May 2005

Resistance is futile - embrace change!

Change. It's a constant in life, and no less so in our businesses. Resisting change--whether out of fear or just plain laziness--usually wastes a lot of energy that you're probably better off using to embrace the new trend and move ahead.

Good example is the real estate industry. The National Association of Realtors is proposing to file a lawsuit to block independent brokerages from listing homes on public websites. The fear is that they will lose their power and commissions--and possibly their jobs--if people can find their own listings. An editorial in Information Week suggests they quit griping and look at the airline and hotel industries to see how they've used the Internet to change their business models. And how about the car business? Or the music business? Dramatic changes to all those industries.

Have you really done all you can to integrate the Internet into your business model? I'm sure you've already experienced the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of web-enabled customer service in your personal and/or business shopping experiences. But how's your own website performing? Have you asked your customers? One of the risks inherent in de-peopling a process--or in outsourcing it, for that matter--is that we can distance ourselves a bit too much and as a result may fail to ask how we're doing. Don't make that mistake. I don't know about you, but when a telephone customer service rep keeps saying my name every sentence, or repeatedly recites apologies that are clearly scripted, I lose patience pretty quickly.

Look at blogging. I've been writing for over 2 years about how powerful a tool it is. At last the mainstream press and corporate America are catching on--everywhere you look today you find articles about who's blogging (the CEO of General Motors, for heavens' sake). If you're still toying with embracing this idea, there are some good questions you can ask in this article I wrote a while ago called Blogging for Business: How to Decide if It's Right for Your Company."

Sincerely,
Barbara

Some of what’s going on at ReallyGoodFreelanceWriter.com:

• Writing articles on health and well-being for college reference books with nationwide distribution



• Learned to send photos to my Blogger blogs...Barbara Payne's Capitalist Cleveland Blog



• Got new carpeting in my office!

Make the Most of Your Money -- The truth about annuities

As many of you are aware, annuities are insurance products often sold with high commissions that benefit the sales agent more than you. But don't dismiss annuities automatically. They offer several benefits that few other products can match. First, there's a payout option that will last until the annuitant's death! With people living much longer these days, you need to face the possibility that you might easily outlive your savings.

Another very important feature of annuities is asset protection. As a business owner, you care a lot about protecting your assets. In most states, creditors can't touch annuity assets--they're generally judgment-proof! If your financial planner has not spoken with you regarding this issue, find an independent, fee-only planner, who can advise you in this area--and help you find commission-free annuities with reasonable fees.

This financial tip brought to you by Asset Design Center