1. Greetings
2. Looking Forward by Roberta Standen

Greetings to All our Friends and Colleagues

Spring has finally “Sprung”, at least here in California. What a glorious time of renewal. The many harbingers of Spring –  Iris, Daffodils and Lilacs bloom in abundance, fruit trees are blossoming and we bathe in the quiet and warm sunny evenings of the vernal equinox.

However, it’s also time for the yearly SPRING CLEANUP! Oh No! You may be saying. Why did you have to mention this! But it is true, isn’t it? Spring does have a downside.

A closer look around our yard last week reminded me of chores ahead in the next few weeks. There is about a foot of fall leaves to clean up, weeds proliferate after the last rain, the winter wind toppled over branches from the poplar trees, the gophers are having a “hay day” and the rose bushes are loaded with aphids.

In addition, my old ranch Jeep needs a good cleaning up from the winter snow and mud, the barbeque on the patio need a good cleaning, the market umbrellas have to be cleaned as well as replacement covers are needed on the patio furniture. Clearly, it’s time to get this place squared away and have a Spring Clean Up before we even think of inviting anyone over.

So what’s the point here and what does all this rhetoric have to do with success in business?? O.K., what I am suggesting here is that we do a Spring Clean Up on our business as well. Just as you wouldn’t think of having friends over for a patio party with leaves and weeds all over the place or in for a dinner party with a fireplace full of winter ashes, drapes full of soot or cob webs on the ceiling; why not do some Spring Clean Up in your Business Plan.

Try cleaning the fuzz out of your brain by reading a good Attitude Shaping Book? Why not take a fresh look at your Business Plan, make the necessary adjustments based on changes in the economic environment. Re-evaluate your computer programs, get some updates, and invest in some new software. Consider outsourcing tasks that do not directly produce cash flow.  Update your database, clean it up and purge out the dead wood. Get a new filing cabinet or purge old files. Clean the clutter off the top of your desk and the glove box of your car. Most of all get the cobwebs out of your brain.

Above all, stay “new”, in the business by flushing out the stinking thinkers that have invaded your thought process. Shine up your telephone presentation, dust off the concepts and strategies that once worked for you, before someone told you that “it wouldn’t work”. Polish up your skills by taking a new training class. Dare to ask a colleague for new ideas.

I sincerely hope implementing some of these ideas will go a long way to giving you a head start to your own personal and business “Spring Clean up”.  Roberta

Looking Forward

As we sat in front of a crackling fire relaxing in our comfortable well appointed living room boasting my new Grand Piano and picture windows overlooking a valley studded with majestic pines against a backdrop of the Sierra Nevada, our thoughts went back to the early years of our marriage.

Materially, we had virtually nothing back then. We were lucky to have a pound of hamburger on a Saturday night. Our kitchen consisted of a card table someone had given to us and two metal folding chairs we had appropriated from the fellowship hall in the church where my Dad was a minister. The oven door on the stove wouldn’t close, an “ice box” graced one wall instead of a refrigerator and my clothes washer consisted of an old fashioned washboard. Yes, it’s true, this is how we started out 51 years ago in a little town in New England.

Set your goals

But, you know what? It didn’t matter.   Finish reading the article…