 I moved from working in my business to working on my business!
Jim White, Founder Savor Dallas http://www.savordallas.com |
 I found a community of business leaders who make being in business a lot more fun and less lonely.
Jeannine Sandstrom, CEO CoachWorks International, Inc. http://www.coachworks.com |
 I now have a place to be open about my business success and future challenges.
Debbie Mrazek, CEO The Sales Company Author The Field Guide to Sales http://www.the-sales-company.com |
Archive for the ‘Just Because’ Category
By Jason Wilton 
When hiring and promoting people into manager roles, many times those who get the positions are those who work the hardest at their current jobs. Rewarding hard work is always an intelligent choice for those in upper management, but in some cases, the hardest workers do not have outstanding leadership qualities. When this happens, some effort must be expended in making managers into leaders.
First, you must teach your management candidates how to think outside the role of an employee. While they may have worked for a long period of time beside the people they will be leading, they must learn how to step out of the co-worker role and into their position of leadership. Watch for employees who may think they can take advantage of their friends, and nip this problem in the bud.
Second, evaluate their personal and business traits to see which leadership qualities need the most work. Place them in situations where they must work on these issues and hone their weaknesses. Even when someone does not naturally have a particular leadership quality, most of these traits can be learned with practice and reinforcement.
Finally, build up their confidence so that they can step into their new role and perform their duties as a manager without any hesitation. For many people, the most difficult part of assuming a leadership role is their confidence in their abilities to lead others. Once they have conquered their own insecurities, taking responsibility for others will become easier and those who work under them will be able to treat them with the respect that they deserve.
In some cases, making managers into leaders simply does not work. There are some people whose personalities are just not cut out for a leadership role and that is perfectly acceptable. In such cases, the best move is to find a position within the company where their strengths can be used to further their own career, as well as to create a stronger organization. Not everyone is a born leader, but nearly anyone can be trained to be a very effective manager with decent leadership qualities.
Making managers into leaders is one of many topics you can learn about at Leadership Made Simple. This periodic journal of practical leadership and management tips provides great material about leadership development. Right now, you can subscribe to this free journal to receive four great videos that can teach you to become a better leader or manager:
The other day I received an email wondering what hardware and software I use to do all the testing and updating and other things that go along with running a virtual organization. Since our clients and participants in our Small Business Big Success program also do many things themselves or need to know what to look for when hiring someone else, I will put up a general list of what I use to run a virtual business.
Hardware
Computer System:
Dell Laptop
With 2 gig of ram, 160 gig hard-drive, USB, HDMI, Firewire, and 6 cell battery. I will probably never use a computer except a dell for 2 reasons. I have had no major problems over the last 9 years with computers from them and they have the best discounts and deals for small business owners. I LOVE DELL. *Dell if you are reading this please add JBL speakers or something to your laptops. My only complaint sound not so good.)
Operating System
Windows Vista Premium
Yes, I love Microsoft for the operating system. I have used windows since shoot think it was 3.0 or something and for a base it has always been my favorite. More programs, more business users. I have not had to many issues. Maybe because of my 17 years in technology or something.
Applications I can’t live without:
- Picasa 3
- Photoshop cs3
- Office 2007
- FTP Navigator
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- Google Chrome
- Firefox
- Jasc Paint Show Pro 9 – Don’t make anymore
- IE
- Nero
- Bulk Rename
- Panasonic SD Formatter
- Color 7 Video Studio
- Microsoft Expression Web
- Cool Mp3 Splitter
- AVG Free Antivirus
- Add-ins for Outlook Email Merge Pro
- and Camtasia Studio 6
Hosting
Domains – www.godaddy.com they are the best registrar on the planet and prices cannot be beat.
Sites - www.site5.com best support and prices on the planet.
Email – www.aweber.com the emails always get through and the pricing is great.
Payments – LOVE LOVE LOVE PayPal, www.paypal.com we use them exclusively for our payments and use both web and virtual terminal products
Virtual administration. best virtual program to work with assistants and www.logmein.com with our counterparts across the globe.
Website is built in WordPress www.wordpress.org and theme by Brian Gardner. The best two combinations you will find anywhere and Brian has released his theme open source which is awesome. www.briangardner.com
Off the top of my head that is it. Everything I use to run a 10 year old virtual organization.
Written by Lance Winslow
If you want to be a star athlete you must work out your body. You must train to better your skills no matter what sport you play. Tennis Players must work on technique, batters must work on their swing, runners must work on their pace and all must work out those muscle groups if they are to have the stamina and strength to compete and win.
This is obviously not news to anyone – we all know this, even if we do not play a sport. “With Practice Comes Perfect” and yet have you ever considered the need for mind development? What have you done lately to strengthen or work out your mind? Well, let me explain three brain exercises you can do at home to assist in your personal mind development. Why not take you mind to a whole new level?
Okay then, let me explain these exercises and then you can go try them yourself:
Exercise Number One:
Picture a three dimensional shape inside your heard and spin it, keep track of it as it goes. Start with simple symmetrical shapes, you can move to other shapes in time after many sessions, it’s okay if you fall asleep while doing this, you’ll have cool dreams.
Exercise Number Two:
When you get better with the one above, jump on one of the tracks and become the particle, visualize zipping around the planet, sun, milky-way, faster and faster. Split yourself up into multiple pieces meeting back up with yourself, and create a spark, go faster and faster.
Exercise Number Three:
Do figure “8s” around the moon and the planet, to other stars and back again, faster and faster.
Try these techniques every day for at least 20-30 minutes before you go to bed. After a month, tell me how you did. I bet you will begin to see results, and best of all, it’s free. It’s your mind – use it. Think on this.
Written by Lance Winslow
With all the information thrown at us in this high-paced insane society, many struggle just to get all the required reading in, without even finding the time for the elective reading they really wish they had time to read. Perhaps, this is why speed reading is so important to folks and why so many are searching the words “Speed Reading” on the Internet these days – it’s true, it is one of the most searched phrases in the educational realm.
The reason is clear, folks need to read more to keep up with their schooling, professional on-going educational requirements, and the news, data and reports for their work.
Personally, I can tell you as an avid reader of many topics and subjects that it is indeed a huge challenge. Not only must we be selective in what we read due to limited time factors, we must also read faster, skim more and get to the meat of whatever we are reading quickly.
Too, it is imperative that we comprehend what we read, as there is no time to go back and do it again. Scientists have shown that folks remember less than 30% on average of what they read, even when they pay attention to the details and facts. Thus, simply reading faster and reading more in a shorter amount of time my not solve the problem.
So, I’d like to suggest a completely new approach to the concept of speed reading. Here is what I do; I micro-schedule my time. That is to say, I’ll read 3-5 pages of a report, a chapter of a book, a few articles on the web, a chapter in another book, part of the newspaper, then finish up the report, read another chapter of yet another book and so on. Why you ask?
Well, because the Internet has trained my brain to flip from one subject to the next, and because this keeps my mind from getting bored and allows me time to soak in the information, before coming back to it again. Thus, I am further reinforcing the imprinting of that information into my head. Think on this, it might very well work for you too.
Over the weekend Mark and I decided to "finally" reupholster some dining chairs that have been through three moves, and Chance’s baby and toddler years. We headed over to Hancock Fabrics to select a new fabric that would replace the dull, worn out ivory.
Mark has great taste and pulled a fabric that would work well with these rich, chestnut colored pine and wrought iron chairs. As I looked at the massive bolt of upholstery fabric, I wondered out loud how much we needed to buy. A small woman behind an enormous cutting table answered my question… Looking over her cat-eye style glasses, she said, "You need a yard and a half for four chairs."
Mark also answered my question. Why don’t we get four yards. Again, but in a louder voice this time, "You need a yard and a half for four chairs." As I looked up at Mark who was saying, "Okay, let’s get two yards." I could hear scissors on the table. I asked the woman, "Are you cutting a yard and a half or two yards?"
She replied, "You need a yard and a half for four chairs" as she smiled and put the price sheet on top of the folded mass of fabric. I turned to Mark, and jokingly said, "I guess we are getting a yard and a half!"
As we covered each chair and cut excess fabric to fit, I was SO thankful we had just more than we needed. Two yards would have been harder to manage and four yards would have been a mess. It made me think about how often clients think they know what they need, but really don’t. Are you giving clients what they need or what they want?
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. In virtually every encounter you have with a client there is a chance to choose between what the client says s/he wants and what you, as the expert, believes s/he needs. Where are you giving people what they want when you could give them what they need? What keeps you from delivering what you believe they need? What area of your business has areas where you want one thing but need another?
Happy Independence Day for those of you in the United States, and Happy Just Because the Sun Came Up Day to everyone else in the world.
The other night Mark and I were looking at our web analytics, and we noticed that we had a LOT of visitors from Russia. What’s a LOT, oh, about 30% of our traffic. Wouldn’t you say that was quite a lot of friends you don’t know?
That made me think about how marketing really works. You see, you just never know where your marketing efforts will land. You can only be in action, marketing your business and be open to the right people landing on your marketing.
With coaching clients the last few months, I’ve been doing a little research project. I’ve been asking them, “Where did your last 10 clients come from?” and then I ask, “How did you ‘make’ that happen?”
The answers have had one common thread – all the business ‘showed up’ out of nowhere. It wasn’t the direct result of a mailout, although a mailout could have had something to do with it. The PR that was great one day turned up a client weeks, sometimes months later.
What does this have to do with you?
It has to do with doing your job and letting go and letting the business find its way to you. For those of you who know me well, I call that God’s part. We stay busy doing what we do best and God takes care of the rest. When we are running around like crazy people trying to ‘make’ something happen the joke is on us… we will never MAKE anything happen. We can simply show up, be our best everyday, and watch things grow from those efforts.
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. How effort-FULL are you acting with your business? Does everything seem like a struggle? Do you feel stuck in the mud? Try getting back to basics… pick up the phone, call some of your best clients and touch base. Or, call your best referral sources and see what is going on in their world
We are approaching our 9th anniversary for the one80 group. Amazing how time flies and how wonderful it is to have a walking, talking reminder of how long it has been.
For those of you who don’t know the story… I gave my notice to my employer and two weeks later found out I was expecting Chance. That’s right, being the overachiever I am… I got married, started a business and created a baby all at almost the same time!
What does this have to do with you?
It has to do with achieving more than we really think we can. You see, when you are in love with what you do, who you do it for and what you are creating, the energy comes so you can create. When we get into a funk and are gasping for energy it’s hard to get moving so we experience this crazy, hazy feeling of effort. Pretty soon, that feeling of being effort-full is the norm. Then we paint that feeling on anything else we think about doing. Soon, we have cut back what we think we can achieve by a third, a half… by all accounts… way too much!
What would happen if you had so much energy when you bounced out of bed that you could sail through your day? What would you get accomplished?
I know a secret… a lot. And, with a LOT less EFFORT!
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. On a scale of 1 to 10, where do you fall on the spectrum? 10 is bouncing out of bed, can’t wait for the day, Tigger 10 Energy and 1 is Eyore One dragging around trying more than achieving. Not a 10? Find something you are passionate about and plug in!
Happy belated Father’s Day everyone! Chance did a great job picking out his Father’s Day present – literally. He got Mark a Wii Fit, which, of course, will be enjoyed by all – especially Chance! In all fairness, I must say that Chance admitted the Wii Fit was something he really wanted, but that ‘dad’ would prefer Guitar Hero. Ultimately he established that dad might also like Wii Fit so we should get that. It has been a great Wii-kend since Father’s Day started Saturday afternoon.
So what does this all have to do with you? Well, quite a bit actually. You see your clients are not much different than our 7-year-old. They decide to buy for emotional reasons and then back up those decisions with logic.
What’s the point here? The point is lead with something that pulls at emotion… a story, a problem, a desired benefit. But don’t lead with logic.
Thanks everyone for your good wishes. I appreciate your kindness and am looking forward to sharing more details!
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. What part of your marketing or business where you are leading with logic that needs an infusion of emotion (a.k.a. passion)? What is one thing you can do to pump up the passion?
P.P.S. As I write this, Mark is doing hula hoops on the Wii Fit. That’s a gift that keeps on giving!
Wow, what a week. Book Expo America was an amazing experience. Every publisher, distributor, and service company in the publishing world was in attendance and then some. I joined Jan King, Gail Richards, Lauri Bayless and Dawn Putney for a pre-conference where they prepared us to talk to publishers about our current books and our upcoming projects.
As I went from favorite publisher to favorite publisher at the show, I found myself in awe of the sheer volume of books I’ve consumed over my short life. I could easily and readily talk about various titles and the publishing house that put it out. It made for easy conversations with editors that were really reflective of my appreciation. It reminded me why I love books so much – they are like teaching soldiers that are always available. I have met many of my mentors through books, too.
The great news is that 10 publishers are interested in knowing more about my next book series! To say I was thrilled is putting it mildly – I was over the moon! Many of the members of our group had similar success. If you are looking to write a book, definitely call Jan King!
Other great news is that I met some very cool company reps and we are negotiating discounts and special offers for you for their products – watch for these in the next few weeks.
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. What is the project you want to do that you haven’t taken time to do? For some it is writing a book, for others it is a long, exotic vacation. For others it is a dream that has been sitting on the back burner. Is it time to upgrade the dream?
Hi all-
Happy Memorial Day! I hope you are feeling immense gratitude if you are a stateside reader of Marketing Mojo, and for those of you around the world, this is the USA’S day to celebrate those who have died in the line of service.
While many of us feel grateful for our freedom and for the many people who do serve in jobs many of us can’t even imagine doing, this is a day to really celebrate those brave souls who protect us day in and day out.
My step dad is a retired National Guard supervisor. He has served over the years in various deployments and I know how it can feel to have a loved one away from home on a mission for our country.
I wish all of you a peaceful day today, and for those of you who have lost a loved one, know that our prayers are with you.
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. Increasing an Attitude for Gratitude – When you feel yourself getting upset or down because of something you don’t like, don’t want to do, etc. Just remember it is temporary, and then look for the good in it.