7 Steps to Incredible Personal Productivity

Practical advice to turn an average workday into an incredibly productive day.

Occasionally you need to go the extra mile. Sometimes you need to complete a major project, tackle a task you’ve put off, or just knock out a ton of work in one day.

Here’s the best way to turn a normal workday into an incredibly productive workday:

1. Let everyone know. Interruptions destroy focus and kill productivity. So are the guilt trips your family "sometimes unintentionally" lay on you. Let coworkers and family know you’re planning a “project day.” Tell key customers too. Announce you will be tied up on, say, Tuesday, and that you will respond to calls and emails on Thursday. Let people know who to contact in an emergency. Some will get with you before Tuesday, and the rest will make a mental note you’re not available. In either case, you’re covered.
   
   Plus you get the “peer pressure” benefit: When you tell people you plan to finish a project you will be more likely to see the job through. Peer pressure can be positive motivation harness it.
   
2. Set a target. Don’t plan your project day based on fuzzy parameters like, “I will stay at it as long as possible,” or, “I won’t leave until I no longer feel productive.” Those approaches give you an easy out. Commit to working for as long as you estimate it will take. Pick a number.
   
   There’s a cool benefit to this approach too: The longer the time frame you set the quicker the early hours seem to go by. When I worked in manufacturing we normally worked eight-hour shifts. The hours before lunch seemed endless; the last two hours of the day were even worse. During busy periods we worked twelve hour shifts and the mornings seemed to fly by something about knowing you will be working for a long time allows you to stop checking the clock. When you know you’re in for a long haul your mind automatically adapts. Try it, it works.
    
3. Start unusually early or unusually late. When you step outside your norm, your perspective of time shifts as well. Start at 5 a.m. or revisit your college days and start at 6 p.m. and work through the night. Set the stage for an unusually productive day by dramatically changing your normal routine.
    
4. Delay gratification. Say you like to listen to music while you work. Don’t, at least for the first couple of hours. That way, when your enthusiasm really starts to wane, turning on the music will perk you back up. Hold off on whatever things you use to brighten up your workday, at least for a while. Delayed gratification is always better gratification, and in this case can provide just the spark you need to keep going.
    
5. Refuel and recharge before you need to. When endurance athletes wait until they are thirsty to drink they’ve waited too long. The same premise applies at work. Have a snack a little earlier than normal. Start drinking water right immediately. If you normally sit, stand up before you start to feel stiff or cramped. If you normally stand, sit before your back stiffens or your legs ache. Be proactive so discomfort can’t dampen your motivation or weaken your resolve.
   
   And make sure you plan meals wisely. Don’t take an hour for lunch. Plan food ahead of time that you can prepare and eat quickly. The goal is to refuel, re-hydrate, and keep on rolling. Remember, this is an unusual day treat it that way.
    
6. Don’t take rest breaks. Take productivity breaks. Newton’s Law of Productivity states that a productive person in motion tends to stay in motion. Maintaining momentum is everything. Don’t take a TV or Internet break. Take breaks that reinforce your sense of activity and accomplishment. Take a quick walk and think about what you’re tackling next. Then jump back in. Even a few minutes spent in the land of inactivity make it hard to regain momentum.
    
7. Don’t stop until it’s done. Stopping simply because you’re tired or bored is habit-forming. (Plus you’re always capable of doing more than you think.) If the only barrier to completion is effort or motivation, stay at it and bust through that barrier.
   
   Think about your normal workday; at some point you typically think, “That’s it. That’s all I have in me today.” That limit was set long ago, but it’s an artificial limit based on habit. Pushing through the “pain” is a habit anyone can develop, and when you do, you automatically set your effort limit a little higher making you capable of even more on a regular basis.
   http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/7-steps-to-incredible-personal-productivity.html

Keeping Morale High When Salaries Aren’t

Building a stable team is critical to building success. Here's how to inspire morale and loyalty when you can’t compensate competitively.

TerraCycle’s been around for almost 10 years, and our current business model (collecting non-recyclable waste from schools and organizations and converting it into usable products and materials) is almost 5 years old, but in many ways we still run very much like a start-up.

One area where that is definitely true is compensation.

We pay firmly under market rates across the board, don’t have traditional perks and 2011 was the first year we had health benefits. Yet we’ve built a committed, energetic and positive team that has allowed the company to expand to 19 countries and see double-digit growth year over year.

Here are some of the things we’ve done to keep team morale up when salaries aren’t:

1. Build an environment that empowers every team member. We make sure our team knows they truly own their work and can take on interesting or challenging projects goes a long way towards providing personal fulfillment.
2. Be fully transparent. Always communicate with your team about financial goals and the reality of when to expect salary adjustments.
3.  Make work a place to play. Our office is unlike any other—everything is made from waste, it’s covered in graffiti and any given morning could include a spontaneous Nerf gun battle, testing a cool new product made from waste or having a local elementary school drop by for a tour. Pair this with a flexible PTO policy and it beats working in a traditional office for almost everyone. 

www.inc.com/michael-waas-smith/keeping-morale-high-when-salaries-arent.html

4 Business Metrics You Can’t Afford to Ignore

Profit and revenue tell you a lot--but they don't tell you everything about the health of your business.

Every business focuses on and measures revenue. Every business focuses on profit and loss.

And they should, but there are a few other financial and performance measurements that can provide earlier warning signs of trouble—or early indications of longer-term success.

Here are four metrics your business can’t afford to ignore:

Cost to Acquire Customers (CAC). Also known as customer acquisition cost, this measures the cost of landing a customer. In simple terms, add up the cost of marketing and sales—including salaries and overhead—and divide by the number of customers you land during a specific time frame.

Spend $100 and acquire 10 customers and your CAC is $10.

What’s a good number? That depends on your industry and business model. It’s also important to understand how CAC fits into your overall operating budget. The leaner your operation the more you can afford to spend to acquire a customer.

Also keep in mind that a high CAC makes sense if you also generate a high…

Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV). Unless your business is truly one-off, some percentage of customers will become repeat customers. The more repeat customers you have, and the more those customers spend, the higher CAC you can afford. (Some business models are built on breaking even on the customer’s first purchase; future purchases will be profitable since the CAC is at or near zero.)

LTV is often tricky to calculate and does involve making a few assumptions, at least during the startup phase. But once you’ve built a little history you can start to spot customer retention and spending trends. Then the math gets a lot easier: Determine what the average customer spends over a specific time period and calculate the return on your original CAC investment. Sense-check that against your profit and loss statement. Roughly speaking, the greater the LTV, the higher CAC you can afford.

Why do these two metrics matter so much? A rising CAC means you’ll need to start cutting costs or raising prices—or do a better job in marketing and sales. A falling LTV indicates the same measures are necessary… and means you’re failing to leverage the most important and least expensive customers you have: current customers.

Churn rate. Every business gains and loses customers; that’s a fact of business life. But still, lost customers are like failed investments. You spent money to acquire them, service them, and try to retain them… and now they’re gone.

A rising churn rate could be caused by a number of factors: Dissatisfaction with your products and services, new competition in your market, or even the coming end of a product or service cycle.

Churn rate is a solid indicator of rising CAC and lower LTV. In fact, all three are great leading indicators of problems—or successes—to come, both in other metrics and for your business overall.

Revenue percentages. Very few businesses only have one source of revenue. Most have multiple sources, and changes in the contribution percentage each makes can indicate problems are ahead.

Take wedding photography, a business I know something about. To keep things simple, say 80 percent of revenue historically comes from the initial wedding package sold to couples, 10 percent from additional sales after the wedding to the couple, and 10 percent from post-wedding sales to friends, family, etc. If post-wedding sales fall off that will impact overall profit levels since almost all marketing and sales costs go into booking weddings so margins on additional sales are naturally much higher.

Changes in revenue percentages can often signal not only changes in customer spending habits but also broader trends in your industry and market.

If you have other key metrics your business follows, share them in the comments below.

14 Easy Ways to Get Insanely Motivated

These simple strategies will keep you energized through the holidays and well into the new year.

It's getting toward the end of the year, so with the holidays in sight, I thought it appropriate to give you all a little gift: a column that I guarantee will make you more more successful in the coming year.

Here are 14 quick strategies to get and keep yourself motivated:

1. Condition your mind. Train yourself to think positive thoughts while avoiding negative thoughts.
2. Condition your body. It takes physical energy to take action. Get your food and exercise budget in place and follow it like a business plan.
3. Avoid negative people. They drain your energy and waste your time, so hanging with them is like shooting yourself in the foot.
   
4. Seek out the similarly motivated. Their positive energy will rub off on you and you can imitate their success strategies.
   
5. Have goals–but remain flexible. No plan should be cast in concrete, lest it become more important than achieving the goal.
   
6. Act with a higher purpose. Any activity or action that doesn’t serve your higher goal is wasted effort--and should be avoided.
   
7. Take responsibility for your own results. If you blame (or credit) luck, fate or divine intervention, you’ll always have an excuse.
   
8. Stretch past your limits on a daily basis. Walking the old, familiar paths is how you grow old. Stretching makes you grow and evolve.
   
9. Don't wait for perfection; do it now! Perfectionists are the losers in the game of life. Strive for excellence rather than the unachievable.
   
10. Celebrate your failures. Your most important lessons in life will come from what you don't achieve. Take time to understand where you fell short.
    
11. Don’t take success too seriously. Success can breed tomorrow's failure if you use it as an excuse to become complacent.
    
12. Avoid weak goals. Goals are the soul of achievement, so never begin them with "I'll try ..." Always start with "I will" or "I must."
    
13. Treat inaction as the only real failure. If you don’t take action, you fail by default and can't even learn from the experience.
    
14. Think before you speak. Keep silent rather than express something that doesn’t serve your purpose.

Build a Killer Website: 19 Dos and Don'ts

If you do it right, your website can be the best marketing tool you have. Ilya Pozin, founder of the Web design firm Ciplex, on how not to screw it up.

I’m continually surprised by how many people call my design company with very firm ideas about what they want on their business website and yet, they haven’t thought through some of the most basic questions first. For this reason, our first question is always “Why do you need a site?,” not “What do you want on it?”

At bottom your website is a marketing tool. For many businesses, it’s the only source of business. If done right, it can be a major part of yours.

Here’s my quick-hit list of the top dos and don’ts before you get started:
Do:

1. Set smart goals. And make sure they’re measurable. Here are a few great ones a Web designer wants to hear: increase conversion rates, increase sales, generate more leads, reduce overhead, and improve brand awareness.
   
2. Plan on becoming an SEO wizard. Sure, you’re going to want help from the pros and eventually you might even need your own in-house SEO expert, but search engine optimization is something you need to know about too. It has one of the highest ROIs in marketing. Plus, do it right and SEO can literally put your marketing on autopilot, allowing you to focus on improving the quality of your business, instead of figuring out how to bring in customers to your site. Start reading SEOmoz and stay up to date with SEO changes by reading sites like search engine land.
   
3. Use open source tools. You could go with a proprietary content management system (CMS) but that means you’re typically stuck with one company and paying hefty license fees to boot. Do yourself a favor and go with an open-source system—I like WordPress and Magento—that any developer can access.
   
4. Think about your mobile strategy simultaneously. Research the percentage of your visitors that are likely to use mobile devices to access your site. If it’s high, you may want to consider building a separate mobile version of your site, or even an app. If it’s relatively low, just make sure your website works on smart phones, but don’t invest into a mobile version.
   
5. Steal from your competitors. Before you build your site, check out your competitors and write down the things they do well. If you like the look and feel of another site, there’s no reason not to start with something you like and then make it your own.
   
6. Develop your content. The biggest slow-down in the Web design process is content. If you’re going to sell products on your site, get product photos and product descriptions ready. If you sell services, you’ll need a description of each service. Get as much of your content together before you start building your site—it will save you weeks. And while you’re at it…
   
7. Write with calls to action in mind. Good calls to action allow visitors to quickly decide what they want to do next. Having a big sale? Don’t just write a banner that says “50% off all products.” Write one that says “50% off all products, CLICK HERE to view them.”
   
8. Always answer the question “why?” Have you ever walked up to someone you’ve never met, handed them a business card, and walked away without saying a word? Likely not. If you want people to do something on your website, such as sign up for your newsletter, don’t just put up a box that says “enter email” or even “sign up for newsletter”—you’ll get a very weak conversion rate. Tell them why they should do it: “Sign up for our newsletter to receive weekly specials.” Same thing goes for Twitter and Facebook logos. Just putting them up isn’t smart. Tell people why they should follow you on Twitter or friend you on Facebook. What will they get out of it?
   
9. Trust your Web designer. I tend to see the worst end results with customers who come in with a “I know what I want, just do what I tell you” attitude. You hired an expert because they know more than you, right? Let them do what they do best and they’re more likely to meet and often exceed your goals.

Don’t:

1. Do it yourself. I know—I run a Web design firm, so of course I’m going to say this. But seriously, your website is often where your customers’ first experience your brand. If it looks homemade, they’re going to make assumptions about your business that you want to avoid.
   
2. Make people think. When visitors come to your website, they typically already know what they want out of it. Do a three-second test: If within three seconds a visitor can’t figure out what to do next, go back to the drawing board.
   
3. Expect visitors. Lose the “if you build it, they will come” mentality. Simply putting up your site will not result in any visitors.
   
4. Spend all your money. Don’t max out your entire budget on the website. You can get a well-designed site for under $1,000 from a freelancer, or a few thousand dollars from a professional agency. And you can always make improvements as your business grows. It’s far more important initially to have some money left over for a marketing budget so you can actually make a return on your investment.
   
5. Add a blog. Are you really going to write posts? Be honest. If you won’t, then forget about a blog. A website with an outdated blog can create the perception that your company is small or even out of business.
   
6. Add Twitter and Facebook buttons. If a potential client clicks through to your social pages and sees hardly any followers, they may lose trust in you. First build up your social presence, then commit to posting and engaging your fans on a regular basis, and only then promote them on your website. Also keep in mind that some businesses simply don’t belong on Twitter or Facebook.
   
7. Try to please everyone. Your website will be a mess if you try to accommodate every type of visitor who might come along. Figure out who is likely to be your most frequent users and focus on creating the best experience for them.
   
8. Add testimonials. Building credibility is important, but too often testimonials sound fake. “’They are great!’ says John Smith” simply isn’t believable. If you’re going to have testimonials make sure they are specific, and something people can relate to.
   
9. Use Flash. Some sites still need it, but if you can, avoid it. Adobe just announced that it will no longer support Flash on mobile devices and set-top-boxes. The last thing you want is for a potential customer to be unable to open your site.
   
10. Expect a killer website overnight. Good websites take time to build. If you want the best results out of your site, be prepared for several months of work.

  http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/build-a-killer-website-19-dos-and-donts.html

7 Things Highly Productive People Do

You have more important things to focus on than, um, focusing. Get back on track with these tips.

You probably don’t want to admit it but you love distractions. In fact, just like monkeys, you get a shot of dopamine every time something pulls you in another direction. Why do you think you check your email so much?

Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.

Easier said than done, I know.

Recently I sat down with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt whose client list includes Toyota, Honda, and Disney, to name a few. He’s an expert in keeping people on task, so I thought he’d be a good person to ask.

Here are his tips for staying productive:

1. Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks. Writing “launch company website” at the top of your to-do list is a sure way to make sure you never get it done. Break down the work into smaller and smaller chunks until you have specific tasks that can be accomplished in a few hours or less: Sketch a wireframe, outline an introduction for the homepage video, etc. That’s how you set goals and actually succeed in crossing them off your list.
   
2. Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).
   
3. Be militant about eliminating distractions. Lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging. In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and focus on completing one task.
   
4. Schedule your email. Pick two or three times during the day when you’re going to use your email. Checking your email constantly throughout the day creates a ton of noise and kills your productivity.
   
5. Use the phone. Email isn’t meant for conversations. Don’t reply more than twice to an email. Pick up the phone instead.
   
   
6. Work on your own agenda. Don’t let something else set your day. Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out. You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.
   
7. Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals. Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity. Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes. (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.) So take a break: Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. And yes, that means you need an extra hour for breaks, not including lunch, so if you’re required to get eight hours of work done each day, plan to be there for 9.5-10 hours. 

 http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/7-things-highly-productive-people-do.html

Your Primary Limitation? You're Ignorant

How knowing that you don't know much can help you make smarter decisions.

You probably don't know nearly as much as you think you do. I certainly don't. In the spectrum of knowledge even the most insightful human only sees a sliver of light.

Here's the beginning of a long list of what you—and all entrepreneurs—don't know:

• What people are feeling in other parts of the world
• What folks are concerned about elsewhere in your city
• What is happening outside of your front door
• What the whole story is behind anything you are told
• What's happening right behind you
• What your body is doing right now
• Why you have your worldview

 The list goes on and on. We really don't know much. To say we know even 1 percent of what's happening would be a gargantuan overstatement.

So how are we able to make decisions?

In our heart-of-hearts we all believe that we make decisions about our personal lives and work based upon the facts—our understanding of the context of the choice. But if you think about it, we typically make decisions based upon only a sliver of what we actually need to know.

"It's a good idea to buy this house because it suits my needs and the value is lower than it was last year."

Well, what happens when you discover your wife is pregnant with twins, the local mayor is thinking about proposing a tax hike next week, your boss is thinking about relocating you to another country, or a flood is on its way?

"I should target kids as customers because they're in need of my product."

Well, what happens when you discover that one of your suppliers put lead in the plastic, grandmas love your product even more than kids, or a competitor you've never heard of is on the verge of launching a slightly better, faster, cheaper version of what you built (and oh yeah…she patented it)?

When you start to think about what you don't know it might seem a bit paralyzing. If you don't know nearly enough to make a decision, how can you continue to run your business?

The answer: You can continue to operate. You can continue to move quickly. But, you have to do so knowing your primary limitation: You're ignorant. You don't know much of anything.

So what does knowing that you don't know much tell you? A few things:

1. You need to listen…a lot.
2. You're going to get it wrong.
3. You should be ready to change directions when you do get it wrong.
4. You need to be ready to forgive yourself for screwing up.

 From a business perspective, there's only one comforting thing in all of this: Nobody else knows anything either.

 http://www.inc.com/mark-peter-davis/your-primary-limitation-youre-ignorant.html

This One Mistake Can Eat Your Business Alive

P&L targets are supposed to help a company create more value. But used incorrectly, they can erode business value and consume growth opportunities from the inside.

We saw a business recently that was being “eaten” by its P&L targets. Sounds crazy, right?

Targets and goal-setting are supposed to help a company develop effective strategies and employ the capital and resources necessary to create more value. But in this case, the targets were eroding business value and, as a result, the CEO was losing control of the company.

How was this possible? First of all, this business is owned by a larger corporate entity but operates autonomously to set targets and deploy capital. This is a common situation in which a larger organization—which could be a parent company, a private equity firm, or even an absent owner—controls the capital allocation but allows the management team to run the business. Management agrees to financial targets with the parent company, then attempts to meet or exceed the targets.

The problem for this company, as with many businesses in the same boat, is that the parent company expected a constant year-over-year growth rate of around 6 percent bottom-line growth.

Most of us who manage growing businesses know that with the right strategic investments, it’s entirely possible to get 6 percent or higher top-line growth, even in slower-growth markets. But to do so, you often have to invest, in resources such as new salespeople and R&D, which often drives down short-term profits in exchange for achieving a higher long-term growth trajectory.

Delivering annual 6 percent increases in profits, however, is a different matter entirely. Because the subsidiary’s management team could not make a valid case for growth investment to its parent (or shareholders), it had to commit to 6 percent profit growth year-over-year—in a market that was growing 3 percent annually.

Guess what came next? Cost-cutting. And where was the easiest place to cut costs? The sales force and R&D department—the same places where the business needed to invest to create growth.

The result was that the growth-oriented CEO was slowly losing a turf battle to the cost-oriented CFO. Every time the CEO wanted to invest in the sales force to develop more business, the CFO countered with a plan to cut salespeople. Guess who won every time?

Fortunately, the CEO has changed the game. He is in the process of implementing a plan for growth that is endorsed by his shareholders—in this case, the parent company. The fundamental mistake this business made was not pitching a fact-based plan to the parent company for moderate, long-term growth. Only later he realized that the parent company actually had money to burn in the form of a growing cash account—which was funded in part by squeezing costs out of the business. Once he convinced his shareholders of a fact-based plan that created a significant return on the capital invested, they bought it and gave him the runway to execute it.

No business can cut its way to growth. Eventually, the P&L targets will eat you alive.

http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/this-one-mistake-can-eat-your-business-alive.html

How to Stop Hovering as a Helicopter Parent

The more a parent trusts, believes and has confidence in their child’s decision making when they are away from the parent, the less controlling the parent needs to be.

 Problem: Helicopter parents are usually driven by anxiety and not being able to leave anything to chance. It’s usually something they learned from one of their parents. As a result they are overly involved running their children’s lives. Over time the child will either become angrily defiant because of an internal need to feel independent or if the parent is too much of a helicopter parent the child may lose initiative, because they may feel that whatever they come up with as in thinking or doing, their parent will always jump in and force their point of view on the child. The sad thing is that the parent does not see themselves as controlling and intrusive, but as loving and caring. And if the parent does recognize that they may be, they usually don’t see it as important enough to change (usually because their anxiety overrides this).  

Solution: The more a parent trusts, believes and has confidence in their child’s decision making when they are away from the parent, the less controlling the parent needs to be. To achieve that the parent should have conversations with their child when they are driving together (vs. face to face giving advice the child doesn’t want) such as: “How can you tell which kid in your class is likely to get into real trouble this year? And why?” Then just listen to your child and don’t give advice. Instead say, “Hmmm, that’s really interesting.” Another question might be: “How can you tell the difference between a class at school that you can study for at the last minute and one that you need to stay on top of?” Again, respond to their answer with, “Hmmm. Really! That’s interesting.” In each of these cases you are helping your child develop judgment and improve their decision making skills. When you see them doing that, you will become less anxious when you are away from them and less controlling.

http://markgoulston.com/usable-insight-how-to-stop-hovering-as-a-helicopter-parent/

9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money

The ability to motivate employees is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can possess. Two years ago, I realized I didn’t have this skill. So I hired a CEO who did.
Josh had 12 years in the corporate world, which included running a major department at Comcast. I knew he was seasoned, but I was still skeptical at first. We were going through some tough growing pains, and I thought that a lack of cash would make it extremely difficult to improve the company morale.
I was wrong.
With his help and the help of the great team leaders he put in place, Josh not only rebuilt the culture, but also created a passionate, hard-working team that is as committed to growing and improving the company as I am.
Here are nine things I learned from him:

1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give. Plus, praise from the CEO goes a lot farther than you might think. Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you’re comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.  
2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn’t seem right! Try it. Removing the project lead or supervisor and empowering your staff to work together as a team rather then everyone reporting to one individual can do wonders. Think about it. What’s worse than letting your supervisor down? Letting your team down! Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster. People will come in early, stay late, and devote more of their energy to solving problems.  
3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”  
4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn from their mistakes, and fix them. Ask, “Was that the best way to approach the problem? Why not? Have any ideas on what you could have done differently?” Then you’re having a conversation and talking through solutions, not pointing a finger.  
5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.  
6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. Don’t make an announcement that you’re establishing a new policy. Literally walk up to one of your employees, and invite them to lunch with you. It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.  
7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques. 
8. Throw company parties. Doing things as a group can go a long way. Have a company picnic. Organize birthday parties. Hold a happy hour. Don’t just wait until the holidays to do a company activity; organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you’re all in it together. 
9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you’re thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.

www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/9-things-that-motivate-employees-more-than-money.html

10 Tips from a Successful Small Business Owner

Small business owners wear a million different hats. From product development to customer service to order fulfillment to basic HR functions, you do it all in the course of a typical day. But how do you ensure the success of your business when you're focused so much on day-to-day survival? We talked to successful small business owners to see what advice they had to share, and we've pulled their best tips together right here.

10. Create systems that can run without you.
As a small business owner, you provide the heart, soul, mind, and muscle that keeps your business running, so the idea of your company running without you can be difficult to accept. But as hard as it is to relinquish control, it's essential if your business is to grow to the next level. There are only so many hours in the day, and one person (even one extremely dedicated person) can only do so much. Be sure that the information and knowledge you possess exists somewhere besides your own brain. If there are critical skills that you alone possess, train your people to do them better than you do, and see how much faster your company can move when there are more hands to share the important work.

9. Hire great employees, then get out of their way.
It can be intimidating to hire and work with people who you're pretty sure are smarter than you are. But just as keeping key information to yourself restricts the growth of your business, so does burying yourself in the minutiae of day-to-day operations. Train your employees well, listen to their ideas, and give yourself the freedom to move on to strategic pursuits such as growth planning and business development that will ensure your company's long-term viability.

8. Set specific goals, then take time to review them.
You’re busy all day, every day, but are you moving in a positive direction, or simply spinning your wheels? Take some time every quarter, or at least once a year, to review the goals you’ve set for your business, measure your progress toward them, then adjust as necessary.

7. Create a culture that you would want to work in.
Small businesses are vital to our local communities and our national economy, but small and family-run businesses are also notorious for being difficult to work for, due in part to the complicated dynamic that often exists among company principles. If you have one or more business partners, hash out any differences behind closed doors and present a united front to your employees and customers. Even if you’re the only one in charge, think about the work climate in your office. Are your employees smiling and energetic, or tense and stressed out? If you don’t like what you see, ask for feedback, and be willing to act on it.

6. Invest in improving yourself.
If there’s a core area of your business that’s lacking, find ways to make it better. Work with a business coach to set and achieve realistic goals. Look for workshops or webinars on sales strategies or customer relationship management. Talk with others in your industry about tools and technologies that help them save time and money, then invest in training on those that might benefit you. Knowing when to call in the experts can help you move beyond your comfort zone to become a more well-rounded business manager.

5. Don’t waste your time on tasks that you can outsource.
If you’re still keeping your own books, doing your own taxes, and managing employee work schedules in a cumbersome Excel spreadsheet, you might not be using your time as efficiently as you could. Consider hiring a part-time bookkeeper, retaining an accountant, and using an online scheduling application to let employees create and maintain their own schedules. You can even outsource functions such as staffing, payroll processing, invoicing, and collections, as well as certain aspects of the sales cycle, like lead generation and appointment setting. Think about how much time these tasks consume over the course of a typical day, week, or month, then decide whether your energies would be better spent on more strategic projects.

4. Stick to your core business.
Develop a set of core business principles, then live by them. Begin by identifying your unique selling proposition (What product or service do you provide that differentiates your company from any other business?) and defining who your core customer is (and is not!). If you're having trouble committing to one core service or market, consider working with a business consultant until the path seems clear. This could very well be a situation where it pays to call in the experts!

3. Always know where you stand financially.
This one may seem obvious, but many a small business has failed because the owners, although experts in the service they provided, were novices at managing the money. Create a detailed profit and loss (P&L) statement that tracks your revenues and expenditures, and always keep current on loan payments, small business credit cards, and other accounts payable, as well as invoicing and receivables.

2. Find a partner.
While many entrepreneurs are autonomous by their very nature, there's a great deal of truth to the saying that two heads are better than one. A carefully selected business partner can be a source of ideas, a sounding board, another set of hands, and a counterpart to your own management strengths and weaknesses.

1. Do whatever it takes to achieve that elusive work-life balance.
Force yourself to take a day off, schedule a real vacation, and, above all, remember why it was you started your own business in the first place. Long hours come with the territory, but if you barely recognize your children and your work life has all but consumed any semblance of a personal life, it might be time to reevaluate your priorities. As a small business owner, you could probably find enough work to fill a 37-hour day, so it's important to make a conscious decision to step away from it frequently enough that you avoid burning out or damaging your personal relationships.

http://www.inkfromchase.com/business-tips/

How to Hook a Life-time Customer

Put yourself in the mind of the customer: give them what they want and don't make them pay for it...right away.

Many businesses define the value of a customer by long-term or lifetime value—a formula calculated by estimating the profits generated by that customer into perpetuity (discounted back to the present). Most customers, however, have a different perspective. They define value as the difference between the highest price they would be willing to pay and the actual price. In economics, this is sometimes referred to as consumer surplus.

The trick is to find a long-term value proposition that works for both you and the customer. Unfortunately, many companies lose sight of the fact that if they don’t provide customer value in the short term, they will never have the opportunity to provide customer value in the long term, because the customer won’t come back.

We were reminded of the importance of customer value in two recent interactions with vendors:

1. We chose a new vendor to build and manage our website. As soon as we informed the account reps of our decision, they began to suggest additional services and advice the company could provide—at no additional cost—which made us feel good about the substantial investment we were making in them.

2. We chose another vendor for some personal photography. The photographer quickly offered us an additional "bonus" product. But when we reconsidered the initial purchase and opted for a slightly lower-cost option, the rep told us we were now $200 under the amount needed to qualify for the "bonus." Feeling slightly misled, we opted for another vendor and ended up spending twice the amount we originally agreed to.

Businesses that do create customer value in the short-term, like our website vendor, for example, will always have the option to choose how to create value in the long term, by rising prices, reducing the cost-to-serve, increasing volume (i.e., selling more), or even choosing not to serve that customer. All of these options can increase profitability.

What’s more, we’ve found that if you "wow" a customer once or twice early on, with a great product or great service, they will purchase from you with more confidence in the future. This, of course, results in less price sensitivity, which can drive higher profits.

It’s a simple concept, but one that management teams frequently overlook. By thinking about customer value from your customers’ perspective—even if it means losing some short-term battles—your customers will reward you in the long term. And if they don’t, you can always walk away.

http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/how-to-hook-a-life-time-customer.html

10 steps for dealing with criticism

Takeaway: Criticism can be tough to handle, especially for analytically inclined IT pros. Alan Norton offers some advice for weathering critical remarks.

I have noted during my career that IT engineers often respond negatively to criticism. There are a number of reasons for this. We may be trying to hide our insecurities and lack of knowledge, especially if we’re inexperienced. We may only hear the message as negative. We may fail to engage the wonderful thinking processes we have been gifted with. Or we may just be too lazy to consider constructive criticism. Ironically, put the same IT engineers in a conference room and they have no problem criticizing your systems design. To test your sensitivity to criticism, ask yourself how receptive you were to the critical words of your immediate supervisor during your last performance appraisal.
 
I am not going to tell you that dealing with criticism is easy. On the contrary. Analytical thinkers are convinced that their way is the only way. I have seen it all too often in my own family when a discussion amongst the analytical thinkers soon becomes contentious. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Follow these 10 steps to get a better grip on the unwanted and unsolicited critical words hurled in your direction.

Step 1: Consider the possibility that you might be wrong “Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.” — Blaise Pascal

Before you can accept and properly deal with criticism, you must admit the fact that there is always room for improvement and that you are not perfect. Only the perfect can disregard all criticism. I may not know you, but I do know that you are not perfect. It follows that you have seen, and will continue to see, your fair share of criticism - so please read on.
Think wrong before you are wrong.

Step 2: Consider the other point of view
“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.” — Elvis Presley

Through experiences, we gain wisdom. Since it is impossible to experience everything life has to offer, consider each person as a repository of unique experiences and lessons learned just waiting for you to mine. If you do not understand the criticism, consider the possibility that the events experienced by the criticizer may have given him or her wisdom that you do not possess. With the right attitude, your own point of view might be changed for the better.
Regard, but don’t discard.

Step 3: Consider the source
“We hate to have some people give us advice because we know how badly they need it themselves.” –Anonymous

It is human nature to consider most criticism as derogatory. Before jumping to conclusions, though, you should consider who is giving the “advice.” It is easy to misunderstand the nature of the criticizer. Analytical thinkers, for example, are wired to recognize invalid arguments, mistakes, and bad information. It’s what they do, so you shouldn’t be too surprised when they offer you their “helpful advice.”
Pay attention to criticism from your friends and loved-ones. Recognize those who will not be offering constructive criticism before you waste one gigasecond of brain time. Some people, by their very nature, offer unhelpful advice or criticism. It’s wise to recognize that fact and accept that there is little that you can do to change their behavior.
Separate those who indicate from those who pontificate.

Step 4: Listen
“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.” — Mark Twain

It is also human nature to dismiss criticism and let it go in one ear and out the other. It is so much easier than having to try to understand the “critical” point being made. Listen to or read the comment containing the criticism carefully. I often have to reread a paragraph before understanding the point trying to be conveyed. “Listen” with more than your ears. Important information can be derived from the tone of the words and the body language of the criticizer. And it’s much harder with oral communication. You need to listen and respond quickly by thinking on your feet, and you can do that only when you give the speaker your full and undivided attention.
Listen also to your gut. It will tell you when criticism has touched a raw nerve.

Step 5: Don’t respond emotionally
“Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Regardless of whether the criticism is valid, a defensive attitude is unprofessional and irresponsible. You may not like the “helpful advice” that has been handed to you. We all too often want to respond to criticism with a knee-jerk defensive attitude or with a verbal attack of the criticizer. Lashing out with an angry emotional response like, “You are a clueless buffoon” may help you feel better, but it’s unwise — especially if said to your boss. Defensive, angry emotional responses are almost always regretted later when the heat of the moment has passed. After all, professionals who are secure in their abilities let their work do the talking for them.
There is a reason why your parents told you to count to 10 before responding. The time allows us to engage the brain and respond thoughtfully instead of emotionally. Thomas Jefferson once said, “When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.”
Reflect, but don’t deflect.

Step 6: Throw out derogatory criticism
“If I care to listen to every criticism, let alone act on them, then this shop may as well be closed for all other businesses. I have learned to do my best, and if the end result is good then I do not care for any criticism, but if the end result is not good, then even the praise of ten angels would not make the difference.” — Abraham Lincoln

There are two basic types of criticism, constructive and derogatory. Before you can respond correctly to criticism, you must separate criticism with merit from criticism of no value. Only the obviously malicious statements should go into the “derogatory” bucket in this step.
Criticism from these behavioral types can almost always be put into the “derogatory” bucket:

• Armchair Archie — Second guesses after the event
• Back Seat Bertie — Not responsible but offers “helpful” tips anyway
• Bamboozle Bambi — Snows them with a blizzard of meaningless words
• Complicated Cuthbert — Offers solutions that are more complex than a Rube Goldberg machine
• Conformist Concetta — Critical of eccentric behavior outside the “norm”
• Hopeless Harry — The eternal pessimist
• Obvious Olivia — Points out the obvious
• Omniscient Oscar — The know-it-all who tells you wonderful, irrelevant facts
• Pernicious Percival — Intentionally tries to do harm with criticism
• Repetitious Repete — Repeats criticism already expressed, typically in a forum
• Silly Sally- - Offers ridiculous solutions
• Wrong Way Willie — Always points you in the wrong direction

Distinguish the character from a character.

Step 7: Recognize constructive criticism
“Every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration. Constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought.” — Margaret Chase Smith

It is not as easy to recognize constructive critical statements about you or your work as you may think. Communication is complex, and your sensitivities and prejudices work against the proper deciphering of the message.
Six types of messages can be messages of constructive criticism (Table A).

Table A

Types of constructive criticism.

As you can see, the intended message can be very different from the message received. Constructive criticism is or is not in the eye of the beholder. If you do not recognize constructive criticism for what it is, you will most likely discard it.

Step 8: Acknowledge and accept the truth
“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self evident.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

You may properly recognize constructive criticism, but without acknowledging and accepting the truth in the message, you will almost certainly ignore it. Sometimes the truth hurts, but that does not necessarily make it invective.
Concede the painful truth before the truth becomes painful.

Step 9: Act on constructive criticism
“Criticism always follows worthwhile action. The opposite is seldom true.” — Torley Wong

If you follow the above steps but do not act, you have wasted an opportunity — and you might be on a collision course with disaster. You may need to swallow your pride and change your plans. Yes, it is true; even the best of us are wrong at times, and it takes mature people comfortable in their own skin to admit when they are wrong.
Act but don’t react.

Step 10: Learn from criticism
“Don’t mind criticism. If it is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified it is not criticism, learn from it.” — Anonymous

We can all learn from criticism, even when it is not well intentioned. You may not be able to use constructive criticism to change work that has already been completed but you can certainly use it in the future. The next time a similar situation arises you can avoid the behavior that spawned the original criticism.
Learning from criticism is better than learning from failure.

The bottom line

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” — Winston Churchill
Since IT is full of analytical thinkers, it’s important to learn how to best dish out and respond to criticism. Make sure your unsolicited words are helpful before engaging the language center of the brain and consider carefully, before speaking, how the message will be received. Ambiguous or unclear criticism will almost never be received well.
Failure to respond correctly to constructive criticism can be costly. Engineers of all types should note that failure occurs all too often at the most important step, step 1. All steps are important, but when engineers and managers fail to consider the possibility that their intended course of action might be wrong, the remaining nine steps become moot. From the Titanic to the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, warnings have been given, and ignored, leading to loss of life. Software engineering errors also cost lives and are estimated to cost $60 billion annually in the U.S. alone.
Responding to criticism in a professional manner will reduce the possibility of any hurt feelings among you and your peers. Criticism may be a bitter pill to swallow, but necessary for growth beyond one’s own preconception of self. A world without criticism might be more comfortable, but it would also be less fulfilling and a lot more dangerous.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-steps-for-dealing-with-criticism/2834

Don't Let Your Customers Bully You

If you're a pushover, you'll completely lose a customer's respect. Follow these six steps to diffusing customer anger without caving in.

My recent column Top 5 Ways Big Customers Screw With Small Vendors points out that some buyers see sellers—that means you—as scapegoats. Buyers use the fact they needn't work with you on a daily basis as an excuse to vent their frustration by exploding at you

Sometimes such customer-explosions are be triggered by something that you, or your company, did that wasn't to the buyer's liking. And sometimes the abuse seems to simply comes out of nowhere. Regardless, what's important isn't where it comes from, but rather how you deal with it.

Unfortunately, many sellers deal with this kind of behavior in exactly the wrong way. They sit there and take it, then meekly apologize.

That's the absolute worst thing you can do.

The moment you let a customer bully you, you've completely lost that customer's respect. Worse, you've set yourself up for a relationship of further bullying and abuse.

Here's a simple six-step recipe for defusing this situation.

• STEP #1: Keep your pipeline full. Bullies smell fear. The best way to be fearless, when you're selling, is never to rely entirely on a single customer to make your revenue numbers. If you know you've got plenty of buyers in waiting, you always have the option of simply walking out and moving on.
• STEP #2: Raise your own intensity level. When the customer begins to explode, you've got to get onto the same level in order to create rapport. You don't have to yell, but your voice must be firm and authoritative. If the conversation is face-to-face, you have to keep it eye-to-eye. Wear a serious expression that communicates clearly that you don't appreciate being yelled at and don't intend to be intimidated.
• STEP #3: Call the customer's bluff. You're a professional, not a doormat. State clearly that you're willing to help resolve the problem, but you're not going to be yelled at. Don't mince words. Demand respect. Make it absolutely clear that your help is dependent upon the customer's ability to behave in a civil manner.
• STEP #4: If the customer does not comply, end the conversation. Do this politely but firmly. State that you'll be glad to help once the customer is willing to treat you with the respect that you deserve. Make sure the customer knows how to contact you. Then leave. Never take abuse. No job is worth it.
• STEP #5: Apologize appropriately for the problem. Once you've demanded and received civil behavior—then and only then—apologize for the inconvenience that the problem might have caused the customer. Make a commitment to resolve the problem.
• STEP #6: Work on the problem. Now that you've established that you're not the customer's punching bag, go ahead and work the customer's issue. Needless to say, you'll need to do a superlative job resolving the problem. But you were going to do that anyway, right?

Just this weekend, I came across a perfect example of how to counter bullying in Steve Jobs's biography. Jobs was probably one of the worst bullies in the corporate world, often reducing people to tears. However, when Jobs yelled at his chief designer, the chief designer reacted very differently than did most people. He yelled right back.

Guess who kept Jobs's respect?

Along the same lines, I once worked for a bully who'd pick out a staff member at every meeting to yell at and berate. The one staff member who wasn't treated this way was a woman who, when he tried it on her the first time, threw a pencil at him and told him to "stop acting like an a------."

In short, when you placate, you're just proving to the bully that you're weak and stupid. The bully figures that if you had something valuable to offer, you wouldn't take the guff.

By contrast, when you lay down the law and demand the respect due a professional, you're creating the credibility that the bully needs to see before he begins to trust that you can do the job.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/defuse-exploding-customers-without-being-bullied.html

5 Ways to Keep Your Biggest Customer

Before you slash prices, check out these strategies for keeping your best customers happy and loyal.

Contrary to popular belief, a big customer that buys a lot of product from you is not necessarily a good thing. Big companies have a habit of pigeonholing smaller firms into being suppliers of commodity products.

That way, they can play you off against your competition in order to push prices down. They don't care whether you make any money on the deal because they can just switch to another vendor should the price drop drive you out of the business.

The good news? There are five ways to defend yourself against this kind of pricing game.

Strategy #1: Differentiate Yourself. If your firm offers a needed product or service that no other company can provide, then it’s impossible for the big company to play you off against your competitors. To create that differentiation, you position your offering so that whatever is unique about it becomes a "must have" for that customer. I once lost a sale of a million-dollar publishing system because the competitor convinced the customer that they needed the ability to set type around the shape of a handprint, something that the customer had never done before and would never do in the future.

Strategy #2: Provide Expertise. If you or your firm can offer expertise that the customer needs in order to fulfill their goals, you can be strategic to them, even if you’re a commodity supplier. For example, a company that sells glue for manufacturing consumer electronics might have world-class expertise in volume manufacturing that, if shared with their customer, would make them more profitable. That expertise is then periodically "lent" to the customer in order to reduce their manufacturing costs, thereby making an ongoing relationship valuable to the customer.

Strategy #3: Create a High Replacement Cost. If it would cost the customer a prohibitive amount to replace your firm's products and services, they're far less likely to replace you with another competitor. What's important here is that you create the high replacement cost AFTER you've made the sale, because prior to the sale, the big customer (if they're at all self-aware) are likely to see the replacement cost as liability and thus be less likely to buy from you in the first place.

Strategy #4: Really Know the Account. If you can get yourself involved in the inner workings of the customer account and become part of their strategic planning, they'll begin to see you as a consultant rather than a mere supplier. For example, IBM sometimes assigns an employee as a general IT consultant inside Fortune 100 firms. In addition to being a sales representative, that employee is mandated to act as an independent IT resource acts as a clearing house for any problems that occur with IBM's offerings.

Strategy #5: Generate Reverse Credibility. This one is tricky, because credibility usually flows from the larger company to the smaller one. (e.g. "Our customer list includes GM and Oracle!") However, if a smaller firm has a market reputation that helps the larger firm create credibility in a new market, the larger firm will may see the relationship as strategic. Example: the Taiwanese computer manufacturer Acer used to publicly tout its' relationship with boutique studio FrogDesign in order to seem more "cool" in the consumer PC space.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/5-ways-to-keep-your-biggest-customer.html

Learning Pyramid

Average Retention Rates
5% Lecture
10% Reading
20% Audio-Visual
30% Demonstration
50% Discussion Group
75% Practice by Doing
90% Teach Others/Immediate Use

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs funniest joke was said at the D5 conference.
'Apple is like a ship with a hole in the bottom, leaking water and my job is to get the ship pointed in the right direction' Steve Jobs

You need a lot of passion for what you're doing because its so hard. Without passion, any rational person would give up.
So if you're not having fun doing it, if you don't absolutely love it, you're going to give up.
And that's what happens to most people, actually.
If you look at the ones that ended up being successful in the eyes of society, often times its the ones who love what they do, so they could persevere when it got really tough.
And the ones that didn't love it, quit. Because they're sane, right?
Who would put up with this stuff if you don't love it?
So its a lot of hard work and its a lot of worrying constantly.
If you don't love it, you're going to fail.

Trade Up Like Steve Jobs

How Beryl Companies CEO Paul Spiegelman took a cue from Apple to charge more for his call center services.

When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer in 1976, they decided to embark on a premium pricing strategy in an otherwise commoditized industry. Jobs focused on differentiating the Apple product, making the mundane into something more. The rest is history—a $347 billion company with profit margin of more than 21 percent in the most recent fiscal year.

Smaller businesses can make the same choice. Here’s how. As CEO of Beryl, a company that handles hospital interactions with patients (like people calling for physician appointments or clinical advice), we charge more for our product than our competitors. In fact, we are as much as 40 percent more expensive than the rest of our competition. And, we don’t apologize for that.

You may wonder how we pull that off. After all, when you strip away everything else, Beryl is in the call center business, which is known for low margin and high attrition, and often seen as a commodity. Yet we achieve profitability five to six times higher than our competitors, and we sustain it year after year. We invest in our employees and our company "culture," so our staff enjoys what they do and where they work, and, as a result, deliver better, more hands-on service.

Premium pricing isn't about profitability for the sake of profitability. What allows us to charge more is the fact that we offer our hospital customers a better way to maintain relationships with patients, if they choose to pay for it. Here are five tips explaining how we implemented our premium pricing strategy and how you can, too:

1. Articulate your value
It’s up to you to communicate why your product or service costs more. Apple customers pay for unique design, and peace of mind from security concerns. At Beryl, they pay for our culture and customer service. We act as an extension of local health systems, and we assure clients the best people represent their brand. We invest heavily in a community of fun because happy people provide better service. We also invest in recruiting and training people with empathy and compassion, something that is very important in health care.

2. Align your offering to their core objectives.
If you want customers to pay more, it is important to connect your product or service to their most critical strategic initiatives. At Beryl, we do more than just conduct phone calls on behalf of our hospital customers. We also gather real-time data that helps them better understand their customers—patients—and build their business. This is even more essential now that hospital reimbursement for Medicare is tied to the patient experience. Apple did this by reinventing the computer into a device that combined a computer, phone, and music player.

3. Elevate the conversation beyond the product or service you sell.
By attaching your mission to a more global topic, you have the opportunity to connect with clients on a more strategic level. One of The Beryl Companies, The Beryl Institute, generates research and dialogue about one of the most important topics in health care, the patient experience. Similarly, when people commit to the Apple brand, they aren't just buying a computer or a music player or a mobile phone. They are buying into a desire to "Think different," and stay on the cutting edge of technology.

4. Put a price on everything.
If you are more expensive, you should be able to put a price on what your customers receive for their extra expenditure. For example, since Beryl’s calls cost customers $1 more than our competitors do, we're sure to explain that extra dollar: $.20 for better data, $.15 for more extensive training, $.10 for recruiting better people, etc. This helps the customer understand why our business charges more. If your customer cares about the premium features you offer, they'll continue to choose you over the competition. Apple conveys the value of its higher prices by being first to market with new features. The iPhone's debut caught competitors off-guard. The "apps" interface was a superior experience, and its novelty allowed Apple to price it accordingly.

5. Stick to your decision.
Once you become a premium provider, you must commit to it if you intend to maintain your pricing. Sometimes that means turning away potential clients who value low prices over quality services. Negotiating down your price is a slippery slope. Notice that Apple only cuts the price of its products once the next generation is introduced. At Beryl, it is tempting for us to price some of our new services more competitively in order to gain entry into the market. However, we realize that once we go down that path, we can't go back.

Not everyone wants to drive a Cadillac. Not every customer will choose to pay more. No wonder some businesses compete solely on price. But, if your business has a sustainable competitive advantage, like Apple's ownership of creativity and design, or Beryl's impeccable customer service, take a bold step forward and ask the market to place a higher value on it.

Quotes

Quotes
-Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it. (Bariness Amandine Lucile Dupin or George Sand)

-One part of knowledge consists in being ignorant of such things that are not worthy of being known. (Crates)

-You can not legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating wealth away from the wealthy. You can not multiply wealth by dividing it. (Adrian Rogers 1931)

-Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible (Unknown)

-If you don't seize the moment, the moment passes and someone else seizes it.

-Energy and persistence conquer all things. Benjamin Franklin

-The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. Robert Cushing

-If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old. Lord Chesterfield

-He that will not reflect is a ruined man. Asian Proverb

-Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still. Chinese Proverb

-Try not to become a man of success but a man of value. Albert Einstein

-Every artist was first an amateur. Ralph Waldo Emerson

-The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. Horace Bushnell

-Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is. Vince Lombardi

-Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity, began where he stood to put his dream into action, and despite more than ten thousand failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality.
Practical dreamers do not quit. Napoleon Hill

-Those who believe they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something. Aldous Huxley

-Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them. Joseph Joubert

-Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. Napoleon Hill

-People sometimes attribute my success to my genius; all the genius I know anything about is hard work. Alexander Hamilton

-In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends. John Churton Collins

-A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. Chinese Proverb

-What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first steps to something better. Proverb

-The middle course is the best. Cleobulus

-By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself. Menander

-The more a man knows, the more he forgives. Catherine the Great

-If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. Zen Proverb

-When I want to read a novel, I write one. Benjamin Disraeli

-You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life Winston Churchill

-Never say more than is necessary. Richard Brinsley Sheridan

-You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Ghandi

-That which does not kill you makes you stronger. Neitzsche

-I demolish my bridges behind me...then there is no choice but to move forward. Firdtjof Nansen

-Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. Leo Tolstoy

-The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time. Richard Cech

-We don't live in a world of reality, we live in a world of perceptions. Gerald J. Simmons

-Everybody dies, but not everyone lives.

-Money is a strange business. People who haven't got it aim it strongly. People who have are full of troubles. Ayrton Senna

-I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence. Ayrton Senna

-On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit.' As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high. Ayrton Senna

-And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. Ayrton Senna

-Wealthy men can't live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance. Ayrton Senna

-I believe in the ability of focusing strongly in something, then you are able to extract even more out of it. It's been like this all my life, and it's been only a question of improving it, and learning more and more and there is almost no end. As you go through you just keep finding more and more. It's very interesting, it's fascinating.  Ayrton Senna

-We are made of emotions. We are all looking for emotions, basically. It's only a question of finding the way to experience them.  Ayrton Senna

-It's important that the drivers stay together, because in difficult moments we have each other. If we are not together the financial and political interests of the organisers and constructors come to the fore. Ayrton Senna

-If something is hard, it will take two days. If its impossible, it will take another day.  Jim Justice (The Justice Group)

-If you can't get it done in 24 hours, you're going to have to work nights. Jim Justice (The Justice Group)

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. (Henry Ford)

He who has the gold makes the rules (The Golden Rule)

We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human
passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made
only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the
government of any other. (John Adams)

Please feel free to critize the quality of my work but do not dare doubt my honesty and integrity. That are and have have been more important to me than winning races. Whan I put on the fia shirt and sit in the stewarts room I feel such a responsibility that I woulnt be biased even if my son would be racing. Enjoy the race. This is a wonderful sport. (Emanual superio)

I’ve learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you, all you can do is be someone who can be loved.  (Anon)

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." (Dom Helder Camara)

"Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one is watching." (Satchel Paige)

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are." (Chinese Proverb)

"To Speak or NOT to Speak
If it is not truthful and not helpful don't say it
If it is Truthful and not helpful don't say it.
If it is Not truthful and helpful don't say it
If it is both Truthful and Helpful ...Wait for the right time" (Buddhist Quote)

"If you’re going through hell, keep going!" (Winston Churchill)

"The greatest freedom of all - is not having the fear of losing" (Unknown)

"Failure is not in falling down, it's in not getting up again" (Unknown)

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him learn it within himself." (Galileo )

"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph.....is for good men to do nothing." (Winston Churchill)

The Paradoxical Commandments!
People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest persons with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest persons with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death." (Harold Wilson)
"Press On!
Nothing can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistance and determination alone are omnipotent.
This slogan "Press On" has solved, always will solve, the problems of the human race." (Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President)

"May you live a thousand years, and I a thousand less one day, that I might never know the world without you." (Hungarian Proverb)

"Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking." (J. C. Watts)

"The only thing I know, is that I know nothing." (Socrates)

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." (The Dalai Lama)

"Life is like a finger, pointing to the Moon. If you look at the finger... you will miss all the heavenly glory." (Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee tells his pupil)

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, ALWAYS." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"The man who moved a mountain is the one who started taking away the small stones." (Old Chinese Proverb)

"I am still learning." (Michelangelo)

"You can tell a great deal about a society by the way they treat their elderly, their prisoners and their pets." (Unknown)

"To life's simple pleasures, and its finer things: may we always have the wisdom to appreciate all of the former, and the means to afford a few of the latter." (Laura L. Hirschfeld)

Only those who risk going too far can possibly know how far they can really go." (T.S. Eliot)

"An extraordinary person is just an ordinary person doing the right thing." (Unknown)

"The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away." (Joy J. Golliver)

Ask yourself always: how can this be done better? (GC Lichtenberg)

One of the most important things in families, both for children and spouses, is never to close off possibilities. (Hazel Hawke)

"If you love something... set it free.
If it returns... you never lost it.
If it disappears and never comes back.
It was never yours to begin with." (Anon)

"When prosperity comes, do not use all of it." (Confucius (551-479 BC))

"Of all things which wisdom provides to make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship." (Epicurus (341-270 BC))

"If we lose kindness and affection from our life, we have lost all that gives it charm." (Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-53 BC))

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." (George Washington)


"See everything. Overlook a great deal. Improve a little." (Pope John XXIII)

"If you weep because the sun has set, your own tears will never let you see the stars." (Hindu Proverb)

"However true love is, true friendship is rarer." (Unknown)

"The one thing we can give and still keep is our word." (Unknown)

".....Don't try to keep up with the Joneses, bring them down to your level - it's much cheaper ..." (Quentin Crisp)

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

"There are two things to aim at in life: First, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second." (Logan Pearsall Smith)

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world." (Buddha)

"Live with great expectations and great things will happen." (Art Fettig)

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." (Goethe)

"When you run out of red, use blue!" (Pablo Picasso on flexibility and imagination)

"All children behave as well as they are treated." (Jan Hunt)
Thats what life is, a bunch of dreams, and you do what you can to try to make them happen. (Jeb Corliss - Professional Base Jumper - Squirell suit guy)

There are no limits, only the one you place on yourself. (Jeb Corliss - Professional Base Jumper - Squirell suit guy)

Your life is the way it is today because of you own actions and the decisions you have made.

Money does not change a person. It reveals who they really are.

"Take a lesson from the music industry and don't spend all your time suing people for misusing what you believe is your content — think instead about why they are doing this, and what it says about how your business is changing, and then try to adapt to that."

"He dropped me off, and he was like, 'Go! Live your life. I'm very proud of you.' And, 'Have a great time!'" she revealed. (Jack Nicholoson said to Lorraine Nicholson, Daughter)

"Well, he always tells me to look people in the eye and tell the truth and that's what I sort of tried to bring to this role," she said. (Jack Nicholoson said to Lorraine Nicholson, Daughter)

Children don't always listen, but they always watch.

Goal Setting Starts at the Top and Cascades Down to the Employees

Setting and cascading goals throughout the organization is vital to achieving company objectives. Before you can expect employees to set goals, however, you'll need to set company goals.

When defining goals, you’ll want to make sure they meet the SMART criteria:

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal.

Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

Attainable: It should be a stretch to reach the goal, but not so much so that it’s out of reach.

Realistic: What it takes to do to achieve the goal should be within the availability of resources, knowledge and time.

Timely: The goals should have a clearly defined time-frame including a target completion date.

Using the SMART criteria above, you should determine 3-5 goals that are tied to success measures of the company. Oftentimes they are financial, business development, process development or customer satisfaction measures. Once the Company Goals are determined, they should be communicated throughout the Company. Using a company-wide venue (all company meeting, webcast, e-mail, etc.) to share the goals will ensure that all employees hear the same consistent message. Once communicated, these goals become the framework that shape departmental and individual goals. Hence the goals are cascaded as Company Goals to Departmental Goals to Individual Goals. Setting goals at the department and employee level ensures that the day-to-day work is tied to the overall success of the company. Connecting the goals to the Performance Management Process, whereby you can assess an employee’s attainment vs. their goals on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis will further enforce employee goals and get you further down the road towards attaining your company goals.

Check-in on the goals a few times throughout the year. It doesn’t have to be a formal process… just a quick conversation to review the goals to make sure they still make sense. As business and company conditions change, be sure to review the goals to make any adjustments accordingly.

http://www.inc.com/nancy-mobley/goal-setting-starts-at-the-top-and-cascades-down-to-the-employees.html

Two Words Matter -- Make Them Count!

As the boss, you don't get much applause on a day-to-day basis. Unless you've hired a circle of yes men to sing your praises, life as an entrepreneur means receiving very little recognition for something you do very well. “Thank you” are two words you're just not accustomed to hearing often.

If you're like me, you don't need constant pats on the back to keep running your business and always reaching for the next big goal. But your staff probably isn't like you. The thrill of reaching (and exceeding) goals with limited resources isn't what keeps them coming in every day. It's those two little words that can make the difference between employees walking out the door or staying a little late to go above and beyond.

The truth is that recognizing your employees for all the contributions they make to your company is one of the most important tasks you can do every day. Simple, sincere “thank yous” are one of the most valuable retention methods you have at your disposal, and they don't cost a thing.

According to a 2007 Florida State University study, 40% of employees leave their jobs due to “bad bosses,” not the desire to switch industries, grow in their careers, or earn more money. You're probably thinking that not recognizing employee achievement does not necessarily a bad boss make, especially if you've watched Horrible Bosses. But the number-2 reason people ditch their bad bosses is the result of supervisors who “failed to give them credit when due.”

I don't know about you, but in this tough economy when workers nationwide are doing so much extra work without additional compensation, my company can't afford to replace talented employees simply because my managers and I aren't taking the time to acknowledge our employees' dedication and achievements. So I start with thank you and then make it stick by making it personal. Handwritten notes recognizing extra-effort, anniversaries and birthdays go a long way. You’ll know it when you start to see them pop up on your employees’ desks and bulletin boards – proudly posted for their coworkers to see.

If you have or are thinking about a formal recognition program that includes additional cash incentives – try personalizing those as well. You will get far more bang for your gratitude buck by making it memorable. Let’s face it -- if you give your employee a $500 bonus, $350 will end up paying for groceries, bills or other ordinary expenses. But what if instead, you knew your employee loved Kenny Chesney and ordered a limo and front row seats for her and her spouse to Chesney’s new concert? Suddenly you’ve done more than say thanks – you’ve created a memory that shows you know and care about her. As your mother once said – it’s the thought that counts. A thoughtful, personal “thank you” will have a lasting lift that will garner a greater level of loyalty.

Don’t stop there. You can also personalize team “thank yous” in a cost-effective way. Your customer care team doing a great job? Bring in breakfast – or better yet, make them breakfast! It is a great way to start the day and by serving them you are clearly demonstrating that you care.

Again, increasing morale and productivity doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. At SurePayroll, we say thanks in a number of ways like:
• handwriting personal notes.
• sharing letters of praise with the entire company.
• personalizing quarterly recognition and gift certificates for outstanding employee contributions.
• catering lunches and providing desk-side delivery of snacks such as ice cream, popcorn or candy bars during our busiest payroll-processing days. Sometimes I do the serving!
• celebrating employees at an annual awards ceremony thanking employees for their hard work and honoring the best new mistake.

Like the golden rule – know your customers, you should know your employees. Words matter – especially simple words like thank you. To help retain employees, boost morale, and inspire innovation add that personal touch to your “thank you” and make it matter even more!

http://www.inc.com/michael-alter/two-words-matter-%E2%80%93-make-them-count!.html