Month: September 2013

Categories
How-To Guides

How to Bridge the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job

How to Bridge the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job

Aspiring entrepreneurs all around the globe often find themselves in a disastrous scenario – broke, unmotivated, and stuck, all after quitting their day job to pursue their dreams.

The danger here is that culture makes that scenario a legendary, admirable action – quitting your day job to pursue bigger and better things. Society respects the individuals who “take a leap of faith” in their careers and quit their day jobs to pursue their dreams, and actually devalues the workers who remain working hard behind a desk, day in and day out.

Unfortunately, that system is broken, misleading, and its perceived glamour is oftentimes what prevents dreams from happening altogether.

Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Yet

You probably aren’t going to find that advice in a lot of other places. It’s not popular, and it’s barely even conventional anymore. There are simply too many stories about the courageous individuals who left everything to follow their passions and became wildly successful. What those stories don’t mention are the waves of workers who quit their jobs and didn’t find success.

Instead, I’m going to propose an alternative tactic, one that probably isn’t popular or awe-inspiring. Keep your day job, for now. You’ll need it for later.

Your day job can actually be one of your greatest partners in reaching your dreams. It’s a solid foundation for supporting yourself and paying the bills while you work feverishly on your dreams after sundown. Bridging the gap between your day job and your dream job will happen organically this way. Sure, once you quit, you’d probably be more motivated to work hard and accomplish what needs to be done – however, you can still accomplish a lot while working 40 hours a week.

Don’t Become the Office Slacker Either

This post isn’t encouraging you to become a mediocre, minimal-work worker who only gets the bare minimum done throughout the day. This practice can also bey very detrimental to your attitude after work; if you’re a lazy, unmotivated, and preoccupied worker throughout the day, you’ll inevitably carry those patterns to your home office where you write and dream. Workers who continue to work with excellence and stay productive during a day job will also inevitably carry those traits with them after work.

Entrepreneurs from every walk of life have found success in day jobs while working for their dream jobs. Robert Saman, CLO and secretary of STEC is an excellent example of a worker who started small and rose to the top with an astounding work ethic and integrity. If you’re working at a small business and dream of quitting to pursue bigger and better things, you’re not alone. But instead of finding yourself unable to pay the bills and loading enormous stress on yourself, adopt an attitude like Saman’s and countless other workers who chose to remain excellent in work.

Don’t quit your day job, yet. Perhaps down the road, when you have enough savings, a solid business plan after you quit, and the support and encouragement of peers and family, quitting will become a viable option. Don’t get stuck working at home with no money coming in and not getting anything done.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Success Attitude

3 Strategies to Positively Profit from Change

3 Strategies to Positively Profit from Change

The most common sentence I receive in coaching today is, “We’ve gone through a lot of changes and more are coming.”

Ironically, each client believes their situation is unique.

It’s all of us.

Some of us are excited by it. Others are terrified. Most are just trying to keep up.

So how do you increase sales with greater team productivity and get out of the office earlier while experiencing a fire hose volume of change?

Invite your customers to show you how.

Here are 3 Strategies to Positively Profit from Change:

Focus on Change

Focusing on the positive is an integral dynamic of your Work Positive lifestyle that is a powerful antidote to the dizzying pace of change today. One of your positives is the relationships with customers who consistently invite you to solve their problems whether it be to fix a car or financial advice on investing.

Focus on this positive with these three questions:

What are our customers asking for?

Listen deeply to their concerns, hopes, and desires. They will tell you exactly what products and services they wish you offered that hold the gold to more revenue.

How can we give them what they want?

Remember that most of us are looking for turnkey solutions. Your customers might ask, “Help me with my retirement AND college education savings” or “Change my oil AND pick up my car when it breaks down.” They trust you and that’s the ultimate currency of change. Establish yourself as top-of-mind with them and give them what they want.

Who leads us from where we are to where they want us to be?

Somebody on your team must work on the business to do the research, planning, and implementation for expanding services. Carve team time for coordination.

Filter the Changes

Remember, “Good enough is good enough.”

As you embrace change and direct it to more profits most likely you will try to perfect it before you roll it out.

Filter as you roll through the changes.

Get the product or service out the door and into the consumption habits of your customers. Ask them, “How do you like it?” and “How’s it working for you?” and “How can we improve?”

Filter the change to grow those parts of the operation that work well and eliminate the ones that don’t.

Good enough is good enough.

Forward through the Change

Your mantra as you focus and filter change is, “Forward through the change.”

Yes, you will get frustrated. Sure, you will be stretched. Of course, you will want to quit.

We all do. These responses to change are expected.

Keep moving forward. Positively profit from the change.

It’s going to happen anyway.

You may as well increase sales with greater team productivity and get out of the office earlier, right?

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Work Positive coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.

Categories
Customer Service

Best Ways to Deal with Non-Paying Clients

bad-client1

So it finally happened, you got stuck with a non-paying client. This is probably one of the worst aspects of being an entrepreneur. You no doubt rely on income from clients to pay yourself and cover overhead expenses, and when a client does not pay, this can impact the financial state of your company. Unfortunately, you can’t always control when and if clients pay you. However, there are things you can do to recover money for services rendered.

1. Do not ignore the problem

Understandably, you want to retain a good relationship with all your clients. This results in repeat business and helps your business thrive. But if you send an invoice with a clearly stated due date and the client ignores the invoice, take action. You worked hard and deserve to be compensated for your time and effort.

2. Contact the client 

The idea of confronting a client about a past due invoice might leave a bad taste in your mouth. But hey, nobody ever said running a business would always be easy. Contact the client as soon as an invoice is past due. Send a payment reminder by email or mail. In all likelihood, the client simply overlooked the invoice, and once receiving the second notice, the client may quickly pay. Always be courteous and professional, and never assume that the client is purposely ignoring you. Like you, he’s probably swamped with work.

3. Offer assistance

Never make a client feel bad for not paying an invoice. Every business – large and small – can run into hardships. If a client does not respond to a second invoice or an email, call the client on the telephone. Ask if you can assist the client in any way. For example, the client may need a payment extension, or because of cash flow issues, the client may need to spread his payment over several months. Recognizing their financial hardships and yielding to the client’s current financial needs is excellent customer service. This creates a positive impression of your company, helping you retain their business.

4. Accept the inevitable

Unfortunately, you will deal with a few clients who simply refuse to pay – it is part of any business. Anger is an understandable emotion, but don’t let it get the best of you. Calling up clients and yelling is not the way to handle the situation. You have a choice – either let the issue go and take a loss, or take further steps to collect payment. Depending on the size of the debt, consider working with a debt recovery company like cavalry portfolio services. These professionals can take over collection attempts, usually in exchange for a fee or a percentage of the debt. They know the best ways to approach the situation, plus this removes a burden from your shoulder.

You will deal with all types of clients when you are in business for yourself. But fortunately they are plenty of tips and tricks to help you deal with a non-paying client.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Categories
Entrepreneurship

5 Reasons Why College is the Time to Start a Business

Taking notes

More than 23 million small businesses are in operation, notes the Small Business Administration. The American economy relies on small businesses — two-thirds of all jobs added since the 1970s have come from small businesses. Many college students pursue their degree with hopes of one day running a business, but there’s no rule that says you can’t get a jump start on becoming an entrepreneur. A college environment offers plenty of resources and opportunities for a young entrepreneur. Feeling ambitious? Here are five reasons why your college years are a great time to chase your dreams.

1. Resume Building

Even if your business fails or doesn’t meet expectations, your go-getter spirit will look great on your resume, Entrepreneur says. Maybe you’ll keep running your company after college, or maybe you’ll move on to something else. Either way, you will have real-world evidence of your business acumen and entrepreneurial drive.

2. Support System

A small business is no small undertaking. A busy college life might not seem conducive to these demands, but students can actually leverage their college status in highly beneficial ways. For example, a small business could be developed as part of a school project or extracurricular activity. If you’re taking classes on developing business models, petition your professor to let you create a real business model for your own enterprise as part of the class. Similarly, develop a sales strategy in a sales and marketing class or build a website as part of computer programming curriculum.

Opportunities aren’t restricted to the classroom. Let your professors and advisors know about your business endeavors. They can point you to available resources at school, including organizations, associations, other experts, and even students with whom you can collaborate. It’s likely you’ll face tough questions as you launch your business, from choosing the right strategy to covering all your legal bases. Since you’re in an academic environment, take advantage of all your resources.

3. Large Network

Many entrepreneurs end up realizing that they can’t do everything on their own. When you need partners or other associates, check out your college student body. A university presents you with a large social network through which you can make strong connections. You can even crowdsource to find the perfect associates. Online schools such as Penn Foster make it easy to connect with other students through social media that provides support and easy access to like-minded individuals.

4. Monetary Assistance

It’s not impossible for college students to make a decent chunk of change off of their entrepreneurial efforts if everything runs smoothly. If you’re able to turn profits early on, your small business could help you pay off school-related debt and cover other costs of going to school.

5. Learning Experience

Launching a small business comes with a certain amount of risk. Even with all of the support a college can provide, there’s no guarantee things will work out just as you plan. But that’s no reason not to swing for the fences. Whether your business flourishes or flops, you’ll have valuable, unmatched experience. As you start your next endeavor, whether it’s a small business or a position at another company, you’ll have substantial experience that will make you a better worker and leader.

Categories
Business Trends

Entrepreneurship In HealthCare – Opportunities & Challenges

healthcare

Article Contributed by Anand Srinivasan

The rising cost of health care is a major point of debate in the United States as well as a number of other countries in the developing world like India and China. According to a white paper on this subject by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the primary reason for the broken health care system is inefficient spending. Other main concerns include inadequate coordinate of care and poorly designed production processes.

While the health care and its rising costs continue to be a challenge, this is a goldmine of opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to fix problems. Take Brighter.com for example. The site offers a “free” alternative to dental insurance by letting its website visitors save money by comparing quotes offered by various dentists in your locality and thus letting you save some serious money on dental care even if you don’t have an insurance. This is an example of solving a pain point that people face in the health care industry.

The time has never been more appropriate for entrepreneurs to explore the health care space. Today, we have startup incubators like Rock Health that focus entirely on healthcare startups. Universities too have sensed the need of the hour and have been offering MBA degrees in healthcare for people looking to explore the health business. The challenge is now to find the right problem to attack and offer a solution that is better than what is available in the market.

One of the major barriers to entrepreneurial success has often been the greed for instant success and money. According to Steve Picheny, the pioneering entrepreneur whose medical devices company was the first to bring the finger pulse oximeter to the market, the focus should be more altruistic than merely measuring success through the money made. In a recent talk given to aspiring health care entrepreneurs, Picheny said, “My advice to you guys is to find a goal greater than making money. Have the goal of making this world a better place and you’ll be happy every day you go to work.”

There are however several challenges that healthcare entrepreneurs need to tackle. The first and foremost challenge is the regulatory red-tape. According to Jonathan Bush, the CEO of AthenaHealth, new entrants to this industry are “frisked with a cheese grater”. He further notes that regardless of how revolutionary your product is, the doctor (who is the real decider in most instances) may not be in a position to try your service if the hospital management has its way. It is a business decision that the hospitals take to ensure their procedures include what’s most profitable to them; not what is most valuable to the patient.

Despite these challenges, the system itself is getting better with the advent of digital startups targeting the healthcare space. Startups like Brighter help in getting the doctors to compete against one another in offering the most cost-optimal service to patients. Such services highlight the beauty of a capitalist society that enables businesses to compete with one another to offer customers the best service at the lowest cost.

Author Bio: Anand is a market outreach consultant for a number of businesses in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.