What I’m grateful for: Traction.

It’s really icy here this month, and I know it’s icier than usual in many parts of our country right now. I found a company from Sweden that makes the best boots for ice – called Ice Bugs, they have alternately little metal and rubber studs on the bottom. In a recent bout of massive freezing rain, I walked out of the office to find an inch of ice covering everything. But with the Ice Bugs on, I had perfect stability, absolutely no chance of slipping. And it occurred to me that without stability, we can never get any traction, and without traction, our efforts slip and slide and end up with a lot of wasted energy and little effect.

Traction is what allows us to start growing our business, or improving our relationships, or creating healthy habits. Traction is a solid place from which we can exert influence, energy, and effectiveness.

To have traction, we need stability. The foundation of order, teamwork, integrity, and accountability. How can you create more stability in your surroundings this year? How can you get more traction?

What I’m reading– I’m re-reading one of my all-time favorite books again this week. It’s called Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl, a memoir of her time as the New York Times food critic. To discover how just “anyone” would be treated at a restaurant, she’d dress up as different eccentric characters, before dining as herself. And as you’d predict, the NY Times Food Critic “Ruth” got a vastly different reception than say, kooky red-headed “Brenda” with the neon green platform shoes, or demanding and aristocratic “Miriam” who sends back food and drink for the tiniest offense.

The writing is a delight and the escapades are hysterical. You emerge with a deep understanding of how our outward appearances can effect our experiences – and the level of service we receive, and give! A must read if you need a tasty distraction this weekend.

Tip from Nick– January is one of the best months to lead generate online. It yields some of the best buyer traffic to search for homes, as well as the lowest cost for marketing dollars. While your competitors are cutting their marketing budget, you can take advantage a cheap cost-per-click and high website leads (if you play your marketing dollars right!)

Quick Web Tip – Does Google have your location correct and have you registered for Google My Business? If not, here’s a quick How-To for you!

  • Jump over to – https://www.google.com/business/ and click the green button on the the top left hand side.
  • Login with a Google account
  • Input all your correct information (ie address is going to be your physical address not a PO Box)
  • In some areas a phone call might be available, you will receive a phone call with a verification code, or you can decide to go with the postcard option Google will mail you a postcard with the verification code and directions on what you need to do with the code.

Random thing I’m mulling over– Why is it that my little grey house cat has completely bullied my 110 pound dog into utter fear? Yesterday the cat decided that it was his right to take over the dog’s food bowl….and the dog just sat and looked mournfully into the distance. Ah, the joy of pets.