As we enter another year in the books and embark on a new one, it’s the perfect time to think about the possibilities 2009 brings.

These Great Ideas are designed to be quick and to the point, so I’m just going to ask you one question and the question is this:

How would the person you want to become do the things you’re going to do this year?

Jim Cathcart, a terrific professional speaker, asks his audiences a version of this question and I think it’s a great way to think about your future. So, set aside an hour or so of your day, go someplace quiet where you won’t be distracted from the task at hand, and then contemplate exactly what the answer to this question is for you. It just might prove to be the smartest thing you do all year.

And thanks, as always, for your support.

Happy holidays from all of us at Marty Grunder! Inc. It’s at this time of year that we take a moment or two to give thanks for all that we have and to reflect on the year gone by. As many of you may already know, my family hosted President Bush at our home in March. It was an amazing experience–one that we will never forget. I had the privilege of seeing a side of our Commander-in-Chief few get to see and I could tell in talking with him that he cares greatly about all of us. Unfortunately, I also got to see the media bash both sides of our country’s political divide, to which I’d like to say: Enough is enough.

Now you’re smart enough to have figured out by now what my political leanings are, but the time has come for all of us to put aside our differences and work with our new President to help him get our country back on its feet. Barack Obama needs our support now; he needs us to listen to him; and he needs time to show us what he can do. So in the spirit of these holidays, let’s work together. I truly believe that if we pull together as a country we will overcome the great challenges we now face.

It is an honor and a pleasure for me to share my ideas with you each week. I hope that in some small way I help you rethink what’s possible for you, your business, your family, and our world. I know at least one thing for sure: it’s people–you and me and others–who make the world go round. I’m confident our new President will do what’s best for all of us and I’m rooting for him. After all, rooting against him is like rooting against ourselves!

May God bless and protect you and may you have great luck in the New Year.

Hello, I know that many of you are struggling. The economy is not in good shape and small business owners everywhere are working hard to survive and wait out this turmoil. One of the best things you can do right now is to market. Don’t go crazy; just do some things to keep your name out there and try to be innovative.

I have started a website called www.GoodNewsInDayton.com as a place where my hometown can go to post good news and try to get some positive thoughts out into our community. It has been very helpful for my Landscaping Business, but what it’s done well is keep my name out there, something you need to do. So, this week, see what you can do. Send out some postcards, do some networking, take out an ad and try to get your name out there.

Recently, a very good friend of mine forwarded the e-mail and video below to me. Read the introduction and then watch it. If nothing else, it might start the creative juices flowing and help you see something different you can do. There’s no way any of us could do what Honda did here, but with YouTube, MySpace and the other websites out there, there are a lot of avenues to get your name out. Maybe your video will be the next one forwarded around the country and make a name for you? You never know!

Subject: Read Before Watching. Enjoy!

This is incredible!

READ BEFORE WATCHING. ENJOY.

This is just way TOO cool a video. You have to see it to believe it … but be sure to first read the text intro below.

If you thought that the people who set up a room full of dominoes to have them knocked over later was amazing, you haven’t seen anything yet.

There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in these images. Everything that you see happened in real time exactly as you see it. The recording required 606 takes and in the first 605 takes, there always was something, usually of minor importance, that didn’t work.

It was necessary for the recording team to install the set-up time after time and it took several weeks, working day and night to achieve this effect.

The recording cost 6 million dollars and it took 3 months to finish, including the engineering design of the sequence. The duration of the video is only 2 minutes, but every time that Honda shows the commercial on British television, they make enough money to support any of us for the rest of our lives. However, this commercial has turned out to be the most displayed in the history of the Internet.

Honda execs think that it will pay for itself simply because of the free showings (Honda is not paying one cent for you to see it). When Honda senior execs viewed it, they immediately approved it without hesitation-including costs.

There are only six Honda Accords built by hand in the whole world, and to the horror of Honda engineers, the recording team disassembled two of them for the recording.

Everything you see in the sequence (besides the walls, floor, ramp and untouched Honda Accord) is part of those two automobiles. The voice is that of Garrison Keillor. The commercial was so well received by Honda execs when they saw it, that their first comment was how amazing the computer graphics were. They almost fell out of their chairs when told that the recording was real without any graphics manipulation.

By the way, about the windshield wipers in the new Honda Accords, they are sensitive to water and designed to start working as soon as they get wet.

Click to Watch the Video

A Christmas idea – a calendar everyone likes. With Christmas just a few weeks away, here’s a great idea. Take 12 pictures of your family or friends that you like to your local FedEx Kinko’s, office supply printing department, or photo stores and talk to them about the calendars they make. You can even order them online from various companies.

My wife gives me this special calendar every year with photos of the year gone by on each month. I wish I could share it with you. Those who have attended a Field Trip at Grunder have seen it in my office. It’s a great Christmas gift to give someone you care about.

Trust me, this is a Great Idea!