Organization Tips That Add More Hours To Your Day

Keywords: Time Management

One of the most common complaints that small business owners have is lack of time. What most don't realize, however is that their lack of time stems from a lack of organization. But with a few simple tips - that you can implement immediately - you can literally add hours to your day.

--- Putting Things In Their Place

The Lazy Writer’s Way to Creating Killer Headlines!

Keywords: Effective Writing

Dear Friend,

I have a confession to make.

It’s about the title of this article. I stole it and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I “modeled” the title after the highly successful ad headline “The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches.” Contrary to what you believe, Top copywriters don’t make up the “killer” headlines they write, they steal them.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about word-for-word plagiarizing here. I’m talking about taking already “proven” headlines and using them as a basis for writing your headlines.

Here’s an example of how to do it: Let’s use the famous headline...

" Who Else Wants To Look Like A Movie Star?"

This headline has been ripped-off (ethically) many, many times by nasty marketers... including yours truly. Why? Because it works!

The Amazing Success Secret Anyone Can Start Using Today

Keywords: Success

The way we live today more and more emphasis seems to be placed on career success, material gain and achievement.

And in an increasingly complex world sometimes it seems like technology and rigid processes have become more important than the people they were set up to serve.

However there is one success secret that costs nothing. And we can all use it today to get ahead more quickly.

I am talking about cultivating exceptional people skills in a way that puts you ahead of the crowd, in a way that respects and honors the people you deal with in your life.

Ironically when we neglect people skills the complex business and social infrastructure of our world can fall over in a moment.

What do I mean?

Yes You Can!

Keywords: Motivation

If you could change one thing in your life today, what would it be? Why don't you have some of the things you'd like to have, and why do you have some? What's the reason for the inconsistency?

Do you find yourself wondering what people think of you? Has that line of thinking ever made you doubt your abilities and your potential?

Do you ever catch yourself thinking 'I can't do that, I'm not good enough' or 'that level of success and prosperity is for them, not for poor old me', or other similar thoughts?

One thing you must realize is that your success in any venture starts with your thoughts about it. If you think you can succeed (in losing weight, stopping smoking, securing a high-income-paying job, finding your ideal partner, etc, etc), you're already on your way to getting what you want.

Managers Who Tap Into PR's Value

Keywords: Public Relations

Business, non-profit and association managers get a ton of satisfaction when they do something really positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences that most affect their operation. Especially when they deliver external stakeholder behavior change, the kind that leads directly to achieving their managerial objectives; and even more so when they persuade those important outside folks to their way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help their department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Or, if this doesn't sound all that familiar, is the money you spend on public relations pretty much dedicated to buying personnel mentions in the newspaper and product plugs on radio talk shows?

Want to branch out a bit and get some core PR benefits?

Coaching Tips for Powerful Presentations Tip 10 List

Keywords: Public Speaking

Tip #1 The purpose of your speech is to get results; to help people make changes and think or act differently. So start with the end in mind. What do you want people to do as a result of your speech? What do they need to know to do this? What do they need to feel to do this?

Tip #2 Show your audience that coaching is a process. It is different from consulting. Do some coaching (role playing) during your presentation. Let audience members see what it would be like to have you as their coach.

Tip #3 Determine what kind of coaching the client wants and needs. Interview a few people before you give your program to find out what challenges they are experiencing. The program chair can provide you with a few names to contact. Then use this information in your speech content.

Tip #4 People learn in three ways: Visual (what they can see), Auditory (what they can hear), and Kinesthetic (what they can touch). Try to include all three ways in your speech. Most of your audience will be visual and need to "see" what they "hear" from you. So tell your personal stories to support your points. When the audience hears your story(ies) they will feel connected to you.

Writing Articles that Get Read

Keywords: Effective Writing

Writing articles is one of the best and most effective ways of promoting your business because it does three things:

*Brands you as an expert.
*Makes your marketing efforts viral.
*Gives you content to attract potential buyers.

There are several things you can do to make sure that your articles get read.

1. Write an article potential buyers will find interesting. Even if you know your topic very well, it pays to do research. Find out what changes are occuring in your field and include that material in your articles. No one wants to read something that is outdated or inaccurate. Readers will find your material far more interesting if you tell them something they don't already know, and you present it from your own unique perspective.

How to Get Motivated to Create the Life of Your Dreams

Keywords: Motivation

Do you ever pay attention to the thoughts inside your mind? And more importantly do you ever notice the way in which you talk to yourself?

We all pay a lot of attention to the way we communicate with the outside world but we often neglect to improve the way we communicate with ourselves.

When it comes to motivating yourself to be a better person, to do better at work or to create a happier family life you need to understand the importance of taking control of your self talk.

Here are three tips you can use right away to motivate yourself:

1 Talk to yourself the way you talk to someone you love

Be honest! Is it true you sometimes insult yourself, curse yourself and say horrible things about your abilities?

How to be a Great Speaker

Keywords: Public Speaking

Did you know that great speakers are often nervous with butterflies in their stomach before giving a presentation? And there are many actors/actresses who can not speak to live audiences without cue cards. My 13 years as a professional speakers bureau owner allowed me to hear several thousand speakers give their presentations. Here are a few tips I learned from them.

1. You want to be nervous. Get your butterflies to fly in formation. Some tension brings about a great speech. You usually don't look as nervous as you feel. Be prepared, be relaxed. Practice, practice, practice. Use visualization techniques. One speaker suggests that you curl your toes and get rid of your adrenalin. Get out of your head and in to your heart. Reduce nervousness with self talk.

Your mantra might be - "I am a relaxed, confident speaker."

2. Great presentations are well organized.

Opening - You have 60seconds to get their attention. So start with a great question, quote or short story. Tell 'em what you will tell them.

Observing Yourself

Keywords: Emotions

It is impossible to go through life without feelings and thoughts. These feelings and thoughts affect your body and your mind and can bring you in various mental states, from elation to devastation.

However, as you mature, you also learn that nothing lasts: not elation, not devastation, and not anything in between. Feelings and thoughts come and go like the tides of a river. If your responses to emotions are like those of the majority of other human beings, you probably enjoy the feelings of elation and dread those of devastation. You may then have also learned that elation, devastation, and all in-between states can elicit behaviors in you that you would have avoided, were you in a more moderate state of mind.

Fortunately, there is a way to establish better balance in your life, in which neither elation nor devastation, nor any state in between, will derail your acts or your perspectives about what makes sense, and what not. That is the way of observation.

Using The Right PDA

Keywords: Effective Writing

When we think of writing it triggers many thoughts and visions depending on our framing. It could trigger a lone man with a full astray, unshaven, staring at an old plunking typewriter with white blank crisp paper waiting in anticipation for his words.

If a mother or younger, it could conjure up an image of a 30-something woman typing away on a keyboard with an apron on, in between making formulas or getting ready for work, still dark outside. Pounding on the keys because the flow is there, just as the light from the window begins to change, trying to get as much onto the page before the kids need her attention.

If you grew up in a Catholic school in the 50s, writing could mean perfect penmanship and a rap on the knuckles if you didn't.

The times have changed, thank goodness, and now children grow up with memories of learning to cluster and freewrite. To allow whatever needs to flow appear onto the page. There are more books than ever on creativity, and how to play and embrace the craft new everyday. It is a freeing time for writers.

Control Stress or it Will Control Your Business

Keywords: Stress

When we think about stress in the workplace, we usually refer to ulcers or heart conditions, but stress has a much broader impact. It is known that stress is linked to cancer, lung ailments, cirrhosis of the liver, immunity to common illnesses, back problems, and many other medical problems.

It is estimated that stress is the underlying factor in 75 - 90% of all physician visits.

We see the effects of stress in workplace absenteeism, accidents, health care costs, workers comp, quality problems, productivity, litigation, grievances, violence, customer service complaints, resistance to change, personnel turnover, and profits.

Workplace stress is costing your business thousands of dollars per year. Is stress a line item on your budget? Knowing how much you are spending on stress is a good place to start, but you must take responsibility for stress control and its impact on the bottom line.

Take Your Customer Service Personally!

Keywords: Customer Service

How many times have you ever said the following words, "Oh, don't take it personally". I don't know about you, but when I hear those words I do the exact opposite, I take it personally!

I wish more companies would take it personally when customers are unhappy with the service, or lack of service, that they have received. So, let me ask you, who actually cut the training budget, cut staffing, reduced benefits, increased the work load and put the blame somewhere else? I think the time has come to take it personally.

If you want to create enviable customer service that keep your customers coming back, I suggest you get a little "personal" with the following 3 tips.

Personally Make it a Priority:

Success: No Intelligence Required

Keywords: Success

"Successful people are always smart." Sorry, please play again. I have news for you: being intelligent doesn't necessary imply success, and likewise, success doesn't necessarily imply intelligence. Many discount their strengths and deem themselves incapable of accomplishing great deeds simply based on their intelligence level.

Those who have all of the tools and skills necessary to succeed shouldn't give up simply based on the false assumption that those who are accomplished are smarter and better than they are. It's a terribly wrong outlook and it should be illegal to think this way! Okay, well maybe not, but you get the point.

Successful people are often decisive, ambitious, motivated, focused, have intense work ethics and have the ability of attracting the right people. You certainly don't need to be the smartest or the most popular person, but you do need to be willing to make sacrifices, work smartly, and seek out the right people to support you.

How Values Affect Leadership

Keywords: Management

When we engage in the process of reviewing a leader in the conventional sense of the word, meaning as a person who is in charge of guiding others toward a certain goal, we cannot escape also examining his or her values.

In leadership, there are two types of values that play an important role:
1) Personal values: those perceptions about what matters and what not, what is important and what not, and what is allowed and what not. These values are mainly inherited from one’s upbringing in a certain environment.
2) Organizational values: the principles that are fundamental to the institution the leader leads. These values are, in turn, oftentimes determined by the local political, economical, and social values.

The first term that comes to mind when reviewing the above categories is: compatibility. There has to be at least some overlapping between these two types of values. A leader who is very religious, for instance, should probably not get involved in an organization that is anti religion or pro violence. That is, of course, if his or her religion is a peaceable one.

Knowing What You Want in Your Next Job

Keywords: Interviews

Question – “When have you been most motivated?”

This question is more than an interview question; it is a question that you should be asking yourself before the interview. When have you been most satisfied in your work? When did you feel like you were making a difference or making a contribution? Basically, it’s about knowing what you want.

A simple exercise that will help you answer this question will also help you look inside yourself to think about what you want “more of,” and what you want “less of” in your next job. People usually perform at a higher level if they are satisfied with the work that they do -- and as a result are more motivated to give 100% - plus.

Exercise to Find the Answer

An exercise that will help you with the answer to this question as well as to assist you in looking inward to determine when you were working at your fullest potential is a simple one. Begin by making a list of the tasks at your last job -- the tasks that you were particularly proud of, or were energized by. In other words, “when your job turned you on.” Think about the last time you were so involved in a project or task that you woke up thinking about how you could improve the situation. Write those experiences down and try to determine what the factors were that were satisfying for you.

The 3 Pillars for Good Managerial Decision-Making

Keywords: Management

Decision-making: a point that is crucial to good management. And one that should be approached with care, as it involves great risks. For let’s be honest: it would be wonderful to have all the information at hand when you have to make a decision, wouldn’t it? However, 9 times out of 10 it doesn’t work that way! We have to make almost all our decisions based on incomplete information.

One of the things you have to be sure about is that before making a decision you really understand the problem or opportunity at hand. You should also make sure that you are comfortable choosing from the options you have. If not, you may want to consider waiting a while…unless the waiting will eliminate some very good options!

You probably already see it: decision-making is a delicate matter. Aside from all the attention points mentioned above, there are 3 points you may want to focus on when facing decisions:

Managers: PR More than Tix and Plugs?

Keywords: Public Relations

You bet! And in three ways vital to you as a business, non-profit or association manager.

To succeed, your public relations effort needs to do something really positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences that most affect your operation.

It needs to deliver external stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

And it needs to do so by persuading those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

All three, hopefully long before anybody worries about theater tickets or radio plugs!

But how do you get to the point where all three of those dynamics actually contribute to your success as a manager?

10 Ways to Develop a Great Business (Or Any Other) Strategy

Keywords:

As you may know, in management there are 3 main levels: strategic-, middle-, and first line management. Strategic management is the top level of an organization. Therefore, strategic management does strategic planning. Sounds logical so far? Good! Now, strategic planning pertains to the company ’s performance over the next 5 or 10 years: long term, in other words.

It may be best to start out by trying to explain what a strategy is in simple terms: If you are now at point A, and you want to go to point B, then the road you choose to go from A to B is your strategy.

A ---strategy---> B

But just like everything else in management, strategies are also things that non-managers deal with all the time. After all, we are always deciding how we will go from one point in our life to the next, isn’t it? Well, those are all strategies. We just don’t call them that.

How and Why to Publish an Ezine

Keywords: Ezine

Publishing an ezine is important to any online business. With an ezine, you can keep in contact with your customers and promote yourself and your business. You do this by building a relationship of trust and respect with your readers.

For those of you who might not know what an ezine is..........an ezine is simply an electronic newsletter or magazine mailed periodically to a list of opt-in subscribers. By opt-in, I mean that they have voluntarily signed up to receive your ezine from you.

This means that they have given their permission to receive updates, product recommendations, and other promotions from you. But, you also want to provide quality content for your readers.

DO NOT send your ezine to anyone who has not subscribed. I also strongly suggest that you make sure all your subscribers are double opt-in. This means that after they initially subscribe, you send them a confirmation email asking them to reply to make sure they are the one who has subscribed. This should prevent you from being accused of spam.

How to Deal with Discouragement and Develop Exceptional People Skills

Keywords: Motivation

Ever feel like giving up? Do you ever feel so discouraged that even one more day of frustration will be too much to handle?

Everyone gets discouraged at times however there are a number of key differences between people who keep on going and those who give up:

1 Focus On Your Goal Not On Your Problems

One of my mentors is a highly successful property developer and he loves solving problems. All day long he can take on one problem after the next and just keep going.

How does he do this when most people would feel overwhelmed?

He understands the importance of focus. He never loses sight of his goals and his goals so excite him that problems are nothing more than stepping stones to the achievement of his outcomes.

"Busyness" is a Lie

Keywords: Values

We sometimes use the excuse of being "too busy" to get out of what we don't want to do. Let’s take a step back. Think about the drunk who refuses to take responsibility for his actions because he says he wasn't in control. He made the decision to drink. And he made the decision to drink more. In the same way, we avoid taking responsibility for our decisions when we use the excuse of being “too busy.” That is not being honest because when we turn someone down, we are really choosing one value above another.

A year ago, my sister-in-law asked me to watch her four kids, ages 11, 8, 4, and newborn. Previously we found it to be very exhausting to have them in our home for 12 hours. My husband and I decided not to do it again. We didn't want to do it again. My first thought was to tell her that we were too busy. Two problems with that plan: she'd ask again, and it was a lie. After stepping back to consider my answer I told her that, although we love the kids, we'd decided that we could only watch two at a time. Watching all four was just too hard on us. I believe my brother was sore at me for a little while, but I haven't had to approach the subject again. I chose the value of my own sanity over helping others, in this situation. Communication is a wonderful thing; why don't we use it more?

The Top Ten Methods to Create a Successful Work Team

Keywords: Teamwork

Teams are often useful in situations where the task cannot be completed individually or if the task requires working interdependently. However, a successful team requires thought and planning. Too often, a group of individuals is simply thrown together, given a mandate, "marching orders" and then told, "Now go make us proud!"

To create an effective work team, defined outcomes, common goals and correct skills are keys to success. Here are ten methods to create a successful work team.

1. Create a common, shared (team) goal. There must be a central focus that the team is moving towards and it must also include a strong task orientation that translates into each person knowing how to move towards that goal.

2. Have measurable outcomes. Team execution is usually more effective if you can measure what the team produces. Standards of excellence should be established so that the team understands what the target is and ongoing measurement (milestones) towards the desired outcome should also be implemented.

Customers Are Prospects Too

Keywords: Increasing Customer Sales

Your customers already know you and trust you. It's easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who never bought from you. Their business is also highly profitable because there's no advertising expense involved.

Here are 3 ways you can increase the income you get from your customers. All 3 are effective for marketing online and/or offline ...and they cost little or nothing to implement.

1. Upselling

You don't have to wait until after making a sale to increase the income you get from a customer. You can start while the customer is in the process of buying for the first time. It's called "Upselling". Here's how you can use it.

High Stress Warning Signs

Keywords: Coping With Stress

Military leaders are taught the symptoms of acute stress so they can treat the symptoms and keep soldiers on the front line. In the worst situations, the Army has experienced the loss of as many soldiers to stress as to combat wounds. In the best of conditions, the loss to stress has been one soldier for every ten wounded by the enemy.

Corporate leaders don't have the same concerns about losing employees to enemy fire. However, they do lose employees to stress. The loss comes in the form of absenteeism, medical problems associated with stress, lower productivity, accidents, and poor performance.

Employees react the same as soldiers do to sleep deprivation, physical discomfort, too much work, and trauma. Some people are more susceptible to stress, but even the most tolerant have some reaction to stressful events.