Your day can be fast paced. As a business person, you must sift through a barrage of information, from sales reports to P&L statements to balance sheets. It’s hard sometimes to make sense of it all, and to see which pieces of information actually impact your business in significant ways. What will happen next is never certain. Business plans that you developed may not match current economic conditions. When things don’t click, and fall into place in the way that you had planned, it can be stressful, confusing, and frustrating, but in all the confusion, it is vital that you keep cool and organized. Rather than try to do too much with the little time and energy you have, it’s vital that you stay focused.

The pressure to get things done in a short time can be a significant source of stress. And when your plans don’t seem to be working out, there’s psychological pressure to make difficult decisions quickly. Should you stick with your current plans, or look for new opportunities? There’s a need to be careful. You don’t want to make the wrong decision and miss out on a rare opportunity. When you feel that you have too much to do and not enough time to do it, it grates on your nerves. Suddenly, everything can seem unorganized, unstructured, and confusing.

One of the most effective ways to cope with the pressure to get more things done than you have time for, is to change your time perception. Time perception is the degree to which people perceive their use of time as structured and as contributing to a specific goal or set of goals. When you’re frustrated and unsure of what to do next, you can feel that you are moving aimlessly back and forth among alternatives and getting nowhere. It’s as if you are out of control. At these times, it is necessary to return structure into your life. When you perceive that your time is structured and that you are working toward a specific purpose, you will feel calm and satisfied.

When frustrated by business pressures, you can become an extreme perfectionist, afraid to make a mistake and unsure which path to take. To gain control, it is necessary to set clearly defined and realistic goals, and make specific plans for how to reach these goals. When you feel especially confused, it makes sense to pick a few projects or goals, and focus on implementing them. Which should you pick? Pick the ones that seem to match the current business conditions, but don’t get hung up on it. Many managers make the mistake of thinking that they must chose the one right plan or else they will miss out on an important opportunity or goal. That may be the case. You may indeed pick a project or goal that wasn’t the best, but you could be wasting more time deliberating among goals and projects than taking decisive action, which can restore a feeling of control and direction. Once you implement at least one item on your task list, you will naturally reward yourself, and feel that you have achieved a meaningful goal. You’ll feel back in control.

A study, carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry, found excessive use of technology reduced workers’ intelligence - Infomania worse than marijuana.

Happy Birthday McDonald’s! The home of the Golden Arches turned 50 today. Ray Kroc opened the first restaurant in Des Plaines, IL; today, there are more than 30,000. If you purchased 100 shares of McD’s on the 1965 IPO at $22.50, your investment would be worth $2.4 million today.

When I hear business people talking about sales goals, they’re always referring to Gross sales. I want to do a million dollars in sales or I want my company to grow to $10 million or $100 million. But then I ask, which is more important gross sales, or net profits?

From my perspective, I think they’ve got it wrong. The goal should be to dramatically increase your net profits - the money you keep after paying your expenses. It does not go hand-in-hand that by doubling your sales you double your profits. In many cases the opposite happens. Sales may increase, but the profits lag far behind.

A good idea is to prune your business - stop calling on the unprofitable and time consuming accounts - so you can reduce your costs and dramatically increase your profit margins. Working with the right customers is critical. The trick is knowing when to say no. The wrong client can kill morale, force good employees to leave, and cost you big bucks. Working with the right client isn’t work at all - it’s a pleasure.

Saying Yes or No to a client is a business decision just like any other business decision you have to make. Should we rent this space or that space? Should we buy this computer or that computer? Should I hire this person or not? If you do put some thought into hiring a new employee, there should be as much, if not more, in getting a new customer. Remember, some customers cost you more than they’re worth.

If any of your business is through the mail, phone or Internet, watch out. Credit card fraud through these venues are on the way of becoming the main form of fraud. Direct Marketing News has an article today: MasterCard Expert Warns Beware of Fraudulent Orders. Wow, half of the world’s credit card fraud takes place in the U.S. And onward and upward is the direction it’s going.

Wal-Mart generated a profit of $10.3 billion in their last fiscal year. That breaks down to almost $20,000 a minute. Now there’s someone that put the old adage “We’ll make it up in volume” to work!