Ask Better Questions

I thought I’d share what I did from 7am-8am today…

First, I love being the first one up.  I have today off from work, so it promises to be a lazy day.

First, coffee.

Then, laptop on…

Check email, see a comment on a Facebook post.  Log into FaceBook and comment on a friends status.

Respond to a LinkedIn request.Find me at www.LinkedIn.com/mikenolan99

My google home page/news reader.  I follow about 10 blogs and feeds.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/ James Altucher got the first read today. He is a New York Investor/Author/Blogger.  I started reading it on recommendation from my friend Penelope Trunk, another great blogger on my daily feed. (No new post today.)

Nice post about his wife’s bout of Lyme’s disease today.  Led me to read an older post of his. Got me thinking about my investments.

Loaded up Fool.com, read this month’s newsletter.  I subscribe to their original Stock Advisor newsletter.

I updated my investment spreadsheet. I dollar cost average – then signed on to TDAmeritrade.com to schedule some trades.

Log into Twitter, write a short post about an assignment I will be asking my students to do about LinkedIn.

Nothing new by David Pogue at the New York Times, or by Dharmesh Shah at OnStartUps.com

Over to AVC.com, Fred Wilson‘s great blog.  His MBA Monday feature is required reading in the MBA classes I teach.  Today’s post was on scaling the management team.  I even got to make the first comment.

Then on to the Mankato Free Press.  I subscribe digitally.

Instead of reading it, decided to write this post.  Now to edit, link up and post.

Then, more coffee, and my newspaper…

Have a great day.

The newest issue of Connect Business Magazine features a
cover story of me.  they did a great job.

I did have to look up the word “Quixotic.”

According to Connect editor Dan Vance, “Mike fits a wealth of cover story selection criteria, including being a highly successful businessperson, possessing a long business track record, and having the ability to spin a reader-grabbing tale.”

I just like that he compared me to a Monty Python character.

Read the full story here.

My hometown these past 18 years recently ranked 25th on the Forbes list of “Best Small Places For Business And Careers”

Here’s the link:

http://www.forbes.com/places/mn/mankato/

Another in our student guest posts – this one from Minnesota State University MBA candidate Megan Kelley:

In the video “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”, Simon Sinek talks about how the average company can become successful through a great leader or leaders. He talks about Apple as an example and how they think from the inside out and instead of explaining what they do, how they do it, and why they do it, they start with explaining why they believe and do what they do and how they do it, and then last what they make. They are selling their company more so than their product. I think this video goes back a lot to our culture discussion and how the leadership of a company can really drive success. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it and the passion, desire and leadership of a company are what drive its success.

Related articles

• How Great Leaders Inspire Action (penn-olson.com)
• A conversation with Simon Sinek, author of “Start with Why” (asable.com)

Another great contribution from MBA candidate Sabah Ahmed at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

I picked this video because I felt it was a great way to introduce different leadership styles from around the world. Fields Wicker Miurin gives examples of leadership styles of three different people and why they chose to do what they do. They show us what is possible when you change the way you look at the world. The video shows how these people with little educational background became leaders without learning how to be a leader. They have qualities that leaders possess such as drive, passion, and commitment for what they do and they know that its not about them but about their communities. At the end she suggests that we should look at them as models and examples of leadership.

I just went through facilitator training for a great educational series targeted to business owners: Profit Mastery.

This two day training is absolutely fantastic. You will leave this with a much deeper understanding of your own company – and a tool set of killer financial tools.

My favorites: Estimate debt capacity needed for growth – step-by-step cash flow projections – and a detailed method for exploring the causes of low cash flow…

Here’s the corporate pitch… contact me for more information.

Looking to increase your financial intelligence? Want to make and keep more money in your company? Worry less about the numbers side of your business? No matter what your industry, type of company, or size, we can help you get to the next level of performance. Over the last twenty years, thousands of business owners just like yourself have applied our proven techniques to their businesses, resulting in greater profits and improved cash flow.

Here are just a few of the skills we can help you build:

* Diagnose and monitor your company’s financial performance
* Use break-even analysis to make better decisions relating to cost, price, and profits
* Avoid cash crunches and increase cash flow
* Plan for and manage growth
* Communicate more effectively with bankers and other financial professionals
* Structure a loan that’s the right fit for your business

Workshops
The material is practical, the delivery is dynamic, and the practice is hands-on. If you’d like to attend one of our live Profit Mastery workshops, contact us and we’ll find one located near you. If you have a management team or an employee group that needs to develop skills relating to the numbers side of their jobs, we will conduct an onsite program specifically tailored for your company. Or, perhaps you have a network of customers or distributors who could benefit from our program. Host a seminar and give them a true “added-value” program that will go straight to their bottom line.

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Our speakers mix practical techniques with plenty of humor for an exciting and compelling keynote presentation, workshop, or break-out session. We work with leading trade and professional associations in a variety of industries. If you’re tired of attending conventions that feature the same old “rah-rah” motivational speakers whose message nobody remembers when they get home, tell your association management about Business Resource Services. We get results and we get asked back, again and again.

Financial Analysis Software
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Performance Groups
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“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”
Mario Andretti

The Lizard is always listening, always watching.

It is the voice inside your head that fears and hates. The Lizard wants vengeance.

The Lizard is lazy.

My Lizard doesn’t like to dance.

I try to ignore my Lizard. I try to starve him to death.

My Lizard does tricks. He sounds like common sense.

His logic is impeccable.

My Lizard comes up with tons of reasons not to exercise.

My Lizard does not want to take my 15-year-old out to practice her driving. Neither do I.

Jules and I have been together a long time. Our Lizards like each other. They feed each other.

Our Lizards really hate it when we are the only ones dancing at a big party.

Other peoples Lizards laugh at us.

Maybe it isn’t enough to stop feeding your own Lizard, but we need to try to starve other peoples Lizards.

When you see people hating, fearing and gossiping, remember to talk to them, not to their Lizard.

Encourage your friends, families and co-workers to stop feeding their Lizards.

A lot of politicians are in the business of feeding Lizards. If you read the news, you’ll see lots of Lizards are being fed. Try to ignore them.

Have a great day. Hope your Lizard dies.

P.S. Seth Godin inspired this writing. My Lizard didn’t want to give him credit.

Do you really want a $3 haircut?

A few years ago, I went to a mall in Shanghai to get a haircut. The menu listed the haircuts according to the city where the hairstylist had trained.
Shanghai was 300 yuan, about $3. Singapore was 600 yaun, $6, Sydney was 1000 yuan or $10, and London topped the list at 2500, $25.

I splurged, and went with the London. My pleasant Chinese stylist spoke very good English  she had obviously, indeed, trained in London  and about six people ran around doing nice things for me. Three washed my hair, two brought me tea, and one gave me a shoulder rub.

It was a good haircut and a good example of the power of price. That was how I chose the London  simply because it was the most expensive, and I wanted quality. Price is an indicator of quality, often our first and often the signal that influences our decision the most.

As director of the Small Business Development Center, I meet with about 20 businesses a month  some small, some large, and a few start-ups. One exercise that helps them the most is a competitive map, where we sketch out how the market perceives the price and quality of the business and each of its competitors. It’s amazing to me how many companies believe that their own quality is actually much higher than what the market perceives, and yet they criticize their competition for being overpriced.

We also run into the occasional start-up whose business plan is to be known for higher quality and lower price. This is a tough plan to pull off. Human nature sees the least expensive option as the lowest quality.
Human nature goes with the London. We avoid the $3 haircut.

And you don’t have to go to Shanghai to figure that out. Go out for lunch in Mankato.

Mankato has several choices of Mexican food alone. I recently spent $17 on two Chipotle burritos and an order of chips, and was pleased with the value, even though it was much more expensive than anything I could have had at good old Madison Avenue Zanz (two cheese chilitos, please).

I was happy with my high-end burritos because they were high-end. In almost every dining category, there is a choice both in price, and value. What’s worth noting, for business owners, is how our perception of value is driven by price.

The $1 taco versus the $17 burrito meal. The $3 Shanghai haircut versus the $25 London. A well-coiffed, well-fed and happy Mike Nolan.

If you really have the highest quality, don’t you really want to say so with the highest price?