Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .

IN OUR WORLD

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s time to make sure a few of those 2010 resolutions might actually take hold.  Make your plan is SIMPLE, yet impactful.  Apply the rule of 3.  No more than 3 areas and no more than 3 goals in each.  Even that is a lot, but manageable.  Be specific.  The classic, “loose weight” is a great example.  How much and over what period?  Make it specific.  Looking for categories, how about health, fun and growth.

I hit the ground running in 2010 and am off to NY the first week to look at the application of my strategic platforms within the existing culture of a potential new client.  A very exciting opportunity.

The first newsletter of 2010 is just about to launch and I will have it posted in next week’s blog as well as on my social network sites.

I have a fantastic opportunity with one of my favorite clients to present my ideas on the key trends that will impact business in 2010 to their entire production staff.  I have already started on the storyboards.

No time to rest for any of us.  Hit your 2010 plans hard and smart.  What, you don’t have a strong 2010 plan?  It’s not too late.  Give me a call and let me help you with the thoughtful reduction process to get a simple, powerful and elegant plan ready to go!

THE ANNUAL TOP 10 AND BOTTOM 5 MOVIES OF 2009 LIST IS READY TO ROLL.  SEND ME A NOTE AND I WILL GET YOU A COPY

HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE

AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

If you were to focus on ONE thing at the outset of a new year, what should it be?  The list could be a long one:

• Customer Centric Focus – Companies don’t go out of business because of the economy, they go out of business because they don’t have customers!
• Employee Skill Training and Growth – after all, what can have a bigger impact on your companies performance than team members with outstanding skills ready to apply them to your growth?
• Sales Strategies – Got to have sales and maybe a focus on tweaking your approach will yield better results.
• Ideas – Without a fresh supply of these your business becomes stale and flounders in yesterdays problems.

I believe one of the key growth areas will be defined by your focus on “connections”.  I know, you think I’m going to launch into a diatribe on social media, which by the way would not be a bad idea, but no, I want you to think about the connections that exist between you and your clients.  Take a few moments and map them out so you can see them.  Most of you will have:

• Client Facing – These are easy to see.  They are all the direct client connections you have.  Your sales force, your receptionist and anyone that comes into personal contact with your clients.
• Electronic:  Your web site, your blog, your newsletter any electronic media you use.

Take a few moments to think about all your connections.  Now that you have them listed, look for opportunities to strengthen them, ideas to increase their impact.

Connections will make things happen!

ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIES:    It’s Complicated:  Looking for a compromise movie for the weekend?  This is funny and well done.

NetFlix Fans:  Extract: Now this movie had a ton of potential, but fell just short of being great, but was still really good.

TV: Not much going on, but look for new seasons for a ton of great shows coming up in January.  Starting Sunday, HBO is again running, BAND OF BROTHERS.  If for some reason you missed this during its first run, don’t miss it this time.  It is a magnificent piece of entertainment!

BOOKS:  The Kill Artist – By Silva.  I am on my third book featuring the hero Gabriel Allon.  The Kill Artist is the first in the series.

MUSIC: A few words of wisdom for the new year from Pink Floyd.

WEB SITES: As a new year dawns I am always driven to listen to Carl Sagan describe our existence in The Pale Blue Dot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJE_Ld-UyCk

SOUTH OF NORMAL

I don’t want to throw Tiger Woods under the bus any more than he has done himself, BUT I thought this was interesting.

Tiger WAS the perfect spokesperson, a deadly competitor, a breaker of racial barriers, a dominate world personality and many companies jumped on board.  Of course they are also jumping off with the turn of events that have not only impacted Tigers future but put a HUGE dent in shareholder value:

• An estimated $12 billion in market value has been lost to companies that had Tiger as a sponsor since his departure from competitive golf.
• The study compared overall market conditions and looked at a four year history, focusing on 9 key sponsors including Accenture, American Express, AT&T, Gillette (Proctor and Gamble) and Gatorade (PepsiCo).
• Taking into account regular market movement it was clear that Tiger was the main impact point.

Ouch!

Drop me a note with your comments at steve@creativeventures.com

Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.