Actual for You - Business

What is Your Brand Worth?
How would it feel to control your career and business because you have a strong personal brand? Companies spend zillions of dollars to ensure you think of them first. In fact, their goal is for you to think only of their product and to evangelize to your friends. How many people ask for a Coke when they don’t necessarily want a Coke? What is the global Coca Cola brand worth? I love branding, thinking about this brings a tear to my eye, can you pass a Kleenex?What about you? What is your personal brand worth? How do people feel when dealing with you? Do they think of you when looking for an expert in your space?Look, it is obvious that you have to separate yourself from the commodity discipline you are a part. Anyone will tell you that you need to find that unique quality and shout it out with pride. You also must do what you say you are going to do. Let’s consider those as a given and focus our challenge on the feeling peop

ction, vision, mission and goals with your team. Make them clear; draw a visual picture in their minds with detailed directions – hand out or post copies of your mission and vision. Make sure they have the resources to accomplish the end result. Ask them to accept stewardship over their goals and let them decide on a realistic timeline. By giving them this level of ownership, what they are doing is not longer a job – its theirs. Tell them you believe they can do it and you know they have the ability to do it. I’ll bet you they accomplish it in record time! You have put your trust in them, empowered them to make decisions -- but most importantly you have let them own part of the process. An order is just an order … ownership creates pride and integrity.

Team-Building Strategy #3: Manage your people for success. If you want every

Simple Marketing Tips
Marketing is one of the most important pieces of your business plan. Without marketing, people will not be able to find what your business is about and all your wonderful services. So how do you market? What’s the most important thing you can do to market?1. Set clear marketing goals for yourself.2. Follow up your marketing. If you send a letter via mail, don’t stop with just one. Marketing experts advise you to send 6-9 pieces of advertisement before “giving up” on the recipient.3. Decide who you want to market to. Are you a realtor who wants to market to homeowners, reminding them of your services? Are you a VA who works with realtors? What is your target market? Once you decide, focus your marketing efforts on your target market. Forget letting every Joe Brown know about your business. Focus on weeding out those who would best benefit from your services, and spend your marketing dollars on them.4. If you h

Creating your ideal team is an integral part of your success as CEOs, business principals and entrepreneurs. Here are some fundamentals to get and keep you on track.

For the purposes of this article, I’m working from the presupposition that the majority of our employees are honest, good people, who have integrity. They have a strong work ethic and enjoy working with other people to accomplish common goals. The truth is this description fits the laboring majority quite accurately. So, we ask ourselves: why is it so hard sometimes to identify these traits in our employees? In a perfect world, things would always end with our perfect desired result. All of our employees would use common sense, think for themselves, make competent choices and our client’s expectations would always be exceeded. If all of this were true, our lives would be much more effortless.

I think the key to all success stories dealing with employees and employers is the basic relationship established between the two parties. All too often it is an "US" against "THEM" scenario. The truth is it starts with "US." Most “managers” say they act as leaders to their troops. Leadership means giving clear and reasonable direction to the people they are leading. They demand respect from their employees but then show such a lack of respect in return. They expect their employees to trust them with confidential information only to have it used against them at a later time to implicate them in a "Performance" issue. They tell them they desire honesty and then continue to lie about issue after issue rather than facing the tough topics with brutal honesty. Does any of this sound like reasonable direction?

I believe that we are all just flesh and blood people, with feelings and emotions, politics and opinions, morals and personal dilemmas. The fact is if we want honesty from our employees, let’s be honest. Brutally honest, if necessary. If we want trust, then let’s give them a reason to trust us. And if we want respect, let’s display a little mutual respect for their dedication and work ethic. Let’s pretend for just a moment they are just like us. They want the same things - they want to be successful, they want to feel like they have contributed to some "greater good," they want to make money, and they want o be recognized for their efforts. Sounds a whole lot like "US" doesn’t it?!

Team-Building Strategy #1: Let them know you think they are doing a great job. I don’t mean just saying thanks. I mean posting a memo telling them you appreciate their efforts. I still have a note card given to me by an employer more than 10 years ago praising my performance. The three minutes it took him to write that note have been priceless to me. Personally visit your employees and shake their hands to let them know you want them to hear it from you. Sit and eat dinner with an employee to listen to their great ideas. Give them credit for an idea or system they’ve given to your organization that has improved it in any way. What about walking around every day and actually talking to the people and getting to know their names (as if it were important to know who helps you achieve your goals … and you know it is!). You’d be amazed how such a simple thing like recognition can do for morale and the spirit of your team.

Team-Building Strategy #2: Share your direction, vision, mission and goals with your team. Make them clear; draw a visual picture in their minds with detailed directions – hand out or post copies of your mission and vision. Make sure they have the resources to accomplish the end result. Ask them to accept stewardship over their goals and let them decide on a realistic timeline. By giving them this level of ownership, what they are doing is not longer a job – its theirs. Tell them you believe they can do it and you know they have the ability to do it. I’ll bet you they accomplish it in record time! You have put your trust in them, empowered them to make decisions -- but most importantly you have let them own part of the process. An order is just an order … ownership creates pride and integrity.

Team-Building Strategy #3: Manage your people for success. If you want everyo

Workplace Melodrama--A Flair For The Dramatic
A flair for the dramatic is a theatrical term used to describe an actress or actor who has a talent for melodrama, characterized by intensely enacted interpersonal conflict and exaggerated emotions. The central figure in a melodrama is the hero, who spins his tale or portrays the justice of his cause in a positive light. Counterparts include the villain and the fool who are ridiculed and portrayed negatively.Remember Aesop’s Fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf? The story goes like this. A shepherd boy (self-styled hero) who was responsible for a flock of sheep had a habit of bringing out the villagers by screaming, Wolf! Wolf! When the villagers (fools according to the shepherd boy) came to help him, he would laugh at them and display a just-kidding attitude. The boy repeated his prank three or four times.Unfortunately, one day the wolf (the villain) came and when the shepherd boy screamed in his usua

ould be much more effortless.

Team-Building Strategy #3: Manage your people for success. If you want every

Managers: Super-Charge Your PR
Ain’t a gonna happen unless business, non-profit and association managers, possibly like you, do something positive about those important external audiences of yours that most affect your operation. And then, as you persuade those key outside folks to your way of thinking, help move them to take actions that allow your department, group, division or subsidiary to succeed.Fortunately for all of us, good public relations planning really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors among key outside audiences.Why should you believe it? Because of this public relations premise: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relatio

ction?

Team-Building Strategy #3: Manage your people for success. If you want every

Is Your Business Profitable?
What’s your job profitability? Do you know?Many business owners are unsure of their profitability at a company or job level. They “think” they are making money because they have a few dollars in their checking account. Having money in your checking account doesn’t mean you are profitable. It might simply mean you haven’t paid all the bills yet, so you have a little cash. Cash and profit are two different concepts. If you don’t know your exact income and expenses for each job and your overall business, then how can you know whether you are making a profit? And, if you aren’t profitable, your business won’t last long.Analyze Each JobRegardless of the size of your business or your industry, profitability is something you should be monitoring on a monthly basis. To determine your profit, you must know how much you make and spend on each job. Expenditures should be tracked for direct labor and material costs on each job. In additio

lling them you appreciate their efforts. I still have a note card given to me by an employer more than 10 years ago praising my performance. The three minutes it took him to write that note have been priceless to me. Personally visit your employees and shake their hands to let them know you want them to hear it from you. Sit and eat dinner with an employee to listen to their great ideas. Give them credit for an idea or system they’ve given to your organization that has improved it in any way. What about walking around every day and actually talking to the people and getting to know their names (as if it were important to know who helps you achieve your goals … and you know it is!). You’d be amazed how such a simple thing like recognition can do for morale and the spirit of your team.

Team-Building Strategy #3: Manage your people for success. If you want every

Homemade Wire EDM Machines
EDM in an engineering term referring to electrical discharge machining. Wire electrical discharge machining or EDM is a metalworking process with help of which a material is separated from a conductive work piece, by means of electrical erosion. In this process, the wire never comes in contact with the conductive work piece. The wire electrode leaves a path on the work piece, which is slightly larger than the wire. Most often a 0.010' wire is used, which creates a 0.013' to 0.014' gap. The wire electrode once passed through the work piece cannot be reused.Wire electrical discharge machining is a complicated assembly, but efforts have been made to build this system at home. While building a wire electrical discharge machining system at home the biggest problem is breaking the wire. Often engineers use the full power of 70 volts, which the wire cannot withstand. If a VARIAC is used, it can vary the alternate current output, producing varying

Team-Building Strategy #3: Manage your people for success. If you want everyone in your organization to actually achieve the desired result, then tell them up front exactly what the expectation is in clear, unobtrusive language. If an employee isn’t doing a particular task in a successful manner, then it should be your mission to personally show that individual how you want it completed. The moment you have assigned an employee a project or task without clear expectations, you have left too much to personal interpretation and have set them on a path of failure. You must always be willing to walk someone through a task, procedure, or project to make sure they get it right the first time.

Coaching your staff will help them refine their personal performance. If every employee is able to perform their duties in a highly successful manner, just think of the productivity you’ve accomplished. Then, once an employee has grasped an idea, procedure, or project, put your trust in them to personally train others toward the same success.

I recently read that 80% of all employed people in the U.S. hate their jobs. That means that the majority of that same percentage spends more than 50 hours per week doing something they can’t stand. They spend a large portion of their life at work, struggling to make enough money to fulfill the wants and needs of their personal lives. Coaching Challenge: Strive to be a destination employer, a positive force – one that allows your employees to not only “make ends meet” but also get a measurable amount fulfillment from it. Who says we can’t enjoy working with our employees – and they can’t enjoy working for us? Who says we have to be unfeeling because "we pay them to work for us." Just because we pay them doesn’t mean that we own them. What will hold you back from saying, "Thank you for doing a great job. You helped me and I appreciate it!" The worst that can happen is they might think you’re human -- just like them.

Critical Head’s Up: Some employers say that the reward for working is the money they pay their employees. Not only is this pathetic but they are missing out on a lot more revenue for their company by treating their employees in such a manner. Try just for a short while showing appreciation to the people who help make you successful. Watch how much more you accomplish as a team. Watch as people start working harder, learning to correct their mistakes and go out of their way to make things happen. Watch as your time becomes more available because the people who you have taken the time to show respect and trust have taken initiative to take on new responsibilities. They want to prove to you and themselves they are worthy of respect and appreciation.

Finally, remember that being positive in the way you treat your staff will ensure they will follow you, work hard for you and do their very best because they respect and appreciate you as their leader. The more they understand your example as a leader, the more quickly they become leaders. If you show you employees you genuinely appreciate them, they will believe you are sincere in caring about your customers. If your customers believe you sincerely appreciate their business they will want to return again for the same kind of "personalized" service. This is the way the customers appreciate your service, products, and efforts. When you’re appreciated by your customers.....it’s that much easier

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Every type of business must concentrate on good customer service and the small-business person knows that whatever line of work they are in that if they do not give good customer service then perhaps the competition will. For those businesses giving customer service is paramount,

Many corporations will endorse sports figures or celebrities to promote their products and services and it makes sense because so often these people are indeed looked up to by others and they will influence buying decisions, fashion and society to a large degree.

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