We've all seen them. Those giant pumpkins with the big blue ribbons on them. Did you know there was a specific process they follow to grow them? They just don't plant a seed and hope they grow a winner. One of my favorite books is "The Pumpkin Plan" by Mike Michalowicz. In his book, he walks through how business owners can use the sames process to help their business grow more successful. I've found that this process works equally as great at developing your referral netw

Building a strong business relationship is not always about positive interactions. Sometimes you have to have difficult conversations, but if you have that conversation in an appropriate manner, it can still result in a positive outcome. At one of the regular meetings of a business organization I belong to, one of the members, we will call him Mike, came to me with issues he was having with another member, we will call her Kathy. After I listened to his comments, I asked hi

Recently I was told a story about a traveler that went to LA. He arrived at LAX and called his hotel to arrange the shuttle to come pick him up. 15 minutes later, nothing. 30 minutes later, nothing. 45 minutes later, STILL nothing. About this time a driver from another hotel, which happened to be next door to the traveler's hotel, noticed the traveler and asked if everything was ok. The traveler told him his dilemma and expressed his frustration over the situation. The d