Herman: John L. Herman Jr., Author

Herman School of Business

What's Really Crushing You?

It’s been awhile since I hit the keys and spit out a blog posting. I have felt crushed under a pile of bricks lately. The bricks were of my own making. But crushed I was.

I am a consultant to two emerging franchise companies, working on projects for THINKBUSINESS MAGAZINE, working with SIXON CAPITAL GROUP to teach them how to do troubled deals, arranging several upcoming speaking engagements, and trying to live a nice life. I was building with too many bricks at one time and I got crushed under the weight for a bit. Not too many irons in the fire…too many start-ups at once.

When something is just getting off the ground there are hundreds of details that must be handled properly or the train falls off the tracks quickly. But…as each company gets further down the line the flood of activity narrows. You have to work just as hard…but not scattered in so many directions.

Look at your situation realistically. Can you really accomplish all that you are trying to do?

I skipped something I love doing…writing this blog…to spend that energy working on my projects and those of my clients. Think about the past month…how many balls were you trying to juggle? Is that why nothing seems to be getting done?

If I want to be the best speaker…that requires focus, if I want to write another posting…that takes thought, and if I want my clients to succeed…they need my attention. If you want to win, complete a task, or accomplish a goal…maybe you shouldn’t be juggling so many balls at once…put at least one down for a moment, like I did…and make sure you keep the important balls up in the air, letting go of even stuff you love…in favor of what must be done.

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In An Instant...

When Susan Boyle opened her mouth on Britain’s Got Talent in an instant her life changed. The world discovered her beautiful voice…hidden away for years in a frumpy body, going virtually without any notice. Bam…with just a few notes, sung in a venue that let many people hear her voice…in an instant she realized what she always craved…having people want to hear her gift.

A pilot flies thousands of hours going completely unknown. He safely delivers hundreds of thousands of passengers to their destination and not one person in the back of his plane ever knew his name. One day birds are struck and the engines fail and in that instant “Sully” becomes a hero recognized the world over. In just an instant of time he did his job just as he always did…but on that particular day it counted more than all those other flights…this time if he had failed in any way…everyone would have died…but in an instant of his perfection all were saved.

You met your mate in an instant. You could have turned left that day instead of right…it could have rained and you would have skipped the beach…your parents could have moved somewhere else and in that instant your life would be totally different.

Your business has a deadline…or a certain customer comes in randomly…and it turns out to be someone who takes your place to another level of recognition…maybe Oprah touts your book…and in that instant everything changes.

At noon today there were no “hot” leads to buy one of my clients’ franchises. I was frustrated that up to that moment we had zero prospects wanting to buy what is obviously a great business…one that could make someone considerable money. And then…in an instant…the telephone rang…and the voice asked what they had to do to acquire a franchise? In an instant we went from no prospects to a very hot prospect.

Life comes down to a few short moments they say. Your first love, graduation, that first job, a wedding, your kids birth, several milestone birthdays, a few steps up the ladder and in those “instants” your life moves through incredible options. Success or failure, are the outcomes of those few “instants” and you better recognize them when they arrive.

Had I not answered the phone would we have missed the prospect? In reality those instants are the result of many hours, days, and weeks of hard work and preparation. Endless hours of exhausting effort. In other words…while some huge events in life actually do occur in an instant…business success, like life success, usually results from a long term of effort. If you are doing nothing, sitting around waiting for your business or your life to have one of those “instants” that turn things around…you will be sitting there a long time…and while you sit there waiting, someone will be having their instant and passing you by.

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Let the 4th Quarter Begin...

OK…we just passed sixty heading for eighty…and maybe some “overtime” and let me tell you about the kick-off party the kids had for me. No doubt the best birthday party I have ever had! What I wanted was a backyard picnic of just our children, their mates and their kids. Only one portion missed the event because they are on the West Coast and Pregnant.

What I got was exactly what I had in mind. I saw my daughters with their mates…two married and two more in very wonderful relationships.

Only two grandchildren made the event and they were treated like kings. Those two little guys ran around endlessly, challenged everyone to soccer matches, baseball games and horseshoes. You know what those two little guys will grow up to be? I have no idea but they have that competitive spirit already thriving inside.

Julie’s husband Bob remains the King of Leisure Sports as he reigned over the Horseshoe Pits and the Dart Board. Matt was wonderful discussing his movie interests, Rob shared his endless positive spirit throughout the day, James ruled over the Weber Grill and I pretty much soaked up the love that they all brought for me.

Colleen made shirts that had “I (Heart) and my picture” on them.

Shannon brought our latest family addition, Drake the dog. Him and I are Buds and will spend time this summer walking around the track. Julie brought some appropriate old age gifts and Kelly, as always made me smile.

No one had to spend a buck on a gift…I already have way too much stuff. The gift they gave me was to see how wonderful they are doing as people and how much they love the people in their lives. Makes me want to make it past the fourth quarter of my life and go for a little “overtime.”

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Climbing out on a new ledge...

Gulp…I turn sixty years old today. My father’s sixtieth birthday is burned into my brain because it was the day I was interviewed for my first major sales job at a corporation almost thirty years ago. We were hosting the party for my Dad and at the last minute my interview was scheduled for the exact hour dinner was to begin.

When I spoke to my Dad about the dilemma over my schedule conflict he didn’t flinch…go to your interview, it’s a great opportunity. Missing his birthday dinner was hard for me because my father is the most important man in my life…even now 26 years after his death.

OK…so I skipped the dinner, got the job, set sales records, became sales manager, gained enormous confidence and went on to great success. My Dad had a wonderful birthday celebration and I missed it. He was proud of the fact that going to the interview worked out so well over time for me. He always put his children ahead of his own wants and needs. Maybe that birthday more than any other day of his life showed me the value and purpose of a parent. Put your children’s needs ahead of yours.

My Dad was a workaholic, a kind man who never used bad language, gave away his time to help others, and put his kids first.

Tonight I am having dinner with my wife…the kids are coming from all over the country this Saturday…and as I eat my fried shrimp and reflect on my sixty years…I will look skyward and thank my father for what he taught me with his life…thanks Dad, and welcome to my sixtieth birthday dinner.

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Shifting Gears...

OK…even my daughter called to tell me I haven’t written anything in weeks. Writer’s block? Not at all…just a change in activities that has now given me a new opportunity.

I have been given the opportunity to be a spokesperson for THINKBUSINESS MAGAZINE. Formerly known as SMART BUSINESS IDEAS the magazine has gone from a paper published magazine to a digital format earlier this year. They had thousands of subscribers but as paper magazines die because of the cost of production and mailing they decided to go on-line and with that a name change was also introduced. THINKBUSINESS MAGAZINE is in part a compilation of articles from other major publications. The reader also receives information for the seven major aspects of running a business.

In this months’ issue at www.sbimag.com there is a cover story on my work. Geez, I need to lose weight if I am going to be a cover boy.

As a new spokesperson for the magazine my responsibility is to bring business authors to the magazine to be featured monthly…and to offer a free download of one of their business books monthly..meaning you can get a free subscription and twelve new business books free over the next year. This plan is one I brought to the magazine. I am authorized to GIVE AWAY free subscriptions of the magazine…so please let me know your email address and name so I can put you in the system. If you have a group that wants the magazine simply send me the name and email addresses or have them send me each individually.

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Thanks Mom's...

My mother passed away just a few years ago after a full life reaching her mid-eighties. She raised six children as a stay-at-home mom, giving us a broad base of exposure to any and everything.

We piled into her car and went to the Zoo in Philadelphia, all of the Monuments and Museums in Washington, DC, down to Ocean City, Maryland, off to the theme parks in rural Frederick, and it was nothing to drive thirty miles to the most interesting ice cream store she could find. My mother was involved in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies, and she made every baseball and football game.

My mother was deeply involved in our education…showing up for every parent day, every teacher’s meeting, and checking our homework every night. She taught us to bowl, was competitive beyond belief at every board and card game and took thousands of photographs to document our lives.
Probably the greatest gift she gave her children was the idea that the world had much to offer and you could involve yourself in as much of it as you wanted. She never held us back, always supported trying new things, and staunchly held to our Catholic upbringing.

By no means was my mother a saint. But she was a great mother. And my children have the same wonderful gift as good I had as a child…the mother of my children is a great mother as well.

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Where Is Our Honor?

I accept the notion that my country conducted activities that were an abomination on some of our enemy. There is genuine sorrow in my heart that the President I helped elect twice performed cruel and unmerciful acts of torture on human beings…against everything I ever believed about what made Americans different from our enemy.

We will be paying for those acts of torture for decades.

The oil companies traveled the globe to punch holes in the ground so they could suck profits from deep inside the earth…at any environmental cost at all. Being in a “third world” setting the larger than life oil companies acted with total disregard for the rules of nature and the lack of morality in destroying the lands and water systems around the world. That people got sick and died didn’t matter to those taking the profits.

It is an incredible thing to me that people in America buy stock in a company that dispenses cigarettes that injure and kill millions of people and waste hundreds of millions of dollars in health care annually. Just because over a hundred years ago legitimate people sold a product without knowledge of the damage it was causing should not give them a pass to keep selling the poison now that we know the consequences. Somehow the “right to profits” trumps doing the “right thing.”

A small number of people running the banks have been allowed to suck millions of dollars out of our pockets and then perpetrate a huge fraud almost wiping out the economy of our country. Pension funds were wiped out, mortgages were obtained and then sold and resold with no regard for the ability to have them paid back. Elected officials who served on the Committees for oversight failed at their tasks…now hand back hundreds of millions of dollars to those who committed the frauds.

Doesn’t this bother anyone else?

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What Reality Are You Ignoring?

I won’t make you read to the end of this blog posting to tell you the reality you are ignoring the most…you are not doing enough marketing.

People do what they like to do first and put off the hard stuff that may be uncomfortable. People want to “go over things with their staff.” Managers want to “find out how the staff is doing.” Owners want to check on the bills they owe, or go over their inventory figures.

Why do owners want to do everything else first and finally succumb to the need for marketing? Why don’t owners start every day and end every day by doing some form of marketing for their business? Marketing is the absolute engine that drives customers through the door, or to your Internet site, or to the phone to call you and place an order with your business.

Marketing means to me anything that makes your customers more aware of your business, makes your products more appealing to be purchased, or positions your company in the eye of the Public through some PR effort. You could write an article about an unusual customer who has been with you for years…you could tell a story about a special employee…you could tell the world about a special you are running. DENNY’s decided to give away Grand Slam breakfasts…it hit the news when two million people came to eat for free. DENNY’s got Publicity that would have cost millions to buy…their free five million dollar breakfast increased paid business by ten million in the next thirty days (Double what they gave away) and they are going to do the free breakfast again…and they have asked the two million previous customers who ate for free…to come back and bring a friend!

Frito-Lay just announced they would add 20% more product in a bag to help customers get a little bit more for their dwindling money. Again…they made the news for free.

What is the reality you are ignoring that could market your business and get some good will and maybe some new customers?

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Read any good books lately?

A few years ago my daughter discovered THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand, a book written many years ago. Colleen found the characters fascinating as they revealed their strengths and weaknesses during the Depression. Welcome back America…here we are again.

The principle people in the book are riveting as Rand writes in the most minute detail. You read her work and you feel like you are standing in the very street where the scene takes place, you can hear the inflections in their voice as they speak. Not only is the writing style exceptional, the story is amazing. It inspires you in many ways.

The follow-up many years later is called ATLAS SHRUGGED and it goes on for over 1,100 pages. Just the weight of the book is intimidating. But Colleen has finished the book and gave me a copy over a year ago. It stares at me from my dresser wondering when I will crack the cover and get started. 1,100 pages…did I mention that?

Colleen is the kind of person who wants to share great treasures with others…besides me she bugs others to take the plunge and read ATLAS SHRUGGED. Today, Colleen’s man-friend, my buddy, Rob…hit me with an email asking how my reading was going.

Bookends now bugging me to get started on ATLAS SHRUGGED. I am flying to Chicago tomorrow and promise to drag the book along (I hope there is no extra charge for the weight of this book) and begin my journey.

If you are not up for ATLAS SHRUGGED at least go get THE FOUNTAINHEAD and if you are not a reader but rather a movie watcher…rent, buy or find a copy of the movie THE FOUNTAINHEAD.

If those pages scare you…then I recommend my second favorite book that I have ever read…TV HUMPHREY. TV HUMPHREY was the first book I ever read in one day. I was probably in the second or third grade and was staying home with one of those “sick days” where you just wanted to be home. I had no one to play with as all the kids were at school and so I read my new library book…TV HUMPHREY sitting in a chair in our living room.

The point of this is simple. I still remember the impact from over fifty years ago of just accomplishing reading a whole book in one day. And THE FOUNTAINHEAD goes beyond my appreciation of the book…it is a shared experience with Colleen and Rob.

Read a book. And share the knowledge with someone else.

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  • Posted: 22 April 2009
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Quit This And Start That...

Now that you realize “this” isn’t working what are the mechanics of getting out of “this” so you can start “that?”

Money has been spent and it is gone and there is still a monthly drain for your venture that was the big idea. Commitments like a lease you can no longer afford to pay, a car you bought that made you feel like a big shot but is killing you, the time you spend at your retail store where there isn’t enough stuff retailing because not enough customers are coming, maybe you just discovered you are with the wrong person in your life…or maybe you realized you really don’t want to be a yodeling pizza maker after all.

Whatever “this” is has to go. Failing to get out of a burning building when the smoke detectors are blaring away could result in your death. Staying in a bad relationship or a bad business or chasing a dream you no longer have will not get you happy. In an airplane (I flew Jets) when a warning light went on you act fast or you could die. We had three steps to follow immediately; Maintain Aircraft Control, Identify the Problem and Take the Necessary Actions, AND LAND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. In other words, Do Not Fly A Broken Airplane! In fact…if the actions you take don’t allow you to maintain aircraft control…bail out rather than crash and die.

Applying this to your situation…can you stay calm and shut down the business as efficiently as possible, getting money back from a sale of the entirety, the assets, or the real estate? Can you take action to stop “this” from being out of control? Do you have the ability to plan for an exit that lands safely on the ground or is “this” swirling towards certain catastrophic failure and you just seem to like going down with it due to your own unwillingness to bail out?

When you know your life is on the line in an airplane there is no hesitation to act. In your current “this” you could be embarrassed, or lose a huge sum of money, or have to find a new “that” but don’t know how…so, you are not facing death and therefore don’t feel compelled to do anything just yet. Maybe that is what separates the really successful person from the one who almost makes it but never does. Being afraid to start what you did was something you had to overcome…but you never saw “this” becoming what it is now. You are either an Ostrich or a Deer-in the-Headlights if you resist changing “this” when it isn’t working. If a jungle fire wipes out the place where a Lion is the King of that space the Lion doesn’t lie down and starve to death…the Lion moves on to find a new jungle.

If you are halfway up the ladder towards your goal and you realize what is at the top is no longer what you want…climb down and start over…that is what successful people do.

There will always be a price paid to start over but if starting over leads to success it is always worth the price.

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Welcome

After 30+ years in business, I’ve decided that it’s time to share my hard knocks knowledge. Having worked in almost 200 bankruptcy cases and many other kinds of business failure situations, I have awarded myself a Ph.D. from what I refer to as the Herman School of Business. In this blog, you’ll read about starting a business, running a business, and, if the situation calls for it, selling a business; about being a business success and not a business failure. Welcome …

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