Sara Hand's Blog (51)

2009 is coming to a close and maybe you feel like you have fallen short. Maybe you haven’t recovered from 2008 yet, and you are wondering if you ever will…

My older daughter was taking ice skating lessons and my younger daughter couldn’t wait until she was 3 and able to start. At her first lesson, she headed out onto the ice with her helmet and gloves. All bundled up and pink, the instructor completed her goalie image with knee, elbow and bum… Continue

Does discouragement ever keep you from doing the things you need to do to be more productive? 3 Things you can do to change that.



1. Stop and breathe…Some people just run faster and try harder. Others shut down altogether. Neither response will effectively produce results over the course of time.



Take 3 deep breathes and release slowly each time. Your nervous system will kick in and you will begin to relax. When you… Continue

As companies are challenged by current economic conditions and the need to change, sometimes the busyness of business can be overwhelming. Trying to make it happen, we run from one thing to the next: network meetings, company functions, civic responsibilities, family events and what about this social media thing?



But there is something interesting that is happening…a shift in society. A swinging of the pendulum that is changing the way we look at behavior and how we do business. In… Continue

The fact that business as normal is not normal any longer is now an accepted fact. But what does the new normal look like? Well if you don’t know, don’t feel bad. It appears that a lot of people are unsure.

However, this can present some interesting challenges.



Who is your ideal prospect?

(If you used to work predominantly with new home builders, you may not have as many of these as you used to.)

How do you connect… Continue

Is it the worst marriages that end in divorce? Do the best ideas and products succeed in the marketplace? Is there a thing called “happily ever after”? Most women will tell you giving birth is not fun, in fact that whole last month is pretty uncomfortable. But that new life, full of possibilities on the other side is, for most people worth it.



Many of our parents and grandparents grew up knowing the value of a good days work. They believed… Continue

You can’t imagine how many times I have heard that. And it saddens me to tell you this, but that just isn’t true. It doesn’t matter how great your product or service is, or how much it is needed. People don’t buy based on need. There is someone who needs it, that won’t use it, even if you gave it away.



However this is one of the most liberating and profitable epiphanies of the business world! Understanding this, I can make more money in less time. I can arrive home at the end of day… Continue

If you could only do one thing it would be so easy. It would be so easy to know what to do, which direction to go. But there are so many choices and so many of the choices are good…or so it seems initially. And actually there is very little inherently bad in the choices. However I have learned that, just because I can…doesn’t mean I should.

In fact just recently I was presented with an awesome looking project: something that could prove to be… Continue

Leadership is not a job or a role that you play, but a lifestyle…an expression of who you are. When you plant words of life, you reap rapport and relationship. Rapport and relationship positions you for influence and influence can position you for almost anything.



However influence and leadership is not cheap. There is a price to pay. A price of… Continue

I had this guy I worked for who would say, “Now we’ll know how good you really are.” You just wanted to smack him. However, there is some truth in that. It is one thing to perform well, when all the pieces are in place and life is “good”. It is another to rise to the occasion against all odds and perform well.



Everything has changed…pretty much…and it is not really comfortable. Ok, it’s worse than not comfortable, there are some days that when you get to the end you feel pulverized.… Continue

So you are not participating in the recession. Ok I got that, but what are you participating in? You can’t win if you don’t play.



You have to get in the game. Waiting for things to get back to normal is not an option, because they are not going back to where they were. There is a new normal…it’s not quite clear what that new normal is going to wind up being, but it isn’t what it was.



Today the game is not always pretty. The competition is tough. If you weren’t in shape and… Continue

So often I hear of the businesses that are down-sizing, right-sizing or simply closing because of the economy. "There just isn't enough business out there."



Hog wash...Now there may not be as much as business in the same places as there was two years ago, and some businesses will go under. For some the only reason they were OK before is that there was soooo much business even if you didn't provide a good return on investment, even if your service wasn't that great or your product was… Continue