Since it’s Thanksgiving, I thought I’d tell you about the simple power of the old-fashioned, handwritten thank you note. When I first started in selling, on the road, every night I jotted out a handwritten thank you note to everybody I’d met with that day; if they placed orders, thanking them for that; if they didn’t, thanking them for their time. Once I got a call from the buyer of a small chain of toy stores I’d pitched on my product line with zero success – he had flatly refused to add my racks of products to his stores.

When he got me on the phone he said that, in 30 years as a purchasing agent, no one he’d ever said no to had ever sent him a thank you note, and he thought he’d been hasty in his rejection, and now felt confident I’d really provide the service I’d promised – and I wrote a $16,000.00 order over the phone.

I never forgot the lesson.

I do find myself too often too busy, too rushed to stick with this simple strategy everyday. In fact, writing this reminded me of two I owed from a week ago, so I stopped writing this long enough to whip them out. The other day, I met with a client at an upscale restaurant, both of us there for the first time. Food and service were fine, but no one captured our names and addresses, so we won’t be getting thank you notes. Do you think if we did at least one of us might be more prone to return to that restaurant? Or mention it to somebody? It’s smart business to make your thanksgiving season 12 months long.

— Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com

It’s not just about money.

A survey at smallbusiness.yahoo.com of aspiring entrepreneurs cited four other prime motivations for the desire to be in business:

* 28% said to pursue a passion, interest, even a hobby;
* 25% to be independent, the boss, making decisions;
* 11% to create something useful that people need;
* 10% for the challenge; 18% for the money.

In my RENEGADE MILLIONAIRE SYSTEM, I tell entrepreneurs that your choices shouldn’t just be about making money but about how you make the money you make. Being a business owner comes with a ‘price tag’ of far greater responsibility than that borne by most non-business owners.

In exchange, you should get far greater enjoyment, pleasure, pride and satisfaction, greater control and authority. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. And no apologies are necessary for endeavoring to make your business fulfill your personal goals and preferences.

Your daily work needs to make you happy.

TV commentator Andy Rooney (60 Minutes) observed that…

“For most of life, nothing inherently wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family and friends, you’re not going to be very happy.”

Nobody ever gets rich enough to buy back time. So you need to design and engineer your regular, day-to-day business activities to be personally pleasing, satisfying, interesting and worthwhile. It’s important to have future goals and ambition, but not to the point that the present moments are consumed doing business with people you don’t like, doing business in a way that causes you undue stress or irritation, or feeling like a slave or hostage.

— Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com