I always love when one of my clients gets some great publicity. My long time client, Alisha Navarro, owner of 2 Hounds Design and Wiggles, Wags & Whiskers, has one of her gorgeous dog collars featured in the holiday gift guide  of this week’s People Magazine (the one with Kate Middleton on the cover). Alisha is an amazing entrepreneur who’s hardworking team ( all her products are made in America!) creates beautiful custom dog collars and the best dog harness there is, the Freedom No-Pull Harness. I use the harness on my dogs and no more pulling – what a relief! And my dogs look great in their 2 Hounds Design collars.

Alisha uses www.helpareporter.com to take advantage of possible PR opportunities but this time she benefitted from her amazing “attraction” energy, as she had nothing to do directly with this latest media coup. Beth Ostrosky Stern (Howard Stern’s wife) is a big animal lover and she suggested Alisha’s collars to People magazine for the holiday gift guide.

Congratulations, Alisha!

Dateline: USA, Planet Earth

Small business consulting services are provided by Anne Alexander who has been coaching businesses full-time since 2002, as well as informally for 15 years before that. Clients typically have from 1 to 10 employees, and occasionally up to 50 employees.

Professional services:

* Web design
* Accounting
* Interior design & installations
* Consulting
* IT

Manufacturing:

* Home based manufacturing
* Agricultural products
* Pet industry
* Toy industry

Health field:

* Medical practices
* Veterinary
* Health education
* Psychotherapy
* Natural healing

Financial Services:

* Financial planning
* Insurance agencies

Retail:

* Online only merchants
* Bricks & mortar retailers

Services:

* Construction/remodeling
* Landscaping
* Real estate
* Banking
* Non-profits
. . . and more, in over 20 different U.S. states and 4 countries!

Anne also provides business executive coaching to executives in small and medium sized businesses.

Executive clients have come from the fields of health care, accounting and real estate development, among others. These clients work in companies with up to 400 employees.

Her time management seminars combine the best of traditional and cutting-edge insights into optimizing one’s time – your most valuable resource.

Well, that’s my official media release. The funny thing is, almost every one of my clients, who typically work with me for 3+ years, was initially hesitant to speak with me, as they were unsure of the benefit or what I would be like. After a one hour call, their questions were answered enough to start and after a few months they understood the benefits much more deeply.

There’s a reason the most successful small business owners and executives now have a business coach – their success is greater, faster.

I like to point to the example of Tiger Woods as a super successful person who still works with a coach. I think he should have had a relationship coach, as it turns out! The bottom line is that throughout the ages, the leaders of society had mentors, guide, trusted strategic partners to help them through the maze of business and professional success. Do you have yours?

John Lennon said “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.” Surely that’s what happened on my 50th birthday. My oldest friend took me and my partner out to breakfast at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse ( a fabulous place to check out if you’re ever in Boulder, Colorado).

Afterward we headed up to the National Center for Atmospheric Research to participate in their guided tour. It’s supposed to be a cool place about weather and other things scientific.

However, no sooner did we arrive in the lobby when my partner, Susan began to feel dizzy and nauseous. They called in their onsite medical team, and discovered that Susan’s blood pressure and heart rate were alarmingly high. So they called an ambulance and soon we were heading over to the local ER.

At the ER, blood work and chest X-rays also revealed everything to be normal. After about four hours, we went home and by morning her blood pressure and pulse had returned to normal. In situations like this, it’s easy to imagine the worst, like heart attack and even death. We both felt this fear acutely and it took a few days for us to really calm down.

So…this was obviously not the birthday I had anticipated! The gift was pretty quickly evident, however, because my beloved partner of eight years is alive and well.

Sometimes, just getting back to “regular” life is a huge blessing! A regular day coaching with my wonderful clients, seems doubly miraculous. Eating healthy, plentiful food becomes even more of a gift. Answering emails is almost a holy act. Discussing business strategies with Susan, I feel like the luckiest person alive.

Most entrepreneurs need to do more planning and not go after their business in a random manner. Yet, as in life, business is what happens when we’re busy making plans. If seen in a wider perspective, rebuilding a database after a computer crash makes you giddy with relief. If your business endures a fire or a flood and no one is hurt, just putting the pieces back together and running normally becomes the most amazing blessing.

Life/business happens, and rarely according to plan. Yet there are always silver linings, if we look for them. When you see your life as the precious thing it is, you empower yourself, your loved ones and your business.

One of my clients has worked for the same family-owned business for over 25 years. Although she’s not one of the family members, she’s a hardworking executive, truly dedicated to the company’s success.

I was shocked to learn recently that she’s never had a review in all that time.

Another one of my clients works in a hospital system. He has two regularly scheduled meetings per month with his boss. One is an open meeting on whatever topics he wants to discuss. The other is more formal review of his 90 day plan and how it’s going.

No surprise–my hospital guy is a lot more satisfied with his work.

We humans need feedback. We need opportunities to discuss with our leaders how our work is going, how our goals are tracking and any problems we are having.

So if you own a business, make sure you are meeting regularly with your employees. You want to meet frequently as a team, and at least monthly one-on-one.

If you are an employee yourself and your boss does not meet with you regularly, take the initiative and ask for what you want. Years ago I worked in a small four person non-profit. I asked my boss if we could have weekly staff meetings. I felt it would be helpful to us if we checked in a little more formally, not just popping into each other’s offices on an as-needed basis. She agreed. Even in a tiny organization like that, we found those meetings very valuable.

If this sounds like a lot of meetings to you, I encourage you to try it for two months. I bet you will find that these meetings end up saving time in the long run and will make your business more money. Why? Because people, if left on their own, often get diverted down wrong paths. And because if people feel appreciated and cared about, research shows that they are more creative and productive.

Positive feedback–what someone did specifically and how it will help the business (or mate or children, in your personal life) is vitally important. Many surveys over the years have consistently shown that one of the top three things people want in their job is appreciation for work done. (While good pay is one of the top 10, it’s not in the top 3!)

Of course “constructive criticism” is important too. It’s crucial that we develop the ability to discuss with each other problems we are having with the other, and the best way to do that is early (before little things get big) and often.

I recently implemented a process with my assistant that’s working very well. Each day she emails me the answers to the following questions:

1. What you did and the results you got

2. Problems or challenges

3. Questions you have for me

It takes less than 5 minutes and keeps me up to date on both what she’s doing, as well as what problems and questions she has. This way, little issues get handled early, and frustration won’t build.

So don’t forget to give and receive frequent feedback, especially positive feedback. I like to be appreciated, too, and I truly believe you will thank me for the results you get!

How would you answer this question: “I love to treat myself to what indulgence?” This is one of 300 questions in a wonderful conversation game called Talk In A Box. If you watch my first YouTube video here (or see my previous post) you’ll see what my answer is to this question!

The creator of Talk In A Box is Stan Scott. Due to the confidential nature of my work, I don’t often get to brag on my wonderful clients. However, one of my clients wants the world to know about his wonderful creation. I was a customer and a fan of Talk In A Box even before he hired me.

Like many people, Stan got a great idea for a product. It was an outcome of his mission as a professional facilitator to help change the world through powerful conversation. He worked for several years refining his concept and creating the game. He had it professionally designed, raised the capital and got Talk In A Box produced.

That’s a lot more than most people who have a “great idea,” but never do anything with it. Now, Stan is ready to have his product reach a wide audience.

So what’s one of your favorite indulgences?

What song reminds you of a specific event or time in your life?

What is an edge that you’re interested in exploring?

What is it that you are glad is not the way it used to be?

When I hear your answers to these questions, I will know you better than I do now. You will be much more of a real person to me.

You can play Talk In A Box with your spouse, partner, growing or grown children, other family members, friends or colleagues. I went camping recently with an old friend and we answered a few questions before nodding off to sleep in our tent (see photo).

And you can play it at coffee shops, cafes, even pubs, at the beach or around a campfire, traveling on an airplane or on a cruise, at a party, a family reunion or on a retreat, before sleep with your spouse, or during holiday gatherings. All for less than the cost of dinner and a movie.

As a Talk In A Box player, you are not asked to win, to be faster, more knowledgeable, more creative, more expressive, more witty, or more lucky. You’re simply invited to show-up, be curious and listen, reflect and express yourself authentically, respect yourself and others, and laugh at yourself and with others. Every player can be a winner, enjoying the prize of connected and deepened human relationships.

I’ve had a lot of fun playing this game. I invite you to check it out, too, at here.