Laina Turner-Molaski

Posts Tagged ‘Economy’

Marc Lerner was diagnosed with MS on May 15th 1981. Instead of taking a back seat to the disease Marc said “this has been an amazing challenge and a journey of self-discovery.” He wrote a book, A Healthy Way to be Sick, to share how he learned to cope with a chronic illness. Marc said “I found that, no matter what the challenge we face, the key to consciously deal with it is found in The Wisdom of the Body. I have found that the natural reaction of a person in a struggle is to look outside for the solution. By developing one’s inner wisdom, you can consciously participate as a partner with your doctor.”

Marc has an inner strength we can all learn from. It is hard to face any challenge life throws in our path without wanting to run toward finding that easy solution. But really when it comes down to it we must be strong. Stay strong and fight to overcome any challenge.

For National MS Week 2010, Marc was featured in his local paper,
AnnArbor.com on 3-17-10.

Marc also gives tele-seminars for the chronically ill and disabled to teach
them four main life skills; positive self-image, self-trust,
freedom from negative thinking, connecting to The Wisdom of
the Body. marc says “In my seminars, I am often told by the
participants that these are the skills that everyone
needs—not just those in a health crisis. In 1982, I
founded Life Skills Institute and continue to serve as its
president. Please go to A Healthy Way to be Sick to
review my e-book, which was endorsed by Bernie Siegel. Go to
Life SKills Inc to view the rest of my work.”

Thanks Marc for being a positive role model and such an advocate for Multiple Sclerosis.
Laina

Anyone besides me want to stay in bed today? I enjoy the pretty snow but I would enjoy it better if it was 70 outside.

So I have sold 2 pre-sale copies of Stilettos and Scoundrels I only have 298 more to go this month to pay my mortgage. In case you thought I was joking in my post from last week. I’m not. Now some of you might think I am really nuts, and you would probably be right, but not because of this decision alone. For a lot of personal reasons which I will spare you the details, I don’t much care anymore if the bank takes my house, so really it’s not that much of a gamble to loose. What will be worse than losing the house however, is not selling any books. I need that affirmation that I’m a marginal writer, at least for my first attempt. I promise to get better.

The other reason I didn’t want to get out of bed today is that I have a bit of a dilemma with my other book. I have a business book that to be honest I didn’t really want to write, I just was somewhat pressured in to it and I did see the point everyone was trying to make. I then came up with the bright idea to have a online companion and an iPhone app. Kind of a nice, tidy package that would make it seem fabulous. Well on Thursday I discovered a fatal (no I am not being dramatic) error in the website design that negated all the time I had spent thus far (time I don’t have) and now I need too find an alternative solution and I’m not sure what that is. I’m also on a tight deadline to figure it out if I want to meet my publishing deadline and without the online “stuff” I am not sure the book standing alone is positioned correctly. Does that even make sense???

So option A- Scrap the entire project. About $1500 wasted, not including my time, but wouldn’t be wasting any more $$ going forward.

Option B – Just do the book and iPhone app and don;t worry about the online companion. Would required some sort of major adjustments to the book but is doable.

Option C – Use my secret ninja powers to find a online solution ASAP (the issue here is I don’t really want to spend the time rebuilding the site from scratch when I need to promote my fiction book to make my house payment).

A little help from my friends would be appreciated:)

Peace-
Laina

PS Today is the start of the 30 day count down to MS week!!!!!!

I read an article the other day about the importance of staying positive in this current economic environment. You read all that stuff about the Laws of Attraction and while you may dismiss some of it as hogwash (yes I borrowed that from my grandmother) it is true that positivity breeds positivity and the opposite is true. Or else they wouldn’t have come up with the saying one bad apple spoils the bunch.

I have heard a lot of people comment lately about the upcoming holidays and how it is going to be more stressful than normal this year because of financial constraints. Well life is stressful and the worst stress is usually caused by financial issues so what can you do. If you maintain a positive attitude, and just as importantly, TAKE ACTION, to your goals. It will happen.

I stay positive by remembering all the good things I do have instead of focusing on the negative. What do you do? Share with us so maybe you can help someone.
Laina

Big surprise the economy hasn’t bounced back yet and we aren’t all swimming in money. The good news is that if we’ve made it this far then there is a good chance we can stick it out long enough to see things improve. In my daily life as a consultant I feel it is important to help business owners be the best they can be by getting the most out of their employees. Let’s be honest. It’s an employer’s market right now and there is no reason to accept sub-standard performance from any employee. However, you also need to ensure you are doing your part as the business owner to set your employees up for success. That will take time and effort on your part as a business owner and commitment to communication with your team. It takes time to not only set the expectation but to also follow up to what your employee is doing. How else will he/she know your expectations and that you really mean what you say unless you inspect what you expect. Yes I know, a tired old cliché but it’s true. To make it simple take one or two tasks that your employee isn’t doing quite to your expectations and follow these steps.

1. Sit down and have a frank conversation about the tasks in question and what specifically what’s not being done. It is also a good idea to mention what he/she are doing well as it will boost his/her confidence.
2. Ask for his/her feedback on why the expectations aren’t being met and what you can do to help.
3. Work together on a plan of action over the next couple weeks to get  tasks done and set a date to meet again and review the progress.
4. During the time before the next meeting check in to see how he/she are doing. Offer encouragement and feedback.

If there is improvement then job well done. If he/she isn’t making the kind of progress needed and expected then seek out why. There may be an underlying cause that is fixable. Or he/she may not be in the right position. Either way you have opened the lines of communication and let your employee know you’re committed to his/her success.