Control

Jaxi West Companies, LLC
http://jaxiwest.com

Control

Control has been tagged in many studies over the past year as the biggest hindering or frustrating
factor of running businesses today – all because of the economy downturn over the past few
years.

I was never one to get caught up in this economic mess. I am positive minded and spend my time
focusing focus on what I do have, not what I don’t have. My energy is much better used this way
as it opens the possibilities for more creativity. And creativity is absolutely necessary for you to
figure way above this economic global twist and still remain a thriving business today.

So in determining if this ‘lack of control because of the economy’ is just a crutch, an easy ‘blame
it on’ factor - or a true valid reason as to why your business is not doing well or why you aren’t
thriving, I am going to throw out some questions and perspectives that you might never
considered.

The ultimate goal is for that ‘ah ha’ moment to happen that allows you to jump instantly out of
your seat and pounce you right into the middle of a massively creative brainstorming session that
helps you determine and define a great strategy (or a few great strategies) of how you can
quickly turn things around and make 2011+ really spectacular years (yes, regardless of what is
going on in the macroeconomic world)!

So here we go....

1. What do you have control over and where are you saying you don’t have control? Make a list.

2. Is this economic downturn really a game changer for your business? Is this the true source of
why your company revenues aren’t as high or you have lost deals or had to lay off?

Let’s really get into this – lets dig deep – get messy if we must - to identify what exactly you are
not able to control. Note the word ‘exactly’.

It's easy to join the masses and say in general terms 'you lack control'. It's the solid professionals
that pinpoint the exacts, and stay away from the masses in these times.

The scrutiny & evaluation of your business that you do in order to identify the exacts, breathes
new oxygen into your business because you will tend to see it differently, now that you are
looking for something so specific. This oxygen creates a newfound energy in your business that
will also help you catapult past this type of situation in the future.

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3.Have you ever been able to control the amount of money that someone spends? No, their
lifestyle (spending habits), family size & salary dictated that primarily. You never had control.

We all know if a consumer really wants something – they have found a way to purchase it. Why
do you think there is so much massive credit card debt in the world? So, should you offer a
layaway plan now, or for a certain time period reduce your rates to gain that customer base back?

4. Have you ever been able to control Wall Street, the Auto Industry, the Mortgage Industry/ Real
Estate Industry, the Banks? No. So why what happened with them, affect your business (unless
you are in any of these industries of course). They were cushioned and taken care of with all the
bailout money, but all this had nothing to do with the success of your business, if you really
evaluate this from a distance.

I am going to be bold here and go as far as to say: if there was no such thing as ‘news’ during
those few months when we were learning about the collapses of all of these industries, and
government's decision to bail them out - meaning you had absolutely no idea any of this was
happening - your business would be still fine today, and I might even get bolder to say you would
be thriving too.

But what happened instead was, news existed, obviously.

So, it put fear, panic, worry, freeze modes and negative attitudes everywhere across the business
spectrum.

But worse, it quickly ignited a negative global conversation - which is the worst viral you want -
because it always takes on an exaggerated level of its own - and at utterly ridiculously ad
nauseum consistency, I must add. In other words, it was extremely rare over the past 3 years to
find anyone NOT talking about this economic downturn, at least once in the course of a day.

So, eventually all of “that” perpetuated itself into your business, day by day, creeping in, deeper
and deeper, as you allowed it to affect your business instead of shielding your mindset and your
business from the havoc & mess that was being magnified in infinite numbers, due to this
ongoing negative cycle of fear/panic emotions & actions and depressing negative conversation.

So, instead of blaming your business status today on all this, what you should have realized by
me stating all the above is you were never prepared properly. Don't beat yourself up for it - some
of the biggest top name companies weren't and they admit it.

By properly prepared, I mean you didn’t build enough flexibility and nimbleness in your
business plan (or to toss it out the window altogether) to be able to quickly shift into a different
mode or direction to quickly counter this or pro-act better. Notice I didn’t say react, I said pro-
act.

Now please don’t get me wrong - I am not saying you are a poor business person - or stupid or
anything like that. But for accountability or ownership purposes, this still falls back to you and


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how you established your business, or set it up to run. Not turning the accountability over to the
industries you never had control of anyway.

5. Have you ever been able to control how much someone spends in your business? Yes & No.
Again, No - not for the amount of discretionary income of the prospect/client. But Yes -because
if you are solving a need or problem and you have a solution or a product that handles that
problem, then they will spend more. Of course, if you have more than one service/product to
offer they will also spend more. So maybe you should create more than one product or service -
or hey, more than one business. :) Are you still able to get the materials you need to make your
product? Yes. The manufacturing, trucking, airline, packaging/shipping industries didn’t
collapse. So, then in some regards you still very much have control.

What I am trying to say is: let’s really step back and take a look at all this a bit clearer -and with
a different perspective. Let’s loose the exaggeration and ‘drama’ of this economic downturn and
let’s really define what you have control over and what you don’t have control over.

To me, my definition of ‘lack of control’ is something like a natural disaster. For example: the
roads to your business have collapsed in an earthquake and nobody can get to work, there is no
electricity, almost everything in your office was destroyed in the earthquake, documents
included, it will be weeks until heavy trucks are allowed on the roads again to start sending
supplies to manufacturing plants. A tornado whips through your town, wipes out not only your
business, but the entire 10 block radius around it. It's all rubble. These are examples of lack of
control. Yes, at these points, your business is going to suffer severly.

If you think about it, you never really have control over quite a lot on a daily basis in regards to
your business. I am not denying that the economic situation wasn’t some sort of factor - but it
shouldn’t hold the significant weight that countless business owners have claimed it does. I am
not trying to be mean, harsh or even a B---- - I am making a very bold point.

Bold point: If you have an exceptional product, if you have outrageously exceptional customer
service, if you advocate and inspire creativity within your business and those around you that
you interact with, if you are steadfast in your positivity and your values, if you disciplined a
constantly forward moving process in all aspects of your business, if you are visionary and see
opportunities daily, if you keep up with your industry and research, if you are out networking
consistently, if you have a solid culture built within your organization that promotes a positive
morale and the walls are cushioned with the ‘anything is possible’ bounce-back necessary for any
type of business to survive each day (no matter what economy), then business should be the
same, or only dipped a little bit.

Demand still drives business. And demand is plentiful.

Keep in mind what also happened during these past few years is that social media started
exploding in powerful numbers. Just 5 years ago, Twitter wasn’t around, Facebook wasn’t the
predominate, etc. It was 3 years ago we began experiencing the effects of the economic crisis.
Not a far distant spread.


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So, there was also a massive switch required in how you presented your business online, aka:
more than a mere website now. Additionally, how you found, marketed, engaged, interacted,
connected with prospects, customers had dramatically changed.

So if you weren’t already changing or starting to change all these things to cater to this before the
crisis hit, by the time the crisis started calming down some, you then realized you needed to play
serious catch up to have a more powerful and dominating position & presence within the online
business community, the global mall essentially (even for non retail businesses) - in all these new
'media' ways.

This, was a massive shift, completely business altering - & required lots of energy and time. New
language/lingo, new types of transparent and immediate dialogue with your prospects and
customers, new legalities, new divisions in your business, perhaps new software to accomodate
to all this, new platforms to learn about and build a profile on and gain notariaty on, etc.

The point is, people’s demands and needs didn’t instantly go away just because of what was
happening in the ‘outside’ world. They just moved them more to a different location. What was
more like a 40/60 ratio just 5 years ago (40% looked online to find the businesses to suit their
needs, 60% still looked offline or waiting for the advertising to come to them), today, it is much
more of a 90/10 ratio - again within just the past 2-3 years. Just like our demands and needs still
existed on the actual day of 9/11 - where as the media says: "the world "literally stopped". But,
we still ate, we still used household items, we still got gas and drove our cars, we still showered,
etc. Situations happen, but people’s demands and needs never vanish.

People are still spending their money. In fact, people are still even donating – large amounts too
– to non profits. There have been no reports of non profits shutting down over these past few
years due to lack of donations because of the economic downturn. People are also still going on
vacations, traveling, buying new clothes (Nordstroms and Macy’s aren’t going under). Yes,
things are not ideal, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have control.

Yes, they might be spending a few dollars less here and there, but you still have control. The
entire world didn’t shut down or stop. People in many countries and here in the US are still
spending. Some quite frivilously too: the man overseas who offered $1M USD to anyone who
will streak (be naked) in front of President Obama when he next spoke at an event. And, yes, this
happened at an outdoor event. Sure, that is obviously someone wealthy, but the point is, money is
still very much exchanging hands, it's if you want to be a part of it or not - raise your game, get
out of your comfort zone. Now, that money went to a non-wealthy fellow, (not sure if he got
arrested or not, but Secret Service had him down on the ground quickly). But, it would be
interesting to see if he determined to change his ways so he wouldn't need to do something like
that to have $1M. It's all what you do with what you know, learn or obtain.

6. Since your product isn’t moving as fast -can you show a little graciousness and help your
customers out and offer a limited time buy one get one free? Why not be really different, for 1
week, have a buy 1 get 2 free deal. I dont' know any business that has done that. It's always the
typical: "buy 1 get 1 free". Be different. Be bold. Be memorable. The item is better used by
them, than sitting on your shelf. Remember, inventory is a #1 big expense.


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Look, people right in the middle of the recession on Easter weekend 2010, found between $500-
$800 to purchase an iPad – a device they did not need. We are talking millions of people in 2
hours, then more millions over the course of the week.

No one needed this. This was a pure want. Not to mention, those who got the 3G model were
willing to add yet another monthly telecommunications expense to their bills.

We all did just fine with cell phones, smartphones, laptops, computers before Easter Weekend
2010. Again, not a need like toilet paper. And mind you, this was a high ticket item. So if Apple
can do this, anyone can do this.

Apple has a very loyal customer base. If you built that kind of customer base, top it off with a
fabulous customer referral program, and you actually provide a need and value driven product or
service (vs a want product/service) you should not be really saying anything about lack of
control.

Instead, you should be looking internally. Ask:

What is the misfit in the company?
Is it your leadership or lack there of?
Is it your human capital or your actual capital?
Do you have all funds locked up and not enough liquid/cash flow to play with?
Are you spurring innovation?
Etc.

7. Were you nimble enough to adjust to this economic time and get in touch with all your
customers and ask them what they now need, so they can be okay as they muddle through this.
This level of care goes very far.

Mind you, it might not be something you can produce alone – it might be something that forges
you to align with another company for a small timeframe. I call this a Mini JV which I define as
under 5 years. If it's just going to be a one year situation, you might just form what I call a
MicroTeam - combining some of your people with some of theirs to address a situation, because
you don't necessarily need to form a full fledge business model around this or build a new full
department around it.

But that goes back to constantly networking and expanding your contact base and nurturing it -
helping others so they will know of you, and will want to work with you because you take the
time to care about them & help them when they need it, etc. Scrambling to forge alliances
during a crisis is never a healthy way to go into something - having those established
relationships prior to a crisis sets a more solid foundation to what you will pursue together and
will reap incredible results.


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8. Were you able to take your existing product and put a twist on it, or make an enhanced version
so that it would better be used or valued - in what is now essentially becoming our norm – our
new America, our new World?

9. If you are a service based company – did you spend some time researching or learning
yourself, so you might be able to add a new service to your company – even if temporary - to
help businesses or people with their new struggles or all the changes they are having to make to
adjust?

Control is relative – it’s all in how you look at it. Control is not a universal word in the sense that
it means the same thing to everyone. It's all your perception.

You can say that you control 99% of your business and the economy controls 1% or you can flip
that statement.

When you formed your business, do you say before you opened your doors:

“I hereby now relinquish 99% of my control to the haphazard world, the government, and the
fleetingness of any human/prospect, but I will successfully build my business around the 1% I
know I control!”

No!!

See - you still have control and much more than you realize! :) The government didn’t take that
from you. The economy didn’t take that from you. The only way you don’t have control in terms
of your business is if you close your business/ you don’t have a business. GRIN

Business is still happening globally and in some industries it’s flourishing. Why? Because
individuals took adversity and they turned it into opportunity.

Money is changing hands. If it wasn’t we would see massive Fortune 500 companies collapse.
But look at the Fortune 500 list 2010 – see the revenues Walmart, Exxon Mobil, etc .made. Yes,
gas is a need. But is Walmart? I don’t think so. You can get these products elsewhere and only for
a small bit more depending where you shop.

Walmart built a business around giving a discount not only once, but again, usually weekly. What
can you do to copy some part of that? Start thinking like this.

Just as we study successful people, study other businesses and evaluate their practices and figure
out what you can take from that or mimic in an ethical way and put your own personal signature/
twist on it. One of the best business books I recommend is: "Business Genius" by Peter Fink It
highlights some of the world's biggest and longest surviving businesses and it gives you
incredible insight into their history and decisions. A cute little red book that has more
information packed it in than a 300 page business book. Companies like Ferrari, Gucci, FedEx
etc. There is not 1 chapter in this book that you will read where you won't learn something new. I
can put my name and reputation behind that 'guarantee' statement.


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Sometimes this involves more sweat equity for a little while – to get your name known as
something different or to establish new connections and prove you can help in a new area. I just
did this at the end of 2010 with Junior Sanchez, CEO of Rift Success to help create his massive
campaign: UrgentChange360 But all that sweat equity is worth it. You learn a great deal,
challenge yourself, and the existing loyal customers (even colleagues) you have will greatly
appreciate your attempts to cater to their new needs. They will remember that and refer you
often and always. That is a successful and thriving business.

Additionally, prospects will notice you because you will jump out in the lead amongst all the
quieter, meeker ‘accepting lack-of-control companies’.

Your message will be bold as you show you are there for them. They will resonate to you
because you are changing your service/product for them.

You are not just changing your marketing tactics, you are showing them you are not a business
without them. You are not successful without them. You need them more than they need you.
Remember, the business structure has shifted dramatically since the 20th Century.

You are humble, even as a respected and nationally recognized business professional. You are
willing to adjust quickly, just like they had to adjust their lives quickly, some had jobs taken
away instantly, with their homes to potentially follow. You are showing you are human: when
you leave your business for the day or shut down your computer, you are like them, a community
member, having the same or similar demands or needs.

1 of the Best Ways to Have More Control & Have Your Business Thrive
The motto is: ‘Easier or Feel Good’. Anything you can do to make your prospect’s or customer’s
life easier now because of the impact the economic twist had on their life.

Anything you can do/make/provide to take their stress away, or make them feel conﬁdent.
Anything you can do so they still have pride - even if they are about to loose their house.

Anything you can do/make/provide to tap into their emotions – that helps them feel good about
themselves, that restores their dignity, that lets them know they didn’t intentionally let their
family down, that they can still be counted on, that they are still the best dad.

Anything you can do/make provide that helps them see the positive side to all this and show
them this is not lasting, and share your positive mindset, thought process, and boundless energy
with them. Need an example of this? Well, besides me of course :) ... study Robert Sargent
Shriver (goes by R. Sargent Shriver) Just passed away at 95 on 1/18/11. Started the Peace Corps
in 1960. Maria Shriver's father, JFK's brother-in-law. No man like him in the world in terms of
ignoring adversity, creating awesomeness and showing up each day with a tremendous and
unprecedented energetic enthusiasm and positivity that he shared with everyone, whether you
knew him for 2 seconds or a lifetime. He had an insatiable zest for life and a passion to always
do remarkable good all led by his love of his faith.


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Anything you can do /make/provide as a business in your community, city, state, nation –
showing your prospects/clients you are ‘right there in the trenches with them until it gets better’
is a business that will survive during 2011, 2012+ and, in fact, thrive. These are core basic
business principles any company should be built around.

So pounce energetically into that brainstorm session with yourself, your business partner, with a
colleague, with your team - whomever! Grab the biggest white board you can find so you don’t
limit your ideas to the space available! Get colors going on that board so different ideas can
really stand out from the rest (different colored markers). Get fired up to make some tweaks or
even significant changes in your business (and maybe in yourself or your people) to substantially
- and with true care and meaning behind it - help those that help keep your business doors open.

The results will be positive on both your end and theirs, and by that, you are switching the tone
of the international conversations to a better one and
boosting positivism globally. That is a true leader. That is true change. That is control. That is a
successful business person.

So C’mon – BUCC™ the (economic) system with me and show the world this can be done!
Businesses Unite with their Customers & Communities™

Stay tuned over 2011 for more information about BUCC™ and how you can be a part of this
Movement! I will be providing more details beginning Q211.

Let me know if I can help you with any of this, and your thoughts/feedback are always welcome:
jaxikswest@gmail.com

Keep “Shaking Things Up!”


Control

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