Quitting is Not an Option

Never Quit or you will get in the habit of quitting. I have a new sign that stares at me as I work each day…. “QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION!

I have been working long hours doing what I love to do. I feel like Job, from the Bible, where everyone said, “Just Quit!” Every goal a person really believes in and works toward better be one that you will do anything necessary to accomplish because once you start there is no turning around. I have quit on diets, exercise programs, cleaning the office, washing the car, doing laundry, I even quit a job. Never remember doing that before so I understand the anatomy of quitting.

It is hard to continue when the going gets so hard that laying in bed in the fetal position is the desire of your heart, or doing the mundane activities that have to be done day after day in order to see the other side of the mountain. The excuses I can come up with as to why not to keep going are like the sands of the sea.

Fortunately, I now have the words posted in front of me. Quitting is not an option! Then if the things I desire and have written down fall into that catagory there is no way of quitting. The best way I have learned to do things is to make a habit of the activities that will take me closer to my goals.

Example: If I want to loose weight I have to do certain activities. Drink water, eat breakfast, and exercise some. And schedule those activities into my calendar.

I remember how hard it was to read the Bible in a year. I would start every year and get as far as Numbers or Deuteronomy and then just quit! For years the same thing happened. Until someone said to read through the Bible in a year just read 4 chapters a day it would get done. That was doable! Then I learned that if you do the hardest thing you have to do first you get it out of the way. It is amazing that once an activity becomes a habit it can be accomplished. I now not only read my Bible every year but have a ritual of doing it daily. I truly enjoy reading and learning so much that it has become a high-light of my day and it is the first thing I do each day with a cup of coffee.

“QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION!” has now becoming my mantra.

Jon
http://www.summitfencesupply.com/

Day: 11 Learning from the Dolphins

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

To be successful in business you have to constantly be thinking. I like to make list of ideas every few days. Just sit and make a list of things I can do to improve the company. Some ideas are worth trying some are not so bright. But the idea is to keep thinking. I think I got the idea a long time ago from Earl Nightingale tape series. “Lead the Field”. My mom had this series on records and I would listen to it over and over again.

Today I was reminded that there is a ton to learn just looking at nature. Watch this video.  It will help you see that there are new ways to do your prospecting, presenting, and closings in your business. As I watched the video today I was challenged to get out my pen and start to create. Creativity feed the dolphins. Creativity will help me reach my goal of 735.

Day 9: Failure? Not Possible!

Most start up business fail before 5 years. My dear friend Sage told me once that when you run out of money you have to get a job. I laugh at that because he is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. He is speaking all over the country on SEO principles. He runs his own business, Sage Rock, and he does a daily Video Blog. His business is a major part of his life.

I tend to work hard. I love working! I guess that was instilled in me as a child learning to walk after having polio. I would wear those long metal leg braces and would fall at the drop of a hat. That hat might be someone touching me, or a pebble, or a loss of balance. But I remember my mother, my chief advocate, would always say, “One down, two to go!”

Failure? Not possible! That has to be the mindset of every entrepreneur that wants so badly to make a difference. When I feel like quitting I have to STOP!

S – Step back and look at what you are doing. Get out the pad and start writing ideas and it will come to you in time.

T – Trust yourself and your God. You are not alone. You may have to turn over another rock or two to find something that works but you will make it work.

O – Get the Opinions of people you trust. Not negative people but people that have worked where you are now and have gone on to success. The opinion of a mentor, the opinion of your business counselor. Make a list of people you can go to. Take them to lunch and have them help you brainstorm.

P – Press on!  When I would fall my mom would pick me up and not coddle me. She would go on with what she was doing. That taught me early in life that, Yes I will fall but stand up and go on.

As this year moves on toward the goal of “735” I know I will make it. Will I fall down? Yes! Business has it up and downs but unless you quit trying and lay down on the ground. Success is just around a corner.  

One down, two to go!

Jon, “Your Fence Man on Wheels”

SummitFenceSupply.com

jon@summitfencesupply.com

Call me anytime: 888.856.0551

Day 6: Filling the Funnel is Fun

Sometime the hardest thing I have to do is making prospect calls. I know that I am not alone on this part of the sales machine. I can’t say I love to make the call and have the gate keeper screen me by saying, “And what is this about?” in a very suspicious voice. I know that it is a numbers game and that if I am not making the calls daily my sales will dry up.

I have decided as of today that making the calls is Fun. It is all in the way I approach it. Attitude really is everything. I offer the best products in the country when it comes to fencing material. The key to calling is knowing that my products fill needs that others have.

Here are my steps to making calls.

• I don’t waste time because I know who I am calling.
• I have a message they would want to hear and if I don’t get the person it was not meant to be.
• Every person I call is a VIP. If it is the president of the company or the office hired part time student doing an intern, they have a job to do and they are doing it to the best of their ability.
• I don’t keep them on the phone more then a few minutes because I know the message and I know that if a person takes the time out of their busy day it is an honor.
• I check off a goal list how many calls I make as to how many I said I was going to do.
• I celebrate every day when my task is done.

So if you have a list to call and it means life or death of your company, make the calls but make it fun. Give yourself an M&M or a cup of coffee at the end of your call time. Set a specific time and get-er-done. My friend Brigid says to me all the time, “Done is done!”

Well on the goal to “735” each call could be “The Call”. I wonder if one call will lead to the million dollar sale. I will never know if I don’t fill the funnel each day.

Jon, “Your Fence Man on Wheels”

SummitFenceSupply.com

jon@summitfencesupply.com

Call me anytime: 888.856.0551

Day 4: Setbacks were Expected

Yesterday was smooth sailing along the goal of 735 until late in the evening. My young webmaster called me to inform me that 10 of my pages were just erased. No problem because I am sure he had a backup of them only to be told, “No, I just erased them.”

Accidents happen and he is a valuable part of my team. I can rebuild what is gone but in every situation there is a learning opportunity. My question to him was, “How do we make sure this doesn’t happen again?” Many CEO’s want to assign blame… I have worked for a couple of those types of people. That is the kiss of death to your employees. The goal is to move beyond blame to not only fix the problem but put in procedures that will make the likelihood of the recurrence unlikely.

I am going to reach my goal of 735 and when I make it I want my people to know I could not have made it without them.

What fun is a journey if you have no one to share it with?

Jon "Your fence man on wheels"

summitfencesupply.com

jon@summitfencesupply.com

Call me anytime at 888.856.0551

PS. My hosting company just called and they backed up my pages on Sunday. Thank you Pete!

Day 3: Fear of Failure oh Blah, Blah, Blah!

I was thinking about the 735 this morning at 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM and up until 4:00 when I decided I wasn’t going to sleep anymore so I may as well get up and prepared to begin. I know that the fear of failure holds many people back from taking on their personal journeys. I can’t see the end because I am not near there. I visualize what it will look like but it doesn’t mean that I will be able to make it, at least not on my own. There are so many variables between January 4, 2010 and December 31, 2010. There may be sickness along the way… or maybe an unexpected breakdown of equipment. People could let me down or not keep their promises. There are a lot of things to fear if I would choose to let them. However, most of those things will never happen and if I let the thought of them stop me from my personal 735 I can shut off the phones, crawl under the covers and just quit.

But not today! Today I begin with more enthusiasm then I have had in a long time. Any goal can be broken down into small tasks. Before I can get to the 735 I have to get to the 1. It could take minutes or days to reach the first part of my goal but by doing certain things a certain way I will reach 1, then 10, then before I know it 735.

Today I was reading, “If you want to walk on water, You have to get out of the boat” by John Ortberg. He mentioned that we do not go on our journey alone. We need faith to go in the direction we are lead to go. I have a passion to make this journey and so it begins. It is now 8:00 Monday the 4^th of January and we are off.

“Creative achievement depends on single minded immersion”

Starting the 735 Clean!

Starting a new business year is like getting ready for a road trip. The more organized you are the less you have to struggle to find things on the journey. Day 2 of my journey to 735 began late as I knew I needed to rest before I begin next week. I can see why the Bible was adamant about the Lords Sabbath. I always like Jesus words on the subject. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.

After watching the Brown's win 4 in a row (Go Brown's) it was time to go into the office and make sure all the material I will need is in order

• Desks are cleaned
• Goals are set and written down
• Charts are in order
• Call lists are ready for this week
• Day planner is ready with the activities I need to concentrate on First things first
• I have plenty of coffee.

My business coach Phil Humbert once told me that doing business was not always exciting and that if he were to walk into my office at a certain time would he find me doing the things I had planned on doing at that time. There is a lot of wisdom in that concept. If I were to climb a mountain would I be on my journey at the time I said I would or would I just be waking up and making breakfast? Personal integrity is a big part of business success.

So as far as I can prepare I am ready for tomorrow to begin.

A journey of 735 begins with the first call scheduled for 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Please add your comments or thought to help me make my goal of 735.

Until tomorrow.

Jon "Your fence man on wheels"

Summitfencesupply.com

jon@summitfencesupply.com

Call me anytime 888.856.0551

735 The Adventure of a Lifetime

I am going on a business journey starting Monday which I am calling 735. I am going write in my blog the events and things I am learning on the way to 735. It will be about the one man’s journey to reach an unheard of goal for himself. This goal is not about miles but about people and business. It is a journey that will take 365 days to complete.

Along the way I am going to face a lot of failure (learning opportunities) and successes to reaching the goal of 735.

I am committing myself to write a blog about the journey every day for 1 year. I hope to share picture of people I meet along the way. Some of the individuals will be out to stop my adventure and others will be sent to encourage me to take just one more step.

Like any adventure the more I keep the goal in front of me the closer I will be to reaching it.

Some of you are asking what is the 735? Join me and see.

Oh and of course call or write me or comment on the passages to criticize, encourage, and just ask questions.

As Sailor Sam used to say... "Full step a head!"

Jon Mullender "Your fence man on wheels"

Summitfencesupply.com

jon@summitfencesupply.com

888.856.0551

A New Decade Begins

As the snow covers the ground on this last day of 2009 and my little space heater is warming me up... I am thinking about what I heard from Claudia this morning. "We are starting a new decade and it will be a great one!"

I love words of hope, excitement and motivation. Hope that our economy will turn around for all small business. That they will find success and be able to hire some of the many unemployed people who so desperately need a job.

Excitement because new things are being created each day and some of them are related to the industry we find ourselves in. We just add Apollo Gates to our website and are looking forward to many years of a great relationship together.

Finally, a new decade to be motivated in. It is true that we become what we think about all the time. We really do! If we want 2010 to be the best, we have to think of how we can help and improve the lives of others. When we help others we in turn help ourselves.

So as the hours tick away until tomorrow's New Decade begins, we at Summit Fence Supply want to thank all our wonderful customers and suppliers who have given us so much joy as we sought to assist others with their fencing needs.

Happy New Year...

Jon Mullender

"your fence man on wheels"

President -CEO

Summitfencesupply.com

Call anytime... 888.856.0551

19 Great Principles for Running your Bussiness

I love to read business books. Right now I am reading three:

“The Field Guide to Sales” by Debbie Mrazek
“52 Weeks to Sales Success” by Ralph R. Roberts
“Email Selling Techniques” by Stephan Schiffman

However the Book I love to read the most about working, sales, and management is the book of Proverbs of Solomon written between 960 and 922 BC. His thoughts were remarkable and if you read today’s writers like Tracy, Rohn, and Canfield you will find traces of Solomon in their writing. It is said in the Bible that Solomon was the wisest person of all times… not just of his time but all times.

I have gone through the book of Proverbs for about 3 years and have come up with 19 principles that can be applied to business. These are great principles to build a business around.

Here are just two...

Principle 1: When you work… Work hard! brian tracy says this a lot

• Pro. 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.


• Pro. 10:04 Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.


• Pro. 12:24 Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.


• Pro. 28:19 A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies ends up in poverty.


• Pro. 20:13 If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!

Principle 2: There are seasons of work for all companies. Discover yours and make a plan to accomplish your work when it is to be done.

• Pro. 10:05 He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

You can download the other 17 for free by going to http://bit.ly/Business-principles

I am looking for the 20th and thought someone else may have found one... Let me know and of course I will add it to the list.

Visit with Nick

I love to serve and Nick of Highland Hts wanted to replace his fence. However there were problem using the normal section.

The Battle of the Blubber Begins

Lucky Shoes is not my favorite store tonight. Maybe in six or seven months it will be however today, what I saw in the reflection of the store window was a call for the Japanese whaling ships to set sail. I saw this HUGE blob in a wheelchair in the reflection of the door as I went in to buy a container of black shoe polish.

That’s it! Now I am making it known to the world. I am Blubber Man! I have the ability to make a piece of toast disappear in the fat rolls to be store for winter hibernation. I now buy my clothes in the tent shop instead of a department store. I say to the tent maker, “I need a tent for ten and can you put a hole in it for my head and holes for my arms to come out the sides. I my not be able to leap tall building but if I roll on someone they are absorbed and never seen again.

My coach said, “Oh so you decided to die early.” You have the choice eat carrots or eat potato chips. To which my reply was, “Let’s bring that up in about three weeks.”

So friends in Blog land. The battle has begun… Not a diet… (I love those words) A change in life style… Blah, blah, blah!

Here is my plan… Go from 386 to 385 and after that it’s a crap shoot.

Never again will a shoe store window reveal the true “Blubber man.”

My bag of baby carrots lies open on my desk as my chubby fingers type.

Yum?

Don't let the Mountains Slow Your Success

I love collecting money from people who won’t answer their phone. It is one of the warm and fuzzy feelings that come with owning ones own company.

Last night, while drifting off to la-la-land, I felt an urge saying go… go… go to their place of business and they’ll be so happy to see me they’ll willing pay me the amount they owe without hesitation.

When the opportunity clock went off at 6:00 AM I was off. I did my morning work and made my prospect calls. By noon I set off on my journey to wealth and prosperity.

I drove the 35 minutes to the outskirts of Cleveland in no time at all. I parked the car and headed for the front door. My wheelchair was flying until I turned onto the sidewalk. There in front of me was a mountain of snow blocking the sidewalk, the leftovers of shoveled driveways that blocked the concrete pathway to my riches.

Being the eternal optimist, “I didn’t come all this way for nothing!” rang in my head. I said the words of an old sage, “If you can’t climb the mountain dig through it, go under it, or make a way around it.” AHH! There was my answer. I would go around it. The road looked clear so I headed down it until I got to the ramp by the oncoming street. It was so narrow and broken up I knew it was a certain disaster. With a determined outlook I headed back to my mountain. There had to be another way around it. I spied a narrow strip of grass that lead around the natural barricade. Figuring that the ground was still frozen I headed off the sidewalk on to the unknown terrain. All was going well for about a foot then without warning, the wheels started spinning. Oh boy I thought! I am here in Cleveland and stuck like a pig on a skewer waiting for the barbecue fire. Back and forth I went as mud stuck to my wheels. No matter what effort I took I was not leaving that spot. What would Louis and Clark do? What would Davey Crockett do? How would NASA circumvent such and obstacle?

I was getting a little cold as I reached for my trusted Blackberry. There in the distance was a Fire Station. I pressed 411 and said, “Can I have the non-emergency fire department Number please… Over the next few moments I will grilled with: “You are what?” “You are where?” “Why did you leave the sidewalk?” Obviously the person on the other end of the phone had never had a mountain to climb, or forged ragging river. My request was reasonable, “Send a fireman over to pull me out of the goo.” “We will send a policeman.” was the response on the other end of the line… But ma’am, I rebutted, the Fire Department is right across the street! My plea was to no avail. “We will send someone to rescue you shortly.”

I sat there thinking of camp songs to sing as the moments turned into what seemed like days.

Finally, I heard a truck. I turned to see two men driving by drinking a beer after a hard day on the ladder they had strapped to the top of their van. No sooner had my heart leaped for the joy of freedom from my mud doom then they drove right on by.
But alas, as they drifted down the road another twenty feet the orange brake lights shone forth the message that help had arrived.

A tall angel got out of the van in work clothes. “You need help!” Never had those words seemed more appropriate. “Sure do!” I said, as I tried one more time to free myself from the bog. He yanked and yanked. Right then left then backward then forward. All the time the cakes of mud were building on the bottom of the chair I would soon be bringing into my wife’s house. After a few minutes my wheels caught and out of the mud I scampered. I had a new hero… A Good Samaritan had stop to help a mountain man back to the main trail. I was free!

As I packed up base camp and headed back to the arms that loved me I came to terms that today I would not collect the money for the bills and that maybe the sounds I heard the night before telling me to “GO!” were the sounds of the steak I ate an hour before I went to bed.

The mountain had won today but in the world of enterprise there would be tomorrow.

If only they had paid!

Jon Mullender

Summitfencesupply.com

Summitfencesupply.blogspot.com

2009 Time to Grow so Let's get Going.

I love new years because they offer a clean slate, a time to move forward with an eye on the future. A new 365 days are available to dream, create, work, love, and build for what I want out of life. This is a time to start new goals to where I want to be at the end of those precious 365 golden gems. I know that in order to reach my objective I have to think about what obstacle will stop me from reaching them and then develop a plan to attack to win the war.

My goals need to be divided into personal, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual goals. A rounded person does not just focus on the development of the business but the development of personal relationship with those dear to him. Is his wife his best friend? Does his grandchild, son and daughter-in-law know that they are loved unconditionally by the time I spend with them. Do my customers know I care more about them than I do their purchasing power? How do I show them their importance?

This year will be a great year. I could care less what the media says about recession because by listening and believing that malarkey allows me to make excuses for not taking personal responsibility for my life and my results.

So with the help of friends and God bring it on. I am ready for action.

I hope all my family and friends the very best 2009 and when the year is done and life has given us what it will we will be talking about the great New Year 2010.

Jon Mullender
President
Summit Fence Supply, LLC
http://summitfencesupply.com/
jon@summitfencesupply.com

Focus, Clarity OH CRAP!!!

No matter how much I read about goals and plans sometimes I catch myself drifting through the day. A quick look at ask.com at the word focus I came across a guy that broke his day down into hours. 45 minutes of work and 15 off to stretch, get a drink, set his timer and got back to work.

If it was good enough for him I figured I would give it a try. Not a bad idea! It did help me focus on the work I had to do. Then I heard about a guy that kept his sanity while trapped in the wilderness by blocking out his day and filling it with chores to be done the next day. Well, if it was good enough for him.... why not try it.

It doesn't matter what techniques I need to uses to make the most of my work day, the key is to have a plan and work the plan. Know what has to be done and do it.

If you have a technique that you use to stay focus your comment is most welcome.

Jon Mullender
www.summitfencesupply.com
jon@summitfencesupply.com
888-856-0551