Successful Blog

Will achieving your life’s dream make you happy?

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When I was 10, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Something about the King Tutankhamen treasures touring the country inspired me, and I desperately wanted to find dinosaur bones. Then at some point, I found out that archaeology involved a lot of fruitless sweating, kneeling in the dirt, and being bitten by insects. I moved on to dream of becoming a children’s book writer, which involved none of those things.

king-tutankhamun

Are you working toward a specific life’s goal, either personally or professionally?

Have you stopped to analyze the reality of achieving your goals?

For example, if one of your career goals is to become a famous speaker, giving keynotes all over the world for big-time fees, have you considered the travel involved? Time away from your family, hotel rooms, TSA inspections? Yep, that’s glamorous.

If your corporate goal is to bring in 10 Fortune 500 clients, have you thought through the realities of servicing an enterprise customer? Massive bureaucracy, expectations, slow decision-making…and reliance on a few large customers can be risky as well.

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

The homework today is to review your goals, both written and unwritten. Take a half hour to visualize what your life would be like if you achieved them. Is it the life you want?

If not, you need new goals.

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 the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Image via Flickr CC: Mediocre2010

It Is Your Business to Know Who You Hire

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How much time in running your small business do you devote to actually knowing who comes into your office as a new employee?

In some cases, those running companies will give input and even sit in on a number of or all interviews with prospective candidates. In other cases, however, they leave it to a staff member or members to do the interviewing and ultimately hire the individual for the needed job.

So, the question then begs if you should be more active in the hiring process, especially given how too much turnover and training of countless individuals can have a negative impact on your business finances?

In the event you decide to become more active, here are some things you should look at when considering each and every applicant who walks through your doors:

* Are they truly qualified? – While many candidates who come to you seeking a job are truly qualified, others will try and pass off their experience as suitable for the job. The danger with the latter is that you could end up hiring several times until you get the right fit. Some companies will test applicants on their knowledge of the position they would be doing if hired, while others base their decision off of the person’s work background. Either way, make sure you get the most qualified man or woman in order to hopefully fill that spot for several years to come;

* Will they fit with the team in place? – Chemistry in the office is key to any successful business, so keep that in mind when you interview candidates. Does their personality seem like a good fit for the employees they would be working with? Are they outgoing and seem like they will pitch in whenever asked? Do they have a positive attitude that will help them get through stressful times, including constant deadlines? It just takes one wrong piece to mess up the puzzle of office success that you have worked to put in place;

* Is their background too social for me? – Even though there is nothing wrong with prospective candidates being on social media, more companies are checking the social backgrounds of individuals they interview, looking for any red flags. In the event they have questionable comments and/or images on their social media pages, it should at least give you pause to think about if they’d be a good fit for your business. When you look at the judgment they used in some of their tweets or shares, should you worry that they might use similar questionable judgment when working for you? If you do have such concerns, feel free to bring them up during an interview;

* Long-term plans – Finally, while it is not uncommon for workers these days to move from job to job, this unlike the days when people stayed at a company for several decades, you do not want a revolving door at your business. That being said, question each candidate on what their career plans are, where they see themselves in three to five years, and if they feel they can achieve long-term success with you. While most candidates will say the “right thing” in order to increase their chances of attaining the job, some will be very honest and tell you what their plans are. Even though you should not discount those that can’t make a long-term commitment to you, it does give you pause to think about whether or not to hire them.

As a small business owner, what do you look for when a prospective candidate walks through your doors?

Photo credit: ehow.com

About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers small business topics for a variety of websites, including Reputation.com.

Intention Counts

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By James Ellis

A website can be and do just about anything. It can be a brochure, a greeting card, a catalog, a conversation space, an announcement, a research tool, a library, a photo gallery, a way to spark ideas, build connections, engage people and speak about your corner of the world.

But it can’t really do all those things (unless you are Google or maybe Facebook, in which case, “hi!”). It can do one or two of those things well. It can do three or four of those things well with an exponential increase in resources, but that’s it.

So instead of spending millions on a legion of developers, creative directors, content managers and the staff to populate their respective armies, maybe you should focus your intention down to one thing.

What is your website supposed to be or do? Boil it down to a phrase a five-year-old could understand.

Amazon was a bookstore. Now it is an everything store. Google is a search engine. Those are easy, mostly because they have smart marketers and leadership who knows that you need to excel at one thing before you expand to something else.

But what about the website for your favorite coffee shop? It could be a brochure: hours and location with a pic of a cute barista. It could be a branding peice: pictures and animations that are warm and inviting about the idea of coffee and scones. It could be a business development peice: Get you excited about the idea of hand-roasted select gourmet coffee and how it will make your life better. It could be a store: place your coffee order and schedule a pick-up time or delivery. It could be a research tool: Everything you could want to know about coffee from different regions of the world, how it should be roasted, what the types of roasting levels mean and how they affect taste.

One coffee shop, four intentions. Each intention shapes the nature of the website, who uses it and why. Intention therefore determines the site’s success

For example, will more people come to your coffee shop because they know more about all the different coffee varieties? If your goal is to sell more coffee, then maybe that intention doesn’t align with that objective. If you spend 3,000 words talking about thirty different coffee varieties, and you only sell two, what was the good in that? You may have just gotten them excited to go to another coffee shop.

Nailing down the intention of your site, especially in relation to your total marketing strategy and your business strategy, increases your likelihood of success. Now I’m going to go drink some coffee.

Author’s Bio: James Ellis is the Director of Digital Strategy at FLIRT Communications. His latest book, Google Analytics for Small Business is currently in beta. He’s giving away discounted copies if you are willing to help make it even better.

5 Tips on How to Prioritize

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By John Murphy

Do you know how to prioritize? I mean really “know” – not just intellectually, but in reality!

My belief is that most of us rank somewhere between alright and pretty poor when it comes down to prioritizing.

It falls somewhere between crisis management and those “things I like to do”!! Not the most scientific criteria!

I have had the pleasure of working with some top CEOs and they are really good at prioritizing. This is how they do it

They challenge themselves with these 5 questions:

1. Is this on my dashboard of 5/6 key drivers of the business?

2. Will I add value to this task?

3. Am I the one who should be dealing with it?

4. Should I be dealing with this right now?

5. Do I have all the information I need to deal with it?

If they get a “No” to any of those questions it does not get to their priority list.

Allow me to delve a bit deeper:

Dashboard of 5/6 key drivers. I first heard this from Warren Buffet who maintains that there are ever only 5/6 key items that must be monitored at all times. These are the 5/6 items that matter most. Great CEOs focus on what matters most – they are really good at this. They cannot focus on everything – they just focus on what matters and what delivers results.

Will I add value? If it is not clear where they, and only they, can add value, they will not get involved.

Am I the one to deal with it? Top CEOs are really good at identifying whether they are the right person to deal with an issue, or is it somebody else’s job? The old saying of “don’t buy a dog and bark yourself” comes to mind!

Is this the right time to do it? In other words, am I doing this to fulfill my own agenda or someone else’s? Is it the most important thing for me to do in this minute? Is there anything more important I should be doing right now? Top performers are really good at answering that question

Have I got all the information I need? There is nothing more frustrating than starting something and then realizing that you don’t have all the information you need to complete. Make sure that you have the right amount of information or input to complete what you start – it’s a good example to your people, if nothing else.

Top CEOs are really good at this process. They know how to prioritize their work and, by definition, the work of their team tends to be well prioritized also. It is no coincidence!

One of the main challenges I have found when working with clients is to get them to identify the 5 or 6 key drivers. When you first go through this process you will always end up with a much longer list. But there are not 10 or 15 key drivers!

I will not argue with Warren Buffet – his track record is unquestionable! So, be tough with yourself and get to 5 or 6 – it will be worth it to you, and your business.

Author’s Bio: John Murphy a business coach who writes about what makes executives and business owners more productive at www.johnmurphyinternational.com. You can find him on Twitter as @jmicoaching.

Be a Human Super-Collider

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Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, made news recently when they announced that they expect to offer evidence of the existence (or non-existence) of the Higgs boson (or “God” particle) by the end of the year. Essentially, the “super-collider” smashes together particles at high speeds to see what happens when they collide.
large hadron collider

You can be a human super-collider.

Pay close attention to the people around you, their characteristics, dreams, businesses. Take mental note when someone shares their life experiences with you. Then when you see an opportunity to put two people together for their mutual benefit, do it.

When you proactively connect your connections, magical things will happen. Especially if you do it without any thought in mind of how it will benefit you.

How to Become a Human Super-Collider

Get very good at remembering names. Here’s a great article that will help you build that muscle and start connecting names to faces.

When you meet new people, find out what they’re up to. Don’t just go for the standard “what do you do,” think of interesting ways to draw out their long-term goals and dreams. Next time, try “what made you decide to go into [digital marketing/psychiatry/dog grooming]?”

Listen deeply and actively. Molly Cantrell-Craig wrote an excellent post about how to listen earlier this year.

Create a system for organizing information. You can use the notes section of your Address Book client, use the new LinkedIn Contacts app (they have a special spot for noting where you met someone), or try Evernote. As soon as you can, jot down some details about the person you just met. Bonus points if you remember to go back and read it before the next time you see that person again.

Don’t be afraid to introduce people. They may or may not hit it off, but you’ve just shown them both that you have their best interests in mind. Be sure to include the reason why you feel they should connect (do they have a mutual interest, are they going to the same conference, are their businesses complimentary). Here are some tips on the etiquette of introductions.

When you start consistently doing these things, you’ll start to see the magic of particle collision. Just don’t tell those folks in Switzerland.

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 the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Image via Flickr CC: Image Editor

Know How to Get Started on a New Business Venture?

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While the U.S. economy is still on shaky ground for many people, others have taken the opportunities that are out there to start a new business in 2013, be it on their own or with employees helping them along the way. Still, others have not signed off on a new business venture, fearing that the timing is not right.

Whichever category you find yourself in, keep in mind that your business plan will go a long way in determining whether or not your venture takes flight, or if it comes crashing to a halt.

Unfortunately, too many starting out for the first time fail to properly craft a business plan, meaning they go head first into their business without a safety helmet on. As many probably know, one in five businesses fail within their first five years of operation, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

There are, however, steps that can be taken to increase the chances of getting one’s business done right the first time around.

They include:

* Be financially prudent – If you are starting your own business, consider opening it on a part-time basis while you are still hopefully gainfully employed by someone else. In many cases, individuals leave their full-time job or are let go, then turn to their own ideas to make money. While some circumstances can’t be prevented (layoffs, etc.), you are in a better financial position to open the business while getting a full-time check and health benefits elsewhere. Along with being better off financially, you can determine if your business of choice will have a good shot at making it after you get through the first few months. Most importantly, do you have a financial plan B to fall back on if your business does not take off the way you want it to? Don’t go into a new venture without the right financial backing, especially in today’s topsy-turvy climate;

* Be a promoter – There is a good chance that you are light in the wallet when it comes to being able to promote your new business venture, so promote it in ways that won’t cost you anything more than time and effort. Two of the best ways to do this are blogging and social media. With blogging, you can write posts both for your site and as a guest blogger, allowing you to be seen as an authority in your respective industry. Make sure you link back to your site when you guest blog for others, allowing you to drive traffic your way. With social media, this is an excellent means to promote your business, and it does not cost you a cent. If you have not already, make sure you sign up and get business accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest for starters. You need to dedicate a decent amount of time to each site so that you’re both relevant and seen as a regular. Use the sites to answer customer questions, solve their problems, provide them with information from your respective industry, and to engage with them in real-time. Also make sure you share and retweet items of interest with other relevant sources so that you can build your social networking profile;

* Be resilient – Finally, know that there will be some ups and downs with your new business venture, so prepare for the worst and shoot for the best. Unlike your current full-time job where you may only work a 9 to 5 shift or something along those lines, starting your own venture will mean dedicating many hours a day in most cases. Remember, you’re considered the person who not only runs the normal day-to-day operations, but answers those other needs when the business is officially closed. In the event your business doesn’t take off right away, don’t throw in the towel. Yes, you don’t want to go into financial collapse over a business, but you have to be able to wait out the tough times as much as possible. You may end up even having to lean on others to help you with running the business or putting in some financial backing, but it could pay off for you down the road.

While some may be hesitant to start up a business in today’s economy, others may throw caution to the wind and run with it.

If you are in the latter group, make it your business to succeed.

Photo credit: smartincomeguide.com

About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers a variety of business and consumer topics, including doctor reviews.