(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)

Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:

1. My Biz Quote of the week:
   “Never let any one customer become such a big percentage of your total sales that this one customer controls your top line, your bottom line…and dictates your very survival!  I’ve seen several businesses driven into bankruptcy by their biggest customer’s predatory practices.”   
   …Donald Cooper.
    
2. Quick Biz Tip:
    
   What your customers say about you is ‘gospel’…use it:
    
   Do you get great feedback from customers…and what do you do with it?  Do you use it on your website, in your sales literature and on Social Media?  Do you share it with your Team to thank and energize them?
    
   What others say about you matters…and it has much more credibility than what you say about yourself.  What others say about you is ‘gospel’.
    
   When a client in the USA wrote about my work, “Every business owner needs to spend a few hours with Donald Cooper.  It changes everything!”, I immediately put that on all our marketing material.  What do you need to do to deserve great feedback like that and then how will you use it to create confidence and boost credibility?

3. 3. You’re not the only one struggling to find staff. The Canadian Navy has a 17% vacancy rate.  The reasons that they can’t attract and keep staff might be helpful to you.  Here they are:
   4. Recruits don’t feel valued.
   5. Pay does not reflect the unique demands of the job.
   6. There’s not enough time off.
   7. The Navy doesn’t invest enough in developing and promoting Team members.
       
      Frankly, this sounds like a lot of businesses I’ve worked with.
       
4. Somebody has money. Rolls-Royce sold 6,021 cars, globally, in 2022—the highest number ever for the company, boosted by high US demand. The average price of a Rolls is around US$534,000. 
    
5. Concrete facts. Concrete is the second most-used material on earth.  Only water is used  more by humans.  Why does this matter?  Because the cement industry that produces concrete is responsible for 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions.  In fact, if concrete were a country, it would rank 3^rd behind only China and the US in terms of carbon footprint.

Now, to this week’s important topic:

Energize your Team.  Create a Culture of Celebration!

Is it part of your Culture to celebrate big wins, small successes, personal and corporate milestones and special days on the calendar?  Celebrations brighten our day, energize our journey and acknowledge our work.  They’re also FUN!  There are 4 categories of celebration that you can consider.  They’re listed below:

• Celebrate company achievements and milestones. It creates pride, joy and engagement.
• Celebrate Team members special life events like birthdays, marriages, having a baby, beating cancer.
• Celebrate special days on the calendar like Valentines Day, Groundhog Day, St Patrick’s Day, your country’s birthday, Mother’s Day, Halloween.
• Finally, celebrate special, random ‘National’ days like National Cupcake Day, National Taco Day, National bring your pet to work day. Forget National Pillow Fight Day.  That could get messy!  Does your industry, product or service have a special ‘National Day’  That would be natural for a celebration with both your Team and your customers. Go to  https://www.brownielocks.com/b3bcalendar.html  for monthly lists of the 100s of ‘special days’ throughout the year that you could use.

Does this mean that you should spend so much time celebrating that ‘the work’ doesn’t get done?  No, it means that we should spend more time celebrating so that we get more work done.  Most jobs in any business are repetitive and boring.  Some jobs are mind-numbingly boring.  Creating a culture of celebration, joy and recognition helps uplift and energize people to be more productive and engaged.  

For your next Team Meeting add to the Agenda, ‘How can we improve our Culture of Celebration’.  Refer to the 4 categories of celebration above.  Mark on a calendar every day in the year that you can do something special and fun to celebrate, recognize and energize.  Then, plan the fun!

That’s it for this week…

Stay safe…live brilliantly!       

Donald Cooper 

Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability.  He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.