Business Decisions

1. Business Decisions “More business decisions occur over lunch and dinner than at any other time, yet no MBA courses are given on the subject.” Peter Drucker There are endless topic and discussions to be had when it comes to making business decisions. Choosing the right road. How do know which one to take? Left, right or a myriad of choices. It’s not about the money. Then what is business all about? The tension between. Between what? Faith and working your tale off to get things done. How you treat people. I treat people great! Ya and how is that reflected in your business decisions. Expand or contract? What, grow bigger or cut back? "It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions." Jim Rohn Decide and Live with It!

2. Choosing the Right Road "Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it." Oprah Winfrey Learning how to make wise decisions takes time. Some people are born more intuitive than others with a keen sense of seeing what the right answer is. Success and failure are the only two possible outcomes and in decision making we learn to live with those results. All Roads Lead To Something Tips For Effective Decision-Making, Courtesy of Forbes Here are some excerpts and things to consider. Decision-making is not easy. Leaders have to balance results and facts alongside the deep need for people to connect to the message, the direction and themselves. What if you know the way, but only so far? What do you do when the road bends or is not already visible and needs to be forged? What if the path is not clear at all? Do you Use data and facts to make decisions?

3. Do you go with your gut? Do you Bring people together for a group decision? Are you are a risk-taker and willing to take a new road? What information do you use to make that decision? Perhaps you are more reserved and prefer to revert to a road that you have tread before. Get Outside Your Own Head Space Do not lean on your own understanding. Proverb 3.5 James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. Proverbs 12:15b A wise man listens to advice. Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. Getting the right counsel is important. Taking all things into consideration is important. Not jumping to any conclusion quickly is important. Taking a step back so you can see the bigger picture is important. Taking full responsibility for the outcome is important. Accepting the bad with the good is important. Doing what you said you would do is important. “Business is all risk. It is subject to laws, the economy, investors, marketing, events and people changing their mind. Get used to it and go for it.” Bryan L.

4. It’s Not About the Money Richard Branson Richard Branson asked the question, “What's the most critical factor in any business decision you'll ever have to make?” Basically, it boils down to this question. If this all crashes, will it bring the whole house tumbling down like a pack of cards? One business mantra remains embedded in my brain. Protect the downside. “Your Money Gap will be what you are not planning for - Like Cancer.” Bryan L. If I had understood how to protect the down side before I got cancer, my results today would be much different. All I was thinking about was building the asset and not how to protect it. Lesson No. 1. Have a better plan that protects the downside. King David 1000 BC King David was Solomon’s father, the seventh child, sheepherder, sold into slavery, imprisoned and many years later became king of Israel. King David donated $158.63 Billion worth of the precious metal to God's temple in Jerusalem! His silver holdings in today’s money $18.051 billion dollars. His total wealth at towards the end of his life was $181.5 billion with a total wealth and an accumulation of $200 billion at death. Lesson No. 2. Give it away.

5. Since I am coffee drinker this short story conveys some great points. Life is Like a Cup of Coffee Courtesy of Source of Insight A group of people were sitting in a coffee house, discussing life. As they talked, the conversation turned to the subject of life being like a cup of coffee. One person said, “Life is like a cup of coffee. It all depends on how you make it.” Another person said, “Yes, but you can’t control the water temperature, or the quality of the coffee beans.” A third person added, “But you can control the amount of coffee and the strength of the brew.” Then an older man, who had been listening quietly to the conversation, spoke up. He said, “Life is not like a cup of coffee, it’s the coffee cup that matters. The cup is what holds the coffee and shapes its experience. And just like the cup, we need to focus on what’s around us, on what we have, and appreciate it.” The group fell silent, pondering the old man’s words. The lesson of the story is that, like a cup of coffee, life is what we make of it. We can choose to focus on what we have and appreciate it, or we can focus on what we lack and be discontent. Ultimately, the cup that holds our life experiences is what matters, not the coffee inside. Lesson No. 3. Your enterprise is really about connecting with people and the money will come. Success is a pile of failure that you are standing on. Dave Ramsey Sometimes new opportunity means new opposition. Not everything God asks us to do will be comfortable. Joyce Meyer

6. Now for some serious coin! King Solomon 930 BC King Solomon in his day owned every known commodity, business, commerce, trade, tax route income, silver and gold income on earth. His yearly income from gold alone was approximately $1,092,906,000. And since King Solomon reigned for 40 years as king of Israel. This means his accumulated worth from that gold collection alone was $43,716,240,000 in new money. And what did he say about his wealth? “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold” Proverbs 3.13–14. How many mega Trillionaire’s are there today? None. What did the rich man in history say? Get Wisdom. Lesson No. 4. Be happy with what you have and get wisdom. The Retiring Carpenter Story Courtesy of Source of Insight A carpenter who had been working for a company for many years announced to his boss that he was ready to retire. The boss was sorry to see such a good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house before he left. The carpenter agreed, but it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work anymore. He resorted to using inferior materials and taking shortcuts wherever possible. When the carpenter finished his work, the boss came to inspect the house. He then handed the front door key to the carpenter and said, “This is your house, my gift to you.” The carpenter was shocked and embarrassed. If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all differently. The moral of the story is that every day we build our own lives, and we should always do our best work, even when no one is watching. Lesson No. 5. Do Not Shortcut The Process

7. The Tension Between “The tension between having faith things will work out, verses knowing when its time to pull the plug.” "On an important decision one rarely has 100% of the information needed for a good decision no matter how much one spends or how long one waits. And, if one waits too long, he has a different problem and has to start all over. This is the terrible dilemma of the hesitant decision maker." Robert K. Greenleaf Point – There are a zillion business opportunities online and brick-n-mortar. If you cannot make up your mind, someone else will. "The worst business decision you can make is no decision. The needs are not going to go away. Waiting is whats gotten us in the situation we're in now." John Peace Point – Make up your mind with the details you have. Personally I did not let lack of details keep me from owning over 110 crowdfunding properties. I bought first then I understood. Making any business decision is never singular. Most of the time there are many moving parts like someone waiting for someone else to make a decision based on finances and time. Being involved in investing, business development and digital publishing give one many viewpoints of the same problem. Do the best with what you have and live with the results. Many people do not like this concept. Welcome to life.

8. Hard Decisions and Cancer In 2021 my plan was to increase my real estate crowdfunding portfolio from 100 properties to 200 and in 2022 expand that to 300. Then Cancer came in to steal every penny my portfolio had, then it started taking future income. The point is, some times you can take all the best planning in the world and throw it in the trash because life is uncertain on a good day. 1. Take care of today. 2. Make your best decision today. 3. Make your best plan today and accept the fact that life does not always accept our wants. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6.34. Own It My best business decision was going into business for myself and owning the box my pretty face was on instead of just being the pretty face on the box. And my worst was letting other people run my business. Kam Williams “Don’t expect anyone to understand your journey, especially if they’ve never walked your path.” Anonymous. Own your brand, decisions, direction, plans and do not allow some other company tell you what is best for your company, because they are not inside your head. Long Term Planning Some people want fame, popularity and huge sales. I've always hoped to have a really long career. So I've tried to make each of my creative decisions and business decisions to allow for longevity. As a side effect I got really famous and really big. I didn't realize the two could go together. Jewel All of the really successful people I know of in life all had long term planning in mind and never deterred from it. That is smart planning. Success is never final. Failure is never fatal.” Winston Churchill

9. More Business Decisions A Business Success Story Arlete Turturro has a degree in merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a real estate license from Queens College. But these days she’s not working in fashion or real estate. She’s the owner of Night Owl Cleaning Services and has been for nearly three decades. Night Owl offers a huge array of services, like commercial cleaning, providing party attendants, plus 24-hour emergency services, too. Turturro was featured by the Westchester Business Journal and awarded its Woman of the Year Award in 2004. She’s still going strong. The Takeaway - You can plan for a certain future and end up in a totally different place. In Turturro’s case, she changed fields, somewhat drastically, a few different times before finding the business that worked for her and it’s paid off. Staying flexible and open to new possibilities can lead to great things. A Business Success Story Nellie Akalp is the founder of not one but two hugely successful companies—plus mom of four, author, and speaker. Even though entrepreneurs just starting out are often advised not to go into business with their significant others, she and her husband started MyCorporation.com in their living room, which they then sold to Intuit in 2008. Then, rather than retiring on that sale, Akalp launched another company: CorpNet, which aims to help potential small business owners by preparing and filing the documents necessary to start a business in any state. For those already in business, CorpNet can help with ongoing paperwork like filing annual reports, changing a company name, and more. The Takeaway - In the Akalps case, ignoring advice not to go into business together resulted in a hugely successful company and a $20 million sale. When you’re starting a business, you’re being inundated with advice from all sides—the internet, other business owners, family, and friends. But in the end, you have to make your own informed decisions. Listen to advice from people who’ve been there before, definitely. But also remember that you’ve done your homework, and can forge your own path.

10. Expand or Contract? "Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away. Move on to something else that's more productive." Donald Trump The Cost Either Way How You Treat People “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou We are a company that lives and breathes a philosophy that's centered on not only making sound business decisions but also personally and professionally finding ways to contribute to the well being of society. We are also a company that understands community. Magic Johnson The cost of business has its price tag. Whether you are a Door Dasher, Realtor, Contractor, Small Shop Owner, A Budding Entrepreneur, a Millionaire or Super Rich. Outside of your career field there lies a place in some peoples heart to connect with others. The rest of them are an island unto themselves and do not realize that it is the other people in their circle that have contributed to their success.

11. Expand Get This HR Professional - Jesus did not care about the 12 guys resumes. He talked with them and wanted to find out who they were willing to become and He brought out that potential into reality in the upper room experience. Acts 2 It takes discernment to do what Jesus did. Some people hated Jesus because He took the norm and crushed it. Jesus was a highly success team builder. He knew people. He understood what makes them tick (discernment). Jesus used a different business model that has stood the test of time. Get it or not this business model is quietly reshaping how history will turn out. You are one of these three people. You are either - In front of it saying “this is what will happen”. With it saying “this is happening” or Behind it saying “what just happened.” He understood business expansion better than anyone. MLMr’s should love this. One man finds twelve guys that become 500 upper room, then 100k word of mouth, 1m word of mouth, 10m word of mouth, 100m word of mouth. Are you getting this? Business is all about people and the money will follow. Contract If you are going to contract or downsize. Will your process be like reducing a soup so the flavor of your business is stronger or better for the end user? “Businessmen go down with their businesses because, they like the old way so well they cannot change.” Henry Ford The fastest thing computers do is go obsolete. Andy Rooney Adaptability will allow you contract in size while keeping your flavor in place. Too many business decisions are based on the concept of “hacking” instead of reducing. Hacking requires no skill, reducing requires a great deal of skill. “Are You a Hacker or Reducer?”

12. In Closing About Bryan L. Bryan L. is a former Real Estate Investment Portfolio Owner of over 110 properties, Cancer Warrior, Turned Digital Publisher on LinkedIn. It is very difficult to stay in the business game when you do not control all the rules and “they” come to steal your efforts. Your business decision will be based on what you are not planning for like Cancer. Cancer plays “winner takes all.” Bryan L. Plan Wisely Business Decisions is Powered By Eye Catcher Business Publications 3.16 He Loves You Copyrighted 2024 by Bryan L. The Bryan K Long Company Eye Catcher Publications