Take a look at our newsletter this month!
The Business Brief
December 2018
The Generations That Preceded Generations Law Group Not Too Bad for a Plan B
My path to forming Generations Law Group was anything but customary. I always had an interest in business, but my first inclination was to focus that desire on my family’s company. As a young and ambitious man out of college, I made the brash assumption that I could step right in and take over, so I went to the bargaining table with my father and suggested he retire. He didn’t laugh me out of the room, but he did let me know I wasn’t ready. Not fully prepared for that response, I needed to come up with a Plan B. We worked with a tax lawyer previously in the family business, and I knew I wanted an advanced degree, so I decided to shift my passion for business into a passion for law. When I started practicing in 1977, there were only three tax attorneys in the entire state of Idaho. Right out of the gates, I gained invaluable experience in planning and litigation, which eventually transpired to representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service and the Idaho State Tax Commission. I operated as a solo practitioner for 16 years, setting up businesses, managing taxes, and developing relationships. It was rewarding, but I knew I wanted to serve a broader spectrum of clients. After discussing possibilities with a friend of mine, he invited me to join his law firm.
My focus remained on business and tax planning and litigation. For the next 22 years, we served the people of Idaho in ways I never would have imagined. While the experience working in a 10-person firm was positive, the process of litigation became too demanding. To better serve people, I knew I needed something that wasn’t as taxing. After a 59-day trial in 2015, I made the decision to go back to my roots and emphasize solving business legal problems in a more targeted approach. Forty-two years after making that fateful choice to become an attorney, I feel that every day at Generations Law Group is more fulfilling than the last. Setting up and advising businesses for long-term success is something I take great pride in, and consequently, I spend a lot of time working. Because of this, I’m extremely thankful for the love and support of my wife and two daughters. My wife and I have been married for 50 years, and you don’t make it that far without sacrifice and commitment. She embodied these characteristics on our first date — the Halloween of 1967. That night, it was clear to both of us that we had something special, but it was going to take extra effort to maintain because I had to report to basic training for
the National Guard in November of ‘67. It didn’t take long for us to choose love over practicality, and we were married in April of ‘68. I’d like to say it’s because we went through all the right premarital hoops, but I just got lucky. My wife is accepting of my faults, and we have a great relationship because of her tolerance. Before we got married, we didn’t live together for five years, attend seminars, or take personality tests. We just looked at each other, and made a pact to tackle life together. That decision bore fruit and resulted in two kids and four grandkids. My youngest daughter is currently buying a business, so I get the opportunity to combine my two favorite parts of life into one — spending time with my kids and talking about business. When I take a look at this journey, all I can say is that it’s not too bad for a Plan B.
–Tom Walker
1
WWW.GENLAWGROUP.COM
Published by The Newsletter Pro | www.TheNewsletterPro.com
Chip and Dan Heath’s ‘Made to Stick’ Uncovers What Makes Ideas Matter
Choosing the Right Charity
How Your Business Can Give Back the Right Way
Have you ever wondered why certain stories that have no basis in fact get passed around like wildfire? Whether they’re rumors, urban legends, or conspiracy theories, these tales can often gain more traction than important ideas and facts. In their book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die,” Chip and Dan Heath explore the qualities that give ideas relevance and pass-around value.
We believe that small businesses can have a positive impact on local communities and the wider world. A successful charity campaign can make a world of difference for people in need, especially over the holidays. But not all charitable organizations are created equal, and supporting the wrong organization can do more harm than good. Here are some tips on finding the best fit for your business. Align Missions When narrowing down the thousands of local and national charities you have to choose from, comparing the mission statements of these organizations to your own is a great place to start. Charities that align with or complement your own goals as a business are natural partners. Still, while matching big-picture goals is a great start, you also need to make sure your chosen organization aligns with the heart and soul of your business: your employees and customers. Find Human Connections The most powerful charity work your business can support is a cause that stems from the needs and passions of people connected to your work. Maybe a member of your team lives with a disability or a significant number of your customers face social, cultural, or economic challenges. Putting time, money, and effort into supporting a reputable organization that helps the people and communities connected to your business is one of the best ways to show you care. Check Credentials Good intentions only go so far. To really make your charity efforts count and ensure your donations are used appropriately, you need to do some research. Thankfully, organizations like the Better Business Bureau, Charity Watch, and GuideStar.org keep data on IRS-registered charities, making it easy to see which groups are reputable. In general, you should look for organizations that have a great track record of transparency and make all of their financial If you’re just looking for a tax write-off or good publicity, charity efforts are going to feel hollow and frustrating. More than anything, philanthropy should involve a cause your business is passionate about — no matter how big or small. Taking the time to remind yourself why you’ve chosen to support a particular cause will keep you from losing sight of what giving back is all about. information readily available. Remember the ‘Why’
“An accurate but useless idea is still useless,” they write. This point is key to understanding why people get excited about certain ideas and ignore others. The Heaths argue that the presentation of ideas can have just as much of an impact on their “stickiness” as the content of the ideas. After analyzing hundreds of examples, they note, “We began to see the same themes, the same attributes, reflected in a wide range of successful ideas.” world. Early in the book, the Heaths share six key principles, demonstrating how good ideas are made valuable and exciting by their simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, and credibility; are capable of rousing emotions; and are often presented in the form of stories. While these principles are relatively straightforward, they are often subverted in an effort to use business jargon and other neutered forms of language. The Heaths deploy John F. Kennedy’s famous speech about putting a man on the moon as an example of a compellingly relayed idea. “Had John F. Kennedy been a CEO, he would have said, ‘Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives,’” they explain. Nobody would have been excited about that. If you’ve ever thought that you had a great idea but couldn’t get your employees to buy into it, a lack of stickiness may be the cause. Understanding how to present your ideas in an inspiring way could unlock the key to increased productivity and growth like you've never achieved before. The next time you present an idea to your team, a group of conference attendees, or any other audience, ask yourself if that idea will stick. If it won’t, you’re just wasting your time. If you need a little guidance on how to make your ideas punch a little harder, “Made to Stick” should be on your holiday book list. “Made to Stick” explains those attributes using myriad examples to illustrate how stickiness works in the real
2
WWW.GENLAWGROUP.COM
Published by The Newsletter Pro | www.TheNewsletterPro.com
Business Logistics of the North Pole One Company You Wouldn’t Want to Run
Did You Know? • The first Christmas card, created by a London businessman, was printed in England in 1843. Three years later, the first commercial Christmas cards were available to the public. In all, 1,000 cards were produced, and they were an instant success. The holiday season is now the busiest time of the year for the U.S. Postal Service. Last year, over 20 billion cards, letters, and packages were sent, causing the USPS to hire nearly 40,000 temporary workers and put thousands of additional trucks, trains, and planes in service. • In 1939, an advertising employee at the department store Montgomery Ward wrote the story of Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer for a store promotion. That year, the store gave away 2.4 million copies of the story. Gene Autry recorded the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" 10 years later. Since then, it has sold over 80 million copies. Rudolph has definitely gone down in our holiday history! If you think running your business is tough, try thinking about how Santa operates the North Pole. From least to most complex, here are the four hardest aspects of running an operation that delivers gifts to 7 billion people. 1. Real Estate Finding an office space that can facilitate your business operations is a challenging undertaking for anyone. You need to provide an optimal workspace that offers room to grow. If you run a production operation like Santa’s Workshop, you also need adequate space to house your products. Just think how big the warehouses up North need to be. If you thought Nike or Google had big campuses, Santa’s must cover the entire Arctic. 2. Internal Communication A frequent business killer for most of us is probably a smooth- sailing process for Santa — surely the North Pole doesn’t have any challenges creating a positive work culture. Elves are often depicted as cheerful and consistent team players. They whistle while they work and enjoy Christmas candy, and every toy is ready by Christmas Eve. 3. Labor Finding skilled labor in America is a challenge, but in the North Pole, it has to be even more challenging. Since Santa can’t hire new workers or offer moving incentives, the amount
of available labor is directly proportional to the number of elf births. On top of that, Santa has to consider the worker- to-production ratio when factoring in new employees. The number of new hires and how much they can produce has to outpace the population increase of the world. For example, if Santa has 100,000 workers, each employee needs to create at least 70,000 toys so they can supply the world’s human population. If elf births go down, then production has to increase to make up for the difference. 4. Materials Since Santa can’t gather raw materials from the barren wasteland of the North Pole, he is required to import or artificially grow the necessary supplies and equipment to produce toys. The number of shipments needed would be a nearly impossible feat, so Santa would need a facility that could produce synthetic materials and greenhouses that could grow organic materials. These facilities alone would be impossible to keep hidden from explorers or satellites, so he would need shrinking capabilities via a laser, or perhaps he’d have to go underground, which is the more commonly accepted explanation. We don’t know how it happens each year, but somehow, Christmas goes off without a hitch. It’s the greatest feat in the world of business. Move over, Jeff Bezos, because Santa is coming to town!
PUZZLE
3
WWW.GENLAWGROUP.COM
Published by The Newsletter Pro | www.TheNewsletterPro.com
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
412 E. Parkcenter Blvd. Suite 210 Boise, ID 83706 (208) 401-9300 www.genlawgroup.com
Inside This Edition
1.
The Origins of Generations Law Group
2.
Choosing the Right Charity A Guide to Making Ideas Stick
3.
How Does Santa Do It? Did You Know?
4.
A Killer Idea-Starter for Your Content
Create Content Targeted at Your Audience With Help From AnswerThePublic We’ve all heard it over and over and over again: Content is king. While there’s no denying the truth of that statement, it’s equally true to say that not all content is created equal. You could create all the content in the world — articles, videos, podcasts, etc. — but it’s useless if nobody wants to engage with it. How do you know if the content you’re producing is relevant to your audience? AnswerThePublic, a revolutionary keyword tool for SEO, can be a huge help. In the past, you probably relied on keywords to generate topic ideas. While that’s not a bad starting point, very few people input a string of keywords when they use a search engine. AnswerThePublic lets you know what people are actually searching for. When you input a term into AnswerThePublic, it will generate web-like visualizations of the most common searches based on three categories: questions, prepositions, and comparisons. Basically, it aggregates Google autocomplete responses in a matter of seconds. To help illustrate how AnswerThePublic works, let’s use the example of searching for “newsletters,” something near and dear to our hearts. The web-like "questions" category is divided by terms like “how,” “are,” can,” and “why.” Around
those major terms you’ll find results like “How do newsletters make money,” “Why send newsletters,” and “Are newsletters worth it?” The same goes for the other two webs. These are phrases that are searched the most frequently, giving you direct access to the most-sought-after content topics. Using these results, you can reverse engineer content tailored precisely to what people are searching. Instead of titling your article “The Value of Newsletters,” you can opt for “Why Newsletters Are Worth It.” The importance of landing on the first page of Google is paramount, and tailoring your content to common search queries is the best way to do that. Of course, your content still has to be killer, but AnswerThePublic will help you ensure that killer content doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Content marketing is a great way to catch the attention of your desired audience. AnswerThePublic helps laser- focus your content marketing based on reams of data and millions of searches. And it’s totally free! If you’re not using AnswerThePublic, it’s time to start. You’ll be shocked at how quickly it starts reaping benefits for your SEO, and the increase in engagement with your audience will be well- worth the extra effort.
4
WWW.GENLAWGROUP.COM
Published by The Newsletter Pro | www.TheNewsletterPro.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker