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Finding the Right Talent Mix For Your Start-Up Enterprise

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A Mixture of Key Personality Traits

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For the entrepreneur, the early months of developing a start-up are some of the most hectic and arduous: you need to secure financing, explore legal limitations, and forecast your financials for the years ahead. You need to take your idea and turn it into a product or a service, along the way keeping a close attention to quality, profitability, and logistics. You may even need to start thinking about your personal financial future; you may want to open an IRA, for example, or conversely consider how much of your funds you can afford to allocate to the venture.

Amidst all of this commotion, moreover, you find yourself in the position to make one of the most important decisions a new business can make – the decision of hiring employees, in the process surrounding yourself with the best talent possible designed to help your start-up grow.

While different businesses and different industries have a wide variety of talent needs, the most successful start-ups usually share several commonalities. They possess drive, motivated individuals. They hire people who are truly passionate about their work. And they assemble a diverse mixture of several key personality traits and personal attributes.

That last point is an oft-overlooked one. Unlike Abraham Lincoln, who assembled a “Team of Rivals” in his Cabinet in order to maximize diversity and individual talents, few entrepreneurs hire their start-up team with such an outlook in mind. Don’t make this mistake if you’re starting a business, or plan to do so in the future. Instead, look to creative a mixture of the most important personality traits and personal attributes necessary to get a new company up and running. I believe that the most important of these are charisma, having a mathematical mind, creativity, and possessing the ability to network. Here’s a quick breakdown:

  1. Charisma: This person can be the face of your start-up and an excellent salesperson.
  2. Mathematical Mind: This person can oversee your budgets and all your financials. A good start-up doesn’t need a full accounting department – just one talented employee.
  3. Creativity: Whatever your product, this person is the one best equipped to turn it from an idea into a reality. They should be incredibly hard-working and driven.
  4. Ability to Network: Along with our charismatic leader, this employee has strong inter-personal skills. However, they operate more behind the scenes and use their connections and networking abilities to market the business and secure investors.

While you certainly may possess one of these traits, don’t lull yourself into thinking that you could do all of them better than a team of specialists can. To this end you want to diversify as you seek quality talent; even if you don’t end up with a team exactly like the one above, insure that a variety of strengths and capabilities are exhibited in your force. Your start-up’s long-term prospects will be much rosier as a result.

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Author’s Bio:
Alex S. writes about education and business at theeducationupdate.com

Thank you, Alex!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Be a Good Citizen

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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Like it or not, it’s political season in the United States. We must sort through the debates, talking heads, and town halls, and do our duty as citizens.

There are clear rules to being a good citizen of the US. Obey the law and vote, and you’re pretty much good. Throw in some volunteering, and that’s even better.

Online, in the social world, it’s a different story. Depending on where you are, the rules are different, and often unwritten. It can be tricky.

But don’t fear, I’m here to give you some simple tips that will keep you out of the Internet version of Turkish prison. We’ll cover Twitter and LinkedIn today:

Twitter

LinkedIn

If you keep these guidelines in mind, you’re well on your way to being a solid social citizen. And don’t forget to vote.

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Why you should just give up

Filed Under Guest Writer, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog, leadership | Leave a Comment

Not gonna lie – a teeny portion of my Ego flinched a little, just typing the title to this post. The hesitation is a sign to me that I’m not completely as untethered from this world as I would like to be, but awareness of my hesitation is leagues ahead of where I’ve been.

As I’ve admitted in previous posts, I’m a reforming Control Freak and time was the idea of surrendering anything to anyone was repugnant to me and an insult to my own competence. With poet William Ernest Henley’s voice echoing in my head, I, and I alone was the captain of my soul.

When you figure in the fact that the majority of my professional life is in sales and marketing, I’ve got so many “in it win it” and “if it’s to be it’s up to me” rah rah tapes running in my head, it’s a wonder I still have friends. :) I’m Stuart Smalley on steriods.

Here’s the kicker. You can be those things, as long as you understand the difference between with taking ownership of your actions and demanding a specific, pre-ordained outcome that happens as a result of them.

“A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action.” ~ David Seabury

You absolutely owe it to yourself to identify, harvest, employ and in all other ways nurture your own development. The surrender portion comes when you realize the extent of your part of the equation and the beginning of The Other.

Sometimes the Other is a person. Or it can be an entity, an organization, a process. But  you have to trust that you have done the work. Then surrender the outcome.

“I can tell you that it takes great strength to surrender. You have to know that you are not going to collapse. Instead, you are going to open to a power that you don’t even know, and it is going to come to meet you. In the process of healing, this is one of the huge things that I have discovered. People recognized the energy coming to meet them. When they opened to another energy, a love, a divine love, came through to meet them. That is what is known as grace. We all sing about amazing grace. It is a gift.” ~  Marion Woodman

We are smart. Each of us. We really are. But did you know that there are a few billion of us walking the planet? So much of our reality is predicated upon our awareness of our immediate surroundings and the resultant combinations of those variables. However, there are billions upon billions of iterations of possibilities that exist outside our awareness. Just because we don’t know of something’s existence doesn’t mean that it doesn’t. Exist, that is.

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.” ~ Unknown

This reminds me again of Melissa Pierce and her film Life in Perpetual Beta. I’m not sure why people have the perception that stasis is the goal. Logic would dictate that every day of our existence brings new experiences, new individuals and new perspectives. Based purely on a mathematical sensibility, it would be as if each day you were handed two different numbers and expect to come up with the same total each day, regardless of the integers you receive. How can you expect to always arrive at “six,” when on Monday you were given 5+1 and on Tuesday, 6+9? Can’t happen, even using high math.

We are always evolving, always surrendering our current reality for another.  By embracing the paradox of surrendering in order to gain, we are able to move forward. The Borg were right: “Resistance is futile.” Life goes on and stagnation leads to atrophy and death in both a figurative and literal sense.

So…why give up? Because you have so much to get.

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Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation) or “Like” them on facebook.

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How to tell if you are on the right path

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Channeling Andy Rooney, I ask you: “D’ya ever notice that it always takes longer to get to your destination when you don’t know how to get there?” I’m referring to the multiple impatient glances you make toward your directions- possibly downloaded from Mapquest or those which have been inked onto the back of a phone bill envelope as you lurch your way through a neighborhood, squinting at house numbers.

You fret as you drive, annoyed with the pokey drivers ahead of you, worried that you will be late for your appointment. Anxious, you may even take a wrong turn ahead of the light, and wander off course on side streets until you find your way back to the main arterial.

It’s maddening to not know where you are going. By comparison, the way home is a breeze, as are subsequent trips to this particular location…. Because you already know the way.

When we’re pursuing our goals, we can become impatient with our progress. Sometimes we can also doubt ourselves:

“The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.” ~ Barbara DeAngelis

Although I can intellectually appreciate this quote and I know that it is true, that doesn’t mean that I have to like it. Change is a pain in the butt. Why can’t we just get what we want without having to change? I mean, we *know* what we want, right? Why can’t the Cosmic Vending Machine just spit it out after we’ve paid our presumed dues? (ie. getting married, graduating with a degree, landing the proper job).

So why not? Because you have to experience the journey in order to find out if it’s the one you really want. Taking stock of the moments as you lurch through the “signposts” of your life is where you decide if you really want to “drive” this direction after all.

“You don’t create your mission in life – you detect it.” ~ Viktor Frankl

This is how we hone our compass as we meander through the journey that constitutes our lives. Take a moment and look back at your life over the previous 10 years. What were the best parts of the job or careers you have had since then? Are any derivations of them in your current position? Have you refined and enlarged a specific skill? If so, there’s a clue that you are on the right path.

“Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.” ~ William James

Perhaps there is only a small commonality between that person of 10 years ago and your current iteration, but you realize upon reflection that you wish that you had more of that quality in your current life. That means that you are on a figurative side street. Double back and recommit to what makes you “come alive,” and develop it. You’re not lost. You are seeking.

“Often the search proves more profitable than the goal.” ~ E. L. Konigsburg

I had a conversation with a Women With Drive Foundation participant at lunch the other day. We were talking about the discrete but significant difference between USING a network and ENGAGING a network. When you are out there “seeking,” and contributing to your path as you travel your journey, you will interact with many people.

If you are just using people, there won’t be a two-way benefit and your interactions with them will be brief, shallow and not productive in the long term. When you give your best to the people in your networks, you will reap what you sow. As you learn and grow along the way, even through “wrong” turns and ill-fated shortcuts, you are growing stronger. You are gaining experience. The day will come when those folks along your path will intersect with your life in a positive way.

These genuine intersections enrich your life, both in a literal and figurative sense. Have you ever watched the movie “Big Fish?” Every time I watch the final scenes, I cry slow, knowing tears during the telling of Albert Finney’s “Edward Bloom’s” death. As his son, who finally understands the beauty and poetry of the Tall Tale, recounts the manic journey his father takes from the hospital to the river, they encounter the various characters from his father’s storied life.

When you learn to embrace the chaos of your life, silence your worry and enhance your awareness of your true center, you will find that you are always on the right path. Even when you are lost.

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Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation) or “Like” them on facebook.

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What do you and Harry Potter have in common?

Filed Under Guest Writer, Idea Bank, Successful Blog, leadership | 4 Comments

Are you going through a rough patch right now? Do you feel as though you are being taxed to your reserves? What is it that keeps you hanging on? Is it a mental toughness? Spiritual sustanance? Physical conditioning? Perhaps it is a combination of the three? Perhaps it is something undefined, yet no less real.

You may have been referred to as “strong,” by those around you. From whence does this strength originate? How do you expand upon it? How do you call upon it? How can you conjure it from the ether?

The answer? I don’t know. I just know that it’s there for those who call upon it – just like the Sword of Gryffindor.

If you are a fan of the Harry Potter books, you are familiar with the Sword of Gryffindor that Harry draws from the Sorting Hat while in the bowels of Hogwarts within the Chamber of Secrets in order to slay a serpent called a basilisk. Two things are significant here: one – Harry is able to draw the sword because he has faith that something is there/within. Something in reserve. …

“We acquire the strength we have overcome.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

…And two (this comes into play later in the series), the sword, once impregnated with the venom of the creature it has slain, is henceforth impervious to that specific poison. The blade is stronger, having triumphed over and internalized this particular obstacle.

Every time you are able to overcome a barrier, you have it now within you to triumph over similar trials that you encounter subsequently.

Strength is measured by what you can withstand – your capacity. Pliability, flexibility, adaptability. Each of these are components to withstanding various challenges that you will encounter as you move forward in your life. As you move forward, your challenges will increase in direct proportion to your capacity to withstand them.

“The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.” – Horace Bushnell

As an analogy, think of a great ocean liner, leaving the harbor. While in the friendly confines of the harbor, the waves met are easily sluiced through. However, as the craft navigates the open waters of the vast ocean, the swells increase.

If you are facing experiences that strain your resources, congratulations. You are getting stronger. Take a moment, center yourself, and ask a few questions of yourself:

Reach out to those who have already developed this particular strength. Ask them about how they succeeded. Adapt what works for your situation. If it helps you to visualize the development of “strength,” I recommend envisioning something like weight training. When weight training, the growth or development of strength actually occurs between workouts, after the muscle tissue has been broken down by lifting.

After you have experienced a particularly turbulent period in your life, reflect about the “muscle building” opportunities hidden within.

Periodically, review your life’s trajectory and see where you had intense periods of effort, possibly struggle. Give yourself credit for the progress you have made. This awareness is the key to building your strength and providing the wellspring from which your spirit can draw the next time you need to tap your reserves.

Always remember, you have it within yourself to achieve great and wonderful things. What are you facing today? How can you overcome it? What would you need to do so? How can you make it happen?
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Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation) or “Like” them on facebook.

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