Successful Blog

How to Stand Out From the Talent Around You

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A Guest Post by
Joel Garfinkle

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We’ve all seen it happen: A promising worker is promoted to a higher level, or moves to a larger town with a deeper talent pool. Many times, this worker is used to success, and was able to stand out in her old job thanks to raw talent and natural intelligence. It was easier for her to stand out, and without really putting out that much effort.

As she moves up in the world, though, she finds the competition getting tougher and tougher. Her skills are developing, sure – but now it is extremely difficult for her to stand out from her peers. It can be a tough adjustment to make.

Moving On Up

A lot of people can relate to that feeling in the corporate world. Working closely with the very top people in your profession is the best way to up your game. But the better the people you work with, the more difficult it will be to stand out as a star player.

It’s not going to be enough to master the details of your job description. If you’re on the all-star team, everyone is a master of their own position. To stand out from the crowd, you need to master the non-technical aspects of your job – starting with yourself. Here are 6 ways to do just that.

  1. Study great leaders. As you move up the ranks of responsibility, you may place less emphasis on being an expert at the technical aspects of your old job. Identify leaders you admire – and read everything you can about them. If they wrote books on leadership, so much the better. This will help you rise above the all-star players, to become a team captain.
  2. Learn to delegate. This is very difficult for technical experts to do. But to make the transition from player to leader, you must grasp that a manager can only excel through the efforts of others. Give clear directions, and help your people grow and shine.
  3. Learn new skill sets. Perhaps being a great trial attorney, or a great salesperson got you accepted to a fantastic team. But that’s not enough to keep you there, and it won’t be enough to get you to the next level. As you move up, you must learn entirely new sets of information. You may need to learn the rules for hiring, disciplining and firing people. You may need to become an accounting expert, where you weren’t one before. Some people may not be able to transition to working at a new level, mistakenly thinking their old skill sets and natural talent will carry them through. They will almost always be limited.
  4. Learn time and project management. Yes, there is no substitute for character when it comes to leadership. But all the character in the world will not save you if you cannot use your team members’ time wisely. Part of being a leader is mastering the skills of time management and organizational communication.
  5. Be the one with the plan. You don’t have to be the biggest, fastest, strongest or even the smartest person on the team to be a stand-out. You can be the one with the plan. Be the one others look to when things are confused or when the situation is vague. The two key components to master when it comes to any project: The timeline, and the priority of work.Master these two things, making sure they are tied in effectively with management’s goals at least two levels up, and you cannot help but be a stand-out.
  6. Be the ethical standard bearer. This is difficult but vital. You may not be the best technician in your office. But you can be the professional who insists on things being done right – who doesn’t take short cuts, and who maintains a commitment to excellence and integrity, even when no one is looking. In the long run, this will pay great dividends for you and for the organization you will soon be tapped to lead.

The fact is, if your peers are challenging you, and forcing you to do better than what you used to think of as your best, and you are still not managing to rise above the crowd yet – that’s not a terrible sign. Don’t get discouraged, because your colleagues’ and competitor’s skill and talent are going to rub off on you. It takes time and effort, but it will happen. In the meantime, If you apply yourself, and master the elements of your profession that lie beyond your immediate, current job description and conduct yourself as a leader, you will almost certainly achieve great success. Go do great things.

How do you stand out as the professional you are?
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Author’s Bio: JOEL A. GARFINKLE is recognized as one of the top 50 coaches in the U.S., having worked with many of the world’s leading companies. He is the author of seven books, including Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level. View his books and FREE articles at Garfinkle Executive Coaching. Subscribe to his Fulfillment@Work E-mail newsletter and receive the FREE e-book, 40 Proven Strategies to Get Promoted Now!”

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

Are Your Customers Embedded?

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary ONeill

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Last week, my husband and I went out to eat at a new restaurant. It was obviously a family-owned affair. While we were waiting for our food, a guy appeared out of the kitchen hoisting aloft a plate of hot wings. He said, “these are for anyone who wants to try them.” Of course, I had to try them, and they were excellent.

I asked the guy what they were called. He said, “I don’t know, they don’t have a name yet, what do you suggest?” I laughingly said, “call them Rosemary’s Wings!” He said, “we just might do that.”

Do you think I might be curious to revisit that restaurant to see whether my wings are on the menu? You bet. And if they are, do you think I’m likely to return again and again? Yessiree.

That restaurant has the same opportunity all business owners have—to literally embed customers in the business. At my company, we’ve had a long-standing tradition of making little gestures that weave customers into our daily work; naming features after them, using their names on documentation, hiding “Easter Eggs” in the code, and thanking them for suggestions that lead to new software features.

Once a customer has been “embedded,” they have a feeling of investment that is very hard to break, as if your business is their personal project.

What are you doing to make it personal? Is there a small crazy gesture you can make that will earn you a customer-for-life?

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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 on the Internet. Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

How to Recognize and Recover When You’ve Started Believing Your Own PR

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The Universe Falls Out of Balance …

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Communities grow and change. We do too. It would be unrealistic to expect that a community of people would stay static. Would we really want it to? It would be hard for us to grow, innovate, and build new things without the dynamic change of a community’s ebb and flow.

But it’s a sad and serious thing when a community starts to lose the energy and interest that made it a community. It’s even sadder when that happens just as things start going good.

It can happen to anyone — you, me, our best friends. We’re on a team and a great thing happens! We get some applause and attention! New “friends and followers” start showing up and new opportunities start appearing. Strangers start joining in the fun. Then, our favorite people quit showing up.

What? Right when things start going good, the good ones start going?
Really … well, sometimes yes.

But you can bet it’s not them, its us.
When that happens more often than not, we’ve quit thinking about the community and they’ve noticed.

When the world starts to revolve around us, people move away and the universe flies out of balance.

How to Recognize and Recover When You’ve Started Believing Your Own PR

In the fray and frolic of good things happening, we can grow faster than fast. Networks explode and bandwidth becomes slim. All at once, a mother lode of new expectations and rewards are sitting within reach. Possibilities and potential are right there, but … they require new discipline and focus.

People don’t decide to make the world revolve around them. People decide to take the new work, the new calling seriously. We forget that if we focus too hard on the work, we can make it more important than the people the work is meant to serve. Most of us would be embarrassed to think we ever did. Most of the people we know won’t tell us if that’s the road we’ve landed on.

So, how do you recognize and recover when you’ve made yourself the center of the universe? How do you win back the folks who’ve decided that you’ve gone to the dark side of believing your own PR?

  1. When you ask people about their business, their life, their goals, does everything they say come back to a story about you? People who live in the center of the universe are self-focused. Name an event from the Big Bang to a cat that had kittens. People in the center can easily tell you how it proves or illustrates something about them. To recover: Care more about why someone is telling you a story than what you might have to say in response.
  2. Do you have the same conversation with everyone? If you’re bringing the same story to every conversation, you’re not considering the person who is listening. Folks like to talk about beautiful ideas and compelling stories — things worth sharing. Conversations are meant to be an exchange. To recover: Listen more than you talk. Give people a chance to ask how you are and they’ll be more inclined to care.
  3. Have people stopped listening when you talk? It’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Folks figure out that people in center of the universe are stuck inside the stories they tell. They don’t bother, because they know a person has to want to leave the center of the universe. To recover: Find the rewards for being part of the world where everyone interacts and come back.
  4. Does it seem like people only want, want, want? Do you feel surrounded by people who take and people who feel sorry for themselves? Misery loves company. Winners form a circle. To recover:Wire your head back to your heart. Be the kind of person you admire and want as a friend and supporter.

We don’t need to “believe our own PR,” when we really know who we are.

Success is about helping other folks reach their goals.

The universe does fine without us — the people we serve are the reason to be us.

Be irresistible.

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

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Have You Thought about Surrendering and Living It Up?

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about surrendering and … living it up.

I’m not a knight or a warrior. I can’t fight another person’s fight.
Every time I do. I end up wrong.

I can’t wear their clothes. They don’t fit. I look silly.
I can’t walk in their shoes. When I try I fall down.

I only sound right when I sing my own song.

It’s not a selfish thing. It’s a surrender to who I am.

It took me a while to figure out that I can toss and turn, stretch and skew an idea, but I can’t change the way my brain works. I can walk all the way around and through a thought or a belief, but I can’t change the chemistry or the electricity of a single synapse — slow them down maybe — but not reroute and remap the system to work as someone’s else might.

I’m always going to be the one who sees an angel in the clouds.

Living up to who I am is a far better use of my life than trying to become something I’m not.

Have you thought about surrendering to your life and living it up to who you are?

Liz's Signature

Should You Build A Brand Online Or Use Traditional Offline Brand Building

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A Guest Post by Jason Nash

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Does a Website Change How You Build A Brand?

There comes a time for every small business to, with some great webhosting, build a brand online and focus their efforts on gaining a stronger consumer basis throughout the Internet. Many entrepreneurs prefer using traditional offline brand building to gain consumer spending, but find it difficult to connect with younger generations without the aid of technology. The target demographic will usually encourage a business to focus their efforts with either online or traditional brand marketing. However, a business entity will always focus these pursuits with the primary goal of greatly improving its revenue.

Within an industry, there are few cases where a company does not have to compete with an overwhelming number of national competitors. Even in small communities, consumers have the ability to order products directly through the Internet to obtain goods that could have been bought in local stores. When a business is forced to realize its anonymity within its market, it is up to the business owners to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack to secure a particular niche with consumers.

Large Business or Small Business?

Larger businesses with well known brands can charge more for the same product while offering fewer overall goods to their customers. This is due primarily to the marketing of their brand to be synonymous in the minds of their consumers with the product or service they sell. For instance, when you add up the price of the physical components in a large company, it will still be significantly less than the amount it would sell for due to its brand name being sold with it. This virtual commodity often has a higher price than any other individual aspect of an entire firm.

Which Generation and Where Are They Found?

Products that are intended to be used by the younger generation or consumers who use Internet access for their work will need their brand to be marketed throughout the Internet. When a company chooses to build a brand online, they have the advantage of generating a large consumer base that will only increase through time. Unlike traditional offline brand building, Internet use is becoming a universal tool that is taught to most children throughout the nation and not much is needed to get online.

Cheap web hosting is often sufficient. Once you got this you’re ready to get started with setting your online presence up. And remember that older generations will decrease over time and the traditional brands are expected to go with them if they do not revitalize their images. This can be seen by many established names trying to build a brand online to prevent the inevitable switch from damaging their profits.

Companies that offer products oriented to consumers who more frequently use television and printed materials for their information can gain more through traditional offline brand building. This marketing is quite popular currently due to the aging baby boomer population that is less integrated in social networks. Since the level of computer illiteracy is on average higher for older generations, it can actually be a wasted effort using online marketing for products that would be bought directly by the consumer.

What if it’s multiple consumer groups?

Since some products can be bought by multiple consumer groups, these items will often require both traditional and online brand marketing. This is true for products and services that are non-age oriented and for age-oriented products that can be given as gifts. It is important to focus each marketing task on the specific consumers who would be reached through media and online sources. For instance, when older generations look for a particular luxury service, they want to see a diligent staff that is both polite and friendly. For this same luxury service, younger generations will be more interested in the accommodations and the comparative price. Creating a brand that fills both of these needs can be done when each demographic is reached with the portrayal they desire.

Online brand marketing will often be through social networks and other informational sites that directly market to the consumer. The most effective form of designing a brand online has been to involve the consumer into the company’s daily operations. This often requires forum moderation after the marketing is over and special content that is designed to make these consumers feel included. Social chats with head officials to reassure consumer groups have proven to be effective. Corporate paraphernalia, including T-shirts, hats, and other trinkets can be displayed on site shops for dedicated consumer groups to show their brand loyalty.

Keep Track of the Traditional

Traditional brand creation will focus on telling consumers why your company is unique. This has the disadvantage of being a one-way conversation and relies on the trust consumers will place in your promises. Orienting the appearance of your company to the desired viewpoint of your consumers will lead to a higher reception. Since the general consumer will need only a positive psychological improvement to buy your products, traditional brands will often give the illusion of superior quality. For instance, focusing on a particular detail that is different from other competitors in a positive light can build a brand with targeted audiences. This does not even require the detail to be important or affect the performance of your product. It is simply something that makes your brand unique.

No matter the path you take with the marketing of your brand, it is important to remember that the revenue for your products and services will increase dramatically with a successful campaign (and don’t forget that a lot visitors/customers require strong hosting solutions, such as for example dedicated server hosting – otherwise your successful campaigns will be in vain). Before you branded your company, the costs were only in the material and labor that was incorporated into the product. Afterwards, you can take into account the worth of your brand and increase the prices to meet this improvement in the psychological satisfaction gained by your consumers.

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Author’s Bio: The article is from Jason Nash from webhostingsearch.com Jason writes
about technology, social media and online marketing strategies and
follows brands online and off as part of his work.

Thank you, Jason!

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

Did You See the Netflix Movie that Bombed?

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As a business owner, you oftentimes have to put things out there and see what sticks.

What does stick can prove profitable, while other attempts can fall on deaf ears. Anyone remember the new Coke?

For business owners, effectively communicating with your customers and potential customers can mean the difference between turning a profit, breaking even and even going under.

Upset Customers are bad for Business

As many of you know, Netflix alerted subscribers a few months back that it was going to employ separate prices for its DVDs-by-mail and streaming video plans.

The end result would be a significant price increase for its customers, with the least expensive bill for customers who sought both services going from $10 to $16 a month. While $6 a month doesn’t sound like much, that is $72 a year that could go for other indulgences.

With the price increase kicking in this month, many Netflix subscribers indicated they would be turning elsewhere for their DVD and streaming video needs. Upset customers bombarded the Netflix site with countless comments, along with a barrage of tweets via the hashtag #DearNetflix.

According to the most recent data, it appears a significant number of those subscribers are holding true to their word.

Netflix recently trimmed its subscriber forecast for the present quarter, reporting it now expects to conclude the period with 24 million customers, some one million less than it had forecast just a few weeks back. When Netflix ended its second quarter at the end of June, it reported having 25.6 million global subscribers.

So, how did Netflix respond to this issue in hopes of righting the ship?

In yet another public relations nightmare, the company said it was separating its DVD mail rental and video streaming services, renaming the new DVD service Qwikster (the streaming service will remain under the Netflix name). Individuals who choose to both rent and stream videos will be required to log in to a pair of different sites and get two different credit card charges.

Research Ahead of Time Potential Fallout Issues

Not only have many subscribers expressed their dismay with the price increase, but they also were probably left scratching their heads as to the new name for the service.

As it turns out, Netflix apparently did not do enough research on the name Qwikster ahead of time, or officials would have known that the Qwikster name on social media venue Twitter is currently held by a male whose avatar is that of Elmo displaying a joint. Oops!

So not only now do you have a company upsetting many of its subscribers by hiking the costs for its popular service, but now you leave them confused with the name change, not even apparently taking the time to check and see who might hold that label on one of the most popular social media sites. Again, oops!

Due to the company’s recent gaffes, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings issued a statement to customers upset with the price increase for the service in recent weeks. “I messed up,” he remarked on the company blog and in an e-mail to subscribers. “I owe everyone an explanation.”

Running a successful business takes time and effort, but above all, the ability to always be one step ahead of the game.

In this instance, it appears Netflix and the changes it enacted, are getting tuned out by a large percentage of customers.

Photo credit: benzinga.com

Dave Thomas writes extensively for business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses. Among the topics he writes about is business cash advance.