplace literacy programs, for example, have shown to increase workers’productivity at home as well as the workplace and help them to be contributingmembers of the communities in which they live (Sticht 1999). The employee thenfeels that the employer “values” them and they become even more committed tothe company and the company’s goals.

To be successful, training must betargeted toward a business need—the solution of a problem that improvesproductivity, behavior, and so forth. This is not an effort that trainingconsultants can do in isolation. Training consultants and operation managersmust agree first on the problem and then on the value of solving it. Trainersand managers must agree that the training is a worthwhile endeavor and thatperformance can be tracked and reported to show measurable outcomes totraining.

LensCrafters, a national eyecorrection company, tested a link between training and key business drivers bylooking at quality outcomes, store performance and sales, training saturation,and customer satisfaction. “Results showed that all stores in the test regionsreduced waste, increased sales, and improved in all five customer satisfactionareas” (Purcell 2000, p. 31). By proving that there was a correlation betweenthe highest level of training saturation and the most improved businessresults, the training department verified its importance as a strategic partnerin management’s efforts of improving production, improving customersatisfaction and increasing sales.

Conclusion:

Whatever the size of a company, intoday’s economy there must be justification for any expenditure on the balancesheet. Expenses cannot exceed income if a company is to survive. However, thereare many ways to compare returns on investment. The cost/benefit analysis isone means of evaluating training returns because it provides evidence ofbottom-line profits. If the reasons for evaluating training are to ensure acorrelation between training and a specific outcome, this highest level ofevaluation may be required. However, if the reason for training is to improvesoft-data areas such as customer satisfaction, employee morale, and so forth,surveys, interviews, and other methods may provide the evidence required tosupport training. There is enough evidence in the literature to support theposition that there are positive returns from investment in training. Thenature of these returns may vary among organizations and workers, but it isimportant to remember that wages and productivity are not the only variablesguiding a company's investment in training.

To help your company meets it’sgrowth goals over the next few years, you should be investing in the growth anddevelopment of your employees now. It will be even more costly and maybe toolate to do it later. The Department of Labor has forecasted that over the next10 years, there will be greater competition for employees due to the changescoming in our aging population. It will be even more important to be able toselect, train and keep good employees when we arrive at that point.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

www.jodynholland.com

(806) 355-5567 office

Bet on people, not products...

2011-12-08T21:50:00.001-08:00

I have seen the most brilliant of products fail and the most brilliant of people succeed. I would take a great person with an okay product over a great product with an okay person any day. --Jody Holland

I never really like the saying about building a better mouse-trap and the world beating a path to your door. I mostly didn't like it because I didn't believe it. The millionaires that I have had the privilege of learning from all told me different. They never said you had to have something better than the others in the way of products. They said you had to have something inside of you that was better than the others. Interestingly enough, each of the wealthy individuals that I have learned from also did not simply set out to make lots of money. They each had a unique combination of characteristics that made them the successes that they were.

They were first and foremost, people of character. Benjamin Disraeli said, "If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." They seemed to embody that thought. You will leave a legacy by the way in which you operate. They were honest, caring, and humble. They learned from the mistakes that they made. They learned from others. It is the individuals that believe they know everything and don't listen that eventually fall on their faces. It is the individual who makes "under-the-table" deals and uses deception as a part of their business practice that will eventually get found out. Just ask Chuck Colson, now of Focus on the Family, once in the middle of the Watergate scandal, about the importance of being a man of character.

Next, they are people who operate with an iron will. They stay incredibly focused on that "brass-ring" that they are pursuing. They WILL win because they WILL themselves to win. It is that resolve, or will, that sets apart the people who succeed and the people who give up before success has a chance to show up. I remember explaining to a room full of college seniors that being an entrepreneur does not make sense, but when it is in your blood, nothing else will satisfy you. The right person will find a way, no matter what it takes, to move themselves and their organization forward.

They are learners. When a new technology comes along that will benefit them or their company, they pick it up. When they need to know how to accomplish something and someone else has already done it, they read about them, study them, or find a way to learn from them. Learning is a part of their DNA. They cannot stand to not be better prepared today for life than they were yesterday. They devote large amounts of their own money to training, seminars, and development. Successful people have big libraries. Unsuccessful people have big TV's. What do you put into your mind?

They take risks. The rush of starting a new venture, building a new brand, or branching off in a new direction excites them. That is their adrenaline rush. You will find that they often take risks in life as well. They may drive fast, compete in sports, dive off of cliffs, jump in frozen lakes, or even jump from perfectly good airplanes. They have to take the risk. It isn't because they want to see if they can lose it all, though. It is because when they know that losing it all is a possibility, that is when they are truly alive and when the best parts of them are illuminated.

When you evaluate a business as to the value that it brings to the table. Never forget that any business is only as good as its people. And, the people often are great because of their leader. If any bankers or investors are reading this, the following two sentences is my advice to you. Always bet on the person because the business plan does not have a will. People make things work!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
Innovator, Thinker, and Entrepreneur
www.imurf.com
806-355-5567 office
jody@murfsystems.com

Your heart's desire...

2011-11-21T16:40:00.001-08:00

"There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it." --George Bernard Shaw

There is a lot of truth to what Shaw was sawing when he wrote that. This can be especially true for entrepreneurs. I am speaking from experience here. Often times, we can feel a let down when we achieve the grand goal that we have set out to achieve. When you pour yourself into something complete and then finally reach the end of that particular journey, it can be disheartening, even if you achieved what you were hoping for.

So often, we think that the joy of life will be found at the end of the rainbow. It isn't. Jim Carrey once said, and I am paraphrasing... I hope that everyone achieves all of the goals that they had, becomes rich and famous, so that they can see that it still won't make you happy, just like me. The joy, the real joy, is in the pursuit, not in the finish line.

Each of us must focus on the joy that we get from what we do every day and how we contribute to this world being a beter place. I remember the let down that I had when my business was running so smoothly that I could take time off and nobody really missed me that much. That was actually my goal when I started, to have a business that could run without me. What I have discovered is that I really love what I do. I find joy in my work and in helping organizations get the best out of their people.

I love helping people understand which behaviors make them successful and which behaviors prohibit success. The joy is not in the end goal. The joy is in the daily living. I interpret Shaw's statement in this way. It is a tragedy to think that achieving a big goal will make you happy. It is also a tragedy not to realize that your goal should have been to live your life in the moment the whole time.

I would challenge you to live in the present. Forget about the mistakes of the past. Don't fret about what might happen in the future. Do what you know will make this very moment a success! The present is the only place where we have control anyway.

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.iMuRF.com - Check it out!
(806) 355-5567 office
jody@murfsystems.com

Always do your best...

2011-11-19T06:09:00.001-08:00

If a man is called a street-sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great street-sweeper who did his job well.

--Martin Luther King Jr.

What MLK Jr. said has tremendous power in it. The people in this life who continuously rise to the top understand that they must be willing to give all of themselves to what they are doing in order to have the opportunity to give all of themselves to anything else. I have been in a number of organizations where people were upset that they did not get paid enough and felt that they deserved more. My question to them is usually... "Why do you feel that you deserve more?" with the follow-up of "What have you done to demonstrate that you perform significantly beyond what you are being paid?"

The first question gets answered in a variety of ways. They have been there a long time. They have not gotten a raise in a while. Other companies pay more. The list goes on, but it rarely has anything to do with their performance. The second question often goes unanswered. Each of us gets paid in life for what we have demonstrated in the past and continue to demonstrate related to performance. We don't work hard once and then get paid great for the rest of our careers. We also don't get paid for showing up. We get paid for being the best ______________ (insert your job here) that we can possibly be. We get paid for continuously improving our skills at what we do.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a banker, a teacher, a lawyer, a preacher, maintenance worker, or any other position, always remember that you are in control of how hard and how smart you work.

If you are unemployed, always remember that you are the most employable if you have a job. I, like most employers, look at people and ask the question: if you are as good as you are saying you are, why aren't you working now? I completely understand people being down on their luck. I get that life happens. I also know that when I was down on my luck, I took any job I could get, even though it was minimum wage. I mowed lawns. I did odd jobs for people. And, I did continue putting my best foot forward and looking for the work that I believed I could excel at.

We are sought after when we are willing to give 100% of ourselves to our work while we are at work. We should give 100% of ourselves to our family when we are at home. We should give all of our attention to the thing that we are doing at that moment. If we strive to be the best, to give all that we have, then the hosts of heaven and earth will look upon us and truly be inspired.

This was my 100th blog to be published. I am striving to give you 100% of what I can offer. If you enjoyed it, please tell others about it as well. I hope your day is blessed today!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
(806) 355-5567 office
www.imurf.com
www.jodynholland.com - Blog

A Life Well Lived

2011-11-18T07:52:00.001-08:00

"The goal is the same: life itself; and the price is the same: life itself." -James Agee

In a previous post, I talked about a life examined. In that post, I discussed the idea that we cannot get to where we want to be unless we are willing to be honest about where we actually are. From that idea of being honest, I mean really honest, about who we are and where we are right now, we must also define what the end goal is for ourselves.

As we look at our lives and determine what we hope to end up as, or to be remembered as, we have to have the perspective that no matter what our chosen path, the end result is the same. At the end of life, you don't get to take your stuff with you. You do, however, get to leave a legacy for others to follow. You will either be the person that inspired others to live to their fullest or the person that existed, or perhaps even the person that people will not really miss that much.

Your personality, your background, your history, all of that stuff is irrelevant when it comes to what you choose from this day forward. If you are willing to make choices that lead to a life well lived, then you will find that the price you pay, life, does not seem as high for the result you achieve. If you life does not leave that positive footprint, then the price may seem overwhelming. The goal is live that life that you admire in others. The price is life itself, regardless of what you choose.

A friend mine once told me that the richest place in the world was the graveyard. That is the place that stored all the unpublished books and thoughts, the unfulfilled destinies, the unattempted goals, the successes that were intended for each of it's residents. When I do go to my final resting place, I want to know that everything I had to offer, I left above ground. I want to know that I paid the price and fulfilled what I was intended to accomplish. I want to leave no doubt that I lived a life that was worthwhile. What do you want?

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland

(806) 355-5567 office

www.myjudolife.com

MuRF App - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/murf-biz-builder/id469821054?ls=1&mt=8

You have to choose for yourself!

2011-11-16T20:30:00.001-08:00

No one else can ever make your choices for you. Your choices are yours alone. They are as much a part of you as every breath you will take, every moment of your life. Dr. Helmstedder

Whether you make a choice or you believe you are abstaining from making a choice, you have chosen. If you allow another person to make a choice for you, you made the choice to give them control. Your entire life is simply a series of choices along the way. It is almost scary how much power you have as an individual. You can choose where you want to be in life, if you are willing to simply choose.

One of my favorite Zen sayings is "There are no excuses." I love that saying because the truth is that there are only choices for what we will or will not do next. If you are struggling in businesses, then make different choices. I am aware that in order to bring in new business, I have to choose make phone calls, make presentations, prepare proposals, and close deals. Those are all things that I KNOW I must choose to do. So often though, it is easier to chase shiny objects than it is do what I know I am suppose to do.

When we do not accomplish what we are suppose to, it is because we did not make the right choices in the situation that we were in. The choices will not remain the same for every situation. We have to consider the variables for our situation and adjust our choices accordingly. If you are willing to learn from the consequences of your choices and adjust accordingly, then success really isn't all that hard.

I am not saying that bad things won't happen or that deals won't fall through or that people won't make choices that mess with your utopia. I am simply saying that you always have a choice. You can make a new choice with every challenge that comes your way. You can choose your attitude, your skills that you acquire, and ultimately your outcomes.

I would challenge you to make some choices today. If you facing problems, make some choices. If you want to grow your business, make some choices. If you want to feel better about yourself, make some choices. Nothing changes until you make a choice!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.imurf.com - Event Site
MuRF App (free) - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/murf-biz-builder/id469821054?ls=1&mt=8

Choose!

Let's be clear...

2011-11-12T09:29:00.001-08:00

Too often, leaders are absolutely certain about where they are going without truly being clear. There is a misconception that started centuries ago that people in charge often have. The misconception is that they must know all of the answers. Maybe it started with the whole "knowledge is power" thing. Even that saying is a bit misleading in my opinion. Knowledge is only power when it is shared. When it is hoarded, it creates a fear of others finding out that the person in charge has just enough knowledge to stay in charge, but not enough to live into their fullest potential.

The strong distinction between certainty and clarity is that certainty focuses on the person in charge being right and pushing others to see it their way, while clarity focuses on finding out what is right and going that way. I don't know about you, but I would rather find what is right, than be the one who is right. We are certain about how we see money, certain about our religious views, certain about sales and marketing plans, certain about the faults of others. We are full of certainty on a variety of topics. The interesting thing is that certainty clouds our ability to be clear. It dilutes out pursuit of success and limits our forward progress. Once we close our minds to other options, we lose our ability to see possibilities.

I know what you are thinking... but there are some things that I AM certain about. That's perfectly alright. What I am trying to get across is not that you should change beliefs, but that you should know why you have the beliefs that you do and be clear about what beliefs are right. For years I heard that it was better to give than to receive. The original saying was actually, "It is better to be in a position to give than in a position to need to receive." This completely changes what the saying means. It means, in its original form, that is better to be rich than to be poor. The messed up version of the saying would indicate that it is better to give all your stuff away. Until you open your mind to the idea that not everything that you have heard is absolutely correct, you will not explore any deeper meanings.

I want to be clear about success. I don't have to be certain that my way is the right way though. I would encourage you to seek clarity, rather than certainty. You can either be right, or you can be successful. Which will you choose?

To Your Success,

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com
jodynholland@gmail.com

An Opportunity To Miscommunicate...

2011-11-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

An Opportunityto Miscommunicate...

Every encounterthat we have with another person will leave them feeling either more positiveor more negative about us as a person. As we look at our encounters with others, we have to be aware that thesecommunication experiences happen over a variety of mediums. Face to face is only one of the encountersthat we will have. We will also engagevia email, text, social media, various forms of media, and through otherpeople.

I can rememberwhen AOL was sending out "free internet" disks all over thecountry. I probably got a disc a weekfor at least a year. I remember theallure of being able to increase my ability to connect with others. I remember the cool "you've gotmail" audio that played when someone emailed you at your AOL account. I am really glad it does not play an audiofile now. "You've got ridiculousamounts of mail" would be what it would have to say. As we began looking at these advances intelecommunication, we became excited at the possibilities. With this new tool, we had amazing thingslike "chat groups" that could connect people with likeinterests. I remember entering a chatroom one evening because I had an interest in motorcycles. The folks in the room were spending most ofthe typing energy on blasting people for not liking what they liked. That was the first time that I thought thatpeople were hiding behind their keyboards and being meaner than they ever wouldhave been in person. I think we losesomething by not being together. We losethe ability to connect at a human level. While we may still have that intellectual connection, we often maskourselves, or simply misinterpret what others are saying.

You see, 93% ofour interpretation of the messages we receive will be based on the non-verbalsthat we get from others. Their tone ofvoice, their body language, their facial expression, their physiologicalrepresentation of the message; these are all the things that actually count. The words that a person uses only account for7% of the actual message. This meansthat you can say the same words in different ways and get completely differentinterpretations.

When you usesocial media, email, and text as your primary forms of communication, then howyou type and the structure of your sentences, or lack of structure, will beinterpreted as you non-verbals by the other person. The mood of the receiver, as well as theirpast experiences will determine how they interpret the messages they receive fromyou. For example, if you have a dry senseof humor and are facebooking with someone who does not have a sense of humor tospeak of, then you will almost always end up offending them if you don'texplain that you are joking. I havenoticed recently that Twitter users are using more and more explanation of whatthey meant. An example would be that oneof my friends put as his tweet, "I just discovered that I have been takingthe long way to work for 6 months #betterlatethannever" The hash mark and then the explanation aremeant to help us feel what he was feeling at that moment. Another person tweeted, "MONDAY#notinthemood." This would indicatethat they are definitely upset about it being Monday and are not in the mood todeal with things.

If you have beenusing social media for very long, you have at least run into miscommunications,either on your part or on the part of another person. Learning to properly convey your feelingswithout the use of the primary vehicle designed for doing so, the human body,is not easy. You want to be cautiousabout what you say and how you say it. Although you may understand what you meant, it is likely that otherswill not get the same message. Don'thide behind your keyboard as a tough guy/girl. Communicate with people through all forms of media with as much or morerespect as you would use face to face. If you don't, you will find that others are not lol-ing at the righttime and may even begin replying in all caps.

For informationon how you can have a communication etiquette course for your organization, youcan reach me at 806-355-5567 or by email at jody@murfsystems.com. I look forward toconnecting and helping!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland

MuRF Systems

(806) 355-5567office

jody@murfsystems.com

www.murfsystems.com - The Website

www.myjudolife.com - The New Book

www.jodynholland.com - The Blog

You can't climb until you know where you are!

2011-10-12T06:35:00.001-07:00

In the introduction to my book, My Judo Life, Cody is sitting and visiting with some folks at a sales and business development seminar. They begin talking about how they each succeed in sales. The statement is made to a young energy drink salesman that it is just as critical to acknowledge what could potentially keep you from succeeding as it is to be aware of his gifts in selling. The point that is being made is that he needs to understand where he is actually starting from before he can have a true plan for where he is going.

Our weaknesses are as much a part of us as our strengths are. Whether you are intimidated by picking up the phone or nervous about making a presentation, or you don't know how to put together a proposal, knowing what the challenge is makes it possible to solve the challenge. If you don't acknowledge that you need to grow in an area, then you won't. The truth for all of us is that we have things that we need help with. The key is to recognize what those things are and seek out ways to grow and develop in those areas.

For example, when I first started into this business, I was used to raising money for a non-profit. I was not afraid to ask for money. I was not that gifted at the follow-up though. So, I got someone to coach and train me in that area. I was taught what increments to use as a follow-up plan. I was taught to gauge what a client would be needing based on what was being done for them. I learned. There will never be a time in my life when I no longer need to learn. There will never be a time when I know it all. By getting an external perspective, a coach, I was able to see things from a new angle.

Just like the young energy drink salesman in my book who needed to recognize that he still had more to learn, each of us is in that same position. What I would encourage you to do is to take a look at yourself and identify two things that could hold you back from succeeding at the level that you would like to succeed. Do you procrastinate? Are you afraid of closing sales? Do you avoid conflict when you need to face it? Do you throw temper tantrums at work? We all have a few things that need to change. What are yours?

Next, identify a book you can read, a seminar you can attend, and a person that you can talk to that will help. One exposure to the right information rarely makes the change that you need. You will often need to have multiple exposures to the right information and in different formats for your mind to fully absorb the information. Find book, attend a seminar or training, and talk to someone who will help to hold you accountable. That is my challenge to you.

Go out and make today a great day and grab on to the success that you desire!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
806-355-5567 office
jody@murfsystems.com
www.murfsystems.com

Don't forget to check out our "Leadership Series" icon at www.murfsystems.com

F.U.N. - Future Thinking Now

2011-10-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

We plan in the future but think in the present. This is one of the fundamental problems with the mind accepting goals as legitimate. If we are not able to think in the future tense, then mapping out future plans without regard for the way we think is unlikely to work well. The key difference is that we must be able to visualize what our future will be while thinking in the present.

This is not actually as hard as it sounds. It is a matter of the way that you present it to your mind. The subconscious will accept whatever input it is given. It records and acts. It is not the judging portion of the mind. This means that when you set goals, you need to write them out as if they have already happened and you are celebrating that success.

Simply write down the date in which you will have already achieved the goals that you have for yourself and then write out a detailed description of what it is like to have achieved those goals. Then, when you begin to take action, you simply remember what you already did to get there. In your description, you need to have detailed the work that you put into your success, how it feels to have succeeded, and what the net outcome looks like.

Don't complicate things, simply explain how great it was to achieve what you got.

Jody Holland
www.jodynholland.com
806-355-5567 office
jodynholland@gmail.com

What if today was the day? - Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

In 2005, 1 year after Steve Jobs had been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, he addressed the graduating class at Stanford. I watched a video of the speech tonight, thinking about the life that he lived and the difference that he made in my life. He told three stories about his life. He talked about his birth and subsequent adoption. He talked about his education, dropping out, and dropping in. And then, he talked about his businesses. The thing that stuck with me most was his ability to keep perspective throughout everything that he dealt with. Admittedly, I chuckled a little when he told the graduating class that he thought he was being crazy when he tried to go to a college that cost almost as much as Stanford and just could not justify a return on the investment. The perspective that he kept was that you have to have passion in your life, and you have keep moving forward.

He was adopted, but by a backup set of parents. The first set changed their minds about him because they wanted a girl. He dropped out of college after six months, and then began attending the classes that interested him simply to learn, not to attain a degree. He never earned a college degree. He founded Apple with a friend, in his parents garage, at the age of 20. He had a multi-billion dollar company by the age of 30, with 4000 employees. He was fired from Apple, the company he started, very publicly. This lead to him starting "Next" and "Pixar." Those were purchased by Apple and he was brought back in. After being fired from Apple, he met and fell in love with his wife and had a wonderful family.

He was passionate about each of the things that he did in his life. He asked himself the question daily for most of his adult life, "If I were to die at the end of today, would I have done what I was supposed to do?" When you have the perspective of knowing that you are going to die, you strip away the inessentials and focus on living. You realize that you have nothing to lose really. Stuff is just stuff. A business is just a business. What matters the most is that you are doing what you were made to do.

This sticks with me because you realize that Steve Jobs made a lot of money as a result of doing what he was made to do. He did not set out to make a lot of money. He set out to do what he was made to do. Career Builder says that two-thirds of people work in jobs that they hate. They are not doing what they were made to do. They are doing what they thought someone else would approve of them doing or what they believed to be acceptable. Those are the folks that are not truly fulfilled or happy. I am not sure about you, but at the end of my life, I want to be able to look back and KNOW that I did what I was supposed to do. After all, if you live your life as if today could be your last day... some day you will be right.

Find your calling!
Find your passion!
Live your life!

To your success,

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.jodynholland.com - Blog
www.murfsystems.com - site
jody@murfsystems.com - email

Don't forget to check out our Leadership Series at www.murfsystems.com, then click the Leadership Series Icon

It really isn't what you know...

2011-09-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

It really isn't what you know. It's what you do with what you know that counts. --Jody Holland

I have seen countless individuals who had every scrap of necessary information, every byte of data possible, who knew they needed to take correct action, who still chose to do nothing. In business, we know what we need to do in order to be successful. In leadership, we know the behaviors and skills we must master and then demonstrate. In service, we know the processes we must follow and the communication style that we must portray. If we know all of that, then why do people still not do what they ought to do?

The answer may be a simple reference back to the basics of human motivation. You see, there are only two, yes only 2, human motivators. They are pain and pleasure. We avoid pain, or that which we perceive to cause, or even potentially cause, pain. On the other side, we tend to pursue pleasure, or the things that we believe will bring us pleasure. When there are two painful things looming in our minds, we will always go with the one that causes us the least amount of pain.

Let's take making sales calls as an example. When a sales rep is tasked with bringing in 10 new accounts, they can refer to the law of averages for selling. This would indicate that it will take 50 presentations and 250 phone calls for any average sales person to make the 10 new accounts mark. If the person has 10 weeks to accomplish this goal, they will need to make 5 presentations per week and 25 phone calls per week. That would be 5 calls per day and 1 presentation per day. When you look at the pain points, you can understand why some people simply won't.

The fear of rejection, whether real or imaginary, will often stop the bravest of souls from picking up the phone one more time. When people tell a person "no," it can be scary for them because of the way they define "no." If a person sees that as a person rejection, they will often fear it and avoid it at all costs. This means that having their spouse angry with them for not performing well at their job, or having a boss yell at them can be more inviting than having a stranger tell them no. The fear of failing at the task can sometimes even lead to the person not performing the task at all, thereby failing, but avoiding the rejection with failure.

The key to overcoming this hesitance to act on what we know is leverage. You must build the right leverage in your own mind in order to do what you know is necessary. In order to do that, simply write down all the negatives of staying in the situation you are in (not selling and presenting and calling). Then, write out all of the positives of accomplishing your goals. Once you have done that, then write out what you will feel like when you win, and then what you would feel like if you lost.

By taking a little time to write out the positives and the negatives, you can build enough pain and enough pleasure to move you to right action. If you are finding yourself not implementing the things that you know and know you need to do, then build leverage in your mind. I would encourage you to write the top 3 positive attributes of the successful you on a card and the top 3 negative attributes of not becoming the successful you on the opposite side of the card. Carry this card with you for 2 weeks. Read both sides first thing in the morning, beginning with the negative and then ending with the positive. Repeat this process in the middle of the day and then again right before you go to bed. Your subconscious will begin to change you into the new person you want to be.

Try it and let me know what you think. I believe you will be astonished at the positive results that you achieve!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
www.myjudolife.com
www.jodynholland.com
www.murfsystems.com
(806) 355-5567 office

Winners operate uncomfortably!

2011-09-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

Winners always seem to do well outside of the normal comfort zone. Jody Holland

"I am just not comfortable asking people for money."
"I am not comfortable in front of a group."
"I am not comfortable with taking risks in business."

Whatever the phrase is explaining why a person is not taking action, you can bet that it actually comes back to whether or not they can operate outside of their comfort zone. A person can use any excuse that they want to as to why they are not succeeding. Regardless of the excuse, the lack of success still remains. In order to be successful, you have to learn to act in spite of your comfort, or lack there of.

I can hear myself talking, in my own head, about how I don't want to be seen as pushy. I have used that excuse in order to not promote what I do repeatedly. When I realize what I am doing, in sabotaging my own success, I stop myself and reframe the thought. Instead of saying I don't want to be pushy, I ask whether or not I have something of value to offer. If the answer is truly yes, which it is, then I try to imagine how I would feel if someone had the answer to my challenges in business, yet refused to give them to me.

I would be upset if they had the answers and kept them from me. I would be annoyed if my problems could be solved with new information or training, yet the person who had the answers did not value me enough to share them. More than anything, when you are learning to operate outside of your normal comfort zone, you need to be able to see the situation in a new light.

Reframing your thoughts allows you to take a different perspective and see how you really can help another person. Varying your perspective puts you in a position to be helpful when you might have been withdrawn, to be of value when you might have been silent. I want to encourage you to find one area that is outside of your comfort zone that you can look at differently today.

How can you reframe your thoughts in order to bring success to others as well as yourself?

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com
www.myjudolife.com - Ask About The Book - It can help!
(806) 355-5567 office 9am - 5pm M-F

Bite Off More Than You Can Chew!

2011-09-21T07:42:00.001-07:00

"I have always admired the ability to bite off more than one can chew and then chew it." --William DeMilleOne of the key characteristics of successful people is that they seem to always bite off more than they can chew, but somehow, they still chew it. Pushing yourself beyond what your know limits are is an exercise in management called "stretch assignments." Just because you have never done something or even if you tried and failed in the past, that does not mean that you can't do it now. One of the most irritating things that I have dealt with over the years was being on non-profit boards and having to listen to people 20 years my senior tell me that an idea will never work because someone tried and failed at that back in the 1960's. I say, so what! Just because someone else has failed at it does not mean that this current group of people will.Can you imagine if we stopped trying things as soon as someone failed at it? Our world would be absolutely pathetic if we did. We would never have had NASA. We would never have had cell phones, automobiles, clean drinking water, flush toilets, the light bulb, or electricity for that matter, flavored coffee, higher education, or virtually anything that we take for granted as normal today. I know people who have failed at writing, so nobody should write anymore. That is not logic! That is fear. A life lived in fear is no life at all.Successful people look fear in the eyes, cock their head slightly, and display and sly and defiant grin, then take massive action. They act in spite of fear. They take on projects that nobody else wants because they know that it will be next to impossible. They climb mountains in business because people have told them that they can't. They do what others will not. That is the reason they are successful. If you look around this country, we don't see now what we used to see. We don't see people saying, YES I WILL RISK IT ALL! You see people wanting a safety net before they risk. You see them wanting guarantees in their businesses. I can't say that it is all their fault. We have conditioned them in this direction. We have bailed out businesses when they had overspent. We took the risk out of large capitalism. I want the risk back. I want banks to look at entrepreneurs and think they are slightly crazy, but admire their guts so much that they give them the loan anyway. I want young people to look at life like a warrior would.I want them to square off with their day, take on more than they can chew, then chew it up. I want to see them smile at the end of the day because they accomplished what nobody thought they could. Remember, nobody ever steals second base with their foot still on first. Take some risk!My challenge to you today is to take your day and choke a victory out of it, especially if people don't think that you can. To Your Success!Jody N Hollandwww.jodynholland.comwww.murfsystems.com806-355-5567 officejodynholland@gmail.com

Culture Beats Strategy...

2011-09-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have always found it amazing to watch the amount of money that gets pumped into an organization's strategy in hopes that the perfect strategy will make everything better. I have seen amazing products flop. I have seen unbelievably funded companies go bankrupt. I have seen people try to force their people into success, only to realize that they can't make that happen. There is a reason for this.

The culture that exists within an organization has a tremendous amount of influence. In fact, I would say that it has the ultimate influence of the organization's success or failure. If you have a great culture, then your people will be engaged at work. If your people are engaged, then they will put the success of the company ahead of their own success. If they put the company's success first, then they will innovate, work harder, sacrifice, and find ways to ensure that the company succeeds. None of that comes from business strategy though. It comes from a great culture.

The foundation of a great culture is have the RIGHT interpersonal and management skills developed. These are the skills that enable you to be adaptive in your management style and connect with people at the right level. Unfortunately, these skills are not taught in most universities. We teach accounting, marketing, and yes, even strategy. However, it is your ability to connect that will make you a success on the job or you inability to do so that can cause you to fail.

As the generations continue to shift away from the thinking of the Baby Boomers and towards the philosophies of the Gen-Exers and Millenials, I predict that culture will become more and more vital to the success of every organization. I also predict that companies who do not embrace and value their people will go down kicking and screaming. As we come out of the recession, those companies who reverted to mistreating their people under the guise of having them "pay their dues," will lose their talent the quickest.

Look at Google, Apple, and Southwest Airlines as just a few top examples of great cultures. Their focus is on how to make sure their people have what they need, as much of what they want as feasible, and the right environment to be creative. It is no longer about the top dog calling all the shots. It is now about the top leader supporting a vision that enables creativity and success. Notice that I said "enables." You can't force it. You have to "lead" it.

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com - This Is The Website
www.jodynholland.com - This Is The Blog Address
www.myjudolife.com - Ask About The New Book
(806) 355-5567 office

If it was easy...

2011-09-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Michael Gerber, in his book, The E-Myth, talks about how people often get into business for themselves as the result of an entrepreneurial seizure. They don't necessarily plan for the success of the business and they definitely do not have the right resources laid out for their success. They simply woke up one day, looked at their boss, and thought... I can do better than they can. And, voila, they cash in their 401K and try their hand at business. I think that this is why so many people who go into business end up going out of business.

You need to go into business with your eyes wide open. You need to realize that it IS hard work. It IS long hours. It IS sacrifice. Most importantly, it is a journey of self-discovery. If you going into business with the idea of being open to learning, changing as you need to, and discovering the best path to success, then you can find it. If you go into with the idea that you already know everything that you need to know, then you will most likely be miserable and eventually not be in business for yourself any more.

There are three key components to ensuring that your business is successful. The first is having a coach or a mentor. I put this before having a plan because you need to have someone who has already messed things up and learned from that you can lean on. This coaching relationship can be a paid relationship or simply someone who wants to help. I have found that you get the most honestly and the best results on the paid side though. That is my experience personally. You can also get the needed coaching and mentoring by going through training programs and/or seminars that target the skills you need to acquire. The second component is a plan. Your plan does not necessarily have to be from the latest business plan template program. It does need to account for how you will manage, market, sell, and service your business and customer base. Just having the better mousetrap no longer works. The third component to your success a moldable mind. You have to be willing to reinvent yourself on a regular basis. Your market, like the world around it, is going to change. Not wanting it to change makes no difference to the market. Montgomery Wards, Service Merchandise, and thousands of other companies did not want things to change for them. They did though, and they will continue to change.

If you have those key components, you will be on the path to success. It does take hard work to get there. But, if you are doing what you love, you won't tend to notice that the work is hard. In my first several years in business, I worked an all-nighter an average of once per week. I only do 3 to 5 of those a year now. I do put in more than 40 hours of work per week, every week that I am working. I don't believe I am working too hard. I am not upset about the hours that I work. I love what I do because it is what I was designed to do. It is my passion! When you are doing what you were made to do, the hard work feels like play.

If you were designed to be in business, nothing else will make you happy. Simply figure out who to go to for guidance, develop a plan, and be willing the become the person that embodies success!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

MuRF Systems

(806) 355-5567 office

www.murfsystems.com

www.jodynholland.com - My Blog

www.myjudolife.com - My New Book

Why is it that we continue to expect more from technology and less from each other?

2011-09-13T07:05:00.001-07:00

The title of the blog is my question for you today? I believe that with each generation, we have gotten more in tune with how to connect away from each other and more out of tune with how to connect face to face. With 93% of the interpretation of messages being non-verbal, it is no wonder we have so much miscommunication these days. We are using the skills that we learned by watching our parents and teachers and friends, yet we did not have the same parents, teachers, and friends as the people we are managing, or being managed by.The events and experiences that you had during your youth put you in the position you are in right now with the knowledge and skills that you have right now. The fact that some of you reading this had a cell phone in high school and others would not have had any idea what cellular communication would be all about at that time indicates the difference. For traditionalists and baby boomers, they would talk face to face, express themselves in letters, and spend a great deal of time reading the responses of other people. For gen-exers and gen-y, they would spend a great deal of time figuring out how to talk on everything from party lines to IM, social media, and texts. They spent an inversely proportional amount of time communicating through technology from their older counterparts.I remember hearing my father tell me how ridiculous texting was and how if someone had something to say to him, they just needed to call him. Now, he is embracing that technology. He loves to text. While, as a gen-exer, I do love technology, I also recognize the pitfalls that it presents. It is ridiculously easy to avoid human contact when we want to. It is easy to have an excuse that technology is simply more efficient. The danger is that we are dulling our abilities as humans to effective interact on a personal level.When we counsel and coach our employees, we are often less effective at reading their body language and adjusting our message to ensure that we achieve the change we desire. When we look at interpersonal training, we often see it as frivolous because we have things like extended data plans that need our money and attention. No matter how you slice it, though, business is still about relationships. It is still about our connection with others and the depth of interaction that we are able to deliver. If we are incapable of depth with our interpersonal skills, then we are simply a commodity. I don't know about you, but I want to be a valuable asset to my clients. I want to be the person that they can trust and rely on. I want to be effective at my interactions with each of the leaders that I deal with. I do NOT want to be the king of technology. I want to be the master of relations. I would encourage you to practice one of the oldest and most effective management techniques in the book. I encourage you to practice MBWA today. Management By Walking Around will help you to re-engage with your people, connect at a deeper level, and build the trust that is absolutely necessary for their full engagement on the job.To Your Success!Jody N HollandMuRF Systemswww.jodynholland.comwww.murfsystems.comjody@murfsystems.com(806) 355-5567 office

A Life Examined...

2011-09-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

"Life unexamined, is not worth living." --Democritus

I remember taking martial arts as a young person. My instructor would say to us... "The more you sweat, the less you bleed." It sounds a little harsh to say out loud to a nine year old, but it set me up to realize that the more focused I was on being prepared, the easier the battles of life, or a tournament, would be. The objective in life is to win, right? But, what is the definition of winning? If we take the time to examine ourselves and the path that we wish to travel, then we can adapt our lives to fit with where we want to ultimately be.

We have to examine ourselves in the following areas...
--Personal Growth and Development
--Professional Growth and Development
--Relationships
--Financial Status
--And Physical Health

Often times, we will look at only one or two areas of life, step back, and say, "Wow, look at how good I am." If we don't seek out balance in our lives, we will not ever truly enjoy success though. Just being financially successful isn't enough. If you have no depth in relationships, you simply become a self-centered, miserable rich person. Take a look at each of the five areas and ask yourself...

1. What am I doing to grow in this area right now?
2. What do I need to start doing that I am not currently doing?
3. What do I need to stop doing that I am currently doing?
4. What do I need to keep doing that is working?

It is ideal to watch these five areas on a weekly basis. Examine your life from an outside, objective perspective. Try to remove your emotional attachment at the time of examination and simply be honest with yourself.

The most dangerous words that a person can ever say are... "I already know that." There is always something that you can learn. If you are not willing to listen to others, then you cannot grow. I did say CANNOT. You can only grow if you are open to examination from yourself and from others.

Plus, people who think they know it all are really annoying. Wouldn't you agree? I challenge you to ask yourself the four examination questions this week on each of the areas of your life. If you just want to think through them instead of writing them out, that's alright. Just take the time to examine so that you will truly have a life worth living!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com
www.murfsystems.com
(806) 355-5567 office
jody@murfsystems.com

2011-09-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

It is who you think you're not that holds you back. -Jody Holland

Where we end up in life has more to do with our lack of self-confidence than our lack of ability. I have caught myself saying things like, "I would like to do great at that, but I am not a professional ____________." That self-doubt creeps in and begins to strangle the creativity and confidence that should be thriving at that exact moment.

I have wanted to write a book, but for years convinced myself that I was not an author. I have written hundreds of pages of training and hundreds of articles. Despite the fact that I had already done what I was afraid to try, I still allowed that doubt to infiltrate my psyche. So, what do we do about the demon known as doubt.

Well, my advice is we get aggressive. We pull out a Chuck Norris roundhouse directly to the nose of self-doubt. In other words, we hit it head on. There are different ways to handle this, but I have found that modifying my perception of the thing I am afraid of works very well. How do you do that? Good question...

The answer... Put yourself in a relaxed state, close your eyes, and then imagine the very thing that you are afraid of, allowing the emotions to well up inside you. You know the ones I am talking about. They are fear, self-doubt, hesitation, and the like. Imagine going through with the act and how scary it could be. Once you can fully feel that fear, play the scene backwards. See the whole thing backwards, going in reverse through the fear. Then, put a psychedelic background in your picture and play it forward again. Then play it backwards. Then change another aspect of it. If there is someone in your vision who is contributing to the self-doub, make them look like the Disney character, Goofy. Now you have a Goofy doubter with a psychedelic background. Go ahead and throw some prom music into the scene as well. Then, play it backwards at half speed. Keep doing this back and forth with a new change each time, different speeds, and multiple variations. Pretty soon, you will no longer be able to see the scary scene in your mind the way you did before.

Often times, you will end up laughing at the thought that used to scare you. This would be the equivalent of taking the needle on a record (google playing 45's for those under 25 years old not into all things retro) and scratching it back and forth until the record no longer plays. You are simply screwing up the negative record in your mind.

Now, record the right record. Visualize yourself doing what you now know that you can do, and see it succeeding beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The next step for you...

Take some action!

To your success,

Jody N Holland
www.jodynholland.com
www.murfsystems.com
jody@murfsystems.com
806-355-5567 office

You could be more than you are...

2011-09-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that." --Goethe

So often, we treat people as they are right now without regard for what they are capable of becoming. If we take the time to imagine a person's potential, that vision will guide us to developing them into so much more. I remember when I was young, I always wanted to compete with people that were better than me. By doing this, I pushed myself to improve and grow. When I competed with people that I knew I could beat, I didn't work as hard.

When we look at our employees, we need to see them for who they could be and then equip them with the skills to get there. If we are not continuously investing in their future, they will become stale and often disengaged. For some reason, people often imagine that their team will grow on their own, whether they are pushed and developed or not. While there are a few people that will seek out the resources to grow, they are not the norm.

A strong leader knows that building up their team is their main priority. A strong team knows that they must push each other beyond what the known limits are and see how far they, as a team, can excel. We are capable of more than we are demonstrating. We are capable of tremendous levels of success. We just need someone to see that in us and treat us as if...

My challenge to you today is to go out and find ways to push yourself and your team to higher levels of achievement.

To Your Success,

Jody Holland
www.jodynholland.com
www.murfsystems.com
806-355-5567 office
jody@murfsystems.com

How To Get Hired...

2011-09-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

This is a web show that I was a guest on. The show is called Hire Presence. It is about a half hour long, but tells a great story about how you find your niche' in life. It is interesting to note that recent research puts 67% of people as being unhappy in their current job and desiring a change.

Video streaming by Ustream

Step 1: Define Your Current Self

2011-08-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

The first step is always the hardest. The truth is that we often want to think of ourselves as the person who is doing everything that we can do in order to be successful. If the economy was better, if we had a different leader, if our company would do better marketing, if, if, if, then we would be in that place of success. It is not our fault that we are who we are and where we are. All those statements do is ensure that you will stay in the place that you are in. I would imagine you picked up this book in order to make sure that you got to the place you wanted to be, not to stay in the place that you already are.

So, here I go... My name is Jody and I am fofnoficator. Fofnoficator - a person who has a fear of failure and therefore has a tendency to put off showing his work to the rest of the world out of fear of what they might think of it. I said it. I said what has held me back. Just like making any other change in our lives, we have to first define who and where we actually are.

If you are unwilling to be honest with yourself right here, right now, then you will stay in this version of your life. Keep in mind, you can be anybody that you want to be, but you have to know where you are starting.

When I was 15 years old, my father took a job in Abilene, TX, moving our family about 5 hours from where I had lived since the summer before 2nd grade. This was a big move, but an exciting one. I was excited because I realized at the moment that my father told us about it that I would have a chance to redefine myself. I had come to terms with the image I had of myself and the image I had allowed others to have of me, but I didn't like it. I knew what image I wanted for myself. So, I intentionally created the new me when I moved during my Sophomore year in high school. I did that because I did not like what I had created and wanted to create something new.

As I write this, I am thinking about who the current "me" really is.

I am an entrepreneur that has spent an inordinate amount of time feeling like I need someone to help me be successful.
I am a writer who loves to get my thoughts on paper, but is afraid of putting them out to the masses for fear of their negative reviews.
I am a sales person who worries about the rejection that can happen in the sales process and often takes the easy road and just has a conversation instead.
I am a person who know exactly what to do in order to be successful, but chooses not to do what is required. Instead, I often do menial tasks to fill my time, knowing that they will not help.

Wow! That felt a little like getting my butt kicked...by me! I, just like you, have to come to grips with what I am doing that is holding me back from the level of success that I know I can attain. I want you to take a minute and write out 3 to 5 realities of who you are and how it is keeping you from attaining the success you have espoused that you want.

______________________________________________________________________
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My belief, and the belief of a number of self-help gurus out there is that success begins in your mind, specifically in what I would call your residual self-definition.

You have a subconscious blue-print for success, failure, or mediocrity. It is based on the programming that you have enabled and even endorsed in your mind. You have allowed stimuli into your subconscious via your conscious mind that has shaped you into the person that you are right now. It is the programming that has to change. My very first computer programming class that I took in college talked about this very thing. My professor said, garbage in, garbage out. It is not the code. It is the coder. Code only does what you tell it to do. It has no emotion or feeling tied up in behaving in a certain manner. It only carries out what it was instructed to do. Your subconscious is that software code for your life. What is it that you have told it to do?

______________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________
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I am a student of the successful. I want to know how a successful person thinks, what they believe, and how they attain what they have. You have to study people that are where you want to be or beyond. You can't study people that have not made it when you are looking for the formula for success. If you want to know what not to do, then by all means, study the people you would consider to be failures (by your definition). There is merit in both.

When you look at people who live in poverty versus people who live in abundance, you see one major distinction. You see a thought pattern that promotes one or the other. We have a tendency to live into our self-defined value. If you want to make more, you must first see yourself as worth more. I want to be clear that truly wealthy people are honest, ethical, wonderful people. If you think diffently, you will not likely make it to that level. There are people who make a lot of money that are unethical, but they also almost always lose it.

How do you define you?

Knowing And Doing Aren't The Same

2011-08-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Lots of people know what they are supposed to do, but only a few are willing to do what they must to succeed. --Jody Holland

If you are like most people, you have read books, listened to tapes, and even written out your BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Possessing the right knowledge IS the first step in understanding the path to success. It is not, however, all of the steps. After you understand what actions to take, you must then understand how to put those actions together in a way that leads to results. The following formula will help you move down the path to success.

1. Acquire the right knowledge on how to succeed in your area of expertise.

2. Learn how to put that knowledge into right action in order to propel yourself forward.
3. Measure the results of your actions.
4. Quit doing what doesn't work!
5. Do only the things that produce positive results.

The key to a program working for an individual is to make it simple, implementable, and measurable. Right knowledge, plus right plans, plus right actions, plus right measurement, equals right results.

The truth is that most of us have at least some idea of "what" we are supposed to do. We just need to know how to organize that knowledge, implement it, and reap the rewards. I am confident that if you will learn the right processes for implementing something that you are already amazing at, you will enjoy the success you have been dreaming of.

If you would like a complimentary strategy session (via phone) with me, just let me know. I would be glad to invest some of my time in you and your future. I will spend an hour with you and will help you establish a strong direction for your future.

To Your Success,

Jody Holland
806-410-0375
jody@murfsystems.com

Depth equals height...

2011-08-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

If you intend to reach great heights, you must first have great depth. --Jody Holland

We see people every day that rise and fall in what this world defines as success. We see them take, manipulate, steal, lie, and force their way into financial success. We see those same people alone, mistrusted, and often unaware that they are the root cause of their troubles. They may have something that is of value, but that is not what life is ultimately about.

Most of us have heard the saying, "you can't take it with you." Whether we like it or not, it's the truth. At the end of game, all the pieces have to go back in the box. All we are left with is the memory that people have of our behaviors, our results. The depth that we have is reflected in how we behave, but it is not the behaviors that are our depth. Our depth comes from the programming that makes up our belief systems.

You see, your beliefs lead to your thoughts, which lead to your actions, which lead to your results. You cannot change your results until you go back to the fundamentals. You have to take a look at how you formed the belief systems that you have. If you are the kind of person that seems to always lose their money, there is probably some subconscious coding that leads to that. Did you see your parents or a mentor do really well and then lose their money, and then do well, and then lose their money? If so, you were simply programmed to think and behave in that way.

There are ways to increase your convictions in an area by learning first to forget what you were programmed to believe and then accepting new code. The same is true of your ethics, your managerial behaviors, or any other behavior set that you wish to change. There were a set of codes that you accepted that make up your belief systems. If you can identify why you feel the way you do and think the way you do, where it came from, then you can begin to accept new thought patters, forming right beliefs, and therefore attaining right actions.

I conduct more extensive training on the topic and show business people how to modify that code. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter and would love to have you in one of my training programs.

You and I will be remembered for the way we interact. Regardless of how nice the preacher or priest is at our funeral, people will judge us for our depth, for our programming, and for our results. I challenge you to focus on a key relationship today. Focus on what programming you have that is making your life good or bad. See if you can identify where the depth in your thought comes from in connection to your relationship thoughts. Then, see if it is the depth you are looking for.

To Your Success,

Jody Holland
www.murfsystems.com
jody@murfsystems.com
806-410-0375

Accountability Leads To Results

2011-08-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

There is an old Zen Saying, "There Are No Excuses."

When it comes to accountability, there really are no excuses. That doesn't stop people from trying to make up excuses, but there are none, there are only choices. As we go through our lives, we are a sum total of the choices that we make. Each choice leading to a consequence or an outcome. If we choose to sacrifice and get an education, then we end up with a college degree and different career opportunities. If we choose not to get a college degree, then our career opportunities are different.

So often, people will say that they did not have a chance in life. This is virtually impossible for me to believe. I do believe that some people have a tougher time than others, but everyone has a chance. When I see a person born with no arms or legs who has a career as a motivational speaker, or a girl who has her arm bitten off by a shark and still dominates in surfing competitions, I know that they made a choice to be successful, regardless of what was going on in their life or what their circumstances were.

Psychologically, there are only two ways that a person explains what is going on in their life. They will attribute their situation to either internal attribution, or explanation, or external attribution. When we explain things internally, we are saying that we have control over our environment and we are empowering ourselves to make choices. When we say that our circumstances are externally attributed, we are saying that things are outside of our control and that we have no possibility of a choice. We are making a choice though. We are choosing not to keep control of our situation.

With our employees, with our kids, with our coworkers, we can set up a scenario where they are more likely to accept responsibility by demonstrating the right leadership and management qualities. This does take a choice to learn what to do and to keep someone coaching you, but it is your choice. When someone does something that they should not have done, we need to ask them to walk us through the steps that they took to get to the outcome we are at now. We want them to start from the beginning and let us know about each step/choice along the way. We then need to know at what point they could have made a different choice that would have lead to a different result. By them identifying the choice they "could have" made, we are able to get them to establish the idea that they "had" a choice. Next, we want them to explain the choice they "could have and should have" made in order to attain the right results. And finally, we want them to explain to us what they will do in the future to ensure the right results.

By following this process, we are able to create accountability in others. The key for all of this to work, though, is that you must be willing to be held accountable yourself. If you are not willing to accept responsibility for your actions, behaviors, and outcomes, no amount of telling others to do it will work. Demonstrate what you wish to receive and you will have a high likelihood of receiving it.

What will you choose? Will you choose to be accountable, or will you choose to give up your freedom to choose? The choice is yours. It always has been!

To Your Success,

Jody Holland
806-410-0375
www.murfsystems.com
jody@murfsystems.com

A Generation X Perspective...

2011-08-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

I will be writing a series of character introductions for my next book series. The series will be based on the research that MuRF did for the Buddy-2-Boss Training program that we implement with companies around the world.

The first character that I will introduce you to is Todd. Here is his introduction, as presented by him.

Geez, that guy ticks me off. It is Saturday morning at 8:31 AM. I told Robert that I was going to sleep in. Besides, it's Saturday. I shouldn't be working today anyway. Let me just recap the little conversation for you. The phone rings, my wife smacks the crap out of me to answer it, and I roll over in an obviously sleepy voice, I say "Hello."

"Todd, this is Robert and I was going over some of the numbers that you outlined for the marketing campaign coming up next month."

"What time is it?"

"Are you still sleeping?"

"Yes Robert. It's Saturday, my day off."

"I don't get you kids. I have been at work since 5 this morning. If you want to be successful, you have to put in the hours."

I can't tell you how many times I have heard him say that. The problem is, I always get my work done on time. I am, by my standards anyway, pretty successful. I am the director of marketing for Robert's Car Company - Thompson Ford. Robert owns one of the largest Ford Dealership Chains in Texas, with 22 locations around the state. There are bigger ones in the U.S., but not just in Texas. I responded, "Robert, you hired me because I get you the results you want, not because I wake up early on Saturdays." I knew this slightly annoyed him, but I was not going to destroy my personal relationships just to work. Work was and always will be a way to earn enough money to live happily. It is not who I am.

"Anyway kid, I think you are off on your projections. There is $15,000 in here that you plan to use on a website or something. We just redid our website last year. That doesn't make any sense."

I was awake by now and had taken the phone into the other room so that Julie could get a little more sleep. She had been running our kids around all week and she pulled slumber party duty last night for our oldest's earned party. Julie and I had been married for 12 years as of last month. We have two daughters, 7 and 9 years old. They are great kids. Faith is the oldest. She is into gymnastics, her education, writing stories, and getting as much attention lavished on her as possible. Janice is the youngest, named after my mom's sister (my aunt). She is into cooking, taking care of her baby dolls, and generally being as sweet as sugar at all times. Anyways, back to the story.

"No Robert, that is not the website. That is for advertising on Facebook. It is a social media site. We are able to target specific demographics on the site with ads. We only pay for the ads when people actually click on them. I am projecting that we will get around 10,000 people to click on our ad next month in our respective markets. It is $1.50 per click. If this works, we will get significantly stronger returns on our money spent that we have with traditional billboard ads. The market is showing that it is people closer to my age that are upgrading their cars and trucks more often than older generations. Even with that, FaceBook's fastest growing population segment is between the ages of 50 and 65. There are currently over 500 million people as registered users on the site."

"I don't know what the heck you just said. I think my grandkids are on FaceSpace. They are always wanting me to give away my personal information for the whole dang world to see."

I tried to suppress my chuckle. My brain was firing the right way now. "It's FaceBook, not FaceSpace."

"If this doesn't work as good as the billboards, you know you are responsible."

"Yes sir. I am confident that our return on investment will be better."

"Alright, I guess you can go back to being lazy. Are you coming into the office later?"

"No sir. I will be hanging out with Julie and the girls today. Besides, I generally do my most creative work while you are sleeping. I have remote access from my Mac here at the house."

"I think I need to take some of your foreign language classes" he said with his best chuckle. And with that, he let me go back to my Saturday.

I would like to point out that I am in no way, shape, or form, lazy. I work as hard, or harder than anyone else at that dealership. I simply don't spend 30 hours a week standing around watching other people work. I do my work and I leave. My father put in 80 hours a week, every week. He used to sit me down and tell me not to do what he did. "You need to have some balance in your life, son" he would say. "Don't work the hours that I do for a lousy gold watch after 30 years." I actually listened. I also witnessed the demise of corporate loyalty to the employee. Loyalty was limited to the almighty dollar. Everyone who did not attract the dollar was disposable. It shouldn't surprise me. Everything in our society is now disposable. Kids today have no appreciation for having the same bike for 7 years, or taking care of the 20 total toys that you had to play with for your childhood. They have hundreds of toys.

I guess every generation goes through that. We don't get the values of the other generations. Oh well, it was time for some breakfast. I was up, I might as well make pancakes. I'll see you back here soon.

Roll with the punches!

2011-08-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

"God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how." --Henry Ward Beecher

We are going to hit a few red lights on the highway to success. We may even hit some pot-holes and every now and then get a speeding ticket. Whether or not situations will happen that we don't like is really kind of irrelevant. The reality of my life, and probably yours, is that bad stuff does happen to good people. Good stuff does happen to bad people. Good and bad happens to everyone. How we handle those situations in life will determine whether or not we end up where we wanted to go on life's highway, or we end up making a lot of wrong turns.

I love the old saying, "You've got to roll with the puches." I like it because it is what we ought to do, but not what we often do. In a fight, if you move in the same direction as a punch, it lessens the impact of the punch and allows us to recover more quickly. In juijitsu, it is the art of using the other person's momentum in your favor. You would not want to throw your face directly into an oncoming punch or kick, would you? I didn't think so. However, many people, in business and in life, will create tremendous opposition in order to try and get their way.

The funny thing is, with more interpersonal interactions, people are not actually opposing one another in their ideas. If we will take the time to listen, roll with the punch, then we will be able to redirect a person's energy, uncover what they are actually looking for, and work with them for us to both get our needs met. If we fight against them, we will often find that neither of us gets our needs met in the end.

When bad stuff happens, when people seem oppositional, slow down and listen, discover what the needs are, roll with it, and end up winning!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
www.murfsystems.com
jody@murfsystems.com
806-410-0375 office

Be Aware of Your Weaknesses

2011-08-01T08:28:00.001-07:00

"If you are aware of your weaknesses and are constantly learning, your potential is virtually limitless." Jay Sidhu

At some point, we seem to have bought into the idea that the more we move up in an organization, the more we have to deny any weaknesses. You see it regularly with top executives, the highly educated, and even the self-made successes. They are not great at something, so they surround themselves with people who will tell them that they are. Business suffers, and the leader blames the people around him or her, yet never looks at their part in the whole process. When someone cannot admit their weaknesses, it has more to do with their lack of self-confidence than anything else. Don't get me wrong, they usually have plenty of ego. They simply do not have enough self-esteem. A lack of self-esteem will cause people to hide their weaknesses, blame others, go on tirades, and generally try to make others come down to their level, instead of building people up.

Someone who has the right levels of self-esteem will feel good about themselves even when they know that they don't know something. Even if they are not as good at something as others are, they will be confident in who they are personally, and they will seek out ways to learn and grow. If you find yourself needing others to come down to your level of self-esteem instead of you pursuing ways to build up others who are better than you, then you may want to take a step back and evaluate things.

We are limited only by the impositions we place on ourselves. We are capable of levels of success that would astound us, IF, and only if we are able to know what we are not good at, admit it, and work on it. I remember hearing a story about an editor in New York City that misspelled a word in the paper. Instead of admitting his mistake, he forced the paper to spell it "his way" for the rest of his career there. The mistake there is thinking that nobody will respect you if you admit a weakness or a mistake. The truth is that today's followers want to know that you, as a leader, are real. They want to know that you are aware of who you really are. Otherwise, the example that they will follow is one of being fake. If that happens, you will never know who you can really trust

Make a list of 5 things that you need help with from other people, or things that you need to learn. Then, find a way to grow in at least one of those areas in some way today!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com <http://www.murfsystems.com>
http://murfsystems.blogspot.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems <http://www.Facebook.com/murfsystems>

Control Costs, don't Cut Them!

2011-07-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Cost Cutting Does NOT Work in business

Okay, I know what you are thinking. "But, we have to cut costs. That's what the CFO said." I have been in those meetings, you have been in those meetings. Most top level executives have. It is the meeting where the CEO or CFO comes in upset and says that everyone WILL cut 10% from their total budgets. So you dig. You dig to find out if you have non-essential personnel. You dig to find out what equipment can be duct taped together one more time instead of replaced. At the end of the day, you are stressed out, upset, and unappreciated.

The reality is that we should control, not cut, our costs. There are a few ways that this can be done. Let's look at them now.
1. Have an effective management process in place. This would mean that each person's performance and productivity should be monitored on a regular basis. Managers should be coaching, counseling, and reviewing daily. This means that you would need to invest in your leaders on a monthly basis. Most companies will do "A" management training and expect that to fix all of their problems. It won't. Training and development is an ongoing process, not an event. If you are not investing regularly in your people, your ROI on their performance will consistently go down, not up.
2. Only people who fit your performance model should be hired. This is taken care of by using the right hiring process, or by using a proven outsourcing company. Someone who does this every day and this particular area is their focus can immediately take off the pressure. If you keep it in-house, then you need to be sure that you are using a proven hiring model. This would include pre-hire testing, background checks, effective history verification, behavioral interviewing, an objective pre-hire rating system, and a conditional offer process. It sounds a little more daunting than it is. When we make one bad hire at the executive/management level, we are tossing between 150% and 400% of that person's annual salary in the trash. That is a lot of money to waste, just to speed up a process. For a $10 per hour employee, we are tossing around $8500 if they turn out to be the wrong choice. These are numbers that can be tracked to the bottom-line. They are NOT soft costs.
3. Outsource the department. One of the advantages of outsourcing an entire department is that you can structure your agreement where you pay a specific amount each and every month. The cost of turnover, management tracking, etc. will all be on the outsource company. I have found that this is a GREAT option when the area that is being outsourced is not how you primarily make your money. You would not want to outsource the management of your ER if you are a hospital. But, outsourcing your food service, maintenance, security, housekeeping and any other non-clinical area makes sense. The turnover, hiring, management, development, and every other part then becomes the responsibility of the outsource company. Your costs are set. They are predictable.

I have used outsourcing in my own company for years for the things that are not a core part of what I do. If you find the right company, it makes your life SOOOOO much easier!

Companies waste money on turnover

2011-07-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

Companies waste money every day on turnover. By not taking the time to hire the right person, develop their managers, and learn from those who are leaving, bad turnover happens. Take a look at today's video blog and learn what the causes of turnover are and what the actual cost of turnover is for losing a $10 per hour employee.

Go screw something up!

2011-07-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." --Bishop W.C. Magee

I love this quote! I think I love it partially because it helps me feel better for the hundred or so times that I have made mistakes, and partially because of the depth of its truth. I have found in life that if you are unwilling to look a little dumb, then you are unwilling to take the necessary risk to find success. Whether it be trying a new sport, trying a new type of business, or simply trying to improve your skills in your current business, you must take a risk.

I read a book a while back titled "The War Of Art." This book was written by the same author who wrote "The Legend of Bagger Vance." It was a great book in that it pushed you to realize that being artistic is as much about combining discipline with risk as anything else. Waiting for inspiration is like waiting for the winning lottery ticket to be delivered to you without you even requesting it. It isn't going to happen! The author explains that in order to be successful, you have to put yourself out there.

"The Legend of Bagger Vance" was his 45th book to write. Nobody was impressed much with the first 44. But number 45, now that was a great book and a great movie! What would have happened though, had he said, I am going to wait for the right inspiration, or I don't want people to think I am no good, and they did not like my first book, so I will quit. We would not have had the joy we received from his later work.

Don't be afraid to do something that others will not like or respect. Don't be afraid to screw something up. Don't be afraid to look like a fool. The only thing I encourage you to fear is what loss you would have from NOT trying.

Now... Go Screw Something Up!

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
murk Systems
jodynholland@gmail.com
www.murfsystems.com

We are what we think!

2011-07-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

"We become what we think about all day long." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is one of those sayings that has been changed up from time to time and used to prove a fairly consistent point. Wherever you put your focus, that is who and what you become. If your obsession is just with money, then you will be known as the person who cares only for money. If you obsess over being right, then you will be known as the person who cares more about being right than about the people around them. Regardless of the direction of your thought, if you are obsessive in any direction, you will be known for that obsession.

Just like the things that we eat, or the way that we interact, we must be balanced in our thought. You have family, friends, a spiritual life, a work life, and your personal time. If your focus is lopsided, it will detract from all of the other areas. If you balance your focus between the areas of importance, then you will find peace and balance in your life. I have talked to countless executives who have become burned out because they are focusing almost exclusively on work and they can clearly see that all of the other areas of their life are suffering.

I do believe that hard work is a positive thing. But, hard work and long hours are not the same thing. Working hard means that you set attainable goals that stretch you, but don't break you, and you find ways to stay engaged and reach those goals. It also means that you know when to shut it down. With each of us, there is a point of diminishing returns in working hours. For some, that is at 40 hours. For others, that is at 50 or 60 hours in the week. A lot of it depends on where we are in life and what is in those other areas of our lives.

My question for you today is... What do you spend your time thinking about? If you are able to think about family when you are with them and work when you are there, that is fantastic! Do you have the right balance between the areas of your life or do you struggle with that?

To your success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.facebook.com/murfsystems
http://murfsystems.blogspot.com

Let's just keep the good ones...

2011-07-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

Common sense would tell us that we would be so much better off in business if we only hire and retain the good people and let the bad ones go. However, we don't actually operate with as much common sense as we would like. As humans, we make a large portion of our decisions based on emotions, which become our justified logic. Unlike Spock, from Star Trek, we are a bundle of emotional choices, wrapped in our collective experiences, and seasoned with the values that have been developed in us over our lifetime. This would mean that we are both predictable, and often irrational in our choices.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, talks about the premise that we must get the right people onto the bus, in the right seats, and the wrong people off. We often forget the last part of that teaching. We forget that there does come a time to allow those who choose not to perform to have the opportunity to excel at another organization. Instead, we have a tendency to put the majority of our efforts into saving the 20% that have no intention of being saved, while sacrificing the 80% that want to grow. My belief is that we should invest in the people who want to succeed.

In virtually any organization, you can break down performance into three groupings. You have the performers who make up 20% (roughly) of the average workforce, the acceptables who make up roughly 60% of the average workforce, and the unacceptables who make up the bottom 20% of the average workforce. When you are building your workforce, you have three places that you can positively impact your workplace success. You have the hiring process, the development process, and the purging process.

The hiring process should consist of using the right psychometric testing, combined with effective behavioral and group interviewing, and should be topped off with a conditional offer of employment. I will go more in-depth into this process in an upcoming blog.

The development process should involve effective evaluation, surveys, coaching, and training. If you simply train, but never evaluate where a member of your team was, is going, and should go, then you will never know if the training was worthwhile. You should give yourself a starting point by using good performance evaluations, along with 360 evaluations and employee surveys. Redo these tools after three to six months of training to see if the knowledge is sticking.

The purging process is the tough one. If an organization is really doing performance evaluations and doing them the right way, then they should know who the performers and unacceptables are. Those who have chosen not to perform should be coached, then counseled, and then terminated if they continue to choose not to perform. Performance is a choice that each of us makes. While I do see that performance is easier for some than it is for others, it is still a choice. You will want to follow your company's policy on how to let someone go. Most importantly, you want to also remember that each employee who chooses not to perform is letting themselves go.

Managers spend the majority of their frustrated time coaching and counseling people who don't want to perform. The problem is that they don't move into termination often enough. I absolutely do not encourage the threat of termination. I only encourage the right process that leads to people who don't want to perform for you going somewhere else.

Believe me, they will not be shocked when they are given the opportunity to leave. They are actually more shocked that you keep giving them a cost of living raise when they know they haven't earned it.

Keep checking back for more articles on hiring, development, retention, and right-sizing!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems
www.youtube.com/jojodogfish
http://murfsystems.blogspot.com

It has to be fun!

2011-07-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." --Dale Carnegie

I often look back over my career and think about the things that I have done, the things that I have tried, and the choices that I have made. I have measured my success by one basic premise... Was it fun? Each person will measure their success in their own way. I happen to have chosen fun as my marker. The way I figure it, anybody can get a job, but only a few can create fun in their job. According to research conducted by Career Builder, roughly two-thirds of all employees are miserable in their jobs. My question is... Why?

Why do we work in jobs that make us miserable for people or with people that we cannot stand? How many people have dreamed of starting their own business, but haven't because of the risk, and instead give up a piece of their sole in exchange for safety? How many people wanted a certain job but did not go for it because they were told that they needed to stay put. I remember a t-shirt that I purchased my senior year in high school that was put out by Nike. It said on the front... You can't steal second with your foot on first. It was referring to baseball, and ultimately to life.

There is a tremendous thrill in going for a goal. There is excitement in trying something new. There is joy in the pursuit. Being an entrepreneur, to me, is about the freedom to create the life that I want. It is not about the money. It is about the creativity, the enjoyment of working with some great people, and the opportunity to define my own success on my own terms.

I do put in the hours. I do work hard. I do discipline myself. Even more importantly, I do have fun! What have you don in your work world to have fun? What have you done to bring enjoyment to your day along with success? Don't spend your time being miserable! Spend it finding ways to enjoy the pursuit of happiness at work and in life.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
www.murfsystems.com
http://murfsystems.blogspot.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems
www.youtube.com/jojodogfish

Don't Spoil What You Have!

2011-07-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you have was once among the things only hoped for." --Epicurus

I used to play a game with my close friends as a kid where we would decide what we would do if we had a million dollars. I remember thinking that I would buy a mansion in the mountains, sports cars, fancy clothes, take vacations, and live like a king. I thought a lot about what it would be like to be rich. I worked to buy nice stuff starting at an early age because I thought that those things would make me happy.

Jim Carrey was quoted a couple of years back as saying, "I hope everyone gives up everything to achieve everything they have ever dreamed of, to be rich and powerful, so they can see that it isn't the answer to their happiness either." The world tells us that in order to be happy, we have to be unhappy with where we are. I have learned that happiness and stuff do not go together.

Happiness is a choice that we make about who we are and where we are. We are happy because we value the things that we have and still pursue making ourselves better. We find ways to improve without putting down our current situation. When you evaluation your life, what is it that you are, or should be, thankful for? What are your gifts and accomplishments? What do you hope to accomplish moving forward?

The key is to keep the right perspective. When you allow yourself to be unhappy with your present state, you cannot see any of the good from your past. When you focus on the good from your past, you are motivated to create more good for the future.

Epicurus saw the paradox of life that it is your attitude that determines whether or not you spoil your present and prevent your future, or capture the beauty of the present and ensure the success of the future.

What will your attitude about you be today?

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

The Starfish and The Spider

2011-06-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

I recently read a book titled "The Starfish and The Spider." In this book, the author discusses the way that organizations are set up and why one way works for certain goals and the other way works for other goals. When you look at the level of control that you need in your life or in business, I see that the structure of your organization needs to reflect your need for and lack of need for control.

Think about a starfish. If you were to take a starfish from the ocean and cut off one of its appendages, it would simply grow another one. There is no central nervous system in a starfish. One appendage has no effect on the others. Now think about a spider. If you were to cut off one of its legs, it would impact the spider as a whole and a new leg would not grow in its place.

Organizations are much the same. When you build an organization that has lots of autonomous parts, the organization can grow fast, but you can't control it. When you have stringent control in place for the organization, it often grows slower but in a much more predictable pattern.

Do you remember the movie "The Fight Club?" The terrorist cells that were set up as a result of Tyler Durden's efforts were a representation of the starfish model. You could eliminate one cell and the others would be just fine. There was no snake to cut the head off of. Nobody owned fight club. It just existed.

Look at your organization and identify the ways that it is either like a starfish or a spider. Many times, organizations start with a starfish mentality because it is a lot cheaper and then try to force the spider model. This makes the autonomous members mad and often drives them to pursue other organizations to be a part of. Organizations that start in the spider model, rarely try to switch to the starfish model because they began with control and intend to keep it.

I would encourage you to get the book and read through the examples that the author presents. From the Apache's to Al Queda, to Wikipedia and Ebay, you will see examples of starfish and spider organizations as well as a way to create a blended organization. The book was both engaging and enlightening.

I hope you enjoy!

Jody N Holland
Motivational Speaker and Writer

Let's throw money at the problem!

2011-06-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

In practical conversation, we look at the idea of throwing money at a problem and scoff. We know that problems do not fix themselves and that wasting money doesn't make anything better. Yet, how many times have we seen an organization do something like that and have it not work, and then do it again, and have it not work, and then do it yet again? Small and medium sized business decide that their image is why people aren't buying, so they build a big office with all the trimmings so that people will "think" that they are successful and spend money with them. Large companies spend millions on color schemes for their logo, assuming that a $4 million dollar color change to the logo will make everything better. The truth is that you have to spend money on the right things and avoid the bad ones in order to make change.

Most of the time, when you are spend inordinate amounts of money on something, you are buying ego, not results. If you are going to buy marketing, new equipment, or anything else for that matter, make sure you are buying what will help you actually increase your business. Remember, it is your people that make up your company, not your building. If your people are solid and engaged, then others will flock to you.

It is no longer about building a better mousetrap. It is now really about building a better team in order to find success. The IBM ad in the blog today is an example of how dumb it even sounds to throw money at a problem.

Link to YouTube IBM commercial: http://youtu.be/CZmHDEa0Y20

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

MuRF Systems

www.murfsystems.com

There's No Such Thing As Business Ethics

2011-06-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

I first heard the saying, there's no such thing as business ethics when I was 16 years old and working at J.C. Penny & Co. in Abilene, TX. I heard it used to justify the way leaders made decision. I heard it again when I finally watched the Godfather, only in slightly varied form. Place some cotton balls in your cheeks and then say with your chin sticking out... "It's just business!" I have heard politician after politician say it in different forms to justify their illegal, unethical, immoral, or just plain stupid behavior. Richard Nixon announced vehemently, "I Am Not A Crook!"

Our downslide into moral chaos in this country did not start with the Millenial generation. I do believe that this younger generation of workers is often shocked when they are held accountable, but they are following an example that was set for them. Look at the recent ethical debacles. What generation was in charge at Enron, Health South, MCI WorldCom, or a host of others? It was most Baby Boomers, the driven generation. This generation has been significantly more flexible in their ethical interpretations than generations before, or after them.

I would argue that if you don't have ethics, nothing else matters! You will eventually get caught. You will eventually forget what your set of lies were. You will eventually be taught that cheating people does not make life better, not even for you. But I also do know this about human behavior. Those who do not have a good moral compass will continue pretending and will justify in their own mind that they deserve the good they believe they are getting from cheating people. They will justify and rationalize that they really are good people. They will cheat on billings. They will lie to people to try to control what they want them to know. They are crooks. They just have not been caught yet. Or, at least they have not been caught yet this time.

Everyone will eventually answer for who they are. So, I would agree that there is no such thing as business ethics. There is only "ethics!" It does not matter where you are. Your ethical stance is WHO you are.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems
www.youtube.com/jojodogfish

Merely a flesh wound...

2011-06-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

I just watched a clip (see bottom of post) from Monty Python and the Search For The Holy Grail. It is the one where the Black Knight is protecting the passage over a bridge that Arthur needs to cross. They eventually battle and Arthur cuts off his arms and his legs. The Black Knight never slows down and just keeps pushing for a fight. It is a really fun clip, but also can have a lessons in it.

When we have set goals for ourself, do we fight like the Knight or do we run at the first sign of trouble? In know as well as anyone that things will not always go our way. I am sure deep down, the Black Knight was thinking, "Well, that was not at all what I had planned for my day." But bad stuff does happen. Things get off course. People get mad at each other. Businesses even at times fall apart.

The thing to keep in mind is that it really is merely a "flesh wound." The business, the goal, the plan, none of those things are who a person is. Those are simply objectives or roles that we play. The bigger picture is that we can wake up each morning and define who we are and what we have to offer. We define our own meaning. The Black Knight absolutely defined himself in this clip as invincible. To him, that obviously meant never quitting, regardless of any circumstance.

I hope you enjoy the clip as much as I did!

Link to the clip: http://youtu.be/zKhEw7nD9C4

Ceasar was right!

2011-06-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

"As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can." --Julius Ceasar

I have had lots of problems in my life, most of which never actually happened. I don't know about you, but I spend an inordinate amount of time worried about things, or more accurately, potential things. I worry about that difficult conversation with a family member. I worry about what a client is going to think if I need to shift a schedule. I worry about having that counseling session with an employee or coworker. I worry about all of these things, that honestly, tend to work out alright.

Why is it that we fear what people might think or say? Why is it that we waste our time, energy, and emotions on things that probably won't be that bad. Why is it that we worry about what people think, when we don't like them anyway, when we don't know them, when we might not ever even see them again? These are questions that I am not sure I have the right answer to.

What I do know is that I always feel better once I face my fears and take control of the situation. In leadership, as in life, we are continuously in need of self-confidence (not arrogance), a solid direction, a plan, and a purpose. We tend to feel truly out of control when we give those things up to another person.

My challenge to you today is to take control of your emotions, your thought, and your life. Make a plan that takes you toward YOUR goals. Stop allowing other people control of your thought and your emotions. If you will do that, you will find it much easier to stop worrying about what you cannnot see and stop focusing on your vision of success that is right in front of you.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

Independent Thought

2011-06-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

Another great video from Michael Wesch... I think that traditional education presents some major challenges in that it does not promote thought, but primarily the submission to what is said to be right. We need more independent thought and less simple acceptance of standardization. Today's education was designed during the industrial revolution. It was put out there to teach uniformity and conformity. If we want our world to change, we must think, not submit.

But this idea has always been dangerous to those who need others to need them. You see the control types continuously in business and even more so in government. They espouse that they want to help those who need help. They create programs that put people in a position to be "taken care of" but in such a way that they cannot seem to get out of the cycle. In business, they hoard information and prevent others from having what they truly need in order to succeed. They tell others what to do and think that is leadership. They try to force their will and throw tantrums when they don't get their way. They call it defending themselves, but it isn't really that. Having people around you who can, will, and do think is not always easy.

Having creative thought around you though, is the only way to truly innovate. If you are afraid of people being smarter than you, having more information than you, or not fitting into your mold, then this video will probably annoy you. Take a look and let me know your comments.

Perseverance

2011-05-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

"A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer." --Norwegian Proverb

I have learned as much about success in life from being beat up as I ever did in my victories. I remember clearly the day that I tested for my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I had worked out three hours per day, six days per week, for years in preparation for that day. I had fought thousands of fights, broken bones, separated ribs, bruised, healed, and bruised again. Even with that preparation that I had done, I knew that I would be taken to the edge, and maybe beyond, of mental and physical exhaustion. The test, before fighting, had been three and a half hours long. We had done forms, techniques, bag work, and aerobic work. They wore us out before they tested our will. Next cam 20+ straight minutes of fighting. They changed out black belts every couple of minutes, while I stayed in the ring. At that point in the test, you only finish through will power and determination, not through might.

I spent 20+ minutes getting pouched and kicked, and getting back up, getting knocked down, and getting back up. Had I given up, as some do, I would have failed and not received my black belt. I focused on achieving that goal and being the kind of black belt that I would look up to. I wanted to be the one who never gave up. This lesson has helped me more in business than any of the schooling that I received. I am not discounting my education, but I have seen countless talented people give up when they were so close to turning the corner and winning. I learned that there are three (3) things that you need to do in order to be a success and win in life.

1. Never quit learning: Never stop studying you competitors/opponents and never stop improving your art. Whatever field you are in, there is more to learn. Watch what other successful people are doing and learn from them. If you ever sit back and think you have arrived, you will most assuredly get knocked on your butt!

2. Don't be cocky: Never think that you are better than everyone else in the market. Cocky people overestimate their ability and underestimate their opponents. Assume that others are better and that you must work harder in order to succeed.

3. Get back up: When life knocks you down, when times are tough, when things look at their worst, get back up. You never know when you are one move away from victory. You never know hen you will be able to knock out your competitor. You never know when you are at the finish line. Regardless of what comes your way, remember it is not the smartest, most talented, fastest, or biggest that win. It is the one who will GET BACK UP ONE MORE TIME that will ultimately win!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems

Common Sense Vs. Leadership

2011-05-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

I titled this one Common Sense versus Leadership because the two often seem to be opposed in action even though they should be headed in the same direction. All you have to do is watch leaders today for a short while to realize that Dr. Phil was wrong... In their minds, it IS about them. They often care more about their own egos than the success of their people, or sadly, even more than the success of their organization. Here are three lessons that common sense should teach us that we could apply to leadership, but we often don't.

1. Being innovative attracts great people and sparks a great culture. Having to be right, sparks disagreement and mistrust. Look at the most innovative companies on the market today. Companies like Google and Zappos thrive on the idea of trying things that nobody else has done. As a result, they have a waiting list of innovators that want to go to work for them. Innovation is not just from one person. It is from a culture. This is not a generational thing. This has always been this way. If you shut people down with your ego, you lose their contribution.

2. Learning never stops. Regardless of how old you are, you will never know everything. There is always more to learn. Many Baby Boomers believe that knowledge is power. They have, at times, misinterpreted what that actually means though. They believe that when they have information and prevent others from having it, they create this reliance on them and therefore become powerful. Think about that for a minute. If you have a team that is supposed to be successful, then the more information the team has, the better off it is. If you prevent the team from having the information they need, then you prevent the team's and ultimately, your, success.

3. Performance, not existence, should be rewarded. If we give everyone across the board raises, regardless of their performance, you will successfully demotivate your top performers, decrease the output of your average people, and surprise your non-performers. Common sense would tell you to support what you want more of and punish what you don't want more of. Cost of living raises do neither of those.

Mark Twain was once quoted as saying "Common sense just ain't so common any more." He was right. People need a common sense leader. People need someone who will think through things before jumping off in any particular direction. People need someone who makes sense, not someone who is obsessed with being right, with having people bow before them and kiss their ring, or has some twisted need to have others praise them so that they can feel good about themselves. People need a leader who cares about them, who wants them to have a great life, not just do a great job. People need a leader who believes in them, builds them up, invests in them when times are good, corrects them when things go wrong, and supports them in the tough times. Common sense will tell you that being the leader is not easier. It is in fact, much harder, and requires more sacrifice than any other position.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems
www.youtube.com/jojodogfish

Crowd-Sourcing for ideas

2011-05-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

With the advancement of social media in and out of the workplace, the world has changed significantly. You see contests, challenges, and all kinds of opportunities for people to attain the 15 minutes of fame. Crowd-Sourcing, as opposed to Out-Sourcing is the next best thing for small business owners.

When you are seeking a new logo, a new tag-line, or just a way to better promote your product, you can have other compete for the chance to be featured by your organization. The larger your social footprint, the better this tends to work. For example, if you are... let's say Subway, and you are looking for a way to promote your $5 footlong special, you might have people upload their YouTube, home-made videos for you to compare. You pick the best one, and keep all the others, as well, and pay $10,000 to the winner. You have 1000+ people trying to promote your product and you drastically expand your social net. Now there are 1,000+ YouTube accounts promoting the $5 footlong. Your cost was around $10 per video. Not a bad return on investment. Had you offered people $10 per video, you would not have gotten the same response.

You also, by default, get exposed to hundreds of truly talented people who have ideas about how to build your business and help you grow your market.

If you have ever thought about outsourcing, maybe you should first look at "Crowd-Sourcing" to get new ideas.

To your success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.youtube.com/jojodogfish
www.facebook.com/murfsystems

People Quit People, Not Companies!

2011-05-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Employees Don't Leave Jobs—

They Leave Poorly Trained Managers and Supervisors

It's an old saying, but it's true. Wouldn't it be great if all your managers could motivate employees as well as your best managers do?

MuRF Systems has done just that. MuRF has taken the best of the research from the last 40 years of looking at why people perform within an organization and broken it down into the functional skills of a great manager. The misconception that many people have is that because someone is good at a basic skill, they will be good at managing people who need to have that basic skill. The reality is... doing and managing people who do are two drastically different things!

MuRF Systems provides just that... a New Way to Train Your Managers…

Offering leadership training for your managers has tremendous ROI value in retention, motivation, and productivity, but leadership training has been a challenge up until now—how to assemble the budget, the people, the time—it often seemed impossible. But now, the training comes to your employees one at a time. All they need is a computer with a dsl Internet connection speed. No travel; no day long group meetings; no expensive trainer....just a computer and person willing to learn new skills or hone old ones.

Buddy2Boss

This series of courses provides all of the content needed to bring any willing participant up to speed on those skills needed to lead a team.

Courses:

Generational Differences
Motivating Employees
Effective Communication
Corrective Counseling
Conflict Resolution
Coaching for High Performance
Problem Solving
Team Building
Personal Goal Setting
Work-Life Balance and Time Management
Group Decision Making
Ethics in Business

MuRF Systems E-learning is essentially the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. If your employees can sign into their email accounts, they can sign up for E-learning through MuRF Systems. Why not take a test drive of this most efficient way of providing leadership training for your most important employees. Why not start today to curb your turnover, increase employee performance, improve morale and put a smile on the faces of your employees because their managers are truly inspiring them to greatness.

Give us a call today at 806-355-5567 or drop us an email at info@murfsystems.com.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

Your Social Footprint and Business

2011-04-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

I once heard a web developer describe throwing a website up on the internet as being "just as effective as a hand painted sign on a farm-to-market road." Sure, there will be a few people that find it. But, will the right people find it and be motivated to do something about it?

Having a website is only part of how people find you and connect with you. You have to have a "social footprint" now. You need to have your business connected through multiple mediums. You need a website, one that is content rich yet easy to navigate. You need a Facebook page. Right now, 10% of all internet traffic in the U.S. is on Facebook. This usually starts with you creating a page and inviting your friends to either "like" it or become a "fan" of the company. The key to pulling off a successful Facebook page is to NOT sell. You have to offer something of value, whether it be wisdom, coupons, discounts, or simply connection. If you are "cool," then people will like you.

Think about the creator of Facebook. His premise behind the site was to finally be "cool." The goal is share in experiences. Your "social footprint" is determined by the number of connections, both in-bound and out-bound with your organization. LinkedIn is professional networking. You join groups, or start one, in order to collaborate and contribute. You blog in order to share insights and build trust with people. You contribute first and then, once people know and trust you, then you offer a chance to buy from you.

Frank Kern, master internet marketer, says that you have to have at least four meaningful connections with a person before they feel that they can trust you. Don't expect to start a blog today and have a book deal tomorrow. Start a blog and start connecting in order to offer something of value to others. Once they have gotten tremendous value from you, then doing business with you only makes sense.

We are living in the information age. More new content is put onto YouTube every day than the "Professional Media" doles out in a week, and often more than they deliver in a month.

In order to make your social footprint manageable, it is a good idea to connect your social media accounts. By connecting your LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger accounts together (The Big 5), then when you post something on one account, it updates all of your accounts. This makes you seem significantly more active and increases your presence in each of the social mediums.

Since we are talking social connection, I would love to have you do the following...
1. Go to http://www.linkedin.com/in/murfsystemscom and check me out on LinkedIn
2. Go to www.facebook.com/murfsystems and check me out
3. Go to www.youtube.com/jojodogfish and check out my videos.

I would love to have you connect with me, like, me and follow me. After all, that's what creates a social footprint and that's what makes me "cool." :-)Connect To My Network

The Power of Goals

2011-04-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

Did you realize that only about 3% of Americans write out their goals? Of those who write them out, more than 90% of those goals are achieved! That is astounding to me. The reality that the written word can make such an amazing difference is mind-boggling.

In recent years, there have been a number of authors who have expounding upon the idea of attracting success, attracting wealth, and become a magnetic for good things to happen. This is not a new concept. It is a repackaged concept. W. Clement Stone, Andrew Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and a host of other influencers from the past have all said the same basic thing... We will find what we are looking for. So the question is... What are you looking for? Are you looking for a way to be rejected? Are you looking for people to want to do business with you? Are you looking for the good, the bad, the positive, the negative, or something in the middle?

If you will do some very simple goal setting, you will begin to see what it is that you truly want. This process takes 7-10 days to flesh itself out. You will start with some 3 by 5 or 4 by 6 notecards. On the blank side, divide the card into four (4) quadrants. Write Life in one quadrant, year in another, month in another, and week in the final one. Then, write down three (3) things that you wish to accomplish in your life, then year, then month, then week. On the other side of the card, write down your daily to-do list.

It does not matter if the goals are the same from day to day. What matters is that you do the exercise every day. If you do it in the evening, write down your daily goals for the next day. If it is in the morning, do it for that day. Keep each of the cards and review what you put down after 7-10 days. Look for patterns in what you are doing daily to see if it leads to what you wanted for the week, month, year, and for your life. If what you are doing daily does not lead to what you want for your life, then change what your daily habits are.

You will also start to see what keeps popping up for your life and for the next year. As you evaluate those things, begin to look for ways for those goals to be met. You will find that the more you review the goals, the easier it is for those goals to be met.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF

Prospecting into HR...

2011-04-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

This particular blog post is targeted toward people who sell into the HR arena.

Prospecting – Sales prospecting is the art of finding potential business. Prospecting can be done in a number of ways. The key is to prospect in places where people exist that may want to buy your products or services. As you look at how you build your business within your local area, you have to accomplish the following 3 things...

1. Look in places where people can buy from you.

2. Contribute or give back - be involved!

3. Ask for referrals.

In order to find prospects, let's start by seeing where to look. A Google alert is one of those ways.

Google alerts - if you go to www.google.com and type in Google alerts in the search window, you’ll find information on how to use the alert system. You could, for example, set up an alert for new HR directors in New Hampshire. This would then create an alert where you will be notified any time a new HR director in New Hampshire is put onto the web. You can have it search the entire web, blogs, news, or other feeds. Another way to prospect is by being involved in networks.

You should also look at places where decision makers hang out, or what things they participate in. If decision makers eat at a certain restaurant, you may want to eat there as well. If they volunteer with the United Way, you may want to do the same. The key is to focus on how to turn up the "right" people for growing your business.

Next, you must contribute or give back. As you look at different areas to be involved with, think of the networks that you are or could be connected with.

Networks - there a number of different networks and associations available for you to be involved with. Some of them are very worthwhile, while others just take up your time. The key is to know which is which very quickly. Many Chamber of Commerce events are really just leads groups. Measure what you get from the groups and only go to the things that actually help you. If a particular meeting type is targeted towards just trading business cards, it may not be the one for you. If, for example, the Chamber has a group for small business owners, this would be ideal to be involved with.

The Society of human resource management is another great network. You will have a local chapter of SHRM in your area. Find out when they meet and attend a meeting. The key to being successful in networks like this is to be involved, but not typically in charge. HR directors can be an interesting group. They have a tendency to look at people who are not HR directors and believe that you’re not as good. We have found that being a support person, or someone who stands up and talks at seminars, whether that is as the introducer of speakers, contest announcer, or simply as an entertainer, this is a great way to go. If you can be on the committee and assist an HR director, you can develop a great relationship. Your goal in the network is to give something of value to the network. By doing so, you build the trust that is necessary to get appointments.

There are leads groups, small business groups, entrepreneurial groups, and CEO groups. Regardless of the type of group you get involved with, you need to be involved. You cannot sit around and wait for people to come to you. It simply does not work that way.

Third and finally, you need to ask for referrals. Your best prospects always come from doing a great job for you clients and THEN asking for referrals into other companies. Don't ask for referrals from someone who is not interested in doing business with you. If they are not sold you, they will not likely sell you well to the referral. When asking for a referral, it is always best to have the person giving the referral send an email and copy you on it. This opens the door and makes it much easier to follow up. Most of the pressure is off of you at that point.

Communicating Change

2011-04-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

There are 3 key components to effectively communicating change. The mistake we often make is that we assume that because we are good with the change, that others will also be good with the change. You have to be able to answer 3 basic things...
1. When... When will this change happen and when will the change need to be implemented by?
2. Why... What is the benefit of this change? If you cannot explain why the change is happening, it is usually a bad idea.
3. Process... What is the process that we will follow for implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of the change?
This leads to the end result. Once change has been implemented, it is critical to come back and evaluate whether or not it actually got us the end result that we were looking for. Take a look at this video to get a quick overview of communicating change.

There isn't just one thing!

2011-02-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

There really is no magic bullet for success. There are a host of things that one must do in order to ultimately achieve the success that they desire. There is a basic framework though that put you on and keep you on the right path. This framework consists of three simple to say, sometimes hard to do principles.

1. You must have a belief in yourself and you product/service.
2. You must take action and pursue your goal, not be passive and wait for it.
3. You must be disciplined enough to evaluate yourself and your project, change when necessary, but keep going no matter what.

If you don't believe in yourself, it really doesn't matter what you do, you will fail. If you put forth the negative vibes of failure, then you will look for that failure in everything that you do. Things that help are using affirmations, reading self-help books, and repeating to yourself what a few of your great qualities are. An example of this would be... "I am consistently putting forth effort that brings me results."

It is almost always the active folks that cross the success finish line first. If you are a passive person, you will tend to wait on others to take action and then see what you might do to jump on the band wagon. If you are an active person, you will tend to take the reigns of life and push forward regardless of the circumstances surrounding you.

Discipline is the elusive, yet crucial element of success that no person can succeed without. If you find yourself in a position where you look at the things that need to be done and then sigh and turn away, then you are a person in need of discipline. Self-discipline is the art and act of doing what must be or ought to be done even when others will not notice. It is the ability to take action and then receive motivation.

Even though there will never be just "one thing" that will make a person successful, there is a framework for success that you can live by. Take the time to evaluate yourself and see where you land in the 3 pieces of your success framework.

To Your Success!

Jody N Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

Step 2 To Effectiveness in Business - Plan To Win!

2011-02-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

Those who have no plan to win will often achieve just that... not winning.

It may sound silly to some people, but the reality is that many people who go into business don't really "plan" to win. They have an idea, maybe even a brilliant one, and they take action on the idea. They don't lay out what it will actually take every day to get there though. They think, "hey, I am good at crafts, so I will open a craft store." Then, they jump out and open a craft store, sinking ALL of their available cash into the store with not plan on how to pay for it until it is profitable, or even how to make it profitable. There are three (3) key components of your winning plan. They are...

1. You must have a way to attract business.
2. You must have a way to sustain business.
3. You must have a way to manage business.

In order to attract business, you must have a presence. This can be through marketing and advertising, websites, etc. Or, it can be through networking, direct sales, and relationships. Most people rely on "old-school" marketing. They build a website and place an ad in the yellow pages and wait. To be honest, with the marketing competition in today's world, if you are going "old-school," you may as well hand paint a sign and put it on a farm-to-market road. It will get you about the same attention. We have now switched from word of mouth, to world of mouth advertising. Your social network and their potential influence are your greatest assets in attracting business. According to Good Morning America, Justin Beiber getting a hair cut caused 80,000 people to be stop following him on Twitter. He made it big as a singer because of his talent and YouTube. His friends told their friends, who told their friends, and the whole shaggy haired singing went viral.

In order to sustain business, you must have a way to service your clients and you must have something to provide on an on-going basis. Servicing your clients is more than just making sure your product works. It is really about staying connected enough to them that they feel that you are a part of their organization. If you are not a part of their culture, you will not be there long. I can't imagine drinking generic Dr. Pepper, not because it is really that different in taste, but because drinking Dr. Pepper is a part of how I define myself. It is my consumer culture model. I strive to have my clients say that they could not imagine using any training company but mine because the MuRF team is a part of how they define themselves.

In order to manage business, you must un-learn, learn, and re-learn business. There will not ever be a point where you actually know it all. Anyone who says that they know everything that there is to know about business forgot the business rule that the game is always changing. We manage business by staying a step ahead of the trends. We save money in the good times, live wisely in the slow times, and put our focus on taking our business to the next level, whatever that level is for us. As soon as you get to the point of "resting" in business, you will only manage to go backwards. Perhaps the most difficult part though is managing ourselves in business. It is easy to do the easy things. It is difficult to do the correct things. If you want to manage, then read and learn. If you want to kill the business, then assume you know it all.

By not taking the right steps and following a plan in business, people are simply setting themselves up to fail. Many people actually go into business to "Try" to succeed. The one consistent thing that I have seen in great entrepreneurs is that they have NO backup plan. They are there to win at this game, and there are no other games that are possible for them. Remove the idea of falling back on something else and you learn to focus your efforts more intensely on what you are doing now.

I wish you all the best success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

Step 1 To Effectiveness In Business...

2011-02-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

In order to succeed, one must always begin with a picture of the "end-game." --Jody Holland

In order to find success in business, your job, or almost any other endeavor, you have to begin with the end in mind. If you don't know where you plan on finishing, you will likely run in the wrong direction. For many business owners and entrepreneurs, this is known as their "exit strategy."

Life is a gamble. We take risks every day in order to move forward, upward, and onward. You can, however, minimize the level of risk if you can think in reverse. This process involves defining what your success points are and then working backwards to identify each of the steps along the way that must be achieved. If you can use your deductive reasoning skills, then you can identify what would have had to happen in order to reach each milestone. As things change or obstacles arise, you simply work from the next milestone back to where you are, at the obstacle, and identify what else will have to happen to stay on the path.

There are times that you change your definition of success or what the view of the end-game is. If that is the case, work back again and redefine what it will take NOW. An exercise that has always been helpful to me is to define in the present tense what that end-view is like. If it is 5 years out, write out...

Today is February 18, 2016 and my company is worth XXX, my employees are XXX, etc. You are thinking in the present tense in order to make it real to both the conscious and sub-conscious portions of the brain.

I would love to hear about what your picture of success looks like. Leave me a comment with what you are seeking to accomplish or what your technique for future-visioning is.

To your success!

Jody Holland
MuRF

Success Principle 12 - The Little Me Needs To Die Principle

2011-02-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Each of us has two sides to "self." One is in charge, but the other creates our world. --Jody Holland

Some people refer to the duality of self in terms of the conscious and subconscious minds. The subconscious mind carries out orders, creates the world around us, and determines our fate. Tbe conscious mind gives the instructions to the subconscious mind and "programs" it for either success or failure. Just like a software program, if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. What we listen to, what we read, who we hang around, and the what we ultimately accept are programming languages that we use. If you have bad code, you get bad software. Accepting the negatives in life as real will put you into a place where you end up spewing negatives back out.

If you spew enough negative on the people around you, they will react in the way you expected them to in the first place. The funny thing about our minds is that the mind will initate your actions in order to get the result that it was looking for in the first place. John Lubbock once said, "We get whatever we look for." So the question is, what are we looking for?

The easy way to determine what you are REALLY looking for is to look at what you are getting. If you want different results, you have to play a different game. For the next week, only 7 days, see if you can think only positive thoughts. Notice that I did not say that you should only say and do positive things. I said "think" only positive thoughts. This challenge is just as difficult for me as it is for anyone else. It does make a difference though.

The little me is the conscious mind that tells me that I cannot do something, that people don't like me, or that I am not good, fast, smart, tough enough. This is the "me" that needs to die! I want the positive me to live and the negative me to die. What part of you is it that needs to die? Can the right attitude do the trick for you? I think it can!

To your success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems

Success Principle 11 - The Warrior Principle

2011-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." --Sun Tzu

Everything that we face in this life is a battle. Some battles are easy to face, while others are difficult to even show up for. It is often not the midst of the battle that we fear, but the anticipation of the battle. We fear the idea of facing challenges, the idea of rejection, the thought of whether or not we can succeed. Some people even face the fear of what they will be like if and when they do succeed.

As an entrepreneur, I face the unknown every day. I am unsure of where the next contract will come from, what the next product will be, and even if I will be given the opportunity to continue serving clients.

When I was young and had just begun taking martial arts, I used to worry about whether or not I would get hurt in a sparring match. My instructor told me to change my focus. I was to stop thinking about the past, or the future. I was to simply live in the present moment. If you are able to clear your mind and focus on the next 5 minutes, without regard for the last 5 or the 5 after that, you can find the bliss of being in the now. When a person is building their business, that is exactly what they have to do.

Successful entrepreneurs know what needs to be done NOW in order to be immediately successful. Warriors focus on the present moment, no fear of the future, no regrets in the past, just this time. If you string together enough "nows" then you will find the success you are looking for and a whole lot more. As a business warrior, I would challenge you to identify the things that you must do in the now in order to be successful.

Happiness comes from living in the present moment. What can you do in the next 5 minutes to truly live and to succeed?

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF

Success Principle 10 - The Image Principle

2011-01-28T06:38:00.000-08:00

Image isn't important. It's everything.

I would like to start off by saying that I don't buy into the idea that you have to wear a Rolex, drive a BMW, and dine at the Country Club to be successful. I do believe that our customer/clients have an image of us and our work, and it is that image that is critical. Southwest Airlines is one of the companies that truly understands this. They have deliberately designed their image around fun and engagement. They dress more casually than other airlines and live into the image of fun. This image is obviously not for everyone. I have friends that cannot stand Southwest because they are not serious enough. Southwest's response to such folks is, "Enjoy flying elsewhere."

The image principle works in both directions. You, as a business owner, need to have a clear image of what your ideal client looks like. Our clients will also have an ideal image of us. There are three key components that are consistent in business image, regardless of industry or business type. They are...

1. You need to appear to know what you are talking about. People who go around telling people that they know everything, generally know very little. People should be able to tell that you know what you are doing and that you are an "expert" by your knowledge, behaviors, and outcomes.

2. You need to appear to care for your clients. I don't think you can fake this one. You will come across as uncaring without realizing it if you are not sincere. People who pretend to care are the ones who are really in business just for themselves. They will engage with you deeply until they find out that you can't give them what they want and then they will ignore you. You have to have the best interest of your clients at heart in everything that you do. Put them first, and you will win also. Put yourself first and eventually you will lose.

3. You need to appear to be eager to learn. People love people who are always growing and improving. We are fascinated with the scientist on a mission to discover something new. We are enthralled with the executive who is seeking new ways to make business better. We are impressed with people who are continuously growing and learning. Truth be told, I think we are jealous because we all, at some level, want to live into our fullest potential, and learning is the key to that.

You do not need the rolex, the bmw, and the country club to have the right image with your clients. You may need that for yourself, but not for the client. The image you need to pursue is one that has a deep desire for the client's success based on what you have to offer. By pursuing their success, the client will pursue yours. They will look for ways to give you referrals, to build you up, and the use you more. Just make sure you have the right focus, so that you end with the right image.

To your success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

Success Principle 9 - Cut the Crap!

2011-01-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

I grew up in Texas and heard a number of men say this when they were tired of things being included that should not have been there. The Texas Definition of Cut The Crap: To cut the crap is to stop doing frivolous or pointless activity, to return to only the essentials.

As I look at what businesses are doing on a daily basis, I see so many things that are in place that should not be there. They are there for one of the following reasons...
1. They have always done it that way.
2. It is easier or less stressful this way.
3. They have never evaluated what works and what doesn't work.

Let's go through these real quick. The "we've always done it this way" excuse is a horrible one. As we discussed in Success Principle 8, the world is changing and so should we. Just because something has been done a certain way for a while does not mean that it is done right. Many times, we make decisions based on the information we "had" at the time. When new information presents itself, we must be willing and able to adapt. Seth Godin in his book, Small Is The New Big, talks about the fact that being adaptable is the business advantage that is need to grow and thrive. Google even recognized this yesterday in announcing that the current CEO will be stepping down to allow one of the co-founders to come back in with more adaptability and entrepreneurship. The second one was that it is easier or less stressful. You learn through basic priority management that our tendency is to do what is easy before what is hard, what we like before what we don't like, etc. To be successful, you must be disciplined to do what is right, not what is comfortable. If we are unwilling to do what is necessary for our success, then success is sure to elude us. The third one is that a company has never evaluated what works and what doesn't work. This happens more often than we realize. We will often come up with a plan, execute on that plan, and hope it works out. When it isn't working, we just do more of it in hopes that it will. We can't throw money at a problem. We can't expect things that are never inspected to just work out. We must be willing, able, and ready evaluate and change whenever necessary.

Look at what is going on in your business. What are the things that are not useful? What are the things that are not producing results? What are the things that need to be cut out? I was on 4 volunteer boards at one time almost 10 years ago. When I began to evaluate whether or not this was helping me and my business, it was plain to see that it was not. I, therefore, decided to only be on the board that I actually was passionate about. By eliminating the stuff that was bad for me, and actually bad for the board as well, I was able to be more focused and productive.

We all have crap in our lives that is bad for us, that hurts our businesses, and holds us back. What is it that you need to "Cut The Crap" out of?

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems

Success Principle 8 - The Reinvention Principle

2011-01-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love Service Merchandise as a National Retail Chain? Oh yeah, it's not in business any more. It went out of business with it's head held high believing that it shouldn't change. After all, it had been very successful for a number of years doing what it had done. K-Mart was the same way until it was purchased. Montgomery Wards, Eckerd's Pharmacy, and a whole host of other organizations refused to reinvent themselves. It does not ever end well for the folks that dig their heels in and demand that the world not change around them. Because whether we like or not, the world is going to change.

The key point of the reinvention principle is that your should hold to your core values and adapt your approach in order to continue helping others through your business. You may have to change up your products, their delivery, or the look and feel of the organization in order to stay ahead of or even at times "in" the game. How often have you seen an organization that was at one time the image of greatness, then refused to change, and became the image of stubborn failure? It happens all the time around us. Look at the start of a great company. They are generally great because they are unique, different, and innovative. They invented themselves.

Go three years down the road with that company. Now they are the same invention they were, but there are 1000 other companies that are just like them. They no longer stand out. If they had continued their innovation and creativity, instead of being stuck with their first idea, they would still be the leader. As a company, if you are not continuously reinventing yourself, you will not last.

So go out there and invent, reinvent, and reinvent. Never rest on your laurels! Look at the markets. Fill a need. Adapt to the changing needs or the aspects of that specific need. I believe that you can accomplish it!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
jody@murfsystems.com

Success Principle 7 - The Monopoly Principle

2011-01-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

The winner of Monopoly, like the winner in life, plays to win. The loser just plays. --Jody Holland

Most people have played Monopoly at one time or another. It is a great game. It teaches you about the game of business. In Monopoly, you win by having more ways for people to pay you and avoiding having to pay too many things to others. Wow! That sounds just like winning in life. If you are going to be successful in life, you look for ways that you can maximize your residual and passive income streams.

The grind in Monopoly is to make it around the board and collect $200 for your ability to roll dice. The grind in life is to make it through each pay period and collect what you are due for your efforts. The winner in Monopoly owns properties, ideally all of any one kind (hence the name Monopoly), and then invests in that property. In business, you own your opportunities and you invest in them.

You see, life is a game. No, the winner is not the one with the most toys. The winner is the one who maximizes his or her resources and creates a way to earn increasing amounts of money with decreasing amounts of effort. There will always be people who stick to the grind. Grinding away without a plan for future freedom is not what is typically defined as success though. You have to work hard, make it around the board, invest whatever you have available in your opportunities, and after a few laps around life's game-board, you start to see the fruits of your labor. You start to see your residual income and/or passive income grow without your efforts growing in direct proportion.

So, what game are you playing? How are you playing the game? Are you playing the game to win or are you just working the grind? I would challenge you to find a way to maximize your own talents, put the to work, start a small business, or even a side business. Do something so that you will be on your way to your definition of freedom and success.

To your success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.murfopportunity.com

Success Principle 6 - W.O.W.S.E.

2011-01-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

Your success is not the responsibility of your childhood, your parents, your friends, even you company. --Jody Holland

The resolve that must be made in order to find success is that you will succeed With Or Without Someone Else (WOWSE). Wowse, that can be tough. Most people are looking for others who will "make" them successful. They want their marketing department to put together the perfect campaign that will draw people in and have them ready to buy. They are waiting for their manager to do something to make them successful. We spend so much of our time wanting other people to do something that will ensure our success. It may not happen. That was the message that I got early on in business. Even though I wanted referrals from the Chamber, it might not happen. Even though I wanted my friends who were managers to buy from me, it might not happen. Nothing is assured.

You are the only one that can do what it takes to be successful for you. If you don't have the marketing budget that you want/need, then get creative and figure out how to reach people. If you don't have the sales experience that you would like, then go get it. If you don't know how to do something, then go learn! You can achieve anything that you decide you want bad enough.

I think that the challenge is really that we want to have someone or something else as an excuse for our lack of success. We don't want to have to accept personal responsibility for not achieving what we know we are capable of achieving. It may be easier now to use outside things as excuses, but it is disheartening in the end. You will never truly be happy until you live into your fullest potential. Your potential has nothing to do with anyone but you. So what is it that you will do...

With Or Without Someone Else?

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems

Success Principle 5 - Goals

2011-01-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." --Edmund Hillary

I have the chance to speak with business owners on a regular basis. I will often ask them what their goals are for the next 12 months. I normally get answers like... I want to grow by 10% While growing by double digits is always a good idea, how you will accomplish that is critical to understand before the dream can become a reality. As George W. Bush would have said... "The man is using fuzzy math." We don't want or need goals that are really just hopes. We want and need a solid plan for how we will grow when that is what we want.

In order for a goal to be realized, the steps in the process must be broken down into their smallest trackable pieces. Let's say that your organization did $500,000 in business last year and you want to do $600,000 in business this year. You need to understand how you can get there. The following questions will help you to set attainable goals.

1. What is the total number of customers or clients that you served last year and the total amount of business? Divide the customers into the total business to get the average value of a customer to your organization. For easy math, let's say that each customer is worth $25,000 to your organization. This would mean that you had 20 customers for a total of $500,000 in business.

2. How many customers do you normally lose per year for any reason? Let's say that number is 5 in an average year. This would mean that you need to add nine (9) new customers in order to replace those you will lose and achieve the overall objective of $600,000 in business.

3. How many presentations does it normally take to get a new customer? Let's say you present five times in order to close one customer. That would mean that you need to make 45 presentations to close nine (9) new customers.

4. How many phone calls does it take to get one appointment to make a presentation? Let's say it takes you 3 phone calls to get 1 appointment. This would mean that you need to make 135 calls to get to your 45 presentations, to get to your 9 clients, to get to your $600,000 in business.

5. This would mean that you need to make 2.8 calls per week to get to your objective of 11.25 calls per week, to make 3.75 presentations per month... you get the picture.

The key is to break a goal down into its essential parts. If you know that you can make one call per day and achieve your goal of an increase in business by $100,000 over the previous year, then success is not that daunting. The problem is that most people don't discipline themselves to do the daily activity that gets them to the longterm success. They talk about how people aren't buying, or how the economy is down, or some other reason for not growing.

You can achieve anything you want to if you are willing to break down the goal into daily, trackable activity and perform the critical activities.

Are you willing to lay out the important pieces of your goals and then work your plan? I hope so! You will be happier and more prosperous if you live into your fullest potential.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

Success Principle 4 - The Value of You

2011-01-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.”

-Jessie B. Rittenhouse

The principle of establishing your right value is one that is difficult for people to swallow. Why do some people make $200 per hour and others only $8? Why do you make the wage that you make in life? We make the amount of money we do because we have decided on three (3) things...

1. You are willing to give up "X" in order to get "Y." You have determined how much you are willing to give up in order to get what you want. It generally follows that there is a sacrifice that you must make in order to achieve a high level of success. When the price is too high in a person's mind, then they set their sights lower.

2. You can only bill what you can believe. You cannot bill people for your services more than you feel that they are actually worth. If you can't see the value in the price, others won't be able to either. You have to be able to truly get a picture of the value that you bring to the table for a client.

3. You did not ask. This one is the toughest to accept. You don't get 100% of what you don't ask for. People have to know that you want something before they will give it to you. If you are wanting to make $150,000 per year, then you need to establish that you are wanting that.

Your value is wherever you set it and are willing to prove. You cannot simply say that you are worth a million dollars, and poof, it shows up. That would be the law of delusion. You have to lay out your plan, prove yourself, be willing to sacrifice, and ask for what you want. I have not found a client yet that would pay me without me asking for the money. I expect that I won't either.

Go get what you are worth!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

Success Principle 3 - Suck it up!

2011-01-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Success principle number 3 may sound slightly harsh, but it is the basis for almost all success that a person will have in their life. The principle of "sucking it up" is one of doing what needs to be done and must be done, even when you don't really want to do it. So many people in life fail because they simply won't do what they know will make them successful.

For example, you own a business and know you need to make 5 new presentations per week in order to succeed and you make 5 per quarter instead. Or, you know you are supposed to work for 2 hours per day on your writing and you don't feel inspired, so you don't. Waiting to feel inspired to do something is no way to win in life. Suck it up and take some action! The inspiration will follow. We spend an inordinate amount of time doing everything BUT what we know we need to do to win in life. Why?

From my observation, I think that people do that because they do not take responsibility for themselves and for their future. They are looking for someone or something else to blame when things don't work out. The economy is bad, or people were not there when I called, or whatever you would like to say. I have used some of those excuses myself. The truth is, you have the capacity to accomplish great things. You were intended to be a winner. You were meant to be great. You simply have to "suck it up" and grab the success that is waiting for you.

If you take action, and try, then try again, you have the greatest likelihood of winning. If everything has to be perfect for you to do something, then you won't. You don't have to know everything about a product or service. You don't have to have the perfect pitch. You don't have to get 5 opinions. You simply have to act.

Although the title may sound harsh, if you will tell yourself to "suck it up" and take action any time you start wanting to avoid the best behaviors, you will push yourself to win. Other people may not be able to talk to you that way, but you can get away with it.

Just like any 12 step program, sometimes we have to be harsh with ourselves and admit exactly where we are. Where are you right now? What things have you avoided doing that you know will make you more successful? Will you commit to do them and win this year? Will you "Suck It Up?!"

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
www.murfsystems.com

Success Principle 2 The A.R.F. Principle

2011-01-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

The A.R.F. principle. Things only flow smoothly if you operate with Absolute Rigid Flexibility. Jody Holland

I began using this principle early on in business. I am not sure it was by choice as much as it was by necessity. I learned very quickly that if you try to control everything, then work will control you. The goal of being out one's own is almost always to create personal freedom AND financial success. I, like most entrepreneurs, wanted to find a way to live the dream that had been in my head for years. So, I began working with clients to build the skills of their people.

I found that clients don't always do "exactly" what you prescribe for them though. In learning this valuable, and painful lesson, I discovered that I must be adaptive to their needs and to their desires. They are not there to bend to my will. I am there to serve them. This could mean that during a training on communication, we really need to talk about culture and end up skipping a few slides in my "well thought out" plan. That's okay.

I have found that if I am prepared AND responsive, then we can accomplish what the client is looking for. The same is true, regardless of the industry one is in. If you are going in to buy a new cell phone and the sales/service rep just wants to talk about how cool the iPhone is or the Blackberry Torch, but all you want is a phone that makes and receives phone calls, you will get turned off to the company. If you go to a car lot to look at cars and the sales person "tells" you what you need to buy and then uses the "What kinds payments do we need to get to get you in this sucker today" line, you get turned off. Our clients, our customers, even our friends and family want us to be able to be adaptive.

If you are unwilling or unable to bend, then you will eventually break, or at least be broke. Practicing Absolute Rigid Flexibility, the ARF principle, is how you stay in tune with those that you serve.

I want to be clear that I am talking about being adaptive to needs, not bending your values. When you are adaptive, you are seen as a person who is listening and wants to find what is best for the other person. That builds relationships and creates lasting success.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

Success Principle 1 - The Rest Stop Principle

2011-01-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

The road to success is full of tempting, yet unfruitful, rest stops. Jody Holland

One of the key challenges that I see people face in their quest for personal success is the challenge of when to focus and when to rest. Rest is an essential part of staying balanced. Too much rest, though, is cause for failure. I have seen people over and over again go into business and wait. They wait for people to come to them. They wait for a website to get built. They wait for all the knowledge of the company to soak into their brains. And while they are waiting, they get passed by the competition.

The reason it is called the road to success is because you are intended to keep moving. If you are in the rest stop, you are not making progress. Many sales people fail because they don't GO and see people. Many business owners fail because they don't GO and build their business. Action is the first, and perhaps most important, of the principles of success. Without focused action, there are no positive results.

As you move into this new year, strip away the excuses of waiting on things to happen for you. The American economy was made great by people who took action, not by people who waited to see what the economy would do, or waited to see where the market trended.

So hit the on-ramp for the road to success, put the accelerator to the floor, and MAKE things happen this year!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

Don't live your fears!

2011-01-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Each of us has the option to either live in our hopes or live in our fears. If you will take a few minutes to reflect back on 2010, you will see, like most, that many of your decisions were more predicated on what you were afraid of than what you hoped for.

As a entrepreneur, I think I have a much higher tolerance for risk than most. When I started my business, I had a 6 month old daughter, a new house, and a new car. I was leaving a good paying job. I had wanted to be in business for myself my whole life. I had started several micro-businesses as a young person. I had even been given the opportunity to buy a business at a great price as I was graduating from college. At that point, though, I was afraid of what "might" happen. I was afraid that I would fail. I was afraid that people would not respect me. I was afraid that I would not be good enough. Finally, 11 years ago, I decided that I did not want to be afraid of those things anymore. I wanted to pursue the hopes and dreams I had, instead of avoiding the fears that I had.

To this day, I struggle at times with being afraid of failing, getting hurt, or not being good enough. I hope and dream for a great future though. And, I resolve this year to live in my hopes, not in my fears!

I would challenge you to do the same. Live your life in a such a way that you don't have to look back at the end and "wish" you had tried something. Look back and know that you lived your life the way you intended to, in your hopes!

To Your Success,

Jody Holland

Just Make Time!

2010-12-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

My friend - Elaine Hand is writing a book called... Just Make Time

I have read a number of books on time and life management, but this one is really resonating with me. The problem with most time management systems is that they are really "how to use a calendar" systems. This particular system seems to be more about ensuring that you make time for what is "right" instead of just seeing how much you can cram onto a calendar.

I have been writing a book myself. In writing the book, I have had a number of days that I have wanted to just say forget it, I have so many other things to do. Her simple little phrase, just make time, haunts me any time that I get distracted and begin focusing on the wrong things. I pull my priorities back into view and start plugging away again at what is important.

Look back at this year and see if you have done what is really important. If you haven't, then what can you learn from what you did? What will you do differently in the future?

In honor of my friend Elaine, the following video illustrates the importance of time, and making time for what is most important.

Enjoy and To Your Success!

Jody Holland

3 Keys To Personal Success...

2010-12-21T06:53:00.000-08:00

3 Keys To Personal Success (A small excert from my upcoming book My Judo Life.

1. Accept who you are and where you are. Don’t make excuses or pretend that you were not responsible for this current situation. Each of us is where we are because of a series of choices that we have made in our lives. We can make excuses for our situation all day long, but that does not change the situation. It just allows us to blame something external so that we don't have to feel bad for where we are. The key to accepting responsibility for yourself is to ask the following...

--What part did I play in this situation?
--What lesson can I learn from this situation?
--How can I prevent this bad thing from happening, or make a good thing happen, again in the future?

2. Claim your gifts. You were born with talents and abilities. If you hide them, you lose them. Claim what you have and use it. So often we bury our gifts beneath the surface for fear of what others might think. We don't write that story. We don't sing in front of that crowd. We don't start that business, all because we are burying our talents. There are things in life that you are naturally good at. There are things that you gain energy from doing. Take the things that provide that for you, that help the world, and employ them every day. Be the person you were meant to be.

3. Make a choice. It is better to decide yes or no than to hope for someone else to decide for you. Make a choice in every situation. Be decisive and move forward. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s not okay to give other people control over your future. Make A Choice! Life really boils down to the choices that we make. You can and should decide where you are going with your future and what you are willing to do today to get there. If you sit around and wait, someone will decide for you. You were not meant to be controlled by others. You were meant to choose success!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

Live, Laugh, and Love

2010-12-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

Laughter is the closest distance between two people.
- Victor Borge

So often, this time of year, we forget to slow down and enjoy our time with our staff, clients, even vendors. We are rushed to finish projects and meet year-end deadlines. And if we are not careful, we can all become a bit of a scrooge.

The fastest way to lighten things up is with a simple smile. If you have a culture that stays fairly tense, read some funny stories, or good jokes, to yourself before work for the next week or so. Patrick McManus has some great ones that can keep you smiling all day, maybe even all week. A great culture begins with a great attitude though. Until you have the attitude that looks for the good in the world, it will be difficult for anyone to want to follow you.

Remember, you get whatever you look for. So look for the fun, fellowship, and joy of this season!

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

Irrationality can be a bad thing...

2010-12-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.
- Thomas H. Huxley

How often have we seen people that absolutely believe something that isn't true? Whether it be a prejudice, of value stance, or a long-held attitude about others, irrationally held truths can be a very bad thing. I do realize that not everyone will think logically. Many people make their decisions based on emotion and often do not check into any facts. What scares me is that so many of the decisions that are made about leaders, managers, even employees are made based on almost pure emotion.

The National Society of Human Resource Management indicated that hiring decisions are often made in the first 4.3 minutes of an interview. If two thirds of all decisions are made this quickly, what amount of truths can be discovered in that time frame? Most decisions are made based on whether or not the other person seems like us. I feel very lucky to have realized early on that I don't need more people like me in this company. I need people who are talented in other areas. Just because I shake hands a certain way, does not mean that anyone who shakes hands differently is that. Watch as you interview other people in the future. You will find that if they do not shake hands like you, dress like you, make eye contact like you, and overall seem like you, it becomes very difficult to want to employ them. But the rational side that I would like to ponder is… what exactly are you hiring? Are you hiring someone to do your job? Or, are you hiring someone to do their job?

The reason that our organization got into pre-hire testing is so that we could create objectivity in the hiring process. Our management profiler looks at the management competencies and leadership characteristics of an individual, then allows you to match those characteristics against what your successful people already look like. The pro-screen measures reliability, work ethic, teamwork, and integrity. The basic things that employers are looking for in a new hire are:

-- Will this employee show up?
-- Will this employee work hard once they show up?
-- Will this simply get along with others?
-- Will this employee tell me the truth, and will they still from me?

Once you know those for basic things, you have a pretty good idea as to whether or not the employee will work out. The problem is, most of us never get to those four things until the employee has been there for several months. From a rational perspective, we realize that paying an employee for three months to produce virtually nothing is significantly more expensive than assessing the individual and ensuring that we get the right person the first time.

The irrationality that seems to prevail is that we don't have time to do it right. We must have the employee now! Even if you must have the next person that walks to the door, it's a good idea to know what you're getting.

Even though we have been interviewing people for years, Harvard business indicates that the average interviewer is right less than one out of five times. Using pre-hire testing, the average interviewer can now be right eight out of ten times.

The rational response is to go with your best bet. The irrational response would be to continue doing what you've always done even though you're not getting the results you want. I wish you the best of luck, hopefully in a rational world.

To your success!

Jody Holland