Passed on by: Fred Baker-Bakers Identities

Date 03/13/2008

After reading this, check us out at:
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Bakers Identities - Marketing/Advertising/Sales Promotion - Since 1965
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Once upon a time, there were two men who set out to build
their houses.


The first man built his house on the beach. He was in a
hurry to get his house built so he could enjoy the
beautiful ocean view. So he didn't take time to set a good
foundation.


The second man found a solid rock for the foundation of his
house in the mountains. It cost him a little more to truck
the building materials up the mountain and it took him a
little longer to finish his house.


Then the storms came. The winds blew and the rain fell and
the sand washed away from beneath the beach house. And so
the house on the beach was destroyed. The house that was
built on a solid foundation was not damaged.


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What can we learn from this story?
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First, the storms will come. And doing things right won't
stop them. The storms came against both men. So count on
it. Whatever you build and however you build it, storms
will always come. Don't ever rely on perfect conditions or
expect everything to go exactly right. Somewhere along the
line, probably at the worst possible moment for your
business, the storms will come. Factor that into your
business plan - your marketing plans.


Second, the winds will blow and the sands will shift. You
can count on that too. Somebody said that the only constant
is change. Especially in business marketing, where things change
wildly and rapidly. It used to be that we yearned for
things to be like they were "in the good old days." Now
we're grateful if anything stays the same for a few months.
Or even just a few minutes.


But once the sand shifts, it will never go back exactly as
it was. And it will never stop shifting after that. So you
may as well accept this. It will make you better prepared
to deal with changes when they come.


So we can build our businesses and our plans on either the rock or the
sand and we will get the storms anyway. And there will
always be something beyond our control, trying to yank the
rug out from under us. Knowing this helps us to adjust our
plans and be better prepared. That's "expectation
management."


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The main lesson of the story:
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Recognize the consequence of the foundation you choose for
your life and your businesses.


If we build our businesses on foundations of greed, lies,
hype, impatience and the quest for short cuts and the quick
buck, our businesses won't survive the storms.


If we build our businesses on the solid principles of hard
work, patience, service, value and honesty, those
businesses will still be standing after the inevitable
storms come and go.


Marketing plans can be put forth by "lots" of people. Unfortunately,
they come and go, too - the people and the plans. However, from Day 1,
almost 40 years ago, I've worked to make sure that customers and clients
of my businesses have received their money's worth in ideas, quality and caring.

They've rewarded me in untold ways - with their business and their friendship.

We continue, at Bakers Identities, to offer full service promotional ideas,
services and imprinted products based on quality and caring.

For some ideas on usage of promotional products and building your business,
click below. The best to you and yours in 2008.   - J. Frederick Baker -