ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - January 2, 2004

The Super Summit is only a week and a half away, so my time is pretty well committed. The more I hear from the faculty about what they have in mind for this event, the more excited I get. I will be there as much as a student as I will as a facilitator.

Still, I want to pause long enough to wish you all the very best for the New Year. I urge you to really take control of your business in 2004. Do not rationalize lower sales numbers with excuses like the economy, increased competition or terrorist paranoia. There is no question that we are living in a different environment than we have in the past, but so what? All that means is that we have to operate a little differently than we used to. You can still get the results, you just have to tackle things in a new way. Are you up to the challenge? Who is running your business?

New Year's Resolutions
Why is it that the beginning of a new year gives us such a compulsion to look at "resolutions" of what we want to do differently in the year ahead? According to research by the University of Washington, "each year about 100 million Americans venture down a well-traveled path paved with bold and sometimes hastily conceived resolutions to change the way they live." However, I am sure you know -- from your own experience if nothing else - that very few of these resolutions even last until the end of the year.

This is not to suggest that it is futile to try to change or that you shouldn't re-examine your situation on a regular basis and see where course corrections may be called for. But doing more of what you are already doing will get you LESS of what you already have.

What that suggests is that wishing it were different will not make it different. Nothing much is going to change until your own thinking changes. When that happens, your actions will change ... and when you start doing different things, nothing will be the same again. So make your resolutions ... but then pick ONE (lose weight, spend more time with the family, develop your database, get serious about your food) and focus on it exclusively until you have a handle on it.

Author Hugh Prather once said, "Sometimes the way I am working on a problem is a clue as to why it is still a problem" ... and so it is. As a start, notice how you have been working on the subject of your resolution in the past. Question the assumptions that have driven your behavior in the past ... and then take another approach. The Universe rewards action. Happy New Year!

Super Summit 2004
If one of your resolutions is to re-invent the way you do business, you will never find a better forum than the Super Summit. If you have been thinking about attending but have not yet made up your mind, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the event is just over a week away. The good news is that we can still take five more attendees. The group will be between 25-30 operators from all over the US, Canada and Mexico -- large enough to get some good group interaction and small enough to make the event a very personal experience.

If you have any lingering questions, please feel free to call me with them (800) 767-1055. You will also find excerpts from our teleconference on the website so you can get the story directly from the faculty.

As we roll into a new year, the timing couldn't be better to take a hard look at "Re-Inventing Your Business ... and Your Life." The topic will scare most of your competitors, most of whom will content themselves with making incremental improvements to what they are already doing.

You can eat them for lunch ... but you must have the courage to ask yourself the hard questions and the wisdom to seek out some expert advisors. All of this will come together at the Super Summit on January 12-13. Will you be there?

Click here to get the full story on the Super Summit.

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