The following are some random thoughts on “breakage”.

What might break? One --Computer Technology continues as a major driver of change. As I sit in my comfortable chair laptop on my knee, I think about the changes in the technology of creating this article. In 1984 my process for creating this article would have included dictating a draft to my secretary, Sherry. She would have manually typed the manuscript at least three times. Finally, I would have dropped the finished copy into the mail at the downtown Post Office. In just a little over twenty years we went from fax, computer, home computer, and floppy drives, to email and laptops with wireless.

• How can technology change your business?
• What happens if you don’t use it?
• How long will it take you to learn it?

• What kind of long range demographic changes are you anticipating?
• What happens if you are not prepared for these shifts?
• How long will it take you to adjust if you wait for things to “break”?

• Are there fashion trends that can cause things to break in your business?
• How can you monitor and make best use of the changes in your own area of expertise?
• What new positioning would put you at the front of these fashion trends?

• What happens if even a small competitive force comes your way?
• Are there customers who might be vulnerable to a competitor?

• Do you
  Medical Transcription - Terminology and Training
  The field of medical transcription is definitely a career with built in growth potential. As the demands of the health care industry grow, the need for competent medical transcriptionists will also. If you've got solid typing and listening skills, a knack for medical terminology and the patience and ability to decipher audio tapes and other electronic recordings into an accurate, written transcript the opportunities in this field are abundant.On the other hand, medical transcription is much more that listening to the voice of a health care professional and typing what they dictated. Sure, that's the basic principal of what a medical transcriptionist does, but there are other reasons why heal
  ptop on my knee, I think about the changes in the technology of creating this article. In 1984 my process for creating this article would have included dictating a draft to my secretary, Sherry. She would have manually typed the manuscript at least three times. Finally, I would have dropped the finished copy into the mail at the downtown Post Office. In just a little over twenty years we went from fax, computer, home computer, and floppy drives, to email and laptops with wireless.
  • How can technology change your business?
  • What happens if you don’t use it?
  • How long will it take you to learn it?
  Two – Demographic shifts can cause things to break. You may be doing things fine but your customers may be going out of business. Ultimately somebody is going to suffer. Here are a couple of short examples in the demographic business. Sometime in the 1970’s the North American Machine Tool market took an abrupt change. If you were doing a business with one of these companies you might have had some breakage. Think about the shifts in manufacturing demographics as scores of businesses moved off shore.
  • What kind of long range demographic changes are you anticipating?
  • What happens if you are not prepared for these shifts?
  • How long will it take you to adjust if you wait for things to “break”?
  Three – Fashion doesn’t necessarily mean latest in clothing trends. I like to think of these as the cultural trends that affect everything from our shoes to our house and car. Here are a couple of fashions you may have noticed. Granite counter tops in kitchens come to mind. A realtor in Bettendorf, Iowa told me, “A granite top in your (gourmet) kitchen will sell you house every time.” The only place I remember with granite tops when I was a kid was the High School cafeteria. Yet, my guess is you can think of a half dozen people with newly installed granite top counters.
  • Are there fashion trends that can cause things to break in your business?
  • How can you monitor and make best use of the changes in your own area of expertise?
  • What new positioning would put you at the front of these fashion trends?
  Four – Competition is a good thing, but even slight changes in competitive landscape can cause things to break. In the industrial contactor and small business world, Home Depot and the like have vastly changed the lay of the land. Staples and Office Depot have changed the dynamics of office supply. But these are just a few of the shifts.
  • What happens if even a small competitive force comes your way?
  • Are there customers who might be vulnerable to a competitor?
  Five – Commoditization will rock your world. The half life of a lot of businesses is getting shorter. Back in 1991 there were dozens of independent movie rental stores. Movies started off renting for 4-5 dollars per day. By the end of the boom times, they were renting for a buck a week. Now www.netflick.com is putting a commodity squeeze on the few remaining brick and motor businesses. Movies are renting for next to nothing. They had things break in that industry. And, the list could go on and on. Computer wholesalers felt their product become commodity. And to my recollection only a couple actually survived that commodity drop.
  • Do you
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    As a busy executive, you face some extremely difficult challenges like creating and dominating new markets or finding and keeping the best people.  But then, like many executives, do you find yourself spending too much time solving everyday problems (that only you can solve, right?), which prevent you from growing your ideal business? Most managers find themselves spending 80% or more of their time “reacting” to business events and very little time in preventing those same events from occurring again.  If this sounds familiar then you may be making some of these management mistakes: 1. Do you have a compelling vision for your company, that projects a remarkable future, but few of yo
    in the demographic business. Sometime in the 1970’s the North American Machine Tool market took an abrupt change. If you were doing a business with one of these companies you might have had some breakage. Think about the shifts in manufacturing demographics as scores of businesses moved off shore.
    • What kind of long range demographic changes are you anticipating?
    • What happens if you are not prepared for these shifts?
    • How long will it take you to adjust if you wait for things to “break”?
    Three – Fashion doesn’t necessarily mean latest in clothing trends. I like to think of these as the cultural trends that affect everything from our shoes to our house and car. Here are a couple of fashions you may have noticed. Granite counter tops in kitchens come to mind. A realtor in Bettendorf, Iowa told me, “A granite top in your (gourmet) kitchen will sell you house every time.” The only place I remember with granite tops when I was a kid was the High School cafeteria. Yet, my guess is you can think of a half dozen people with newly installed granite top counters.
    • Are there fashion trends that can cause things to break in your business?
    • How can you monitor and make best use of the changes in your own area of expertise?
    • What new positioning would put you at the front of these fashion trends?
    Four – Competition is a good thing, but even slight changes in competitive landscape can cause things to break. In the industrial contactor and small business world, Home Depot and the like have vastly changed the lay of the land. Staples and Office Depot have changed the dynamics of office supply. But these are just a few of the shifts.
    • What happens if even a small competitive force comes your way?
    • Are there customers who might be vulnerable to a competitor?
    Five – Commoditization will rock your world. The half life of a lot of businesses is getting shorter. Back in 1991 there were dozens of independent movie rental stores. Movies started off renting for 4-5 dollars per day. By the end of the boom times, they were renting for a buck a week. Now www.netflick.com is putting a commodity squeeze on the few remaining brick and motor businesses. Movies are renting for next to nothing. They had things break in that industry. And, the list could go on and on. Computer wholesalers felt their product become commodity. And to my recollection only a couple actually survived that commodity drop.
    • Do you
      How to Make a Year-end Job Search Work for You!
      Most active job hunters who are in the market during the holiday season tend to put everything on hold.No one is looking to hire, they rationalize. Besides, who wants to think about changing job during such a fun and family season?This could be a serious mistake. You could be missing out on one of the most productive job search times of the year. There are several reasons why you should take advantage of the season.1. Most companies are making year-end hiring decisions based on retirements or transfers.2. Manpower needs based on company growth are reviewed as budgets are being prepared.3. Actual job descriptions have not yet been announced. But managers are very
      “A granite top in your (gourmet) kitchen will sell you house every time.” The only place I remember with granite tops when I was a kid was the High School cafeteria. Yet, my guess is you can think of a half dozen people with newly installed granite top counters.
      • Are there fashion trends that can cause things to break in your business?
      • How can you monitor and make best use of the changes in your own area of expertise?
      • What new positioning would put you at the front of these fashion trends?
      Four – Competition is a good thing, but even slight changes in competitive landscape can cause things to break. In the industrial contactor and small business world, Home Depot and the like have vastly changed the lay of the land. Staples and Office Depot have changed the dynamics of office supply. But these are just a few of the shifts.
      • What happens if even a small competitive force comes your way?
      • Are there customers who might be vulnerable to a competitor?
      Five – Commoditization will rock your world. The half life of a lot of businesses is getting shorter. Back in 1991 there were dozens of independent movie rental stores. Movies started off renting for 4-5 dollars per day. By the end of the boom times, they were renting for a buck a week. Now www.netflick.com is putting a commodity squeeze on the few remaining brick and motor businesses. Movies are renting for next to nothing. They had things break in that industry. And, the list could go on and on. Computer wholesalers felt their product become commodity. And to my recollection only a couple actually survived that commodity drop.
      • Do you
        Can I Show a Past Due Amount on a Current Invoice in QuickBooks?
        I recently answered a question at quickbooksgroup.com that basically asked:Can I show an amount from an old invoice on a current invoice?Yes, you can. There is a rather complex work-around I developed, that transfers the balance from an old invoice to a new one. It does so by zeroing out the amount from the older invoice.However, this is not a good practice. Because it's not a good practice, I'm not going to show you how to do it.Here are two reasons why it's not a good practice:1. It creates bad PR for your business. You have already sent your customer the old invoice. On their books, they show that invoice for the amount due. That invoice also has
        just a few of the shifts.
        • What happens if even a small competitive force comes your way?
        • Are there customers who might be vulnerable to a competitor?
        Five – Commoditization will rock your world. The half life of a lot of businesses is getting shorter. Back in 1991 there were dozens of independent movie rental stores. Movies started off renting for 4-5 dollars per day. By the end of the boom times, they were renting for a buck a week. Now www.netflick.com is putting a commodity squeeze on the few remaining brick and motor businesses. Movies are renting for next to nothing. They had things break in that industry. And, the list could go on and on. Computer wholesalers felt their product become commodity. And to my recollection only a couple actually survived that commodity drop.
        • Do you know where your products lie in the commodity curve?
        • Commodity products result in lower gross margin, what effect will an overall lowering of gross margin percentage have on your products?
        Six – Supply Chain plans can break. In my career, I saw UPS and FedEx change the lay of the land. In 1978, my employer (a Milwaukee based Electrical Product Manufacturer) had forty warehouses across North America. To put this into a local perspective, the only way a Des Moines customer could get anything next day was counter to counter airfreight (very expensive) or via bus from the Davenport warehouse. This sounds funny by today’s standards but in the late seventies, this was the state of the supply chain.
        • How will future supply chain issues affect your business?
        • How are your customers and suppliers tied into your own business needs?
        A parting thought In 1964 (even 1974, 1984, or 1994) things were different. Business moved at a slower pace. Things could “break” and we had plenty of time to “fix them”. Today is different; we need to look for breakdowns in the making. Re-invention, reengineering and constant improvement have become the order of the day. Time spent projecting into the future is time well spent.