LEAN TIMES CALL FOR LEAN ACTION!

If you spend enough time watching the major news networks these days, you can see a thread weaving through all the rhetoric, fancy graphics, pomp and circumstance. It's all about OPINIONS. Everybody has one!

Every news program today shares the results of Opinion Polls or seeks to enlighten us on a number of issues using a panel of "experts" who tend to leave most of us frustrated that no REAL solution is offered. MY OPINION?  You can't run a country, a business, or anything else on opinions -- or bogged down in CHAOS!

But now and then comes a voice of reason, a breath of fresh air, a light in the darkness (if you'll indulge me in a few cliches) -- a viable solution that actually has enough merit to take seriously.

Years ago such an idea sparked a dozen-year journey that found me up to my eyebrows in a work that has transformed not only my business, but also my life. Unlike the theory of evolution that says, "Give it a few million years and NOTHING will turn into SOMETHING," I have learned that order CAN come out of chaos -- but only after serious planning and hard work.

I was raised to believe there is (or should be) an order to everything.  Enough history is sufficient to prove that to any thinking human being.  Cause and Effect, we call it. On the other hand, I don't believe order just comes naturally to most human beings.

When I was a boy I lived, ate and slept in an amazingly clean home. But, since I wasn't called on to effect that kind of ORDER inside Mom's house, you can imagine my amazement when I moved out and into my OWN home; how such cleanliness and order did not just follow me.  Like so many human beings, although constantly frustrated by my mess, it took me years to realize I had the power to change it, especially after I discovered the POWER of good systems.

I am, by nature, a walking poster child for all the "slobs" of the world who struggle with personal organization.  What would our military be if order was not enforced around them? How many marriages and relationships fail over one person leaving their mess in another's space?

HOW MANY COMPANIES (whole countries, for that matter) struggle with and fall victim to CHAOS?  It doesn't have to be that way!

But some mere mortals have a serious flaw -- they actually RELISH chaos; not comfortable with order.  Many still believe CHAOS is normal -- especially in business.  MY OPINION?  It's time for us to GROW UP and implement real solutions, not just responding to hit and miss opinions, if we are going to turn our business, this economy -- OUR NATION -- around!

In the past few years, I have been able to visit with hundreds of business owners across our nation, and I've heard a resounding complaint, "not enough time, too many problems" -- CHAOS! 

Today many businesses, including my own, are feeling the crunch of this extreme economic downturn, and doing all we can to survive. Sadly, many owners are being taxed beyond their ability to meet payroll; having to forego certain benefits for their employees; watching their staff dwindle due to less and less business coming through the door. 

Maybe YOU are struggling to get a handle on what is actually going wrong INSIDE your business, because you don't have the reporting ability to see the full picture. I'm thankful to say the kind of business systems we developed and implemented several years ago have allowed us to operate LEAN, that we might be sustainable during these leaner times.

WHEN this economy turns around (and I believe it will), will you have thrown in the towel?  Or will you have sought solutions to help your business survive even in these times?  MY OPINION?  LEAN times call for LEAN actions!

I BELIEVE WE HAVE SOME ANSWERS. 

Read about how you can sustain your business in my book, SYSTEM BUSTERS: HOW TO STOP THEM IN YOUR BUSINESS.  Available at Amazon.com.  Great Systems WORK!