If you are fishing at 40 degrees below zero and you pull a fish up through the ice, an obvious thing happens.  The fish freezes, fast and hard.  A young man who did this, was grinding out an existence fur trading.  Noticed some other characteristics when he thawed the fish, cooked it and ate it.  It was tender, flaky and moist—almost as good as fresh caught.  He noticed that the same was true of the frozen caribou, geese, and heads of cabbage stored outside his cabin in the winter.  That observation made this young man very rich.  The quick freezing processes pioneered him, created a multi-billion dollar business.  The man’s name was Clarance Birdseye.    He later was to claim that he did nothing special, but to “make quick frozen goods available to the public.”  That was enough wasn’t it.

Interestingly all of us have what we need to do what we want right in front of us if we will but look and take a hand in bringing it to pass.  Most of the limitations we experience are in our heads.

Coach Charles

http://cli.gs/ueyNNE

Love is how we feel toward those who show us that

which is lovable about ourselves.  

—Gerry Spencer

Good Morning All,

The Submit A Link feature is working again.  Please feel free to submit a link to your company website and add a description.  Your link will then show in a categorized format and you’ll gain a valuable inbound link to your company website.  For the effect to be maximized, you should add a link back to PortlandBusinessCommunity.com to a links page on your website.

ALSO

You can submit your company elevator speech (or position statement).  Your elevator speech (unlike a blog article) can be sale pitchy.

1. Click on “Create Article”
2. Choose the “Elevator Speech” category
3. Type your presentation as if it were a blog article, make sure to include a link to your company website
4. Publish

That’s it!

Why should you add a link and elevator speech to this web site?

Two good reasons:

1. This website has over 2,000 unique visitors per month clicking on an average of 4.4 page per visit.
2. This site has gained good importance by the search engines and the robots crawl this site several times per day.

Both reasons translate into more visitors and search engine visibility for your company website.  On average, I receive 600+ visits per month from web folks who originated on PortlandBusinessCommunity.com.  People read my articles here on PortlandBusinessCommunity.com and click over to visit ZenithExhibits.com and BusinessBlogging.net websites.  PLUS I have several first page google listings, in part, because I have relevant information here on this website.

Bear and I created this site to help you, the small business owner, reach more customers and gain more search engine visibility–plus you’ll learn stuff great stuff!

Happy Blogging

Ed Bejarana

It happens a million times a day, in tens of millions of locations, in an innumerable number of methods.  What is it?  It’s “The Close”.  That question that brings to finality the presentation or interrogation and causes the participants to make a decision.

It has been presented in a variety of manners, but in all human interaction it is the necessary and natural result.  To the romantic it’s “Popping the question”.  To the gambler it’s, “Call”.  To the game show contestant it’s “Is that your final answer?”  To the fast food attendant it’s, “Would you like fries with that?”  And to the business person or professional sales person, it’s the line in the sand that determines success or failure.

The reasons for avoiding the close are nearly as vast as the methods of closing.  However, at the heart of it all is the dreaded, “no”.  To the novice, the “no” is the final declaration of interaction.  They will do anything to avoid coming to that statement, including avoiding the close.  They unknowingly believe that the “no” is in response to the overall process. However, to the experienced, professional, and consummate salesperson, the “no” is a welcomed stepping stone in the course of commerce.  It is as important to business as are contractions to the process of giving birth.  And often the “no” is both severe and painful, but it is almost always necessary. 

Many a salesperson, and face it we’re all selling something, avoids the close because they fail to see it as the natural progression of the interaction.  It is somehow viewed as impolite as if one were asking the age of a woman or inquiring as to someone’s income.  It is not rude to close, and in fact, if there is a firm belief in ones product or service, it is rude and uncaring not to close.  We have not engaged the process to disperse information, or to display our presentation skills, but rather to transact mutually beneficial business.  The key of which is to always provide more in use value than we are asking for in compensation.

There are a number of effective methods of closing, which shall be discussed at a later time.  It is our intention today to simply stimulate the value and need of closing.  We would all do well to concentrate on perfecting our close at least as much as we concentrate on our presentation.  No presentation is complete unless it has at its very core the request for conclusion.  Every presentation should somehow begin by establishing the fact that there will be an end.  If done intentionally, and done well, the close will be the beginning of the presentation rather than the end.  The results will merely be a by-product of a well executed closing presentation.

When, “Let me think about it”, enters the discussion you have just been told that your presentation, complete with close, has been inadequate.  You will waste countless hours waiting for your prospect to find time to “think about” something that, until you showed up they had not given any time to at all.  Unfortunately, they don’t know how to close any better than you do and they are just avoiding saying “no”.   Save yourself some time and grief, get an answer and move to the next step.  Learning to close well is a lifelong pursuit, but you do have to start somewhere.  Failure is always an option, it’s how we learn.

Gary Russell
503-519-3592
www.DefendMyLife.com
www.GoSmallBiz.com

Portland, Oregon has seen some of the hottest days on record this week. It has been brutal for those working outside in the heat; or trying to sleep at night if your home is not equipped with air conditioning. Triple digit heat is so rare in the Pacific Northwest that the majority of homes are without central air.

But the current heat wave has been a financial shot in the arm for movie theaters, Ice suppliers, convenience stores and gas stations selling huge soft drinks. Many people have opted out of cooking this last week. A cool restaurant is much more pleasant then a hot kitchen. Window air conditioners and fans are flying off the shelves at local retail stores. Hotel occupancy has also increased this week, while others have headed for the coast. So, it’s not all bad and it won’t last much longer.

For me, I have been staying at home in the air conditioning. Yes it can even get too hot to fish! But it’s never too hot to look at your business plan and decide how to heat up your profits.

So sit back, have some ice tea and thank God that the temps will soon be back in the eighties.

As long as my boat did not melt, I will be back on the water helping clients catch fish and enjoying Oregon.

See You At The Dock

Ken Bear Cole
Fishing with Bear LLC

“Most people are willing to change, not because they see the light, but  because they feel the heat.”                 —Unknown

It seems clear that change is accelerating.  Before one thing clears, two others have arrived and you feel farther behind than ever.  Our normal response to change is to continue to do what we have always done, or we double the effort.   “Hard work will certainly solve this problem” is what we think.. 

Years ago, an English Admiral lost about seventy per cent of his fleet in the rocks off of west England.  He knew his latitude, an easy thing to do.  But he had no idea of his longitude and in  the inclement weather wandered into the rocks.  The change of course that he needed was hidden.  Later they would invent the sextant and if  he knew what time it was, the longitude becomes easy. 

When we need to change, maybe we need new resources instead of increased effort.  Doubling your speed when  you are going the wrong direction, will not be of any great help.

Consider these Stages of change (listed by Anne Riches)

1. Disbelief or denial —“it won’t happen to us”

2. Anger and blame —“we’ve worked our butts off and this is how they treat us”\

3. Reluctant acceptance —“there’s just too much to do around here”

4. The final stage —“Ok, I guess we can do it, make the best of a bad situation.”

 Note that these stages are really emotional stages.  Thus, in some senses they are irrational and the answer is in empathy, not information.  It is in clearing the feeling board by listening to those affected.  Most people really want stability and they trust others in getting it, especially if they work for you.  Thus , these require mature communication, listen to them, empathize,  don’t tell them to get over it.  Give them time to adjust, to deal with their fears, support and encourage them.   

Coach    http://cli.gs/ueyNNE

Hi All,

My wife and I packed up the dogs in the motorhome and headed to the Southern Oregon coast.  Of course, being a small business owner means I never really take a vacation.  Adding to Coaches list of four, I would add, be committed but flexible.

Looking at the weather, it looks like I left Portland at the perfect moment.  The temp here in Bandon is a nice 70 degrees!  I hear Portland is going to break a three digit temp record today?  Whew, that’s hot!

Since it is too hot for most of you to go outside anyway, why not take a moment to review your business plan and marketing strategy to make sure things are on target?  I use the camp site as a way to disconnect from the real time nature of the internet and reconnect to the basics of my business.  Then once a day I head to town to seek out a free wifi spot and catch up with business.

We all need to take breaks from time to time, but when we are the sales force, labor force and bookkeeper, it is hard to unplug completly.  Feel free to tap into your PortlandBusinessCommunity.com family and ask questions.  Bear and I are working hard to help you because we believe small business people working together makes for an unstoppable force.

I have enjoyed reading the posts of recent days.  Thank you to everyone who continues to help make this web community popular.  Google continues to send more traffic everyday and great keywords.  Those of you who have published have experienced the benefits first hand.  Those who are unsure about how to blog for your business, stay tuned–the first Tuesday in September will be our first FREE business networking and business blogging event.  More information to follow.

Happy blogging and stay cool!

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

Here are four steps to success as stated by Jeffrey Keller.

                     A successful corporate executive in New York was interviewed and asked to  identify his professional strengths. He came up with the following list, and I think we can all be more effective in our sales efforts if we apply them as well: 

                     1. Be consistent:  This includes not only consistency of the quality of our product or service, but also consistency of attitude (a positive one) and consistency of integrity and reliability.

                      2. Work at a very strong pace: Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher summed it up well when she said, “I do not know anyone who got to the top without hard work.”  You’ll never get maximum results from minimal effort.

                     3. Focus on the long term: Those who succeed have a vision of where they’re going and have the patience, flexibility and persistence to stay the course. 

                     4. Don’t let people get you down: No matter what you do, you’ll encounter criticism and disappointment during your career. Don’t let anyone discourage you or stop you from moving  forward.

   Submitted by Coach.  I have no idea who Jeffrey is or what he is connected with.  I have only the information above and thought it worthwhile to pass on.  Enjoy.

Coach   http://cli.gs/ueyNNE

How-to Pack and Travel Light

In this day and age of traveling cephalalgia, there are a few packing tactics to employ. To cut out an extra thirty to forty minutes at the arriving airport, start with packing small luggage. Since carry-ons can not exceed a linear dimension of 45 inches, you can escape the fiasco of the baggage terminal by simply packing and traveling light. To learn how to pack all your needs into one suitcase, read more.

Use the following pithy packing tips to make your travel light:

Make a list. Compose a pack list. Be sure to coordinate shirts and blouses with bottoms. To maximize your traveling wardrobe fashion savoir faire, stick with solids and versatile basics. Rule-out any clothes that do not match other items.

Roll ‘em up please. The best way to fit all your clothes is by rolling pants and shirts. First fold each item in half. Then simply roll. To try to maintain any creases, start on the bulkiest end of the article of clothing.

Gear up. How to make an awe-inspiring impression out of a basic or mundane outfit? For the most glam appeal, acessorize with a vibrant tie (for him) or a florid scarf (for her). Multihued accessories can liven up just about any attire.

Minimize bulk. After you check for space, edit outfits – ruthlessly. Try to pack microfibers with wrinkle and stain free comfort. With most of your attire, stay in the same color scheme – in case you have to layer up for warmth.

Employ shoe smarts. For men, any leather rubber-soled shoes can make the day and night transition, easy. For woman, a pair of flip-flops, strappy sandals and comfy wedges can serve all casual – chic dressing needs.

Put under garments on the top. To reduce the embarrassment of under garments becoming the side show attraction of the open luggage scan, place all panties in a plastic bag free of any clippers, lighters or other questionable paraphernalia. For expedient security review, place the transparent bag on top of your other items so security can access the bag without ruining your efficient packing method.

Lose Extra Baggage. Leave the heavy travel guide at home. Duplicate important resources to keep your luggage free of extra pounds. Since most hotels and resorts provide irons and blow-dryers –leave yours at home for light travel.

Leave restricted items at home. If you want to make it through security extra fast, avoid any firearms, weapons, box-cutters, scissors, razors, lighters and any other item that may be used in a terrorist situation.

Written by: Holly Bentz

Good Morning All,

I am writing with an update on the link feature.  Due to a recent upgrade in software, the link tool we were going to use has a conflict with the site software.  We are working to resolve the issue and will have a link directory system online as soon as possible.

In the mean time, please create and post your elevator speech with links to your website.  Use the “Elevator Speech” category when creating your article and your article will be listed with everyone else’s along the right side menu.

Thanks,

Ed