The Business Essentials will be a weekly review of the best digital articles from Inc(.com). These articles represent a descent and inherent summary of all the necessary tools to become and aspiring, and hopefully inspiring, entrepreneur.

Networking Mistakes

1. Try to take before you give. The goal of networking is to connect with people who can help you make a sale, get a referral, establish a contact, etc. When we network, we want something.

But at first, never ask for what you want. In fact you may never ask for what you want. Forget about what you can get and focus on what you can provide. Giving is the only way to establish a real connection and relationship. Focus solely on what you can get out of the connection and you will never make meaningful, mutually beneficial connections.

When you network, it’s all about them, not you.

2. Assume others should care about your needs. Maybe you’re desperate. Maybe partnering with a major player in your industry could instantly transform red ink into black. No one cares. No one should care. Those are your problems and your needs.

Never expect others to respond to your needs. People may sympathize but helping you is not their responsibility. The only way to make connections is to care about the needs of others first. Ask how they’re doing. Ask what could help them.

Care about others first; then, and only then, will they truly care back.

3. Take the shotgun approach. Some people network with anyone, tossing out business cards like confetti. Networking isn’t a numbers game. Find someone you can help, determine whether they might (someday) be able to help you, and then approach them on your own terms.

Always select the people you want to network with. And keep your list relatively small, because there is no way to build meaningful connections with dozens or hundreds of people.

4. Assume tools create connections. Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and LinkedIn connections are great—if you do something with those connections. In all likelihood your Twitter followers aren’t reading your tweets. Your Facebook friends rarely visit your page. Your LinkedIn connections aren’t checking your updates.

Tools provide a convenient way to establish connections, but to maintain those connections you still have to put in the work. Any tool that is easy or automated won’t establish the connections you really need.

5. Reach too high. If your company provides financial services, establishing a connection with Warren Buffett would be great. Or say you need seed capital; hooking up with Mark Cuban would be awesome. Awesome and almost impossible.

The best connections are mutually beneficial. What can you offer Buffett or Cuban? Not much. You may desperately want to connect with the top people in your industry, but the right to connect is not based on want or need. You must earn the right to connect. Find people who can benefit from your knowledge and insight or your connections.

The “status” level of your connections is irrelevant. All that matters is whether you can help each other reach your goals.

Self-Promotion

1. Tell the story of the struggle behind the success. Great! You won an award or got funding or the like. Show how hard you worked and the obstacles you needed to overcome to achieve this milestone. It’ll soften the blow for those who are still in the middle of a struggle.
2. Be excited, but be humbled. It pays to throw an ‘aw shucks’ into a news broadcast. I’ve watched many peers do this brilliantly. “We just launched our beta. It’s really rough, but I’d love your feedback.”
3. Give credit where credit is due. When you are promoting, it helps to acknowledge the support and advice of people you are close with. “If it weren’t for those late-night chats, I would have never gotten through the rough parts.”
4. Enlist the help of your friends to get the word out. Maybe your friends are tired of hearing you talk incessantly about your start-up, but have you ever sat down with them to get them on board? Asking for help shows your friends that you need them.

Better Decision Making

1. Create two columns on your paper with room for a sentence or two at the top.

2. Label your first column “Driving Forces” and the second “Repelling Forces.” These represent what we call your toward and away values; the things that pull you toward something and those that push you away.

3. Above your columns write a sentence or two about the first decision that you need to make. For example: “Do I take the financial risk of hiring a sales person this year?”

4. Now, in your first column list all of the things that are driving you toward hiring a sales person.

5. In the second column list all of the reasons that are pushing you away from hiring a sales person. Include all of your fears, doubts and logical concerns.

6. Here’s where the weighing process comes in. When you are done with your lists go back and weigh each pro and con by giving it a rating between 1 to 10, with 10 being very strong and 1 being very weak. So one of your statements might look something like this:

Driving Forces: The person I have in mind for this job has a history of increasing sales for past employers by up to 300 percent. (I would give this a ten!)

Repelling Forces: This person wants an annual base pay of $50,000 plus 13 percent of all sales. I’m not sure I can afford this. What number would you give this statement? Since my statement shows uncertainty around my ability to pay the base wage, but there is a strong possibility that the new sales rep will bring an increase in sales within three months, I would give this a seven–hypothetically speaking.

7. Now add each column of numbers, placing your totals at the bottom of each side. Which column carries more weight? Voila! Your decision is made!

Sources

Top 5 Most Common Networking Mistakes, How to Self-Promote–Without Being Sleazy, 7 Steps to Making Better Decisions

Related posts:

1. Working Your Network: 5 Ways Networking Can Boost Business
2. Business Essentials: Business Plan, Recycling and Building Wealth

The list might seem insanely a bit daunting. But if all you do is take one step in each category (and respect all of the Don’ts), you’re likely to gain more coverage than any of your competitors. The bottom line is: reach out, be helpful, and get busy.

I’ll hang out in the comments section to help out anyone who has questions. But quite frankly, I’d rather see you out there, connecting with reporters, selling stories about you and your fantastic business successes.

The publicity is there for the taking. All you have to do is ask.

Build relationships months in advance of pitching

1. Connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or in real life more than six months in advance of pitching a reporter.
2. Monitor the Twitter hashtags of your community. Often reporters chat with the public on Twitter, and you can respond to comments they make.
3. Compliment a reporter via Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail on a story he or she did.
4. Introduce yourself to reporters at big public or chamber of commerce events. Pass along your card, but don’t try and sell them the idea on the spot. Just be helpful.
5. Invite reporters out for coffee, and ask a lot of questions about them.
6. Leave a comment at the end of the online version of a story a reporter did, which you genuinely liked.
7. Congratulate them on their birthdays, or other personal news they post.
8. Comb through Muck Rack to find regional or national reporters on Twitter who cover your industry.
9. Write a positive blog post on your blog highlighting a story of theirs, and e-mail them the link.
10. Respond regularly to posts they’ve written either on their blog, or on a local community blog you’ve noticed they post on.
11. Visit city council meetings in your town. Typically there’s a reporter sitting around bored, that you can build a relationship with.
12. Sign up on helpareporter.com. Several e-mail lists are sent out daily, full of reporters needing experts for stories. Jump on those that fall within your expertise.
13. Scout publications with smaller and more targeted readerships, such as a local business weekly publication. These media outlets are often run by just two or three people, and they’ll jump at a guest column or article by you because it’ll save them the time of tracking down a story on their own.
14. Listen to AM radio stations, especially on weekday mornings or on Saturdays. Befriend one of the regular show hosts. Often they’ll highlight any business that is doing something interesting the public might find interesting.
15. Nix spending money on an online press release site early on. Those online press release systems are more useful for building inbound links, or if you’re already a recognized expert with a track record, and there’s a major news event breaking that you could discuss.
16. Ask them if they’d mind if you added them to your email list. Then provide them with education-based content marketing to sell them on doing a story about your business.

Once You’ve Met, Make The Pitch Transition Smooth

17. Say “yes” without fail if a reporter wants to interview you that day, even if it has to be over the phone or while you’re on vacation.
18. Offer occasional suggestions of angles you think would make great follow-up stories, especially that don’t have anything to do with your business. Nearly all stories are parts of a long-running issues, so reporters always need additional story follow-up ideas.
19. Offer to connect reporters to experts you know . If the reporter sounds interested, follow through with the offer.
20. Be a source for stories that fall within your expertise by letting reporters in your industry know you’re available when they need a source. This can lead to regular spots on the news.
21. Point reporters to blog posts you genuinely think they’d be interested in – whether on your blog or others. It validates you as an expert.
22. Treat journalists with respect. You’ll set yourself apart just by being friendly.
23. Keep a camera handy for “spot news” photo opportunities, and then pass along to the media outlet. This can be anything from a deer crashing into a department store while you happened to be there to a good shot of an event or store opening.
24. Offer to write a column on your specialty for the online website of a media site, or for a print publication in your area.

Ponder These Issues Prior to Pitching

25. Define the story in just one sentence, so you can easily explain it to the media in 10 seconds.
26. Include people in your story pitch. Many owners try to pitch their company’s achievements, but stories that sell normally have people involved, not just the company.
27. Focus on selling the benefits to viewers, listeners or readers first. It’s about their perspective of what you’re selling, not about how wonderful it would be for you to sell your product or service.
28. Think visually. When can a media station shoot video and pictures? If that’s not possible, are there video or pictures you can provide?
29. Avoid offering a posed or fake event or picture. They are typically frowned on by the media.
30. Hold an event where you’re actually doing what you’re talking about, and invite them to come, whether it’s to write a story, or just take a picture or video.
31. Post your video online for easy download, or put it on DVDs.
32. Seek permission from the individuals in a potential photo shoot ahead of time.
33. Highlight trends in which your business is just one of several examples. Nearly every trend can be turned into a story pitch, and it has the added advantage of letting you not hog the limelight, which reporters often don’t find appealing.
34. Provide actual users of your service or product for the media to interview. Their testimonials will boost your credibility.
35. Offer to review the facts or your quotes if you feel nervous the journalist misunderstood you. Don’t try to pressure the journalist into letting you review the entire article before publication, though, because media stations normally don’t allow this.
36. Provide a journalist with an expert to interview who has used and can vouch for your product. If you sell skin cream, for example, ask a dermatologist who likes your product to be available for an interview.
37. Copy relevant documents for the reporter, to provide at the interview, or prior to it.
38. Create a list of key dates and facts relevant to the story, along with potential quotes.
39. Write a couple paragraphs describing the process in simple terms, ideally with a drawing if the story is complex.
40. Write a killer press release in the form of a ready-made story, if submitting a story to a weekly or a daily in regions of fewer than 50,000 people. You’d be surprised how often a newspaper will print almost exactly what you sent.
41. Give reporters two weeks’ notice for an upcoming story or event.
42. Remain flexible. Reporters have days that are jam-packed with breaking news, and other days that are slower and more open to a less-urgent story like yours.
43. Choose to meet in person if an option, because the journalist will then get to know you better, and you’ll have more time with him or her.
44. Travel to where the story actually happens for the interview – whether in your office or an hour away at a gravel pit.
45. Muzzle the natural urge to provide stacks of background research. Most reporters don’t have the time or interest in looking through it.
46. Leap on breaking news relevant to your industry as a chance to put yourself in the local news. The shootings in Arizona presented an opportunity for anyone who deals with mental health to be interviewed on local radio, television and in the newspaper.
47. Pitch local stories to local reporters. National attention typically springs from local attention first.
48. Call ahead and pitch a story, if you’re showcasing your products at a local convention or other major event typically covered by the news. Otherwise reporters just walk the aisles and randomly choose businesses to speak with.
49. Watch the calendar, and pitch a story that would ideally run around major holidays, when things are often really slow in newsrooms.
50. Act enthusiastic. If you don’t seem excited about the idea, neither will they.
51. Express why this story is of value to your community. If it’s a story you wouldn’t bother watching or reading, don’t pitch it.
52. Show an image that encapsulates the story you’re trying to tell. When Google held a national competition, our video shot on a Flip Camera received national attention from a variety of media outlets because it easily showed in one image how wild the competition became.
53. Forget about giving up. Don’t be a pest, but keep trying every few weeks to pitch an idea, until a reporter gives a straight yes-or-no answer to your idea.
54. Write very short e-mails to reporters. Three or four sentences total. Your e-mail is much more likely to get read by busy reporters if it’s short and to the point.
55. Devote lots of time on e-mail subject lines to reporters. You can apply the same techniques for writing magnetic headlines for blog posts – they make both readers and reporters want to know more about what you have to say.

21 Kinds of Reporter Bait

56. Hold a fundraising drive.
57. Do X for the 10th, 20th, 50th year.
58. Launch a brand new product.
59. Sell product X locally for the first time.
60. Provide an environmentally friendly version of a product everyone uses – and be the only local place to purchase it.
61. Link your underlying story pitch with some basic human emotion, like love, fear or hope. Start a knitting story in memory of your late aunt, who taught you about knitting.
62. Frame your story as a local example of a national or international issue currently in the news. If Congress is debating health care, and your clinic has developed a unique program for handling people without insurance, you’ve got a pitch.
63. Time a pitch about your company for a few weeks before your company’s anniversary.
64. Buck a trend. It’s Christmas Eve, and you’ve seen an uptick in your toy store sales, while everyone else has noticed a downturn.
65. Launch a product or service in your community no one locally has ever sold.
66. Highlight that you’re doing something most people are afraid to attempt, such as starting a business during a recession.
67. Brag. If you’ve been interviewed by a local media outlet, a larger one, or a major publication, play it up. It shows you’re desirable as a media interview.
68. Spotlight unique ties to major events. Show how your business has doubled through word of mouth marketing after volunteering for two weeks during Hurricane Katrina.
69. Share how you just hit X,000 regular subscribers on your blog, and show how that translates to online sales. This process remains foreign and therefore fascinating to most reporters.
70. Reveal how you’ve transitioned a primarily brick-and-mortar store into doing a healthy amount of online sales.
71. Announce that your business for the first time employs four generations of the same family.
72. Embrace anything that makes you unique. A local jewelry store owner in Northern Wisconsin received media coverage across all of Minnesota and Wisconsin simply because the owner felt the end of the world was coming soon, and incorporated it into his commercial.
73. Compile fascinating data. OkCupid.com mined its customer data to show which smartphone users have the most sex. What kind of irresistible statistic could you compile from your business?
74. Run a weird contest. Be the beauty parlor giving a makeover to the husband of the women who makes the best case that he looks like a slob.
75. Write an e-book. Just being able to say you’ve written a recently released “book” can be enough of a news hook for a story.
76. Look for sections in the newspaper that highlight interesting businesses, often under headlines like “What’s That Business.” Normally a simple phone call with a pitch will secure a feature on your business.

How To Become A Favorite Source for Reporters

77. Explain things chronologically if possible.
78. Speak slowly, so the reporter has time to take notes and mentally process what you’re saying.
79. Tell the story twice. The first time give the sweeping overview, and then return to the start of the story, and fill in all the details. The second time around you’ll remember more and fill in gaps in the narrative, and the reporter will ask better questions.
80. Respond to a reporter’s phone call or e-mail immediately, or as soon as humanly possible. Reporters love dependable, helpful people.
81. Provide information from most to least important if time is irrelevant to the topic.
82. Allow the reporter to lead the interview if he or she comes with questions.
83. Wear a company logo, and dark, solid colors on camera. Clothes with stripes or checkered patterns look bad on television.
84. Don’t waste time. Assume you won’t have more than half an hour to speak to the reporter.
85. Answer the obvious questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How and So What.
86. Ponder how you will answer every potential question, and don’t assume there won’t be any difficult ones.
87. Stay on topic.
88. Offer to return as a regular guest either weekly, monthly, or as needed, once your first interview concludes.
89. Send an e-mail or note a day after the interview talking about how you appreciated the reporter’s time, or how great the story was.
90. Provide a clear call to action, if there is one.
91. Ask the reporter to summarize what you said every few minutes during an interview. This typically gives you a better chance to clarify and reiterate key points.
92. Repeat your key couple of messages, so it’s more likely to make it in the story.
93. Refrain from saying “no comment” if you can’t answer a question. Explain why you’d prefer not to answer.
94. Remain flexible with the reporter, even if he or she decides to take the story in a direction that isn’t ideal in your eyes.
95. Assume anything you say will be printed or stated by the journalist. Avoid saying “off the record” unless the reporter verbally agrees to keep what you’re about to say out of the story.
96. Work with one news outlet at a time on a story.
97. Talk in short sentences, using simple English.
98. Avoid slang, industry vernacular or abbreviations.
99. Provide a business card with your name, title, and what numbers to reach you at both during and after business hours.
100. Contact the reporter every few weeks, to remain top of mind, and find out when the publication or air date will be.
101. Post on your website and other online outlets footage of you on television. Have someone record or videotape the segment while on television, just in case the station can’t or won’t provide you with a copy.
102. Propose being on a local Sunday show or early morning show, which often gives you 20 minutes to highlight your business.
103. Pre-write tweets and a blog post, so you can quickly tell friends, family, clients and supporters when the story runs without losing time.

A Few Important Don’ts

104. Don’t cold call. Warm up the reporter by sending an e-mail first, with a paragraph spelling out the bottom line of the story idea, then follow up with a call a few hours or a day later, depending on the urgency of the story.
105. If you must cold call due to time constraints, never call after 3 p.m.
106. Don’t neglect your headline. Without a good one, you’re dead.
107. Don’t try to get an editor. Their mentality is often to help reporters eliminate mediocre story ideas. Reach out for reporters instead – they’re looking for material.
108. Don’t show up in the newsroom unannounced.
109. Don’t mail information in unsolicited.

The original article can be found here.

No related posts.

Becoming a better business person doesn’t only mean having a better, bigger and more profitable business, company or enterprise, but more importantly, it also means becoming a better and more improved person. Well, it should be… since a “business person” is a combination of a business and a person. Now, here are 100 ways to help and guide us to become a better businessman or businesswoman. The list is long, hence, let’s get started.

Becoming a better person

1. Review your principles in life because they are the roots and the ones which shape your life, as well as your business. Continue the right principles and eliminate the wicked ones.

2. Apply and practice those right principles with more bravery and with more frequency.

3. Have a healthier body. Exercise regularly, maintain a balanced diet, and take enough rest. Be a healthier businessman!

4. Avoid not only bad business acts, but also avoid bad business thoughts and intents.

5. Do business not only with all your heart, but purify your heart first, then do business with your purest heart. Remember that the heart can be misleading if it’s corrupted.

6. Be more than personal; be spiritual.

7. Achieve inner peace using the 3 Fs: namely, forgive, forget and forward!

8. Be a truly happier person by increasing the number of people whom you make happy.

9. Strengthen your faith by justifying it.

10. Love yourself by making it truer, purer, kinder and better.

Becoming a better business owner

11. Make your business plans SMARTER (specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, time-bound, evaluated and retested).

12. Stick to those plans. Don’t start a business that you will quit.

13. Have a greater purpose for your business, such as to save people’s lives and to make the world a better place to live.

14. Give your business a better name. Make it more memorable, enjoyable and honorable.

15. Have trusted co-founders and part-owners. Don’t take all the credits.

16. Talk and listen regularly to your business language. Always keep its record. Read, analyze and understand your company’s financial statements. Also conduct regular financial audits, with the help of auditors.

17. Have a better business coach or mentor, and listen to him.

18. Make your business friendly to environment, government and the public.

19. Don’t rush your business, but grow it gradually, consistently and certainly.

20. Get your business a better insurance.

Becoming a better entrepreneur

21. Be the first to offer a product or service in the market. Be an inventor.

22. If you can’t be the first, then be the best.

23. Be holistic and rather than just atomistic

24. Find your passion, and when you find it, be passionate about it.

25. Be bold. Be a deeper diver. Explore the ocean; investigate the tips of the icebergs. In other words, explore places or opportunities where no one is exploring.

26. Don’t stop innovating, until your reach the ultimate form of sophistication, that is, simplicity.

27. Make more sacrifices and wait longer.

28. Be prepared to pass on failures, financial problems, and criticisms.

29. Be unbreakable and flexible. Learn how to set allowances and margin of errors.

30. Orient yourself to become customer-oriented and people-oriented.

Becoming a better manager

31. Start by controlling and managing yourself

32. Learn how to connect and blend with people

33. Don’t just search and hire the best people, give them also the best training

34. Try harder in avoiding being a bossy.

35. Have a mission, vision and action. Have a destination, direction and motion. Also don’t forget acceleration and completion.

36. Manage your time; manage your moments.

37. Show grace and generosity to your workers and employees.

38. Manage your personal finance and achieve financial freedom. Don’t love money!

39. Learn how to shut your big mouth and open your already-opened ears. Also learn how to use your two ears to listen the both sides.

40. Build teamwork and coach your team. Give them better duties and functions, and empower them.

Becoming a better leader

41. Be diligent as it always what makes a leader better.

42. Be strong and sharp, but never forget to be gentle.

43. Lead your followers in front; follow them at the back. Be the first to serve; be the last to receive.

44. Practice more humility and accountability.

45. Be selfless.

46. Be a role model. Be motivated to motivate your people; be inspired to inspire others.

47. Build trust. Start by making yourself trustworthy, then help your people become trustworthy too. After that, trust yourself and them.

48. Pay more respect.

49. Be compassionate and understanding. Open your heart and mind to hear and see what people are feeling and thinking.

50. Be a better follower. Follow justice, righteousness, truth, and be a disciple of discipline.

Becoming a better marketer

51. Add more value and quality to your products

52. Help people save more money. Offer better prices, deals, and give discounts and freebies.

53. Give your customers more comfort and convenience. Be accessible offline and online. Put your business online and have online presence. Provide 24/7 access through the social media: website, blog, Facebook, et cetera.

54. Be honest by making something to be honest of. Practice honest advertising and other means of promotion.

55. Be a better mixer of the four Ps of marketing, namely, product, price, place and promotion.

56. Serve your customers well by providing them better customer service from pre-sales to post-sales.

57. Provide something that will make your customers your own marketers through the word-of-mouth marketing.

58. Do not just ask customers’ feedback, but also listen and act.

59. Don’t rely too much on technology, provide human touch. You’re dealing with human beings anyway.

60. Be the first to show loyalty. Be loyal to your customers by not cheating on them, then hope that they will also give their loyalty to you.

Becoming a better salesperson

61. Familiarize and understand what you offer, and be confident in selling.

62. Make sure that everything is excellent about your goods or services, then tell everything.

63. Do not badmouth your competitors. Tell what’s good about them, then tell what’s better about your business or products.

64. Do not overpressure your customers to buy your product, instead, pressure yourself to produce a satisfying product that sells itself. So avoid too much sales talk that your customers hate. Let your product talks itself.

65. Make yourself or your salesperson the best evidence that your products are excellent. If you’re selling a perfume, then be aromatic.

66. Reward your old and loyal customers; give discounts to your first customers.

67. Always smile to your customers, to your co-workers and to everyone. Remember that a smiling salesperson may not be enough to please your customers – you need to present a smiling store.

68. Be sincere and thoughtful. Make your customers and clients more special. Send them greetings on their birthdays if possible.

69. Get quality certifications for your products if applicable. Also get positive reviews and testimonials from your satisfied customers, and let them help you do the sales talk.

70. Watch your sales figures and numbers – watch them historically, currently and prospectively. Analyze the past, work the present and forecast the future.

Becoming a better competitor

71. Know your worst competitor. It’s not your business competitors – it is the worst you. Hence overcome yourself; overcome your laziness, procrastination, greed, and the likes.

72. Unite yourself: your mind, heart and spirit. Mind your business, feel your business, and live your business.

73. Unite your people and equip them with the right weapon, that is, knowledge, skills and systems.

74. Spy on your competitors, as well as yourself.

75. Stick to your game plan. Don’t be lured with enticing baits and traps. Always bear in my mind that not all profitable opportunities are profitable in the long run.

76. Don’t just consider the competition, but also consider cooperation.

77. Have a work-life balance to become more energetic, elastic and effective.

78. Have a proper timing; be patient.

79. Practice until you can’t be wrong, and not only until you make it right. Understand the sense of the saying “practice makes perfect”.

80. Win the real business competition, that is… making the workers, the customers and the community happy.

Becoming a better learner

81. Pay more attention.

82. Don’t just gain knowledge, but also wisdom, understanding and insight.

83. Don’t just improve your attitude, but also your values and habits.

84. Don’t stop learning, and be a better teacher.

85. Don’t stop teaching, and continue learning something to teach better.

86. Practice what you learn; practice what you teach.

87. Dig for the roots; speculate for the fruits. This is how you will learn the unseen things.

88. Admit your mistakes; take away your pride and change it with humility to widely receive knowledge.

89. Practice the 3 ways of obtaining wisdom, namely, copying, experience and reflection. Prioritize the last which is the greatest of the three.

90. Read several books and articles, then write a better book or a better article of you own. Utilize technology!

Becoming a better worker

91. Reduce your dreaming; increase your working.

92. Focus, focus, focus!

93. Organize your stuff.

94. Take regular short breaks. Also take occasional long breaks, such as a fine vacation. Enjoying life is also a work that must not be ignored!

95. Be an artist and execute your work like a masterpiece.

96. Be a scientist and make experiments.

97. Don’t be too showy. Learn from the masked men, such as Batman and Spiderman.

98. Workout your muscles to become physically strong and do cardio exercises to increase your stamina.

99. Don’t work for money; work for glory.

100. You’ve made a great plan. Hence, just do it!

The original article can be found here. Written by Vic.

No related posts.

1. Make your agreements explicit

The first lesson is to keep agreements explicit. It’s not enough to think that your friend understands what you think: make sure he does by discussing it openly with him. As my mediating friend phrased it, “unspoken promises” have a tendency to turn into broken promises (which are always hard to swallow). Avoid unspoken promises.

Here’s an example of a really bad thing to keep implicit: “We’ll only call it quits if the business is bankrupt and can’t raise any more money.” The promise here is that we’ll keep going until the very end. This may seem obvious to one party in the business, but it may not be so to the other. One partner could, for instance, feel that the time to call it quits is when the business has 3 months of cash flow left. Another may feel that it’s worth going deep into credit card debt territory before giving up.

Don’t make this mistake: keep those agreements explicit.

2. Detail your agreements

Once you make some agreements explicit, it should become clear that you need further discussion to figure out exactly what your explicit agreement is. Don’t be afraid to do this. It’s not “too early to discuss this”.

Here’s an explicit agreement that’s not detailed enough: “We want the business to make a lot of money”. Really? How much are you happy with? 10’000 pounds a month? A million? What is the definition of success? It’s almost certain that you and your business partner have different views as to what “a lot of money” is. Being on the same page about what you expect out of your business will ensure that you don’t pull in different directions when things are going well. Think of how mortifying it would be to find out that your partner wants to pull the plug when you think that the business is successful.

3. Don’t be afraid of discussing the bad stuff

There are a number of subjects which seem almost embarrassing to discuss when things are going well. For example, “What if one of us decides to pull out?” Your first reaction to this topic might be “What? We’re barely getting started, and already we’re talking about what happens if one of us pulls out?”

The reality is that people’s life circumstances change through time. They get married, or decide to leave the country, or get engrossed in a different pursuit, etc. Many things can get in between a founder and his start-up. Similarly, many things can go very wrong with a start-up. When those things do go wrong, or when one of the founders decides to pull out, is not the time to discuss these things. You need to discuss them with a clear head when no one is thinking of pulling out and the business looks healthy and hopeful.

When you discuss your start-up’s future, do not be afraid to talk about the disaster scenarios. Also, when you negotiate what will happen if a partner quits, don’t be so sure that it won’t be you.

4. Write things down

There are two reasons to write things down: first, people’s memories of conversations are faulty. Writing things down also ensures that there is no disagreement, later, about what was decided. You don’t need a long document for this — even just one or two pages describing your agreement is enough to avoid later misunderstandings.

The second reason is that people may think they have reached an agreement when in reality they never agreed about the details. Once you put something in writing, you give it a certain air of finality that teases out those last remaining disagreement. Basically, putting an agreement in writing is like putting a new piece of functionality in code. Until it exists in that form, it’s just vapour.

Halfway through my misunderstanding with my friend, we thought we’d figured out a way forward. I wasn’t sure that we were both thinking the same thing, so I made the effort to put it in writing, in the form of a business plan. When my friend read it, and understood more clearly what I meant, he recanted, and the agreement fell through. It’s a good thing that it fell through, because it would likely have resulted in even more problems later on if we’d gone through with it based on our flawed understanding of each other.

5. Don’t make it work at all costs

Yes, I know this is your friend that you’re starting up with, and this is your great opportunity to start your own business. However, if, in those discussions, you find that there’s an intractable disagreement, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the most important thing is to smooth things over and start the business.

Starting up with someone is almost like marrying them (temporarily), in a way. You’ll be talking to them almost everyday, and possibly even more than with your significant other. You’ll be working on a “baby” (your business) for many months. It’s a big commitment, basically, and much like any other kind of significant commitment, you shouldn’t go into it if you think there are major problems, because those problems will only get worse.

6. Don’t assume things will get better with time

It’s easy to rationalise away big problems by assuming that things will get better with time. In some cases, they will, but in a majority of cases, they won’t. What this means, for example, is that you shouldn’t assume that your inexplicably small share of the business will magically grow to 50% later on. This is even less likely to happen if the business is working well (if the business isn’t working out, chances are it doesn’t matter anyway).

Sample questions

This article wouldn’t be complete without a list of questions that you might go through and discuss with your cofounder. Use them as a guideline or as a checklist, as you please.

• What do we both mean by “the business is successful”?
• What do we both mean by “the business is not successful”?
• What happens if one of us needs to voluntarily pull out, for any reason?
• What happens if one of us cannot work on the business anymore, for involuntary reasons?
• What are the conditions under which we’d call the business a failure and pull the plug?
• What is plan B for each of us if we do pull the plug? Are we both prepared for that plan B?
• What do we expect of each other, both in terms of responsibilities and in terms of attitude and effort?
• What is and is not an expense? What is the maximum amount someone can spend on an expense without checking with the other? (from Sebastian Marshall)
• When and how will profits be distributed? How much will be reinvested? What will the reserves be? (from Sebastian Marshall)
• What happens if one partner needs cash and the other wants to reinvest it into growth/expansion? (from Sebastian Marshall)
• How will you handle it when (not if) the hours each partner is working are unbalanced? (from Sebastian Marshall)

This is not a final list by any means, but it should at least provide some starting points to make the implicit explicit. If you have other suggestions, please do add them in the comments below.

Conclusion

I don’t regret starting that business with my friend, but I do regret not clarifying those kinds of questions upfront. It would have saved me a lot of worry. If your business is struggling, you don’t need the additional pain of seeing your friendship unraveling under the stress of accumulated misunderstandings.

So, do yourself a favour, and set out to:

• Make your agreements explicit so that you don’t break implicit promises
• Detail your agreements so that your promises are clear
• Don’t be afraid of discussing negative scenarios, so that you don’t add the stress of misunderstanding to already bad situations
• Write things down so you’ll remember
• Don’t make things work at all costs, so that you don’t spend the next years living with a deal that’s not acceptable to you
• Don’t assume things will get better with time, so you’re not surprised when they don’t

Original article can be found here. Written by Daniel Tenner.

No related posts.

Do you have a “bajillion” things to do? Have you ever had a “light-bulb moment”?

Entrepreneurs need to keep up with the new business-related words and lingo that pop up almost every day. The publishers of the Concise Oxford Dictionary have added 400 new words to the 12th edition of the publication, so we thought it might be useful to take a look at the new terms. Turns out several apply to business.

Hit the Slide
Definition: To quit in a spectacular fashion. See also: Steven Slater and JetBlue.
Usage: On bad days, Chuck would steal coffee creamer from the office kitchenette and fantasize about hitting the slide. On really bad days, the plan involved burning fish and cauliflower in the microwave, pulling the fire alarm and streaking out past the vice president’s office.

Retweet
Definition: (verb) On the social networking service Twitter, to repost or forward a message posted by another user. (noun) A reposted or forwarded message on Twitter.
Example: “My company is blowing up on Twitter. My posts are retweeted constantly.”

Geolocation
Definition: (noun) The process or technique of identifying the location of a person or device by means of digital information processed via the Internet.
Example: “Business is up at my restaurant since I started this geolocation-based mobile marketing campaign.”

Scooby Snacks
Definition: The slobber-inducing dog snacks from the Scooby Doo cartoon have been slang for pretty much anything craveable. In these recessionary times, though, the term refers to the cheap tokens employers toss out as “incentives.”
Usage: Alan thought his 80-hour workweeks would get him a bonus. Instead, he got Scooby Snacks — two tickets to the charity hockey game and an ergonomic chair, ganked from the manager on maternity leave.

Cross-functional
Definition: (adjective) Denoting or relating to a system whereby people from different areas of an organization work together as a team.
Example: “If we’re ever going to boost productivity, everyone will need to improve their cross-functional capabilities.”

Baldenfreude
Definition: Satisfaction derived from the misfortune of bald or balding individuals. This bald-schadenfreude mashup was coined by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to describe the delight over the woes of NBC president Jeff Zucker.
Usage: “As NBC reeled from the fallout of Jeff Zucker’s tacit admission that his attempt to refashion the customary way Americans watch prime time had failed, Hollywood was ablaze with baldenfreude.”

Contractionary
Definition: (adjective) Causing or relating to the contraction of a country’s economy.
Example: “This darn contractionary economy has really stifled my business growth this year.”

Cyberbullying
Definition: (noun) The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.
Example: “This person won’t stop harassing my business over Twitter. He’s practically a cyberbully.”

Osmosis Marketing
Definition: The idea that any brand’s image — and resulting success — is achieved more effectively through the osmosis of pervasive blog buzz and tweet-trending than traditional marketing methods.
Usage: Robbie wished, not for the first time, that osmosis marketing hadn’t worked so spectacularly for Justin Bieber’s empire.

Textspeak
Definition: (noun) Language regarded as characteristic of text messages, consisting of abbreviations, initials, emoticons, etc.
Example: “If you even think about using textspeak in our marketing copy, I will not R-O-T-F-L. For the uninitiated, ROTFL stands for rolling on the floor laughing.”

Webisode
Definition: (noun) A short film, advertisement, or episode of a television series, made for online viewing. A blend of Web and Episode.
Example: “For our next webisode on YouTube, let’s think of a way to incorporate customer testimonials.”

Ramen Profitable
Definition: A business that makes just enough money to cover basic living expenses, such as toilet paper, running water and instant ramen.
Usage: “Of course we’re profitable,” Marc snapped. Lydia took in the unwashed plastic utensils and stained papers on the scuffed table that doubled as his office. “Yeah,” she agreed, “ramen profitable.”

Denialist
Definition: (noun) A person who refuses to admit the truth of a concept or proposition that is supported by the majority of scientific or historical evidence.
Example: “I’m the boss. I’m always right and you know it. Stop being a denialist.”

Bajillion
Definitiion: (noun) An extremely large number.
Example: “I’m an entrepreneur so, obviously, I have a bajillion things to do.”

Mancession
Definition: The current recession, which has hurt men more than women.
Usage: In the Great Mancession of ’09, 80 percent of jobs lost were held by men, and unemployment rates neared postwar records. No change in percentage of household chores completed.

Digital Nomads
Definition: The ever-expanding group of workers using wireless technology to eliminate the need for an office.
Usage: Scoreboard for 2009: Cyber Luddites 1.0; Digital Nomads 1.0 × 10 100

Light-bulb moment
Definition: (noun) A moment of sudden realization, enlightenment, or inspiration.
Example: “Sales at my company were plummeting, but then had a light-bulb moment and knew exactly how to turn things around.”

Its original sources can be found here and here.

No related posts.

What is the difference between a business and an entrepreneurship? How about a business owner from an entrepreneur? These terms are commonly used interchangeably. However, these terms have different meaning – and those differences are what we will try to find out. To illustrate and understand simply and clearly the difference between business and entrepreneurship, we will have a face-off between a businessman and an entrepreneur. So the showdown begins.

From the comparisons above, we can learn that entrepreneurship is not an easy feat compare to merely doing business. We can also realize that an entrepreneur is a business person who has evolved into a more complete person – one that is not simply a business person but a real human being. Being a businessman is good. Being profit oriented, market player, business competitor, traditional, busy and active income earner is not bad since all business owners have been on those stages. Even the successful entrepreneurs, before they succeed, have been into that. It is just that they have taken the right move to evolve into a better and even the best businessmen that they can be. That is why they become not only businessmen, but rightfully they become entrepreneurs. So, how about you? Are you a businessman or an entrepreneur? Are you merely doing business or are you taking it into a higher level, which is called entrepreneurship?

Sources Businesstips.ph and Businessaccent.com

No related posts.

A job interview is a two way process, and as such you will want to ask questions about what the position will entail, your responsibilities should you acquire the post, and what benefits there are. Some interviewees shy away from asking relevant questions, fearing asking the wrong ones will affect the likelihood of them being hired. However, it’s possible to tailor questions to give you all the essential information you need, plus impress the interviewer at the same time.

1. How many hours per week can I expect to dedicate to the job?
2. What are my prospects of moving up the career ladder if the post is offered to me?
3. Does the job involve further training, development,  and travel?
4. Can I expect a competitive wage and incentives in return for hard work and excellent input?
5. Are there any further skills you wish me to demonstrate that are useful for the position and are aren’t completely obvious in my resume?
6. What duties will you be performing?
7. What are the benefits?
8. When can you expect to hear back?
9. How long is the learning curve?
10. Could you explain the structure of the company?
11. How do you help employees reach their career goals?
12. I read a recent article that another company was looking to purchase this company. Can you give me any other details?
13. I read on your company website you just named a new Vice President of Operations. Will this change the nature of the job I am interviewing for?
14. How would you describe a typical week/day in this position?
15. Which specific skills are necessary to succeed in this job?
16. Which projects would you like for me to complete in the next six months?
17. What are the long-term objectives of this job?
18. What are my potential coworkers like and how many are there?
19. Would you please describe your management style?
20. How would you describe the working environment?
21. How much autonomy would I have in making decisions?
22. What level of input would I have in determining my objectives and deadlines?
23. What would be my operational budget and spending authority and responsibilities?
24. How many projects must an employee in this position multi-task at once?
25. Are there opportunities for pay raises and advancement in this position?
26. Is this a new position or am I replacing someone?
27. May I seek success tips from the employee who was promoted out of this position?
28. Has anyone ever performed poorly in this position? What were the typical mistakes made?
29. How do you measure an employee’s performance and provide feedback?
30. How does an employee know he or she is performing this job to expectations before annual merit reviews?
31. Is there anything else that I should know?
32. Is there anything else you would like to know?
33. Is there anything that would prevent you from offering this job to me?
34. Do you have any feedback?
35. Do you have any concerns? What can I do to address them?
36. When could I follow up with you by phone or email?
37. What could I expect in the next round of the interviews?
38. If you decide to extend an offer, when would you like for me start?
39. How does one advance in the company?
40. What do you like about working here?
41. What don’t you like about working here and what would you change?
42. Would you like a list of references?
43. What can I tell you about my qualifications?
44. How will my leadership responsibilities and performance be measured? And by whom? How often?
45. Would there be opportunities for advancement, and, how long before I might be considered for one?
46. What is the reputation of the department (or facility) to which I am applying?
47. What have been its goals in the last year, and, did it meet them?
48. What would be the goals of the department (or facility) in the coming year?
49. Do you think those are aggressive or conservative goals? Who set them?
50. What are the most important problems to solve first?
51. What problems or difficulties are present in the department (or facility) now?
52. What will be the greatest challenge in the job?
53. How often would we meet together?
54. What responsibilities have the highest priority?
55. Can you describe a typical day for someone in this position?
56. What qualifications are you looking for in the person who fills this job?
57. What are the traits and skills of people who are the most successful within the organization?
58. Are there any difficult personalities on the staff?
59. Have you already identified staff or staffs that should be let go or transferred?
60. Have you already identified staff members that are stars and are in line for promotion?
61. How many employees would I supervise?
62. May I see an organizational chart?
63. What is the salary range?
64. What is my earnings potential in 1, 3, 5, and 10 years?
65. Why is this position vacant?
66. What is the organization’s policy on transfers to other divisions or other offices?
67. Does the organization support ongoing training and education for employees to stay current in their fields?
68. Would you like to hear what I could do to really help your department?
69. What makes this company different from its competitors?
70. What sort of communication style works best with this team?
71. What are the biggest hurdles you hope to overcome in the next quarter?
72. What can you tell me about the culture and the environment?
73. How often are performance reviews given?
74. How do you feel about creativity and individuality?
75. How do you envision this position supporting you?
76. How does this position fit into the company’s long-term plans?
77. How would you define “success” for this position?
78. What tools will I use the most in my day-to-day job?
79. What is the vision of the company?
80. What pending legislation could impact the company?
81. What are the major changes in the industry, and how is the company responding?
82. What gets people excited about their work?
83. What type of team activities does the work group participate in?
84. What teams and/or people does this position interact with?
85. Can you tell me more about the position and the type of person you are seeking?
86. What kinds of processes are in place to help me work collaboratively?
87. What’s the most important thing I can accomplish in the first 60 days?
88. This job sounds like something I’d really like to do — is there a fit here?
89. What do you think are my strongest assets and possible weaknesses?
90. What do you think can I bring you to add value?
91. Can you tell me why this position is open?
92. How often has it been filled in the past 5 or 10 years?
93. What would you like to see the person who fills this position do differently?
94. What kind of support does this position receive in terms of people and finances?
95. Why are you looking at external candidates for this position, instead of promoting from within?
96. Would it be possible to meet the people who work in the department?
97. Do you have a management development or internal training program?
98. Do you encourage participation in community or professional activities?
99. What are the company’s plans for growth in the next five years?
100. How does the company intend to remain competitive?

No related posts.

Self-help books are an amazing channel for finding nuggets of “betterment” for personal development…

HOWEVER, the truth is that 90% of ANY self-help book is pretty much worthless. The author has a brilliant concept that is then repeated 2000 times too many until you hit the last chapter and the train ride’s over…

What if you could take every self-help book and condense it down into that most interesting 10%….  Throw out the ridiculous repetition and feast on the juiciest parts.  Think that might be helpful?

I did.  (I still come back to this post from time to time) Here’s a mash-up of material from Craig Harper and me — otherwise known as the “50 Things Successful People Have in Common“:

1. They look for and find opportunities where others see nothing.
2. They find a lesson while others only see a problem.
3. They are solution focused.
4. They consciously and methodically create their own success, while others hope success will find them.
5. They are fearful like everyone else, but they are not controlled or limited by fear.
6. They ask the right questions – the ones which put them in a productive, creative, positive mindset and emotional state.
7. They rarely complain (waste of energy). All complaining does is put the complainer in a negative and unproductive state.
8. They don’t blame (what’s the point?). They take complete responsibility for their actions and outcomes (or lack thereof).
9. While they are not necessarily more talented than the majority, they always find a way to maximize their potential. They get more out of themselves. They use what they have more effectively.
10. They are busy, productive and proactive. While most are laying on the couch, planning, over-thinking, sitting on their hands and generally going around in circles, they are out there getting the job done.
11. They align themselves with like-minded people. They understand the importance of being part of a team. They create win-win relationships.
12. They are ambitious; they want amazing – and why shouldn’t they? They consciously choose to live their best life rather than spending it on auto-pilot.
13. They have clarity and certainty about what they want (and don’t want) for their life. They actually visualize and plan their best reality while others are merely spectators of life.
14. They innovate rather than imitate.
15. They don’t procrastinate and they don’t spend their life waiting for the ‘right time’.
16. They are life-long learners. They constantly work at educating themselves, either formally (academically), informally (watching, listening, asking, reading, student of life) or experientially (doing, trying)… or all three.
17. They are glass half full people – while still being practical and down-to-earth. They have an ability to find the good.
18. They consistently do what they need to do, irrespective of how they are feeling on a given day. They don’t spend their life stopping and starting.
19. They take calculated risks – financial, emotional, professional, psychological.
20. They deal with problems and challenges quickly and effectively, they don’t put their head in the sand. They face their challenges and use them to improve themselves.
21. They don’t believe in, or wait for fate, destiny, chance or luck to determine or shape their future. They believe in, and are committed to actively and consciously creating their own best life.
22. While many people are reactive, they are proactive. They take action before they have to.
23. They are more effective than most at managing their emotions. They feel like we all do but they are not slaves to their emotions.
24. They are good communicators and they consciously work at it.
25. They have a plan for their life and they work methodically at turning that plan into a reality. Their life is not a clumsy series of unplanned events and outcomes.
26. Their desire to be exceptional means that they typically do things that most won’t. They become exceptional by choice. We’re all faced with live-shaping decisions almost daily. Successful people make the decisions that most won’t and don’t.
27. While many people are pleasure junkies and avoid pain and discomfort at all costs, successful people understand the value and benefits of working through the tough stuff that most would avoid.
28. They have identified their core values (what is important to them) and they do their best to live a life which is reflective of those values.
29. They have balance. While they may be financially successful, they know that the terms money and success are not interchangeable. They understand that people who are successful on a financial level only, are not successful at all. Unfortunately we live in a society which teaches that money equals success. Like many other things, money is a tool. It’s certainly not a bad thing but ultimately, it’s just another resource. Unfortunately, too many people worship it.
30. They understand the importance of discipline and self-control. They are strong. They are happy to take the road less traveled.
31. They are secure. They do not derive their sense of worth of self from what they own, who they know, where they live or what they look like.
32. They are generous and kind. They take pleasure
    in helping others achieve.
33. They are humble and they are happy to admit mistakes and to apologise. They are confident in their ability, but not arrogant. They are happy to learn from others. They are happy to make others look good rather than seek their own personal glory.
34. They are adaptable and embrace change, while the majority are creatures of comfort and habit. They are comfortable with, and embrace, the new and the unfamiliar.
35. They keep themselves in shape physically, not to be mistaken with training for the Olympics or being obsessed with their body. They understand the importance of being physically well. They are not all about looks, they are more concerned with function and health. Their body is not who they are, it’s where they live.
36. They have a big engine. They work hard and are not lazy.
37. They are resilient. When most would throw in the towel, they’re just warming up.
38. They are open to, and more likely to act upon, feedback.
39. They don’t hang out with toxic people.
40. They don’t invest time or emotional energy into things which they have no control of.
41. They are happy to swim against the tide, to do what most won’t. They are not people pleasers and they don’t need constant approval.
42. They are more comfortable with their own company than most.
43. They set higher standards for themselves (a choice we can all make), which in turn produces greater commitment, more momentum, a better work ethic and of course, better results.
44. They don’t rationalize failure. While many are talking about their age, their sore back, their lack of time, their poor genetics, their ‘bad luck’, their nasty boss and their lack of opportunities (all good reasons to fail), they are finding a way to succeed despite all their challenges.
45. They have an off switch. They know how to relax, enjoy what they have in their life and to have fun.
46. Their career is not their identity, it’s their job. It’s not who they are, it’s what they do.
47. They are more interested in effective than they are in easy. While the majority look for the quickest, easiest way (the shortcut), they look for the course of action which will produce the best results over the long term.
48. They finish what they start. While so many spend their life starting things that they never finish, successful people get the job done – even when the excitement and the novelty have worn off.
49. They are multi-dimensional, amazing, wonderful complex creatures (as we all are). They realize that not only are they physical and psychological beings, but emotional and spiritual creatures as well. They consciously work at being healthy and productive on all levels.
50. They practice what they preach. They don’t talk about the theory, they live the reality.

You can be successful. You don’t even need to do all 50 of these things.  Try one or two or ten of these things…  You’ll find yourself being a better person — and that by itself is a HUGE success!

This article was written by Craig Harper (B.Ex.Sci.). Its original source can be found here.

No related posts.