Billy Arcement’s
News From the Swamp
Issue # 40
Bringing you ideas from The Results
Group Office
on
“Working
with business leaders to produce a culture of teamwork, productivity and
profits.”
Please recommend this newsletter to a friend or associate.
When you receive this newsletter, print, three-hole
punch and place it in a binder for future review. Place the binder in your bookcase. Take the binder with you on trips to read in
down time. Review it while you’re
sitting down glancing at your TV screen or create your own unique way to
re-read the words. Reviewing the messages
reinforces the content and expands the possibilities of retention and implementation
of information shared. Put the ideas to
work for you. This is how winners learn
and grow and I believe you are a winner!
Over the
last several years I’ve written a monthly newsletter, I’ve shared many tips on
success. As you move into a New Year, it
might be time to reflect on one of the most important aspects of success—building relationships.
Success requires the help of others in some form or fashion. We need people to help educate us, to work for us, to refer business. The relationship chain must be long and continuous. And, the more successful we become, the more relationships play a critical role. Who we know and who knows us can help propel us to greater opportunities and successes.
One way to keep relationships building is to never burn bridges. I’m not suggesting that you stay in touch with people, socialize with them or do business with those who make relationships difficult. But what I am saying is don’t build an enemy list. You never know when you might need or run into these same people in a future business situation. Keeping your relationship building options open makes good sense and is a key component to building your success model in the coming year.
In the last days of this year, find a quiet spot and make a list of all the people who are special to you. Exam your relationship with each one and look at their strengths and your business needs and see if you can “find a fit.” Make this thought process a two-way commitment. Look for ways these individuals may help with your business development but also look for ways you can reciprocate the favor. In some cases, it may be you doing all the giving. But never forget that for every action in life there is a reaction of like kind. Don’t worry about the payback. Help others when you can and you will find many who will go out of their way to help you. It’s an interesting but very predictable chain of events.
Build that
list and use it to springboard yourself to greater heights and personal
successes in the coming year.
A Key Element of Relationships
The foundation upon which all successful relationships are built is TRUST. Customers come back to do business with you because they trust that you will deliver the product they need for a fair price. Your boss gives you more responsibility because he or she feels they can trust you to get the job done.
Ask yourself, “Am I trustworthy?” Can I be trusted to do what I promise to do? Is my word good as gold? If you establish yourself as a worker or business owner whose word can be taken to the bank, you will earn trust. And earning trust is the bottom line. Keeping a rock solid reputation of being trustworthy is a priceless trait. We like doing business with people and organizations we trust. No trust, no business relationship.
As you look into this New Year, strive to increase the level of trust others have in you. Doing so will pay handsome dividends and make you a better person in the process.
We’ve talked about business relationships in this issue. I’d like to close my commentary this month by focusing on two other critically important relationships that help to make my life more complete—my relationship with family and God. If we’ve built a trusting relationship over these last thirty-nine issues of this newsletter, I hope you will allow me the privilege to share my thoughts regarding these passions in my life.
It’s All About Family
No success in business is more important than success with family. If we have any regrets about our life just prior to taking our last breath, I don’t think any will have to do with unattained business goals. But I’m confident such regrets will focus on unattained family goals.
No amount of business success can replace family success. After nearly forty-three years of marriage, four children and ten grandchildren, I’ve come to cherish my family. They are the most important part of my life. I’ve enjoyed and continue to enjoy business successes but all that pales compared to having witnessed events in the life of my children and grandchildren and to having a solid marriage to someone I love dearly. Last year I started my newsletter, Children First, to help parents with their parenting skills. In a family environment, good parenting is where the rubber meets the road. Children have no instruction manual attached to them when they are born. Much of how we parent comes from the methods used by our own parents. Thus, poor parenting begets poor parenting. To save children, we must first save parents. And that passion has lead me to write a book on this subject that I plan to have published sometimes in 2005.
God Is An Important Component
Having had a strong spiritual conviction all my life, I find great comfort in my beliefs. At this juncture of life, I simply want to be able to believe and worship as I wish to do. Spirituality has always been a very personal thing with me. I never push my spiritual beliefs on others. But current events have given rise to a concern that there are a select few (a minority) who don’t want my kind of thinking to take place. Secular thinkers are attacking those who believe in God from all angles. These events have moved me to no longer remain a bystander. I’m taking a stance, not to push my thinking on anyone, but to announce to the world that I’m not willing to let anyone change the things I find most important in my life.
Success in my business relationships, success with family relationships and success with my spiritual relationship are passions in my life. Where are the passions in your life? And in this New Year, are you going to be a bystander or a participant?
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As we come to the close of another year and as the feast of Christmas nears, I want to take this opportunity to wish each of you a most blessed Christmas and a most prosperous and happy New Year. I truly want more success in your life and for the next year to be the most successful you’ve ever experienced.
Keep your priorities in focus and go for it!!!
Please notify
Children First! Spread the Word
Children First, my newsletter offering parenting tips, continues to grow
very nicely. To subscribe, email me at barcement@eatel.net and place “children”
in the subject line. The next issue goes
out January 3
Value Added
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