Dear Waldmans: Most of my adult life I haveworked in the self-storage business, and I presently manage afacility. Recently, I attended a management seminar hosted byseveral different speakers. I found the first speaker to havegreat concepts. In fact, he was so fascinating that I foundmyself anxious to get back to my facility to try some of histechniques.

The second speaker was a different story, though, as I quicklybecame bored with his presentation; he just could not outshinethe first. Realizing it probably wouldn't be wise to leave beforethe third and final speaker had his say, I settled in for hisstory. I stayed, but then I was really confused. This guy wasflamboyant and had recommendations that were totally opposite thefirst one, but very exciting.

After listening to the first speaker, I wasabsolutely positive about what steps I should follow in renting aunit. Whoops! Then the second one had me extremely bored, whilethe third had me going in a completely different direction. I wasthoroughly confused. I found myself grabbing information, withoutbeing sure what to do with it. There were so many directions tochoose from. How do I decide which method is best for mybusiness?

--Stuck in New Orleans

Dear Stuck in New Orleans: Whether it's the purchase ofa new vehicle, a new television or what to eat for supper, wehave to make difficult decisions every day. While those decisionsmay cause stress in our lives, we're lucky to have so manychoices. Confusion occurs when we worry about making the rightchoice. It is important to feel comfortable with your decisionbecause you like it, not because someone else liked it. Neverselect something if you have doubts. Most likely, you will not behappy about your choice.

Seminars can be exciting and offer valuable tips. Justremember never to sacrifice a long-term image for short-termprofit, because your external image is crucial to your company'ssuccess. When attending seminars, try to learn a little from eachone. Educating ourselves through different resources is alwaysvaluable. There are no wrong ways, just different ways. Thereally winning way is to be open to learning new things. A lot ofpeople won't even try to do something that is foreign to theiralready-established routine. If we take what we like from thisone and that one, then we can establish our own new way. That'sthe excitement of seminars.

New trends and new ideas always jazz up your business. Itmakes the day-to-day operation of a facility new andexciting--new products, new technologies and new ways of doingthe same things. Choices really make life less boring. Askquestions during and after the seminars, if possible. Participateand talk with the experts. You'll return to the officeinvigorated and surprised at how the day-to-day procedures lookdifferent. Finally, develop all you have learned into a creativesuccessful new way of operating your business. Remember, we canlearn something new every day. Just look and listen. The world isfull of valuable choices.