Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

First Rate Customer Service

In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I point out that all successful businesses and the people who lead them have four things in common.

• Successful businesses and the people who lead them develop and communicate a clarity or purpose and direction.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them engage the full commitment of everyone in the organization.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them skillfully execute the things that matter.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them build strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with important outside constituencies.

Today, I’d like to focus on customer service and share some customer service best practices I picked up in the First Rate Customer Service Newsletter.

• Calm an upset customer by explaining how you solved a similar problem.  Say something like, “Last week another customer had the same problem. We sent a tech to her location and he solved the problem in a couple of hours.  Would you like me to do the same for you?”
• When a customer is upset and speaking quickly, don’t say “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”  Instead, say something like, “Let me catch up with you.  I’d appreciate it if you would repeat your complaint so I’m sure I understand.”
• Get customer reviews by asking for them.  As for customer testimonials when you send them things like order confirmation e mails, shipping confirmation e mails or packing slips.  Zappos.com does a great job of this using a survey format.
• Be specific and clear when you respond to customers via e mail.
• Stay in touch with your customers.  Offer them the chance to sign up for an e newsletter that you publish.  Make sure that you allow them the opportunity to opt in to your list.
• Return telephone calls between 8:00 and 10:00 in the morning, and 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon.  These are the best times to find people at their desks.

I hope you found these common sense ideas useful.  I’m impressed with the common sense advice found in First Rate Customer Service.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Holiday Party Advice for Small Business Owners

It’s holiday party time.  On Tuesday, I posted dos and don’ts for partygoers on my www.SuccessCommonSense.com blog.  Today I’d like to post some advice for small business owners on hosting a holiday party. 

• Choose your venue wisely.  It’s usually better to have some sort of private room then a large table in a restaurant.
• Keep your entertainment strictly g rated.  That means no strippers, belly dancers, comedians who can be a little over the top. 
• Avoid religious themes unless you are 100% certain that all of your employees, their spouses and/or guests practice the same religion.
• Serve a varied menu.  Make sure there is something for everyone.
• Be careful with alcohol.  You can be held liable for people who leave your party who are legally over the limit and get into an accident.  If you serve alcohol, make sure that you arrange for taxi service to those who might drink a little too much.
• Invite spouses, partners and guests.  Your employees and spouses will appreciate it.
• Be careful with mistletoe – things can get carried away.
• Be charitable – ask your employees to bring a toy or non perishable food item that you will donate to charity. 

This all boils down to one piece of common sense advice about hosting company holiday parties.  Create a situation in which all of your employees and their guests feel comfortable.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Common Sense Advice for Developing Leaders

Recently, I read Ram Charan’s new book Leaders At All Levels.  I like this book because its basic premise is something that I have long believed – companies need to approach leadership as a hands on activity.

Mr. Charan’s focus is on large companies.  However, I believe that leadership development is as important, or even more important, for small companies and entrepreneurial ventures.  He lays out six building blocks for leadership development.  Smart leaders and small business owners would do well to heed them.

1. A deep leadership pool is a competitive advantage.
2. Every leader should be required to treat leadership identification and development as a critical part of his or her job.
3. Leaders should spend 20 to 25% of their time observing future leaders and providing them with feedback.
4. A company’s leadership development system should be as rigorous as its financial system.
5. Companies should ask the question – “What is the right job for this individual?” instead of, “Who is the right individual for this job?”
6. Leadership can’t be learned in a classroom exclusively, but educational experiences can accelerate a leader’s growth.

I particularly like point 5.  It creates a new paradigm for leadership development.  By asking, “What is the right job for this individual?” instead of, “Who is the right individual for this job?” you emphasize the need to develop talent, not just fill vacant positions.  Leadership At All Levels is full of interesting, innovative thinking like this.

Mr. Charan’s thoughts on what it takes to do a good job in leadership development can be summed up in the following ten points.

1. Developing other leaders should be an important part of every leader’s job.  Leaders should be  expected to devote considerable energy and a minimum of 20% of their time to it.
2. Leaders who identify and develop other leaders should be rewarded and recognized for doing so.
3. Leaders should regularly coach aspiring leaders on the one or two most important things on which they need to improve.
4. Performance evaluations should consider not just what a leader achieved, but also how and under what circumstances.
5. Leaders should pool their insights to determine how an aspiring leader might develop and where he or she should go next.
6. The most promising aspiring leaders should get assignments that are greatly challenging and may be far outside of their demonstrated area of expertise.
7. Aspiring leaders on development paths should not be kept waiting for job openings.  They should get challenging new assignments as soon as they’re ready for them.
8. Assessments of leader and aspiring leader talents should be precise, balanced and complete – and separate from annual performance reviews.
9. The leadership development process should be consistent and rigorous as other business processes.
10. HR should ensure that leaders at all levels actively develop other leaders and plan their succession.  HR should provide useful input to help leaders and the aspiring leaders who they lead to find good fits for people and jobs.

Some of these ideas may seem quite radical (20% of a leaders time spent on leadership development), but Mr. Charan believes there is a looming leadership crisis in US business today.  I agree with him.  If you want a fresh and interesting perspective on leadership development you should read this book.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Personal Productivity Tips

Running a small business is time consuming.  I’m writing this at 3:55 pm.  I’ve been in my office since 7:30 (with a small break to shovel snow).  If I had not looked at the clock, I would have guessed that it is about noon.  It’s always that way for me.  I never seem to have enough time in the day.

However, I have come across some common sense ideas for making the most of my time and becoming more productive.  I subscribe to Dan Robey’s ezine (www.thepowerofpositivehabits.com).  The other day he laid out his formula for preventing work overload and being more productive.  Dan’s ideas, like most things easy to say and somewhat difficult to do, are simple common sense.  Take a look:

“There is a very simple formula to help you prevent work overload and be more productive every day of your life.

“Every time you are faced with a new task to perform, (an email request, new project at work or at home, phone calls, etc.) apply the 4 D's as listed below. You will find that your workload will be reduced and your productivity will go up as you apply this screening and decision making tool to each task. Decide on the most appropriate choice - and take action.

1. Do It Now. Take immediate action, do the task right away, don't procrastinate.
2. Dump It Now.  Make a quick decision and dump the task.
3. Delegate It.  Give the task to someone else. This is a very critical aspect of time management. Your time is valuable; make it a habit to work on tasks that you do best and delegate the tasks that can be performed by someone else.
4. Defer the Task.  Make an immediate decision to postpone the task to a later time. Make sure to schedule a time to complete it.”

Dan is great with alliterations – Do it, Dump it, Delegate it, Defer it.

Number 3 can be a difficult one – especially for small business owners.  Afterall, one of the reasons we’re in business for ourselves is that nobody can do things quite as well as us.  Correct? 

I struggled with this one for years.  I’m a solo entrepreneur, and I always felt as if I needed to do everything myself if I wanted it done right.  This year, I hired a VA – that’s web speak for Virtual Assistant.  Her name is Alex Greer. Her email address is [email protected]. 

Alex doesn’t even live on the same continent as me, but she does a great job on the things that I don’t have the time, or the skills to do – like creating .pdfs.  If you are in need of a VA, you can’t go wrong with Alex.

But the purpose of this post is not to plug Alex.  It’s to remind you that smart business people use their time wisely.  They don’t do themselves what they can delegate.  They don’t do things that don’t need done – they dump them.

Until I started working with Alex, I did too much myself, and I did things that I should have dumped.  For example, I began teaching myself html so I could do more of my website work.  There are many more profitable ways I can spend my time than learning html.

I am intellectually curious, so I often find myself spending too much time doing things that are interesting and fun – like learning html -- but that do not contribute to my bottom line.  One of my business resolutions for 2008 is to adopt the Pareto Principle in my work.  I am going to apply the 80 – 20 rule and concentrate on the “significant few” and jettison the “trivial many.” 

The common sense point here is simple.  Delegate.  If you are a one person business, find a VA.  If you have people working for you, trust them to do their jobs, so you can spend your time doing yours.

That’s my productivity resolution for 2008.  What’s yours?

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Chipotle Mexican Grills -- Building Strong Relationships by Giving Back

In my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I suggest that high performing organizations and the people who lead them have four things in common:

• Successful businesses and the people who lead them develop and communicate a clarity or purpose and direction.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them engage the full commitment of everyone in the organization.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them skillfully execute the things that matter.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them build strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with important outside constituencies.

The community in which you do business is an important outside constituency. 

If you read this blog with some regularity, you know that I am a big fan of Chipotle Mexican Grills, a Denver based company.  Their food is fresh and delicious.  But I like Chipotle for more than its food.  Chipotle is very generous to the Denver community.  For example, last Saturday, Chipotle donated the first $10,000 of its sales to Denver Children’s Hospital.

Being sick is no fun.  It’s worse if you are a child or a parent or loved one of a child.  It’s even worse this time of year.  The folks at Chipotle recognized this and made a donation to help brighten up the lives of the kids and families who are spending their time at Denver Children’s Hospital this holiday season.

Here’s another example of what I’m talking about.  Mark Berzins is a friend of mine.  He owns several small pubs scattered across Denver.  The Irish Hound is my favorite.  Besides running his growing group of restaurants, Mark finds the time to give back.  He is on the board of several philanthropic groups here in town.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful businesses give back to the communities they serve.  They do this because they help others, and because it’s good  business. 

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Business Blogging, Part 3

This week, I’ve been posting about how blogging can contribute to a small business’ success.  If you haven’t read my posts on Tuesday and Wednesday about what Denise Wakeman and Rich Brooks had to say at the Blog World Expo on this topic, you should.

Today, I’d like to highlight some suggestions from John Unger on blog usability.  John has five tips to enhance blog usability.

1. Make it easy for people to find exactly what they’re looking for.
2. Optimize the speed of your blog.
3. Consider your readers’ needs first.  Learn where your needs and theirs overlap.  Focus on those areas.
4. Make yourself accessible and easy to reach.
5. Figure out the simplest way to present your content – and yourself – in an organized and easily understood way.

I like all five of John’s suggestions, but I really like number 1.  Your blog should be easy to navigate.  If it isn’t people won’t stay very long or come back.  Here are John’s tips for clear and easy blog navigation.

• Create a navigation menu at the top of every page that points to the most important areas of your blog.  If you need more than seven links, use a drop down menu, breaking your content into categories.
• Place the RSS subscription button near the top of the sidebar.  This will encourage return readers who are the most valuable asset your blog builds.
• Place a call to action above the fold (visible without scrolling down) and provide a link to more information and the option to buy or subscribe now.
• Place your search field and links categories above the fold in a place where they are easily seen.
• Keep choices to a minimum.  The more things from which your readers have to choose, the more likely it is that the choices become overwhelming and people will look elsewhere.

Over the past three days, I’ve shared information on small business blogging that I picked up at the BlogWorld Expo in early November.  If you want to learn more, I suggest you go to the websites of the three people whose ideas I have shared.

Denise Wakeman: www.BlogSquad.biz
Rich Brooks: www.flyte.biz, http://business.mainetoday.com/smallbusiness/internetmarketing/
John Unger: www.johnunger.com; www.TypePadHacks.org

The common sense point here is simple.  Blogging is a great way to build strong relationships with your customers.  Customers are an important outstide constituency.  The stronger your relationships with them, the better your business.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

More on Blogging for Small Business

Today, I would like to continue my thoughts on using blogs to promote a small business.  Yesterday, I blogged about what Denise Wakeman has to say about blog design and usability.  In this post, I’d like to share some of the ideas I got from Rich Brooks of flyte new media (www.flyte.biz) at the BlogWorld Expo in November.

Rich made a presentation called The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make.  I’m going to list these 11 here.  You can find out what Rich suggests you do about them by going to his blog www.flyteblog.com, and by listening to his podcasts at www.flytecast.com. 

Here are Rich Brooks’ 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make

1. They don’t get their own domain name for their blog.
2. They use the blogging platform’s preset defaults.
3. They don’t read other blogs.
4. They blog a sales and marketing campaign.
5. They don’t allow comments or trackbacks.
6. They don’t leave comments and trackbacks on other blogs.
7. They don’t create a blogroll.
8. They don’t submit their blogs to blog directories.
9. They don’t ping any/enough news aggregators.
10. They don’t post often enough.
11. They blog like corporate CEOs.

If you don’t understand some of the jargon, like “trackbacks, blogroll, blogging platform and news aggregators” don’t worry.  You can learn what these terms mean by reading Rich’s blog or listening to his podcasts.

I am guilty of number 8.  As soon as I finish writing this post, I am going to go to www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/ and find some blog directories where I can submit my blog.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Blogging, Branding and Business Building

I attended the Blog World and New Media Expo in early November.  It was a very interesting conference where I learned a lot.

I am a big believer in the power of blogs as a business building tool.  I wrote an article for a new book, One Great Idea.  The book will be out in January 2008.  My article is entitled Branding By Blogging.  You can find it at http://bbilanich.typepad.com/branding_by_blogging/  Many people tell me that they would like to blog to promote their business, but don’t know how to go about doing it.

In this post, I’d like to share some of wisdom that I picked up at the Expo.  It comes from Denise Wakeman, of the Blog Squad (www.BlogSquad.biz), and is on blog design basics.  Here is my take on Denise’s advice. 

• Post regularly.
• Create quality content.  74% of readers return for content.
• Make sure your content is easily readable.  Use lots of white space.  Use short sentences and paragraphs.
• Use bullet points and subtitles and sub headings.
• Write in a conversational tone.
• A photo of yourself can help build your trust and credibility with your readers.
• Use the first person “I” in your bio.
• Make it easy to subscribe to your blog by using Feeddblitz.com and Feedburner.com.  Use RSS feeds too.
• Link to other posts on your blog that are about a similar topic.
• Make it easy to find your content by using the categories function that comes with most blog software.
• Make your headlines descriptive.
• Be careful with ads.  Decide if how they dilute your content is worth the small amount of income they may generate.

This is some great common sense advice on writing a blog from Denise Wakeman.  If you need help setting up your blog, I suggest you subscribe to her blog www.BuildaBetterBlog.com, or better yet, have Denise and her business partner, Patsi Krakoff set up one for you.  Denise and Patsi set up the design for this blog.  Their web address is www.BlogSquad.Biz.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

More on "We" Relationships With Customers

I love the viral nature of the internet.  On Monday, I did a post on the new book, We: The Ideal Customer Relationship. Yesterday, I got an e mail from Frank Rowe of PeopleMetrics, telling me that he enjoyed the post and sending me a press release of the results of a study his company has just completed.  Check it out…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Frank Rowe – VP
PeopleMetrics
Tel: 215.979.8038
Fax: 215.979.8049
[email protected]
www.people-metrics.com

For Restaurant Chains, Emotional Connection and Profits Do Mix, Study Finds

Philadelphia, November 8, 2007--- For casual-dining chains like Applebee's and Red Lobster to succeed, getting the food right is just the first step.  A new survey by a leading customer research firm has found that the bottom line is often most influenced when these restaurants make an emotional connection with customers.

“These findings are very compelling,” noted Kate Feather, PeopleMetrics (www.people-metrics.com) Executive Vice President who led the study, “restaurant chains that make customers feel emotionally connected to the dining experience far outperform those chains that don’t.”

In its study, PeopleMetrics evaluated Customer Engagement levels of recent diners of nearly a dozen national restaurant chains, including Chili’s, Applebee’s, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster. PeopleMetrics measure of Customer Engagement combines traditional loyalty metrics with an emotional component.  The result is that highly engaged customers are found to be loyal, go out of their way to do business with, say good things about, and feel passion, even love, for the brand and experience.

Comparing the Customer Engagement scores of 1,200 recent diners with the financial performance of publicly traded restaurant chains revealed a strong correlation. Restaurant chains with high customer-engagement scores far outperformed low-scoring counterparts -- including an average gross margin of 29 percent compared to -12 percent -- and EPS growth of 75 percent to -50 percent for lower-performing chains. Financial metrics included return on assets and equity, gross margins and earnings per share (EPS).

While Customer Engagement ties to financial performance in restaurant chains, the study also considered what chains can do to build a more engaged customer base.

“We found operators need to do a few things well to increase Customer Engagement,” Ms. Feather noted, “They need to hire and retain employees who make the dining experience fun. But most important, restaurants who can quickly and effectively resolve customer concerns are the clear winners.”

Results from the Casual Dining Sector research are part of PeopleMetrics broader study measuring Customer Engagement and financial performance across the Retail, Banking and Hotel industries.

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The common sense point here is clear.  Whether you call it a “We” relationship, or “customer engagement”, it is good business to treat customers as partners in your business.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

We -- An Idea Whose Time Has Come

In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I suggest that successful businesses and the people who lead them have four things in common.

• Successful businesses and the people who lead them develop and communicate a clarity or purpose and direction.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them engage the full commitment of everyone in the organization.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them skillfully execute the things that matter.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them build strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with important outside constituencies.

Customers are an important constituency.  That’s why I found Steve Yastrow’s new book, We: The Ideal Customer Relationship.

I am a big fan of the “We” concept.  My friend, Judith Glaser, wrote an excellent book called Creating We in 2005.  In that book, Judith explored the concept of “We” as it pertains to building an engaged and committed workforce.  If you’re a leader or a small business owner and you haven’t read it, you should.  You’ll get great ideas on how to develop a “we culture” in your organization.

Steve Yastrow applies the “We” concept to building strong customer relationships.  At the beginning of the book, he points out that most businesses think of customer relationships as “Us and Them”.  According to Mr. Yastrow, this type of thinking is adversarial, less pleasant and leaves money on the table.

Here are some of his thoughts on the difference between “Us and Them” and “We” thinking when it comes to customer relationships.

Us and Them Relationships

• Customer decisions are based on price, quality of service and product.
• You are a product or a provider.
• You do things FOR your customer.
• You have similar relationships with other customers.
• The amount of business you do together can go up or down without warning.
• You each devote limited attention to the relationship.
• The relationship’s potential is limited.

We Relationships

• Customer decisions are based on past history of doing business with you.
• You are a collaborator.
• You do things WITH your customer.
• You have a unique relationship with every customer.
• Your future is more predictable.
• You each are willing to devote substantial attention to the relationship.
• The relationship’s possibilities are boundless.

Mr. Yastrow suggests that the best way to begin building a “We” relationship with your customers is to begin having customer “encounters”, rather than transactions.  He says that customer encounters have three basic elements: engagement in the moment, conversation and uniqueness.  He says, “When these three elements are present, a mere interaction can become a lasting encounter, a building block of a We relationship.”

I like this book.  One of the reasons I like it is because for years, I have been practicing what Mr. Yastrow preaches – without having a name for it.  Also, I think that he and Judith Glaser are on to something.  “We” is a powerful concept whose time has come. 

The common sense point here is simple.  A “We” mindset opens up lots of potential in customer relationships.  “Us and Them” thinking – whether in dealing with customers, or the people you lead -- is a thing of the past.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.