Master persuaders know that people are more likely to agree with them, like them, buy from them, and hire them if they feel they have more in common with them. To encourage this, master persuaders highlight their similarities to the customer or business associate. How can you do this?

1. Talk about what you have in common. No matter how different you may think you are from someone, you are bound to have at least a few things in common with him. Find out what they are, talk about them, and begin to connect. Successful people find ways to click with anyone and know how to get along with people from all walks of life, ages, and areas of expertise. Doing so is beneficial to you in several ways. Not only do you increase the likelihood of the person saying “yes”, but you also expand your base of knowledge and experience.

2. Look the part. If you’re meeting with a banker who dresses conservatively, match the tone of his clothing. If you’re having lunch with someone who’s more trendy and fashion-forward, work a little more verve into your look. People tend to look for what they know in others. I’m not suggesting you forget who you are or pretend to be something other than what you are. All you need to do is lean toward his point on the spectrum.

3. Compliment him. Everybody loves a compliment. This doesn’t have to be artificial. Something about him probably impresses you. Verbalize what it is. We all want to work with people who like us and make us feel appreciated. When someone tells us we’re great, we want to live up to that and show it off.

Filed under: Sales
No Comments

How often do you follow through on your commitments? If your answer isn’t “all the time”, you need to evaluate your lifestyle and make modifications so you never back out on an agreement.

Trust is a touchstone of success. First of all, you must have self-trust. You must believe in yourself and your talents and abilities and know that you can use them to make great things happen. If you are not confident in yourself, no one else will be, either. When you are self-assertive and proactive, you naturally attract people to you and engage them in your process of goal attainment.

Secondly, and just as importantly, you must have the trust of others. Your word must be as good as gold. If people don’t trust you, they won’t hire you, promote you, buy your products, or use your services. In fact, they won’t want anything to do with you. On the other hand, if your customers and colleagues know they can always count on you, no matter what, their relationships with you will be mutually beneficial, will last, and will strengthen over time.

The way to earn trust is to honor your commitments. Making sure you always follow through on what you promise is a two-fold process:

1. Only make promises you can keep. Never assure a client you can return a project by Friday when you know you won’t be able to deliver until Monday. Saying no—or saying “not now, but later”—is far better than saying yes and falling through. Get to know your working habits, and allow yourself extra time for every project, in case you get caught up in unforeseen snags.

2. Keep your promises. Once you have agreed to do something, do it. If you have to work a few extra hours to complete the assignment, do it. It’s much easier to make up sleep than to rebuild damaged trust. I’m not advocating overworking yourself. On the contrary, you should avoid committing yourself to impossible deadlines and always leave plenty of time to complete your work. However, if you do find yourself in a situation in which you might have to let the customer down, I strongly encourage you to do everything possible to avoid that.

If you absolutely cannot deliver as promised, be open with the customer. Ask her if she can give you an extension. You don’t need to give her all the details of your stressful week, and you certainly shouldn’t make up false excuses. You can simply tell her you haven’t managed to complete the assignment yet and request a little more time. While this solution is not ideal, it is honest and open, and much better than simply running past the deadline with no explanation.

Filed under: Personal Branding Articles
No Comments

During the past few years I have interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs.  Each of them has had interesting advice to offer to people who are just starting out.  There are three things that just about every entrepreneur has said, in one way or another.  I have included these three items for your review. 

Action is Better than Analysis

The world belongs to those who “do”.  Planning is a key component of success but over-analysis is a sure way to guarantee failure.  I know many people who check and double check their facts and figures.  They launch study after study as they wait for exactly the right time to get started.    The truth is that there is no “right time” and their is no “wrong time”. 

So what exactly is the correct answer when it comes to starting business? 

The successful entrepreneurs I’ve encountered set goals on a one, three and five year basis.  They then sketch out a rough plan that will guide them through the first few months of their business – with the one-year goal in mind.  Then they let it rip.  They get started right away.  They take some action.  They generate some momentum.  After the first few months, they create another rough guide based upon their initial experience.  They adjust your plan to fit reality every few months.

The key is to take action toward achieving your goals each and every day.

Persistence Increases the Likelihood of Success

Persistence is one of the most important qualities a person can possess.  It is more important than intelligence.  It is more important than talent. And it is definitely more important than experience.  Failure is no match for a persistent individual.  As an entrepreneur you must be relentless in your desire to succeed. 

Never give up.  If you keep coming back time and time again and you greatly increase your chances for success. 

Ignore Negative People

Negative people will try to steal your dream.  Friends, Family and Significant Others may tell you that your business will never work.  They may tell you that you are destined to fail.  They may say that you are wasting your time. 

They will be wrong.

Sometimes these people will be will-intentioned.  Other times they will be jealous and looking to keep you from bettering yourself and your lifestyle.  Either way they should be ignored. 

Much of your success depends upon your level of confidence.  You need to avoid anything and anyone that diminishes your confidence.

These things seem simple don’t they?  Everyone grasps each of these concepts quite quickly when they are introduced yet few people adhere to them.  Keep in mind that these are the three things that the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed all had in common.  There must be something to them.

Filed under: Start-up Fever
No Comments

I have cited Back in Skinny Jeans before for the excellent description of how to subscribe to a blog with RSS.  Stephanie has given me permission to share her information with all of my readers.

Here is a great post on how to subscribe to this blog using RSS.

We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun but can take hours going to visit every single website and blog you enjoy. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could just get all the headlines of the most current stories from all your favorite websites and blogs in one place?

Well now you can, and it is called RSS feed.

The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, “Uh, I don’t get it?”

So, to make RSS much easier to understand, you can think of RSS as an acronym for “Really Simple Syndication” or I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place.

Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each website and blog everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can “subscribe” to a website or blog, and get “fed” all the new headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list, and see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours. What a time saver!

That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the websites and blogs you have subscribed to. In a moment, I will describe how to get an RSS Reader.

Subscribing to RSS feeds

But first, to “subscribe” to a website or blog’s RSS feed simply means that you are telling that website or blog, “Yes please. Send me your story headlines.” It’s like subscribing to a magazine or newsletter. Instead of getting a magazine or email, you will just get a list of headlines sent to your RSS reader. If the headline looks interesting to you, all you have to do is click on the headline and you’ll be sent to the whole story.

In order to subscribe to a website or blog’s RSS, all you have to do is click on an RSS symbol (that orange box on the right sidebar).You can also click to the text link of the words “ Click Here to Subscribe” on the website or blog. Typically, you can find these RSS symbols or text links in your browser window, on the sides of the website page, or on the bottom of the page. The publishers of the websites and blogs really want people to subscribe to their RSS, so they will make it very easy for you to find the subscription links.

RSS Readers

Now, because nothing is ever standard on the web like dealing with different operating systems, Mac vs. PC, and different flavored browsers like Internet Explorer, AOL, Safari, and Firefox, the way to get an RSS reader will be dependent on what browser you like to use, and how accessible you’d like your RSS list(s) to be.

Just like there are flavors of web browsers, you may see and hear of different flavors of RSS XML feeders like RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom. Again, the flavors are only important if you want to get techie. If you stick to looking for an RSS symbol (again, it’s a bright orange square – it looks like a piece if Ckicklet Gum) you will be fine.

If you’d like your RSS list to be accessible from any computer or mobile device you may have like a PDA, laptop, or cell phone, some popular RSS readers include (and almost all are FREE):

MyYahoo
MyMSN
MyAOL
MyGoogle
Bloglines
FeedDemon (this one costs money)
NewsGator (there is a cost for mobile accessibility)
NetVibes
PageFlakes
Shrook (For Mac users. Free trial and then there’s a cost.)
Lektora
Attensa (more for enterprise, and there’s a cost)

As you can see, there are a plethora of choices for you. All are good RSS readers, so your choice will simply come down to the style that appeals most to you.

RSS as Live Bookmarks

Browsers like Safari and Firefox allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds through the browser, and it’s called “live bookmarking”. Currently, you can only do live bookmarking in Internet Explorer if you have IE7. 

Once again, thanks to Stephanie from Back In Skinny Jeans for help in describing the RSS subscription process.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

Here are the terrific posts from this week’s Carnival of Career Intensity:

Post One – Make More Money - It’s All in the Attitude

John Peter presents All about attitude posted at OhCash.com.

When it comes to money, or to anything, it’s all about the attitude. It’s about how hard you want to succeed. If you talk to any famous athlete, may it be any sport, they will tell you they practiced it since they were kids. Since they were just a few years old, they had this passion and desire of success.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Post Two – American Idol: A Celebration of Delusion

Charles H. Green presents American Idol: Empowering Incompetents posted at Trust Matters.

We meet really nice people—who are seriously disconnected. Warped. Out to lunch. They cannot integrate their Big Belief with the Fact of Reality.

One form of disconnect is the diamond in the rough, the undiscovered talent. Undiscovered, most of all, to oneself. This is the premise of the show: that somewhere a gem toils mightily, unappreciated—until (s)he gets a Break. It’s the old American Dream, the meritocracy. Social mobility may be way down in this country, but it lives on in American Idol!

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Post Three – The Seven Traits of Highly Effective Teams

David E. presents The 7 Traits of Highly Effective Teams posted at Worldwide Success.

As individuals, we can achieve many commendable goals.  However, significant, large accomplishments that have a major impact in a company, a community, or the entire world, can only be achieved with a group of people.  This article will explore success from a broader perspective, beyond the individual.  We will discuss the 7 traits of highly effective, successful teams.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Post Four – Make Your Job Your Hobby

Karl Staib presents I’ve Decided My Job is Now My Hobby posted at 10,000 Swimming Pools Inside Our Minds.

I’ve struggled with my job over the past couple of years and I know many of you probably struggle with your job as well. I came up with a plan to enjoy my job and tested it out for the past 30 days. The plan was simple – my job is now my hobby and my full time job is to enjoy my life.

In order to change my mindset and accept my job as my hobby, I was going to have to rewire some of my old thought patterns. I had to break down exactly what I thought my job was. Dictionary.com says it’s: a piece of work, esp. a specific task done as part of the routine of one’s occupation or for an agreed price.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Post Five – Quit Doubting Yourself

Katie presents Quit doubting yourself and tap into your assets already posted at Aridni.

Today I meet a young man who has $100,000 labor contracts to put siding on Hilton hotels. He hires staff, lines up insurance, establishes employee housing for out-of-town projects, and runs a successful LLC. He’s the cheapest, fastest, and most efficient sider around here.

Oh– this young man cannot read.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

This was one of the best carnivals we have ever had.  Thanks to everyone who submitted a post.

The Carnival of Career Intensity appears every Saturday on The Career Intensity Blog. 

Send your posts in by 5PM Friday evening to be eligible. I select and print, in full, the five posts that I feel best exemplify Career Intensity.

To enter e-mail your best article to Carnival at CareerIntensity.com.  (Replace “at” with @). 

If you’re looking for an easier way to enter the carnival, just fill out the form at http://blogcarnival.com.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

Have you ever given any thought to how you make decisions on a day-to-day basis?  Most people don’t think about the process they go through when they make decisions.  Big decisions, small decisions, they all seem to just happen almost automatically.  

Think about the last big decision you made.  What process did you follow before you settled on a final answer?  Was it logical?  Did you make lists of “Pros” and “Cons”?  Did you check with a friend or a trusted advisor on the topic?

Now let’s examine that decision-making process from a different angle.  Did you go with what you THOUGHT was correct or did you go with what you FELT was right?  Believe it or not, there is a difference beyond semantics.  Thinking usually refers to a rational (or logical) decision process and feeling usually refers to an emotional decision process. 

There is nothing necessarily “right” or “wrong” with either decision methodology.  They key to making good decisions is to recognize when your decisions are emotional and when they are rational. 

Posts in this category are going to examine how we make decisions and how we improve our decision-making process.

Filed under: Decisions
No Comments

The world moves fast. We often rely on technology to help us keep up. When making a connection with another person is critical, nothing tops an in-person meeting. Sitting in a room with someone face-to-face allows the other party to completely experience your personal brand. This experience takes place on many levels. The expression on your face, the tone of your voice, the look in your eyes all helps represent who you are and the nature of your visit.

Many people take this idea lightly. I often hear people say that in-person meetings are a waste of time and money. While it is true that you can save money by having conference calls and video conferences, the in-person meeting still has a place in business.

Whenever people question the value of a face-to-face meeting I tell them the story of a young hotel manager from Northern New Jersey. This young man was wide-eyed and aggressive. He was tasked with marketing a new hotel that was opening in an industrial area. The young manager spent a significant amount of time researching the market and putting together a marketing plan. He believed that he had thought of every detail.

Click Here to Read the Entire Article

Filed under: Communication
No Comments

In Career Intensity, we discuss the use of “accelerants” to assist in goal achievement. People, technology, experience, and time are the four most common accelerants leveraged by successful people as they focus on goal achievement, but there are certainly others. Your only limit in finding accelerants to help you achieve your goals is your creativity or, better yet, the creativity of those around you.

People: Successful individuals multi-task, but they don’t tackle every task themselves. Instead, they enlist other people to help them by creating a win-win scenario for the person who is the accelerant. In the mentor-protégée relationship, for example, the protégée benefits from the learning associated with completing tasks that are critical to the mentor, and the mentor offers guidance on how the protégée can achieve greater success in life.

Technology: You can use technological accelerants to e-mail, fax, or leave a voice mail for anyone at any hour of the day or night. This asynchronous communication is effective when you have task-oriented items to cover with colleagues. Interactive or synchronous communication has also benefited from evolving technologies. Mobile phones, two-way messaging devices, and instant messaging all offer you the opportunity to communicate anywhere at any time.

Experience: There are two different ways experience can help facilitate goal achievement. The first is when you have direct, relevant experience and can rely on it as a rough roadmap to guide you through the completion of the task at hand. The second is when the relevant experience is available to you in the form of another person’s success. You don’t need to have an actual relationship with the person to use their success to your advantage; you need only to have access to a recorded history of their success methodology. You can then replicate their behavior and duplicate their success.

Time: One way time can be used as an accelerant is in a negotiation process. If one party has to make a decision by a certain date, time is certainly not in that party’s favor. Time is, however, a huge advantage to the party who is making the offer – provided they know about the time pressure faced by the other side.

Filed under: Management
No Comments

You goal in personal branding is to get your target market to see you as the preferred choice. You can do this by telling the world what you do differently from everyone else and why that difference is better.  Sounds simple, right?  You tell everyone why you are different and then you get them to see that difference as being better than what your competition has to offer.  Making the promise –articulating the difference – is only half of the bargain.  You must deliver on that promise – each and every time.  Don’t write checks you can’t cash. 

There are five things to remember as you begin the process of developing your personal brand.  They are:

1. You are what you are.  Popeye would be proud.  Any time you represent yourself to be something that you are not; you run the risk of losing a customer forever.  I can guarantee that you have some great qualities that can position you as different and valuable. You must be honest with your customers – and with yourself.
2. Consistency is critical.  People must be able to count on you.  This is true no matter what your business or your relationship with other people in life. If you want to impress your boss don’t complete an assignment early one time. Complete your assignments early every time.  The boss will know that you are the person to go to if she must have the critical project completed on time.
3. There are no “do-overs”.  First impressions are critical.  You can’t take back something you said to a customer.  Everything is on the record.  You should be yourself, but always remember that your reputation takes a lifetime to build and just a few minutes to destroy.  Follow the golden rule in every interaction; “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  No one every truly wins an argument with a customer.
4. Clarity is a gift. Too many people use complex language to appear intelligent.  This just ends up confusing people.  Often it can make the speaker seem pompous and condescending.  Keep every interaction and every point of contact clear and simple. Be transparent.  Communicate simply and directly.
5. Show don’t Tell.  If you explain something to a person, they may get it intellectually.  If you tell them a story, show a picture or do a demonstration, they will make an emotional connection to the event, to the experience and ultimately to you.  The more senses (see, hear, smell, taste and touch) you can involve, the stronger your impression will be.

All components of your personal brand strategy should comply with these five rules.  This will help you stay on track as you develop a powerful personal brand.

Filed under: Personal Branding Articles
No Comments

Making mistakes comes along with being a business owner.  They key is to minimize the exposure your business faces when you make mistakes.  Exposure means the negative financial implications associated with mistakes.

Too often business owners – smart people – fall into a trap that hurts their ability to succeed.  This trap is primarily one of arrogance or over-confidence.  What happens is that these people get “full of themselves”.  This over-confidence comes in three forms.  I have outlined them below. 

They Believe Their Own Press

How many times have we seen this one?  Someone wins an award or they get some coverage in a news story and they actually believe that this one event sums up their entire history and capabilities.  The problem comes when these fortunate people begin to forget about the fundamentals that help them garner some success in the first place. 

Don’t get me wrong, appearing in the media is great.  Winning awards is fantastic.  You just need to remember who you are, where you came from and the things that got you to this point.  If you lose focus for just one minute, there will be some other hungry business owner nipping at your heels.

They Forget the Past

All too often we see people who make the same mistakes over and over again.  This is the definition of crazy.  If you make a mistake one time you can almost always recover.  If you make the same mistake more multiple times you are asking for trouble.  

People who don’t remember the mistakes they have made in the past are destined to repeat them.  I’m not encouraging you to dwell on things that have gone wrong.  I am encouraging you to learn from things that you have experienced.  You must learn something from every project you undertake.  Learn something from every meeting you attend.  Learn something from every interaction.  Make lists of the positives and negatives from every situation.  Focus on reproducing the positives and eliminating the negatives.

They Think They Have the Right to Judge Other People

Your way is not the only way.  Everyone brings different experiences to the table.  Everyone has a different frame of reference.  

The minute you start to judge the choices that other people have made is the minute you lose focus on your own future.  Energy spent judging others is wasted.  Time you spend focusing on the decisions other people make – from a judgmental perspective – is time that is wasted. 

It is fine to study other businesses for learning purposes.  Unfortunately, most people discuss the actions of others purely to gossip.  This will hurt you.  Gossip is wasted time and energy.  Don’t judge the actions of others.  Focus your energy on making the best decision possible for yourself and for your business.

People make mistakes.  Smart people make mistakes.  There are many, many ways to avoid failure.  One of the best ways I know of is to keep your feet on the ground and keep your mind focused.  Avoiding these three errors is a great way to start down the path to success.

Filed under: Behavior
No Comments

Calling all Experts and Authors

This March I will begin a series of Podcasts called The Experts and Authors Interview series. 

These Podcasts will be made available on my website for clients to use to help grow their business and balance their life. 

All experts will be able to promote their products and services during the interview and they will receive a copy of the interview to use as they please.

I am currently looking for Experts and Authors to be interviewed for this series.  If you have published a book or are an expert in a certain area, please give me a call and we can chat about how you can take part in this exciting new opportunity.

You can reach me at:  1–888–D-Lorenzo  ext. 81

Filed under: Strategic Planning
No Comments

We all fall into a slump from time to time. The key is not to let your bad mood affect your performance at work.  As a business owner/leader you really can’t afford to have a bad day.  You have to bring your “A-Game’ to work every morning.

Here are five tips to help you break out of the bad mood funk:

Pick the low-hanging fruit.  Do some of the easy tasks on your to-do list.  If you don’t have a to-do list, start by writing one.  The longer the list is, the better.  Write the list in black ink and then cross off the items off as you complete them.  Use a red pen to cross each item off your list.  It may take you a few days to get the entire list done.  That’s fine.  Take some time and reflect upon the list and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done.  Look at all the red marks on the paper and recognize that you had the power to get them done.

This tactic works for a couple of reasons.  First it gives you a sense of accomplishment because of the volume of work you were able to do in a short period of time.  Second, it will help you build momentum.  Once you get started working you will gradually get into a grove that will help pull you out of your malaise. 

Do some type of physical activity that you are good at. Go outside and shoot baskets.  Go bowling.  Shoot pool.  Go to the gym and work out. Find your significant-other and have a passionate afternoon rendezvous.  All of these things get your blood flowing and they keep your mind off of whatever is bothering you.  The physical nature of the activity brings about positive physiological changes in your body.  You’ll feel a sense of calm come over your body and that will help you clear your mind.

Make some changes in your immediate surroundings.  Rearrange your office.  Change your dress. Shift the furniture around in your living room.  Little changes will help you get into the mindset of making changes in your life.  Once you embrace the physical changes in your life you will be able to make the mental changes necessary to improve your attitude.

Go to the beach.  Get some sunlight.  You’ll be amazed at how the bight sunshine can pick up your spirits.  A brand new day can also bring about a brand new attitude.  Getting some sun (particularly from a walk on the beach) is a great way to shift your mindset.

Write down your negative thoughts.  When you have negative or career-limiting thoughts you should write them down on a piece of paper immediately.  Acknowledge the fact that they exist and that they are hurting your ability to do your job.  Once you do that, throw the paper away.  Acknowledge the fact that the thoughts are gone – gone from your hand (on the paper) and gone from your life.  Dismissing the negative thoughts will help you get them out of your system.

Getting yourself out of a bad mood is important to getting you business on the right track.  Do not let a bad mood effect your business.  

Filed under: Attitude
No Comments

Back in Skinny Jeans has an excellent description of how to subscribe to a blog with RSS.  Stephanie has given me permission to use her information here.

We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun but can take hours going to visit every single website and blog you enjoy. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could just get all the headlines of the most current stories from all your favorite websites and blogs in one place?

Well now you can, and it is called RSS feed.

The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, “Uh, I don’t get it?”

So, to make RSS much easier to understand, you can think of RSS as an acronym for “Really Simple Syndication” or I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place.

Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each website and blog everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can “subscribe” to a website or blog, and get “fed” all the new headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list, and see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours. What a time saver!

That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the websites and blogs you have subscribed to. In a moment, I will describe how to get an RSS Reader.

Subscribing to RSS feeds

But first, to “subscribe” to a website or blog’s RSS feed simply means that you are telling that website or blog, “Yes please. Send me your story headlines.” It’s like subscribing to a magazine or newsletter. Instead of getting a magazine or email, you will just get a list of headlines sent to your RSS reader. If the headline looks interesting to you, all you have to do is click on the headline and you’ll be sent to the whole story.

In order to subscribe to a website or blog’s RSS, all you have to do is click on an RSS symbol (that orange box on the right sidebar).You can also click to the text link of the words “ Click Here to Subscribe” on the website or blog. Typically, you can find these RSS symbols or text links in your browser window, on the sides of the website page, or on the bottom of the page. The publishers of the websites and blogs really want people to subscribe to their RSS, so they will make it very easy for you to find the subscription links.

RSS Readers

Now, because nothing is ever standard on the web like dealing with different operating systems, Mac vs. PC, and different flavored browsers like Internet Explorer, AOL, Safari, and Firefox, the way to get an RSS reader will be dependent on what browser you like to use, and how accessible you’d like your RSS list(s) to be.

Just like there are flavors of web browsers, you may see and hear of different flavors of RSS XML feeders like RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom. Again, the flavors are only important if you want to get techie. If you stick to looking for an RSS symbol (again, it’s a bright orange square – it looks like a piece if Ckicklet Gum) you will be fine.

If you’d like your RSS list to be accessible from any computer or mobile device you may have like a PDA, laptop, or cell phone, some popular RSS readers include (and almost all are FREE):

MyYahoo
MyMSN
MyAOL
MyGoogle
Bloglines
FeedDemon (this one costs money)
NewsGator (there is a cost for mobile accessibility)
NetVibes
PageFlakes
Shrook (For Mac users. Free trial and then there’s a cost.)
Lektora
Attensa (more for enterprise, and there’s a cost)

As you can see, there are a plethora of choices for you. All are good RSS readers, so your choice will simply come down to the style that appeals most to you.

RSS as Live Bookmarks

Browsers like Safari and Firefox allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds through the browser, and it’s called “live bookmarking”. Currently, you can only do live bookmarking in Internet Explorer if you have IE7. 

Once again, thanks to Stephanie from Back In Skinny Jeans for help in describing the RSS subscription process.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

Christine Kane presents Business Advice for Artists and Sensitive People

This terrific post contains Christine’s Fifteen pieces of business advice for artists and sensitive types alike.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Eric Boehme presents How Badly Do You Want Change?

A lot of people mumble and grumble about the way their career and finances are playing out. Human nature often has us walking around in circles instead of breaking free and trying a new road. Being miserable or even generally dissatisfied with our career is easy. We don’t have to do anything other than complain. No risks.

Do you want to change?  Click below to read on.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Charles H. Green presents I’m OK, You’re an Idiot 

In 1967, Thomas Harris wrote “I’m OK, You’re OK,” arguably the most famous use of a 2×2 matrix (with cash cows/dogs/stars and question marks a close second).

Today’s Big Western Wisdom is Positive Psychology; see the NYTimes’ Happiness 101. I think I’m OK, You’re OK is a terrific book; and the wisdom in positive psychology is timeless, universal, and very valuable. But I also think they both leave something on the table.

Do you, like me, advise or influence others for a living? Then you may suspect that Harris pulled punches. My inner voice says:

“I’m OK, you’re an idiot,”

and

“You’re OK, I’m an undetected fraud

Click below to find out where Charlie is going with this line of thinking.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Karen Lynch presents Playing to Win

When a team plays “not to lose” they rarely win.

It is the same with our lives, with jobs, careers, businesses, goals and aspirations, relationships.  When we play the game with fear, angst, trepidation, apprehension we are playing “not to lose”; we are not tapping into that magic that comes when we play to win.

Learn how to play to win.  Click below.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Steve Faber presents How Can I Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

Are you mired in debt, barely scraping by every month, and looking with envy at those whizzing by in a sparkling, new BMW or Lexus? Why are they able to enjoy such a lifestyle and you aren’t? Do they know some special secret? Are they incredibly hard workers? Do they ever see their families? Maybe they won the lottery or they’re from “old money”. 

Well, there are a few possibilities. Many of those who are living the so called “good life” are incredibly hard workers.

Is there more out there?  Click below to find out. 

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

The Carnival of Career Intensity appears every Saturday on The Career Intensity Blog. 

Send your posts in by 5PM Friday evening to be eligible. I select and print, in full, the five posts that I feel best exemplify Career Intensity.

To enter e-mail your best article to Carnival at CareerIntensity.com.  (Replace “at” with @). 

If you’re looking for an easier way to enter the carnival, just fill out the form at http://blogcarnival.com.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

One of the most frequent topics for questions at www.AskDaveLorenzo.com is Firing People.  Business owners often want validation for their decisions when they have decided to let someone go. (Incidentally, I hate that term – let go.  It is not as though the person wants to leave in the first place and you are going to finally “let them”).

Most of the questions center around firing someone because they made a mistake.  First mistakes, repeated mistakes and good intentions are all referenced as business owners, leaders and managers look to make themselves feel better after a tough conversation.   

Keep in mind that you need to check all local and federal labor laws before you make a decision on discontinuing employment.  It is best to consult an attorney for advice on this topic.  I am not an attorney and this blog should never be used in lieu of the advice of a licensed professional. 

Here are my general thoughts on mistakes and the consequences for the employee who makes them.

Good Intentions

In my business I generally forgive mistakes that are made when people are doing what they think is best in the given situation.  If the employee has good intentions, and it is a first mistake, I will generally discuss the issue with him/her and make certain that he/she understands:

• What happened
• Why it happened
• Why it was a mistake
• How to keep it from happening again

As long as the person’s actions were legal, moral, ethical and they had the best interest of the business in mind when they made the mistake, I give them a second chance.

Examples:

• A hotel clerk leaves the hotel, without telling his supervisor, to drive a guest to the airport because the guest is late and he can’t find a cab. 
• An administrative assistant in your CPA firm allows a group of teachers from the local school to print up 10,000 lesson books for this semester on the only printer in the office during tax season.
• The shuttle driver at the airport skips several stops because several people on the bus complain about being late because of the traffic.

Critical Errors

If someone makes an error that results in permanent or long-term damage to the business, a customer or a fellow employee they must go. Some businesses call these errors “deadly sins”.  They include:

• Fighting, striking or injuring another employee or customer
• Theft
• Destroying company property
• Damaging an important business relationship with a customer, supplier or other business partner
• Harming the reputation of the business

These actions usually result in immediate job termination.

Incompetence

This is the tricky area for most business leaders.  What is incompetence? Just how much incompetence should you tolerate? 

In my mind, incompetence is making the same mistake over and over again after being told that it is a mistake.  I generally have two conversations with someone about an issue before firing them.  I always document each conversation in writing and I am consistent in my policies with all employees.

This is a basic “three strikes and you’re out policy”.  This applies to all the “good intention mistakes” and just plain stupidity.  Let’s face it, everyone has a bad day where they do something stupid.  As long as it is not one of the “deadly sins” you should have a conversation about it (see above) document it and move on.  The practice happens twice before I ask the employee to permanently leave.  So yes,  people can make the same exact mistake twice and not be fired (as long as it is not a “deadly sin”).  They key is to be consistent in the administration of this policy. 

In my opinion, if people make the same mistake over and over again and they cannot learn from their mistakes, they deserve to be fired.

This brief article does not cover all the nuances involved in employee discipline and again, it is no substitute for the advice of an attorney, but it should give you some insight into my thoughts on when to say “You’re Fired”.

Filed under: Management
No Comments

I was speaking with John, a client of mine who works in sales, the other day, and he shared his ideas for lasting career success. John earned a promotion from the position of sales rep to sales manager just under a year ago, and he was assigned to the store in his market that had traditionally performed the worst. Ten months later, John’s store is #1 in his market and #2 in his region, which spans six states. He was asked to give a presentation recently to talk about his strategies for improving business. His main pointers were:

Click Here to Read the Entire Article

Filed under: Sales
No Comments

There are three aspects that are critical to entrepreneurial success . To be successful you must:

Understand yourself, your competition and your role in the individual economy. This is the same type of thinking that successful companies use all the time. It is called a situation analysis.

To move your business forward you must complete your own personal situation analysis. This involves realistically assessing your strengths and weaknesses as well as understanding who your competition may be.

It is critical that we all understand the current business environment and we are realistic about potential opportunities for our business.

Create value. Once we know where we are strong and where our competition is weak we must use that leverage to create value as quickly as possible. Excelling in areas where our competitors have difficulty is only half of the equation. We must also create value in the area of greatest pain for our customers.

Creating value (often by solving problems) is the most important activity for the successful individual. The person who takes the pain away or brings in new business will always be highly regarded.

Demonstrate your value. Creating value is useless unless people know about our ability to do so. Perception is reality. We must find ways to promote our ability to create value. Letting the world know about our capabilities is the way to create a viable market for what we have to offer.

These three keys are at the foundation of business success. Successful individuals spend their entire careers working through this cycle of continuous improvement. Assess our current career situation, create value for others and demonstrate that value – over and over again.

Filed under: Strategic Planning
No Comments

I have always been a proponent of setting goals based upon the SMART goal development methodology. Many individuals have taken credit for the development of this acronym over the years and I would love to give credit where credit is due but it is impossible to determine who first developed this paradigm. What I do know is that it is helpful in developing effective goals at any level.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Tangible. A goal must fit all of those criteria in order for it to make your list.

The first quality of a goal is that it is specific. The more detail you can bring to your goal, the more likely it is that your brain will perceive it as real. A great test to measure the specificity of your goal is in answering the five “W’s.” The five “W’s” involved in goal setting are:

Filed under: Goals
No Comments

As a business leader it is your job to make certain that the business grows.  Many business leaders take this charge personally.  I often find busy entrepreneurs, executives and independent professionals knocking on doors, making presentations and otherwise pitching their potential customers.  Not only do I applaud this effort, I recommend it.  Here’s why:

C-Suite Selling Shows Commitment – Customers almost always get the feeling that the firm cares when the business leader shows up on their doorstep.  If a business leader makes the time to get on a plane and make a trip to a customer site, clients are impressed.  Keep in mind that you need to save these executive trips for impact moments.  A good time to bring in the boss is when your close to closing the deal.  A meet and greet with the boss is a great closing moment.

Executive Selling Puts a Face to the Firm – Many clients get the feeling that their sales rep has to report to at least one key decision-maker.  Even entrepreneurs may give the impression that they need to “talk to a partner” before closing a big deal.  Bringing in the CEO, or positioning the entrepreneur as the ultimate decision-maker allows deals to be closed on the spot.  After all, who does the boss need to check with? 

How does a solo entrepreneur position himself as a “big cheese”?  Here are a few ideas:  1) Have someone else schedule your appointment.  Ask a temp, your husband, your wife or your sister to call your client and schedule the meeting.  Then have that same person confirm the meeting a few days prior.  2) Have a friend or business associate call the client and put in a good word for you.  They should speak to your integrity and your ability to make things happen. This “pre-reference” will always help make you look more powerful.  The fact that an independent third party took the time to make a call on your behalf will increase the client’s favorable perception of you.  3) In the meeting, refer to your company as “my team”.  Even if you use contractors or freelancers, they are still your team.  This type of language demonstrates leadership.

Internal Credibility – Your sales people will have a renewed respect for the business leader that gets out into the field to try to help develop some business.  This type of a “battlefield commander” will not only win points for effort he may actually get his employees to respect his work ethic.  If the CEO does not shirk the hard work of selling, how can a lazy salesperson make excuses?

There are few negatives to bringing the boss on a sales call.  If you’re reading this and you are the boss, you need to hit the streets right now.  Make sure you’re prepared.  Make sure you go with your best salespeople first (in case you’re rusty).  But keep in mind that a little effort in this area will pay big dividends. If you are an entrepreneur just starting out, never lose touch with sales.  Always keep yourself grounded in business development in some way.  This will make you a better business leader and it just might make your business stronger.

Filed under: Sales
No Comments

Here are some of my favorite posts from the past week:

The Foundation of Marketing a Business Start-Up– The Business Advisor Blog

When you become a business owner, the last thing on your mind is marketing. You don’t have the funds to do in-depth research into your customers’ behavior. You don’t have the time to interview potential customers yourself.   There are no charts and graphs that you can thoughtfully reflect upon as you decide a marketing strategy.  Let’s face it, you don’t even have the time to go through your old marketing textbook and tear out good ideas.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Before You Quit Your Day Job…– The Business Advisor Blog

…Get a client.

It’s that simple.

Many entrepreneurs decide to go into business without any idea of who their clients will be and where they will come from.  This is a strategic error of epic proportion.

There are a number of ways to test your business plan.  Focus groups, surveys, in-depth individual interviews can give you some thoughts on the preferences of your potential clients.  Desk research (reading reports, books and articles prepared by others) is always a good idea.

Click Here to Read The Entire Post

Are You Lazy?– The Business Advisor Blog

Most people take the path of least resistance.  It is human nature.  People want the maximum amount of return from the least amount of effort.  Most of us want Warren Buffet money with a Jimmy Buffet lifestyle.  

Is it wrong to be this way?

That is a trick question.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

The Will to Win – The Business Advisor Blog

There are several qualities that separate people who are successful from people who are mediocre.  The most important of these qualities is a hyper-competitive drive that is almost all consuming.  Chances are good that if you have this natural competitive edge you know what I’m talking about.  In case you do not have it, I will describe it for you so that you can understand what you are up against.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

How to Get Your Next Job – Career Intensity Blog

Where is your next job offer going to come from?  If you want it to be good (potentially increasing your overall compensation by 50–100%) it needs to come from someone who knows you well and is familiar with your work.  Answering classified ads or placing all of your faith in a headhunter is a risky way to try to advance your career.  You need develop a strong network of advocates who will help you when you are ready to make your move.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

The Next Big Thing– Career Intensity Blog

As an Emerging Leader in an organization, one of the worst labels you can have hung on you is the title of being “The Next Big Thing”.  The minute you are anointed a “savior’ or “the Smartest Person” in the company you have immediately received a title with a promise you can never fulfill.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

How much can I charge?– Sales Intensity

Question:  How much is your product or service worth?

Answer:  Whatever people will pay for it.

Although the answer to this question appears simple, it requires quite a bit of thought.

There are two different ways to set a price for products and services.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Sell Yourself First– Sales Intensity

Thomas Jefferson said: “The first duty of a statesman is to get elected.” 

The first duty of a salesman is to sell oneself.

In other words, the client needs to like you.  If they like you, they may eventually trust you.  If they don’t like you, they will never trust you.  Trust is critical in developing a solid client relationship.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

The Five Habits that Make You More Money

There are five key habits that can make a great deal of difference in your sales career.  They seem simple but I bet we can all think of dozens of people who don’t adhere to one or more of these success habits.  Here they are (in no particular order):

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

…of this week’s Carnival of Career Intensity.

It contains some great advice on developing a business and managing work-life balance.

Here is a summary of the posts:

Karen Lynch presents Showing up for Success

A large part of being a success at any endeavor is a simple thing. Just show up. Of course we all know that in order to make something happen we need to show up but there really is more to it than just that.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Jane Chin presents Your Crucial Key To Success

If you had to identify one crucial key to your success, what would it be? That was what Steve Woodruff asked himself one morning. His answer wasn’t the usual suspects like vision, expertise, or connections.

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Adeolu presents Are your eyes on the Future?

The world is transforming at an alarming rate, to stay relevant, people and organizations must be adaptable to change. (There are) some vital indices that further corroborate the fact that all organizations that will succeed in the future, must factor these elements into their business models. These elements are:

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Shamelle presents Year 2007: An Invitation To Enhance Your Life

What things will you Ctrl-Alt-Del for the year 2007, in order to enhance your life?

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

Lorenzo (no relation to Dave Lorenzo) presents Channeling Inspiration

Have you ever being stuck on a problem for a while, and then you talked to a friend or colleague about the problem and while talking you found a solution on the spot?

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

The Carnival of Career Intensity appears every Saturday on The Career Intensity Blog. 

Send your posts in by 5PM Friday evening to be eligible. I select and print, in full, the five posts that I feel best exemplify Career Intensity.

To enter e-mail your best article to Carnival at CareerIntensity.com.  (Replace “at” with @). 

If you’re looking for an easier way to enter the carnival, just fill out the form at http://blogcarnival.com.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

A brand is the perception of a product or service in the mind of the consumer. Believe it or not, we all have our own personal brands. Each of our “target audiences” has a perception of us. Sometimes this perception is exactly what we want it to be and sometimes, it is dramatically different.

Companies take great care, and spend millions upon millions of dollars, to influence the perception of their target audience. They conduct sophisticated research studies and test and retest all forms of marketing communications. They craft exactly the right message and precisely select the correct medium to reach a specific audience in the appropriate way.

Does all of this care and dedication make a difference? Absolutely.

We often subscribe to the point of view the marketing professionals want us to believe. In many cases we have no choice. We are bombarded by all types of marketing communications about a product or service. Television commercials, billboards, direct mail brochures, radio ads, magazine and newspaper ads, product placement, celebrity endorsements and sports sponsorships assault us almost every moment of every day. Aggressive public relations professionals are pitching stories right now that will shape tomorrows news. Buzz marketing companies are working over your friends and relatives to get them to recommend their products and service to you. It is no wonder that most kids can name 20 different types of candy but they can’t name five Presidents of the United States. The candy gets better press.

So what does all of this have to do with you and your mission to develop a career of continuous improvement? Well, it has everything to do with it. You need to start managing yourself and your career as a brand. You need to begin to take into consideration the perception of your target audience. You need to make certain that your target audience sees you exactly the way you want them to.

When you look in the mirror you need to like who you are. Most other people are not fortunate enough to benefit from your “inner beauty and greatness”. They make decisions based upon what they see, hear and feel when they interact with you. You deserve to be positioned in the best light.

Mastering how to do this is the difficult part.

Filed under: Personal Branding Articles
No Comments

Your personal brand is the way others – your colleagues, your supervisors, and your customers – perceive you. Creating a personal branding message and marketing it is the mechanism by which you manage yourself and your career. Branding is not about you; it’s entirely about your customers. The experience they have when they interact with you – whether via email, the telephone, or in person – forms an impression and creates an expectation in their mind. You want that interaction to be a positive one that leads to future interactions and referrals.

Your goal in personal branding is to get your target market to see you as the preferred choice. As you devise a specific strategy for creating a personal brand, you should differentiate yourself from your competition; position your focused message to your target customers; develop consistent, focused marketing efforts; project credibility; strike an emotional chord; and create strong loyalty.

Filed under: Personal Branding Articles
No Comments

When you become a business owner, the last thing on your mind is marketing. You don’t have the funds to do in-depth research into your customers’ behavior. You don’t have the time to interview potential customers yourself.   There are no charts and graphs that you can thoughtfully reflect upon as you decide a marketing strategy.  Let’s face it, you don’t even have the time to go through your old marketing textbook and tear out good ideas.

In order to be successful, good marketing should start with the basics. The three elements that come into play in the development of a new business are: 

• Making your business visible to those who may need your goods and services.
• Establishing credibility in your market.
• Differentiating your business from all the other businesses that provide the same (or similar) goods and services.

Those three elements: Visibility, Credibility and Differentiation are the key points of focus for your marketing efforts in the early-going.  Lets look at a few cost-effective ways entrepreneurs can establish each element at start-up.

Visibility

Set up a web site.  This has become one of the most basic steps in business marketing.  You need to have a web site.  It doesn’t need to be fancy (especially in the beginning).  There are many companies that offer templates that you can use to help you get started.  If you are a technophobe, you can hire a freelance consultant to put together a basic four or five page web site for you.  You need a place for people to view your products and services.  Your first web site can just be an electronic version of a sales brochure.  You can get more sophisticated as your business grows.

Yellow Pages Listing.  When you set up a business telephone line you are automatically listed in the yellow pages.  If your business name does not include a description of your services (Joe’s Dry Cleaning) you might want to register a fictitious name with your state.  This way you can list your business under that name in the directory.  For example:  If your name is Joe Smith and you are an account you might want to register a fictitious name (sometimes called a D. B.A. – short for “doing business as”) such as Accounting by Joe Smith instead of Joe Smith CPA.  Another example:  If you are a chiropractor you could register as Pain Free Bones and Backs – Jack Brown, Doctor of Chiropractic.

The more descriptive you can be in your simple listing in the Yellow Pages, the better off you’ll be.  Again, as your business grows you can take out more sophisticated Yellow Pages Ads, if you feel it is necessary.

Chamber of Commerce Membership.  Join as many community groups as you possible can.  Go to the meetings.  When you go, talk to people.  Tell them what you do for a living.  Hand out business cards to everyone.  Make sure as many people know you as possible.  Most Chambers of Commerce have new business welcome kits which include mentions in their news letter as well as discounts on some advertising.  A quick word on that – spend money on advertising very carefully at start-up.  Until you understand your customers well, you should be very careful investing in an advertising campaign.

Credibility

Offer to speak to groups free of charge. Every time you share your expertise with a group of people you gain credibility.  You need to know your topic inside and out.  You need to be comfortable in front of a group.  And you need to keep your wits about you after your talk.  Many business owners are so relieved to be through with their speech that they forget to collect business cards after they finish speaking. This is the most important part of your talk – collecting leads afterward.

Provide free samples, free estimates or free consultations. Giving people an opportunity to sample your product or service is a great way to build up your credibility in the eyes of a potential customer.  This is especially true if your product or service is expensive.  You wouldn’t buy a car unless you test drove it, would you? Find a way to get people involved with your product or service at minimal or no cost.  Let them interact with it and with you. 

Referrals.  The best way to establish credibility with a potential client is to be introduced to that person by someone the potential client respects.  People trust their fiends and colleagues.  If you can get every client to refer you to another potential client, you will double your business every few months. Many businesses use referrals as their only source of marketing (Doctors, Dentists and Accountants come to mind).  Referrals are powerful and they are often overlooked as a critical component of a good marketing offense.

Differentiation

Be faster.  Delivering your product or service faster is always a good way to differentiate your business.  Speed is an advantage in many industries. 

Be better. Using higher quality materials can separate you from the competition – if the competition values the difference in quality.  Taking more time with your customer will often give them the perception that you are a higher quality business. 

Offer a better experience.  In many cases the experience of working with you – if positive, will be a key factor in differentiating your business from others.  Study your competition and learn how you can make the customer’s experience with you better than it is with them.

While this is certainly not an exhaustive list of marketing options, it should serve as fertile ground for ideas.  As you can see, marketing does not need to be expensive or time consuming.  The important thing to remember is that good marketing starts with an understanding of your customer and how they buy your goods or services.

Filed under: Marketing
5 Comments

…Get a client.

It’s that simple.

Many entrepreneurs decide to go into business without any idea of who their clients will be and where they will come from.  This is a strategic error of epic proportion. 

There are a number of ways to test your business plan.  Focus groups, surveys, in-depth individual interviews can give you some thoughts on the preferences of your potential clients.  Desk research (reading reports, books and articles prepared by others) is always a good idea. 

There is only one way to make certain that your business model is viable and that people want to buy what you have to offer.  Go out and get yourself a client.  Do it now.  Do it before you make your entrepreneurial venture your sole source of income.

This process may be shocking (like jumping into the deep end of the pool to learn how to swim) but it will pay off.  Here are some of the benefits of soliciting a client (or clients) before running head first into your new business venture:

You will find out how receptive the market is to your ideas. There is nothing more refreshing than hearing the words of a customer directly from their mouths.  While it may be painful to get direct (and unflattering) feedback, it is much better than going broke.  A bruised ego is better than a battered bank account.

You will refine your marketing and your sales pitch. Communicating with your clients in their own language is critical to the success of any business.  Pitching your ideas to a potential client directly will move your strategy from the drawing-board to the street.  This will be help you jump start your sales and marketing.

This is an opportunity to see how long it takes to secure a client (the sales cycle). Most business owners underestimate the amount of time it takes to get a new client.  They believe that they can just hang their sign and the clients will flock to their door.  Actually soliciting a potential client will help you understand just how long it takes to turn a prospect into a paying customer.  This is an eye-opening experience.

You can determine if you have set your price point accurately. Many new business owners make pricing mistakes.  If you have priced your product too low, you will go broke trying to fill the orders.  It is better to learn that you have made this mistake with your first (and only) order than to learn it with fifty or one-hundred orders.  You will also learn if you have priced your product too high.  If your price is unrealistic, you will have a tough time getting people to commit to a purchase.  Again, it is easier to make adjustments while soliciting one client rather than printing up one thousand flyers with a bad price on them.

The feedback you receive during this process will help you decide who to hire.  You will learn a great deal about yourself while soliciting your first client.  You’ll learn what you like and what you don’t like.  This will allow you to plan to (eventually) hire someone to do the things you hate. 

This idea seems simple because it is.  Often we hear business gurus make things complicated.  It doesn’t need to be that way.  Start your business on a part-time basis.  Get one client and review the process involved in selling and servicing them.  Then get another client and refine the process.  Before you know it, you’ll have enough clients to “quit your day job” and run your business full-time.

Filed under: Start-up Fever
1 Comment

Welcome readers of Startup Fever!

This is a new blog dedicated to Business Leadership and Success, Entrepreneurship and Start-Up Success.  I have included a special category titled Startup Fever.

You can expect a few posts each week dedicated specifically to StartUps.

The feed address is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DavidVLorenzo-TheBusinessAdvisor

You can also access the blog by bookmarking the StartUp Fever site:  http://www.StartupFever.com

Thanks to all of you for your patience while I got everything sorted out with the new blog.  I hope you enjoyed the content at Career Intensity enough to subscribe and keep reading.

Special thanks to Ken Dyck for his tireless dedication to Startup Fever and his effort to help me get everything moved over.  Please keep reading Ken’s blog and join me in wishing him the best of luck in the future.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

Most people take the path of least resistance.  It is human nature.  People want the maximum amount of return from the least amount of effort.  Most of us want Warren Buffet money with a Jimmy Buffet lifestyle.   

Is it wrong to be this way?

That is a trick question.

Physical work does not guarantee financial prosperity (these days it does not even guarantee financial comfort).  The work ethic that John Calvin espoused has no foundation in reality.  Working long hours does not make you a good person.  Working long hours does not guarantee success.  Yet most of us feel a sense of guilt when we are out of the office.  All of us have been taught that hard work will lead to success.  While this axiom is true today, the concept of hard work has changed. 

Physical labor has been replaced by mental labor.  Hard work is still necessary for success but hard work can no longer be judged by the hours you put in at the office – or with the client.  Working hard today involves spending time thinking through the potential outcomes of situations.  It involves looking at situations from multiple perspectives. It also involves listening to people who have had experiences that may be similar to what you are going through.  Proactively seeking this information involves work.  It is not heavy physical lifting but it does involve effort. 

The byproduct of this new model of  hard work is the “virtual work environment”.  As a business coach and advisor I can think about my clients’ business challenges on my couch at home or I can do it in my office.  I can interact with my clients on the phone, via e-mail, in a video conference or in person.  My accountant can receive my tax information via express mail and consult with me on the phone.  He can then express the documents back to me for my signature. I can even plan a wedding, buy a suit or commission a work of art without leaving the comfort of my kitchen. Physical presence is no longer required to conduct business in a large number of industries.

Yet we continue to use physical presence, in many cases hours worked, as a measure of success. 

How long did you work on that project?  Did you go into the office on Saturday? How much time did you put in with that company?  These are the wrong questions business owners and leaders regularly ask their associates. 

The right questions are based around the outcome of the interaction. 

What was the return on investment from your work with that client? Did the you save the client money this past year? How much value did you provide the firm? What did you sell to the client and how much did we make from it?  These are some of the correct questions.  If the answers to these questions are positive, why does time matter?  Why should time be used to measure effort?      

Technology has forced us to take a more intellectual approach to the way we conduct business but it has not helped alleviate the guilt we feel when we don’t spend physical time in the office or with the client.  The perception of laziness still exists when people don’t see us hanging around.  If you own or lead a business, this can be damaging.  You need to teach your employees that work gets done (maybe even more efficiently) when you (and they) are not around the office.  This must become part of the culture of your work environment. How can you make this happen?  Here are four areas to look at:

Rewards and Recognition

Reward people based upon results and not based upon perception of effort.  Salary increases, commission and promotions should all be aligned with value creation (for the clients and for the company) and not based upon hours worked or seniority.

Learning and Development

You (the business owner/leader) should place a premium on learning from every interaction with a client.  Every project – good or bad – successful or unsuccessful – should be formally reviewed by the team.  Opportunities for improvement should be distilled, even from the most successful projects.  These opportunities should be compiled in a central location.  This can be as simple as a binder with some hand written notes, or as complex as an automated knowledge management system.  The key is that there is one central location for all information and that information can be accessed easily.

Often learning and development suffers when workers are not all physically present in the same location.  It is critical to keep people engaged in learning even though they may be in separate physical locations.

Frequent Social Events

Social activity is critical to the success of any organization.  Invite all employees to get together frequently (monthly or quarterly) for a purely social gathering.  Do not force a work discussion on them at these events.  Allow them simply to get to know one another (and you).  The bond of friendship that forms will only help your business.  After all, you would not let a friend down in a time of need.

Acknowledge “Timeless and Locationless” Work

Let people know that achieving outstanding results while physically working less than 40 hours per week in the office is acceptable.  In my firm we have several multi-million dollar sales people who rarely show up at the office.  Nobody knows what they are doing yet somehow, magically, each of them always blow away his/her quota. Are they working hard?  You bet.  Some of them might be on the phone with a client for five hours in order to close a big deal.  Does it matter if they take this phone call from their desk or from the beach?  Not to me it doesn’t. 

The key to success is to establish a culture that does not place a premium on the quantity of work but on the quality of it.

We need to establish a new paradigm for effort in the modern work world.  That paradigm should be based upon results in conjunction with the culture of the company.  If the results are achieved, and the process that lead to those results was legal, moral and ethical, why should the amount of time spent on that effort matter?

Some of the most successful business owners and leaders I have ever met are also some of the laziest people in the world.  If you can get your job done in less than 40 hours per week you should be hailed as a hero and everyone in your company should learn from you.

Filed under: Behavior
3 Comments

From time to time I get requests from readers for help with networking.  It is almost impossible for me to respond to these requests individually.  One of the things I can do is help you make an introduction to someone in my network.

I have included in this post a LinkedIn Icon.  Please click on it and request to connect with me.

Once we are connected, you can explore my network and I will be happy to make any connections that are practical. 

Here is the link:

Click on it and let’s get connected.

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

There are several qualities that separate people who are successful from people who are mediocre.  The most important of these qualities is a hyper-competitive drive that is almost all consuming.  Chances are good that if you have this natural competitive edge you know what I’m talking about.  In case you do not have it, I will describe it for you so that you can understand what you are up against.

People who have this natural desire to compete - and win – will automatically respond aggressively to any situation where their results can be compared with the results of another person (team, company or group).  This desire is like fuel.  In fact it is like rocket fuel.  It can propel you to unparalleled heights. 

It is this desire that allows the competitive athlete to fight through pain to continue to take the field well into his later years.  If results can be measured the competitive individual must be at the top of the list.  The gam, sport or business challenge is irrelevant.  The motivation is a pure desire to be the best and to beat the “other guy”. 

The intensity of this competitive drive can be overwhelming.  It can manifest itself in physical indications.  Bill Parcels (Hall of Fame American Football Coach) regularly describes the feeling of losing by saying that he gets physically ill when he loses.  Most competitive people will not even participate in a game if they feel that they can’t win because of the negative feelings associated with losing. 

Many people automatically assume that all athletes and leaders have this burning desire.  This is not true.  In fact, very few people possess the aggressive competitive nature that drives the most successful people in the world. This drive is often confused with persistence, grit, guts and passion.  All of those qualities are byproducts of a natural competitive drive. 

Filed under: Attitude
No Comments

The Carnival of Career Intensity is up.  It contains some great advice on developing a business and managing work-life balance.

Here is a summary of the posts:

Charles H. Green presents Trust Tip 3: The ABC 20 Question Rule posted at Trust Matters.

This is a how-to article on learning as much about your client as possible in order to deepen your relationship (and drive revenue).

Patricia presents Start A New Habit Or Break A Bad One: Ten Steps To Guarantee Success For Anyone posted at A Better You Blog.

Just as the title says, this post will teach you how to break those nasty habits in the new year.

Paul presents Increasing your hourly rate in order to get rich posted at Paul’s Tips.

Paul teaches us how to view our services in a new light.  This will help us manage our most important asset – our time.

Jake Danger presents The Three Kinds of Self-Discipline posted at Lunatic Wisdom - The World According to Jake Danger.

Do you want to buckle down and get things done?  Jake Danger teaches us how in this article.

Anna Farmery presents Have you got the right kind of glasses!! posted at The Engaging Brand.

How you view the world is one of the keys to success.  Read this brief post and adjust your perspective.

The Carnival of Career Intensity appears every Saturday on The Career Intensity Blog. 

Send your posts in by 5PM Friday evening to be eligible. I select and print, in full, the five posts that I feel best exemplify Career Intensity.

To enter e-mail your best article to Carnival at CareerIntensity.com.  (Replace “at” with @).

Filed under: General Information
No Comments

The best time to start a business is right now. 

It is going to be difficult.  There will be tough times.  You will need to sell.  You will need to take some risks. 

It’s better to get this stuff out of the way early.  Avoiding these challenges will mean delaying your success.  Just get it over with.

Start now.  You’ll be that much closer to success of you do.

Filed under: