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Letter From The Editor

Dear Friends,

Every day we are bombarded with images from around the globe that emphasize the change we all face. Being present to the change around us is good, yet the negativity that accompanies most of what is covered is difficult to swallow.

So rather than being engulfed in negativity, I choose to focus on the positives that can be found in much of the change that surrounds me and to stand up for what I’m willing to allow to happen and what I’m not. After all, I have a say in how I allow change to affect my life! Think about it this way:

Spring has officially sprung and change is everywhere. Flowers are breaking through the top soil and many gardeners are clearing the winter debris to allow those flowers the best environment to grow and bloom in all their splendor. Those gardeners who neglect to tend their flower bed can expect their flowers to still grow, but the end result is often much less appealing and can even be downright unsightly.

So what’s my point? Change is going to happen no matter what we do. It’s what we do with the change that matter. The gardener who does nothing to cultivate his flower bed has no right to complain about the result he gets! The same applies to each of us in our daily lives. Just like the gardener, we make the choice to do something about the debris and litter in the world and in our lives, or we don’t. If you choose the latter, however, don’t complain about the mess.

Best regards,

Clay S. Nelson

Building Your Team with a Renewed Focus on Your Customers

Much is made about the need for teamwork in the workplace, and you have, no doubt, read your share of articles on how to build the efficiency of your team. Yet before you spend too much more time scouring articles looking for a magic teamwork pill, you just might want to look to the core principle on which your business should be based. I’m referring to your company Mission Statement!

Mission statements are designed to build teamwork and it does that by focusing all team members on the same purpose. Mission statements provide a basis from where each and every team member performs their job. And, when a team of people perform their individual jobs with the same purpose in mind, it has the wonderful effect of bringing them together as a team focused on their commitment to the customers they serve.

When designing a mission statement, the majority of the company staff comes together and creates a statement that represents their commitment to the services they provide, the company they work for, and the public they serve. For example my own company’s mission statement is:

Clay Nelson Life Balance™ and all divisions of Consulting Services Network LLC are committed to putting fun, family and financial freedom into everyone’s business and personal lives. Our programs are designed to alter the cultures of companies and families, making a powerful, and lasting difference with each person we meet, every group we speak with, and with every client we serve. We are unstoppable.

From this statement, our entire team gets who we are committed to be and what we are committed to provide in the face of all circumstances. It is also a great tool for gauging who we are being for ourselves and our clients!

When you make your mission statement visible to the public, those you serve know what every person in your company says they are committed to. And they then have the right to say, “I saw your mission statement and who you are being is exactly that”, or ”I saw your mission statement and I don’t get that is who you are being right now.” Either way, it is also an accountability tool that your team has to keep them focused as a team on what purpose their efforts serve on a global scale.

So before you invest a great deal more time and resources into various team building efforts, get your team together, focus on what it is you as a team are committed to providing your customers, and create a mission statement that clearly says what the team is committed to. Then be sure and keep your “newly committed to” mission statement visible and watch how your team comes together to serve your customers!

Editor’s note: As more and more of us work from a remote location, be it a home office, a hotel room as we travel, or a mobile office as we wait between appointments, the security of our wireless connection becomes more and more important. Following is an article that was published by Symantec, Inc. on April 3, 2006. It contains great tips and information on how to make your wireless connection more secure. Enjoy!

How to Protect Wireless Remote Connections

April 3, 2006

Any employee that is working remotely via wireless connection should not only employ the security solutions and procedures outlined in this month’s theme article, “Create a Secure Remote Working Environment,” but they should also take measures to secure the wireless connection itself. Here are some things remote employees should do to protect their wireless connections:

• Enable Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). WPA and WPA2 (the newest generation of WPA security) encrypt any wireless data that is transmitted, and prohibits eavesdropping. An older, less secure wireless encryption method is the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). A strong password (at least eight characters, using both numbers and letters) should be used when this encryption is set up.
• Change the network name. Routers and access points use a network name called the Service Set Identifier (SSID). Manufacturers typically name all the SSIDs the same, so the default network name should be changed when setting up the connection.
• Close your network. Many Wi-Fi systems allow the user to close the network by blocking the SSID from being broadcast, making it more difficult for hackers to find.
• Placement of the wireless access point. Wireless signals can travel up to 200-300 feet away from the access point. If they must pass through metal and wood, that distance decreases. To lessen the chances that the wireless signal will travel very far outside a house or building where it could be intercepted, the access point should be placed in the middle of the structure, away from doors and windows.
• Change the default login. When setting up an access point or router you will be able to enter your network address and account information. These tools are protected with a login that asks for a username and password. Usually the default logins are simple and very well-known to hackers, so they should be changed immediately. And of course they should be hard to guess.
• Set up a MAC Access Control List. The access point should be set so that it only enables network access to trusted Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. Every network card has a unique MAC identifier, and this way rogue wireless connections can be filtered out by only letting trusted MAC addresses that are on the MAC List have access to the wireless network.
• Turn off network when not in use. It may go without saying, but shutting down the wireless network when it’s not in use is one surefire way to help keep intruders out.

These are some relatively easy ways to enhance the security of a wireless connection. Following these practices and employing the proper antivirus, firewall, and VPN technologies will help create a secure connection as important data and information flows in and out of your small business’ four walls.

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