encouragement | Dr. Ivan Misner®

I announced on my social media pages last Thursday that I have a new challenge on the horizon–early stage prostate cancer. The good news is, I am fully confident that everything is going to be okay (EGBOK!) because my primary doctor made the diagnosis last week very early on in the beginning stages of the cancer, which appears to be a slow-growing type that is immensely treatable. What’s even better news is that this type of cancer has an 85-90% cure rate and my doctor has predicted full recovery for me just as many of his other male patients with this same diagnosis have achieved after undergoing treatment.

In addition to the traditional medical approach, I am also being treated by a team of doctors at the Center for Advanced Medicine in San Diego County. The treatment includes a specialized regimen of nutritional support, including supplements and other alternative modalities. One of the doctors treating me is Dr. Mark LaBeau, a BNI member–talk about your network being there to help when you really need it!

I am so thankful that this was found early and I can definitely now speak from experience about how important it really is to get the routine medical exams done which are recommended by health practitioners for your age bracket and gender. I have learned that often prostate cancer has no symptoms at all and IF symptoms do appear, it is usually when the cancer has become very advanced and difficult to treat–my doctor was only able to catch this so early because I made sure to go in some months back for the routine recommended procedure to check for things like prostate cancer in men around the age of 50. The results of that procedure revealed an abnormality which required a subsequent biopsy procedure to be done and last week, I found out the results of the biopsy uncovered the presence of prostate cancer. I am very, very lucky that this was caught in the beginning stages when the cancer is so treatable and I most certainly realize now, more than ever, the real importance of routine medical checkups, exams, and procedures.

I am sharing the facts about my diagnosis here today because I want to be completely transparent about what is going on and to assure everyone that I wholeheartedly believe “this too shall pass” and that I will be completely vital and healthy again post treatment. As I’ve spent much of my life building relationships based on trust and teaching others how to generate positive word-of-mouth, I want to be sure I am maintaining the trust I’ve built with all those in my network by communicating honestly and directly and that I’m walking the walk to keep the word-of-mouth surrounding this focused on accurate information with no room or need for the invention of rumors. In the weeks ahead, I promise to keep everyone informed of my progress and the state of my prognosis as it unfolds. I will be posting the most current, accurate, up-to-date information via the BNI Social media pages (www.facebook.com/BNIOfficialPage ; www.twitter.com/#!/bni_official_pg), my social media pages (www.facebook.com/IvanMisner.BNIFounder ; www.twitter.com/ivanmisner), and here on my blog.

I’ve received so many wonderful messages of encouragement from people since I announced my diagnosis on social media last week and I am very appreciative for all the kind words. As I’ve said before, my wife Beth (pictured with me above) and I are beyond grateful to have the support of such an amazing network around the world–we really appreciate the love and thank everyone for their prayers. Beth and I are confident that we’ll be able to look back on this as a challenging time from which much good came and the top-notch team of medical doctors we are currently consulting with has given us quite good reason to feel strong, positive, calm, and in great spirits!

Thank you so much to all those who have voiced concern and sent me kind words of encouragement (if anybody reading this would like to offer an encouraging story or comment, I’d love to hear it and you can post it in the comment section below)–I truly know EGBOK and I will certainly keep everyone updated as to how my treatment progresses. Thanks again everyone for all the support!

It’s no secret that the economy goes through cycles. Each time it takes a downturn, unfortunately, salespeople, business owners and professional service providers feel the fallout.

Data released by various sources, including the SBA and American Entrepreneurs Association, reveal that more than 50 percent of all businesses close their doors within their first seven years. During a recession, the rate of business failure rises more dramatically. Not included in the statistic cited above are the departments, plants or whole divisions closed by large corporations when times are tough. In today’s ever-changing business environment, if you want to be successful, you need to have an edge over your competition.

Most businesses rely on advertising in one or more ways to try to get an edge. However, if you offer the same products or services through the same means to the same targets as your competitors, it’s difficult to achieve an edge. This means you need to be very creative in order to be competitive in today’s marketplace. Creativity in marketing your business has become a basic tenet for today’s successful company or professional practice. Here’s a great story of how one business exemplified creativity at its finest in order to gain an edge:

Three store owners shared adjacent storefronts in the same building. Times were tough. In hopes of picking up sales, the store owner at one end of the building put a sign over his front entrance that said, “YEAR-END CLEARANCE!!!” At the other end of the building, a second owner responded with his own sign: “ANNUAL CLOSE-OUT.”

The store owner in the middle knew that he had to act fast or he’d lose a lot of business. After careful consideration, he hung a larger sign over his front door that read, “MAIN ENTRANCE.”

The moral of this story: You can’t control the economy. You can’t control your competition. But you can control your response to the economy. And you can control your response to your competition.

If you have a great example of how you’ve used creativity to get an edge over your competition, I invite you to share it in the comment section. Your story could be just the encouragement other business owners need to get their imaginations in gear!