Planning Ahead: 5 Steps to Dominating in Business in 2014

By Lewis Howes

This year is speeding by and 2014 is just around the corner. While many people wait until New Year's to get their personal and professional lives in order and create the change that they know was long overdue, you shouldn't have to. It is, after all, true that delay is the greatest form of denial.

Make changes early so that you're way ahead of the game next year with these five easy steps to prepare for dominating in business:

1. Set action-oriented goals early, not on New Year's Eve.
Goal setting should be part of your daily and weekly routines, and should not be based on a calendar year or month. In 2014, don't make New Year's resolutions based on what you promise to stop doing or a change in your behaviors. Instead, set goals today as to what new actions you will make to get you closer to your desired outcome.

By setting actionable goals that move you forward, you move toward your goals rather than simply stopping behaviors that leave you at a standstill.

2. Understand the plan to disrupt your industry.
Before you can change your industry positively, you need to understand how to go about doing so. One of the benefits of starting early is the opportunity to look ahead and finish your planning before 2014 actually begins.

Look for ways to stand out next year from your competitors. Reflect back on 2013 and see what lessons you learned that you could leverage today to prepare you for a strong disruption of your competitors in 2014.

Consider what everyone in the industry is saying or, more importantly, how they are saying it. Is it coming across too lightly or maybe too strong? Is there a way you can get ultra targeted with your audience so they feel and hear your message over any of your competitors?

Disruption starts with committing to excellence and taking a stand for your customer.

3. Leverage partnerships.
Partnerships matter, even more so if you plan to dominate your market. Creating the right partnerships takes time and requires multiple conversations before formalizing. Why not use the rest of this year to solidify three partnerships that can help you take over in 2014?

There are literally hundreds of companies waiting for you to contact them, because your product or service can add some extra value to their clientele. Greatness in business is about blowing your customers' expectations away. How can you position your business to partner with a company that can help them wow their customers?

4. Create immense value for others.
Before the year is over, there is still time to ensure that everyone in your life who has invested in your success in 2013 gets a refresher on how important they are in your life. Take the next two months to create immense value for those closest to you by ensuring they themselves are prepared for 2014.

Here is a little secret: If there is something that you truly want next year -- such as more money, more support or an amazing mentor -- go out and give it away. If you want an amazing mentor, be a mentor for someone else. You would be surprised how much you learn from giving and be surprised how the laws of reciprocity eventually work in your favor.

By taking initiative and creating value for them, you are almost guaranteed that they will create even more value for your support in 2014.

Read more HERE

4 Lessons in Success From Millionaire Entrepreneurs

By Lindsay Levine

How great would it be to be a fly on the wall as some of the biggest companies are developed? Or to hear about the challenges entrepreneurs have faced on the road to their first million? Last week at the third annual Chicago Ideas Week, a group of successful entrepreneurs opened up about how they created their companies, shared the successes and struggles faced along the way, and the lessons learned from the experience. Here are their pearls of wisdom:

1. Accept failure as part of the journey.
"The great ones treat failure as a necessary part of their journey. It's not win or lose. It's always win or learn," says Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Groupon. Lefkofsky shared several anecdotes of past ventures that failed, including Brandon Apparel Group and Starbelly, which he says led him to the brink of bankruptcy in 2001. That year, he started InnerWorkings, a print procurement company that was a success. Lefkofsky insists there was no magic to what worked and what didn't. He kept working and trying new things until eventually he developed InnerWorkings and things clicked.

2. Keep your eyes open for opportunities.
For the founder of Honest Tea, inspiration came at the grocery store. Dr. Barry Nalebuff, a professor at Yale School of Management, was just looking for a good glass of tea. While there were dozens of beverage options already in the marketplace, Nalebuff found water was boring, soda to be liquid candy, and diet drinks dangerous.

He applied economic theory to the beverage market, and found that the best product should be less sweet: Less calories for the customer, less cost for the manufacturer. Nalebuff knew tea was the world's cheapest luxury good, and teamed up with a former student, Seth Goldman, to create Honest Tea in 26 days back in 1998 (they sold Honest Tea to Coca-Cola in 2011). Nalebuff calls it the "Princess and the Pea" theory, after the children's tale: "If something out there's annoying you, that's an opportunity," Nalebuff says.

3. When opportunity knocks, be ready for it.
After Honest Tea launched, Nalebuff was at a yoga retreat and noticed Oprah Winfrey on a nearby mat. Because he always carried samples with him everywhere he went, Nalebuff offered Winfrey a drink, and Honest Tea was subsequently featured in her magazine. "When opportunity strikes, you have to be prepared for it," Nalebuff says.

4. There's no set path to success.
"There's no set path to success, there are many ways to get there." says Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans and a principal of Detroit Venture Partners, an organization that funds start-ups and is leading revitalization efforts in Detroit. Gilbert says he's most proud of creating an environment that lets his employees sell and listen to customers. Both he and Quicken Loans' CEO answer complaint calls. When asked what drives him, Gilbert says, "I like to build. Most entrepreneurs at their core like to build."

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229565#ixzz2j2M7mf4Q

The Five Must-Dos To Generate Media Buzz For Your Business

By J. Maureen Henderson

Recently, I did a presentation on making friends with the media for a roomful of startup founders and solo entrepreneurs. For them, the question wasn’t how to craft the perfect pitch or how to newsjack or publicity hack in a way that doesn’t end as poorly as this UNC-Chapel Hill student’s attempt, but simply how to get started building relationships with journalists and what those initial rules of engagement were. How do you go from reading the newspaper to appearing in it? Here’s what I told media newbies about how to start building their public profile and raising their street cred with reporters:

Do your homework

Think of the media is a vehicle through which you talk to your target market. It’s not about your ego; it’s about their eyeballs or ears. In order to reach them effectively, you need to know exactly who your target market is,  what they read, watch, listen to, who they trust in the media and where they spend their time online. If you’re aiming at travel-loving seniors, you want to appear in AARP’s in-house mag and not Vice.

Know your story

Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits are the minds behind The Lean Entrepreneur. In a workshop with them, I was introduced to an exercise called A letter from your number one customer. You fill out a MadLibs-style template from the perspective of a customer who loves your product and wants to rave about how they discovered it, how they use it, how it’s changed their personal or professional life and what their feelings are about your brand. The exercise, which I’ve since adapted for companies that want to up their media readiness, forces you to think about the impression you want to create in the mind of your target market and how your communications with them needs to reflect those priorities. If you want your company’s name to conjure up visions of youth, edginess and irreverence, then your marketing materials, your website copy, your social media presence and the type of media you approach and the angle you take to approach them better come across as such. If you want an example of reflecting your brand values in your media interactions, read Saul Colt’s quotes in this piece and see a pro in action.

Begin media monitoring

If you don’t have a Google alert set up for every relevant term in your particularly industry, stop reading this article and do that right now. Keep your finger on the pulse of your field and start forming (and sharing) opinions on its latest news. The most plentiful opportunities for media exposure come not from sending out press releases trumpeting your own org milestones, but from reporters looking for sources who can comment knowledgeably on issue x in industry y. Start boning up on what’s happening around you and pitching yourself as a qualified source (see below) to speak about it – and reap attention for your own business in the process.

Start as a source

Going from obscurity to a media darling overnight is as realistic an aspiration as winning a Tony for your portrayal of Daddy Warbucks in your high school production of Annie. And even if you were to go from zero to front page coverage, do you really want your biggest interview to be your first one out of the gate? I recommend to entrepreneurs I work with that they start small. Sign up for HARO, monitor the queries and reply to those that fit the expertise that you’ve honed according to the tip above. Start following journalists on Twitter who work for publications that your target market reads or whose beats are relevant to your business. Often, they’ll tweet out calls for sources. Starting as a source vs. a feature subject allows you to refine your interview skills over time and build a track record of credible appearances. When you’re finally ready to step into the solo spotlight, you’ll not only have perfected your ability to give a scintillating soundbyte, you’ll be able to point to a portfolio of previous media coverage that functions as social proof that you know your way around an interview.

Sink your hooks in

If your first contact with a given journalist is when you cold-email them your press release, you’re doing something very, very wrong. Start building relationships (via online and offline networking) long before you need to call on your media contacts for coverage. Keep in touch with them and keep them on your mental speed-dial so that when the time comes to make the shift from pal to pitcher, you’re talking to a friendly audience. If you act as a source for a story, ask the journalist if you can pitch them in the future, should you have an angle in line with their interests. A PR pro friend who does this boasts a 80% success rate in establishing warm leads that she’s able to tap when the time is right.

Read More HERE

6 Things Great Entrepreneurs Believe to Be True

By Geoffrey James

Over the years, I've interviewed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs ranging from the famous (like Bill Gates) to those just starting out.  I've noticed that the most successful entrepreneurs tend to share the following beliefs:

1. "Entrepreneurs are born not made."

Great entrepreneurs have usually started their first business while they were still in school.  They believe that being an entrepreneur is either in your DNA or it's not. And if it's no amount of training or coaching can put it there.

2. "I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable."

Great entrepreneurs have the business acumen to make big money working in a big corporation.  Instead, they prefer to risk failure and financial loss, knowing that they'll be happier building their own.

3. "Courage is more important than security."

Great entrepreneurs think that the obsession that most people have with "security" is a form of collective insanity.  They realize that the only real security is the knowledge that you're brave enough to do what's necessary to win.

4. "I love selling."

Great entrepreneurs are always great salespeople.  They have a knack for understanding what customers, investors and employees need and finding creative ways to satisfy those needs.

5. "I can change the world for the better."

Great entrepreneurs believe that they're capable of creating products and services that not only make money but which improve both the lives their customers and the environments in which they live.

6. "I will succeed...sooner or later."

Great entrepreneurs consider failure as a strictly temporary condition.  While their current endeavor may not pan out, they know they'll keep trying until one of their great ideas catches on.

Read More HERE

How to Finance a Startup Today

By Julian Hills

You’ve got an awesome idea, a slick name in mind and the garage space to start your dream business -- but not the cash. I'm not surprised.

Financing a small business -- especially a startup -- is an uphill battle in a crowded field. In the U.S. alone, there are an estimated 27.5 million small businesses. And nearly 80 percent of them get their money through bank loans, credit cards and lines of credit.

It’s no secret that it is harder getting money through those avenues in the current financial climate. But just because it’s a bit of a fight, doesn’t mean your great idea isn’t worth fighting for. Here are some of the ways you can finance your startup, from standing in bank lines to going online:

Bank loans

Once thought of as a go-to option, national banks are still pinching pennies -- even after the Great Recession ceased.

Community banks and credit unions may serve as your next best bet. Since many community banks avoided the housing crisis, they’ll often have money to lend without the same standards as national banks. Local small businesses are finding success with community banks if they can convince lenders they’ll make a profit and pay back the loans.The U.S. Small Business Administration released a report in July noting that lending to small businesses declined last year. Business loans of less than $100,000 dipped to $138.2 billion, from $139.5 billion in 2011. Even though conditions have improved in recent years compared with 2008 and 2009 (the height of the recession), business owners still find themselves facing roadblocks from banks that continue to restrict their lending.

You might also tap a credit union for available funding. As nonprofit organizations, credit unions may offer better lending terms for borrowers than commercial banks.

Credit cards

Having plastic has its benefits. The perks include immediate access to needed items, cash advances when you’re low on money and a way to track spending. When financing your business with credit cards, a major consideration should be whether you can pay off the balance monthly. Credit card companies know commercial loans are hard to come by and often jack up their rates -- sometimes upwards of 30 percent.

Government assistance

The SBA offers qualified financial assistance programs. While it doesn’t loan money directly, the SBA does set guidelines for loans made by third-party lenders (essentially a commercial loan with negotiated strings attached). Businesses that go this route must first prove they could not obtain financing at commercial banks with reasonable terms.

On the upside: SBA loans are usually structured with longer terms and lower down payments, and may come with lower interest rates. On the downside: SBA-backed loans tend to have a lot of stipulations -- often requiring lots of paperwork and time, as approval can take longer than loans from private lenders.

See if your business qualifies by carefully reading the criteria on sba.gov.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a relatively new and increasingly popular option people are using to fund business ideas. Most often, entrepreneurs will use sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter to raise money from the crowd in return for token incentives like a prerelease product or a T-shirt. This process can cut out professional investors and brokers by putting funding in the hands of regular folks. It also might attract venture-capital investment down the line if a company has a particularly successful campaign.

Another, even newer option: equity crowdfunding through sites like Crowdfunder. Rather than giving funders a T-shirt, startups can offer equity in their companies instead. Know that only accredited investors (people with a net-worth north of $1 million, minus their home's value) may participate in this type of transaction.

Read more HERE

5 Steps to a Successful Start-up

By Karl Stark and Bill Stewart

We're always on the lookout for entrepreneurs who get it--the leaders who are modeling what it takes to launch a successful start-up. We found a great example recently in David Klein, CEO of CommonBond, a start-up aiming to help M.B.A. students with education funding.

David and his co-founders, Michael Taormina and Jessup Shean, are M.B.A. students at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and are part of Wharton's Venture Initiation Program, a highly selective start-up incubator that helps Wharton entrepreneurs.

CommonBond is filling a void in the student lending space by raising capital from individual investors (sometimes referred to as "crowdfunding") and providing loans to M.B.A. students, who have lower loan default rates than the broader student loan population. In addition, CommonBond has promised to fund a year's education of a student in the developing world for each M.B.A. degree. This social mission is inspired by companies such as Warby Parker (incidentally, also funded by Wharton grads) and TOMS Shoes.

After we met Klein last week, we thought it was clear that he's executing in a number of areas that we see as "best practices" for launching a start-up. Here are five things he's doing that other entrepreneurial CEOs can emulate:

1. He has a clear, simple view of the company's value proposition.

It's so important to be able to clearly communicate how your company creates value for a customer in a concise way. If you can't summarize your business model in a three-sentence elevator pitch, it's probably too complex.

2. He's entering a proven market.

So many entrepreneurs think they need to invent the Next Big Thing. That's rarely a successful endeavor. In most cases, the Next Big Thing doesn't exist--because it's not that valuable. We'd much rather see a business model that improves on a proven market than one that relies on creating something entirely new. It's a relatively easy mental leap to believe that a better product is going to take share from an existing market.

3. He has a revenue and profit model that will create cash flow to fund growth and create a return for investors.

This a basic business principle, but it's surprising how many start-ups actively look for funding with no clear view of how to create a return for investors or eventually fund growth from cash flow.

4. He has a view of how he will invest in and improve his business model over time.

Financial services is a competitive market that could be saturated by financial institutions in a few years. The important thing is that Klein can articulate a clear, logical view on how CommonBond will achieve market share in the short term (given its relationships in the M.B.A. community) as well as many ideas on how it will invest in sales and marketing efforts to enhance its competitive advantage over time.

5. He is asking for funding at the right time and for the right reasons.

CommonBond has already built the financial and legal infrastructure necessary to fund loans. It already has students signed up to apply for the first loans. Its last step is securing the investors. So many start-ups ask for capital first, before building anything. Investors would always rather buy something more tangible than an idea.

Klein seems to have the company on the right track. Of course, that doesn't mean CommonBond will become the next billion-dollar start-up, but at least he is giving it a better shot at success.

Read More HERE

When Starting Up, These 6 Things Can Wait

By David Port

Hunting sales whales 
"It may be best not to go for the home-run account right away," suggests Michelle Fish of Integra Staffing, "because you might not be ready for the size and scope of their business, and you might not get another chance at them if you blow it. Sometimes it's better to get your feet wet with smaller accounts."

Back-office and sales personnel
Prepare to wear many hats, at least for the short term. Rather than hire a salesperson right off the bat, Fish took on all the sales responsibilities herself. "Hiring for sales is hit or miss," she says. "And anyway, nobody's going to do [sales] better in the beginning than you."

Outside consultants 
Look to a mentor for strategic guidance and nuts-and-bolts practical advice. Be strategic when enlisting pros with high hourly rates, such as attorneys and accountants. Pay them now for help incorporating the business, reviewing partnership agreements and ensuring you have a viable accounting system in place upon launch, but wait to enlist them for less pressing matters.

A high-end website

Unless it's e-commerce-reliant,start with a no-frills website. You can roll out major improvements, such as regularly refreshed content, multimedia, a mobile-friendly design and other bells and whistles, in version 2.

Outside marketing, advertising and PR

Rely on grassroots and guerrilla tactics to start. "We said no to a lot of marketing opportunities that we thought would be cool but didn't make sense from an ROI standpoint," says Nick Friedman of College Hunks Hauling Junk. "Sure, it would have been nice to have prime-time TV and radio ads right away … but that would have sent us way over our marketing budget."

New products/services

Focus on your strongest offering first. You can add others once your existing product or service provides a strong, sustainable revenue stream and enough cash reserves to invest in new offerings.

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228697#ixzz2htx9dRel

5 Ways to Get Out of Startup Mode And Grow Your Business

Entrepreneurs stay in startup mode way too long. Keeping a small business in startup mode requires you to stand on the brake. If you keep telling people you're "just a startup," you will never take actions for real growth.

It's time to move from startup to grown up mode and from planning to doing. In two years, you want to look back at your startup phase as an important part of your thriving business' history. You want to say,"I remember when I was sitting on my floor packing boxes myself. Now I employ over 100 people." This is the mindset to move towards and here are five ways to do it:

1. Delegate. When you're in startup phase, you are handling everything. To become a going concern you have to start investing in people to do tasks you can no longer do. Three quarters of all small businesses have zero employees, which underscores the resistance people have to delegating. You have to grow your business. It is a misnomer to think people cost money. A lack of production and failure to grow your business costs far more.

2. Pick your battles. Don't get wrapped up for a week deciding on a logo when it ultimately doesn't matter. Your brand will evolve as your business evolves, so your logo is likely to change. There are more important things to obsess over -- gaining customers and making money. When you are hunting big game, don't swat mosquitoes.

3. Get attention. The single biggest problem every startup has is becoming known. Your most important task is to get attention for you and your company. It's the gateway to every dollar you raise. Muhammed Ali told the world he was the greatest long before anyone knew him. He got attention and infuriated people. But he proved himself, which turned criticism into world admiration. Get attention. Get critics. Then get admiration.

4. Change your pitch. Instead of saying "I own a small web design company," say "I own a web design company like none other that guarantees your company increased sales." Notice the difference? The first makes you seem small and insignificant. It makes no claim. The second makes you seem unique, confident and capable of being a money maker. Know how to pitch yourself and your business. Be ready to quickly explain what your company does that is better, faster and of value to the marketplace. Then, make big claims to the world.

5. Create urgency. If you start a business venture without setting specific timelines for action and achievements, you will be stuck forever with excuses. One of the biggest mistakes I have made in business was not operating with enough urgency. Being an entrepreneur is a marathon activity with lots of sprints. Win a lot of little races and you will provide your people and company with momentum. We recently shot a television show at my office and I told the editing staff that I wanted rough cuts in half the time they thought necessary. Then I called everyday for a progress update. This pressure to perform doesn't lead to inferior products; it get products to be finished. Urgency is key to getting things done.

Remember: Your vision is not improved by staying in startup mode. It's time to accelerate and become a going concern that is grabbing market share from the other bigger more established players. It used to be the big who ate the small. Today, it is the fast who eat the slow. 

Read more HERE

10 Ways to Promote Yourself to Entrepreneurial Success

By Martin Zwilling

Too many entrepreneurs I know still believe that that their great idea will carry their startup. Yet most investors agree that the "idea" is worth nothing alone, and it's the entrepreneur's execution that counts. That means that selling yourself is more important than selling your idea.

In the corporate world, experts have recognized for a long time that the way people perceive you at work is vital to your career success. No matter how talented you are, it doesn't matter unless managers can see those talents and think of you as an invaluable employee, a game-changing manager or the person whose name is synonymous with success.

In the entrepreneur world, your perception is equally critical, except the "managers" in this world are your investors, customers, vendors, business partners and team members. I just finished a book by Dan Schawbel, Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success, which will help you maximize these perceptions.

Here is a quick guide to some of the changes that Schawbel sees in the workplace that require self-promotion and some updates that I have added for entrepreneurs:

1. An "idea" is just the beginning. Use your business idea to kick start your relationships with co-founders, investors, customers and business partners. Your ability to promote yourself and learn from these will determine your ultimate success.

2. Pursue skills you don't have right now. A U.S. Department of Education study shows that soft, interpersonal skills have become more important for success than hard, or technical, skills. Entrepreneurs need to have leadership skills, as well as an ability to work in teams and listen. Coaching skills, which you can learn from advisors and networking with peers, are also a plus.

3. Polish your reputation, as it's your best asset. Your CEO title might be good for your ego, but in the grand scheme of things, what matters more is how much people trust you, whom you know, who knows about you, and the aura you give off around you. What other people think you can do is more important than what you have done.

4. Your personal life is now public. With the internet and social networks, things you do in your personal life can affect your success in a big way. Manage your whole image, rather than ignore it. Even the smallest things, like how you behave, your online presence -- or lack of it -- and whom you associate with can help build your brand or tear it down.

5. Build a positive presence in new media. There are plenty of benefits to new media, if you maintain a positive presence. Your online social networks enable you to build your reputation, connect with people who have interests similar to yours, find educational opportunities and put you in touch with people who can help your startup.

6. Play nice with people of all ages. The combination of economic need and increasing life spans is keeping everyone in the workplace longer. As a result, you'll need to work well with people of all ages. Each generation tends to communicate differently and offers a different view of the marketplace.

7. The one with the most connections wins. We have moved from an information economy to a social one. It's less about what you know (Google search will help you in seconds), and more about whether you can work with other people to solve problems. If you don't get and stay connected, you'll quickly become irrelevant.

8. Just one person can change your life. Remember the rule of one? All you need is that one investor, that one major customer or that one distributor to keep you ahead of competitors. It's up to you to get that key person on board to support your business. Self-promotion in the right way can make all the difference.

9. Hours are out, accomplishments are in. If you want to grow your business, stop thinking about how many hours you work, and aim for more milestones and traction. Success is more results, not more work. Measure your results and promote them. Help others realize your value.

10. Your startup is in your hands. Be accountable for your own business success, and take charge of your life. Look for win-win business relationships, since people won't help you if you are not helping them. If you aren't learning and growing, you have nothing to promote and aren't benefitting anyone.

The challenge for all entrepreneurs is to gain visibility and show value without bragging and coming off as self-centered. Take personal credit where credit is due, but also share the successes of the team and the business milestones with everyone Success leverages success.

Now, how do you start? I like Schawbel's recommendation to do one thing every day, like add a new skill, or build a new relationship that will advance you. Developing this "One Step Forward a Day" habit will keep you current, make you feel more fulfilled, confident, and increase your ability to promote yourself.

Read more HERE

Restructuring: Do You Need to Restart Your Startup?

By Karl Stark and Bill Stewart

You wouldn't start a business if you didn't think it could work.  Yes, entrepreneurs tend to have an outsized sense of the possible, no one would put in the time, money and effort required to start a business without a compelling sense that it could really become a success. Why, then, do so many startups fail?

One big reason is because entrepreneurs aren't known for listening and learning from their mistakes.  When everything seems to be falling down around you, there's a fine line between blindly sticking to your original plan and being open to pausing, analyzing what went wrong, and making course corrections with the benefit of your recent experience and new information.  Ending up on the correct side of this line can be the difference between failure and success.

Mistakes are inevitable, especially in a startup where so many factors must come together simultaneously.  It is almost as inevitable that an entrepreneur will become overextended during the startup phase.  Every entrepreneur has war stories of the chainsaw juggling that's inherent in the first few years of a company's existence.

No Room for Error

Our war story starts when we hit our stride and were maturing as an organization.  We were growing at a rapid clip, were 100 percent staffed with our strategy consulting business, and had just doubled our associate class.  We were fully extended financially and had more than doubled our team; we had no room for error.

Our business can be spikey and, as bad luck would have it, two of our biggest clients had a change in their business that reduced the need for our support.  We had to cut our cost structure fast and deep to get it in line with the new forecasted revenue base.

Continuing our growth plans could have easily resulted in disaster.  Folding the business may have been the easiest path, but when we gathered our leadership team to discuss options, we all agreed that we still believed in the core idea around which we first came together.  We had built a valuable team that we couldn't easily replace, but we needed a leaner business model that capitalized on our strategic assets.  Effectively we were starting over, but not with a blank whiteboard--we had the benefit of the knowledge of our recent experience, both the good and the bad.

In fact, the most difficult part of retracing our steps was checking our egos and the plethora of (mostly legitimate!) excuses at the door.  We almost had to ac tlike we were reviewing the actions of a client to get the kind of honest analysis that we needed to develop a recovery and go-forward plan.  We used everything that happened--good and bad--to find out which parts to knock down and rebuild, which parts to strengthen, and which parts to kill.

We are better off since restructuring our business.  We are laser-focused on one goal: being the most sought-after partner for anyone looking to build or grow a business.  We have a comfortable cash cushion, our margins have never been higher, our pipeline is robust, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel--and we're sure it's not an oncoming train.

Read More HERE

21 Ways to Be a Better Leader Without Breaking a Sweat

By Les Mckeown

1. Switch off your cell phone. Go on, you can do it. Just for one meeting.

2. Look people in the eyes. Practice doing it consistently.

3. Think. Pick an hour in the day (the week, if you're really strapped) and just think. Don't listen. Don't read. Don't talk. Don't eat. Don't drink. Just think.

4. Get out of your inbox. Twice a day is enough for most people. If it's not, for you, then you have deeper communication management problems.

5. Stop using amplifying adverbs. Every time you use words like 'very', 'fundamental', 'must-do', 'imperative', you drain their impact. Simply state what you want to say, or want done, without amplification.

6. Ask 'What can I do for you?' Many leaders fail to recognize that they can be a tremendous asset for their people - but only if they place themselves in that position.

7. Get out from behind your desk. You do know the real action is happening elsewhere, right?

8. Get comfortable with silence.

9. Know your presuppositions. Before any important meeting or discussion, jot down what presumptions, assumptions or biases you're walking in with. Note that they might be right, helpful, useful - or they may not.

10. Distrust what you trust. Not all the time. Just often enough to rethink what you take for granted.

11. Don't talk to think. Thinking out loud is confusing when the person doing the verbal processing is the leader of those who are listening ('Is this an instruction? Are we really going to do this?'). Only do it with people who know you well, or make it clear when you are 'just musing'.

12. Give positive feedback three times more often than you do. You don't do it enough, trust me.

13. Get low-level seating in your office and use it. If you have the real estate, add a round table (or a coffee table), and use it by default. Make your desk a work surface, not a communication barrier or power play.

14. Be present. You can only be in one place at a time-- so be there. Stick a pin in your palm, snap an elastic band on your wrist. Do whatever you need to give the present your full attention.

15. Ask more than you tell. Sure, there are communications that require you to be declarative, but leadership as a whole is an exercise in inquiry.

16. Show more than you demand. The leader as a role model isn't something that's talked about much right now (mostly because of the lack of such role models in many areas of life-- politics, sports, entertainment), but it's still the most powerful tool in your leadership toolkit.

17. Repeat yourself. When you literally feel nauseous at the thought of repeating what's important, others are just beginning to get it.

18. Batch crap. When you allow the prospect of dealing with dreck to get you down, you underperform. Pull together the three or four things you truly loathe the thought of doing, and get them done as early in the week as possible. You'll be amazed how well you perform the rest of the week.

19. Only use email to move around information. Your keyboard isn't a proxy for rich communication.

20. Reach down two levels. Don't build a cadre of lieutenants who get all your attention. You're leading the enterprise, not your immediate reports.

21. Be nice. Whatever reason you use to justify being a jerk, you're wrong.

Read More HERE

25 Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

By James Stephenson

Regardless of your definition of success, there are, oddly enough, a great number of common characteristics that are shared by successful businesspeople. You can place a check beside each characteristic that you feel that you possess. This way, you can see how you stack up. Even if you don't have all of these characteristics, don't fret. Most can be learned with practice and by developing a winning attitude, especially if you set goals and apply yourself, through strategic planning, to reach those goals in incremental and measurable stages.

The Home Business Musts
Like any activity you pursue, there are certain musts that are required to be successful in a chosen activity. To legally operate a vehicle on public roadways, one must have a driver's license; to excel in sports, one must train and practice; to retire comfortably, one must become an informed investor and actively invest for retirement. If your goal is success in business, then the formula is no different. There are certain musts that have to be fully developed, implemented and managed for your business to succeed. There are many business musts, but this article contains I believe to be some of the more important musts that are required to start, operate and grow a profitable home business.

1. Do what you enjoy.
What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don't enjoy what you're doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your business--or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, chances are you won't succeed.

2. Take what you do seriously.
You cannot expect to be effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners fail to take their own businesses seriously enough, getting easily sidetracked and not staying motivated and keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who don't take them seriously because they don't work from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory. Little do these skeptics, who rain on the home business owner's parade, know is that the number of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. 

3. Plan everything.
Planning every aspect of your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that every home business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. The act of business planning is so important because it requires you to analyze each business situation, research and compile data, and make conclusions based mainly on the facts as revealed through the research. Business planning also serves a second function, which is having your goals and how you will achieve them, on paper. You can use the plan that you create both as map to take you from point A to Z and as a yardstick to measure the success of each individual plan or segment within the plan.

4. Manage money wisely.
The lifeblood of any business enterprise is cash flow. You need it to buy inventory, pay for services, promote and market your business, repair and replace tools and equipment, and pay yourself so that you can continue to work. Therefore, all home business owners must become wise money managers to ensure that the cash keeps flowing and the bills get paid. There are two aspects to wise money management.

1. The money you receive from clients in exchange for your goods and services you provide (income)
2. The money you spend on inventory, supplies, wages and other items required to keep your business operating. (expenses)

5. Ask for the sale.

A home business entrepreneur must always remember that marketing, advertising, or promotional activities are completely worthless, regardless of how clever, expensive, or perfectly targeted they are, unless one simple thing is accomplished--ask for the sale. This is not to say that being a great salesperson, advertising copywriting whiz or a public relations specialist isn't a tremendous asset to your business. However, all of these skills will be for naught if you do not actively ask people to buy what you are selling.

6. Remember it's all about the customer.
Your home business is not about the products or services that you sell. Your home business is not about the prices that you charge for your goods and services. Your home business is not about your competition and how to beat them. Your business is all about your customers, or clients, period. After all, your customers are the people that will ultimately decide if your business goes boom or bust. Everything you do in business must be customer focused, including your policies, warranties, payment options, operating hours, presentations, advertising and promotional campaigns and website. In addition, you must know who your customers are inside out and upside down.

7. Become a shameless self-promoter (without becoming obnoxious).
One of the greatest myths about personal or business success is that eventually your business, personal abilities, products or services will get discovered and be embraced by the masses that will beat a path to your door to buy what you are selling. But how can this happen if no one knows who you are, what you sell and why they should be buying?

Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial, yet most underutilized, marketing tools that the majority of home business owners have at their immediate disposal.

8. Project a positive business image.
You have but a passing moment to make a positive and memorable impression on people with whom you intend to do business. Home business owners must go out of their way and make a conscious effort to always project the most professional business image possible. The majority of home business owners do not have the advantage of elaborate offices or elegant storefronts and showrooms to wow prospects and impress customers. Instead, they must rely on imagination, creativity and attention to the smallest detail when creating and maintaining a professional image for their home business.

9. Get to know your customers.
One of the biggest features and often the most significant competitive edge the home based entrepreneur has over the larger competitors is the he can offer personalized attention. Call it high-tech backlash if you will, but customers are sick and tired of hearing that their information is somewhere in the computer and must be retrieved, or told to push a dozen digits to finally get to the right department only to end up with voice mail--from which they never receive a return phone call.

The home business owner can actually answer phone calls, get to know customers, provide personal attention and win over repeat business by doing so. It's a researched fact that most business (80 percent) will come from repeat customers rather than new customers. Therefore, along with trying to draw newcomers, the more you can do to woo your regular customers, the better off you will be in the long run and personalized attention is very much appreciated and remembered in the modern high tech world.

Read more HERE

3 Reasons It's the Perfect Time to Be an Entrepreneur

By Jim Joseph

Never in our collective lifetimes has it been better to be a startup. Coming out of the economic disaster a few years ago, it became clear that recovery would be on the shoulders of small business. Entrepreneurs are truly the backbone of our economy, way of life and the American dream.

We've got a perfect storm happening that is making the success of startups much more tangible. Here are three reasons why it's the perfect time to be starting your own business:

1. Young and old -- everyone's on board. The generation gap is alive and well, and it's serving the entrepreneur. Baby boomers are recreating their careers hand-over-fist, while the far younger millennials are rejecting traditional career paths in pursuit of something more personal and meaningful. The result is a constant flow of fresh thinking, startup ideas, and talent to make them all happen.

2. You don't have to do it alone. While many say the internet has made location irrelevant, I'd disagree. Perhaps geographic location -- as in what city you live in -- is no longer relevant, when it comes to setting up shop, everyone still needs a place to work. That's why we are seeing really cool new office spaces for startups pop up in major entrepreneurial cities. Places like Capital Factory in Austin or Alley NYC in New York offer entrepreneurs a place to hang their hat, connect with other small businesses and add some form of infrastructure to their company. These hot new places have become a way for startups to share resources and ideas, hopefully propelling their businesses forward in a location that will help their success.

3. There's no end to marketing opportunities. Social media is a complex place for the entrepreneur, but if you make the effort to get you and your company name out there, you'll reap a wealth of benefits. For those startups looking for help in managing and navigating the world of social media, companies like Rallyverse that has made it easy to create and post content on LinkedIn, for example, can help simplify the task.

Read more HERE