:Forest Folk

Either simply a looker-on or a player in the world of business, you see millions piling into the accounts of world’s most famous businessmen and naturally the question pops “How?”, wondering what is the alchemy they’ve discovered? Yet, there is no magic here - it’s mostly pure strategy. And what it takes to spot it and make it real.

Strategy

Identifying the best strategy for your business is the key to all success.
It should give you the lift that makes a difference. The art for your strategy success is planning.

* settling a vision for your business
* defining a mission
* setting out objectives
* establishing values, goals and programs.

Vision

It is all there, it is all important, but first there is the vision.
So, is vision a spark, is it a moment? How much is inspiration and how much hard work? Is it 99% perspiration and only 1% inspiration? Can we all be geniuses?

According to Edison’s theory I would say yes, if we are committed to hard working, as it is primarily the hard work that makes a genius. Inspiration comes on the way, when involved in as much action as you can handle. Contrary to the conceptual meaning, inspiration seems to be driven by propitious conditions - in this case, by work.

Hard work

So, what really happens behind the fairy-tale success stories is usually not what some would expect - a brilliant, extraordinary, never heard of discovery that changed the world, but, disappointingly enough, plain hard work. What these people have is what I would call “industry intelligence”. How is it acquired? Working of course. That is, sharply aware of their industry environment, learning all the rules and deeply involved in their own businesses, success people have at some point of activity a vision for their business that proves to be a winner - the revelation naturally produced as a result of their work commitment.

Let’s take the example of three American legends: Sam Walton, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. What do they have in common? The winning vision, the winning strategy.

Sam Walton

In the case of Sam Walton, no new, innovative business models were launched. He followed the existing low-price retailing pattern but the competitive successful strategic approach was that instead of focusing on large cities he took his business to small towns becoming the low-price leader in rural towns.

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett’s success resides in his different approach to value investing. While usually investors look for stocks they believe undervalued by the market, Buffett does not take into consideration the stock market aspects, such as for instance the supply and demand ratio. He analyzes the stocks on the basis of their potential as companies. He is interested in long-term results, such as ownership in companies with capacity of generating money, namely, companies with a strong name, great historical results, strong management and industry expertise.

Bill Gates

Neither is the case of Bill Gates to have made extraordinary innovations. Rather than innovation, he had the ability to put together other people’s ideas, thus producing big hits and making a profit. He did that first when adjusting BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800 (first PC) - neither of which was his original creation. Then, the same happened with DOS, which Microsoft bought (the original version was QDOS) and adjusted.

Business strategies implementation

Then, action comes. As the saying goes, planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal. It takes guts to act boldly and take whatever risks are necessary to put your vision into practice. It takes a great deal of tenacity to surpass obstacles and get over unfortunate happenings on the way. So, how did they implement their planned strategies? What was the outcome, what principles resulted for them to base their businesses on?

Warren Buffet

For the implementation of his strategy, Buffett has drawn his company choice principles, involving a great deal of analysis of business, management, financial aspects and a great deal of patience, waiting for the right price once the possible investment has been identified.

On businesses

* simple and understandable
* consistent operating history
* favorable long-term prospects

On management

* rationality in treatment of retained earnings and investment of company profits
* disclosure of all aspects of company performances
* capacity of thinking independently of other managers’ way of thinking.

On financials

* look for return on equity, not earnings per share

* analysis of free cash flow growth
* unique niche companies with high profit margins
* look for companies with at least one dollar of market value for every dollar retained

On stock valuation

* reasonable price for the company
* stock valuation analysis followed by analysis of a possible significant discount, case in which it will be purchased.

Success depends on the investor’s dedication to learn and follow the principles.

Sam Walton

He gives his ten rules for success in the book “Made in America, My Story”:

1. commitment to business
2. profit sharing with partners
3. partners’ motivation, competition encouragement
4. total communication with partners, trigerring their commitment
5. giving appreciation to what your partners do for the business
6. keeping spirits up in celebrating success but also in treating failures with a touch of humor
7. listening to everyone in the company, encouraging their talking
8. a sustained exceptional relationship with the customer - exceeding his expectations, showing appreciation, apologizing for mistakes
9. finding a competitive advantage in controlling expenses
10. originality, doing things differently there is a good chance to find unexplored niches.

Bill Gates

Microsoft’s corporate mission “A computer on every desk and in every home” shortly became a reality. Offering an easily accessible operating system for computers, perceiving the importance of customizing their product to the ordinary client and not only to computer engineers and thus addressing masses, Bill Gates succeeded in putting together and promoting towards a tremendous popularity (and profit accordingly) the world’s dominant operating system.

What these people have in common is nevertheless an extraordinary ingenuity: they innovated their industry domain, building their own strategy tailored for their own business particularities and went further to its implementation.

Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.businessplanning.ws where you can find more information about how to make a successful business plan.

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared.

Contact:lauracio@gmail.com

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Addiction recovery can be a long, hard battle for both the
person fighting the disease and their loved ones. In fact, the
first step in the journey toward recovery is often initiated by
the addict’s loved ones in the form of an intervention. If
successfully orchestrated, the intervention will lead to the
addict receiving the help he so desperately needs.

* Preparing for an Intervention

An intervention should be performed as soon as possible in order
to help an addict recover from his disease. Friends and family
should never wait until the addict reaches rock bottom as by
then, it may be too late. The devastating effects of addiction,
such as financial ruin, loss of family, imprisonment, and even
death, may have already taken hold of the addict’s life. The
sooner the intervention occurs, the more pain and suffering can
be avoided.

An intervention is one way family and friends can convince the
person they love to seek the help they so desperately need. In
order to successfully facilitate an intervention, the family and
friends need to first learn how to communicate in a language the
addict can understand.

This language includes being completely honest with the person
suffering from an addiction. Speaking openly and honestly with
the person about the effects his addiction is having on those
around him is often the eye-opener the person needs in order to
see clearly enough to accept help.

* Structure of the Intervention

There is no magic number of people needed to orchestrate a
successful intervention. In addition to an interventionist,
there can be as few as one additional person or as many as six
to eight. What is critical is that each of the participants be
someone the addict either loves or respects. Potential members
of the intervention team are family and friends, as well as
teachers, clergy, lawyers, and doctors. Anyone that might have
an impact on the addict’s thinking and emotions should be
included in the intervention.

There are several key elements to a successful intervention:

1. Provide a sufficient opportunity for all family members and
loved ones to voice their concern over the addicts behavior in a
passionate and loving manner

2. Provide information/education on the nature of addiction

3. Discuss the enabling behavior that has occurred during the
progression of the disease

4. Direct the addict, and perhaps family members, to treatment.

If an intervention is successfully performed, the addict can be
moved seek the help he needs on the very same day. To accomplish
this, however, each member of the team must be willing to work
together toward a common goal and to be properly educated in the
execution of an intervention.

* Finding Help for an Intervention

Some families and loved ones choose to execute an intervention
without the guidance of a professional. In most cases, however,
it is best to involve the expertise of a seasoned
interventionist or a drug rehab center in the development of an
intervention plan. The professional interventionist or rehab
center can help the team learn how to reach a common goal and
how to use language the addict will understand, while helping to
prevent the situation from escalating out of control.

Often, those who are performing the intervention worry that the
addict will walk out in the middle of the intervention. This
rarely occurs. Nonetheless, it is best to have a contingency
plan in case this does occur. Generally, the best course of
action is to have one or two of the members of the intervention
team follow the addict in order to gently persuade him to return
to the intervention.

* Finding a Rehab

The ultimate goal of an intervention is to persuade the addict
to get the help he needs with his addiction. Therefore, it is
best to already have a rehab center chosen and ready to admit
him. Even if a staff member from the rehab center does not
participate in the actual intervention, the center should be
aware of the team’s intentions. The worse case scenario, aside
from the addict refusing help altogether, is to have no place
for the addict to go for help upon successful completion of an
intervention.

When selecting a rehab center for the addict, it is important to
consider what type of center is best suited to the addict’s
needs. The types of programs offered, the location of the rehab
center, and the approach used by the center can all have an
impact on the overall success. The rehab center will need as
much detail as possible regarding the addict including drug,
family, medical and psychological histories. Work closely with
the staff before the intervention to ensure the center is the
best choice for all involved.

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