Month: October 2012

Categories
Work Life

What Hour is the Most Productive in Your Day?

Last week you discovered your productivity trigger. I found mine standing around a family member’s grave, watching dragon flies and remembering their 30-day life spans. A new focus emerged for me in doing business, one that defines success by my clients’ success. My to-do list is better now—more focused with less time required for completion.

The second question to answer as you increase sales and achieve greater productivity so you leave the office earlier to do what you love with those you love is this:

How do I act in my first hour on my productivity trigger?

For most business persons, from the minute you walk in the building to when you crawl out at the end of the day, there is noise. Some of this noise is just part and parcel of running a business. It leaves few moments of quiet to sort out important matters which determine your mental perception. A positive mental attitude accelerates your productivity so you do more in an hour than most business professionals do in a month.

Starting your day quietly—your first hour—is the key to choosing a positive perception of your business. This means leaving the TV remote alone. 24/7 news is in business to monetize negativity. “If it bleeds, it leads” is their mantra. First-hour exposure negatively frames your mindset and stunts your sales, darkly coloring everything you see that day.

Instead, choose to Work Positive and act in your first hour in these two ways:

First, read or listen to something positive. Pick a book that refreshes you. Listen to a podcast or watch a video that inspires you. Fill your mind with positive jet fuel. Just as breakfast is the most important meal of the day for your body, think of this as jump starting your mental metabolism for how you view every person and activity that day.

Second, walk through your plans for the day and mentally experience positive results. Listen to a meaningful sales conversation in your mind that’s scheduled that day. See the contract signed. List the talking points for an important meeting and hear yourself engaging and wowing the group.

Your major focus at this time is to silence the noise of doing business daily and give yourself the physical and mental space to perceive the positive at work which propels you to grow sales and increase your productivity so you can leave the office earlier to go home and be with your family and friends.

Spend at least 10 minutes, preferably an hour, doing this Work Positive activity to manage your to-do list more productively. Enjoy the extra time and money with your family and friends as you Work Positive!

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Categories
Operations

Business Internet Service Providers – What You Need to Know

Contracting a standard internet service like that you might use at home, may not be the best ISP solution for your business. Personal internet services often don’t offer enough business features, or a high enough Internet speed. A business needs additional features such as, a higher level of security and constant server monitoring to guarantee better protection of business documents.

Business Options

As with ISP home options, there are many different business internet service options; these include DSL, cable, wireless and satellite services. However, unlike personal home service the business package you choose should have a higher download, upload and bandwidth speed in any system you choose, except the wireless and satellite systems; these are only considered feasible ISP options in areas were regular high-speed internet services are unavailable.

Price

You can expect ISP services for businesses to be somewhat more expensive than standard services. The highest ISP business packages such as those offered by a T1 line can cost about $350 to $450 a month, depending on your location and how many T1 providers are in your area. Of course, you should consider the cost of your internet; but the right Internet Service Provider is crucial for your business. The package you choose will depend on the upload and download speed you need, as well as the number of computers you have networked into the internet line, so you’ll need to get a business internet service that covers all of your business needs.

Security

The contracting of this service also requires you be concerned for security. After all, if you own an e-commerce website or other type of site that deals with confidential financial data, one where you sell products online and take credit card information, then you have to ensure this financial information is as safe as possible. Even businesses that don’t have an online business, but keep trade secrets on your computer network, you still want to ensure you have security like that of the managed firewall by Megapath. A business ISP offering firewall and monitoring services, offers high-speed internet with constant antivirus, malware and data security is something every business needs; the lack of such software can cause virus, hacking and all kinds of infiltration issues.

Performance

When looking for the right ISP you should consider download and upload speeds; preferably, you want download speeds higher than 10Mbps and download speeds above 2Mbps. You should also make sure that whatever business ISP service you choose you have networking capabilities, allowing you to connect all of the computers in your business, firewall features like those of Megapath mpls security, all at a price your business can afford.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
People & Relationships

Are You an Entrepreneur with a Good Online Reputation?

Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or one that has been around the block a time or two, do you truly know how you and your business are perceived on the Internet? If the answer is no, you have some work to do.

As more and more consumers turn to the Internet to browse and shop for products and services, it only makes sense that they are coming across information about companies they may potentially do business with. Should that information be less than stellar, it can leave an entrepreneur in bad shape as far as gaining more business.

One or Two Negative Comments Go a Long Way

In today’s Internet age that millions and millions of consumers and business owners deal in on a daily basis, it just takes one or two comments from an online poster to start a wave of backlash against a business. From the upset customer, competitor across town, to the employee not happy with their role at the company, the Internet can prove a fertile ground for entrepreneurial problems, especially with a company’s brand.

So, how do you correctly deal with getting your online reputation back in order, allowing your business to once again be of great appeal to potential customers?

Among the things to keep in mind:

* You have much to say about how you are perceived online – While just about anyone can say something negative about your company online, you control more than you think. Have you been regularly posting positive things to say about your company online? Do you promote your business in a positive way via press releases, guest blog posts and customer testimonials? Are you actively engaged in social media, wherein you can point out the good things about your business on a regular basis? These are all things that the entrepreneur can and should control.

* Courts are not often on your side – Let’s say a customer takes to the Internet to say disparaging things about your company. Is your first intuition to turn around and sue them? You should note that the individual is going to win nine out of 10 times. As more and more entrepreneurs have found out in recent years, it is hard to sue for libel, especially if what is being said about your business turns out to be factual. For instance, a disgruntled customer takes to your Facebook fan page to complain about your company’s customer service and really unloads on you and your business. Given that 10 different customers could have 10 different opinions of your company’s customer service, who says the disgruntled one is wrong? You take it as an attack on your brand and business, threatening to sue. The first thing a lawyer or judge tells you is this little thing called freedom of speech, leaving you with little maneuverability to work with;

* Review your online reputation regularly – Lastly, while you have plenty on your plate to keep your running daily as an entrepreneur, it behooves you to check in on your reputation regularly. A simple Google search of your business name will assist you in seeing how your company is perceived online. Monitor your brand, online listings, comments and more. You can also put in place Google Alerts, reminding you to monitor your company’s reputation. It is also a good idea to have a dedicated social media policy in place for all your employees (yourself included) to follow. By doing so, you lessen the chances of an employee saying the wrong thing to a customer on a forum or Facebook or Twitter exchange. Finally, think before you and/or your team respond to negative online comments. They say any publicity is good publicity, but do you really want to open up a can of worms with individuals who don’t view your company as positively as you do?

With all there is to lose in not properly handling your online reputation, are you willing to chance all you have worked for?

About the Author

Dave Thomas has more than 20 years’ experience as a writer, covering news, sports marketing, SEO, press releases, social media and more.

Categories
Business Ideas

Jump Start a Career in Photography

A career in photography or design is a great way to turn a passion or hobby into a financial opportunity. While it is everyone’s dream to find a job doing what they love, developing a career that facilitates creativity will also take some hard work.

Successful photographers and designers know that it takes more than just passion to develop their skills. For this reason, going back to school can be a great way for a person to learn the technical skills that they need in order to develop a rewarding career in the exciting field of design as it can help them in the following areas:

Establish Credibility

One of the most challenging aspects of pursuing a career as a creative artist is finding a way to establish your credibility. Whether you want to open your own photography business or desire to find a position within an established company, it will be necessary to present yourself as a professional.

This can be done by developing a portfolio that is stocked with samples of your work, establishing a customer base of people who can provide references to your quality and by enrolling in a design school that has a reputation for turning out graduates that enjoy a high rate of success following the completion of its program.

Perfect Your Technique

Photographers and designers know that only through practice can they develop a technique that will result in high-quality products every time. However, there is only so far that a person can go when trying to learn new techniques on their own. For this reason, photography colleges can be the perfect place for aspiring designers to connect with instructors who can show them new ways to accomplish their vision.

Additionally, a quality school can help you to learn ways to interact with a variety of media in order to stay current on how the latest technologies can be used to enhance the quality of your designs.

Business Management Skills

Although every photographer would like to focus solely on their creative work, the truth is that there will still be general business tasks that must be taken care of in order to run a successful business. These skills must be learned through a reputable skill as they often do not come naturally.

For this reason, enrolling in school can be the best way for you to learn how to market your services while managing the financial and commercial aspects of your photography and design company. Additionally, a design school will also help you to learn the basics of entrepreneurship so that you will be successful in your endeavors.

A love for photography and design can lead to a rewarding career for creative artists. However, it is important to make sure that you learn everything you can about this exciting field in order to be successful. Therefore, a enrolling in a quality school can help you to establish the credibility and business knowledge that you need to work with an established company or to open your own business.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Are You Creative?

Quiz: Are you Creative?

Worried you may not be creative, or you may not be creative enough? Take this quiz and find out just how creative you are.

Get a piece of paper and number it one to seven. For each question, write down the corresponding letter of your answer.

1. When you come across a rose, you immediately:

A. Smell it.

B. Quote every rose poem you can remember.

C. Write your own poem.

D. Sketch the rose.

E. Step on the rose.

2. One of your dreams in life is to:

A. Write a novel.

B. Become a painter.

C. Travel the world.

D. Climb all the famous mountains.

E. Just once, get everything done on your to-do list

3. Your desk:

A. You have trouble finding as it’s buried under everything including the kitchen sink.

B. Resembles a natural disaster.

C. Is a bit of a mess, but you know where everything is.

D. Is basically neat — you use the stacking method

E. Is in perfect order — everything in its place.

4. The person you admire most is:

A. Einstein.

B. Walt Disney.

C. Your mother.

D. Jane Austin.

E. Anyone who can get everything crossed off their to-do list.

5. You consider yourself:

A. Extremely creative.

B. Creative.

C. Somewhat creative.

D. A little creative.

E. About as creative as a turnip (actually, come to think about it, turnips may be more creative then you are).

6. You get new ideas:

A. All the time.

B. Several times a week.

C. Several times a month.

D. Once or twice a month.

E. You dimly recall getting a new idea when Clinton was in office. Or maybe it was the first Bush.

7. You dream in:

A. Color.

B. Black and white.

C. Both black and white and color.

D. You can’t remember now.

E. Nothing. You don’t dream.

Scoring:

Throw out all your answers except the one for number five — “You consider yourself:”. If you answered:

A. Extremely creative — Then you’re extremely creative.

B. Creative — Then you’re creative.

C. Somewhat creative — then you’re somewhat creative.

D. A little creative — Then you’re a little creative.

E. About as creative as a turnip — then you’re about as creative as a turnip.

Okay, this was a bit of a trick. But it’s true. How creative you think you are corresponds with how creative you are.

There was a famous study done that illustrates this. A big company wanted to increase creativity in its employees. So it hired a group of consultants to come in. The consultants started by thoroughly testing all of the employees. They discovered the only difference between the employees who were creative and who weren’t creative was how creative they perceived themselves.

Even more telling was what happened to the group that wasn’t creative. The consultants focused on helping them nurture their creativity, and at the end those employees were actually more creative than the ones who had initially considered themselves more creative.

And that means you too can become more creative. In fact, how creative you become is entirely in your own hands.

Creativity Exercise — Assumptions

Ready to become more creative? Here’s an exercise.

Write down all the reasons why you’re not creative. Go on. Write them all down. Every negative reason you can think of. Things like:

I’ve never been creative in my life.

I haven’t had a new idea in over a year.

I don’t have time to be creative.

Now reverse those negative assumptions and make them positive. Like so:

I am a creative person.

I have lots of new ideas all of time.

I don’t need time to be creative because I already am creative.

Do this every day and see what happens. This is a great way to start getting rid of those inner demons that keep all of us from realizing our true potential.