Month: March 2009

Categories
Success Attitude

The Transformation Of Meaning…

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Imagine that the company you have worked so hard for in the last 20 years decided that it was time to retrench you because they can replace you with someone at half your salary. How would you feel?

What meaning would you give to this experience?

Most people would feel angry, bitter and rejected. Because it means that their source of income and security is gone, cut off.

They would feel betrayed. They would feel that they have just wasted 20 years of their life. They would feel that they are too old and no longer of value! The meaning they attach to this experience would put them in a totally un-resourceful state.

What do you think will happen when people in such a state go for a new job interview? Will they impress upon their prospective new employer qualities of enthusiasm, passion, energy and drive?

Not likely. Chances are that they will unconsciously exhibit low self-esteem, bitterness and jadedness.

As a result, it will take them a long time to find someone who wants to hire them. Even if they eventually find another job, it may be a part-time job or one of much lower status and pay.

Now, in this new job do you think they will give their all? Most likely they would be thinking to themselves, ‘What’s the point? I gave my best years to my former company, look where it has gotten me?’

As a result, this person will reinforce the meaning he has attached to the retrenchment, that it was the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

At the same time, I have also seen many other people attach a totally different meaning to the same experience of retrenchment. To these positive people, retrenchment means that it is the company’s great loss.

It means that they have the opportunity to start a new career or business in a field they have a whole lot more passion for. It means that they will finally be paid what they are worth!

And the ‘bonus’ is that they are getting a great pay-out which will be the seed money to get them started in a business they always wanted to be in, but never had a good reason to start. Getting retrenched also means that they have much more freedom and flexibility to plan ahead.

For those looking for a new employer, retrenchment could mean that they are glad to leave an ungrateful company and move to another where they would be more appreciated, whose corporate culture would be more in sync with theirs.

By framing retrenchment in this way, these people attach a whole different meaning to the same experience. They put themselves into a total resourceful state of possibility, enthusiasm, motivation, passion and excitement.

They will be driven to upgrade their skills, hunt for new career opportunities and even start their own business. As a result of taking all this action do you think they will end up in a situation that is better than where they were previously?

Of course! I have so many (older) friends who were forced to start their own business after the 1987 recession and, because of this, many of them are a lot wealthier, happier and have a greater sense of freedom and purpose.

One of these enterprising people I know has just listed his shipping company and is personally worth $28 million. He keeps saying that the layoff was the best thing that ever happened to him. Again, the meaning these people choose to give to their experience was the meaning they created.

Why is it that the same experience can destroy one person and empower another to a new level of success?

We re-present (frame) things very differently in our minds. Some people have a pattern of constantly framing experiences in such a way that it dis-empowers them and puts them in un-resourceful states. Others constantly frame things in a way that gets them empowered and extremely resourceful.

So which re-presentation of The Experience is true? Is it a blessing or a curse? Is it an opportunity or a problem? However you choose to re-present the experience becomes true for you.

Categories
Networking

Alliances with Other Bloggers

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Blogtrepreneur by Adam: The blogosphere is a big, scary place when you’re just starting out. There are millions of blogs and you may be competing with other, more established writers who have already established a following on the very subject of your blog. Some popular blogging genres include technology, politics, parenting, and fashion. True, you have your own unique spin on things; and that’s why you want to start up your own blog in the first place. But in order to lay a foundation for generating traffic and creating a brand around your blog, you need to accept one important fact: No Blog is an Island! That is, if you want to succeed as a professional blogger, you’ve got to form alliances.
The best way to start building your alliances is to search for as many other blogs that you can find on the same topic as yours. Make a list and visit them all every single week for three months, leaving thoughtful comments. With few exceptions, most bloggers aren’t making tons of money on their blogs. They write as part of their business or as a hobby. The one thing that keeps them motivated is getting real (non-spam) comments on their posts. After a few months of reading and commenting, you will probably have isolated a handful (10-20) blogs that you really enjoy reading and look forward to visiting.
At this point, send a polite message to the blogger and ask them if they would be interested in exchanging links with you. Tell them how much you enjoy reading their blog, that you’d like to add them to your blogroll, and that you’d appreciate a reciprocal link. The vast majority of the time they will be receptive to this request, especially if you’ve been commenting long enough that they recognize you have a genuine interest in reading their blog—not just swapping links.
Out of the group of blogs that you’ve exchanged links with, you may have formed a special relationship with one or two bloggers who have similar writing styles to you; or who you especially admire. You can then approach these individuals and ask them if they would be willing to allow you to do a guest post on their blog. Having a post on their front page with the link to your blog in the text will up your exposure, as will having the endorsement of an already popular blogger. Most bloggers would be delighted to allow you to guest post, since it’s free, original content for their site.
Finally, make sure that you have included all your blogging contacts in your social media circle. Most bloggers have accounts at Twitter, Facebook, and other sites. Be sure to include those folks in your own network and engage with them there, too. If your blogging friends post a Tweet, be sure to Re-Tweet it; and you can expect the same treatment in return.
The good news is that the blogging community tends to be very open. Sure there are some snobby ‘cliques’ out there, but the overwhelming majority of bloggers are ready and willing to help you promote your blog as long as you are willing to do the same for them.

Building Relationships With Other Bloggers [Blogtrepreneur]

Categories
Entrepreneurship

Small Business Startup Myths Debunked

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Blogtrepreneur: Millions of people dream of starting up their own business: of being their own boss, making it big, and having a company that that they can point to as their life’s work. But the realities of starting up a small business are sometimes overshadowed by myths which make it difficult to deal with the real challenges that arise in the first few years of operation. Here are some small business startup myths that might keep you from realizing your startup vision:
Myth: I’ll finally have time to do what I want / spend with my family / enjoy life
Reality: Anyone who has successfully started up a small business will laugh you out of the room if they hear your say this. The fact is, there are many benefits (personal and financial) to having your own business, but plenty of free time is not one of them. Granted, you do have a little more flexibility with your time. Many small business owners choose to work late at night so that they can spend time during the day with their families; but there’s still some major sacrifice…namely, sleep. Starting up a small business requires that you work 110%, without exception. Those fantasies of taking long vacations while your business grows itself? Just fantasies.
Myth: I’ll be profitable within the first year because I am hardworking / passionate / good at what I do.
Reality: It doesn’t matter how good you are at your business, how hard you work, or how much of your heart and soul you put into it. All businesses take time to get off the ground, and the majority of them are not profitable for at least the first couple years. You need to be realistic about this for a couple reasons. First of all, you can’t let yourself lose momentum or start to feel depressed just because you’re not profitable right away. Building up expectations like this can damage your business simply by virtue of chipping away at your morale. The other reason is that you’ll have to plan financially. Your budget needs to reflect five years of bootstrapping during your startup. With very few exceptions, no one hits the “big time” in six months, regardless of how talented they are.
Myth: I already know what I want to do, so I don’t need to write a business plan.
Reality: You do. A business plan is going to help you think ahead, plan for all contingencies, work with a budget, keep you focused on your mission, and help you sell your company to anyone else you need/want to have involved—lenders, employees, contractors, vendors, family, friends, etc. Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be rocket science. A simple, small business startup plan can be around 10-15 pages long and follow a simple outline. For an excellent resource on creating a business plan, I recommend the free ebook:
Outline for a Business Plan by Ernst & Young. http://www.techventures.org/resources/docs/Outline_for_a_Business_Plan.pdf

Myth: If I build it, they will come
Reality: You still need to market and advertise your business strategically. That means having a plan and a budget. It also means researching the most effective methods for marketing and advertising. There is no shortage of ways to waste money in advertising, and it can end up being a huge financial drain on a fledgling company. Do you really think 5000 key chains with your logo on them are a wise choice in your first year of business? Do you think the yellow pages are the best place to put an ad, when 80% of your business is done online? No matter how good you are, there is lots of competition and you small business has to establish a presence and reputation to go along with your talent.
Small business is one of the most exciting arenas for earning a living. There is unlimited creative potential and a chance to really make something tangible for yourself and your family. But doing so requires more than just a vision and some chutzpah. You need to be intelligent about how small business is framed in our marketplace, and what kinds of obstacles there are to overcome. You also need to be aware of the tools and support that you have at your disposal. Staying focused on these realities, and avoiding the myths that many fall prey to will only increase your chances of success and longevity in your small business.
Small Business Startup Myths [Blogtrepreneur]

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Make the Sale Before Even Stepping Through the Door

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America’s Best Companies by Charles Cooper: Your business lives or dies on your sales and often that rides on the success of the sales call. The more of those that end in a handshake and a signature, the better your bottom line becomes. There is, however, no sure-fire method of scoring a sale each and every time. You can, however, shift the odds in your favor (or at least more in your favor) by planning for the sales call.
Mary Donato, president of Applied Principles and associate director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, writing for Sales and Marketing Management Magazine has looked into the issue of pre-sales call planning and has come up with several steps to follow to give you and your sales staff the best chance to succeed.
1. Decide what you want the client to decide or agree to once the meeting is over. How will you get them to agree to move on to the next step? What will you recommend at the end of the meeting?
2. What does the client have to believe about you, your company, your solution to move on to the next step? During your first meeting, the client needs to do most of the talking and you need to be an active listener. But you will need to ensure they believe you can be an appropriate provider to them.
3. What are key things that you want to know about the client? Ensure that you get a list of the client’s issues and know the most important items on that list. Research their company, don’t ask questions that are already answered on their website, but do ask thought-provoking, educated questions based on what you learn.
4. What are the potential objections? How will you respond? You should have a list of the common objections along with the appropriate responses. This can help you determine if your solution is a fit to the client’s problems or not.
5. Create an agenda for the meeting. Having an agenda provides meeting objectives to all involved. This is useful since decision-makers usually want someone who won’t waste their time and respecting their time (and yours) is key to building a successful business relationship.
6. Prior to the meeting, email the client with the agenda and the purpose of the call. Ask them if they have other objectives they would like to accomplish during the conversation and give them a chance to bring other, critical people into the meeting, or suggest others who you would like to include.
Planning is not fool-proof, and you may find that your plan needs to change on the fly once the meeting is underway, so be flexible. However, it is still your best roadmap to take you from that initial handshake to where you want to be—a sale.

Categories
Recommendations

5 Tips for Finding a Great Virtual Assistant

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I’ve been hearing too many stories of late from fellow business owners, clients, and colleagues who have had bad experiences when partnering with a virtual assistant.

So in this article I thought I would shake things up a bit and share with you my five tips for finding a GREAT virtual assistant for your business… and believe me, there ARE many great VAs out there; you just need to know what you want before you go looking!

1. Decide what your requirements are. What skills and abilities do you want your VA to possess? What projects/activities do you want them to be working on? Do they match your needs? Check out their websites, view client testimonials, and examine their profile.

2. One hat doesn’t fit all. Although VAs primarily provide administrative support, many are now specializing in different areas of business support. If you’re a speaker, look for a VA that specializes in speaker support; if you need help with your online marketing activities, look for a VA that specializes in this area. This might mean that you’ll work with more than one virtual assistant but each one has their own unique skills and abilities that they can bring to your business.

3. Cheaper isn’t always better. Don’t always go for the cheapest, even if you think they have a great skill-set. Here’s why… if a VA is charging quite a bit less than the average rate, how many billable hours do you think they are going to have to work or how many clients are they going to have to be serving so that they can make a good living from their business? I’m betting too many! This translates into too many balls to juggle, work slipping through the cracks, projects not being completed on time, and so comes the bad experiences that I’m hearing about. Which leads me on to the next point…

4. Business owner first; VA second. Like any business owner a virtual assistant will know that they are a business owner first, and a virtual assistant second, and so will be running their business accordingly. They will have systems in place for handling new client enquiries, and have a firm client consultation process in place. If, when you approach a potential VA, they ask you to book an appointment for a consultation take this as a very good sign – they have their system in place! You cannot begin working with a VA unless you’ve had this initial consultation first to ensure that you’re a good fit for one another. This process is a two-way street and one that is absolutely essential in ensuring you have a great experience in working with a virtual assistant.

5. Get it in Writing. Always ensure that you sign an agreement before any work starts so that you both know exactly what is expected of each other. This should include information about the fees, terms & conditions etc.

Bonus tip: Contact, contact, contact! And finally, contact your potential VA as many times as you feel necessary to ensure that you are 100% happy with them before any work starts.

Partnering with a virtual assistant is a great business investment for you; they can take a lot of the day-to-day work off your hands, freeing up valuable time for you so that you can focus on growing your business and doing those activities that only you can do, i.e. working one-on-one with clients, developing products etc.

And if you partner with a VA who has a business and marketing mindset they will be able to help you plan, strategize, and achieve your goals as well as making your To Do list their To Do list!

Don’t let prior bad experiences cloud your future decisions. If you take on board all the tips I’ve shared with you today, I guarantee you’ll find a GREAT virtual assistant!