Archive | Small Business Success

Dialing for Dollars

Part of my job operating a small business is marketing; part of that marketing effort involves making sales calls. I think most business people, small or large, can relate. It (the business) is (almost) all about the marketing. Some of these are to “friendlies” – that is, past clients or contacts. Some of these calls […]

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In our business, sales and marketing calls are a fact of life. I daresay I have spent more time during my career in marketing/sales pursuits than in doing any other task. If there is no marketing, in fact, there will be no work for anyone at Magnus to perform. Over the years we have been […]

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Rewards/Reinforcement

Learning about the relationship of environmental events and behavior is known in psychology as instrumental conditioning. Instrumental conditioning has been studied extensively since the late 1800s, when a psychologist named Dr. E. L. Thorndike devised the “law of effect.” The law of effect, in its simplistic form, is a successful behavior will increase the probability […]

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Over our many years in business, we have used rewards in the form of bonuses or gifts to employees for jobs well done. These have taken various forms, whether end of year/holiday bonuses or a bonus for a research day completed well, as well as other forms, like gift cards for dinners or weekend getaways. […]

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30 Years

30 years. Sounds like a long time. Sometimes it feels like a long time, but I’m here to say, having being married to Melissa for 30 years, I’m left wondering where has the time gone – it has gone so fast! We recently celebrated this milestone and, although some of the readers know, I’m sharing […]

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In many ways, celebrating a 30th anniversary is remarkable! The divorce rate in America is approximately 50%, with many marriages breaking up well before the 10 year mark. David and, I are, as many people describe, “happily married.” This is not to say we agree on everything, enjoy doing exactly the same things, or don’t […]

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Square Peg, Round Hole

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On February 15, 2018

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Small Business Success

I’ve previously posted about my recent experiences in the JMI Small Business program and a takeaway I had from one of the sessions is how often small business owners “don’t fit the profile.” The problem relates to how we small business owners so often can’t answer the questions on the form like a “normal person” […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On February 15, 2018

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Small Business Success

David and I lament about our inability to answer trite questions in ways that satisfy unimaginative questioners. For example, when a banker or other financial person asks, “How much money do you earn?” I attempt to explain I cannot answer without being asked “When?” because my job is such that, last week, I earned absolutely […]

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Buddy Payne

We’ve met some wonderful and interesting people in our years working with trial lawyers. One of those was R.W. Payne, Jr., better known as Buddy. Buddy was a true southern gentleman, hailing from North Carolina, then Virginia. He took control of the room when he entered, walking with the swagger of the former Marine and […]

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I have met few people throughout my life who possess the charisma and charm of the late Roland W. “Buddy” Payne, Jr.  Buddy was one of the most successful attorneys in the U.S.A. during his many years of practice as a trial lawyer.  Buddy was a trial lawyer in Miami at a time when trial […]

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Horn Blowing

Horn Blowing is a topic I’ll always associate with the late, great, Buddy Payne, Esq. Buddy was one of the top trial lawyers, anywhere, ever, and was from the plaintiffs’ old school in Miami (or as he said “Mia ma” – even though he was from Virginia). After he retired, Buddy coached Melissa and me […]

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I will begin my part of this post by thanking David for reminding me to write a post dedicated to Buddy Payne. Buddy taught David and me a lot of things, most important among them, that if we don’t tell potential clients about how wonderful we are, they might never realize it. Our clients are […]

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Don’t waste time

A post on which I was first author was titled, “Time is Precious.” This, related, post is a reminder: Don’t waste time. People have varying conceptions of time. Some of these conceptualizations are culturally based, while others are personality based. I have an acquaintance who boastfully stated she is “never” on time for church, but […]

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There are so many time wasters in the world today, many held in the palm of a hand in the form of a smart phone. As I posted previously, some things which appear to be wasting time are not. Waiting unnecessarily, as Melissa references, is not one of those times. With friends, perhaps, there is […]

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Corporate Retreats

Although Melissa and I own a “mom and pop” business, one that is not large, we have always tried to think larger than we are! We’ve discussed some of the ways we think and act large – employee manuals, training schedules, etc. Another way we emulate larger entities is to take time, on an annual […]

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David and I rarely have an opportunity to discuss goals, plan for the future, or dream big dreams during the work day.  Most of our days in the office are spent getting ready for the next case, preparing reports based on research findings obtained in the previous case, and marketing to clients regarding future cases.  […]

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Time is precious

Time is precious. Time is valuable. Like many people I know, I do not have enough time to accomplish everything I want to do. I seem to have an endless supply of tasks to accomplish, as well as an ever growing list of things I would like to do and places I would like to […]

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To borrow another rock and roll reference to time, from the Alan Parsons Project, the 1981 song “Time,” contained on the album Turn of a Friendly Card, includes the lyrics “Time, flowing like a river….Till it’s gone forever, Gone forever”. I’ve thought of that haunting tune many times thinking about the past 25+ years of […]

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Look it up

These days, information awaits us almost everywhere. Merely by typing a name, phrase, or word into any cell phone’s search engine, one can find out a plethora of information about that person, corporation, town, entity, etc. A couple of years ago, I had a “creepy feeling” about one of Magnus’ vendors. I typed his name […]

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Before there were millennials, I sometimes turned to my younger brother, Stephen, and asked him questions to look up somewhere. If the subject was of interest to him, on sharks or alligators and rock & roll, for example, he’d be my information source. That was after my days with an outdated World Book Encyclopedia at […]

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