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Integrity is Rule #1

By Larry L. Nichols
WordandWebWiz.com
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The integrity of your business practices and your offer are extremely important! We all know this; as it has been pretty much beaten into our heads since day one! Without such integrity, one will quickly become known as a mere scam artist, or perhaps just a simple incompetent.

However, integrity means a lot more than just honesty. Integrity, according to its definition in the dictionary, also includes the terms "complete and undivided." Every aspect of your business plan must be a complimentary part of the “whole”, working in absolute cooperative “fusion” with all other parts, for you to successfully reach your intended goals.

This means taking a very careful look at your business plan. You do have a written business plan don’t you? Oh, I see, too busy scheduling little Johnny’s Soccer team, Cub Scouts and Karate classes around Susie’s Girl Scouts, Gymnastics and Piano Lessons.

I understand, I’m a parent too, plus you already used the last 12 pages of your trusted yellow notebook, planning next summers trip to Aunt Martha’s reunion in Dubuque, "gotcha!"

It’s important to be sure that you check out your list of “this years” goals. Compare them to one another, as well as your company’s “Mission Statement.” Is it all “inline” with itself, or are there little subconscious conflicts leading to unrealized tensions and undue stress.

In other words, is one of your goals to spend a lot more time with the family this year while another goal is to commit yourself to 25% more structured time, focused purely on work in the office? If so.....Yikes…. I sense a migraine headache on its way in the very near future!

I’m going to say something right now that will have all the “So Called” Business Gurus screaming at the top of their lungs, but I don’t care, let them scream! Goals that work against each other are far more destructive than having “NO” goals at all.

I can already hear the moaning and grumbling: “Uhhhhh, Larry, how can you say that?” Well, ….. because it’s true! Unconventional for sure, but it’s a fact! We all will naturally, without any organized plan, stumble and bumble our way into the general direction of where we eventually want to go.

It’s instinctive to focus on what you really think about a lot and truly want in life and we all just sort of naturally sway towards the light, even without a map, plan or dare I say, “A Coach.”

But conflicting goals create tremendous amounts of powerful energy, working head-on against each other like a southbound locomotive enthusiastically greeting the northbound train on the same stretch of track. They may both have the best of intentions, but the outcome most certainly isn’t going to be pretty!

Let’s switch metaphors shall we, from trains to planes, and even rockets. I used to work in the aerospace industry. I was even blessed with the exciting opportunity to be requested to work in NASA’s Space Shuttle program. That was pretty cool, to be one of the very few, lucky people who’ve actually been inside the shuttle. It was also a dream come true, you see, growing up as a kid, I was majorly obsessed with the space program and "flight" in general.

You see, my Grandfather was a test pilot for the Navy and my entire childhood was blessed with a bevy of exciting, adventurous and inspiring stories of his impressive experiences, accomplishments and achievements as he took the creative concepts and daring designs from avionic engineer’s heads and actually gave them flight, to see what really worked and what didn’t.

However, there was a down side to this as well, as I also had to deal with the terrible tale of how my grandfather died performing what proved to be his final test flight. On his last test flight, there were some unpredictably strong stresses created by various conflicting forces working against the integrity of the plane and during his scheduled in-flight maneuvers, the price was paid with his life.

For me, that conflicting negative memory left an underlying, subconscious stress in the integrity of my love and adoration of the aerospace industry and after a lot of deep thought and self analysis, I realized that I needed to doing something else with my time so that I could feel “whole, connected, comfortable unified and at ease” with what it was that I did for a living.

It’s the very same principal with ships. The degree of "integrity" with regards to a ship; is its ability to hold itself together under any and all adverse conditions and pressures that are thrust upon it while out sojourning, potentially being thrown violently around by the raging seas, as it transverses it’s set course to complete its pre-determined voyage, successfully and thoroughly intact.

Why is any of this vitally important to you? Because, while no modern day “Captain of Industry” wants to even imagine that there is a chance that they will ever having to "go down with the ship," in truth, we all know in the back of our minds the shocking statistics about the survival rates of most new businesses these days.

So, it seems it might certainly be time well and wisely spent to actually chart out those courses, look for potential obstacles and hardships along the way and plan for their solution, store enough additional “back-up” sustenance to be able to ride out the storms.

Plan some alternative routes and inspect the hull, tighten the bolts, batten down the hatches, and make sure that the "First Mate," the "Navigator" and the "Captain" are all reading off the same map. If you’re setting sail for China and the Navigator’s planning a route to San Diego, you’re in for a long, hard, disappointing trip!

”Integrity must be consciously planned for well in advance, constantly practiced and always put to the test, or it’s more than likely going to be sadly missing in those vital moments when it is most needed for survival.

Learn to think of all your marketing strategies as individual chapters in a Novel. It’s the story of YOU and your business, and how you can solve the problems of your potential customers and clients. This drama may have many characters, but it must always remain “ONE”, unified tale, or the readers will get confused, lose interest, or just end up missing the point completely! That’s the vulnerable moments you’re your competing goals can will pull you right under and never give you the chance to come back up for air!

Your personal story will hopefully be long, interesting, exciting and satisfying, with lots of surprise twists and sub-plots, and there can be unexpected little “rabbit trails” along the path, but it always must come together with absolute integrity at the very end, in a single organized fashion, making a focused and clear and compelling point that you can be proud of.

Otherwise, your audience will judge it to be a mere childish fable, or worse yet, an uninteresting and unbelievably grim fairy-tale. (I know, use a “PUN;” go to jail!)

Integrity: It’s Rule #1 and truly integral to your business’s very survival.

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