Goal Achievements for Busy People

Keywords: Motivation

Whizzzzzzz .. Ding .. Ding .. Flash .. Ding ……. Plop! Many of you mightn't recognise these sounds. But for me they are memories of long lost school holidays. Many hours (and dollars) were spent playing pinball machines or Space Invaders. I was no pinball wizard - but I learnt a life lesson or two as my pocket money disappeared.

You see, life is a bit like an arcade game. We start each game -as each year - with fresh enthusiasm. Then we quickly get caught in frantic efforts just to keep the ball in play - to keep our busy lives on track. Finally, no matter how good we are, our turn runs out and we are left to reflect on how much we've achieved before starting again.

As another year ends, some of you will feel you've achieved a high score, having reached most of the goals you set yourself this time last year. Others - perhaps most - will be frustrated that you couldn't get more done (as I was at the end of most of those games).

So what can pinball teach us?

For a start: it isn't all about rushing. I had some mates who were real arcade artists; they could make their 20 cents last for ages. While they always scored much more than me, they never seemed to work as hard as I did.

Similarly, I'm sure you know at least one of those people who seem to always to get an awful lot done, but never seem to be over-extended in the process.

What's A Blog?

Keywords: Blogs

According to the dictionary, a blog is:

"A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links."

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write content on an ongoing basis. As you add content to your blog, new posts are automatically positioned on top of previous posts, so your visitors can see "what's new." Then they can comment on it or link to it or e-mail you if they choose to do so.

A blog can be a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

A blog is often a combination of what's happening in someone's personal and business life and what is happening on the web--a kind of high-tech, hybrid diary/guide site--and there are seemingly as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

A Guide to Getting Started in Corporate Philanthropy

Keywords: Philanthropy

Business guru Charles Handy, writing in Harvard Business Review, summarized the value of philanthropic businesses by saying, “A good business is a community with a purpose.” Here are six steps to setting up a corporate philanthropy program:

Step One: Values audit. Start from your values base. Most corporations begin with an audit or evaluation of their values, bringing together leadership and representation from the staff to identify and articulate the company’s ethos and how it relates to the company’s mission and values.

What does your company care about: kids, shelter, domestic violence? For example, Polaroid created a foundation, managed by a committee of employees, to increase self-sufficiency among the disadvantaged by building their business skills with computers, literacy and business comportment.

Step Two: Engage directly. Increasingly, employees look for ways to have an intense, short-term project. For example, Volunteers of America has found over the past five years that corporations often prefer an all-day or weekend-long group project, such as painting a women’s shelter to the longer-term individual commitments such as being a big sister.

Job Seekers Beware: Statistics Show that New Year’s Resolutions are Doomed for Failure

Keywords: Job Seekers

A survey conducted by Gail Kasper, LLC, a leading speaking and coaching company, found that American’s aren’t taking their futures very seriously. Specifically, 51% of those surveyed do not have New Year’s resolutions. Of those who do, 79% don’t have a plan to achieve them. According to the Department of Labor, over 400,000 unemployed individuals are NOT actively seeking employment because they do not feel that there are jobs available for them. With unemployment at a all high, job seekers, must stay the course, have a game plan, and maximize holiday opportunities or they will find themselves amongst the 91% of American’s who won’t be achieving their goals in the New Year.

The survey which was complete by a random group of 104 adults over 18 years of age, also asked respondents to identify the biggest issue that prevents them from achieving their New Years Resolutions or goals. The top 3 reasons identified were as follows:

Procrastinating 33% Lack of discipline 24% No game plan 19%

Interestingly enough, 10% of individuals felt the biggest issue that prevents them from achieving their New Year’s Resolutions or goals was “doing it alone.”

How to Get Your Business Featured on Oprah

Keywords: Getting on Oprah

Chicago--In 1998 Robert Smith sent a letter to The Oprah Show on behalf of a client. A few days went by and then a few months and Robert never heard from the show. Then one day by accident Robert saw a show based on the volume of mail Oprah receives.

" It was crazy. She gets like 20,000 letters a week. I thought I was being smooth when I put my letter in a bright red envelope. Boy, was I wrong. There were hundreds of red envelopes," beams Smith, 30 year old president of Robert Smith & Associates PR in Rockton, IL. robertsmith.citymax.com

Smith says, "If you’ve ever thought about reaching a worldwide audience and promoting your business on Oprah, now is the time."

You might be thinking why would Oprah talk to me since I’m not a famous celebrity or I haven’t done anything important.

The Oprah Show has 48 producers who need a constant flow of guests. You can write to the show at Harpo Productions PO Box 909715 Chicago, IL 60690.

A much faster way to contact the show is to go to www.oprah.com and about half way down her site is a link that says, Share Your Story/Be on the Show.”

Five Principals for Prosperity

Keywords: Success

Many years ago, forty to be exact, I started my own business at the tender age of nineteen. The street markets in and around Manchester England was my happy hunting ground. Every day was an adventure and despite the weather and difficulties of getting a stall on the street market, life was always fun and enjoyable. There was always some comical incident, even when I had to stand in the pouring rain, with no customers in sight. And if there was no amusing event to focus on I created one and made other people laugh.

Within a few years my business progressed and I opened a wholesale textile company. I went on to become a very successful businessman not only making money in my original business, but also in commercial property and the stock market. I retired from the business world forty-six years of age.

After a six year, time-out period, so that I could understand why I was successful with no effort, I reinvented myself and became...... An author, poet, philosopher, motivational/inspirational/financial speaker, radio show host, director, producer and many other labels, within the past five years. How was all this achieved with not a mention of the word "work" in my vocabulary.....Well, you see, I just enjoy everything I am doing and if it is enjoyable, how can a class it as work?

Be Patient? Nah, Let's Kill Something

Keywords: Customer Service

There's the old joke about the two buzzards sitting in a tree overlooking a highway. One responds to the other, "Be patient? I'm hungry. Let's kill something." Just like that buzzard, it is not in the nature of most marketers to be patient for business to grow. They want to go out and "kill something," too.

The trouble is that most marketers go after new business the wrong way. They want to "take down" the new piece of business using all the tools of the trade from advertising and direct mail to cold calling and event marketing. This is an expensive way to drum up business. Your existing clients are just waiting to tell you about people they know who could use your services, and then help sell you in to these people they refer. Not only is this more cost effective, it practically guarantees the prospects will share the same characteristics of your best customers.

"OK, Harry," you're asking, "but how do I do it?"

The first rule of getting referrals: ask. When should you ask? Let's review.

Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking

Keywords: Public Speaking

Knocking knees, butterflies (who came up with that word?) in your stomach, sweaty palms, quavering voice. We’ve all been there – some of us more than others. I’m going to share with you some of the tricks of the trade to help manage and reduce your anxiety before and during your presentation. These methods are tried and true and have helped many presenters.

The first time is always the worst and it gets better from there. In 1991, I gave my first presentation to a large audience. My audience was 150 fifth and six grade students in an outside courtyard of an elementary school. I was scheduled to give a 35-minute student assembly that explained a collection of international artifacts (masks, musical instruments, hats, and other interesting items). It was a program designed to increase multicultural understanding. I was so fired up about the topic, and thought that it was such an important subject that I thought I could deliver the program.

Well, of course everything went wrong! The wind picked up and knocked some of the items off the display table (the kids thought this was funny, I didn’t). The microphone had that horrible screeching feedback. My knees shook the whole time, my voice quavered, my heart pounded – and I felt like it was going on forever. I got through my content somehow and looked at my watch. I gave a 35-minute presentation in 15-minutes! I think that I probably forgot to breathe.

After packing up my items and loading them in my car, I collapsed in the driver’s seat. When my heart starting beating normally, I had a realization. My realization was that I did deliver the program, yes–terribly, but I did finish it and it would probably never again be that bad. From that point on, I learned something from every program I gave; how to keep the audience engaged, how to test AV equipment BEFORE I started, how to breathe normally and speak at the same time. The list goes on and on. In three years, I delivered this program to more than 100,000 students and teachers.

Specific Measureable Results

Keywords: Business Planning

Want to make an immediate and dramatic increase in the overall performance of your company? Try creating a set of Specific Measurable Results (SMR) for each department or functional unit.

Specific Measurable Results? Of course, your sales force has them. It's safe to say there are few companies in the world that do not use sales quotas. Not only do sales people use quotas to track their output, they often have targets which measure their activity. "How many, by when" is a familiar phrase.

Top sales people monitor how many calls they make to prospects each week. The also track calls made to existing customers, how many letters they send, how many "closes", and so on. If a sales person isn't bringing in the promised business, management can examine his or her activity to see what area might need work.

What about the other players on your sales team - the technical representatives, the sales associates? Do they have specific, measurable results they've agreed to produce? What about your other departments? What about development? Customer Service? Finance? Marketing? Administration? What are they accountable for? Do they have SMR's to produce within a set time frame?

Street Fairs Are A Great Way to Raise Funds For Your Community

Keywords: Community Action

Every town and city can run street fairs and support their community through a grant or grants to non-profit organizations striving to improve quality of life for its community, or plant trees, improve parks, etc. Proceeds from the "renting" of booth space in the street can fund these programs.

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce (MCC) has been helping over 130 nonprofit organizations for 10 years through the running of the 2nd Ave. & 3rd Ave. Street Fairs. Through its affiliate, The MCC Community Benefit Fund, MCC has contributed $1 million from 1992 to 2004, to not-for-profit community-based organizations for programs which help improve quality of life ranging from health and welfare to educational and cultural enrichment, homeless, elderly programs, etc. In addition, another $1.0 million has been raised through the CBF raffle ticket program run through the fairs increasing MCC's total contribution to $2.0 million since 1992.

These street fairs consist of one mile of great food, shopping and entertainment from 66th to 86th Streets with over one million people attending each year. This provides a unique way for New Yorkers to gain access to more than 1000 businesses and non-profits located on these blocks. The purpose of these events is to improve the local economy and to build a better community by raising money and distributing it to non-profit neighborhood groups. There are over 800 booths and entertainment stages. Each booth is actually a 10x10' space on the street from the curb out. Participants "rent" the space. Many of the "renters" are shops and restaurants on the street as well as crafters, antique vendors, etc. Local radio stations and publications take over the stages and line up children's programming, jazz, rock and roll, etc. Non-profit organizations wishing to get more visibility for their programs are offered free spaces. So it is a great mix of shopping, entertainment and community outreach!

Six Reasons to Give

Keywords: Charity

If you run a business, you undoubtedly feel many pressures on your time and money. Why would you want to add "giving to the community" to your "to do" list? Here are six reasons .....

1. It feels good. Making contributions to the community is personally rewarding. Our values are important to us - from helping kids to supporting neighborhood cleanup efforts. Charitable contributions enable us to support these values.

2. It's tradition. Local businesses traditionally have been principal supporters of many community organizations that do good work. Without the support of the local business community, many programs that serve your neediest residents would not exist.

3. It builds company morale. Contributing to organizations that are important to employees enables business owners to promote a more positive work environment and build shared pride in the company's role in the community. Providing opportunities for employees to contribute, whether financially or volunteering time, improves morale and helps reduce turnover.

4. It's good for business. Support for local causes is a good way for a business to develop a positive image, reinforce relationships with customers, and develop closer relationships with community leaders and officials.

Top 3 Presentation Disasters of 2004

Keywords: Presentations

During the year we've seen some great examples from celebrities of presentation Do's and Don'ts. On the Do -side we've seen how an actor, former body builder, named Arnold, can morph into a Governor through demonstrating both charisma and confidence. We've also seen some really terrible demonstrations of behaviors that we wouldn't be caught dead doing in public.

As Shakespeare said “All the world’s a stage”. I’ll go ahead and take it a step further and say that all the world is a presentation. How we present ourselves in the world is how we are judged. All we have to do is go off course, or off key, just once and that is what people remember.

There’s some life and business lessons we can learn from these celebrities disasters and mistakes.

1. Janet Jackson’s Wardrobe Malfunction

What were you thinking, Janet?

Janet Jackson says it was all her fault that the costume reveal at the end of the number was only supposed to reveal a red lace garment under the bodice. "The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my halftime show performance was made after final rehearsals," the statement, which is on the MTV Web site. "MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did."

Are you Planning your Business or are you Planning your Growth?

Keywords: Business Growth

If you are like many high-performing business people, you have an annual ritual to set your plans for the coming twelve months. Some people do it in December, others at weird, miscellaneous times of the year, but most--me included--tend to do it the beginning part of the New Year.

It doesn’t matter exactly when you do this, but it is important you do it sometime soon. It has been said all the way back to the time of the ancients: goals and written plans for their attainment are the surest way to speed up your accomplishments. So skipping this step is not an option!

As you buckle down to this critical task, consider: are you planning for business as usual or are you planning for wonderful, extraordinary, growth? Many people feel kind of beaten down by the past three years of economic mis-performance and think a year in which profits don’t retreat will be a good year.

Others--most people--will plan to do something very much like they did in 2003; perhaps they will try to do it a bit better. They may look at the surplus resources they have available (if any) and try to figure out how they can eke out a little more performance, profit and revenue--without taking any big risks or doing anything radical. And for the most part, it will be business as usual.

Ho hum...

Don’t be either of these types...

Plan to do something extraordinary!

Plan to extend or expand or excel.

Specific Measureable Results

Keywords: Management

Want to make an immediate and dramatic increase in the overall performance of your company? Try creating a set of Specific Measurable Results (SMR) for each department or functional unit.

Specific Measurable Results? Of course, your sales force has them. It's safe to say there are few companies in the world that do not use sales quotas. Not only do sales people use quotas to track their output, they often have targets which measure their activity. "How many, by when" is a familiar phrase.

Top sales people monitor how many calls they make to prospects each week. The also track calls made to existing customers, how many letters they send, how many "closes", and so on. If a sales person isn't bringing in the promised business, management can examine his or her activity to see what area might need work.

What about the other players on your sales team - the technical representatives, the sales associates? Do they have specific, measurable results they've agreed to produce? What about your other departments? What about development? Customer Service? Finance? Marketing? Administration? What are they accountable for? Do they have SMR's to produce within a set time frame?

Use Collaborative Approach - and Get Leveraged Earnings

Keywords: Collaboration

By helping others to grow their business you ensure growth of your own business. I have seen this theory work even while dealing with competitors. This confirms one of the golden rules - you get what you give to others.

I have been involved in building and running factories to generate profit and credibility - right from constructing foundations for machines and buildings up to the point of developing customers and retaining them. In the process I have had to deal with many agencies - suppliers, customers, consultants, government officials, licensing firms and many others.

Whenever I negotiate a deal with these agencies, I always have two considerations at the back of my mind. One of them is cost reduction and the other one is the prospect of entering into long-term relationship. It is often possible to resort to arm-twisting to get a deal which appears better for you. But there is a better approach - the collaborative approach.

Collaborative Approach - Let us take the case of a supplier or a vendor. While it is possible to force a deal in your favor, collaborative approach makes that unnecessary. In this approach you actually work with the vendor as a consultant to help him to reduce his cost of sale, and then get the savings passed on to you. This creates a win-win situation, good relationship develops and long-term source of supply is ensured.

The "Real" Lazy Man's Way To Riches Revealed!

Keywords: Increased Wealth

Is there really a lazy way to riches? Most people would say no. I used to say that too, but not anymore.

Before we start off let me first define what I mean by lazy. Lazy to me doesn't mean that you don't do anything at all. Even the guy who wins the lottery has to go buy a ticket at some point, pick the winning numbers and submit it for the draw.

So as you can see, lazy doesn't mean you do nothing at all. It means you just do far less than normally required in proportion to the money you earn.

A good example of a "lazy way to riches" can be found in paid membership sites. When you join a membership site you usually pay a small monthly fee. In exchange you get a chest-load of free products. Some sites also give you the option to refer new members for a referral commission.

The referral commission you get paid is usually recurring. What this means is, you do the job (referral) once and then you get paid for it over and over again.

Let's say you join a paid membership site tomorrow and you refer your friend John. When John joins, in other words pays his membership fee, you will receive a portion of that as a referral commission.

Does Your Business Suffer From Paralysis By Analysis?

Keywords: Business Planning

Let me ask you a simple question. "Now that you've spent months, perhaps years, studying how to build an on-line business, are you close to reaching your goals?" Have you started building that business? You've read hundreds of ebooks, hundreds of ezine articles, and gone through several courses. HONESTLY, you already know all that you need to know to make that dream a reality.

Now it's just a matter of putting some of what you already know into action. Yes, some of what you know can become dated. That's why it's critical that you put it into action now. You need to apply what you've already learned to get your business going. As things change, you need to read the industry publications and news to keep current, but information is growing exponentially... you'll never know it all.

You'll never be completely current, but you can't let that paralyze you into inaction.

"Money likes people who act fast!" That's what my buddy, Dr. Joe Vitale teaches. When he gets an idea, he acts upon it, IMMEDIATELY. That's totally unlike the majority of (less successful) people. They get an idea, and then they spend weeks, perhaps even months, thinking of all of the reasons why it might not work. Think it through, but don't over analyze! Don't become a victim of paralysis by analysis.

How To Backup Your Hard Drive

Keywords: Hard Drive Backup

We all know that we should back up our system as soon as possible. But if you're like most of us, you will get to it tomorrow. The problem is that tomorrow rarely ever comes until you experience a serious computer failure and then it’s too late.

Taking the time to backup your data or entire hard drive is not as painstaking as it may seem. And the rewards of doing so will be great should your system experience a crash.

WINDOWS AND OTHER BACKUP SOFTWARE

If you have Windows XP you will need to install the new Windows backup utility from the Windows XP cdrom. Just place the WinXP cdrom in your cdrom drive and locate the line D:\VALEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP.

Here you see the first letter as D but if your optical drive has a different drive letter, exchange the D with your drive's letter. To install the utility, click on the file named NTBackup.msi.

The backup utility will be installed to the system tools group. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Backup. There is a neat wizard that will walk you through the backup process.

Leadership Development And Jumping Out of Airships

Keywords: Leadership

A German silent film melodrama depicts an airship bombing London during World War I. Lit up by searchlights and strafed by fighters, the crippled airship loses altitude as the captain frantically jettisons dispensable gear to lighten weight. Eventually, the only weight left is human. So the captain orders members of the crew overboard. A grisly scene unfolds as the airmen, one by one, without parachutes, step up to the hatch, salute the captain and the first mate, then jump to their deaths. Lightened, the airship returns safely to Germany.

That scene is not a relic. It's happening in corporations frequently these days, clearly not as fact but metaphor. Companies, shot up in the cross fires of increasingly competitive markets, must lighten their loads to get earnings' growth buoyancy. The captains are jettisoning all but the indispensable employees. Commonly, one of the first functions to be ordered out is the training function in particular, leadership training or leadership development.

Many company heads view such training as dispensable as the airship crew in the melodrama.

Yet leadership isn't dispensable to business success. It's absolutely indispensable. Good leaders are far more important to the long term success of companies than good products. All organizations that fail to get, keep, and develop good leaders eventually founder. This isn't a secret. Most leaders know this.

How to Improve Your Management Procedures’ Usability

Keywords: Management

Are your people consistently following your procedures? Each year, organizations lose thousands of dollars through common mistakes and lapses in usability. But what does that mean for business owners and executives?

Ask yourself:

• Are your required actions described thoroughly and accurately, or are the details left open to interpretation?

• Are all documents written to produce clear, measurable results?

If you're unsure about any of the answers to these questions, there is good news: you can make your procedures clear and complete without combing through all of them yourself line by line. You have invested in your procedures; now ensure you are communicating clear expectations, and your professionalism, with the best tools possible.

The Comfort Zone

Keywords: Motivation

I have a friend named Gene, a serial entrepreneur who currently runs a software business. Like many people, last year was a tough one for his company. They survived largely by providing add-on services to existing customers - a decent response to difficult circumstances. They even grew revenues a bit. But here's something else that happened: They got comfortable. They decided they could exist on their base of customers, and then they "realized" there would be no new ones.

Is that bad? Isn't that just accepting reality as it is?

It might not be bad, except that Gene's people got used to the idea of "no new customers", and it stuck with them. They've continued to draw revenues from this satisfied base, but lead generation and prospecting has remained almost nil. They are now looking at an empty pipeline, and unless things change soon, I'd say the forecast for the future is not bright.

There is a state of mind I'd like to acquaint you with known as the comfort zone. Perhaps you are already familiar with this insidious disposition. Did I say insidious? How can comfort be insidious?

You know, don't you.