Successful Blog

How to Be Leader of a Small Business

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Every leader should take their responsibilities seriously and treat their position as one of great importance. Whether you manage one employee or a thousand, your actions and attitude will determine the success or failure of those who work below you. Even the best employee will fall to pieces in the face of a bad leader, and even the worst employee can rise to the expectations of a great motivator.

That being said, one position of leadership requires an extra level of care and vigilance when it comes to cultivating the right culture and producing the highest possible level of motivation and productivity within their employees. That position is the leader of a small business. Due to the small, intimate and hands-on nature of the position, the leader of a small business holds a truly disproportionate sway over their employees and their organization.

Taking Small Business Leadership Personally

To successfully lead a small business you need to take great care of your own time and energy. All leaders lead by example, and need to appear to be someone worth following. Leaders of larger, more impersonal firms may be able to fake these qualities, but leaders of small businesses work so closely with their employees that few secrets can exist between them.

If you constantly run into problems of low energy, flagging motivation, lack of time, an inability to prioritize your work, and a near-constant disconnection with the larger picture of what your organization hopes to achieve, then you better believe your employees will notice your malaise, and eventually mirror it themselves. Any attempts to direct your employees when you are clearly incapable of taking care of yourself will be met with skepticism at best, and resentment-filled-refusal at worst.

As the leader of a small business you need to personally embody everything your organization stands for and you need to clearly demonstrate everything you expect from your employees.

Staying Connected with Your Employees

Simply demonstrating a rock-solid command of your personal resources isn’t enough. If you are the leader of a small business, you need to remain personally connected with your employees at all times.

The internal culture of a small business is incredibly intimate but it’s also often very stressful, centered on everyone constantly firing on all cylinders. If, in your work-oriented myopia, you lose sight of who your employees are as people, you will lose your ability to connect with them in a meaningful way. If you stop connecting with each of your employees on a one-on-one basis, then you will lose their trust and respect.

When you lose your employee’s trust and respect you will lose the ability to speak with them candidly, to learn where they are feeling overwhelmed and where they feel they can contribute more to your shared goal. A small business quickly becomes something of a family with you at the head, and if you choose to embody the “distant parent” archetype your employees will return the favor and play the “surly teenager” role, doing just enough to get by but never feeling understood or appreciated.

It isn’t enough to embody incredible qualities while keeping your employees at a remove, just as it isn’t enough to connect constantly with your employees but to fail to inspire them with your personal conduct. Yet by combining the two, you will become the sort of leader that every small business employee dreams of working for.

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Author’s Bio:
The post is written by Wilson Campbell. He is a HR professional, with an exceptional skills to understand knowledge and behavior of employees. He not only has subject matter expertise, but he is also adept in team building and team building activities.

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

The Five Traits that Motivate People to Support a Strategic Decision

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Every Great Motivator Has Its Failing

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As I look back on every SOBCon event, a continuous them is …

Decide and Do.

Decide literally means to kill off all other options. But how do we choose the motivating strategic decision — the one that not only moves us forward, but also enlists, engages, and motivates people to join us in executing that decision?

Strategic decisions are built on understanding position and predicting.
On the most quantitative level, people are part of both position and prediction.
Yet too often we make decisions without considers how the decisions might impact the people who we want to keep closest to us.

How Do You Make a Strategic Decision that Moves People to Action?

Too often when we make decisions — especially important and urgent ones — our thinking narrows too tightly. We lose sight of the people and focus only on facts and information. We see the problem, but lose sight of the people who will help us achieve it.

Our decision is only an half strength if we don’t consider the people who execute it. Each of those people brings his or her thinking, traits, perceptions, and responses with individual goals and personal intentions.

How does a leader motivate people to support a strategic decision? A leader looks to the characteristics of the people he or she wants to move to action. Motivation is 100% about aligning goals — being mission critical to THEIR mission. Once we set our course and direction, the next strong step is to consider what fuels the people who will fuel our mission. The key to moving people to action is in how we communicate that decision. It’s important to reach out to the higher values that drive the members of the community.

The Five Traits that Motivate People to Support a Strategic Decision

The people we try to motivate will have have these five traits in differing levels. Addressing these traits when you communicate a strategic decision will increase your success in motivating people to move to action. Before you announce your decision, review these five questions.

  • Dedication: Do they care? Commitment and caring are deep strong motivators. Know which people care and invest their commitment deeply for the goal. People of commitment dedicate themselves to reaching the goal. Tie the goal to commitment and you’re likely to capture their deep and unswerving investment in the mission. .
  • Intelligence: Do they learn well and understand and deeply? Sharing the sound thinking that drives a decision will motivate the community members who value deep thinking. Don’t be stingy with communication.
  • Courage: Do they respond well to change and in times of uncertainty? Acknowledging the risk and the reward of the decision allows the brave ones to step forward to protect and serve and to know how to shore up the possible vulnerabilities.
  • Discipline: Do they value the systems and the rules? Chaos is uncomfortable and change can be confusing. A few clear rules of what will guide the strategy to success can enlist those who most need clarity of action.
  • Trustworthiness: Do they trust your decisions without explanation? Explain your thinking anyway. Trustworthiness is demands that you value their trust and respect it, especially in times of change.

You’ll know you’ve communicated well if your community starts selling you on the validity of your decision as they move to action.
you form strategy and make decisions that help you enlist the right team of people to carry out your life mission.

What do you consider when you want to motivate people to action?

Be irresistible.

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

Be Flexible

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

“The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.”
— Confucius

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The last few years have been rough on everyone. It seems that just when you think it’s safe to poke your head up and take a chance, another wave of economic bad news hits. But if you look around, there are some who are continuing to thrive despite the bad economy.

Those who have been brave enough to be flexible in their approach have come through in good shape, while those who stuck rigidly to their original plan are out of business. How can you be a flexible entrepreneur, or a flexible business?

Signs of flexibility:

  • Willingness to put aside rigid “policy” when dealing with a customer complaint
  • Freedom given to employees to innovate and think outside the box
  • Constant review and tweaking of methodology to accommodate changing conditions
  • Acceptance of new industry realities
  • Ability to change perspective based on new information
  • Comfort with new ideas, whether they’re from within the company or external
  • Persistence in the face of roadblocks; seeking another way around
  • Keeping the goals solid, but the path toward achieving them fluid
  • Leaving space to dream and create without limitations or boundaries
  • Actively seeking information from different sources

Maybe we should all be doing a bit of corporate yoga.

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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 Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Five Sayings from Olympic Athletes showing you how to reach the Top

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I’ve always been fascinated by the athletes participating in the Olympics … such dedicated beings, so focused, and so no-nonsense types, you look at them and you know they mean business. They’ve lived in the same world, and they’ve grown up with the same circumstances, in fact some of them have lived a more troubled life than the majority of us, and still they go on to achieve a lot more than what we can dream of achieving, a hell lot more.

To quote Sir M. Iqbal (a poet I’ll strongly recommend you all to read) …

Both live and fly the same skies

But Eagle lives in a different world from that of a vulture

How true is that, these athletes actually live in a different world from all of us, they dream differently, they breathe differently, they eat differently, they sleep differently, that’s precisely the reason why we see only one guy standing on the podium, only one winner who takes it all, while all of us will spend our lives thinking, how does it feel to be the best in what we do? But wait … we can still have an idea as to how does it feel, or more importantly, what does it take to get there, and that is to listen when they speak. And that is what I do every now and then, going through the sayings of these elite sportsmen … following are some really rich ones, that will impart a lot a lot of invaluable lessons, but only if you are ready to learn.

1. The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

The essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well … how true, how incredibly true … but what do we do? We fight miserably, lethargically, half-heartedly, yet we expect to be a winner every day, and in whatever we do? Remember, even if you are the best of the best athletes, there will be very few moments when you can stand still and wait for the life to hand you a medal, but what really matters is nothing but fighting, and that’s the life for you.

Oh, and that quote wasn’t from an athlete but Pierre Frédy, who is regarded as the founder of modern Olympics.

2. The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.

Again, Peggy Fleming has hit the nail on the head (and you can expect nothing less from a three time world champion). The take-home point is, if you are looking to be anywhere near the top, it is important to do what you love to do. Because you cannot excel at something you were not made for, let alone becoming a world-beater. So, as soon as you’ve discovered something you love doing, don’t look at others for the approval, just do it with all your heart, and the approval will come when you’ve become a “great” in doing that.

3. As long as Morceli is in the race, it is always a race for second place.

The next on our list is not one but two quotes, the first one (the aforementioned one) is by Venuste Niyongabo, and when you see such a quote coming from a guy who happens to be in the list of top ten fastest milers ever in the history of mankind, you should know that Morceli has got to be someone very special. So why not take a look at what was the approach that took Morceli to such heights, here you go …

I run to be known as the greatest runner, the greatest of all time. I could not eat or sleep for a week after I lost in the 1992 Olympics. I have to win or die.

I really can’t think of anything to add, just read it again … I could not eat or sleep for a week after I lost, I have to win or die … No wonder, he won quite comprehensively in the following competitions.

4. When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m just not listening anymore.

Florence Griffin is dubbed as the “fastest woman of all time”, setting two world records that no one hasn’t even come close to beat. And the “someone” in this quote isn’t necessarily a person; it can very well be some statistics, past records, the beliefs, and the likes. You will get the “you can’t do it” message in a hundred different words, and a hundred different sources (the worse being your own self) but as long as you’ve got that whisper coming from your heart telling you that “you can”, you can simply stop listening to the naysayers.

5. I got a bronze medal and I can’t complain about that, the only African-American to get a medal in the Winter Olympics.

Another very important message coming from Debi Thomas i.e. when competing or striving to achieve a target, you must remember that getting the gold is not the only form of success, there are many times when you’ll fail to reach your targets, while missing by a small margin, when it happens, you must look at how far you’ve come and cherish your achievements, instead of sulking over the small distance you’ve failed to make.

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Rahil writes for a coupon code website, where you can find london pass discount code and world soccer shop coupon, and a lot more discounts and vouchers in addition to London Pass and World Soccer Shop.

Be Happy

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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You’re a hard-charging, forward-thinking, social entrepreneur master of the universe. But have you colored lately? Have you flown a kite? Have you read a novel?

No. Me neither.

Today’s post comes with a mission. If you accept, follow the steps below. Doctor’s orders.

  1. Take 15 minutes today and find a quiet, comfortable place. Turn off your phone, laptop, radio, etc.
  2. Close your eyes and picture your 12 year old self. School just let out and you just got home. You chucked your bookbag in the hallway, grabbed a snack, and you’re free.
  3. What are you going to do between now and dinner? Visualize as intensely as possible.
  4. Write down five things that came to your mind. Ride your bike? Curl up in your beanbag chair (don’t judge) and listen to music? Call your buddies and shoot some baskets?
  5. Now schedule time to do at least one of those activities this week. Schedule it. And while you’re doing the activity, you are not allowed to daydream about the TPS report or worry about how many Tweets you’ve missed. Simply revel in the joy of having fun.

As for me? You’ll find me in the hammock with the latest issue of Bon Appetit.

Would you like to share what your 12-year-old self was up to this week? I’d love it if you’d report back with your results in the comments.

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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 Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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25 Secrets to Live and Work Intelligently from the Heart

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Dynamic Tension Is the Art

On Valentine’s Day, 2008, I wrote How to Write Intelligently from the Heart. It explored how to create the dynamic tension between structure and expression that makes our writing live on.

We can think and write. We can craft our sentences to be clever. We can make sure that each part is factually, structurally, grammatically correct. But clever and accurate only go so far in satisfying readers. If we want our writing to resonate long after, our words need to come from the heart.

As I read that post today, it leads me to think about the dynamic tension between head and heart that are part of any successful business and any successful life.

In the same way, our work needs to come from the heart.

How to Live and Work Intelligently from the Heart

We can think and plan life. We can think and plan a business. We can build brilliant business strategy and savvy life design. We can make sure we’re on budget, we manage our time, and delivering high ROI that sees to the needs of work, friends, and family. But savvy and brilliant only go so far. If we want build a lasting business inside a meaningful life we need our head hardwired to our heart.

Here are 25 secrets I’ve learned about living and working intelligently from the heart.

  1. Decide who you want to be and what you’re building. It’s not a process. It’s a decision. We don’t have enough future. See it and be it now.
  2. See it as a quest and a mission. Just having a goal keeps that vision and mission in our head. A quest is noble requires us to invest our heart. /li>
  3. If we don’t believe we’ll get there, We’ll give up as soon as it gets hard. No one else will believe in us either.
  4. When we align our mission with our values, we attract people who share them and want to help. Work and life get faster, simpler, and more meaningful.
  5. When we speak the hard intelligent truth gently from our hearts, we never regret it. When we don’t, we always wish we had.
  6. We can’t love and punish someone, anyone, in the same moment. See with intelligent love and you might be surprised with the response.
  7. Know what’s at the heart of the quest before building the campaign to move it forward. An idea still being formed by a heart won’t survive the plan being built by an intelligent brain. A brain can forget how that plan impacts the people we care about and who care about us.
  8. Make a heartfelt commitment to yourself. That’s how integrity starts. Integrity makes us safe, predictable, and easy to trust. Being trustworthy is intelligent.
  9. Except when a life is threatened, wanting to run fast is a signal to slow down. Knee jerk responses rarely deliver as we expect.
  10. The less time we have for the people we care about, the more that making time to be with them would do us good.
  11. When we want want to hold things tightest is when to let go … Holding something tightly is a sign of fear.
  12. When we most want the light to shine on us is the best time to let someone else go first.
  13. When we want anything we don’t need, it feels better to give something away.
  14. Whenever we feel righteous, we’re wrong. Righteous means angelic, godlike, and saintly. Taking that view is bad from the start.
  15. The universe does not need us to keep it going. The stars do all right without us.
  16. People are made of the same carbon stuff as stars. Even the humblest star shines. We should too.
  17. Everybody cries, but not everybody cares. The best people do both.
  18. We win ourselves when we choose our opinion of ourselves over what we want other people to think.
  19. Gratitude is a giving, gracious attitude given from strength. We never have enough gratitude, but we can be too needy.
  20. Every act of generosity goes both ways.
  21. Everyone wants to look forward to something and needs a safe place to stand. Remembering that can deliver it to us.
  22. Everybody gets lost sometimes, but most of us find our way home. Helping someone who wants to find their way is easy. Helping someone who doesn’t want to move is difficult.
  23. Life is about what things are worth, not what they cost.
  24. To know who we are all that we have to do is look at our friends.
  25. We can’t separate work from life. We’re spending the time of our life when we work. Trying to balance work and life is like trying to balance your head with your body can’t pull them apart.

People who live and work intelligently from the heart share the humanity of who they are. It’s the in the humanity that we connect to them with our minds and with our hearts. They have boundaries to structure their work and their lives but their hearts touch other people. And it shows in the way that their lives and their work are art. You see the intelligence from the heart in the thoughtful unexpected gesture at the moment it’s needed most, in the compassion and forgiveness offered by a human with strong sense of self, in the way they seem to breathe an intelligent heartfelt belief that people are meant to be all they are. Head and heart together make meaning in a way that intelligence alone cannot.

It’s the style, the color, and the light — the playful feeling that took skill and thought to express — that makes this photo more than a heart in a frame.

How do you recognize someone who lives and works intelligently from the heart?

Be irresistible.

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