January 2009 Options

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Subject: The Million Dollar Consultant® Balancing Act Newsletter
Balancing Act #113, January 2009
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BALANCING ACT: BLENDING LIFE, WORK, AND RELATIONSHIPS®
A free monthly newsletter about balancing life, work, and relationships based on the books and popular workshops conducted by Alan Weiss, Ph.D. Past copies are archived on our web site: http://www.summitconsulting.com.
Copyright 2009 Alan Weiss. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1934-3116
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Balancing Act® is our registered trademark. You are encouraged to share the contents with others with appropriate attribution. Please use the ® whenever the phrase "Balancing Act" is used in connection with this newsletter or our workshops..


Balancing act is in four sections this month:
1. Techniques for balance for 2009
2. Musings
3. The human condition: Overtrust
4. ORTIYKMWOYBNT-O Department

1. Techniques for 2009

You could do a lot worse than this in social settings, if you just:
• Let the other person finish the sentence before interrupting.
• Find some reason to compliment the person you're with.
• Don't start eating until everyone is served.
• Don't show pictures of your family unless someone asks.
• Give good service a 20% tip.
• Never ask for separate checks when someone suggests to split things evenly.
• Ask for advice from someone you like, even if you don't really need it.
• Follow someone else's suggestion for an activity, even if you're not good at it.
• Don't be the last to sit at the table or the first to leave it.
• Pretend you're sharing deep secrets and keep your voice down on your cell calls.
• Dress appropriately for the setting—jeans are not "business casual" unless you're a cowboy.

2. Musings

I think it's time we all engaged in a Joyous January.

The holidays are exhausting and often create the exact opposite effect intended: They depress us and make us feel lonely. An "empty" January exacerbates that mood, whether in the damp of the northern hemisphere winter or heat of the southern hemisphere summer.

It's always seemed odd to me that we store up our affiliation needs, expressions of love, and exchange of gifts, like chipmunks stuffing our cheeks, for highly restricted times of the year. It's somewhat bizarre to have a loving family encounter for only a few days a year (and downright crazy to allow it to be a time of anger and hurtful words and retribution for perceived grievances).

Theoretically, the first month of the year should be when we begin to implement all those resolutions, but it's actually the time when we first violate them and eventually forget them. Few resolutions make it to March. They are fragile flames wiped out by the breeze of an insect's wings.

We tend to cluster our great holidays and happy occasions, with the exceptions of a few birthdays and anniversaries. (I've always felt sorry for those celebrating these events in conjunction with major holidays. "Oh, it's easier, we just celebrate one time and combine presents," is one of the saddest explanations I've ever heard. Thanks, but I'd like to have my birthday stand out in the crowd.)

Is there some reason that we can't plan vacations in January? Or how about family reunions? Aren't the kids still out of school, or home from school? What about parties that reinforce resolutions and give support to give them hope for achievement? (I know that one's a long shot, and Hallmark isn't exactly preparing greeting cards for the occasion.) Why must January be a "let's get back to business" time, especially when we're often so "down" with post-holiday remorse, and psychological studies have shown it can be a time of moodiness and even depression?

I'm just suggesting that right now, at the beginning of the month (never mind the entire year) that you plan to have an exciting, glorious next 31 days. I know there's the danger that February would then become gloomy, but it has significantly fewer days, so there's nothing wrong with that if you think about it.

I'm feeling better already, just having helped you out. Now, go plan some things that are fun.

A Joyous January to you all!

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Upcoming Events

$0 to $300,00
January 14-15, 2009 Warwick, RI
http://www.summitconsulting.com/0-300.html

Whether you are at $0 or $200,000 in annual revenues, the goal is to help you, in the toughest of economic times, to move toward very high margin work very quickly. This is not a duplication of my Million Dollar Consulting® College, or Six Figures to Seven Workshop, except insofar as my philosophy about buyers, fees, and relationships remain paramount.

Speaking With Alan (SOLD OUT: WRITE ME TO SCHEDULE A FUTURE PROGRAM)
January 20-22, 2009 East Greenwich, RI, at Alan's home
http://www.summitconsulting.com/speaking_with_alan.html

This is an opportunity to do in 2.5 days what takes most people most of a year: Create, practice (live and on video), and plan to market, a speech. That includes content, examples, fees, stage mechanics, potential buyers, the works. We do that in the comfort of my home with a professional videographer making DVDs you can keep. There are never more than six people. The fee includes lodging, all local transportation, and all meals (we have incredible dinners together at my favorite restaurants, breakfast and lunch is catered). The preparation work ensures that you focus on your own issues and objectives, and makes the best use of our time.

FROM SIX FIGURES TO SEVEN
Sydney, Australia, February 19-21, 2009
US Session in Las Vegas in March sold out!
http://www.summitconsulting.com/6to7_au.html
Only unique people will share this 2.5-day program to learn the major tactics required to move to and through the million dollar mark. THE US SESSION IS ALREADY SOLD OUT IN MARCH. We will help you become a visible thought leader in your field, create "communities" of support, engage in advanced promotional tactics, and a lot more. We'll also be sharing the best practices of the Million Dollar Club. This will be quickly sold-out.

THE MILLION DOLLAR CONSULTING® COLLEGE
Newport, RI, April 27-May 1, 2009
http://www.summitconsulting.com/consulting...april_2009.html
The finest developmental experience for professional service providers, featuring business acquisition, fee setting, branding, market gravity, the language of the sale, proposals, and much more. Read the testimonials and look at the photos. November 2008 sold out!

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Alan's 2009 Teleconference Series
Monthly, March through December
https://ssl.cgicafe.com/clients/summitform/...conferences.php
These extraordinarily popular teleconferences, with over 50 in existence on CDs and downloads, will continue in 2009.

Patterned after the enormously successful hour-long content of "How to Accelerate Business in A Dismal Economy," Alan's most widely attended and purchased teleconference ever, the 2009 series will focus on separate topics with deep and rich content. There will be no interviews or role-plays. There will be relatively brief question-and-answer segments at the conclusion of the sessions, and one session dedicate to an "open channel" in September, prior to our "Million Dollar Fourth Quarter" topics, themselves worth the price of admission.

These are professional consulting development experiences simply not available through any other resource.

"I just invested my first $100 with you on your teleconference. Best $100 I've invested!
-- John J Chapin www.completeselling.com"


These teleconference will sell for $95 each. The entire year can be purchased for $750. However, if you purchase the series prior to December 31, 2008, the fee is only $450 ($350 for Mentor Members; SAC members receive all ten for free). The fee includes the teleconference, a two-week recording window to listen to it, and an MP3 download within 48 hours of the event (sorry, we are discontinuing CDs as an option). NOTE: I'LL EXTEND THE DISCOUNT DEADLINE TO JANUARY 5 FOR BALANCING ACT SUBSCRIBERS.

All teleconferences are at noon, Eastern, for one hour. Instructions are mailed in advance and then mailed a second time several days prior to the event.

Here are our topics:

March 27: The Future of Professional Services
What opportunities await you in the short-term

April 24: Two Business Models
How to build—and move between—a solo practice and a small business

May 22: The Global Consultant
How to create and expand a profitable, global practice

June 19: Value Based Fees Redux
Advanced techniques on creating and raising high-margin fees

July 24: Exploiting Opportunity
How to build new revenue streams while sitting around the house

August 14: Achieving Celebrity
How anyone can become a "stah" and for more than just 15 minutes

September 25: Open Channel
Our one participative session for the year, questions in advance and "live"

And our Million Dollar Fourth Quarter:
October 23: Lessons from the Million Dollar Consulting® College
Best practices from 12 colleges and 180 people

November 20: Million Dollar Speaking
Maximize direct and indirect revenues while obtaining major speaking assignments

December 11: Lessons from the Million Dollar Club
Insider tips from a dozen of the world's most successful entrepreneurs

"Thank you for a great teleconference call this morning. Three outcomes already:
- My confidence went up
- I ditched some tentative obligations that were like rocks around my neck
- This afternoon I sold a 350K project "
-- Constance R. Dierickx, Ph.D.
Senior Consultant
RHR International Co.

3. The human condition: Overtrust

The Madoff mess is going to be blamed on the deceit of an avaricious man and a failure to regulate his operation because of chumminess with insiders. All of that is no doubt true. But there won't be sufficient culpability accepted by the victims.

These were not "mom and pop" investors, putting $100,000 of life savings into a safe repository. Madoff's investors had to have (his criterion) a minimum of one million dollars to invest, and even then they needed an introduction by one of his "inner circle." Only a third of the members in his own country club in Palm Beach were able to make investments. (The two-thirds who were "outsiders" in one of the most exclusive clubs around must feel fortunate for this rebuke.)

Other investors were institutional: funds, banks, philanthropies, professional investment houses. Hundreds of millions were invested from single sources, including major European banks.

In the post-mortem, "experts" now point out that his returns couldn't have been real given the nature of the market, his types of trades, and the volume that would have been required. But why didn't they see that then, or make a bigger noise, or do what we did in the old days—call the cops?

I'll tell you why. Too many people seek to "overtrust." They want to get into a winner's circle where they don't have to work hard or even think much. They just want a great deal, which they're convinced can be had through introductions, shared meals, golf, mutual biases, and a few winks. They feel that the more they can ally themselves with some remote inner circle, the more they will have access to privileged information and "insider" information.

What they got in this case, was intimate contact with a consummate thief.

I've yet to find many reliable ways to trump common sense, good judgment, a sense of fair play, and acceptance of prudent risk. There is no such thing as a free lunch. And if there were, why should you or I deserve it?

Keep this in mind. Some things are too good to be true. And some things are too true to be good.

4. ONLY READ THIS IF YOU KNOW ME WELL OR YOU'LL BE NEEDLESSSLY TICKED-OFF DEPARTMENT

I went for a haircut a couple of minutes from my house, but the stylist didn't show up. The owner told me to come back later in the day and she'd take care of me personally. I returned home 15 minutes after I had left.

My wife said, "Your hair looks great! It looks like it wasn't even cut, which is the sign of a true professional. It's amazing!"

I was going to ask if she had been into the cooking sherry, but as you'll recall, we have none since she doesn't cook.

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You can neither think big nor act big without doing the other. – AW
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