Best Practices

Can practicing one habit every day help your business? D’Lynda Fischer, 47, thinks so. Every morning, she wakes up without the help of an alarm clock and just lies in bed. She takes a few minutes to “check in with her body” to see what kind of exercise she feels like doing and plan the rest of her day. “Do I feel like bike riding, going on a run, stretching or doing weights?” she says. It all comes together to help her run her Los Angeles women’s athletic apparel and gear store, Sporteve, which projects 2006 sales of $1 million.

Paul Spiegelman takes time each day to handwrite personal thank you or recognition notes to his employees and clients. With 270 employees, the co-founder and CEO of The Beryl Companies in Bedford, Texas, says it’s not a small task, but he considers it important to his business, which provides outsourced customer service functions for the health care industry. “I realized the littlest touches would have an impact on someone,” says Spiegelman, 48. He may be onto something, as The Beryl Companies projects $25 million in sales this year.

If you start a new daily habit for your business, something a bit unorthodox might help. Just ask A. Harrison Barnes, 36, founder of Juriscape, a Pasadena, California, parent company of 11 businesses in the legal recruiting industry with $25 million in annual sales. He listens to meditation MP3s each night before he sleeps, training his subconscious on topics such as boosting self-confidence and recognizing opportunities. “It’s great,” says Barnes. “Most people don’t realize the subconscious really does influence everything.”

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