Digg it UP - Business

Whine, Moan & Complain - Then Contribute!
Every month I receive messages from students and readers that begin, ‘I got such terrible service from…’ and often close, ‘…and I’ll never go back there again!’I find these stories upsetting, occasionally entertaining, but rarely are they motivating or instructive.Here’s why:Anyone with enough intelligence and emotion to muster a written complaint also has the ability to offer a constructive solution. If you can see what’s wrong with a situation, you must have some idea about what would set it right.Noticing problems is half the puzzle; getting things improved is the more important part.If you are upset with a vendor, colleague or business partner, you must have some expectations unmet, some needs ignored or some preferences overlooked.Your view of the situation is unique and your perspective may be very useful to the other party. Clearly stated, your requests and recommendations could make a difference.Unless you enjoy complaining for its own sake, follow these five simple steps to

>5) Ask a couple of trusted colleagues, clients or friends for feedback on your draft – really do this because it helps! Plus, it’s a great confidence booster and low-risk way to share your writing with a small audience first.

6) Put your new article on your website, offer to send it as follow up when networking, send it to current clients, use it as the basis for getting booked for talks (more on how to in a future newsletter)…whatever you do, don’t let it languish. USE it as a way of sharing your expertise.

For more tips on how to share your expertise through writing, keep reading...

Taking a page from Twyla Tharp’s new book, The Creative Habit, this prolific dancer and choreographer shares her tips for moving from procrastination to creativity, regularly and with ease. Apply these ideas

How to Make a Career - Life Change
Have you’ve felt like your job doesn’t match your talents, skills and attributes with who you are and what you’re doing? Have you wanted to make a career/life transition, and don’t know where to start? Let’s take a look at the topics to consider making a life/career change. Making a career/life change is a process. It isn’t something you can think about for a few hours that will result in your “dream job”. Sometimes we want the life/career change to be fulfilled quickly, and with little inner soul-searching. However, it doesn’t work that way. It took you many years to get where you are today. To make a career/life change takes time as well.It is a process that takes personal reflection time, some serious research, assessment of your skills, values and attitudes, time spent in identification of an area of your life that you are passionate about to help you identify your gift, listening to your true desires, and then writing your goals, and creating a plan. Lastly, it is working your plan!Before you make a deci

As a professional service provider, you’re paid for what you know. People come to your firm for the expertise you offer, first and foremost. Did you also realize that this is also your secret marketing weapon?

By sharing what you know, you actually attract people to you and build their confidence in you as the right solution for their problem. Now many professionals are afraid to “give away” trade secrets or expertise for free, but that’s not what I’m talking about. This is about putting content regularly out into the marketplace that is of enough value that prospects will automatically think of you when they have a need.

It seems paradoxical – the more you give away, the more people are willing to pay for your services – but it’s true. This exact approach has worked quickly and effectively for me for years. The key is that it’s got to be good and of high relevance to your target audience. This builds people’s confidence that you consistently know your stuff and that you can be counted on for long-term value. People soon realize that if you’re willing to give away such valuable expertise, think how great the solutions they pay for will be!

So how do you share your expertise with your target audience? Through writing and speaking. And it starts with being able to get your core ideas down on paper in a way that catches your audience’s attention and compels them to action.

If the idea of writing an article or giving a speech feels overwhelming, stay with me. I’m going to show you how easy it can be if you follow a basic formula that works every time.

Formula for Success

We’ve all stared at a blank page, at a loss for words or ideas…and wondered how in the world to write the article, proposal, report or presentation that’s due soon…with the deadline looming and no inspiration in sight. It’s the worst feeling and brings out the procrastinator in all of us.

Next time you’d rather clean out your desk than force yourself to sit down and write something, try this easy approach:

1) Brainstorm a short list of things that your clients struggle with. What problems drive them to you? Why are they willing to pay good money for your services. Remember, it’s not about you -- it’s about them, their pain, and their needs. This is now your list of topics for articles and talks.

2) Pick one topic and answer the following questions:

• What’s the problem?

• What’s the lost opportunity?

• Why is this important to address?

• What will happen if it’s ignored?

• What’s your solution?

• What tips do you have for implementing your solution?

• What example can you use to illustrate your point?

3) Write your answers to these questions and don’t worry about how it flows or even that you’re using good grammar. Just get your ideas on paper (or into the computer). Notice that by now, you have at least a page written. Pat yourself on the back and keep going.

4) Go back and clean up what you’ve written, add a catchy title and some headlines to break up the text, keep your paragraphs short, add some bullets or numbers to guide the eye. Maybe add references or a diagram. Step back and review what you’ve done. By now, you’ve got an article!

5) Ask a couple of trusted colleagues, clients or friends for feedback on your draft – really do this because it helps! Plus, it’s a great confidence booster and low-risk way to share your writing with a small audience first.

For more tips on how to share your expertise through writing, keep reading...

Is It Time To Find Another Job?
We’ve all been there. We hit the snooze button on the alarm too many times to count because we just don’t feel like going into work for yet another day. When we’re at work, we count the hours to quitting time. We bide our time for the weekends.Or possibly it’s worse. Maybe the thought of work hurts the pit of your stomach. You get headaches and your teeth clench. Every day at work is like running the gauntlet.If you’re thinking that it might be time to find another job, that’s a strong signal that it might be time to find another job.If you’re not sure, don’t worry. There is no harm in updating your resume and keeping an eye open for other suitable positions. In fact, it’s a good idea to test the waters every now and then, even if you’re happy with your job. It gives you a sense of your marketability and helps you feel in control of your situation.However, if you’re wondering if it’s time to find another job, the worst thing you can do is nothing.It may be that your intuition is telling y

me for years. The key is that it’s got to be good and of high relevance to your target audience. This builds people’s confidence that you consistently know your stuff and that you can be counted on for long-term value. People soon realize that if you’re willing to give away such valuable expertise, think how great the solutions they pay for will be!

If the idea of writing an article or giving a speech feels overwhelming, stay with me. I’m going to show you how easy it can be if you follow a basic formula that works every time.

Formula for Success

Next time you’d rather clean out your desk than force yourself to sit down and write something, try this easy approach:

2) Pick one topic and answer the following questions:

• What’s the problem?

• What’s the lost opportunity?

• Why is this important to address?

• What will happen if it’s ignored?

• What’s your solution?

• What tips do you have for implementing your solution?

• What example can you use to illustrate your point?

For more tips on how to share your expertise through writing, keep reading...

Customer Rewards
The idea of a customer reward program is to first get customers interested in your product. That is often achieved by introductory incentives. These incentives might be the lure of free car wash to the first fifty people to pump gas at the new gas station at the corner of East and Vine St. Or it could be a credit card promising not to charge interest on the new card for the first three months of activation. A publishing company might promise a huge raffle with the names of all first time subscribers. The incentive offered to real the customer in depends on the company, the type of product they are promoting, and the type of customer they are hoping to attract.Once they have the client introduced to the product they have to come up with a way to get that client’s pertinent information entered into their computers data base. A credit card company won’t have to worry about that, the information would have already been entered when the customer applied for the credit card. But many businesses don’t have that luxury they have t

all stared at a blank page, at a loss for words or ideas…and wondered how in the world to write the article, proposal, report or presentation that’s due soon…with the deadline looming and no inspiration in sight. It’s the worst feeling and brings out the procrastinator in all of us.

Next time you’d rather clean out your desk than force yourself to sit down and write something, try this easy approach:

2) Pick one topic and answer the following questions:

• What’s the problem?

• What’s the lost opportunity?

• Why is this important to address?

• What will happen if it’s ignored?

• What’s your solution?

• What tips do you have for implementing your solution?

• What example can you use to illustrate your point?

For more tips on how to share your expertise through writing, keep reading...

Avoid the Entrepreneur's Downfall
As a business coach, I work with my entrepreneur clients to identify and remediate their blindspots. If you don't do this, your blindspots will hold you back. You will never achieve your full potential. You will not experience the success you are capable of experiencing.Knowing your blindspots is critical. Knowing what to do to address your blindspots is even more critical.There are a number of blindspots entrepreneurs may have. I would love to share all of them with you, but that would not be the most effective use of your time. Instead, I will share one of the most common and most destructive blindspots entrepreneur's have.Entrepreneur's are known for their creativity. Creativity can be your greatest asset. It also can be your greatest downfall.Most entrepreneurs are wildly creative people who have one great idea after another. With so many good ideas, it becomes difficult to focus.As an entrepreneur, you probably have an amazing ability to think of unique solutions to address any problem you en

lost opportunity?

• Why is this important to address?

• What will happen if it’s ignored?

• What’s your solution?

• What tips do you have for implementing your solution?

• What example can you use to illustrate your point?

For more tips on how to share your expertise through writing, keep reading...

Betwixt and Between - Staying Put or Movin' On
It’s fun to imagine dramatic change to your career where everything is different and exciting. A bigger challenge may be to alter your job situation right where you are. To consider whether to stay in your current role, reposition at your company, or move on to a new job, here are the points to consider:Stay Where You Are* Because your current job isn’t a negative on all fronts, assess what is working and what’s not. Take a short period of time to do this—a weekend might be enough, but don’t short-change yourself during this thoughtful writing process. Gauge how important your concerns are. Certain complaints, like a difficult boss, though commonly the #1 reason people change jobs, can change with help from a counselor or coach. If the good outweighs the bad, your enthusiasm can return with attention to challenging projects.* Are you overdue for a vacation? Last year Expedia research indicated we gave back 421.5 million paid vacations. If you think you’re indispensable, you’re not. Others are also awar

For more tips on how to share your expertise through writing, keep reading...

1) Set up a creative environment that’s habit forming. Creativity doesn’t just happen, it’s a disciplined skill that can be learned. Creativity is not a mystical, elusive gift that’s only accessible to artists. Everyone can develop it. Set up the right conditions and it eventually kicks-in. For me, it’s the act of daily planning that clears my mind to make room for ideas to flow. For you, it might be puttering in your garden or going for a walk. Whatever it is, do it daily and be disciplined about it.

2) Use an organizational system for your ideas. Over the course of a month, I run into articles, quotes, websites, books, photos, experiences, and conversations…all of which inspire me for an upcoming article or talk. I capture them in folders, labeled by theme or big idea. When I’m ready to start writing, I draw on this collection of resources to inspire and guide my thinking. Twyla Tharp uses a box for each new project. You might find a binder the best catchall. Whatever works for you, the mere act of labeling and filling your container demonstrates your commitment to the idea.

3) Scratch. Scratching is about seeking inspiration to fill your container. I scratch when I flip through copies of Fast Company and Inc. Magazine or browsing in my favorite bookstore (where I found Tharp’s book!). I scratch while networking with other professionals and ask what they’re working on or stuck on in their business. This is about where you get your ideas…it’s kind of primal, and you never know what’ll inspire you.

4) Beware of these deadly mistakes: relying too much on others, waiting for or expecting perfection, overthinking, feeling obligated to finish what you’ve started, and working with the wrong materials. Any one of them will undermine your best efforts. If you’re stuck, look at each of these to see if they’re holding you back.

5) Find your spine. It’s your one strong idea, the toehold that gets you started. The spine of this e-newsletter, for example, is that writing is a core competency of effective marketing. Related to it is the inspiration I found in Twyla’s book.

6) Master your skill. You have to master the underlying skills of your creative domain, then build your creativity on the solid foundation of those skills. You can’t write or speak effectively about your chosen profession, if you haven’t mastered what you bring to the table to begin with.

7) Know the difference between a rut and a block. Writer’s block is when you’ve shut down and your tank is empty. In that case, you just need to do something – anything – to change the patterns in your brain (walk away, sing, get outdoors, do some yoga, cuddle with your pet…you get the idea). A rut is more like a false start. This happens when you’re using a bad idea, it’s bad timing, or you’re sticking with old methods that don’t work. Get out of a rut by questioning everything except your ability to get out of it.

8) Fail often privately. This includes drafts that get thrown away, early versions that you share with trusted colleagues, testing your message while networking (“what’s your impression of…?”). Then figure out why you’re failing (is it the idea? your timing? a matter of

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The article intends to describe the vulnerabilities of the South African Research and Innovation base in terms of four domains namely, the level of technological exports, funding for R&I, capability to transform scientific knowledge into commercial applications and sourcing for competitive technologies.

Terrorists may be infiltrating American businesses. Be they homegrown militants or foreign infiltrators, the best defense is a background check along with the OFAC or Global Terrorist Report.

Using contractors for your IT needs can be a good idea as it allows you to concentrate your company’s resources on your business. You also don't have to administer holiday and sick pay and collect tax for contractors, and employing a person as a contractor can be up to 30% cheaper than taking them on as a full-time employee.

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