I was recently selected to conduct webinars with other business professionals. I am proud of this association and wanted to share some of the details with you so you could captialize on this opportunity as well. With this opportunity you can experience high quality business training from the comfort of your office or home.

If you have any questions please feel free to call me. My phone number is 300-990-0788. My email address is ron@akris.net.

Thanks for reading - Ron Finklestein

A Cutting Edge Way to Increase Your Business Knowledge, Easily and Affordably!

April 21, 2008, Minneapolis, MN – Business Expert Webinars (BEW), an international community of business experts, comprising best-selling authors, award-winning speakers, and business gurus, announced its launch today with more than 100 speakers and 700 live business education webinars that begin airing in May 2008.

“We are using webinar technology to deliver business eLearning,” said Lee B. Salz, President and CEO of Business Expert Webinars. Topics include all genres of business –sales, networking, public relations, marketing, real estate, human resources, entrepreneurship, management and many others. Visitors interested in participating can view the extensive schedule and sign up for webinars at

http://www.businessexpertwebinars.com?afflink= bewrfinklestein040208

. Each webinar is taught by a live presenter on the phone and is supported by a presentation delivered over the Internet.

“People are frustrated with the free webinar offerings where the price of admission is a sales and marketing pitch. Either the entire webinar is an infomercial or the content is delivered at a high-level in the session and concludes with, ‘if you really want to know how to do this, buy my CD, DVD, book, etc.’ Thus, they aren't really free," said Salz.

Business expert and author of "Selling to Big Companies," Jill Konrath, said, "What attracted me to deliver content with Business Expert Webinars was that the experts pick very specific topics and go deep into the subject matter. This is strictly business education. Participants come away from BEW webinars with actionable information they can implement immediately. It is a great way for adults to learn valuable information inexpensively, without leaving the office.”

Business Expert Webinars is an international community of business experts that comprises best-selling authors, award-winning speakers, and business gurus. For more information, visit BusinessExpertWebinars.com.

I refuse to participate in a recession

I have not written a post in a while because I have been on the road. I recently made a road trip around the country doing speeches and teaching seminars and workshop on how to deal with difficult people. It is amazing to me how people are the same wherever I go.

During this trip I must have talked to 300 people from all walks of life. These individuals were located in New Your State to New Mexico and I heard the same story again and again – my business is good.

I talked to kitchen designers in New York and they were having their best year ever. They are hiring and they attended the workshop to be more effective in dealing with customer related issues that happen when you redo a kitchen. I talked to business consultant who were doing well. The consultants who were doing well were very clear on their value proposition. The ones that did not have clear value proposition were not doing so well.

Even the bail bonds people (in el Paso) I talked to were having a good year (OK that might be an stretch. But I think that might be more localized to El Paso and the border issues they deal with.)

Every city I was in the headlines in the paper promoted a recession. Tell that to the nursing supervisor in Albuquerque who could not find a reasonably price apartment. Though housing processes are dropping is some parts of the country it is not doing so everywhere.

Tell that to a minister who is rebuilding a church after a fire. Money is tight but people are giving to what is important to them.

Tell that to a training company who is doing project management training. She is so busy her company is doing two classes a day; one in the morning and one in the evening. What I am seeing is not what is being reported.

Why is that? I am not sure but I do know good news does not sell newspapers (especially in an election year.)

My business is doing well. People are slower to make a decision but they are deciding. I had three great opportunities surface in the last 24 hours.

How much is election year hype and how much is it expectations. Does the expectation come before the actual recession or does the recession generate the expectations?

If you are clear on your value proposition and you have an effective marketing campaign in place I would think you are doing ok.

Have I changed my behavior – sure, especially when it comes to driving. I try hard to make sure the trip is necessary and the business cannot be handled over the phone. I recently drove to Canfield (50 miles each way) and the trip cost me about 15 dollars in gas. I am not driving less as much as I am being more purposeful. I also see the strong potential in high gas prices: more green technology, more alternatives, and more opportunity for some creative entrepreneur.

I have seen an increase in my grocery bill but I still have to eat. The good news is that I being forces to eat differently (more healthy) because of the cost. I find that a great opportunity to change my behavior for the better. I am not eating out as much. I am selecting less processed foods when I do eat out. I dropped 12 pounds over the last 8 weeks. If it takes higher food prices for me to be more selective how can that be totally bad?

I figure if I look hard enough I can find something good about in just about any situation. I refuse to buy into the recession. I refuse to buy into the negative beliefs about the economy. My thought is that I can change my behavior, adapt to the situation and still grow my business.

Maybe if enough of us don’t buy in the recession, maybe there does not need to be one.

Ron Finklestein

330-990-0788

ron@akris.net

11 Actions you can take to Gorw your Business During Tough Economic Times

Create a Strategy . The first action you must take is to create a marketing plan. You must get clear on who is your best customers, where to find them, what problems you solve and why they should buy from you. This does not require a long document but clarity in thinking. All eleven actions are documented in 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. The book is available on Amzon.com.

Be Consistent . You must be consistent in your message and brand throughout all your marketing activities. Otherwise potential customer can get very confused. Most people do not lose an opportunity to the competition; they lose the opportunity to complacency of the prospect. When the prospect gets confused they do nothing. Be consistent in your message.

Use Press Releases . Let the world know what you are up to. Use press releases to target specific locations. Write the press release with a unique angle that makes it easy for reporters and other readers to read your message. There is the possibility for a huge return for minimal investment.

Create Controversy . Take you message, your story and build some controversy so it is interesting to others. Take something that everyone is talking (newspapers, magazines, industry blogs, etc) about and incorporate that into your message.

Write Articles. Writing articles is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get your name out and increase visibility. There are hundreds of sites looking for articles. The key is to write about what your prospects what to hear about, provide value and have a clear call to action.

Networking for Referrals . The quickest and fastest way to get new business is to ask for it; especially from your existing customers. They know your products and services so pick up the phone, take them out to lunch and ask them if they know anyone who they would introduce you to who could use your products or services.

Create Your Business Mastery Advisory Board. Create your own advisory board. Many business owners think they can go it alone. You can’t and the sooner you realize this the faster you can the result you want. It is all about people. If you do not test your message with your peers and see what works, you are wasting, time, energy and money.

Generation Leads . Use Teleseminars and Webinars as a marketing tool so people can find out what you are about. These can be free or paid. The key is to provide value so people listening want to engage you. The beauty of this approach is people who are interested in what you are promoting naturally opt-in to listen to your story.

Use Electronic Newsletters. Electronic newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your audience. They opt-in so you know they are interested. Having someone buy your products and services is as much need as it is timing. Your name (product) needs to be top of mind when they need something. A newsletter can do that for you.

Speaking Before Groups. Public speaking is one of the best approaches to generating new business. You need to be professional and provide value but where are you going to get an opportunity to have 100 people pay to listen to you talk about what is important to you and how it can help them. If you are afraid of speaking, get trained. There are many different organizations to help you.

Create an Event . Create and event and make it a party. People are social animals who love to be involved and find deals. You can do a grand opening, grand reopening, anniversary sale, holiday sales or any one of 100 reasons to have a party and invite people into your business.

What to do next to Grow your Business

I had a consulting company hire me to help them grow their business. All I did was bring them back to what they did successful to grow their business. Effectively, they got selfish. This resulted in a 35% year over year growth rate.

I worked with a patent agent and he had a 150% return on his investment. We got him focused on who his idea customer is. By simply getting clear and targeting his ideal client, he had his best month ever. I worked with an Information Technology company and we reduce his time to make for a specific product by 800%.

I worked with a telephony company and took a service they provided to their existing customer at no charge and help them turn this into a product they use to expand their market.

It is all about getting clear: your market, your customers, your product, your services and taking action. If you are thinking about taking action you are already too late. It is not about thinking, it is about doing. If you don’t know how, hire someone, read a book, call someone who will share with you his experiences. Take ownership for your situation and take action to move forward.

Ronald Finklestein , President of AKRIS, INC, is a small business success expert, business coach, consultant, speaker, author, and trainer, and has published three books, 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales, Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to a Successful Company and The Platinum Rule to Small Business Mastery. Ron’s client have increase sales 35% year over year, experienced 150% return on investment, opened new markets and created new products that have transformed companies. Finklestein is available for coaching and consulting, speaking engagements, workshops, and seminars. You can contact him at ron@ronfinklestein.com or (330) 990-0788. Sign up for his newsletter at http://www.businessmasterynow.com. All the books mentioned above are available on www.amazon.com.

Does Customer Service Exist for Roxio?

I upgrades to Vista SP1 because of problems. Roxio (used to burn CD/DVD) stopped working. It came installed on my computer when I purchased it.

I spent hours on the Roxio web site trying to get help. All I got was frustrated. They have this cute icon called ask roxey and they should dump it for all the good it does.

I finally found an email address and asked for help. Here is the email I sent.

I am running roxio that came preinstalled on my HP notebook. The computer was purchased directly from HP.

I restored the software from the recovery disk but to no avail.

The Roxio banner easy creator 9 comes up and it never goes beyond that. I let it run for 3 hours and it takes 50% of the CPU cycles.

Reinstalling the software from the control panel does not fix the problem.

I am running vista SP1 32 bit.

Here is the email I got back -

Dear Customer,

Registration Support can not assist you with Technical/Customer Support Issues.
The following are your options for getting in touch with support.
1. Self Service Tools
There are a number of tools you can use like our virtual agent Roxann, our searchable knowledgebase and our discussion forum where you can post questions to your common challenges. They can all be found by going to http://support.roxio.com.
2. E-mail/Webticket Support
To e-mail support or service, you can visit the following link.
http://selfserve.roxio.com/
Login with your registered email address and password.

3. Phone Inside Sales for pre-sales questions, please call 1-866-280-7694.

4. Premium Paid Support is available for $1.89/min at 1-866-434-9871 (Monday - Friday, 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., EST - excluding Roxio holidays).
Truly a canned email. No concern for the customer. The products they list on the web site is not the product installed on my computer.

They would do the world a favor and sell the company to someone who cares about the product and the customer experience.

Eight hours later I am no closer to knowing how to fix the problem. At least I downloaded some open source that works.

For you business owners hiding behind the web please note these kinds of blog posts cannot be good for business. Remember it is the customer that keeps you in business.

Thanks Roxio for wasting my time energy and money. Thanks HP for putting crappy software from nonresponsive vendors on the PC you sold me.

Ron Finklestein

info@yourbusinesscoach.net

WHEN TO SEPARATE BUSINESS FROM PERSONAL

Opening your own business is just a mixed bag of emotions and often an incredibly hard lesson in reality. Much of what is encompassed during the initial start up phase of a small business is a trial and error process. Every entrepreneur starts out with the best intentions and an overabundance of ambition. A business plan has been crafted and parts have already begun to be implemented. There is a general excitement yet a lofty fear of the unknown. Constant worry about whether you are doing anything right is a daily occurrence.

However, as you begin to grow confident and your business picks up speed, you begin to more clearly see what is necessary to make the business work. No amount of planning can ever fully prepare you for daily life as a sole proprietor. It is an experience you need to live every day and learn from every minute. As a relatively new business owner myself, I thought I could impart some of my own trial and error learning to other new start ups who have concerns all over the map about different aspects of business.

In the beginning, I just couldn’t see how I could ever separate my business from my personal things. As a work at home mom, you can often find me working on the floor next to my young child playing or contemplating the next article topic while making dinner, separating any aspect of my work and business life seemed ridiculous to me. I had concerns about being able to maintain a consistent income, worried about how tax season would play out, and dealing with day to day life of my family. It was a little bit frightening, partly frustrating, and highly thrilling to get started.

As I began to find clients and consistent work, I started to find the confidence I needed to tackle bigger business matters. I became ruthless about income and expense tracking and I slowly began to make sense of what it would take to earn a good living. In the beginning, keeping finances separate was not much of a concern. Any payments I received went directly in to my personal bank account to cover the bills. It was recorded but at that point, it was not divided into any particular category other than income. When things began to pick up and I was making a profit that exceeded my personal expenses, I finally had some money to put back into my business. I opened a paypal account and began to use it for business reasons more than personal but still did not separate the two entirely. Then the end of the year came along. The first year I would be responsible for my own taxes. What a wake up call, sorting through expenses for 12 months and having to double the work because not everything was separated.

Since that time, everything I have related to business is a separate entity from my personal finances, including credit cards, paypal accounts, and bank accounts. While I am still just as responsible for all of the bills, I have at least placed a clearly divided line that will help me sort and account for all things financial. Along the way, I have also come to understand a lot more about what it takes to stay in the game. This was not something I could have learned, or believed, from any other source. If I could sum it up, do not waste precious time worrying about the right and wrong details of your business, pay attention to the daily lessons you are learning in real life and use what you have learned to make things move forward more effectively.

******

Tisha Kulak is a writer for Creditorweb.com, where she writes about and responsible credit card use. http://www.creditorweb.com/categories/business-credit-cards.html

I recently entered a Toastmaster Speech contest.

Having been a public speaker for years, this was the first time I tested myself again others in the speaking profession. I decided to enter after receiving positive feedback from people at events where I have spoken: chambers, business associations, business presentations, etc.

It was an uncomfortable, exciting and scary experience.

The speech topic was Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway.

I chose that topic because that was exactly what I was doing: feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Besides, it was supposed to be a motivational speech and I needed something I could work with.

The first challenge was to get through the club contest. I did that.

The second challenge was to get through the area contest. I did that.

Now I am competing at the district level and I am up against some very tough competition.

This is both exciting and scary. It is exciting because to reach this level implies I have mastered – to a certain extent – some public speaking skills. Scary because I realize how much I have yet to learn. Exciting because all my years of hard work are paying off; scary because I know I have years of hard work left.

The important thing was that I did not let my fear hold me back. Never having been in a speech contest, I created all kinds of scenarios in my mind and none of them were very flattering. I continue to learn that FEAR simple means False Evidence Appearing Real. My mind creates more obstacles for me than reality ever could. When you begin to understand that is it easier to feel the fear and do it anyway.

To your continued success,

Ron Finklestein

www.ronfinklestein.com

330-990-0788

ron@ronfinklestein.com

How to Create Negative Buzz

Earlier in the week I wrote an open letter to The Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ)

In essence it said, I am writing an open letter because nothing has changed after four phone calls over the last six months. The ABJ thinks they are doing me a favor by dropping off unsolicited newspapers in my driveway, street, sidewalk (and wherever the paper lands). It is wrapped in bright oranges plastic and you can see it up and down the street (after the snow melts); sometimes for weeks on end.

Less than a day after writing this post I received a call from the ABJ saying I would not receive any more papers. I modified my original BLOG post to reflect that piece of news.

The next day I received another newspaper. Can you believe it?

I was speaking with another blogger and he mentioned he was having the same problem the ABJ. He lives in Eastern Summit County so I now know it is not localized to West Akron.

Can you imagine how many people the ABJ is alienating; the silent majority who just pick up the trash that is left on the side walk?

One local newspaper started to do the same thing the ABJ was doing. All I did was send the editor an email asking they remove me from their delivery. This delivery practice stopped immediately. Why can not the ABJ understand this simple practice?

The good news it is a great example of creating negative buzz for your company.

Sincerely,

Ron Finklestein

An Open Letter to The Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ)

I am writing an open letter because nothing has changed after four phone calls over the last six months.

The ABJ thinks they are doing me a favor by dropping off unsolicited newspapers in my driveway, street, sidewalk (and wherever the paper lands). It is wrapped in bright oranges plastic and you can see it up and down the street (after the snow melts); sometimes for weeks on end.

Because it is rainy or snowy, many times the paper is not readable. I am of the firm opinion they are littering and they should be fined for each newspaper that sits on the street. We have a do not call list, a do not fax list, why not a no ABJ newspaper list?

Because it is not at my door or in my paper box, I do not know it is there until I am either leaving or coming back from an appointment. Sometimes, when it snows, I may not know it is there until the snow melts enough for the orange plastic to be seen.

These "drops" as they are called have been sponsored by the Cleveland Zoo and the Cleveland Art Museum. Do they actually think I would visit these otherwise fine organization under these circumstances? In case I am not clear the answer is a respounding NO! 

I called them (ABJ) and told them if this is the service I get and I am not a customer, what will happen when I am a customer. Will I be ignored even more (like that is possible).

It is not uncommon to see these orange plastic bags in the street for days (and sometimes weeks) on end. People are not going to walk out in the cold and wet weather to pick them up. I usually stop the car and reach out to get the paper on my way in or out of the driveway. The paper is usually wet and I do not want it in my car but I like it less on the street.

If anyone has any contacts at the ABJ, please let them know that this West Akron resident does not want a paper that is not accessible, wet, timely or otherwise inconvenient to read. Nor do I like to see my neighborhood street lined with this orange plastic litter.

What really makes this so ironic is that I like the paper; but the service sucks (hear that SUCKS) so much I will not order it. I want to order the paper but I won’t. Any company that will not listen to me when I am not a customer will probably not listen to me if I become a customer. How is that for order prevention at its best?

If anyone has a meaningful contact at the ABJ and they can stop this littering, please have them call me at 330-990-0788. I really do want off their list.

Sincerely,

Ron Finklestein

Update on this post. Two days after writing this I received a call from ABJ and they tell me this practice will stop - at least at my address. Stay tuned and if anything changes I will let you know.

The Power of Focus

I was at a basketball game last week (Cleveland Cavaliers.) After the game, as I was walking to the car, I was really focused on where my feet landed. It was icy and I did not want to fall.

I almost ran into a police officer who was directing traffic for cars leaving the parking garage.

He looked at me and said (rather sarcastically) “don’t you see the other people waiting?”

I said “Actually, I didn’t. I was watching where I was walking so I do not fall.”

When he realized I was not being an idiot and trying to ignore his authority, he was very polite and let me pass.

As a business coach and consultant I realized right then the value of focus. I always knew of and taught about focus but I really understood focus.

Focus allows you to stay clear on the desired outcome. It allows you not to be distracted. I was so focused on not falling that I did not see the other people to my right – no more than 5 feet away. That can be both a blessing and a curse; a blessing because it allows for great achievement; a curse because you might miss other opportunities or situations that would suggest a different path.

I like what Henry Ford said. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

So how can you become focused and stay focused? It is easy to talk about and hard to implement. Simple put you must decide what is important to you and stay focused on the desired outcome. Some call it a goal, some call it being focused, some call it tunnel vision, some call it discipline, but you must decide what you want.

There are many systems for setting goals. Jim Rohn, jack Canfield, and Stephen Covey all discuss systems for setting goals. They discuss the different between a goal and a dream.

Let me suggest some things I do and maybe the will help you if you implement them.

1. Get clear on what you want and set a specific date you will make it happen

2. Get an accountability partner and have them hold you accountable

3. Be honest with your accountability partner.

4. Create a group of people you meet with regularly that can help you with objective feedback. Provide others the same objective feedback

5. Make it a priority: your accountability partner, your advisory board, your goal

6. Pay someone to hold you accountable to help you achieve success. Why pay them? Because of they don’t perform you can fire them.

Ron Finklestein
330-990-0788

info@yourbusinesscoach.net

Imagine if you would a team of high powered executive who meet monthly, trying to decide if they could really trust each other.

After 3 years of being together, meeting monthly, to solicit help and feedback of important issues we face in our business, we did not know if we could trust each other with our deepest secrets, or wildest dreams.

What do you do? What brought this on?

We decided to take a 2 day off site business retreat to get clearer on what we can do to drive our business and professional performance to a whole new level. Below are some comments from the participants:

I learned a great deal about myself, trust, perception of people, the value of focus, misconceptions, the power of questioning, personal/work balance, the value of constructive dialog and risk. The key for me is so what do I do with the information and the group so generously provided?

Then the question in my mind is how we all learn how to be authentic in order to help others and be our true selves, not just the persona and person the world wants us to be.

Agreed on the points from the various emails today. When I floated the idea for this extended get together back at our November advisory board meeting (www.businessmasterynow.com), I was uncertain as to the reaction it would engender. When the reaction from all of you was so positive and the interest in participating so strong, I got a bit nervous about the actual event, particularly because we had such a loose agenda. However, in the days leading up to the retreat, it occurred to me that we have a group that’s been together and evolving for a long time and that I should just trust in the group and enjoy the ride.

What a weekend. The sense of community among us was palatable, the sense of purpose and genuine desire to help each other was so American, and the outcomes for me were very powerful.

I personally value the input that I received (personally and professionally), and it has put me into some very intense and positive ongoing reflection about my path and a plan for that determined path. I look forward to continuing to grow our relationships and mutual impact for and with each other.

I know it's repetitive but please accept my sincere thanks for permitting me to share in the honesty, respect, and integrity that I witnessed Sunday and Monday. Very few people will be lucky enough to have an experience such as this in their personal or professional lives.

I also want to thank the group. I learned a great deal about myself, trust, perception of people, the value of focus, misconceptions, the power of questioning, personal/work balance, the value of constructive dialog and risk. The key for me is so what do I do with the information and the group so generously provided?

What was interesting about the conversation is that there was a fair amount of time focused on each individual. I suppose that Ron would call this selfishness. However, the interesting thing is that most of the group was focusing on themselves so they can be more productive for others. So maybe the issue is that it is OK to analyze your impact and then move on to thinking about the wellbeing of others.

One other thing I learned from the weekend is that as I played back the tapes of the weekend in my head, I learned that many times I create judgment without knowledge and I apologize if I gave opinion without enough knowledge. That is the risk of a 360 like we did. We need to look at the feedback as insight and perception, not, in many cases, deep knowledge. The question in my mind is how we all learn how to be authentic in order to help others and be our true selves, not just the persona and person the world wants us to be.

All the above comments came from members who attended the retreat. There we eight of us and we asked only three questions of each other and the group:

1. Who are you

2. Where will you be in 10 years

3. What is holding you back

Day one each person reflected on and answered these three questions about each member of the group. During day two each people had an opportunity to reflect on the comments and respond to the group what they were going to do with the info.

I receive some great feedback and some that was less than flattering. I am grateful they would share so openly about my strengths and weaknesses. They were right about my weaknesses. I started paying more attention after the retreat and notice the same thing they told me.

I am now on a personal mission to change that.

Thanks Folks.

Everyone should do this. Getting feedback from seven of your peers is the fastest way to change your life. It is unfortunate that more of us don't do that. The results as so empowering.

To Your Continued Success,

Ron Finklestein
www.ronfinklestein.com
330-990-0788
info@yourbusinesscoach.net
www.49marketingsecrets.com

PRESS RELEASE

For More Information
Contact: Ron Finklestein
Phone: 330-990-0788
Fax 330-865-6922
Email: info@yourbusinesscoach.net

Popular Business Mastery Advisory Board ™ 
Announces Growth through Franchise Offering

AKRIS INC Business Mastery Advisory Board changes the face of small business nationwide

Akron, Ohio, January 1, 2008 - - AKRIS INC, with the creation of a new company called RPF GROUP INC, announced it is expanding by offering The Business Mastery Advisory Board ™ www.businessmasterynow.com franchises to qualified individuals. The announcement marks the beginning of its expansion from a northeast Ohio-based Company to a national franchise operation.

Announcing details of the new franchise, Ron Finklestein , President and Founder of RPF GROUP INC said, “My first Business Mastery Advisory Board was created over three years ago. It was created to solve my problems as small business owner. As we defined and clarified that process, the board kept growing. That is when I knew I had something different. The exploding demand for affordable, trusted advisory services for small business owner is what inspired us to create Business Mastery Advisory Board, and has now prompted us to introduce Business Mastery Advisory Board as a franchise nationwide.”

Finklestein continues: “Most advisory boards either do not have a structured process that works and is affordable or they require way too much time, energy and money. We’ve structured the Business Mastery Advisory Board to do one things others advisory boards don’t do – meet business owners right where they are and help them achieve their goals through a living process that took over three years to develop. The results we are getting are incredible.”

Don Philabaum, President of Internet Strategies Group and long time member of the Business Mastery Advisory Board had this to say, “If you are looking for others who believes in your vision, care for you as a whole person, goes to bat for you when you need it, continues to nudge you to follow through on your commitments and pull no punches when you need a push, join the Business Mastery Advisory Board. Professional athletes, corporate titans, spiritual gurus, all have advisors. You can't compete in today’s market without advisors. You owe it to your dreams and your success to rely on the 360? degree view your advisors provide.”

According to Finklestein “The typical franchise owner of Business Mastery Advisory Board are either professional service organizations looking to add a new product to an existing suite of products or a business executive who is looking to start his own business using a proven model.”

“We’ve done our homework. The first group was started in 2004. We tested different formats and implemented improvements based upon feedback from members. The Business Mastery Advisory Board helped create marketing and sales strategies, introduce new revenue streams, advised clients on buying and selling companies, and more. The format has now been implemented tested and refined through the use of over 10 board implemented over the ensuring three years.”

Finklestein is quick to point out that a Business Mastery Advisory Board franchise is truly unique because ownership doesn’t require abandoning other business or career interests and it does not require costly overhead just to get started. Instead, the power of this franchise is that you can grow into it or make it your core business. With the surge of entrepreneurialism reaching an all time high, the need for affordable, objective, practical feedback has never been higher.

The Business Mastery Advisory Board franchise offering will be monitored by Franchising Unlimited, a 29 year-old Canfield Ohio firm that has worked with over 555 companies (including several among the Fortune 500) and have sold over 3400 franchises.

Dave Hillman, senior partner of Franchising Unlimited states “we look forward to working with Mr. Finklestein and his company. We are excited by the many individuals who already expressed interest.”

The Business Mastery Advisory Board is different from other business advisory boards. For instance,

• You are not dependent on a business coach, accountant, lawyer or other advisors. You are working directly with your peers.
• Unlike other boards, meetings are held monthly for half a day. Our focus is on you and your organization. The board members help you grow to a new level not take your time, energy and money.
• Your peers hold you accountable for doing what needs to be done.
• We allow no more than 12 to a group. This ensures you receive the quality attention you need and deserve to be successful.
• Though we have members from many different sized companies, our focus is on businesses with less than $10M in revenue. These are typically the ones that need it the most but do not have the resources of larger company.
• Most importantly, it is affordable for the small business owner.

About AKRIS INC:

AKRIS INC is a business coaching and consulting firm whose mission is to inspire, educate, lead and motivate business owners to action that leads to success results. The implementation of the Business Mastery Advisory Board is another step in fulfilling our mission.

Contact Info

For more information about the Business Mastery Advisory Board visit www.businessmasterynow.com, e-mail ron@akris.net, or call 330-990-0788.

Individuals interested in visiting a Business Mastery Advisory Board Meeting as a guest or to request a franchise offering circular to secure a new franchise of their own may contact:

Ron Finklestein
CEO
RPF GROUP INC
330-990-0788
info@businesscoach.net

====== END===========

As many of you know I have written three books on business: Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to Create a Successful Company, The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery and 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. All are available on Amazon.

I tell you this because I am working on my fourth book. I have not given it a title yet but the essence of the book is that there are nine behaviors successful people do to be successful and the book describes these nine behaviors and discusses how to implement them in your life.

The first behavior drives the other eight. I call the first behaviors Selfishness, which I define as intelligent self interest. The blog post is an excerpt from this chapter. Please give it a read and email me any comments. The email should be forwarded to ron@ronfinklestein.com.

Just be warned, it is a fairly long post.

Good Reading!

“Well, I know they've always told you/
Selfishness was wrong/
Yet it was for me, not you, I came to write this song/” Neil Peart quotes (Canadian Drummer for the band Rush b.1952)

Selfishness. When I talk of selfishness many people get upset, angry and sometimes they are vehemently opposed to this concept. Before you decide this is a foolish idea, take a minute and open your mind to a new definition of selfishness and how it can help you achieve new levels of success.

Before we go much further, let me define selfishness: “Intelligent Self-Interest.”

When the word intelligent was originally introduced into the English language, its original meaning was “to understand” (The Oxford Dictionary of Word History, 2002). Knowing this, it is easy to define selfishness as “understanding your self –interest or understanding what is important to you.”

Pay attention to this concept and it will change your life. I don’t make that claim lightly. I implemented what I write about here and my life is very different then what I expected.

I am talking about the use of selfishness as it leads to success, a fulfilling life, great and loving relationships and abundance. I am talking about success. My definition of success is even easier to understand and I devote a good part of the book talking about success and how to achieve it. We will talk about success later. But first I want you to understand selfishness is a great idea that should be embraced and developed in your life.

There are three types of selfishness. The first I call “childish selfishness”. I define this as the kind of selfishness we exhibited as children where everything is mine, mine, mine. I am reminded of a cartoon called Calvin and Hobbs. Calvin is a five year (approximately) old boy and he has his friend, Hobbs, who is a stuffed tiger that shares every aspect of his world. In one particular cartoon, Calvin is making a get well card for his mother who is not feeling well. One the front of the card it says “get well soon.” When you open up the card it says “because my bed is not made, my clothes need washed and I am hungry.” This is a great example of childish selfishness and it is funny, but you can see how this type of selfishness will cause problems. This is not the type of selfishness I am discussing or promoting.

The second type of selfishness I define as “self-sacrificing selfishness.”It is placing others above yourself as a means to self-sacrifice. If you are placing others before yourself, you are doing yourself a great disservice. When I was first exploring this concept of selfishness, I sent out an article in my newsletter. (To subscribe, go to www.ronfinklestein.com). I received a very quick response from an associate who took me to task. He said “I am a Christian and I follow the teaching of Jesus. He (Jesus) was the most selfless person ever born, so selfless he gave his life for us. How can I embrace the concept of selfishness when I embrace the concept of selflessness that Jesus teaches?”

My response to him was as simple as it was direct: “Jesus was the most selfish person ever born. He knew exactly what needed to be done and he committed his every resource to achieving his goal, even alienating the most powerful men of his time, associating with tax collectors, prostitutes and others with unsavory character. He did what was required to achieve his goal. If this is not selfishness, I don’t know what is.” A short while later I got his reply. He said “I see your point. In trying to give so much of myself, I am not fully devoted to any one thing and all things are suffering. I need to get more focused and selfish.” This is not the kind of selfishness I am discussing either. When others come before your goals, nothing good gets done. You meet people who have all the right intentions but nothing gets done. Would Thomas Edison have accomplished so much if he was not clear on what he wanted? Would Henry Ford been so successful if he had not been so focused? Would Walt Disney been successful in building Disneyworld if he lacked selfishness? This is not the selfishness I am suggesting we embrace. It is not the selfishness of self-sacrifice. No, you must do well before you do good!

I find it interesting that all our lives we are told not to be selfish. Yet selfishness is our key to success. Wallace Wattles explains this quite nicely and I quote an excerpt from his book The Personal Power Course :

So you will see that it is a mistake to sacrifice yourself for others; when you sacrifice yourself, you lose the very thing which would attract others to you. Instead of sacrificing yourself for others, what you must do is to make the most of yourself for others. Those who sacrifice themselves for others may win some degree of pity and tender feeling, but they are not loved as are those who make most of themselves. Do not imagine that you can buy love by what you do; you must win it by what you are.

So, in social and neighborhood matters, BE SOMETHING. If you see the need for reform, be a reformer, but do not sacrifice yourself for any reform. You will probably not help the reform by doing so, and you will lose your own life, or all that is worthwhile in life.

The altruism which leads to continuous self-sacrifice is morbid and unhealthy; the altruism which leads one to make the most of himself for others is noble and praiseworthy and is the only kind of altruism which really helps the world. If you are a strong and loveable PERSONALITY, you will be loved by your neighbors and fellow-citizens; but if you throw yourself away for their good, they will only feel contempt for you... there is nothing more selfish than what commonly passes for self-sacrifice. The most selfishly conceited people are generally those who sincerely believe that they are making the largest sacrifices for others. Remember, what wins love is PERSONALITY, and self-sacrifice means the sacrifice of personality. Personality is not developed by the things you do without, but by the things you use constructively.”

The third type of selfishness I call “mature selfishness.” It is the selfishness I refer to throughout this book. The best way to describe this type of selfishness is with a true story. One business owner I met fell on some hard times. He thought about closing his company and filing for Chapter 11 (Chapter 11 is a form of bankruptcy.) This gentleman thought long and hard about what he wanted from life. He talked with his wife, children and employees about what was important. Knowing this gentleman personally, I knew two things about him: 1. His integrity was above reproach. 2. When he gave his word it was his bond. As he thought through what he wanted, he came to this conclusion: he “wanted to be a business owner and he wanted to delivery what he told his customer he would deliver.” He was very selfish in understanding what was important to him and he made it clear to the important people in his life and engaged their support. He risked everything to accomplish both goals. He learned new skills. He created new relationships. For two years, the only food he and his family ate was food they could purchase with a coupon. The children did not get what they wanted for Christmas. The employees worked overtime without pay. It was hard. This gentleman was focus on achieving his desired outcome of being a successful business owner and delivering on his promise to his customers. He was selfish with his time, money, and resource. He only met with people who were interested in buying his product or were potential candidates to invest in his business.

Today, the company is a thriving, successful organization. This is the good kind of selfishness I am writing about. By being selfish, he created a company that solved a need in the market and made things easier for his clients. He created a successful business that provided good jobs to his employees and he created the type of life he wanted for his highest good. By focusing on his highest good he created a very good life for his family and employees. He can now give his children all the things he could not provide in the past. His selfishness paid handsomely for everyone involved. This is my definition of selfishness. His selfishness led to action that created his success.

To your continued success,

Ron Finklestein

ron@ronfinklestein.com

330-990-0788

My Friend, Steve Underation, just published his first book about how to get the most from a trade show.

His book, The Platinum Rule for Trade Show Mastery: The Expert Exhibitor's Guide to Profit-Producing Trade Shows & Corporate Events Increase Profits and Reduce Stress in your Trade Shows and Corporate Events! A few short years ago, there was little need for this book. However, the trade show and event marketplace has drastically changed. Shows and events used to be "a cost of doing business" but are now considered an investment that adds to or subtracts from the bottom line. Today, exhibit and event managers deal with the pressure of shrinking budgets and higher expectations. "R.O.I." is the corporate buzzword for "Show me the money!" So ask yourself this question: "Can I show anyone the money for my trade show investment?"

I strongly recommend this book if you are dealing with how to get the most from your trade show investment.

I am including the amazon.com link if you want to learn more.

http://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Rule-Trade-Show-Mastery/dp/1600373291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199814887&sr=8-1

To Your Continued Success

Ron Finklestein
www.ronfinklestein.com
330-990-0788
ron@ronfinklestein.com

The new year is a great time for business owners to review the mistakes of the past year so they can be corrected in the next. Akron business coach Ron Finklestein says he will share a list of common mistakes when he attends a retreat with company bosses this month. Here is a summary of mistakes:

Published on Monday, Jan 07, 2008 by The Akron Beacon Journal
Here is the original Link http://www.ohio.com/business/13493702.html

Do you want to be a Part of my Next Book

Happy new year to you! It is my fondest hope that your next year is your greatest ever.

I am writing a report call Nine Common Errors Business Owners Make 9and they are not what you think they are.).

Thanksgiving Thoughts