Posted by Celia Couture on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 @ 09:40 AM
It's one of the first days in weeks that the weather has been actually MISTY...not raining...just MISTY. I've been working on lead generation all morning and I'm weary. It's tough facing the battle each day of convincing potential clients that YOU are the missing link in their business success. IF you are a small business owner, you must know the same frustration. We are in a sputtering economy and the sales cycle is disturbingly long. Certain industries seem to be riding the waves, occasional dips in sales revenues, but still holding steady. Other industries, which rely upon the health of the construction or real estate markets are hurting.
We know this will, at some point, turn around. When is the question and how do you survive until this happens. I've been reading a book, Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port. He devotes quite a bit of time, talking to his readers about finding a target market. He asks his readers to think about what they know, what they really enjoy doing and what they are good at. He asks you to think about how to link your interests and hobbies to your business. People typically buy what you are selling because you demonstrate passion, excitement and enthusiasm about the product. It doesn't matter whether you provide a service or a system. Your own enthusiasm should be contagious.
So many successful business owners find their target market because they are engaged in their business. If you enjoy staying in good health and belong to a gym, can you offer your services to that market? If you a graphic designer and your entire family is in the restaurant business, can you offer your services to that market. It would certainly be easier to get excited about working in an environment that you know and love.
Next Port talks about identifying the urgent needs and compelling desires of your target market. If I return to my earlier comments, if I were a franchise owner of a health club, then I would be concerned about customer satisfaction. Is my club meeting the needs of a diverse population? Are we delineating ourselves from the competition? Do I have a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Sometimes we're too close to the service to spend time thinking about what we need to do better.
Michael Port states: Offer investable Opportunities. "Do potential clients within your target market see your services and products as opportunities that will give them a significant return on their investment? If you want to succeed, then the answer to this question has to be YES!
If you are looking for a business coach that can help you identify your target market, then pick up the phone TODAY and call us. We are experts in helping you unleash your values and your passions. What do you have to gain? With one quick call...we can help you gain more revenue, more profitability and more opportunity for you to enjoy your own passions while you work IN your business not AT your business!
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 @ 09:25 AM
![images[2]](/Portals/42330/images/images[2].jpg)
What is a Millennial? Simply put, these are the folks in our workplace that were born between 1978 and 1997. These are the folks that were HIGHLY influenced by the world of technology. Today's younger worker is the first generation to grow up surrounded by digital technology and they can't imagine a world without it!
Millennials don't want to be TOLD what to do. They pride themselves in invention. They communicate in chat rooms and on FaceBook with ease. They collaborate, make plans that involve many people in a matter of seconds and they prefer "sound bites" to lectures. They want things to be done quickly and efficiently and don't have patience for a lot of rework.
As managers what do we need to do to manage Millennials effectively? If we want to be a company that keeps the best and the brightest then these are the characteristics that we need to value: confidence, creativity, and independence. It is due to these qualities that we find ourselves needing to manage differently.
Millennials crave constant feedback. They have seen what happened to their baby boomer parents and they demand work/life balance and strong workplace relationships. Business leaders need to take a strong look at their company values and how they approach management and begin to alter the environment to meet the needs of these young workers.
The trick here is balance! Don't forget that you have older workers as well. These workers need to be educated about what to expect from their younger colleagues. We need to make room in our company vaults for the use of FaceBook, Twitter and other social network sites during the work day. The net is the key to their success. If we block access, we block creativity and we block freedom. We run the risk of unhappy workers.
We used to call them coffee breaks...now we need to make room for "virtual breaks!" The younger worker needs time during the day to connect. Sure, we need to monitor use of social networks during the workday, but research of the younger worker has shown that by allowing them the freedom to "virtually break," we create a more focused work team.
Think about how social networks have changed how we do our jobs. Virtually every company uses social networks to profile and hunt for job candidates. Studies indicate that more than 40% of employers use social networking sties to examine the profiles of job candidates.
Best-selling author Don Tapscott says, "The old HR model--recruit, train, supervise and retain--should be shelved. Instead, companies should adopt a new model--initiate, engage, collaborate and evolve. Employers have many ways to make themselves attractive to a potential Net Gen employee: customize job descriptions, use game0based training to train employees for short-term projects, and keep in touch with former employees to find new people and get new ideas." "My research has shown that companies that selectively and effectively embrace Net Gen norms perform better than those that don't.
Posted by Celia Couture on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 @ 09:18 AM
As much as our business school educations thought they would prepare us for management, we soon learn that whatever might have been placed in a textbook is NOT reality. Strong management skills are learned though experience.
A classroom is a place to share management practices, debate the latest styles of management, but it is not the place where managers learn how to be socially responsible business leaders. The recent BP disaster on the Gulf Coast is a good example. I'm sure the BP CEO is a great guy, but his choice of words and his immediate response to the disaster was not what people needed to hear.
Business leaders are under attack as a result of their response to the economic crisis. Many have been criticized for putting their own interests ahead of those of employees, customers, and even stock holders.
It's time for business manager to take an inventory of what they need to lead! Typically, business managers are promoted based upon their functional expertise. Is it fair to assume that if you are a wonderful sales person, you can easily make the transition to a great sales manager? A manager must have the ability to integrate skills that help to define effective and strong leadership ability as well as functional knowledge.
It took an educational crisis in the United States before curriculum change occurred. It may take the same effort to engage our prestigious, business schools to begin looking at how they prepare managers to lead. In a recent article written by Richard Barker for the Harvard Business Review, he writes, " The key is to recognize that integration is learned rather than taught: it takes place in the minds of MBA students, who link the various elements of the program. Business education is not one-size-fits-all, and, most important, it should be collaborative rather than competitive."
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Jun 24, 2010 @ 09:59 AM
Every January, I make a concerted effort to set a weight loss goal. Every year, I dread the thought of eating the last piece of apple pie after the holidays, so that I can hit the gym three times a week. About mid-February, when 6:00 A.M. arrives and the temperature is below zero, I find it very easy to find excuses for why I don't need to go to the gym today and why just ONE piece of pie isn't going to kill me! Sound familiar? I bet it does.
In a few weeks, I'm going to be leading a workshop on goal setting and action planning. I want to be able to leave workshop participants with easy to use suggestions that can be implemented the minute they leave the workshop. I tried to extract what makes goal setting and action planning successful. I contribute goal achievement to four key success factors: passion, motivation, accountability and incentives.
Passion is an interesting step in the process. Ask yourself; is this a goal you are setting for yourself or for someone else? If it is not a goal you can relate to or derive some personal benefit from, then you may not be personally invested in achieving that goal. Passion means LOVING what you are doing to the degree that NOTHING stands in the way of accomplishing the goal. (Not even below zero temperatures in February).
Motivation is also a key to achieving goals. What is motivation? We often hear that some people are SELF-motivated. They find their own good reasons for sticking to a goal or accomplishing a task. Others find intrinsic value from setting a goal that is a means to an end. A successful interview that leads to a job, a training program that leads to a promotion a coaching session that leads to a better golf game. Simply put, motivation means you are willing to take ACTION.
Accountability is the make or break for achieving a goal. Is there someone or something checking in with you to make sure you are following a prescribed path and encouraging you when you just don't think you can take one more step? Remember that everything around us is energy. In order to sustain achieving the goal you need to be held accountable.
The final step in goal achievement is having a strong incentive. In some cases it can be as simple as fitting in to a smaller size dress or getting a good grade on a test. For others, it may an incentive that involves financial gains. The key is to define incentives along the way to achieving your goal. Small rewards provide an impetus to continue toward the goal. You don't get discouraged because you are being rewarded along the way.
Finally, don't beat yourself up! If you falter along the way, look to those people who are there to support you for encouragement. Goal achievement and action planning is not something you want or can do alone.
Posted by Celia Couture on Thu, Jan 07, 2010 @ 10:39 AM
I came across this article today and wanted to share it with you. It really speaks to the importance of self-discipline. Sometimes we wake up in the morning and really struggle to get motivated, do something we really don't want to do, but the advice in this article is very telling. We need to push ourselves sometimes to make an impact, especially as a leader. Hope you enjoy the article.
Introduction from the Power of Discipline by Brian Tracy
Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?
I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at menial jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.
And then I began asking, "Why are some people more successful than others?" This question changed my life.
Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of discipline."
Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open table by myself, even though it was a table for four.
A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit.
With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.
It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.
After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?"
He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'"
He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work."
Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.
In the pages ahead I will describe seven areas of your life where the practice of self-discipline will be key to your success. These areas include goals, character, time management, personal health, money, courage and responsibility. It is my hope that youll find a few "nuggets" that will help make your dreams come true.