Dick Ardia is one of my closest friends!. He's a very successful NJ and NY real estate entrepreneur who has built more than a few companies.  A Vermont neighbor, Dick and I spent many years ATVing in the Green Mountain reserve that borders our land, and during those expeditions deep in the mud and winching out of rivers, I learned from him many of the management basics that I continue to apply in my own business and in my classroom.

Each December, Dick writes a holiday note to his employees, which I was received yesterday, and I thought that I would borrow one of his more emphatic lines as the headline of today's blog since it focuses on positive thinking as we all look out into a year of more than a few unknowns and way too many uncertainties. 

My own predictions are that 2023 is going to be a very cold winta' in more ways than one.  Bottom line, it's going to be a tough year, and we're going to need to put on our hard hats and our big pants. The 2023 triggers of the economics of the year bulleted below will be what they will be. All we can control is our positive attitude and our outlook to what lies ahead for ourselves, our employees and our customers: 

Of course, there will be...

• Sharp increases in fuel and electric costs again, simply due to supply & demand
• Wage increases, which although moderated, will never go down to pre-2020.
• Continued management focus on finding, training and keeping talent 

All of us, whether we're front-line salespeople or not, can make an emphatic difference immediately in any month.  I'm going to borrow a couple more of Dick's sales basics here:

• Manage your own outlook!  
• Do not take your foot off the pedal of progress!  Do not lose momentum!
• 2023 is going to be exactly what you want it to be!

Dick and I are rooted in entrepreneurship and in the science of Sales.  We also have very deep Vermont roots, my own being 7 generations.  As such, we both share a love for the Vermont saying of... "there's no such thing as cold weatha' in Vermont, just people who don't know how to dress properly!"  

Next Tuesday at The Advanced Drug Development Forum 

I'm very excited to be the kickoff speaker next Tuesday at District Hall in Boston for this day-long forum discussing the outlook for promising technology breakthroughs in biotech and pharma.  A superb opportunity for actively engaging, learning and networking!  While I will leave the research discoveries and discussions up to my colleagues, my focus is all about what can be done somewhat immediately to advance innovation and entrepreneurship with universities. 

• 2023 is not about waiting on the sidelines till "things get better"! 
• It's not about taking a pause to benchmark and wait to see what happens
• It is about being courageous in planning for 2024!
• It is about being ambidextrous with both prudent caution and entrepreneurship! 
• It is about taking direct action to work differently with university research! 

"2023 is going to be exactly what you want it to be"

I'll end with the quote above from Dick's letter since it says it all about how we should be planning our sales and our overall business for 2023!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND & CONNECT ANYTIME!

As you're gearing up for the final 5 or 8 selling days of the year, at any time, if you want to discuss your own sales short term tactics or your sales planning for 2023, just connect with me for some quick ideas and feedback. There's never a cost for a call or two, plus I love talking about Sales & Marketing.  During the final two weeks of this month, I'll be spending a lot of time updating all three of our "How To" books on business planning, on marketing and our 2022 edition of "Writing the Winning 2022 Sales Plan" 

www.derbymanagement.com  
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts.