Business Coaching For the Intrapreneur #2 Economics For Dummies

The Study of Scarce Resources

Let's say you don’t want to devote the time or energy it would take to get ahead in your career, my first response would be to drop you as a client; with the understanding that you don't really want this. But, on second thought it may not be over for you. You better be creative!

The following might work if you are on a second career or have spent years refining your talents, and gathering specific industry or field expertise. This is about using your skills and knowledge to leverage or to maximize your position and time with your current employer.

I'm coaching a dear friend she craves balance in her life. She doesn't choose to give her career 110% of her energy and time, like she did in her last career because she has children. Her desire is to build leverage so that at the opportune time she can use this leverage to get from the company what she feels would be ideal for her: high pay and the freedom to work from home.

Her Background:

Lisa; a single mother, had worked in a Fortune 500 organization in the training and development department. In her career she traveled all over the country teaching and training executives at branch levels the value of marketing, customer acquisition, customer service, and customer retention among other things (a dream gig by my standards). She worked as a coach and consultant to the company's internal customers. She was a go getter when it came to serving the company's bottom line, with an expense account and all the amenities to go with it. At last she was recognized by C level management. She was going to be groomed for a leadership position. Soon a promotion was offered to be the VP of Training and Development.

Overnight Lisa begin to feel uncomfortable with her status and the time she invested at work and out of the home. Over night she felt that this life was no longer for her and desired to spend more time on her personal life. All of a sudden she begin to grow a conscious regarding her children, and top management noticed the change and no longer extended to her the privileges she grew to enjoy. Out of desperation, Lisa released herself from her commitments in order to spend time with her family; she no longer wanted to be a team player. She was soon on a down hill slide and eventually lost everything.

Was This a Waste of Potential?

I cringe at this story, God knows that there is such a thing as a graceful exit, when it comes to a change of priorities/values. Unfortunately she dared to act out her overwhelming feelings of desperation. She had invested over 16 years creating a niche for herself in doing what she loved and had a passion for and had even sat on the board of directors for several marketing firms because of the experience and knowledge she gained.

The Present

Lisa had managed within two years, of her clawing her way out of the hole she dug for herself, to get back on her feet with her priorities in tact, and now she works for a small mediocre teleconferencing company. Although the company sells a commodity service and doesn't have claim to the latest cutting edge technology it is a much more nurturing environment.

I remember looking across from the desk in my office and seeing that this professional was magical when it came to her passion for marketing and nurturing prospective client relationships. This is what she did for so long and now in her current position, a sales professional, she sells a commodity product, nothing dazzling here. The company already has a methodology for marketing to potential clients and existing customers. Some might describe this as a cookie cutter method of keeping themselves in the forefront of the prospects mind, through various marketing campaigns.

In order to create the most value, or leverage, she may need to figure out a way of marrying the two concepts direct marketing and her new sales position. If she chooses to take this challenge she may be taking a risk in the case of: she spends too much time doing things she thinks will add value, and not really making sales, because she is trying to get this process ramped up or if she is not producing results, with these concepts, it may truly be a waste of time.

However, if she does get fascinating results, she will be starting off on the right foot; her personal brand will be well known. And the reputation as being a maverick will stick with her for the rest of her career at this company. At that point, I'm certain, that all of her requests would be taken seriously. And if they were not (for any reason) I'm sure another company would take those request seriously.

How are you are marrying your experience, skills, and talent to your current position? If you want the luxuries company life can offer begin strategizing about your career work to create your niche. If you get really good at getting great results, using your skills and talents them in your prior experience, somehow; even if it's away from the conventional way of doing things you will create a place for yourself. Thinking is your competitive advantage, the great separator between you and your peers.

Caution

It's best to try your hand at this if you are certain that you can pull this off, or if you are stubborn. If this is too much of a gamble you could get into 'BIG' trouble. But, if you get results you may have a chance at playing in the big leagues.

Good Luck!

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

Business Coaching For the Intrapreneur #1 Driving Value

I read an article in the Gallup Management Journal. I wanted you to take a look. (I will comment on how it should affect you at the end of the article).
It contained the following:

(by John Fleming, Tom Rath, and Barry Conchie).

It's been a scary few weeks for businesses and consumers, and things could remain unnervingly uncertain for quite some time. Markets around the world are down significantly, and stock prices remain volatile. The credit markets are constrained. Home values continue to slide, while foreclosures are on the rise.

And there probably won't be relief any time soon. A majority of Americans see current economic conditions as poor, and almost 9 out of 10 think things will continue to deteriorate. What's worse, more than half of all Americans report they are struggling, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being measure. None of this is good news. 

In times of economic turbulence, businesses and consumers need to tighten their belts. But with belt tightening, as with most things, the devil is in the details. With our family budgets, for example, we might start by forgoing that dinner out, skipping the movie in favor of renting a DVD, putting off that family vacation, or turning down the thermostat a couple of notches. After making the obvious cuts, though, the choices become much more difficult.

When it comes to figuring out just where to make cuts in our businesses, we should also think long and hard before we act. For companies trying to adjust to a new economic reality, where to cut rarely involves obvious and easy choices. For instance, market research, organizational development, and human resources -- functional areas that often own a company's customer and employee measurement budgets as well as its leadership and succession-planning activities -- are often easy initial targets for cost-cutting efforts. But shutting down these crucial listening posts and people-management processes may mean that your company is doing away with information that could be key to its survival -- and instead, is trusting in luck.

Key questions

We hear it all too often: "Our business needs to cut somewhere, and this is as good a place as any. We'll start these programs back up when things get a little closer to normal." But applying scientific discipline to your company's hiring and succession-planning processes and monitoring the health of your customer and employee relationships are no longer "nice to have" items. In today's business environment, and particularly in times of uncertainty, they are absolutely essential. Why?

Well, ask yourself these questions:

Do we have the people we need to lead us through tough economic times? Disciplined selection processes and carefully validated succession planning can help ensure that you have the right people on your team to start with. But equally important, these systems can make sure that the people on the team are in the right roles. If you make sure that the right leaders and managers are in place, then it's much more likely that your company will be able to formulate and execute its survival strategy.

Reducing headcount usually involves an organizational realignment. When deciding who must go -- and why -- it's important to retain not only the best leadership talent but the right blend of talent for the realigned organization. Maintaining your company's best talent during downturns is essential, and a disciplined, fact-based selection and succession-planning methodology can help you identify and retain the best leaders for specific roles, situations, and teams. Companies that have an appropriate methodology for selecting and retaining talent can ensure that organizational realignment and downsizing won't threaten the effectiveness of the revised leadership structure.
 
This article without a doubt is for the business owner. I ask that you really think of it from the perspective of the employee. Look at it as though you are the subject of this economic challenge, look at it as though the business owner is your boss, and he/she is looking to cut off some company fat. These are the rules of engagement, my friend.

If you want to thrive in your current position, it's valuable that you understand this type of business thinking.
What are you doing to secure your position?

What value are you driving? So, that at the end of the day, it's the person next to you that gets cut and not you. The trophy is given to those who know how to drive the most value. Those who focus on personal and professional development i.e. their personal brand will be the victors.

What are you waiting for? Get Movin'.

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Small Business Coach # 5 What Strength is Best for Business?

 

Introduction to the Series:

I have been thinking about you; your goals, ambitions, and challenges. I felt it was appropriate to provide several concepts related to expanding your business. I know that expansion is probably the furthest thing from your mind; it just seems to me that you have worked yourself into a corner. Expansion may be your way out of work and back into your life. I know this may seem paradoxical, but trust me.

At this point it's unfathomable for your business not to need you. You may even cringe at the thought of taking some time away from your organization; I'm sure the thoughts that follow are fairly disastrous. How would you ever stay afloat if you stopped working for a week, a month, and god forbid a year? What would your life be like if you could see life beyond your business?

One thing I have learned in my years of running multiple businesses is that we really have to find a way to let go of the concepts that may be holding us back, and at the very least challenge our assumptions.

Instead of your business needing you perhaps this is a case of you needing your business. Maybe you are in love with the meaning it contributes to your life, the financial rewards, the deep emotional satisfaction when things are going well, the feeling of triumph when you move forward in spite of challenging times. In any case I'm sure your life amounts to much more than running a profitable small business.

A Paradigm Shift

You are not meant to focus on your business in the way that you do. Your business is an instrument, not the destination. Please keep in mind that life is about fulfilling a purpose beyond fiduciary responsibilities. What is your purpose? Can you look beyond the obvious to see how your occupation can be used to elevate your life's meaning?

Knowledge, Talent, Responsibility and Timing

Understanding your organization intimately and it's key indicators is the first step in recruiting the talent you need. Having a comprehension of executive roles and responsibilities will help you to identify key talent. The expansion is best paid for gradually. A smart and workable plan includes:

Understanding:

• Departmental Functions
• Responsibilities in your Business
• Critical Areas
• Key Drivers
• How to identify the Right Candidate
• How to Delegate Essential  Responsibility
• How to Create an ROI

Assembling your management team one by one is your sure way to success.  Taking this process slow is a sure way to build and track your ROI. Your prospective team member needs to have an ability to think strategically and act tactically.

At this point you should be able reflect on all your data and answer the question: What role do you need to fill; in order to create the most leverage, in your small business? Although business responsibilities will be more diverse than a title portrays, you should evaluate a candidates based on strengths that are associated with a specific role.

Chief Executive Officer(CEO)

The role of the CEO is to provide leadership to position the company at the forefront of the industry. Develop a strategic plan to advance the company's mission and objectives and to promote revenue, profitability and growth as an organization. Oversee company operations to insure production efficiency, quality, service, and cost-effective management of resources. The CEO is generally considered the company’s de facto leader, and is often looked upon to establish and communicate the business’s overall vision and purpose to all interested parties.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO)/President

The Chief Operating Officer (COO)/President is responsible for ensuring that: The company’s strategies are acted upon successfully sufficient human, financial, technological, informational, and material resources are available to carry these out the necessary business relationships, organizational structures, and motivational schemes are in place. Often, the COO or President is also called upon to take a leadership role in implementing corporate strategy, particularly as it relates to motivating the company’s personnel, suppliers, potential and actual customers, and investors.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO)/Vice President of Finance/Director of Finance is responsible for ensuring and maintaining the financial health of the company, and is often also charged with responsibility for solidifying and maintaining investor relationships. As often as not, this role will have a ‘dotted line’ relationship to the Board of Directors. In many cases, the CFO’s role will also encompass responsibilities for corporate administration, legal affairs, and the company’s internal information technology infrastructure.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO)/Vice President of Technology/Director of Technology is responsible for ensuring that the company’s technological infrastructure is sound. This may include both the company’s internal operating environment as well as the technological content of its products and often will also include responsibility for the distribution of information-based products.

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for ensuring the health and availability of the company’s data and information assets from the perspective of its internal business users, and includes the gathering, processing, and dissemination of key market and industry intelligence to those users in support of the company’s strategic and operational needs.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)/Vice President of Marketing Communications/ Director of Marketing is responsible for establishing the company’s brand and presence within the marketplace for its products and/or services, and is often substantially involved in representing the company and its future potential to a variety of industry audiences including potential and existing customers, investors, and others. Often, this individual plays a key role in establishing the company’s product road map, given their intimate knowledge of needs, wants, and trends within the marketplace.

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Psycho-Physiologic Executive (4 of 4) Self-Motivation

The Challenges of The Business Life:

As a business professional, whether you are an intrepreneur or an entrepreneur, if your responsibility includes driving revenue for the organization, with imposed deadlines you are under a tremendous amount of stress.

Experiencing the emotional highs and lows of everyday business is life draining. Your failures bring about feelings of deprivation and self-condemnation. Your wins bring the stress of your new obligations of client fulfillment, and god forbid if you should loose one of your largest clients, and don't forget about any investors you have to answer to. It is important in such occasions to monitor your response to the stresses of the day, because the most important thing in your life is your health, once you loose it nothing else will matter.

We live in a time when American’s are under an unprecedented amount of stress. In survey after survey, with the amount of stress we, as Americans, are under it has been reported that stress is our number one health concern. More than 50% of adults in the U.S. report high stress on a daily basis. When we fail to respond constructively to stress it affects our health, business, and leadership performance.

Studies indicate that it is not stress that cause negative effects in our health, leading up to lifestyle diseases or psycho-physiologic illness, but how we respond to stress. If the chronic effects of stress are acquired by our emotional response to stress, than we can eliminate the lasting effects of stress by changing our behavior. Steps can be taken in the direction of healthful living through the study and application of principles related to emotional intelligence (EI).

In this small series (which I will post through out the next couple of days) I will take you through a few areas to get you started:

• Psycho-physiologic relationship
• Self-awareness; managing emotions through mindfulness
• Social competence
  
• Self motivation

The Beginning 

It is important that we consider this series more than an exercise of intellect, but that we understand the relevancy and practical implications set forth. Growing in our understanding of Positive Psychology and Emotional Intelligence depends on our motivation.  Any modifications in behavior must first begin in the mind. 

Psychological Principle

The locus of Control is a psychological principle discovered by Julian B. Rotter in 1954. Locus of control refers to the degree in which a person feels in control of his life versus a product of circumstances or forces beyond his control. Those who have a high locus of control are more self-motivated and happy. The more in control someone feels the higher his self-esteem and the stronger the motivations and mental health. The individuals who have this sense of self-worth derived from their feelings of control will be motivated to strengthen their health. The ability to be motivated rests on our ability to manipulate or to control our own emotions.

Self-Motivation and The Mind

The subconscious mind control our levels of motivation. Our  mind will drive us toward what we focus on, i.e. verbal affirmations, visual affirmations, or emotional affirmations. It is how you think about your lifestyle change that will make all the differences in your well-being.

Your Environment

With any new habits your focus becomes intensified as you consider your environment. If I were dead serious on changing my eating habits would I bring unhealthy foods into my home? (Probably not) how do you suppose I could set up my environment to reflect and reinforce the behavioral change?  I would find tons of books, audio and video programs, I would perhaps place visuals in my home of things that would inspire healthful living.  In other words I would feed my mind things that would empower me to continue with the change.  I would also make provision, If I loved late night snacks, I would make sure that I had plenty of healthy late night snacks.

What do you have to change in your environment?
What provisions do you need to make?

Perspective

You can think of the principles presented in this series as one, two or three things you need to do in order to help with stress management; which you will feel less and less inclined to do within time. You can also think of making a life time study of EI and Positive Psychology, focusing on new behaviors as your studying reveals them.  If you focus on a long-term strategy for managing stress it will cause you to think differently about those habits.
 

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Small Business Coach # 4 What Are Your Key Indicators?

Introduction to the Series:

I have been thinking about you; your goals, ambitions, and challenges.  I  felt it was appropriate to provide several concepts related to expanding your business. I know that expansion is probably the furthest thing from your mind; it just seems to me that you have worked yourself into a corner.  Expansion may be your way out of work and back into your life. I know this may seem paradoxical, but trust me.

At this point it's unfathomable for your business not to need you. You may even cringe at the thought of taking some time away from your organization; I'm sure the thoughts that follow are fairly disastrous. How would you ever stay afloat if you stopped working for a week, a month, and god forbid a year? What would your life be like if you could see life beyond your business?

One thing I have learned in my years of running multiple businesses is that we really have to find a way to let go of the concepts that may be holding us back, and at the very least challenge our assumptions.

Instead of your business needing you perhaps this is a case of you needing your business. Maybe you are in love with the meaning it contributes to your life, the financial rewards, the deep emotional satisfaction when things are going well, the feeling of triumph when you move forward in spite of challenging times. In any case I'm sure your life amounts to much more than running a profitable small business.

A Paradigm Shift

You are not meant to focus on your business in the way that you do. Your business is an instrument, not the destination. Please keep in mind that life is about fulfilling a purpose beyond fiduciary responsibilities. What is your purpose? Can you look beyond the obvious to see how your occupation can be used to elevate your life's meaning?

Key Indicators

If you did the work I asked you to do in our last conversation:

The Small Business Coach # 3 Is the Health of Your Business Costing You?  

You probably feel overwhelmed about what you need to be doing more of and what you are neglecting to do altogether.  If expansion is still the goal of the business you must understand the critical success areas of your business, that if neglected will cause you to ultimately fail as a business person. As a small business you have limited resources and can't spread yourself too thin in those areas that are going to have little or no impact on the success of your company, currently.  You need to decide what factors you depend on to be successful.  These are call key indicators or critical success factors.

What Are Your Key Indicators?  

What I will ask you to do next is to write the five to seven areas that you can not be compromise.  If you are a product driven organization you may consider R&D to be a starting point.  If you are a service driven organization you may consider training and development to be effective.  These of course can be followed up with things such as marketing, sales, or client fulfillment.  When finished describing related processes or protocols work to get better in these areas; starting with the area that is going to make the biggest difference and moving to the area that has the least impact. Working on anything else is a luxury you can't afford.

Operating a small business is a juggling act with the five to seven critical success factors. This should help you to increase cash flow.  If you run into the good fortune of having more money than time, consider outsourcing and automating some of your work.

Now, I think we are ready to think through assembling your management team; Stay Tuned!

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Small Business Coach # 3 Is The Health of Your Business Costing You?

Introduction to the Series:

I have been thinking about you; your goals, ambitions, and challenges.  I  felt it was appropriate to provide several concepts related to expanding your business. I know that expansion is probably the furthest thing from your mind; it just seems to me that you have worked yourself into a corner.  Expansion may be your way out of work and back into your life. I know this may seem paradoxical, but trust me.

At this point it's unfathomable for your business not to need you. You may even cringe at the thought of taking some time away from your organization; I'm sure the thoughts that follow are fairly disastrous. How would you ever stay afloat if you stopped working for a week, a month, and god forbid a year? What would your life be like if you could see life beyond your business?

One thing I have learned in my years of running multiple businesses is that we really have to find a way to let go of the concepts that may be holding us back, and at the very least challenge our assumptions.

Instead of your business needing you perhaps this is a case of you needing your business. Maybe you are in love with the meaning it contributes to your life, the financial rewards, the deep emotional satisfaction when things are going well, the feeling of triumph when you move forward in spite of challenging times. In any case I'm sure your life amounts to much more than running a profitable small business.

A Paradigm Shift

You are not meant to focus on your business in the way that you do. Your business is an instrument, not the destination. Please keep in mind that life is about fulfilling a purpose beyond fiduciary responsibilities. What is your purpose? Can you look beyond the obvious to see how your occupation can be used to elevate your life's meaning?

The Practice of Business Development

Before you begin recruiting executives for your small business expansion, you must be crystal clear about your organizational needs. For you to assume that the most important things in your business are identified by the pressures you feel, is an error in judgment. The very fact that you feel an inordinate amount of  stress could mean that you are focusing in the wrong areas.

Think Twice

Instead of quickly turning to your experience, mentally dissect your business. Your goal in dissecting is to identify departmental roles, responsibilities, and objectives. By doing this you will soon understand what you are neglecting to do altogether.  After you are finished with the description for each department ask yourself: are you ensuring that appropriate attention is given toward each responsibility?  Write down what areas you need to improve on and the areas you are neglecting. The more honest you are with yourself the more insight you will gather in this process.

The Organization Of 'It' All

For all intents and purposes I listed a few segments below to get you started;  these segments deserve your attention. If I have neglected something in your business please feel free to add it to the list. When you are finished you should have every detail of your business written down i.e. every process or protocol, departmental functions and objectives, areas that deserve more attention, and areas that you are neglecting altogether. You should end up with a business document that you can revisit, add to, and change over time as your business develops and  grows.

Marketing
  Market Research
  Branding
  Lead Generation
  Sales/Account Management

Operations
  Customer Service
  Support
  R&D
  Quality Assurance

Finances
  Accounts Receivable
  Accounts Payable
  MIS

Human Resources
  Talent Acquisition
  Benefits
  Training and Development

Closing Thoughts

The reason for this type of thinking is for you to understand the health of your small business.  If you have an unhealthy business and choose to expand it you will expand the disfunction of the business.  If you invest in an unhealthy business; without prior knowledge on how to get it on track, you are simply making your challenges bigger and more expensive.

What is The Health of Your Business Costing You?

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Small Business Coach # 2 Getting Down and Dirty

 

Introduction to the Series:

I have been thinking about you; your goals, ambitions, and challenges.  I  felt it was appropriate to provide several concepts related to expanding your business. I know that expansion is probably the furthest thing from your mind; it just seems to me that you have worked yourself into a corner.  Expansion may be your way out of work and back into your life. I know this may seem paradoxical, but trust me.

At this point it's unfathomable for your business not to need you. You may even cringe at the thought of taking some time away from your organization; I'm sure the thoughts that follow are fairly disastrous. How would you ever stay afloat if you stopped working for a week, a month, and god forbid a year? What would your life be like if you could see life beyond your business?

One thing I have learned in my years of running multiple businesses is that we really have to find a way to let go of the concepts that may be holding us back, and at the very least challenge our assumptions.

Instead of your business needing you perhaps this is a case of you needing your business. Maybe you are in love with the meaning it contributes to your life, the financial rewards, the deep emotional satisfaction when things are going well, the feeling of triumph when you move forward in spite of challenging times. In any case I'm sure your life amounts to much more than running a profitable small business.

A Paradigm Shift

You are not meant to focus on your business in the way that you do. Your business is an instrument, not the destination. Please keep in mind that life is about fulfilling a purpose beyond fiduciary responsibilities. What is your purpose? Can you look beyond the obvious to see how your occupation can be used to elevate your life's meaning?

Do The Dirty Work

Whether this is something you are ready to do now or you have a three, five, or eight year agenda, you must consider how you will pay for the expansion. I am a firm believer that a business owner should know how to acquire customers and to fulfill her obligations to her clients before raising capital or attempting to invest in an expansion. If a business executive isn't sure how to be profitable when she is running a small business than just adding money to her equation will simply increase her loss.

Shortly, I will present obstacles that when overcome will serve as lessons and milestones. Claiming victory over these hurtles will qualify you for a profitable business expansion.  If you do not get through these challenges before expanding you will increase your chances of failing as a small business. You must identify what milestone is immediately ahead of you and work through these challenges creatively, objectively, and on paper. Getting through these lessons offers the education and experience you need to create momentum.

Many professionals never discover the truth about working out these details before tugging at the coat sleeve of a VCs or Loan Officers. In return these individuals end up frustrated and more in debt. The very act of overcoming these challenges will teach you how to expand a business successfully. Adding to this type of  success by developing your management team will only cause your business to flourish.

THREE OBSTACLES TO A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS EXPANSION

1.) Not Enough Sales

The first obstacle in business is to make enough sales to keep the lights on and your bills paid. Loans or savings can be used to established or carry the company until that point. If you are facing this obstacle don't take your time for granted. You need to invest every minute of your time and every ounce of your energy marketing and selling; until you get it right. This is not the time to settle for mediocrity or second best. Whether you are involved in inbound marketing i.e. Content Marketing, Blogging, SEO, Social Media Marketing, etc... or outbound marketing i.e. Cold Calling, PPC Campaigns, Email Marketing etc... work long hours and work smart. At this point it is about volume; make as many calls as you can, blog as often as you can, network as often as you can. Getting beyond this arena takes time and hard work; many businesses fail because executives can't get through this.

2.). Too Much Work for One Person, Too Little Cash to Hire Someone.

The second obstacle comes when you are moving from negative to positive cash flow. In this instance you are overwhelmed with client fulfillment, and customer acquisition.  You are convinced you should hire someone, but you can't afford it. This is part of business growth. Although every situation is diverse, if an owner is witnessing an overwhelming amount of work as a result of getting business and still can't afford to hire someone, than she is wasting her time catering to smaller opportunities and needs to either increase her prices, repackage her offering, (so that she is getting paid for her work load) or refocus her attention on clients that can pay the highest amount for her products or services.

3.) Too Many Customers, Too Much to do - To Be Organized.

This is the stage where the juggling factor begins to produce feelings of overwhelm and confusion. Everything is in disarray, and your disarray is costing you your reputation and your customers. Your disorganization and disarray is causing you to miss appointments or customer commitments. There is a need for ingenuity to work your way to a healthier business. If you are facing challenges in this area you must work at reorganizing your organization. This is the exact time the professional needs to organize, stream line processes, and to discover new technologies and outsourcing.

What obstacles do you need to overcome in order to afford your expansion?

Once you get through these three stages and you know how to run a profitable business, than it's time to begin planning for a management team.

Stay Tuned!

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

Business Coaching from a Marketer #1 SEO for The Blogger

Business and The Marketer

If you are in business for yourself or own a small business it is important that you realize the role that a marketer plays in your organization.  Every business owner needs to be a marketer whether this is a function you delegate or not. Thinking like a marketer will help you to realize the vast potential of your market and offering.

In this series I will post entries that will help you to make the most out of your brand and online presence.

How to Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines 

By: Darren Rowse’s
Written on November 24th, 2006
Problogger.net

So you’re looking to increase the profitability of your blog for the Christmas period (and beyond). You’ve optimized your AdSense, Chitika and Affiliate programs, you’ve even written a little seasonal content…. but there’s one missing element…. Traffic.

Unless you actually have people viewing your blog it is very difficult to actually earn anything from it.

So how do you drive traffic to your blog?

I’ve written quite a bit of this previously in a number of posts (for example here) but want to spend a little time talking today about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Why SEO?

When you are looking online for information on a topic where do you go first?
While I’m sure there will be a variety of answers given to that question – the majority of average web users would answer with one word – ‘Google’.

Every day Search Engines like Google send many millions of web users to websites in their index. While there are plenty of Web 2.0 web indexing services around that are increasing in popularity – the fact is that search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are still the biggest source of traffic to websites on the web. As a result – learning how to be indexed and ranked well by them seems like a no brainer.

Writing for Search Engines and Humans

Some bloggers have a problem with the idea of optimizing a blog for search engines. They argue that rather than writing for search engines a blogger’s sole focus should be that they write quality content for humans.

I personally don’t see that writing for humans and search engines have to be mutually exclusive things – in my opinion both can be achieved without compromising either.

Some bloggers argue that if you write for humans that SEO looks after itself. To some extent I agree with that – if you do write quality content that others like you will find that they link up to your site (a key in SEO) – however I would argue that incoming links from other sites is just one part of climbing the rankings in Search Engines (an important part but not the only one).

There are other factors that come into play also and I believe that by knowing them and naturally incorporating them into your blogging you can increase your chances of being found by readers in Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Of course – some people become a little obsessed with SEO and forget the human reader, don’t fall for this trap and keep a balanced approach and you’ll benefit both from traffic from the search engines as well as a loyal readership who keeps coming back for more quality content.

Basic SEO tips for Bloggers

I’ve written previously on this topic so rather than writing the same thing again in a slightly different way will republish some of my previous tips below. I hope you find them useful.

Before I start - I’ll say that while I do get a lot of SE traffic that I’m not really an SEO expert (it isn’t what I devote most of my time to). If you want to read something by someone who has spent a lot more time and effort on the topic I recommend looking at an e-book by Aaron Wall – SEO Book (aff). I’ve actually been reading through it in the last few weeks (it’s been on my to do list for a long time) and have found it really helpful.

SEO experts tend to divide search engine optimization techniques into off site and on site techniques.

Off Site SEO Techniques

Off site SEO techniques are as the name suggests factors from outside the site itself (ie from other sites) that impact the blog’s ranking in search engines. Many of these factors are outside the blogger’s control – however they are useful to know. The most obvious and probably most powerful offsite factor are Inbound Links (something I’ve already referred to above).

It is generally agreed that the links that point to a website are one of the most powerful way of climbing Search Engines results pages (in fact many argue it is THE most important factor). – To put it most simply – every link to your site is seen by the search engines as being a vote of confidence in your site.

Ideally Speaking – The best inbound links have three main qualities to them:

1. they are from higher ranked sites than your own
2. they are relevant to the topic you are writing about
3. they link to you using relevant keywords to your page

Whilst you may not have complete control over who links to you these are the types of links that you should be dreaming of.

How to generate quality inbound Links?

Of course whilst most of us know this it doesn’t make getting such links any easier – its in the hands of others in many cases. So how do you get such links?

Quality Content – There are all kinds of link generating systems out there but in my opinion the best way to get links to your blog is to write quality content that people will want to read. You can solicit links with others or sign up for different link building programs or even buy text links on other sites but the cheapest and probably safest approach is to build inbound links in a natural organic way as others link to your quality content.

Notify Relevant Bloggers of your content – Whilst I don’t advocate spamming other bloggers and asking for links – I would recommend that if you write a quality post on a topic that you know will interest another blogger that it might be worth shooting them a short and polite email letting them know of your post. Don’t be offended if they don’t link up, but you might just find that they do and that in addition to the direct traffic that the link generates that it helps build your own page rank in the search engines (more on letting other bloggers know of your posts here).

Directories – Another way to generating inbound links is to submit your links to directories. I know of webmasters who swear by the benefits of such a strategy – the first thing that they do when starting a new site is to do the rounds of directories – submitting links to key pages with appropriate keywords in the links. There are loads of directories out there – many of which offer a free submission. Ari Paparo has compiled a list of blog directories that you might want to start with.

Inter-link your Blogs – Increasingly bloggers are starting or joining blog networks to enjoy the benefits of multiple sites and writers working together. One of the advantages of networks of sites is that they usually link to one another. In doing so you have complete control over how your sites are linked to from multiple domains. It is worth noting that you should be careful with this approach – if all your sites are hosted on the one server many think that Search Engines will work out what you’re doing and the impact will be lessened.

Buy Links – Many professional web masters have a budget to purchase links from other highly ranked and and relevant sites. I won’t go into this too much here but you might like to read more about it in my recent post On Buying Text Links.

 Swap Links – Similarly many bloggers swap links with other bloggers. Sometimes this happens pretty naturally (you see someone linking to you so you link back) but in many cases the links are strategic ones and formally arranged between site owners. I get daily requests for such reciprocal links (I rarely act on them). Whilst there is some benefit in such link swapping I would again advise caution here as many SEO experts believe that the search engines have methods for tracking such strategies and devaluing the links. Some try to get around this by doing indirect or triangulated links. ie instead of site A and B doign a direct swap they involve other sites. So A links to C in exchange for D (also owned by C) linking to B (also owned by A) – makes your head hurt doesn’t it!?! There are also a variety of systems around that say they’ll take care of such interlinking for you – I know many who use Digital Point’s Free C0-Op Advertising system. Personally I tend to avoid such schemes and have a policy of linking to sites I think are valuable to my readers. If they link back then so be it.

 If you’re looking for link exchange/buying/selling programs you might like to look at systems like:

- Link Adage
- Text Link Ads
- Link Worth

On Site SEO Techniques

Having looked at Offsite Search Engine Optimization Techniques I’ll now turn my attention to examining some of the factors you might like to keep in mind as you build your blog – (or Onsite techniques – things you do on your blog that help build a higher ranking). As with all SEO techniques there are many of these and a lot of speculation around all of them so let me touch on as many as I can:

1. Keyword Rich Content – identify a few keywords for your article that you’re hoping will get indexed highly by Google. Don’t pick too many but consider the questions

• How do I want people to find this post in Search Engines?
• What will they type into Google if they want information on the topic you’re writing?
• How would I find information on this topic in the Search Engines?
• What results come up when I do plug these keywords into Google?
• What other keywords are other sites using?

The answer to these questions will give you a hint as to what words you’ll want to see repeated throughout your article a number of times.

These keywords will need to be the most common words used in your article. Use them in some or all of the following ways:

• Keywords in post and page titles (read my post on using keywords in titles)
• Keywords in URL of page (blog herald wrote on this a while back)
• Keywords in outbound links. Of course you should always link to sources of content as an ethical consideration but the bonus of this is that many SEO experts think that linking to relevant and quality sites on the same topic of your post with good keywords can also add credibility to YOUR post also.
• Keywords in bold tags (try do it at least once)
• Keywords in heading tags (there is debate over exactly how to use them but it’s generally accepted that h1 tags are important and that h2, h3, h4 etc tags also have an impact. Having said that I’ve seen some pages rank very well in search engines without using heading tags. There are many tutorials online about heading tags – here’s one.)
• Keywords in image alt tags (here’s how)
• Keywords in the general throughout the text of your post – but especially early on in the first few sentences
• Keywords in meta tags (they seem to be less valuable these days but many still believe they are useful with some search engines – here’s a Guide to meta tags)

Of course you can go over the top with keywords in posts and let it destroy your content – but if it fits with what you’ve written tweak it to include the words you are targeting a couple of extra times. Most SEO experts recommend getting your keyword density up to between 5-20% – I think 20% is probably bordering on massacring your content.

One last word of warning and disclaimer on keyword rich content (because I can just hear the comments on this post already) – don’t sacrifice your readers experience of your site just for the sake of SEO. Yes keyword density can be important in climbing the search engine rankings – but more important is that your content and design are user friendly and helpful to readers. There is nothing worse than a site that is stuffed with keywords – these sites come off as cheap, nasty and spammy – don’t fall for the temptation.

Keep in mind keywords that might be specific to the season we are approaching. While during the year there might be less people searching for posts relating to Christmas, gifts, presents, new year sales etc – this time of year will see an increase in these types of searches.

2. Themed sites - One of the growing theories of SEO is that you are more likely to rank well if you have a substantial amount of pages on a similar theme. ie a niche topic blog will probably rank higher than a general one that covers many topics. Build a blog with over 200 pages of content on the same theme and you’ll increase your chances of ranking well as SEs will see you as an authority on the topic. The take home advice here is to keep to some kind of a topic/niche/theme for your blog. It is also probably another argument for categories and tagging posts that relate together strongly.

3. Site Design – Search Engines like well laid out, well coded and easily to navigate sites. Make sure your pages validate (I need to work more on this) and that they are viewable on all major browsers. Search Engines don’t tend to like too much Flash, Frames or Java Script in your site – keep it simple and clean and their robots will index your site a lot faster and more accurately. Also try to keep your blog free from dead links (a challenge for those of us with older blogs with big archives).

4. Interlink your Site – The way Search Engines index your blog is to send little robot crawlers to your site to track what you’ve written and follow the links. Make it easier for them to get around your blog by using internal linking wisely. Most SEO experts recommend that you provide some sort of Site Map that means every page on your blog is just a link or two away from every other one. One way to do this for bloggers is to make sure that your category pages are in your sidebars as I do in this blog. Also make sure every page links back to your main page and any other important pages on your site. If you’re writing on a topic you’ve previously written about consider linking to what you’ve written before or use a ‘other relevant posts’ feature at the base of your article. You’ll see in my menus at the top of the page a number of my key categories and articles. One of the impacts of having them highlighted in this way is that they have become some of the most highly ranked pages on ProBlogger simply because they are linked to from every page of this blog. This is a key point in the lead up to Christmas – if you have a few seasonal posts that you particularly want to do well in the SE’s make sure they are linked to from every page on your blog.

5. Update regularly – The more you update your blog the more often Search Engines will send their crawlers to your site to index it. This will mean your new articles could appear in the index within days or even hours rather than weeks. This is a natural benefit of blogging – make the most of it!

6. Outbound Links – There is debate over how SEs treat outbound links from your blog. I’m in the camp who believe that relevant outbound links enhance your site’s ranking in search engines. I always link out to quality relevant sites that I think my readers will find useful and have a little anecdotal evidence that seems to support the theory that this is healthy for the way SEs index you (check out Waynes article on the topic for more info). Linking to sites outside your own blog does mean you end up sending traffic away from your blog so you need to count the cost of such a strategy. Note that you should always try to link to reputable and relevant sites to your own page. Also keep in mind that too many outbound could have detrimental impact upon your blog. Like in most things in SEO – moderation is the key.

7. Choose your domain name wisely – there are numerous factors to keep in mind when selecting a domain name. For one you might like to include your keyword in it if possible. Secondly you should do a little research to see if someone else has previously used the domain. This could have both positive and negative impact. If it was a quality site with inbound links you might reap some benefits but if it was a banned spam site you could still be banned from Google for a long time. One service you might want to use to check expired domains is Way Back Machine at Archive.org.

8. Register your Domain for a Lengthy Period – a recent patent by Google indicates that it now looks at the length of your domain’s registration in ranking it. It does this because many spam sites have short registrations and a longer one indicates that you’re building a site with substance and are in it for the long haul.

9. One topic per post – the more tightly focused the theme of a page the better when Search Engines come to rank it. Sometimes you might find yourself writing long posts that end up covering a number of different topics. They might relate loosely but if search engine ranking is what you’re after it could be better to break up your post into smaller more focused pieces.

10. Write optimal length posts – there is some thought going around the Search Engine Optimization community that pages that are too short can get passed over for high rankings. I try to keep posts at least 250 words. Of course there are some posts on my blogs that are shorter, but if I’m writing a post that I want to rank well I try to give it some meatiness in terms of length. On the other hand don’t make it too long either – because in doing so you make it difficult to keep your keyword density up and could end up with a less tightly focused page. Research also shows that longer articles can have a pretty steep drop off rate in readers after the text gets below the ‘fold’ or to the end of the first screen of article (looks like this post is in trouble – is anyone still reading?).

11. Avoid Duplicate content – Google warns publishers in its guidelines about having the same content on multiple pages. This goes for both multiple pages that you own but also pages that others own. This is because a tactic of spammers is often to reproduce content on many pages and/or to steel content from other sites. There is some debate over what duplicate content does and doesn’t include (for instance many bloggers use ‘free articles’ as content on their blogs – these articles often appear on hundreds and even thousands of other sites around the web and to me could be seen as duplicate content) – my advice is to be very careful about how many places your content appears. I do republish occasional posts (or parts of them) but try not to do this too much and attempt to add elements that are unique on each occasion that the posts are republished).

12. Ping – services like Pingomatic (there are numerous others too) will ping a variety of websites for you to notify them that you’ve updated. In doing so you’ll also be letting search engines know that you’ve updated which will trigger their robots to come visit your blog. I’d also suggest pinging Google’s blog search tool.

13. Submit your RSS to MyYahoo – submitting your RSS feed to MyYahoo seems to help with getting indexed on Yahoo. Read more about this at Getting Yahoo Traffic for your Blog. Some also think that doing the same thing to Google’s Personalised pages could have a similar impact.

14. Quantities of Content – I always get into trouble when I write about having lots of content – but I think its true that bigger sites tend to rank better than smaller sites – whilst it is possible to rank highly with a small site – it’s probably not the norm.. Search Engines will see your site as more comprehensive the more content you have. You also better your odds of being found in Search Engines if you have more pages. By no means am I saying just to put up random junk content – be careful about this – rather work at building a comprehensive and large site over time.

15. Submit to Search Engines – You can do all the best onsite SEO strategies in the world and still get no where because the Search Engines have not found you to start with. Each search engine has a way of letting it know about your site – submit your URL to be included in the index. Please note that this takes time and perhaps a quicker and more effective way is to get linked to by a site already indexed by the search engine. I’ve written a post about his previously here.

You might also like to tryout some of the services around that offer to submit your sites to search engines for you – I’d be wary of paying for this sort of service though. I never have and seem to do ok.

The Time Factor

One more element that I think is often overlooked in SEO tips posts is that of ‘Time’. My own experience of blogging is that you can do all of the above things and still not be ranked well in the Search Engines for months and months. Here at ProBlogger it actually took around a year before I started to get significant search engine traffic – despite me doing all the ‘right things’.
This might not be particularly good news for those of you wanting to optimize your site for Christmas this year – but it is yet another reminder that blogging is a long term thing and that it takes considerable time for a blog to become established.

If you’re not ranking well in the search engines – hang in there. Keep posting, keep working on quality content and keep the above factors in mind – as you do this you’ll find that in time your SE traffic will gradually increase.

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Small Business Coach # 1 A Precursor to Business Expansion

Introduction to the Series:

I have been thinking about you; your goals, ambitions, and challenges.  I  felt it was appropriate to provide several concepts related to expanding your business. I know that expansion is probably the furthest thing from your mind; it just seems to me that you have worked yourself into a corner.  Expansion may be your way out of work and back into your life. I know this may seem paradoxical, but trust me.

At this point it's unfathomable for your business not to need you.  You may even cringe at the thought of taking some time away from your organization; I'm sure the thoughts that follow are fairly disastrous. How would you ever stay afloat if you stopped working for a week, a month, and god forbid a year?  What would your life be like if you could see life beyond your business?

One thing I have learned in my years of running multiple businesses is that we really have to find a way to let go of the concepts that may be holding us back, and at the very least challenge our assumptions.

Instead of your business needing you perhaps this is a case of you needing your business.  Maybe you are in  love with the meaning it contributes to your life, the financial  rewards,  the deep emotional satisfaction when things are going well,  the feeling of triumph when you move forward in spite of challenging  times.  In any case I'm sure your life amounts to much more than running a profitable small business.

A Paradigm Shift

You are not meant to focus on your business in the way that  you do.  Your business is an instrument, not the destination.  Please keep in mind that life is  about fulfilling a purpose beyond fiduciary responsibilities.  What is your purpose?  Can you look beyond the obvious to see how your occupation can be used to elevate your life's meaning? 

Welcome to You NEW Infrastructure!

Revisiting the Cashflow Quadrant:

Robert Kawasaki introduced a business concept regarding business ownership.  I know that it will serve you well.  On the left side you have the E (Employee) and the S (Small Business) on the right you have the B (Big Business) and the I (Investor).  Following are the implications to each quadrant.  Which quadrant are you in?

The Employee Quadrant:

Working for someone else will earn you  a living, however you are  making someone else wealthy or financially independent. You are exchanging hours for dollars, beyond your PTO if you don't show up you will not get paid.

The Small Business Quadrant

You just purchased a job. Working 70 hours a week to manage a business  that couldn't survive without you.  If you stop you will lose everything. You are exchanging hours for dollars, if you don't show up your customers will fire you or you will miss the opportunity to acquire more clients.

The Big Business Quadrant

This is a big business infrastructure created to sustain financial independence for the owner(s). If you decided to take the rest of your life off,  you would still have a flourishing business.

The Investment Quadrant

This is a quadrant where your money is creating a passive income  stream; as in the case if you were investing in good stock or real estate.  Eventually all of us should be here.

Adding To Your Life

This is one area that you don't want to miss the boat in.  You must understand that your business needs to add to your life, and not take it away.

I prepared a couple of quick reads for you concerning business expansion; In which I will post throughout the next several weeks

What other choices do you have?

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

The Truth about Losing the Sale

How to Avoid Losing The Next One.

By: Miller Heiman (Strategic Selling)

Anyone who sells for a living can tell stories about how a deal fell through. No matter how expert or experienced you are, the pang of disappointment that comes when your competition wins is always uncomfortable.

Recently Miller Heiman sales consultant: Pam Switzer had an opportunity to interview the head of a government-funded Health Center. Pam shares insights straight from a decision-maker - about why a sale was lost.

A Lost Sale

Pam tells readers: I’ve been conducting interviews with decision-makers over the past several months with a view towards developing an understanding of how institutions view the sales industry and how we in the industry might be able to provide added value to these organizations.

During my interview with the administrator of a government-funded Health Center, he revealed that capital funds were more readily available, that operating budgets were currently the most squeezed, and that the government is changing its

Who Won and Why?

I had become aware of this account because one of my clients had just recently lost a sale at this institution. Without revealing my client, I asked about the decision making process they followed and the criteria they used in determining which vendor to proceed with.

The administrator asked me, “Of the three vendors bidding on this four million dollar contract, how many do you think met with me?” The answer? ONE. I asked him if the successful vendor was the one who met with him and he smiled and said yes. I inquired about the final decision criteria. He said that despite the fact that the other two vendors had technically superior solutions---yes he actually said that for those of you who sell on features---the chosen vendor had built their proposal in such a way that the entire acquisition, including training and service, could be funded with the capital budget and not the operating budget.

In other words, the successful vendor asked great questions and then built their solution around what the decision maker needed.

He was incredulous that more medical device and Pharma reps didn’t call on him. “I make a lot of these decisions,” he said. “Why would they not want to understand what my needs are from an institutional and personal win perspective?”

So what is the key learning for all of us in this.

• Meet with administration.
• Ask them what their ideal solution looks like.
• Formulate your solution to their needs, and tailor your proposal accordingly.
• Don’t depend on product superiority to do your selling for you.

The Truth about Losing a Sale

There is always a specific, clearly identifiable reason that a sale is lost. But it’s not about who won the battle of features and benefits. If we listen to buyer decision makers, they tell us the simple truth of how to win.

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

Business Coaching for The Professional (8 of 17) Self-Discipline

Introduction to the Series

Business fundamentals have been the same since the beginning of commerce. The true fundamentals are not anything you do; as some type of technique, although 'doing' is in the nature of a professional. The real fundamentals are who you are, and who you become.

Since I'm a big fan of series, I want to introduce you to 17 principles in developing unshakable character. These principles will contribute to great professional success.

The Greatest Benefit

In order to receive the greatest benefit from this series: after being introduced to the character or behavioral principles, think on paper of how you can apply it in your current environment.

Don't fall into the trap of 'I already do that.' evaluate how the principle can be used more in your life. The focus is 100% saturation of each principle before moving on. Aim to have congruence of character.

This is the Seventh Personal Principle:

The attribute that keeps the momentum moving forward is self-discipline. As emerging leaders don't allow any excuses to inch themselves in your mind. Stay in control.

All that is conversed about in these 17 principles need to be ongoing disciplines in your life. Unfortunately success is created by the creation of habits or by new disciplines, so reading about it will only help you if you put the simple principle to work.

Self-discipline is self-explanatory; you may think of discipline as something that keeps you on the go, doing it, doing it, doing it. This is not what I am going to write about here.

It takes discipline to maintain a graceful presence in business. Choose to extend yourself in meaningful ways.

Consider the following disciplines:

• Exercise
  
• Get the appropriate amount of rest
• Eat nutritious foods
• Lead by example
• Create value
• Blog
• Study
• Do the work of a CEO (Strategic work vs. Tactical work)
  
• Connect with someone from your support system
• Trust yourself
• Be courageous
• Love
• Praise Someone
• Invest yourself in your people
• Send a meaningful note to a customer
• Give thanks
• Be happy
• Be humble
• Say: thank you
• Apologize
  

"Sure I am a religious man who is also passionate about conserving the environment. But I am also a CEO, with all the bad habits and attitudes that are natural to the species. . . . I am still naturally self-interested, overconfident, full of pride, and eager to control a meeting as any CEO in America. Every day, I struggle with my ego."

- Tom Chappell
Managing Upside Down

"The first and best victory is to conquer self."

-Plato 
Greek Philosopher

"You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself."

- Jim Whittaker

"Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways."

-H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 
Author

"It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them."

- La Rochefoucauld

"A man without decision of character can never be said to belong to himself . . .. He belongs to whatever can make captive of him."

-John Foster
Author

"Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time leading yourself—your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20% leading those with authority over you and 15% leading your peers. If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny."

-Dee Hock
Founder and CEO Emeritus
VISA International

"It is necessary to try to surpass one's self always: this occupation ought to last as long as life."

-Queen Christina of Sweden

"Beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry. One such attempt in ten thousand may succeed. These are fearful odds."

-Benjamin Disraeli

"Let me . . . ; remind you that it is only by working with an energy which is almost superhuman and which looks to uninterested spectators like insanity that we can accomplish anything worth the achievement. Work is the keystone of a perfect life. Work and trust in God."

-Woodrow Wilson

"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit."

-Aristotle

"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life."

- James Allen

"Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another."

-George Washington

"Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action."

-Vince Lombardi

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else."

-Henry Ward Beecher

"Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

- Mark Twain

"If we don't discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us."

-William Feather

"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power."

-Lao Tzu

"Never suffer your courage to exert itself in fierceness, your resolution in obstinacy, your wisdom in cunning, nor your patience in sullenness and despair. "

-Charles Palmer

"This quality of self-denial in pursuit of a longer-term goal and, indeed, the willpower to maintain the denial, is excellent training for the boardroom."

-John Viney Drive

"Rule your mind or it will rule you."

-Horace

"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."

-Thomas á Kempis

"Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal."

-Vince Lombardi

"Leaders who can stay optimistic and upbeat, even under intense pressure, radiate the positive feelings that create resonance. By staying in control of their feelings and impulses, they craft an environment of trust, comforts and fairness. And that self-management has a trickle down effect from the leader.

-Daniel Goleman,
Primal Leadership

"Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success."

-Robert J. Ringer

"It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, 'always do what you are afraid to do.'"

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A successful career will no longer be about promotion. It will be about mastery."

-Michael Hammer

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince."

-Vince Lombardi

"The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him—and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires."

-J. Paul Getty

"Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear—and doubt. Self-discipline allows a pitcher to feel his individuality, his inner strength, his talent. He is master of, rather than a slave to, his thoughts and emotions."

-H.A. Dorfman

Having your FREE evaluation with a business coach is a $500 value.

Business Coaching for The Professional (7 of 17) A Pleasing Personality

Introduction to the Series

Business fundamentals have been the same since the beginning of commerce. The true fundamentals are not anything you do; as some type of technique, although 'doing' is in the nature of a professional. The real fundamentals are who you are, and who you become.

Since I'm a big fan of series, I want to introduce you to 17 principles in developing unshakable character. These principles will contribute to great professional success.

The Greatest Benefit

In order to receive the greatest benefit from this series: after being introduced to the character or behavioral principles, think on paper of how you can apply it in your current environment.

Don't fall into the trap of 'I already do that.' evaluate how the principle can be used more in your life. The focus is 100% saturation of each principle before moving on. Aim to have congruence of character.

This is the Seventh Personal Principle:

Another mark of a professional is their pleasing personality. Although a lot can be said about different attributes that attract us to others; such as interpersonal communication skills, charisma, outgoing personality, consideration etc.. The key of having a pleasing personality is having high self-esteem.

We all have met individuals with low confidence and awkward habits. These are people we attempt to avoid or shrug off. These are individuals that don't recognize interpersonal hints very well, they stay way too long, and they make out of context remarks in conversations.

If we want to do business than we must be likable. People will do business with those they like. More importantly we must like ourselves. People will respond to us based on our deep rooted perception of ourselves. If we are convinced that everyone likes us and wants to be our friend we will create that experience. If we are overly sensitive of peoples responses and interpret their nuances as personal attacks, than we will respond in ways that warrant these type of emotions and behaviors. What we focus on will become our reality.

There are attributes in which I would like to mention. These are characteristics of high self-esteem, and they have a direct effect on our relationships. The key is if we act as though we have high self-esteem, we will grow our self-esteem and be more likable in the process.

Here are a few of My Thoughts:

Empathy

Practice your listening skills. In relationships you must learn to listen and ask questions. In this situation you should give the other person the psychological air they need; which is to be listened to and to be understood.

Dress for Success

I am sure you have heard this statement all your life. Now is the time to live up to it. Dressing professionally has several benefits. First off, it brands you. Those who can give you a hand up will perceive you differently and in a positive light. Second, it builds self-esteem. Third, it will help you to take you seriously.

Practice Emotional and Social Intelligence:

Dr. Daniel Goleman:

Emotional intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is the capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.

Social intelligence

The ingredients of social intelligence as I see it can be organized into two broad categories: social awareness, what we sense about others—and social facility, what we then do with that awareness. Social awareness refers to a spectrum that runs from primal empathy (instantaneously sensing another’s inner state) to empathic accuracy (understanding her feelings and thoughts) to social cognition (“getting” complicated social situations). But simply sensing how another feels, or knowing what they think or intend, does not guarantee fruitful interactions. Social facility builds on social awareness to allow smooth, effective interactions.

Be Happy

No body wants to be around a doom and gloom person. Everyone of us wants to be around people who enjoy us and who love laughing with us.

Be Genuine:

Mean what you say, don't say something to placate or pacify.

Integrity

Keep your word to others, do what you say you will do, and don't make excuses.

Learn to Apologize:

We want to be around people who are sorry for offending us or for not keeping their word. Know when you screw up and apologize.

Humility

Meet people on their level, don't be egotistical, don't think you are better than anyone else, but for the grace of God... The lack of humility is insecurity.

Be Polite

Watch your manners, no body wants to be around a brutish person.

Serve

Understand people are worthy of your very best, therefore serve them. Make a difference in someone's day. Do something special because you care.

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