Are You Business Minded?
Many people start businesses as a way to get away from being told what to do, only to find out that they need to tell themselves what to do. Others start businesses because they feel they can earn more by having their own practice, yet struggle with day to day operations and managing an office as well as selling work and researching prospective clients. And yet, others start businesses not because they want to be in business, but because they want to do something that they enjoy doing. They may enjoy what they do, but have a hard time paying the bills and keeping the business going.
What’s Your Leadership Style?
Leadership is something that fascinates me. I am consistently inspired by those who are able to lead, yet remain calm and empower their teams and organizations. Leaders have learned a variety of skills and use them all in an integrated way to connect with their team. One of the many skills is the understanding of people. Your team, after all, is made up of people. How you connect with them will determine how willing they are to support your vision and fulfill the mission. This is true whether you are the leader in a small committee or whether you run a multi-national corporation. The leader’s role is to inspire and empower and excite their team members to want to support the vision and fulfill the mission.
Online Product Models
Business is rapidly moving into the online and mobile worlds of our lives. The question becomes, how can you create an effective strategy that will keep customers interested in your products or services? Here is one example of a unique approach to launching a product online.
I Just Want to Close My Account!
Customer service is something that every company has to deal with. Some do it better than others. And yet, some, still do not do enough. I don’t like to rant, so I will keep this short, but I do want to raise the point. It is something that needs to be designed into the overall brand experience. Especially if you have a dedicated customer service line.
Business Stripped Bare
While waiting for a flight from Perth to Sydney Australia, I was browsing the books at one of the airport stores. I love to read about people who inspire me and to try and understand their views on anything and everything, especially business and success. As I was browsing, I came across the newest book by Richard Branson, famous entrepreneur and chairman of Virgin Group.
Control Your Business or It Will Control You
Controlling your business has more to do with how the business is structured and managed as well as how the management team in place thinks about the company. Overwhelmed management can lead to rushed decisions which can result in poor choices, money lost, and loss of market share. To really control your business, you must be able to step back from it and see it from an overall perspective. You must be able to assess and measure the systems that are in place to understand how they are operating and where improvement can occur.
Watson, Jeopardy Champion
Have you heard of the latest competitor on Jeopardy? I’ll give you a hint: they are not human. The contestant’s name is Watson, a super computer who has been built and trained byIBMers for the past four years. Able to understand words and dates, Watson scours his memory, finding patterns and systematically and statistically coming up with the right answer. Most of the time.
Famous in 31 Days: A Documentary
Movies fascinate me. I love the interwoven stories and how the characters come to interact with each other. Documentaries also fascinate me. They are personal stories of triumph, heart-break, depression, and happiness all rolled into a roller coaster ride as you ride along through their journey. The thing about documentaries is that the people don’t need to be traveling very far for it to be an adventure. Although the docs where the people travel the United States or the world are my favorite.
Segmented Consulting
What exactly is segmented consulting? It is the idea of taking the process of a specific service and breaking it down into segments similar to a TV or radio show might do. Why? By creating these segments, you can better define what your service offers and you are also starting to turn that service into the feeling of a product. When your clients come to know that at “x” point during the consulting session, “y” will happen, they can prepare for it, look forward to it, be excited about it, etc.
B2B Series: Wrap Up & Bonus
About 8 weeks ago, I began a series of articles called Back 2 Basics as I began to see a gap in the market. Many entrepreneurs start a business, a practice, yet they start without the basics. The goal, over the last 8 weeks was to close that gap, covering topics that build upon each other in order to create a platform, position and grow the brand, and execute the plans that were made.
