Where do I begin?

I can feel the stress just oozing out of me right now....starting my own business? Now? You mean, RIGHT NOW? Yikes

I better start reading. 

Quick search on amazon....four books and one rush shipping payment later...they're here.

I started with the One Minute Entrepreneur. Bite-sized concepts told through a story about a man and his start-up business. What hit me the most was a section about the importance of customer service. I'll share with you my favorite example:

"Let's take the example of a wake-up call in a hotel. What's the most common wake-up call in a hotel today?"

The phone rings, you pick it up, but there's no one there. Basically, a machine has called your room.

"How about the second most common wake-up call?"

I get a recording that says something like, 'Good morning, this is your wake-up call.' But nobody is really on the line.

"Here's where my example of a Moment of Truth comes in. While I was staying at a Marriott in Orlando, the phone rang for my seven o'clock wake-up call. I picked it up and a woman said, 'Good morning, Mr. Stafford, this is Teresa. It's seven o'clock. It's going to be seventy-five degrees and beautiful in Orlando today, but your ticket says you're leaving. Where are you going?"

I was taken aback - so I stammered, "I'm going to New York City."

Teresa counter with 'Let me look at the USA Today weather map. Oh no! It's going to be forty degrees and rainy in New York today. Can't you stay another day?"

- Now where do you think I want to stay when I go to Orlando? I want to stay at the Marriott so I can talk to Teresa in the morning!

The $100 challenge just began in the works. I choose a lady to donate my profits of my company too who started her own hardware-type business in a rural farming community.