Whether in business or our personal lives, relationships are all  about adding value to other peoples' lives.   Human relationships weave the fabric of all business. We are like gerbils on a wheel - racing as fast as we can to get ahead by working hard, refining our business skills, doing what everyone else has taught us to do along the way. What if success, in life and business, is as easy as giving to others, creating value for them, helping them succeed. It’s not about you; it’s about them. Go Givers Sell More. And so I did.  MORE >>

They know exactly where their boundaries are, in business and in their personal lives, and they honor them. I've seen what overextending our resources can do to a business. But overextending isn't a sustainable approach to winning business and influencing friends. also helped out every broken-winged bird that came my way, from friends and family to people I met in business.   Perhaps we can walk away from that big opportunity that we know has a good chance of bringing our entire business to its knees.  No problem.   It's funny.  MORE >>

That's why all these sayings apply to business and life! We must be thoughtful about our partners, and how partnerships affect our own business. Remember when your folks told you to choose your friends wisely?    They were trying to protect you, but they also knew that you'd be judged based on your friends. People perceive us in part based on who we hang around with, who we point to as 'friends' and associates. Birds of a feather flock together. smart man surrounds himself with smart people. You are only as good as the company you keep. So why partner? MORE >>

Now think about how different the resulting two business courses would be - if they were based on those two diverse assumptions. There's an old saying about assumptions.    Remember? Have you ever found yourself disagreeing with someone - wondering how in the heck they could see the situation in their way? Only to find that your perspectives were based on dramatically different assumptions than your own? Now think about the impact of those assumptions on the task at hand. Social media gives power to our assumptions.   Wow, a never-ending circle of assumptions. MORE >>

I  also used the social media 'busy time'  to duck the things I really didn't want to deal with in my 'other' life.    I can't imagine life without my social media community of friends, business associates and clients. Yesterday I decided to take a 'day off' from social media.    I wanted to see what would happen.    Would I show signs of withdrawal, be unable to focus as I frantically wondered what was happening out in the Twitterverse?  In reality - I didn't take a day off.  MORE >>