Business Shorts: Practical Insights for the Busy Entrepreneur

By Jerry Ross

Time is your most valuable asset!  Discover time-tested business principles in no time at all!  Business Shorts is an engaging collection of short stories and timeless business principles critical for the success of entrepreneurs whether in a start up or an established small business. Told from the perspective of a life-long entrepreneur, this book is a must for any small business owners library.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HigherLife Publishing
• Release date: Aug 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781935245605

Book preview

BUSINESS SHORTS:

Practical Insights for the Busy Entrepreneur

By Jerry Ross

Published by HigherLife Development Services, Inc.

400 Fontana Circle, Building 1 – Suite 105

Oviedo, Florida 32765, [phone]

www.ahigherlife.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise – without prior written permission of the publisher, except as prohibited by United States of America copyright law.

Copyright © 2012 by Jerry Ross

All rights reserved

ISBN 13: 978-1-935245-46-9

ISBN 10: 1-935245-46-5

First Edition

11 12 13 14 – 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

Credits

Publishing Consultant: Wendy Kurtz, APR, CPRC,

Elizabeth Charles & Associates,

Editor: Juli Baldwin, The Baldwin Group, Dallas, TX,

Publisher: Higher Life Publishing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There is no possible way to thank all those who have helped me along the way. Everyone I encounter contributes to my knowledge, insights and perspectives, each in different ways and measures.

There are, however, a few very special people

I would like to acknowledge. Thank you…

to my wife, Laura, and my son, Kevin, who know all my faults and love me anyway.

to my mom and dad, who didn’t stop at nine kids (I am number ten!)

to Brian, who isn’t here to cheer me on, as he did all his life.

to my family – Anne, Tom, Sally, Susan, Dan, Pat, John and Mike

for their guidance, patience and mentorship.

Special thanks also go out to:

Juli Baldwin

Scott Banta

Jamie Barkley

Clay Bennett

Jeff Bosworth

Jim Braley

Lisa Busto

Eugene Campbell

Tom Creamer

Meg Crofton

John Crossman

Richard Crotty

Gus Davies

Ralph Felton

Jack Finn

Don Furry

Rogue Gallart

Jim Getz

Nancy Gidusko

Steve Hanlin

Tom Horvath

Paul Hoyer

Gail Kilbourn

Wendy Kurtz

John Lewis

Missie Lopez

Tom Marin

Bill Matthews

Julie Matthews

Eddy Moratin

Steve O’Donnell

Tom O’Neal

Dorothy Ohl

Ferris Ohl

Vicki Ohl

Marlowe Pitchel

George Rodon

Gene Romanga

Nancy Sanders

Bob Shephard

Jacqueline Spencer

Nicole Ware

John Wilmers

Leanne Wolfe

…and every client who has ever purchased from me!

CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I: The Entrepreneur

Jerry’s Terrible Tale

You Never Know…

This is Retirement?

Activity is Not Accomplishment

Discipline

Time Out

The Juggling Act

When You Know That You Know

Tough Times Don’t Last

Vision…or Not?

This is Not a Dress Rehearsal

Nice Guys Finish First

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Lester

Glass Houses

I Hate to Interrupt…

The Need for Speed

The War on Excellence

Part II: The Business

Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

Doctor X

Listening

Tempo

What’s Your Brand?

I Have Seen the Future…

Lean Time Lessons

Trade Show Success

The Treasure Hunt

Negotiate

A Customer Service Star

Redirection

Recipe for Success

My $40 Tomato

Closing Time

Two Ears, One Mouth

Go Blue!

What’s in Your Wallet?

The Reality of Birds and Business

Pricing

Would You Like Fries With That?

Tip That Man!

Brand Rude

Lessons Learned from the Medical Profession

Screech and Dent

Part III: The Rest

When Up is Down

Million, Billion, Trillion

On Taxes

Free-Market Tickets

Choices

INTRODUCTION

Business Shorts started as a blog – a fast and easy way to capture the business lesson in a chance encounter or my fleeting thoughts on how to improve a particular small business. After repeatedly being urged to write a book on my experiences as a lifelong entrepreneur, it occurred to me that I’d been writing my book for years through my blogs.

So, when I got ready to write the book, I intentionally decided to use a blog-type format – short essays that offer observations and insights on a specific topic or illustrate a business principle that can be applied immediately. If you’re looking for complex theories or long discussions about strategy, this is probably not the book

for you.

My hope is that Business Shorts will provide you with a quick and easy way to pick up a new idea, discover a different perspective or just remind yourself of the basics of business success.

I’ve grouped the shorts into three categories:

• The Entrepreneur – insights about each of us as entrepreneurs/owners and human beings

• The Business – thoughts on business subjects such as marketing, sales, employees and finances

• The Rest – observations about external factors like the government, competition and the marketplace

I hope you will enjoy reading these stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them. All of them are true; however, some of the names have been changed to protect the guilty! (Hopefully they have changed their ways!)

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this book, knowingly or unknowingly, and thank you to all the entrepreneurs and small business owners who make it happen everywhere, everyday!

- Jerry

Part I

THE ENTREPRENEUR

JERRY’S TERRIBLE TALE

From the moment I got out of bed, things just did not go as planned.

It all started with the toothpaste. In an effort to get just a teeny bit out of the empty tube and onto my toothbrush…SPLAT…it hit my tie. Not a big deal – I just changed the tie. A bit later I was cruising down the road with my travel mug full of coffee. All was fine until I hit the brakes…SPLAT...coffee all over the shirt...big time! This was not a small spot on the sleeve; it was front and center for all to see. I thought, Okay, not good. But hey, what can I do about it now? I have an early appointment I have to get to. Maybe things will improve when I get to work.

In an effort to avoid depressing you, I will summarize what happened next. Coping with a fear of my own bad breath, in my coffee-stained shirt, I tore a fingernail which bled profusely. Then I lost my reading glasses. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, I bent over to look for my missing glasses and RIPPED MY PANTS! Yes, they ripped right where you are thinking they ripped…and there was no hiding this rip! Where was I going to find enough safety pins to make this kind of repair? I wished I’d just stayed in bed!

Somewhere in that gloomy funk – sporting my ripped pants, coffee-stained shirt, bloody fingernail, missing glasses and questionable breath – I had a moment of clarity…what if everyone just decided to stay home when things go a little haywire? What would happen if nobody showed up to work because things were not going well? Who would keep the world moving?

I began to wonder if my daily annoyances were really that bad in the big scheme of things. There were at least a hundred people I could think of who would have traded places with me, right then and there, ripped pants and all! I hated to admit it, but most of my days were filled with annoyances just like that day was. I thought about how often I allowed the little irritations of the day to taint my outlook on all the good things that happen.