Employees: Focus on delivering the value of what you do consistently well to those you serve. Make sure they KNOW who you serve and teach them how to be customer advocates. Reward such advocacy. Make sure they understand the value your business delivers to each stakeholder.

Customers: Create a communication strategy that connects intimately with those you serve. SHOW the value of your focus -- don't tell, because talk is cheap. Build relationships that feed improvements to existing products and services, and get your customers involved in creating new ones.

Investors: Keep them informed about your progress. Speak the trut

Tips for Building a Successful Career
1. Develop excellent work habits – for example, meet deadlines and don’t procrastinate.2. Read extensively about your primary career area. “Own” your profession by developing a disciplined reading program, so you’ll be aware of trends and developments.3. Practice team playing – learning from colleagues and sharing your knowledge.4. Know both your job and your organization’s expectations, and be sure they’re on the same track.5. Set goals, write them down and evaluate your progress.6. Focus on understanding your client/customers. Come up with strategies that add value from

Have you ever heard of an ultramarathon? A standard marathon is just over 26 miles. An ultramarathon is usually on the order of 50 or 100 miles, though there are some that span one thousand! Imagine the endurance required to run such a race.

Running a business requires the kind of devotion and stamina that ultramarathoners can only dream about. Like the 100-mile runner, the successful business leader must maintain focus, keeping an eye on the path...on the mileposts that mark progress...and on the long-range goal.

Unlike an ultramarathoner, your long-distance business run ends only when you leave the business by choice or when it dies an unnatural death. For in business the real success lies in creating something you can live with for the long haul, a crucible into which you can mix your creative vision and talents to build something unique and useful.

Keeping Stakeholders Focused

It's critical to your success to help your stakeholders stay focused, too. A good business delivers value to employees, customers, investors, and the community in roughly equal measure. Lose focus in any of those areas and you can find yourself headed for a business train wreck.

What happens when a business and its stakeholders lose focus? I recently observed a group of people at one company meeting to discuss the project manager's dissatisfaction with pink bubble wrap.

Eight people spent one hour in a meeting to talk about why bubble wrap had to be pink. Was that meeting necessary? Of course not. The focusing question to ask is: Does this meeting deliver real value to business stakeholders? Is it lined up with the business' principles and what it does consistently well?

Best intentions aside, such meetings are indicative of deeper problems that have gone ignored for a long time.

How Many Bubble Wrap Meetings Can You Afford?

In larger companies the symptoms of a loss of focus can go on for years. The systemic problems that occur in such situations develop gradually. Unless you are paying attention, you hardly notice them until they reach an almost ridiculous peak.

In smaller businesses, though, the results of defocusing can be catastrophic. They come upon you quickly like potholes in the road because you are moving at high speed. Before you know it you're sitting at the roadside, wondering what happened.

If you are going to avoid such problems, you must take action ahead of time. You must begin before the beginning.

Paying Attention Before the Beginning

During a business' startup phase, well before launch, founders and leaders must take the time to get conscious about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Smart leaders create answers to questions like:

• What is our business about?
• Who are we as a business?
• What do we believe about the right way to conduct business?
• What sort of relationships do we want to have with our customers, employees, investors, and the community?
• What is our company's unique value to its stakeholders?
• What is the unique value that our product or service brings to solving customer problems?

The time you make to answer such questions is repaid a thousandfold as your business grows. Be fanatical about indoctrinating your staff, employees, investors, customers, and the community about your principles and what you do consistently well. Do so in terms they can relate to:

Employees: Focus on delivering the value of what you do consistently well to those you serve. Make sure they KNOW who you serve and teach them how to be customer advocates. Reward such advocacy. Make sure they understand the value your business delivers to each stakeholder.

Customers: Create a communication strategy that connects intimately with those you serve. SHOW the value of your focus -- don't tell, because talk is cheap. Build relationships that feed improvements to existing products and services, and get your customers involved in creating new ones.

Investors: Keep them informed about your progress. Speak the truth

Who Knows Advertising Best; An Advertising Salesman or an Entrepreneur Paying for It?
Often we read articles on the Internet about business from some pretty seasoned veterans indeed. Unfortunately all too often the people writing these articles are self proclaimed Gurus of marketing or advertising, who are not seasoned entrepreneurs. In fact very few seasoned entrepreneurs have any reason to write about such things unless they are completely retired and therefore writing a biography or have switched careers.So, really who knows Advertising Best; an Advertising Salesman or an Entrepreneur who has spent his career writing checks to pay for it? It is a good question indeed. Why should this

alents to build something unique and useful.

Keeping Stakeholders Focused

It's critical to your success to help your stakeholders stay focused, too. A good business delivers value to employees, customers, investors, and the community in roughly equal measure. Lose focus in any of those areas and you can find yourself headed for a business train wreck.

What happens when a business and its stakeholders lose focus? I recently observed a group of people at one company meeting to discuss the project manager's dissatisfaction with pink bubble wrap.

Eight people spent one hour in a meeting to talk about why bubble wrap had to be pink. Was that meeting necessary? Of course not. The focusing question to ask is: Does this meeting deliver real value to business stakeholders? Is it lined up with the business' principles and what it does consistently well?

Best intentions aside, such meetings are indicative of deeper problems that have gone ignored for a long time.

How Many Bubble Wrap Meetings Can You Afford?

In larger companies the symptoms of a loss of focus can go on for years. The systemic problems that occur in such situations develop gradually. Unless you are paying attention, you hardly notice them until they reach an almost ridiculous peak.

In smaller businesses, though, the results of defocusing can be catastrophic. They come upon you quickly like potholes in the road because you are moving at high speed. Before you know it you're sitting at the roadside, wondering what happened.

If you are going to avoid such problems, you must take action ahead of time. You must begin before the beginning.

Paying Attention Before the Beginning

During a business' startup phase, well before launch, founders and leaders must take the time to get conscious about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Smart leaders create answers to questions like:

• What is our business about?
• Who are we as a business?
• What do we believe about the right way to conduct business?
• What sort of relationships do we want to have with our customers, employees, investors, and the community?
• What is our company's unique value to its stakeholders?
• What is the unique value that our product or service brings to solving customer problems?

The time you make to answer such questions is repaid a thousandfold as your business grows. Be fanatical about indoctrinating your staff, employees, investors, customers, and the community about your principles and what you do consistently well. Do so in terms they can relate to:

Employees: Focus on delivering the value of what you do consistently well to those you serve. Make sure they KNOW who you serve and teach them how to be customer advocates. Reward such advocacy. Make sure they understand the value your business delivers to each stakeholder.

Customers: Create a communication strategy that connects intimately with those you serve. SHOW the value of your focus -- don't tell, because talk is cheap. Build relationships that feed improvements to existing products and services, and get your customers involved in creating new ones.

Investors: Keep them informed about your progress. Speak the trut

An Introduction to Motivational Speaking
Everybody speaks. Some people speak and get elected president of the United States. Other people speak and armies of business people take to the streets, generating huge sums of money. Still others speak and people’s lives change. What makes for difference between those who speak and are received by a rapt audience, and those who merely fill the air with noise?Speaking clearly and effectively is a science and that science is called motivational speaking. For some it is more art than science but unlike art, true motivational speaking can be learned, can be taught effectively, and must be practiced. To b

siness' principles and what it does consistently well?

Best intentions aside, such meetings are indicative of deeper problems that have gone ignored for a long time.

How Many Bubble Wrap Meetings Can You Afford?

In larger companies the symptoms of a loss of focus can go on for years. The systemic problems that occur in such situations develop gradually. Unless you are paying attention, you hardly notice them until they reach an almost ridiculous peak.

In smaller businesses, though, the results of defocusing can be catastrophic. They come upon you quickly like potholes in the road because you are moving at high speed. Before you know it you're sitting at the roadside, wondering what happened.

If you are going to avoid such problems, you must take action ahead of time. You must begin before the beginning.

Paying Attention Before the Beginning

During a business' startup phase, well before launch, founders and leaders must take the time to get conscious about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Smart leaders create answers to questions like:

• What is our business about?
• Who are we as a business?
• What do we believe about the right way to conduct business?
• What sort of relationships do we want to have with our customers, employees, investors, and the community?
• What is our company's unique value to its stakeholders?
• What is the unique value that our product or service brings to solving customer problems?

The time you make to answer such questions is repaid a thousandfold as your business grows. Be fanatical about indoctrinating your staff, employees, investors, customers, and the community about your principles and what you do consistently well. Do so in terms they can relate to:

Employees: Focus on delivering the value of what you do consistently well to those you serve. Make sure they KNOW who you serve and teach them how to be customer advocates. Reward such advocacy. Make sure they understand the value your business delivers to each stakeholder.

Customers: Create a communication strategy that connects intimately with those you serve. SHOW the value of your focus -- don't tell, because talk is cheap. Build relationships that feed improvements to existing products and services, and get your customers involved in creating new ones.

Investors: Keep them informed about your progress. Speak the trut

How Entrepreneurs Succeed - The 5 Qualities Needed For Business Success
What is it that sets a successful businessperson apart from an average businessperson? Is it down to pure and simple luck, or is it all about having an amazing idea and a successful and strategic business plan in place?Well, these factors do indeed go a long way to turning a good business idea into a successful business operation, but they have nothing to do with what makes the ‘person’ succeed at business.Every great entrepreneur naturally has 5 key attributes that sets them aside from their competition and that ensure they will succeed where others may fail. These 5 personal qualities will a

re the beginning.

Paying Attention Before the Beginning

During a business' startup phase, well before launch, founders and leaders must take the time to get conscious about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Smart leaders create answers to questions like:

• What is our business about?
• Who are we as a business?
• What do we believe about the right way to conduct business?
• What sort of relationships do we want to have with our customers, employees, investors, and the community?
• What is our company's unique value to its stakeholders?
• What is the unique value that our product or service brings to solving customer problems?

The time you make to answer such questions is repaid a thousandfold as your business grows. Be fanatical about indoctrinating your staff, employees, investors, customers, and the community about your principles and what you do consistently well. Do so in terms they can relate to:

Employees: Focus on delivering the value of what you do consistently well to those you serve. Make sure they KNOW who you serve and teach them how to be customer advocates. Reward such advocacy. Make sure they understand the value your business delivers to each stakeholder.

Customers: Create a communication strategy that connects intimately with those you serve. SHOW the value of your focus -- don't tell, because talk is cheap. Build relationships that feed improvements to existing products and services, and get your customers involved in creating new ones.

Investors: Keep them informed about your progress. Speak the trut

Job Interview Checklist
Having prepared your best for your dream job interview, it would feel pretty bad to miss out something trivial which has the potential to make or break your candidacy. Because you should not leave your job search to chance, it is best to have a checklist of things to do and carry to the interview and follow it.General Checklist1. Do you have a neat haircut and did you shave? 2. Do you have your suit pressed and cleaned? 3. Are your shoes shined?Checklist of Things to Carry1. Extra copies of resume 2. Photocopies of your credentials, including your school certific

bout indoctrinating your staff, employees, investors, customers, and the community about your principles and what you do consistently well. Do so in terms they can relate to:

Employees: Focus on delivering the value of what you do consistently well to those you serve. Make sure they KNOW who you serve and teach them how to be customer advocates. Reward such advocacy. Make sure they understand the value your business delivers to each stakeholder.

Customers: Create a communication strategy that connects intimately with those you serve. SHOW the value of your focus -- don't tell, because talk is cheap. Build relationships that feed improvements to existing products and services, and get your customers involved in creating new ones.

Investors: Keep them informed about your progress. Speak the truth clearly. Hide nothing. Act ethically. Plan for the long term (even if you personally want to take an early exit).

Community: Be involved as a good community member. Pick a cause that's congruent with what you do and support it with passion. Show the community you'll be there for the long term.

Your Courage and Devotion Set the Tone

Above all, have the courage and devotion to keep yourself focused. There is no stronger example than that of your own life. Do your best to be the sort of person you want others in your company to be. For they will look to you as the model for acceptable behavior, values, and creative passion.

It's your race. Run it well!