25 Amazing Food Cures

When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with slabs of meat on my face.

As kids, my brother Eric and I fought like wild animals. He still sports a scar above his lip from a cut I accidentally gave him, and my nose isn't quite as straight as it might be if I hadn't taken so many shots to it. We're as close as can be today, but back in our teen years, we sported many a bruised ego and blackened eye. And the home remedy for the latter? A hunk of steak.

Turns out, a lot of moms don't have the whole story when it comes to food cures. Cold is good for a bruise, but meat doesn't do anything more than a bag of ice would. But there are plenty of foods that are effective home remedies for curing everything from pounding headaches to potency issues to procrastination. Take these 25 secret food cures, for instance. Incorporate these wonderfoods into your daily diet, and you'll be surprised at how quickly your body and your mind react.

And best of all? Nobody will laugh and call you "meat head."

1. BE MORE POSITIVE
Dark Chocolate
Research shows that dark chocolate can improve heart health, lower blood pressure, reduce LDL cholesterol, and increase the flow of blood to the brain. It also boosts serotonin and endorphin levels, which are associated with improved mood and greater concentration. Look for chocolate that is 60 percent cocoa or higher.

2. REDUCE ANXIETY
Garlic
Tuck a few extra cloves into your next stir-fry or pasta sauce: Research has found that enzymes in garlic can help increase the release of serotonin, a neurochemical that makes you feel relaxed.

3. FIRE UP YOUR MORNING METABOLISM
Caffeinated Coffee
A study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior found that the average metabolic rate of people who drank caffeinated coffee increased 16 percent over those who drank decaf. Caffeine stimulates your central nervous system by increasing your heart rate and breathing.

4. FIRE UP YOUR EVENING METABOLISM
Chile Peppers
It turns out that capsaicin, the compound that gives chile peppers their mouth-searing quality, can also jumpstart your fat-burning, muscle-building engines. According to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology, eating 1 tablespoon of chopped red or green chiles boosts metabolism by 23 percent.

5. LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE
Fried Eggs
Go ahead, crack under pressure: Eating fried eggs may help reduce high blood pressure. In a test-tube study, scientists in Canada discovered that the breakfast standby produced the highest levels of ACE inhibitory peptides, amino acids that dilate blood vessels and allow blood to flow more easily. (For up-to-the-minute tips like these, be sure to follow me on Twitter here. You can lose weight effortlessly and look, feel and live better than ever!)

6. REDUCE STRESS
Gum
When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed at work, reach for the Wrigley’s: Chewing gum can help tame your tension, according to Australian researchers. People who chewed gum while taking multitasking tests experienced a 17 percent drop in self-reported stress. This might have to do with the fact that we associate chewing with positive social interactions, like mealtimes.

7. STAVE OFF DEPRESSION
Salmon

Omega-3s may calm your neurotic side, according to a study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Researchers found that adults with the lowest blood levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were more likely to have neuroses, which are symptoms for depression. Salmon is loaded with EPA and DHA, as are walnuts, flaxseeds, and even cauliflower.

8. SPEED WEIGHT LOSS
Yogurt
The probiotics in yogurt may help you drop pounds. British scientists found that these active organisms boost the breakdown of fat molecules in mice, preventing the rodents from gaining weight. Try the Horizon brand of yogurt—it contains the probiotic L. casei, the same organism used in the study.

Bonus Tip: Don't let all of your hard work go down the drain: Avoid this shocking list of the 20 Scariest Food Creations of 2010!

9. AMP UP YOUR ENERGY
Grilled Chicken Breast
The protein in lean meat like chicken, fish, or pork loin isn't just good at squashing hunger and boosting metabolism—it's also a top source of energy. University of Illinois researchers found that people who ate higher amounts of protein had higher energy levels and didn't feel as tired as people with proportionally higher amounts of carbs in their diet.

10. BE MORE EFFICIENT
Kidney Beans
These legumes are an excellent source of thiamin and riboflavin. Both vitamins help your body use energy efficiently, so you won't be nodding off mid-Powerpoint.

11. STABILIZE YOUR BLOOD SUGAR
Barley
Swedish researchers found that if you eat barley—a key ingredient in whole-grain cereals—for breakfast, the fibrous grain cuts blood sugar response by 44 percent at lunch and 14 percent at dinner.

12. IMPROVE YOUR ENDURANCE
Clams
Clams stock your body with magnesium, which is important in metabolism, nerve function, and muscle function. When magnesium levels are low, your body produces more lactic acid—the same fatigue-inducing substance that you feel at the end of a long workout.

13. BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY
Rooibos Tea
Animal research suggests that this South African tea, also known as bush or redbush tea, may provide potent immunity-boosting benefits. In addition, Japanese researchers found that it may help prevent allergies and even cancer. Adagio offers a wide range of great-tasting rooibos teas.

14. STOP COUGHING
Honey
Penn State scientists have discovered that honey is a powerful cough suppressant—so next time you¹re hacking up a lung, head for the kitchen. When parents of 105 sick children doled out honey or dextromethorphan (the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough medicines like Robitussin), the honey was better at lessening cough frequency and severity. Try a drizzle in a cup of rooibos tea.

15.TAME A COLD
Kiwi
The vitamin C in kiwi won¹t prevent the onslaught of a cold, but it might decrease the duration of your symptoms. One kiwifruit provides 117 percent of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C.

16. SOOTHE A MIGRAINE
Olives
Foods rich in healthy monounsaturated fats help reduce inflammation, a catalyst for migraines. One study found that the anti-inflammatory compounds in olive oil suppress the enzymes involved in inflammation in the same manner as ibuprofen. Avocados and almonds are also high in monounsaturated fats.

17. LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL
Margarine
Not just any margarine, mind you—those containing plant sterols. In a Tufts University study, people who ate a butter substitute containing plant sterols with three meals each day saw their LDL (bad) cholesterol drop by 6 percent. How? The researchers say that plant sterols prevent cholesterol from being absorbed by the intestine. Promise Active and Smart Balance HeartRight are two great options.

18. REPAIR MUSCLE
Spinach
Popeye was onto something, it seems. Rutgers researchers discovered that treating human muscle cells with a compound found in spinach increased protein synthesis by 20 percent. The compound allows muscle tissue to repair itself faster, the researchers say. One thing to keep in mind, however: Spinach doesn't automatically make any salad a healthy option. Check out 20 Salads Worse Than a Whopper to see what I mean. You'll be absolutely shocked!

19. RECOVER FROM A WORKOUT
Green Tea
Brazilian scientists found that participants who consumed three cups of the beverage every day for a week had fewer markers of the cell damage caused by resistance to exercise. That means that green tea can help you recover faster after an intense workout.

20. REPLENISH YOUR BODY POST-WORKOUT
Low-Fat Chocolate Milk
Nothing like a little dessert after a long workout. British researchers found that low-fat chocolate milk does a better job than sports drinks at replenishing the body after a workout. Why? Because it has more electrolytes and higher fat content. And scientists at James Madison University found that the balance of fat, protein, and carbs in chocolate milk makes it nearly one-third more effective at replenishing muscles than other recovery beverages.

Bonus Tip: Sign up for the FREE Eat This, Not That! e-mail newsletter, and get super nutrition and weight-loss tips like these delivered straight to your inbox.

21. IMPROVE FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION
Sardines
According to research published in Nutrition Journal, fish oil can help increase your ability to concentrate. Credit EPA and DHA, fatty acids that bolster communication among brain cells and help regulate neurotransmitters responsible for mental focus. Salmon, trout, halibut, and tuna are also great sources of EPA and DHA.

22. AVOID ALZHEIMER¹S DISEASE
Bananas
The antioxidants in bananas, apples, and oranges may help protect you from Alzheimer's, report Korean scientists. The researchers discovered that plant chemicals known as polyphenols helped shield brain cells from oxidative stress, a key cause of the disease.

23. PROTECT YOUR BRAIN
Steak
Vitamin B12, an essential nutrient found in meat, milk, and fish, may help protect you against brain loss, say British scientists. The researchers found that older people with the highest blood levels of the vitamin were six times less likely to have brain shrinkage than those with the lowest levels.

24. BUILD LONG-LASTING BRAINPOWER
Carrots
Researchers from Harvard found that men who consumed more beta-carotene over 18 years had significantly delayed cognitive aging. Carrots are a tremendous source of the antioxidant, as are other orange foods like butternut squash, pumpkin, and bell peppers.

25. SHARPEN YOUR SENSES
Ground Flaxseed
Flax is the best source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)—a healthy fat that improves the workings of the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain that processes sensory information, including that of pleasure. To meet your quota, sprinkle 1 tablespoon flaxseed on salads or oatmeal once a day, or mix it into a smoothie or shake.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/25-amazing-food-cures

How to Fire an Employee Without Being Sued

Firing an employee may be a sticky subject, but by creating a plan of action and following procedure, you'll avoid lawsuits associated with terminating an employee illegally.

Firing an employee may be a necessary act but it has the potential to be a legal minefield. Terminations can lead to legal claims based on a variety of potential allegations, including discrimination, retaliation, wrongful discharge, wage and hour liability, defamation, and so on. Mishandle firing an employee, or terminate someone in the heat of an argument without paving the groundwork, and your business and its employees could be paying for it for years to come.

And, yet, firing an underperforming or troubled employee may be the best move for your business. It may improve morale among better performers. It may rid the business of a cancer.

“Firing an employee is both the worst day of your life and the best day,” says Jerry Osteryoung, director of outreach at the Jim Moran Institute at Florida State University’s College of Business. “That’s because when you let someone go it affects their family and their livelihood, and it’s tough. But it’s also the best day of your life because, normally, if you have to fire someone, that person has been a pain in the butt for a while, and it’s time for them to go.”

In business, however, it’s important to make sure that you prepare well before firing an employee and that you follow the law and your own company procedures. The following pages outline steps to lay the groundwork for firing an employee, holding a termination meeting, and following up after termination.

Dig Deeper: How to Fire an Employee

How to Fire an Employee: Prepare to Fire an Employee

The groundwork for an effective termination of employment should be laid long before the termination decision. “The biggest mistake people make is they don’t prepare for it. They don’t work with the employee ahead of time to help the employee succeed so that firing is a last resort. People tend to put up with behavior until they say, 'I’m through,'” says Nancy M. Cooper, chair of the labor and employment group of Garvey Schubert Barer, a law firm based in Portland, Oregon.

A firing should never be a surprise. If you have worked with an employee to identify problems, goals, and performance metrics, that employee is going to know whether they measure up or not. “Once you go through everything and see that the employee is still not meeting expectations, nobody is going to be shocked,” Cooper says.

The first step is to make sure you have documented your efforts with the following:

• The company’s employment application
• An employee handbook describing unacceptable employee behaviors
• Policies describing the company’s right to discipline and terminate employees
• Job descriptions or other documentations that specify performance expectations
• Performance appraisals
• Records of disciplinary counseling and formal disciplinary action
• Written documentation of the findings of any internal investigation related to the termination

Since these documents will be legally discoverable in the event a former employee sues the company, it is critical they be clearly written, accurate, and do not contain “inflammatory” statements about the individual.

It may be best to consult with a human resources attorney before taking steps to fire an employee to make sure you are covering the bases. “The number one thing you have to make sure of is that you don’t violate any laws,” Osteryoung says. “There are a lot of plaintiff’s lawyers who love to sue businesses because they failed or did not follow the correct procedures in firing an employee.”

Dig Deeper: How to Write a Termination Notice

How to Fire an Employee: Think Through, and Review, the Decision to Terminate

An employee should never be fired on the spur of the moment, and especially not in the heat of anger, Cooper says. “You want to take some time to reflect,” she adds. A decision to terminate employment should be reached only after careful review of all relevant facts and documents.

An important, but often neglected, step in the termination process is obtaining a thorough and independent review of the decision. Sometimes that involves calling in another set of eyes and ears – maybe the direct supervisor, a member of the human resources department, or in-house or outside legal counsel. “If it’s an incident, talk to people and make sure the employee you’re focusing on is really the one to blame,” Cooper says.

The purpose of the independent review is to make sure that:

• The firing is justified by the facts
• The firing is legal under all applicable laws
• The decision to fire follows company policies and procedures, such as those in the employee handbook
• The decision to terminate is consistent with the company’s handling of similar situations in the past, regardless of race, gender, age, etc. of the employee being discharged.

“You want an audit trail. You want to document everything,” Osteryoung says. “You can’t just say, ‘I’ve tried to talk to you 16 times already.’ There are a litany of things you need to do.”

Dig Deeper: Furloughs vs. Layoffs

How to Fire an Employee: Hold a Termination Meeting

Even under the best circumstances, an employee discharge can be a difficult and stressful situation for the employee and the managers involved. “More often than not the problem is that entrepreneurs wait too long to fire an employee,” Osteryoung says. “If you have a problem employee, they don’t get better. They can affect the morale of your whole workforce because others are thinking, ‘Why aren’t you doing something about this problem employee?’ It’s like a cancer. The sooner you surgically remove it, the better.”

By following the steps below, managers can reduce their anxiety about conducting an employee termination and can help the employee deal with the termination in a healthy way.

Prepare for a termination meeting. A termination meeting should be carefully planned in order to minimize potential legal liability, protect employees and company property, and reduce emotional distress to the employee being discharged, experts say. Issues to consider include:

• Why hold a meeting? A termination meeting should be held face-to-face. Firing an employee via e-mail or text or over the phone is likely to anger the employee and contribute to feelings that they are being treated unfairly, Cooper says. By meeting in person, you are showing the employee respect and treating them the way you would want to be treated.
• Who should attend? Generally, at least two company representatives should be present. The employee should not be permitted to bring a lawyer, co-worker, or family member to a termination meeting. “Always have a witness, preferably other management or someone at a higher level than the employee,” Cooper says.
• Where will the meeting be held? It is best to conduct the meeting in a private, neutral location, such as a conference room. If the office is a big, open area, then try to schedule the meeting after hours to provide the employee some privacy, Cooper says. The company representatives should be seated by the door so that, if the employee becomes hostile, he or she cannot block the exit, experts advise.
• What will be said during the meeting? A script should be prepared before the meeting so that the meeting can be kept short, not more than 5 to 10 minutes. “Keep it factual,” Cooper recommends. “The one who will be emotional is the employee.” The message should be simple: the employee is being terminated because they have failed to meet performance expectations or address other problems that you had already outlined with them.
• Are special security measures needed? In extreme situations, it may be appropriate to have security personnel standing by, depending upon how the employee is likely to react. At a minimum, have the employee’s passwords, accounts, access to buildings, computers or other company assets disabled before the meeting to prevent the employee from doing damage to the business after they are fired.
• How will logistical matters be handled? Make sure to address how the employee’s final paycheck will be delivered, how company property should be returned, and how long benefits will be continued.
• Will severance pay be offered in exchange for a release of claims? A company that does not have a severance plan subject to the Employee Retirement Security Income Act (ERISA) may want to consider offering the employee severance pay. Generally, severance should only be awarded if the employee agrees to sign a separation agreement that releases the employee from any claims against the company, Cooper says. “If you’re just paying severance out of the blue and you don’t get a signed release of claims, you have no protection,” she says. She advises against issuing severance unless it is a risky termination because that sets a precedent for other employees to expect severance if they are fired.

Dig Deeper: Learn from the Layoff Pros

How to Fire an Employee: Follow Up After the Firing

The terminating managers should attempt to keep the meeting professional, brief yet complete, under control, and humane. You may want the employee to be escorted back to their office after the meeting to collect personal belongings and then be escorted out of the building.

One of the most important things to do in the termination meeting is to treat the employee with dignity and respect. This can be demonstrated by showing sensitivity to the employee’s reactions, wishing the employee success in future endeavors, and being willing to speak with the employee after the meeting to answer questions about his or her transition out of the company. The terminating managers should also write down what was said at the meeting, in the event of a lawsuit.

Employee discharges don’t end with the termination meeting. Several tasks have to be effectively managed after the termination, including:

• Informing remaining employees on a need-to-know basis about the termination
• Handling reference requests appropriately, consistently, and in a way that will reduce the potential for lawsuits
• Dealing with claims for unemployment insurance benefits or other benefits so as not to trigger further problems for the organization

These post-termination activities should be handled with the same degree of planning and care as the actions before and during the termination meeting. “Once you let an employee go, you immediately have to have a staff meeting with those who need to know,” Osteryoung says. “Tell the staff briefly what happened and why. You need to stop the rumor mill very quickly. But you don’t want to provide too many specifics.”

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-fire-an-employee.html

Tips for a Better Nights Rest

Keep Regular Hours
Keep your biological clock in sync by going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning - even on weekends.

Develop a Sleep Ritual
Doing the same things each night just before bed cues your body to settle down for the night.

Sleep on a Comfortable, Supportive Mattress and Foundation.
It's difficult to get deep, restful sleep on a sleep set that's too small, too soft, too hard, or too old.

Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise can help to relieve the day's tension - but not too close to bedtime or you may have a hard time falling asleep.

Cut Down on Stimulants
Consuming stimulants, such as caffeine, in the evening interferes with falling asleep and prevents deep sleep.

Don't Smoke
Smokers take longer to fall asleep, awaken more often and experience disrupted, fragmented sleep.

Drink Only in Moderation
Drinking alcohol before bedtime interrupts and fragments sleep.

Unwind Early in the Evening
Try to deal with worries and distractions several hours before going to bed.

Create a Restful Sleep Environment
Sleep in a cool, quiet, dark room on a comfortable, supportive mattress and
foundation.

Make Sleep a Priority
Say "yes" to sleep even when you're tempted to stay up late. You'll thank
yourself in the morning

http://svenskabeds.com/sleeptips.htm

Increasing Productivity - 5 Tips for Looking at the Big Picture & Improving Your Overall Effectiveness

Have you ever concentrated on something so hard that the world seems to recede into the background? Like when you see a blemish on your chin and it begins to take on the dimensions of a quarter? Or when you are shuffling through a business proposal that you must deliver that day to an unsupportive group of peers?

Each, in their own right seem to gobble up every inch of computing brain space as you mull over advantages, consequences, causes, and reactions of others. Our level of anxiety over the mind numbing details might eventually increase to such an extent that other areas of our life run out of control. It gets to the point where nothing in business and in life is getting done. You are no longer productive!

When I allow myself to drift into single minded focus, my husband will look at me with an incredulous expression on his face and announce “You are just not seeing the big picture!”

You see, I was taught that the devil is in the details and consequently the big picture will take care of itself if I address every single little nuance – such as correcting a spelling error in a love letter sent to me by my fiancé’. I think that was the first clue to my husband Rick that our marriage would take on interesting elements.

When You Become So Focused On One Particular Thing – You Miss Other Opportunities in Business and in Life

A classic caution in driving is to avoid highway hypnosis where the driver’s eyes are so locked onto the road ahead that they don’t see what is developing around them. This is a ripe condition for accidents to happen. Well, we are doing the same thing when considering the changes we want to make in our personal life, careers or businesses.

When we do strategic planning, all of the elements related to our business need to be evaluated through a non judgmental process. Awareness of our surroundings can actually help us prioritize and focus on “what is” and “what needs to be” in our business decisions.

To achieve productive focus, try following the tips below before you make any short or long -term decisions.

5 Ways to Look at the Big Picture and Improve Overall Productivity While Reducing Stess and Anxiety…

1. Figure out what your present economic environment looks like? Has there been a downturn or growth in your area of expertise? What have other businesses like yours experienced and does that mirror what is happening to you? Once you have an accurate depiction of how your business arena is developing, you can begin to address areas to update, change or enhance.

2. Evaluate how your business is impacted by turnover? Is your time taken up in orienting new hires or actively working to maintain key employees in terms of running your business? Is your staff working at optimum levels and enjoying the work they do? If you are a single entrepreneur, are your physical and mental resources charged up and in good working condition? Often our personal energy overrides the physical or mental exhaustion we may feel and you may not even be aware your engine is slowing down. Take a personal inventory and do what you must in order to retain your vitality.

3. Take a solid look at your current financial situation. What amount of funds or business do you need to survive through an economic downturn and how much do you need in order to thrive? What resources do you have available to you to shore up your financial portfolio? Once these questions are answered, it will give you the foundation you need to establish business decisions.

4. Realistically evaluate your product or service offering and determine if the marketplace still wants it. Even though you feel the public needs what you have, a fickle public will purchase what it wants and may leave you behind. Consider taking active steps to interview other entrepreneurs and professionals as well as current and past clients for real-time information. Decisions made in a vacuum are never a good thing.

5. Assess what steps you need to take to catch up to the technology changes occurring in social networking, online meetings, and communication tools. Even though technology continues to evolve daily, you can utilize resources that meet your needs currently and through the next couple of years. Understand how your customers and clients relate to you and act accordingly.

Perspective is a wonderful thing. We may not like what we see (like an expanding waist line in the mirror.) But once we understand what is really happening, we can then take the necessary steps to fix it or build upon the successes that are already in place.

Focus on the big picture while enjoying the nuances of the individual elements that make up the image and environment. You will improve your overall productivity and at the same time reduce your stress and anxiety.

https://community.dynamics.com/blogs/articles/archive/2010/03/05/increasing-productivity-5-tips-for-looking-at-the-big-picture-38-improving-your-overall-effectiveness.aspx

10 Mistakes That Start-Up Entrepreneurs Make

When it comes to starting a successful business, there's no surefire playbook that contains the winning game plan.

On the other hand, there are about as many mistakes to be made as there are entrepreneurs to make them.

Recently, after a work-out at the gym with my trainer -- an attractive young woman who's also a dancer/actor -- she told me about a web series that she's producing and starring in together with a few friends. While the series has gained a large following online, she and her friends have not yet incorporated their venture, drafted an operating agreement, trademarked the show's name or done any of the other things that businesses typically do to protect their intellectual property and divvy up the owners' share of the company. While none of this may be a problem now, I told her, just wait until the show hits it big and everybody hires a lawyer.

Here, in my experience, are the top 10 mistakes that entrepreneurs make when starting a company:

1. Going it alone. It's difficult to build a scalable business if you're the only person involved. True, a solo public relations, web design or consulting firm may require little capital to start, and the price of hiring even one administrative assistant, sales representative or entry-level employee can eat up a big chunk of your profits. The solution: Make sure there's enough margin in your pricing to enable you to bring in other people. Clients generally don't mind outsourcing as long as they can still get face time with you, the skilled professional who's managing the project.

2. Asking too many people for advice. It's always good to get input from experts, especially experienced entrepreneurs who've built and sold successful companies in your industry. But getting too many people's opinions can delay your decision so long that your company never gets out of the starting gate. The answer: Assemble a solid advisory board that you can tap on a regular basis but run the day-to-day yourself. Says Elyissia Wassung, chief executive of 2 Chicks With Chocolate Inc., a Matawan, N.J., chocolate company, "Pull in your [advisory] team for bi-weekly or, at the very least, monthly conference calls. You'll wish you did it sooner!"

3. Spending too much time on product development, not enough on sales. While it's hard to build a great company without a great product, entrepreneurs who spend too much time tinkering may lose customers to a competitor with a stronger sales organization. "I call [this misstep] the 'Field of Dreams' of entrepreneurship. If you build it, they will buy it," says Sanjyot Dunung, CEO of Atma Global, Inc., a New York software publisher, who has made this mistake in her own business. "If you don't keep one eye firmly focused on sales, you'll likely run out of money and energy before you can successfully get your product to market."

4. Targeting too small a market. It's tempting to try to corner a niche, but your company's growth will quickly hit a wall if the market you're targeting is too tiny. Think about all the high school basketball stars who dream of playing in the NBA. Because there are only 30 teams and each team employs only a handful of players, the chances that your son will become the next Michael Jordan are pretty slim. The solution: Pick a bigger market that gives you the chance to grab a slice of the pie even if your company remains a smaller player.

5. Entering a market with no distribution partner. It's easier to break into a market if there's already a network of agents, brokers, manufacturers' reps and other third-party resellers ready, willing and able to sell your product into existing distribution channels. Fashion, food, media and other major industries work this way; others are not so lucky. That's why service businesses like public relations firms, yoga studios and pet-grooming companies often struggle to survive, alternating between feast and famine. The solution: Make a list of potential referral sources before you start your business and ask them if they'd be willing to send business your way.

6. Overpaying for customers. Spending big on advertising may bring in lots of customers, but it's a money-losing strategy if your company can't turn those dollars into lifetime customer value. A magazine or website that spends $500 worth of advertising to acquire a customer who pays $20 a month and cancels his or her subscription at the end of the year is simply pouring money down the drain. The solution: Test, measure, then test again. Once you've done enough testing to figure out how to make more money selling products and services to your customers than you spend acquiring those customers in the first place, roll out a major marketing campaign.

7. Raising too little capital. Many start-ups assume that all they need is enough money to rent space, buy equipment, stock inventory and drive customers through the door. What they often forget is that they also need capital to pay for salaries, utilities, insurance and other overhead expenses until their company starts turning a profit. Unless you're running the kind of business where everybody's working for sweat equity and deferring compensation, you'll need to raise enough money to tide you over until your revenues can cover your expenses and generate positive cash flow. The solution: Calculate your start-up costs before you open your doors, not afterwards.

8. Raising too much capital. Believe it or not, raising too much money can be a problem, too. Over-funded companies tend to get big and bloated, hiring too many people too soon and wasting valuable resources on trade show booths, parties, image ads and other frills. When the money runs out and investors lose patience (which is what happened 10 years ago when the dot-com market melted down), start-ups that frittered away their cash will have to close their doors. No matter how much money you raise at the outset, remember to bank some for a rainy day.

9. Not having a business plan. While not every company needs a formal business plan, a start-up that requires significant capital to grow and more than a year to turn a profit should map out how much time and money it's going to take to get to its destination. This means thinking through the key metrics that make your business tick and building a model to spin off three years of sales, profits and cash-flow projections. "I wasted 10 years [fooling around] thinking like an artist and not a business person," says Louis Piscione, president of Avanti Media Group, a New Jersey company that produces videos for corporate and private events. "I learned that you have to put some of your creative genius toward a business plan that forecasts and sets goals for growth and success."

10. Over-thinking your business plan. While many entrepreneurs I've met engage in seat-of-the-pants decision-making and fail to do their homework, other entrepreneurs are afraid to pull the trigger until they're 100% certain that their plan will succeed. One lawyer I worked with several years ago was so skittish about leaving his six-figure job to launch his business that he never met with a single bank or investor who might have funded his company. The truth is that a business plan is not a crystal ball that can predict the future. At a certain point, you have to close your eyes and take the leap of faith.

Despite the many books and articles that have been written about entrepreneurship, it's just not possible to start a company without making a few mistakes along the way. Just try to avoid making any mistake so large that your company can't get back on its feet to fight another day.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110551/mistakes-of-startup-entrepreneurs?mod=career-leadership

10 Ways to Get More Sales From Existing Customers

If you are looking to increase your revenue per customer, here are some tips on getting your sales staff focused on inside sales, upselling, and marketing additional services.

Every business needs new customers, but don't ever forget that your easiest and most predictable source of new revenue is right under your nose: It comes from the loyal customers who already know your company. Acquiring new customers is expensive (five to ten times the cost of retaining an existing one), and the average spend of a repeat customer is a whopping 67 percent more than a new one. So, sure, put some energy into new business development, but make sure your salespeople know that coming up with creative ways to sell more to your current customers is just as important. Here are 10 proven techniques to do just that:

1. Think lifetime value, not transactional value. To keep customers coming back to Zane's Cycles (and away from the superstores), Chris Zane offers a wildly attractive incentive to parents who buy their children's bikes from him: He'll credit the full cost of last year's bicycle toward an upgrade every year up to a 20-inch wheel. "We won't make money until they buy their second bike from us at full price," says the Branford, Connecticut entrepreneur. In the meantime, parents buy accessories for their growing children and, predicts Zane, are impressed enough with his commitment to service that they become customers for life.

Dig Deeper: Chris Zane on Attracting the Best Customers

2. Go for a no-brainer upsell. "We started noticing that our clients wanted us to store their media files because they had a habit of re-editing their sizzle reels several times over the course of the year," says Scott Gerber, CEO of SizzleIt, a New York City company that produces short promotional videos. The process became time consuming and tedious for the company, so Gerber started charging clients monthly and annual fees to store their data. "This created a whole new revenue stream for the company," he says, "not to mention it allowed us to get rid of large amounts of media files when clients didn't want to pay."

Dig Deeper: How to Upsell Your Customers

3. Offer complementary products or services. Put a little thought into what your customers are buying and the other needs that those purchases might trigger (think printers/ink cartridges). For instance, Language International's primary product is language study abroad programs. "But very often, our customers also need housing and travel insurance," says Karen Ong, CEO of the Boston-area company. Offering those complementary products has "helped us expand our gross margins from 21 percent to more than 25 percent," she says.

Dig Deeper: The Secrets to a Solid Growth Strategy

4. Stay in touch. Sometimes you may not see your best customers as often as you'd like, so you need to work extra hard to keep yourself on their radar screens. Jack Mitchell, the CEO of The Mitchells Family of Stores in Farifield County, Connecticut, has his sales people contact customers by phone, email, and handwritten note "not trying to sell them anything, but letting them we're available to do alterations, or to come to their home, look at their closet and see what is still wearable," says Mitchell. He knows that if he keeps in touch with customers in a low-pressure way, his best customers will find their way back his four luxury clothing stores when the economy improves.

Dig Deeper: Keith Ferrazzi on Making Business Personal

5. Practice the art of the perfectly-timed pitch. What is a key day to reap additional revenue, and what can you do to capitalize on it? "We always have success with our yearly Black Friday e-mail blast," says Zalmi Duchman, the CEO of TheFreshDiet.com, a healthy meal delivery service based in Surfside, Florida. So last year, on the day after Thanksgiving, the company sent an e-mail blast to its database of clients, and generated an additional $400,000 in revenue in three days. "For us it's the best of both worlds," says Duchman. "Everyone is looking out for specials, and it's right after Thanksgiving so people are thinking about dieting and their New Year's resolutions."

Dig Deeper: The Best of Inc.: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Presenters

6. Help your customers sell more to their customers. If you're selling to other businesses, the best way to get more revenue from them is to help them increase sales to their customers. Nick Villaume, the CEO of The Dev Department, an Atlanta-based company that provides white label web development services to graphic design firms, developed a free credentialing system for the designers who are his customers. "This not only gives them the knowledge and confidence to sell more and bigger contracts, but also positions them as experts in their market," says Villaume. He launched the educational program six months ago and has since seen new client requests quadruple. "We are sending out many more estimates—20 to 30 per month—and about two thirds are closing," he says. "It not only provides more sales, but more profitable sales. We are spending less time coaching designers and less time doing non-billable revisions."

Dig Deeper: 5 Ways to Connect Customers with Buyers

7. Remind customers of everything you offer. Never assume that even your most reliable customers are completely aware of all the products and services you offer: you need to remind them regularly. Kelley Briggs, CEO of DesignWorks NY, a graphic design and marketing communications firm in Westchester County, New York, sends a personal letter to every customer once a year. She includes a list of her services with the ones they've used check off. "It reminds them of the types of projects we've worked on in that past year and shows them what services they did not use," she says. "It's an excellent cross selling tool." In recent years, clients who received the letter have signed on for additional projects such as annual reports, website design, and marketing strategy.

Dig Deeper: A Pitch for Marketing Multiple Services

8. Create incentives for in-house referrals. Scott Gerber's video production company, SizzleIt, often works with large companies, and he has found a way to effectively turn one client into multiple clients. "We inncentivized our current clients to recommend us to the project leaders in other parts of the company by offering them steep cash discounts for successful referrals," says Gerber. At a time when corporate budgets are tight, that lowered the cost of doing business with SizzleIt, strengthened customer relationships, and generated more income without the cost of attracting new clients.

Dig Deeper: Using Sales Contests to Get Employee Referrals

9. Give customers a say in what you sell. Last October, ModCloth (No. 2 on our Inc. 500 list this year), started an initiative called Be the Buyer, which allows shoppers to vote online on clothing samples. If a garment gets enough votes, the online clothing retailer will add it to its offerings, and then send emails to visitors who voted for the item. The program allows the company to confidently gamble on items it might have thought were risky choices, plus it encourages a high level of customer engagement with leads to repeat sales. Co-founder Susan Gregg Kroger says the initiative has also significantly boosted web traffic to the Pittsburgh-based company.

Dig Deeper: How to Use Crowdsourcing for Business

10. Put some skin in the game. Greg Alexander, the CEO of Sales Benchmark Index, an Atlanta company that helps clients increase the effectiveness of their sales forces, says that the percent of his compan's revenue that came from existing customers jumped from 20 percent to a whopping 80 percent in two years. His secret: he started writing performance-based contracts. "We said if we don't deliver don't pay us. If we do deliver, pay us a percentage of the gain," he explains. He also started compensating his team according to the results they delivered for customers. "The 'skin in the game' technique resulted in our firm doubling revenue," says Alexander.

Dig Deeper: Pay for Performance and Nothing Else

How to Keep Customers Smiling

Simple tips to keep customers smiling. On his blog, Quick Sprout, tech entrepreneur Neil Patel has a simple formula that quite succinctly sums up the goal of good customer service--"Smiling customers make for successful businesses." With that in mind, Patel has a list of 12 tips to get customers smiling. The suggestions range from basic common-sense things, such as having good manners, to things that sometimes businesses tend to overlook, like following up with customers or finding ways to make them happy when they aren't expecting it. They may be simple things, but as Patel explains, they go "a long way towards cultivating positive feelings, and your customers will remember that you treated them well."

How to regain your pricing power. It's an issue many online companies have to address at some point: how to prevent the bottom from dropping out of your pricing structure. MIT Sloan Management Review has eight ideas for you, and some of them are extreme. One suggests banning customers who abuse return policies and another encourages buy-back programs in which companies buy back their excess inventory that is being sold through independent resellers at steep discounts, and then ship it overseas to protect prices.

Israel's tech start-up gold mine. The Israeli Defense Force has long contributed to top advancements in science and technology. But it now seems to be propelling Israel's economy as well. This week The Economist reports that Israel's technology exports grew by more than five percent last year, thanks in part to its army's conscription and training regimen. The IDF trains its high-tech units with the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in computer science and encourages soldiers to take on a creative, entrepreneurial spirit by asking questions and pitching ideas to superiors. This culture has fostered the growth of start-ups such as Check Point, a large developer of internet-security software, and Optibase, a video-technology company based in Tel Aviv. Optibase vice president Eli Garten said his firm, and the top talent it recruits, might not exist without training from the IDF.

Hurricane Earl guns for the East Coast. Business owners along the East Coast of the U.S. might want take steps to prepare for Hurricane Earl, a category four hurricane with winds of over a hundred miles an hour (via Business Week). The hurricane might reach North Carolina by Friday and if history is any indicator, most business owners are unprepared for the impact of a natural disaster.

Google's social media rampage. Google has gobbled up its fifth start-up this month alone, this time purchasing SocialDeck, a mobile and social media game developer (via Reuters). The M&A flurry has mostly centered around social media and gaming companies, fueling speculation that Google is looking to build a strong Facebook competitor. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg's empire has scored a not unexpected point with MySpace singing its swan song. But Google's raw muscle shouldn't be underestimated either. See how a mere twitch of their algorithm cost this business owner $4 million.

A new iPod? Zzzzzzzzz. Tomorrow, Steve Jobs will appear at Apple's sixth annual September press conference. As he does every year, Jobs is expected to reveal some new music-related gadget, like a new iPod nano, which begs the question: does anyone actually want a new iPod nano? As Fortune reports, two years ago, the presentation was so underwhelming that the price of Apple shares fell 4.7 percent in two hours. So what might Jobs (the master of hype, himself) do this year to make the conference relevant again? Fortune suggests a few possibilities, including a nano with a touchscreen and app capabilities, a new iPod touch equipped with a front-facing camera, or the widely-anticipated $99 Apple TV. Whatever the announcement, though, Fortune writes, "If you go with no expectations, you might just enjoy the show."

http://www.inc.com/staff-blog/how-to-keep-customers-smiling.html

Little Tricks to Get More Customers Smiling

It always surprises me to hear about how few business-people implement strategies of doing what they can to make their customers feel good. I know that trying to keep customers happy is a generally unspoken rule when you’re in business, because satisfied clients are usually always the goal.

But do you actually implement best practices to get customers smiling?

Here’s good reason to work on making customers smile more: When Harris Interactive conducted a poll a few years ago, 88% of people felt that good customer service beat out hot deals and offers. That’s a nearly unanimous statistic, and I’m pretty positive that not much has changed were you to ask people the same question about how they feel today.

Plus, it just makes logical sense… smiling customers make for successful businesses.

Let’s start with a very easy tactic you can implement starting right now.

Little trick #1: Smile warmly

You’d be surprised at how much of a difference a smile can make, whether you’re reassuring a customer he’s making a good choice or trying to defuse a sticky situation. A smile shows that you’re calm, in a good mood and willing to help do what you can.

Little trick #2: Bring smiles into your phone conversations

You may not realize how much the tone of your voice changes when you smile, but it’s actually very noticeable – people can hear smiles even if they can’t see them. If you rarely talk on the phone, use emoticons in emails and text messages. Some people say that emoticons aren’t really professional, but one well-placed “smiley” takes the tone of the text to a whole new level.

Little trick #3: Say your customers name twice

Speaking of making sure your message is well received, get people paying more attention to what you’re saying by using their name. We tend to focus when we hear our name, and you’ll find that customers seem to listen a little more to what’s just been said or what’s about to be said if you use this tactic. The best way to use this technique is to say a person’s name twice in any conversation. It shows you’re highly aware of the person, tuned into the conversation, and it creates better personal rapport.

Little trick #4: Touch a customer while smiling

An effective way to create more rapport is to actually touch someone briefly as you smile at them. One of the best ways to brighten moods is to give someone’s shoulder a gentle squeeze while you say something reassuring or complimentary. And yes, offer them a smile – they’ll automatically return it to you.

Little trick #5: Tell a customer he’s special

This is so easy to do, and it costs nothing to boost someone’s morale. People love to feel accepted and liked, so telling someone he’s a special customer can go a long way towards making him feel awesome about himself – and that’s definitely going to make him feel good about you as well.

Want to add some extra punch to that last tip? Tell someone else that you think someone is special… while that person is standing right there listening. Think about how you’d feel if you hear someone you’ve hired or bought something from tell another person that you’re a great person. You can’t help but want to smile when you hear compliments like that!

Little trick #6: Treat your staff and employees well

Speaking of good feelings, don’t forget to spread smiles amongst the people who work for you. By doing so, they’ll treat your customers the way you treat them. If you’re always smiling, happy, and glad to talk with your staff, you’ll find they reflect that treatment towards people who buy from your business. Imagine the results!

Little trick #7: Follow up with clients

Many buyers have a great experience but find that once the purchase is over or the contract ends, service stops there. Keep up contact, because it lets people know you were thinking of them – without trying to sell them on anything. Email or call the customer just to ask how it’s going and whether the person’s enjoying his or her purchase. Don’t pitch your services; just be nice.

Nothing brings a smile to someone’s face more than feeling appreciated and remembered, so send a thank-you note to customers. Avoid generic cards; pick something unique that fits the person’s personality or that relates to a conversation you’ve had. Mention you’d enjoyed working together. If they’ve just accomplished a business goal, send congratulations. A birthday? Wish them joy.

Little trick #8: Give the customer what they want

Here’s a way to turn a frown into a smile – or at least, into a satisfied customer: give the customer what he wants. This is especially useful in the case of client complaints. Offer the customer the benefit of the doubt, ask which solution is desired, and do everything you can to make it happen.

This doesn’t mean breaking the rules. It means it’s okay to break the policies and create an exception to help restore good feelings. That can definitely earn you points; the customer will tell friends about what you did… not what you wouldn’t do.

Little trick #9: Show that you are trying

And if you can’t give the customer what he wants? At least show you tried and that you were willing to accommodate the request. Sometimes just the fact that you cared is all it takes to help people smile again.

Little trick #10: Do the unexpected

People guess at what you might say, and they tend to think they know what you’ll do before you even do it. Surprise them – in a good way. Watch for opportunities to please clients out of the blue when they least expect it. When you hear of a small “wish” the client doesn’t expect to become true, you’ll know that’s the perfect moment to reply, “Actually, it’d be my pleasure to help you with that.”

Little trick #11: Give a gift

Another pleasure you can offer customers is to give them a little gift. Surprise customers with a gift card or send them a token of appreciation in the mail. It doesn’t have to be much. $15 to spend at Amazon or a free book you think they’d enjoy always brings a smile. You could also offer them a discount on their next purchase or toss in a little extra on their order, or maybe even give them a coupon code to a product or service unrelated to your business that you know they might find useful.

Little trick #12: Have good manners

Although this may seem obvious, it’s often overlooked. Say please, thank you and you’re welcome often. Get into the habit of being polite. A meaningful “you’re welcome” goes a long way towards cultivating positive feelings, and your customers will remember that you treated them well.

Conclusion

I’m sure I’ve left some great tips to get people smiling off this list, so help me out. How do you make your customers smile? What do you do to get that happy look on their face?

http://www.quicksprout.com/2010/08/27/little-tricks-to-get-more-customers-smiling/#more-2187

How to Evaluate Your Company’s Financial Position

Bank balances don't tell you enough to gauge your financial health. Here's where to look in your financial statements and other data for a full checkup.

The Great Recession has made checking in on the basics of your company’s financial position more than just a to-do item: it’s become an absolute necessity. Unfortunately, understanding how healthy your company is financially takes more than just logging in to your online bank account and checking balances. And that’s where most entrepreneurs get turned off. Who wants to really dig into those complicated balance sheets and income statements anyway? Isn’t that what I have an accountant for?

In general, yes, you should have a competent CPA to help you organize the financial details of your business. But that doesn’t let you off the hook: as the leader and/or owner of your business, the onus is on you to make sure you’re headed in the right direction. The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to fully immerse yourself in those financial statements to take your company’s financial temperature.

What you do need to do, however, is look at a combination of both financial and operational metrics that benchmark your company’s current financial performance against your competition and your own past results. Start by taking a crash course in understanding your company’s critical numbers. Then, consider these tips on a few additional metrics that will help your company stay on the right financial path:

Scrutinize Your Cash Position

As the old saying goes, cash is king. A financially well-run business will have an improving cash position at the end of each and every month, says Victor Cheng, a CEO coach and author of the book, Extreme Revenue Growth. Said another way, a healthy company generates a positive cash flow, meaning the money coming in exceeds the funds flowing out the door. Keeping a running tally of your cash position over the past three months is a great way to see if your business is generating cash over a sustained period of time. “It is pretty much impossible to go out of business if you are paying your bills on time and your bank account balance keeps growing each month,” says Cheng.

Cheng says that you want to look at a three-month trend because it will help you identify red flags. For example, if sales have increased 20 percent, but your cash position is rapidly declining, there’s likely an issue with your accounts receivable. “It means that there is a cash flow timing problem on those sales and it’s incredibly risky for a business to do that, especially if they don't realize they are doing it,” he says. If, on the other hand, the cash position is improving but sales are declining, it means the company is making good improvement in internal operations, efficiency, and financial management - but the company has a serious external or market problem to solve.

Dig Deeper: How to Read an Income Statement

Check Your Solvency

One way to check the financial health of your business is to calculate the following:

• Cash in Bank / Monthly Expenses = Number of Months Until Bankruptcy

This ratio shows you how many months your business can survive if sales suddenly stopped and none of your customers paid their bills that month, says Cheng. “It is ratio I developed to freak out non-finance entrepreneurs so they will start paying much more attention to cash management and not just sales,” he says.

For example, Cheng says it is very possible for a business doing $1 million a year in revenue to double sales and go bankrupt in the process. Whether this happens or not depends on how quickly the cash is collected from customers and deposited in the bank relative to when you have to pay the bills for the increased expenses associated with the new revenue. “If the entrepreneur has to increase expenses today, but collects that additional $1 million six months from now, they can very easily go bankrupt before they collect their money," Cheng says. "In cash management, timing is everything."

As such, another useful exercise is to chart your company’s accounts receivable and accounts payable aged in thirty-day buckets, says Frank Stitely, a CPA in Chantilly, Virginia, who also pens the blog, “How to Screw Up Your Small Business.” The accounts receivable numbers reveal the cash coming into the business and highlight any problems with old receivables, meaning money you have had trouble collecting from customers. The accounts payable numbers show the cash commitments of the business over the next thirty days to vendors. Since you’re on the hook to pay your bills, any aging trend in the amount of money you’re owed could spell trouble. “When a business owner sees a quarter of accounts receivable over sixty days old, he or she should panic,” says Stitely.

Dig Deeper: 5 Ways to Improve Cash Flow

Keep an Eye on Overhead Costs

While most business owners focus on growing revenues, they also need to keep an eye on how much they’re spending on overhead (rent, salaries, etc.) to support those sales. A quick way to do that, says Cheng, is to calculate what percentage of your revenues are used to pay overhead:

• Overhead Expense Percentage (OEP) = Overhead Expenses / Sales

Cheng notes that the number by itself is not that useful. What makes it powerful is when you track it over a 12- to 24-month timeframe. Any fluctuation can reveal problems. “If a company’s sales drop 30 percent, but the OEP skyrockets, it means the company’s overhead has stayed the same while sales dropped, and the company is taking on significant financial risk if they don't cut overhead to get the OEP back to it’s historical level,” Cheng says. He further noted that many small businesses collapsed during the Great Recession because their owners failed to cut enough overhead to compensate for their loss in sales.

Dig Deeper: How to Read a Balance Sheet

Look Beyond Your Financial Statements

Checking up on the health of your business requires more than just the numbers in your financial statements, says Dave Haviland, president of Phimation, a consulting company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Since financials are generally backward looking, they measure results,” he says. “To look forward, you need to look at operational metrics.”

Haviland suggests tracking metrics in each area of your business. For instance:

• Marketing and sales: track the “backlog” (work already signed but not yet billed/produced) and “sales pipeline” (prospective work in the sales process). These are important because they give you a forward-looking view at what the revenue line will look like, says Haviland.
• Production: track your “utilization,” which measures how efficiently your company is using its resources.
• Human Resources: By tracking “suggestions and complaints” (such as notes put in a suggestion/complaint box) you can learn how engaged your employees are. Another suggestion is take a “green/yellow/red” measure, where people put the color dot that represents how their day went. When you count up all the dots and track it over time, you can begin to get a sense of how productive your staff feels they are.

Haviland says you should prioritize what matters most to your business when coming up with other potentially helpful metrics, such as ones built around customer satisfaction and supplier performance.

Greg Alexander, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index, a sales consulting company based in Atlanta, advises tracking your New Business-to-Repeat Business ratio. This ratio tells you the revenue contribution from new prospects and the revenue contribution from existing clients. “Healthy businesses depend on bringing in new clients as well as generating repeat business from existing clients,” says Alexander. “However, if new business is outpacing existing business, you may have a customer retention problem. If business generated from existing clients is outpacing new business, you may have a marketing and sales problem.” Alexander says the right ratio for your company will depend on what kind of business you’re in, noting that his is a 1:5, where repeat business outpaces new business by a five-to-one ratio.

Dig Deeper: How to Choose the Right Finance Professional

Think Strategically

While monitoring a daily dashboard is great for tactical adjustments, says Haviland, there are also monthly or quarterly metrics that can highlight more strategic changes in your business. Examples of metrics that tell you if you’re staying relevant to the market (and which markets are best) include:

• Percentage of revenue from new products/services
• Revenue mix by product
• Revenue mix by customer segment

Again, the best way to keep on top of your company’s financial picture – and to ensure that you sound the alarm before big trouble has already arrived - is to use a mix of current and long range metrics taken both from your financials as well as the operational side of your business.

By seeing how individual parts contribute to the whole, you'll be able to best identify where your business is stumbling. Once you've zeroed in the trouble spots, you'll have the chance to take the necessary steps to fix them.

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/how-to-evaludate-your-financial-position.html

10 Things Employees Want Most

Don't want your employees to go the way of JetBlue's Steven Slater? Here are 10 things that could keep them happy.

It’s no coincidence that Steven Slater, the now-famous JetBlue employee, has been elevated to the status of a working person's hero. He did what so many frustrated employees would love to do, if only they had the courage, the beers and the inflatable slide to help them escape a less-than-pleasant office environment.

It should come as no surprise, though, that the most successful businesses are the ones that work the hardest to please their employees, and it's up to managers to make sure they're giving their staffs what they want to the best of their abilities.

After reading the book Why Work Sucks and How to Fix it by Cali Ressler, Jeff Gunther, CEO of the Charlottesville, VA-based software company Meddius, decided he would change the way his staff works by instituting a results-only working environment, often referred to as a ROWE. Meddius employees can work any time from any place in any way, as long as they get their work done. Gunther has found that by giving employees the trust and autonomy they need, they've actually been more productive and loyal to the company.

We've broken down the 10 things employees want that will help you keep them on board.

1. Employees want purpose. Don't assume that a hefty paycheck and regular bonuses are the most important things to your employees. They, like you, want to know that what they're doing on a daily basis has some purpose behind it. "What people want most is the chance to make a difference," says Alexander Hiam, the Massachusetts-based author of Business Innovation For Dummies. "When you have a chance to have your ideas heard and one of them actually gets implemented, it's such a boost."

Dig Deeper: Building a culture of employee appreciation

2. Employees want goals. To instill a sense of purpose in your employees, be sure to lay out a clearly-defined set of goals for them on a regular basis. At Meddius, Gunther's team of managers re-aligns each department's goals every three months. "The goals have to be very measurable, obtainable goals," Gunther says. For the sales team, for example, that might mean setting a goal as to the number of deals the team is expected to close in a certain period of time for a certain dollar amount. Once goals are in place, it is up to each team to decide how to achieve them.

Dig Deeper: How to set business goals

3. Employees want responsibilities. Sometimes the hardest part of being a manager is delegating, but employees crave your trust, and with that trust, should come responsibility. "People are so busy and harried themselves that all they do is work, they don't really manage," Hiam says. "Ask people if there are more things they can do, and then you can catch your breath and be a manager."

Dig Deeper: How to delegate properly

4. Employees want autonomy. Take it from Gunther, giving your employees freedom over how they work can actually make them more productive. Unless you're managing an assembly line, give your employees the freedom to work in a way that works for them. Daniel Pink, the Washington D.C.-based author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, says, "Let people figure out the best paths to the goal, rather than breathe down their necks all the time."

Dig Deeper: How to build a beautiful company

5. Employees want flexibility. In addition to deciding how they work, the experts say employees also appreciate having a say over when they work. Gunther has, of course, set up a radically flexible schedule for his employees that might not work for every office. But, he says, it has enabled him to find and retain top talent for Meddius. "We've had people who have taken significant pay cuts to work for us, because at their old job they were told to show up and be at the office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.," he says. "Generation Y is looking for a synergy between their personal lives and their professional lives." Set up a flexible vacation policy or a telecommuting policy that enables employees to work from home. It involves a great deal of trust, but, as Pink says, "If you don't trust your employees, you've got much bigger problems."

Dig Deeper: Beyond Flextime: Trashing the Workweek

6. Employees want attention. Just because you're giving employees the control they crave doesn't mean they don't want guidance and feedback. Hiam suggests checking in with them every few weeks, even if it's just for a minute or two. "Look them in the eye and ask how things are going. Find out what's really going on in their world," he suggests. "Responsibility is about giving them a chance to make a difference, but attention is the human dimension of managing." And don't be fooled into thinking that the traditional annual performance review is your big chance to tell your employees what's working and what's not. In Pink's words, "There's no way to get better at something you only hear about once a year." That's why, at Meddius, Gunther uses the year-end to make decisions about promoting employees, and uses the quarterly meetings where goals are set, to address big operational issues within each department.

Dig Deeper: How to communicate employee expectations effectively

7. Employees want opportunities for innovation. Not long ago, Google announced its 20 percent creative time policy, which encourages employees to work on any innovative ideas they have that are company-related during 20 percent of their hours at work. Both Hiam and Pink applaud this concept. "People need to be given a chance to bring about something new and exciting," Hiam says. "Just asking people for ideas doesn't create innovation. It's a culmination of creativity and leadership." Though you might not be able to give your employees this much time on the clock to work on side projects, you can always foster innovation through employee brainstorming sessions that allow the staff to work with new people and generate fresh ideas.

Dig Deeper: 10 employee perks we love

8. Employees want open-mindedness. When your employees come to you with their ideas, you need to treat them with equal parts sensitivity and honesty. Be sensitive because, according to Hiam, the more an employee gets shot down by an authority figure, the less likely he or she will be to make suggestions in the future. It's also important to be honest because, as that authority figure, you may know what's best for your business and what's not. You don't have to accept every idea that comes your way, but, Hiam says, "Don't just shut someone down. Say, 'Here's what I know: years ago we tried something similar. Here's what happened. Give some more thought to your idea, and come back if you think you can make it work.'"

Dig Deeper: A little enlightened self-interest

9. Employees want transparency. When Meddius publishes each department's quarterly goals, Gunther does it as well, not because he needs reminding, but because he believes his employees should be cognizant of where the organization's going. "Employees, especially the younger work force, want transparency," he says. While it's not necessary to publish that information, Hiam emphasizes that the communication channel between a manager and his or her employees should always be open. "That's why you need to build it by talking about ordinary everyday things," he says. "You need to have rehearsed talking about ordinary things before you can talk about anything major."

Dig Deeper: Testing a company's commitment to transparency

10. Employees want compensation. Your employees do need to provide for themselves and their families, so, of course, salaries, bonuses and benefits are important, but perhaps not in the way you might think. Pink's research on what motivates employees has led him to one conclusion: "The best use of money as a motivator is to pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table." He says it's better to pay people a little more than the norm and allow them to focus on their work than to pay them based on performance. "Don't pay people a measly base salary and very high commissions and bonuses in hopes that the fear of not having enough food on their tables will inspire them to do extraordinary things." The way Gunther has employed this strategy is by providing his employees with full health care benefits at no cost, so they can rest assured that their families are fully protected. "It's a huge expense, but to employees, it's really valuable."

Dig Deeper: The price of a healthy staff

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/10-things-employees-want.html

How to Manage Managers

Your company's managers are smart, committed, and passionate. How can you make sure they perform to their potential?

When you work for yourself, as most entrepreneurs do, the notion of "managing" those you have hired to do just that may seem quaint in light of all the work you need to catch up on. But as the company you started begins to grow, and you hire more and more people to fuel that growth, it is a good idea to take a step back from the day-to-day grind and consider what it might mean to both you and your company if you devoted some of your time to thinking about how best to manage your managers. After all, the more people you empower to make decisions, and that free you up to think more strategically, the faster, at least in theory, your company can grow.

"Don't fall into the trap of believing that management is an indefinable art," says Ed Muzio, CEO of Group Harmonics, a workplace consulting firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "It's not. The key to managing anyone is to set clear performance expectations in advance, and hold the person accountable. That may be more difficult to do for managers than direct workers, but it's no less important."

How does one best managing a manager anyway? Here are some strategies to consider:

Managing Managers: Set the Vision

The first key to managing your managers is to make sure your managers know what they're managing toward.

One way to do this would be sharing clear short-term (one year) and long-term (three- to five-year) business plans, says Jenni Luke, national executive director of the Step Up Women's Network, a national membership organization for women: "This provides measurable goals to achieve in the short term and gives long term vision for the business so that when managers must make decisions independently, they have the proper strategic context in which to make them."

Another approach to aligning your vision with your managers, says Jill Morin, CEO of Kahler Slater, an interdisciplinary design and consulting enterprise in Milwaukee, is to ascertain answers to questions such as:

• Do they embrace your organization's vision?
• Are they on board with your core beliefs, your values, and your mission?
• Do they have a clear image of what the future holds when the business achieves its vision for success?

"The bottom line," Morin says, "is without these essential starting points, it won't matter who or how you manage."

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Managing Managers: Document the Details and Communicate

As a boss, one of your goals should be to make sure that your managers have all the tools necessary to do their jobs well. As part of that, you should make developing an employee handbook, which contains policies on issues like vacation and over-time as well as structured feedback regarding performance a priority. "Having the handbook will help you set expectations with the team before problems arise, and they will arise," Luke says.

Managers need to understand not only the "what" but also the "why" behind any strategic plan," says Morin. That way, they can offer their own ideas on enhancing and executing the plan, and do so without needing your involvement every step of the way.

"Yes, Jack Welch said it first, but you cannot over-communicate the vision, goals, and strategies for the business, especially if your managers are smart, committed, and passionate about achieving success," she says. "And why would you have hired them in the first place if they weren't?"

Bi-weekly individual meetings and bi-weekly team meetings serve the purpose of checking progress against goals but also enable the sharing of best practices and experiences that others on your management team can benefit from, says Luke. Then, supplement these regular meetings with quarterly meetings focused on the bigger picture such as budget, product or program development or long-range planning so that the managers know they will be expected to contribute to this top-level thinking and planning. "Giving your managers the freedom to do the work and engaging them in planning should engender a sense of ownership in the success of the business unit which is exactly what you need," she says.

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Managing Managers: Measure Tasks

A key part of knowing how well a manager is doing is to establish straight-forward quantitative measures based on the performance of their team, says Luke, who suggests looking at objective goals set in your business plan such as:

• Is your manager achieving revenue targets?
• Are they operating on budget?
• Have they developed new customers?

Dr. Alice Waagen, founder and president of Workforce Learning, a leadership development company in Washington, D.C., says that you can even establish clear performance guidelines about what makes up a good manager along the lines of something like:

1. A good manager creates short- and long-term goals for all staff.

2. A good manager sets realistic standards and targets to measure progress to plan.

3. A good manager provides specific, objective feedback on an ongoing basis, informing, enlightening and helping staff members improve their performance.

"For managers to succeed, they need time to learn to manage" she says. "And then, once they do, they need to be held accountable for their results."

"When you add all that up, it means that you need to clearly communicate to your manager what you expect them to accomplish through his or her staff," Muzio says. "For example, you might say, 'Your job is to make sure the five people who work for you make 400 widgets each week,' or, if the goals change, 'your job is to make sure each of the five people who works for you has a clear performance target, hits the target, and together those targets roll up to the output goal you and I set together each month. You can vary the structure, but keep the simple focus: Your job is to make sure your people produce what is necessary."

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Managing Managers: Manage Behavior

Employees usually don't quit businesses, they quit bosses. That means that while tracking how a team performs quantitatively is critical in evaluating a manager, "it should also be an equal priority to assess qualitative measures of skills such as leadership, strategic thinking, and business development instincts, which can be a far more challenging task," says Luke.

That's why you want your manager to maintain positive, functional relationships, Muzio says. "Don't dismiss expectations about relationships as soft or emotional; they are extremely practical," he says, pointing out that it costs at least two- to three-times an employee's annual salary to find a replacement. "Good interpersonal relationships lead to output consistency and group longevity. A manager who leaves unhappy, dysfunctional relationships in his wake is a manager that will cost you money in employee complaints and turnover."

So how can we actually measure and evaluate to these standards? Waagen suggests tips such as:

1. Look for telltale signs of bad management, such as missed deadlines or unusually high absenteeism or turnover. Chances are, if you do not see these key signs, the manager is doing a pretty good job.

2. Walk around and talk with the manager's direct reports. Are employees engaged and involved? Are they excited by their work? Do they appear to have a clear idea of the specific tasks or projects they need to accomplish and why?

3. Interview employees. Ask them when was the last time they talked with their manager? Probe whether or not they are happy on the job. Their responses can provide terrific feedback.

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Managing Managers: Be a Coach, Not a Referee

Even the best managers mess up sometimes, and "people problems" – which are usually brought to your attention when a subordinate comes to you to complain about his or her manager - are often the cause, says Morin of Kahler Slater. She suggests that you resist the temptation to get directly involved or, worse, to fix the problems yourself.

"Instead, use these challenges as opportunities to coach your managers on how to deal with conflict – personally, professionally, and productively – rather than ignore or dismiss it," she says. "Then you can circle back to assess progress."

One of the mistakes any CEO can make is forgetting to look in the mirror. Said another way, keep a close watch on your own behavior as a way to inspire your managers to emulate you, says Marilyn Suttle, a Detroit-based personal and professional development coach. To do that, she suggests asking yourself questions like:

• Do you shy away from conflict?
• Do you demand and force rather than encourage and inspire?
• Do you ask questions and solicit input from others in the company?

"The point," says Suttle, "is to become a role model and mentor your managers into becoming the best versions of themselves."

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