Tweet

Enough Is Enough Strategies for Change

Written by: Stefan Doering

Article Overview: Obama scolds Wall Street last week for giving themselves $18.4 billion in bonuses, the same amount they gave themselves in 2004 when the economy was quite strong. Many of these bonus-hungry firms are the same ones that have recently been in front of Congress with their hats in their hands looking for bailout funds. How do you know when it is time to change strategies, end the run. With recent spot light on Wall Street Greed, shines the light on a basic human characteristic[Money and Power], and can wreak havoc on our lives as well as others when left unchecked. Here are the basic five components to knowing if you’ve had enough:

Enough Is Enough Strategies for Change

It is rare I feel deep disappointment in my fellow New Yorkers. This past week was one of those times.

First, Obama scolds Wall Street last week for giving themselves $18.4 billion in bonuses, the same amount they gave themselves in 2004 when the economy was quite strong. Many of these bonus-hungry firms are the same ones that have recently been in front of Congress with their hats in their hands looking for bailout funds.

Then we had John Thain, the now former CEO of Merrill Lynch and rapidly becoming the icon for Wall Street greed, being nailed for billing shareholders for $1million in his office renovations, including an $87,000 area rug. Next there was Citigroup’s last-minute cancelled order for a $50 million 12-seater corporate jet, paid in part by taxpayer bailout dollars.

And of course don’t forget the now infamous “Talented Mr. Madoff”, as the New York Times referred to him, and his estimated $50 billion scam.

Now while all of these examples are quite extreme, they shine the light on a basic human characteristic. And they can wreak havoc on our lives as well as others when left unchecked.

The key difference with these guys and most of us is they went completely unchecked and possibly in Madoff’s case, completely off the deep end.

So then, how do you know when it is time to change strategies, end the run (because it was either successful or you’re just not making it happen), or keep working it forward?

Here are the basic five components to knowing if you’ve had enough:

1.

Purpose—Get clear on why you are doing what you are doing. Is it just to make money (in business) or is there a higher goal in mind?
2.

Exit Strategy—In business it is extremely helpful to know when you are exiting the business. Examples: when we grow the business to $10M annually in sales, when I turn 65, when we go public, when I find a partner to take over, etc.
3.

Boundaries—this is very helpful for keeping things in check. How far are you willing to go with certain things? For example, how much money will you spend or how much time will go into making things happen, or how much debt are you willing to take on?
4.

Stop Limit—what is your threshold trigger mechanism? It prevents you from losing too much investment of time, money, etc. The term is used in investing in the stock market: when the stock you own hits a certain price it is automatically sold, automatically limiting your losses. Examples: I will invest (or loan) the business no more than $50K of my own money or this new product line must generate a minimum 10% net profit within six months.
5.

Accountability—Often times we cannot and do not hold ourselves accountable to what we know we should or will do. Often times we cut corners, sneak things in that are not in our (or the planet’s) best interest. Usually that is what board of directors, advisors, mastermind groups and coaches are for in business. Who will keep you in check?

Setting up these five components to knowing when to say enough is enough will help you to stay calm when things get crazy. As a form of insurance, it is there to protect you from doing things you might deeply regret in the future.



Action Steps for the Week:

Define, redefine or visit the purpose of your business or career. To what end are you doing what you are doing? What do you want it to provide you with? Most likely money is part of that answer. How much? What else is involved with the purpose of what you are doing? What difference are you making for others in process? For the planet?

Then define when you will leave the business or your career. How far are you willing to go to make your purpose a reality? What boarders are you not willing to cross?

And lastly, who will hold you accountable and keep you in check from yourself?

Related Articles
  Change Is Here To Stay Thoughts From A Change Agent
  My 3 Personal Success Strategies That Never Fail
  "Blue Print” for change - personalizing your brand
  Strategic Planning
  Strategies for Exceptional Growth

Article Tags: 50 million, area rug, bailout, business examples, citigroup, corporate jet, disappointment, exit strategy, goal in mind, havoc, john thain, madoff, merrill lynch, new york times, new yorkers, obama, office renovations, scolds, talented mr, wall street greed



Related Forum Posts
Re: FREE Toronto Referral Workshop - Kevin, I'll try to get a copy of the slides and summarize the 14 Strategies. Stay tuned!
Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Re: Books for Business Owners - Hi DougSchadle, Thanks for sharing your favorite business book with us! A good book I'm reading now is "Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed" by Brian Tracy as it was a birthday gift from a friend. Tracy's book is helpful in identifying what's important in your life and then setting an action plan to achieve it.
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - Hi GT It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them. MichelleJ
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4] Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4] Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening. Chris


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Soda Vending Machine = Energy Hog

Steps For Starting A Small Business

The Biggest Domain Name Myth

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.