Costco Connection - February 2013

FRESHviews

WALLY AMOS: BE POSITIVE

Wally Amos is the founder of Wamos Cookies. You can reach him at www. wallyamos.com.

I HAVE BEEN busy creating yet another cookie company, Wamos Cookies. I am pressed for time and fearful the future will not be as I wish. At such times, it’s good to remember that life is best lived one day at a time.

Life is not lived in a lump. It is lived moment by moment. What you choose to do with each moment is up to you. But as ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu noted in the Tao Te Ching, even the longest journey begins with the first step. The phrase about taking life one step at a time isn’t just a metaphor; it is a way of life.

Many of us spend our lives planning for our future. From our youth through our years as adults, we are constantly deciding what we will be when we grow up, and as grown–ups we are planning

One day at a time

our retirement. But life, like time itself, is a continuum. It is all one, and it is always now.

Years ago, upon awaking from a nap on a long flight from Hawaii to the mainland, my daughter Sarah asked, “Are we here yet?” We are always here. We are never “there,” and we never live in the past or the future. It’s important to live in the moment, and be all that we can be at that moment in time.

The best way to live is one day at a time. One second at a time. What we choose to do with our time may make time seem heavy on our hands and passing slowly, or make us feel that time is flying by, not leaving enough hours in a day to accomplish all that we want to do. But the notion of time passing quickly or slowly is an illusion.

Live according to your own belief system; avoid the temptation to regret actions of the past or focus totally on planning the future. Concentrate on what was positive in past years and be here now. Undertake every day and every project bit by bit, moving forward from inception through completion, but never more than one bite at a time.

All of life happens in increments of one. Use
time wisely. Live it to the fullest now. C
Stop
being rude

IMAGE ZOO

More in archives
On Costco.com, enter
“Connection.”At Online Edition,
search “Wally Amos.”

The entrepreneur’s wheel

“CREATING AND MAINTAINING a success-
ful business is akin to creating a wheel,” says
Costco member Brian Evans, author, former
radio host, CPA and personal financial specialist.
“If you are missing a one-eighth section of a
wheel, it will spin, but not well.”
If you are contemplating starting your own
business, or already run a business, Evans sug-
gests focusing on eight essentials (IMPACT ME)
to help your entrepreneur’s wheel spin smoothly.

IDEA Create a product or deliver a better service than your competition. Customers come to you because you are the best at what you deliver. MARKETING Stay relevant with new forms of communication. Your business should have its own branding, and all of your employees should be able to articulate what it is that makes your business special. PROFIT Greed may be a bad word, but profit is not. Find a way to qualitatively replicate your product or service so you can obtain adequate economies of scale. ACCOUNTING Running a business without timely and accurate data is like flying a 747 in the clouds without an instrument panel.

CASH FLOW Not only must upfront financing be adequate, but lack of ongoing cash flow can destroy a business even when sales are high. TIMING Support the evolution of your product or service model to adapt to the changing times or your competitors will pass you by. MANAGEMENT Great companies have strong leadership and vision for their customers, their employees and their business mission. ENGINEERING Be ready to redesign your product or delivery systems for the inevitable problems that will surface.

To read the full version of the white paper from which this segment was taken, visit Evans’ website at www.brianevansceo.com. C

IN HER AMERICAN EXPRESS
Open Forum® article “Stop
Being Rude: The New Rules
of Social Business,” Erika
Napoletano, a Denver,
Colorado, Costco member and
online strategy consultant
( www.erikanapoletano.com),
says, “I propose the New
Rules for Social Business …
designed to help us remember
what’s important in day-to-day
business interactions and
activities.”
Her rules:

1. Put your phone away.

Life goes on without it. Don’t be a jerk and give it more attention than the people standing in front of you.

2. You will not die if you close Twitter and Facebook.

Stop screwing around and start getting things done.

3. Be present. If you’re going to a meeting or conference, don’t use technology as an excuse to show up in body but be elsewhere in mind. If you chose to turn off [the devices] and then tune in to people, you just might find that time spent in any situation is much more worthwhile.

4. Rethink meetings. Do you know why your team would rather be on Facebook or texting? It’s possibly because your meetings are boring, time consuming and without purpose. Restructure your meetings so they take 20 minutes, tops. Make sure that only required people attend. And make everyone leave technology at the door ( including boring PowerPoint presentations).