Having no plan is like sailing the seven seas without a compass, digging a ditch without a shovel, or hunting for pirate’s treasure without an ‘x’ marks the spot. Without one, you’re better off heading down to the horse races and betting on the ‘Win Three.’ A plan helps keep you on schedule, makes it easier to recognize success and failure, helps pump you up when things aren’t going so well, and most importantly, provides an essential focus – a beacon of light in an ocean full of treachery. In fact, a plan not only acts as your road map for success (a metaphor that’s been beaten to death), it is your vehicle for prosperity, or if you prefer, your own personal prescription for greatness.
Peter J. Patsula
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No Plan?
Ralph Waldo Emerson with a twist….Reposted!
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ok -I am sure you have realized by now that I enjoy reading Ralph Waldo Emerson. I wanted to put this up for you, but I wanted to give you my 2 cents worth…
Sometimes we are so caught up in trying to be a success that we don’t really remember what being a success is. Check out Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Success and see if it opens your eyes as it did mine.
Success
To laugh often and much
To win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
When I read this, I know that I am already a success. Everything else that I am doing to “make” myself a success – well it is just extra….
Continue reading Ralph Waldo Emerson with a twist….Reposted! »
10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Facebook Page for Your Business
Setting up your page:
- Take your time while setting up your Facebook fan page. The category you choose at the very beginning is something you can’t change – unless you want to dump all your fans and start over. Different categories let you display different information (hours, parking and public transit options for a restaurant, mission and products for a website), so choose wisely.
- Once you’ve picked your category and set up your page you can start adding basic info (most of this information will be in the “info” tab that isn’t visible until a user clicks on it). You can also add a short bit of copy to the sidebar on your wall, which is an important place to give a basic overview of your business.
- Like every other social networking site, your profile photo is an important branding opportunity. Facebook does zoom and crop images when it displays thumbnails, so it can be helpful to properly size your image so any important details aren’t cut out in thumbnails.
- Take a look at the settings before you finish and make sure you’re comfortable with the default settings. By default Facebook fan pages are designed to be interactive, which means fans can post content on your wall. This is a great opportunity to hear from your customers, but you’ll probably want to keep an eye on it.
- Don’t forget to publish your page when you’re ready to go live.
Status Updates:
- Status updates could be called the heart and soul of Facebook. Much like Twitter, these are the constant stream of updates that show up on the “wall” of a profile. Each user’s homepage shows a flood of status updates from their friends – so you can see what a vital opportunity these updates are to communicate and connect. Each status update can be commented on and “liked,” which gives ample opportunity for feedback.
- It’s important to understand the place of status updates. The average Facebook user has 130 friends, which means quite a few status updates will come and go on their home page on any given day. The bottom line is that one or two status updates won’t change the world. You need to have consistent and quality updates to connect with people. And it doesn’t hurt to repeat an important update – don’t assume because you posted it once that people saw it (just don’t go overboard either).
- Feel free to double up on your status updates. Facebook can automatically publish your updates to Twitter, and a number of applications can import Twitter updates to Facebook (though sorting out the best method can be complicated).
Applications:
- There’s an unending supply of applications to give you more utility to your Facebook page. You can add extra tabs that contain unique content and post extra information in the sidebar of your wall. The applications can do things like post your Twitter feed, hold contexts, conduct polls, play music and more. Not all of these will tie into your status updates, which means you’ll need to find ways to make sure your fans find them.
- One of the standard applications you’ll want is Static FBML, which lets you add basic HTML. It’s very basic (javascript and iframes aren’t allowed), but you can add images and other extras to customize your page.
Importing Blog Content:
- You also have the option of importing blog content to your Facebook page. The easiest approach is to import an RSS feed of your blog using Facebook’s Notes. The upside is that it’s simple and easy, plus users can read and comment on your entire post in Facebook. The downside is that users can read and comment on your entire post in Facebook without ever visiting your blog. Depending on your end goals that maybe a problem.
- There are also a number of third party applications that will import blogs. Some will display them in boxes on your page, which is less helpful because you’re relying on users to go looking for these boxes. Other applications (like RSS Graffiti) will import the blog content and post it as a status update, which delivers the content directly to your users.
Choose Where People Land:
- One thing you’ll notice is that each fan page has multiple tabs for content. You can add as many as you like and there is an option to change the default tab people first see when they view your page (Edit Page: Wall Settings: Edit). So you could build a custom tab introducing people to your brand instead of just sending them to your wall. Some folks have experimented with using this functionality to show unique content to non-fans.
Communicate:
- One of the bonuses of the fan page is that you can send updates directly to all your fans (personal profiles can only send a message to a maximum of 20 friends at a time). These updates appear in a special tab in a user’s inbox, which mean they can be easy to miss. But those updates can also be targeted by location, age and gender. That’s a huge bit of demographic targeting courtesy of social networking.
Share More Content:
- Just like a personal profile, a fan page can add all sorts of extra content, like photos, videos, events and more. Default fan pages also come with a discussion board built in. Be sure to take advantage of those extra goodies and post some content, even if it’s just something fun. Make sure something appears on those extra tabs – if you don’t want any content there, consider removing the tabs so users won’t wonder why they’re empty.
Get a Custom URL:
- The first challenge when you launch your Facebook fan page is to secure a custom url. By default the link to each Facebook fan page is pretty ugly. But you can change that to some thing that is more memorable.
Spread the World:
- And the best way to get your page out there is to spread the world. One quick way is to become a fan of your own page. That update will show up in your profile and other folks might see it and check it out. You can also suggest your page to friends and add the page to your favorites. From there you can go beyond Facebook and add a ‘fan box’ to your website that promotes your Facebook page. Consider promoting your Facebook page in other channels like a blog, e-mail newsletter, link on your website, etc. People can’t become a fan on Facebook if they don’t know you’re there.
Examples:
- Finally, it’s always worth checking out a few examples to see how some of the best are doing it. Take a look at some of these major Facebook pages to see what’s working for them:
U2
TOMS Shoes
Ford
Mashable
- You can also search for your competition and see if they have a presence on Facebook and if so what they’re doing.
Now you can make the most of your Facebook fan page for your business.
Continue reading 10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Facebook Page for Your Business »
1st Class Web Content
Are you trying to figure out how you can have 1st class web content on your website? How do you attract new visitors or how do you keep the visitors coming back for more? Well here are a few pointers to steer you in the right direction!
Omit needless words. All content should have a reason to be on your page, so get rid of the extra fluff.
Stay Current. Customers love knowing the latest tips and the most current information, and they’re more likely to return to a site when they’re fairly certain the content changes regularly. The best sites clearly state when and how often the web site content is updated.
Highlight what’s going on with your business. Have a web page devoted to press releases. If you don’t have any, write some, or hire a local writer to whip up a few for you. Then you can email them to newspapers and put them on your web site. A press release helps reports find out exactly what you do. Put your newsletters on your web site too!
Say it visually. Visual clues are helpful in communicating time-sensitive information to your audience. On articles, make sure the date is displayed prominently.
Now, take these simple tips and go transform your web site into 1st class content!
What Benefits Come With Getting The Right Help?
You might be asking yourself, “Why would I pay someone else to do administrative work I can do myself? It seems like it would be easier and cheaper to do that work myself.” The operative word here is “seems.” Because in all honesty, trying to do everything all by your lonesome actually exacts a heavy price in your business, far more than you realize. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. So let me tell you why you would want to work with a Virtual Assistant.
- To conserve energy. You waste vital energy trying to do everything yourself. Energy is a finite commodity that comes at a premium when you are running a business. If you spend it all on back-end work, it will deplete the reserves you have for creativity, brainstorming, marketing, developing your business and working with clients.
- To create more time. You have better things to do as a business owner than trying to take care of your own administrative work. When you allow an Administrative Consultant to shoulder some of the burden, you can double–even triple–the time you have for working with clients, marketing and networking, creating new products and services, and taking time off to recharge.
- To improve focus. Trying to take care of every detail yourself will keep you distracted and overwhelmed. Don’t do that. Hire key partners–such as an Administrative Consultant–to help shoulder the load so you can keep your eyes and mind on your goals.
- To make faster progress. You can’t be a master of all things. Not to mention the fact that if you don’t excel at certain work, it will be harder and take you longer to accomplish. You will get so much more done, far more quickly, working with an Administrative Consultant than you would trying to do it all by yourself.
- To make your life easier. Trying to juggle every single ball all by yourself will create stress and burn you out. Guaranteed. Working with an Administrative Consultant will make your life peaceful again.
- To double your resources. Two brains are better than one. When you partner with an Administrative Consultant, all of that expert’s knowledge, expertise and resources are lent to your business. You create a smarter, stronger business foundation as a result.
- To make more money. When you have more time, energy and focus to devote to working with clients, marketing, and developing your business, you will make more money. It’s as simple as that.
The bottom-line is that you squander more than you save by trying to do it all yourself. What you gain in time, energy, ease and progress will always be greater than any fees you pay for a competent, expert Administrative Consultant.
Continue reading What Benefits Come With Getting The Right Help? »
The Power of Principles
1. Principles are universal. Principles are everywhere. They are woven into the creation of the universe. We use principles in every aspect of our life. We may use principles correctly or incorrectly but we are all subject to principles.
The same principles apply to all. In the world of business the same principles apply to a large corporation as to a small non-profit. The same principles will grow a volunteer run organization or multi-level international business. The very same principles that empower a business are the same principles used by families, and are the same principles used by the Cub Scouts. Any place where two or more people are together the same universal principles apply. The success of an organization is dependant on the correct application of these same principles.
2. Principles are timeless. You don’t have to invent principles, they already exist. They have always existed. All you have to do is recognize principles and apply them correctly. Principles are not fads, they are facts. Every famous and useful business book in the world provides strategies based upon universal, timeless principles. A wise leader must learn to discern principles.
3. Principles are Not Age Biased.Principles are free for anyone at any age. A younger person can use principles without fully understanding the principle and learn from experience after the fact why the principle is so powerful. An inexperienced young person can correctly apply principles and become wise beyond their years.
4. Principles are infinite. Principles are so simple to learn, yet as we grow in understanding, principles grow with us. It takes on a more profound meaning and greater power.
A leader can never exhaust the power of a principle, there is always a limitless supply of increasing power as the application of the principle is refined and used more precisely. What this means to you is, if you have one employee or 1000 employees it takes different strategies but always the same principles.
5. Principles are binary. A principle is either true or false. Determining truth is usually a common sense answer.
The more principles you apply to your business the more freedom, ownership, productivity and profitability your business will experience. Principles are not rules to be enforced, they are truths that empower!
6. Lowest Common Denominator. Principles are always the lowest common denominator; the common sense answer, the self-evident answer.
Principles are often overlooked because everybody assumes the obvious cannot be the right answer. People tend to believe that since we are adults, the simple answers do not apply and we must develop complex strategies to solve common problems.
The reason leaders are challenged to find a simple solution, is because their hearts get in the way. Pain, defensiveness, and fear of losing something personal cloud one’s judgement and exasperate the problem. Principles are obvious, but can be hidden by bureaucracy and the hearts of leaders who do not want to make a personal change.
The most common and overwhelming challenge all leaders face in every field of business is the issue of employment. For a business, finding and hiring the right people should be a high priority. Non-profits are always looking for caring and altruistic volunteers. One of the most common reasons finding and managing people is a great challenge is due to a false dichotomy in the leader’s mind. Leaders tend to have their perspective in-versed when they consider their organization and the team of people involved.
7. Principles are inter-related. Principles are inter-related. Inter-relational means reciprocal relationship. All principles, physical as well as moral, are a two-way street. It takes more than one person. Consider Newton’s 3rd law of motion. “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
The power of principles is in the interaction between two or more people. This charact3eristic is so simple and obvious and yet the most important to understand. As a leader you must truly understand the inter-relationships between you and your followers. All your leadership skills must be built within the framework of inter-relationships.
There are always enough resources to apply principles.
Be encouraged! All principles are inter-relational and there are always enough resources to apply them. All you need to apply a principle correctly arre two or more people. It will always cost time to apply principles but it does not have to cost money.
8. Principles are FREE! There are no copyright laws on principles! There are no royalty fees for using principles! You cannot beat the return on investment with principles.
9. Principles Create Freedom & Safety. There is confusion about freedom which must be clarified. There is only one true freedom, but people believe there are two freedoms. The false freedom is freedom from responsibility. The only true freedom is freedom of responsibility.
There is only one true freedom and that is freedom of responsibilty. Freedom of responsibility gives the individual the freedom to choose. If an outside source dictates choice a person loses freedom. The more a person is truly free, the more responsibility to choose a person will have. True freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, they are connected. Every leadership book that speaks of leadership character always mentions self-discipline. One is to be self-disciplined to the correct application of principles. A leader is to be responsible. In order to be responsible a leader must be self-disciplined. The self-disciplined leader will have the freedom to lead others more effectively.
Freedom from responsibility does not actually exist, but people feel it exist. When a leader steps down from an organization, they are no longer responsible for that organization. They are free from responsibility. In truth no one is every truly free from being responsible. A person is always responsible for their choices, whether they are a leader of a company or a homeless person. A person can never be “free” from responsibility. On the contrary the more responsibility a person takes for their own actions the more freedom they can obtain.
There is a misunderstanding of freedom which causes much of the controversies when our government implements new laws. There is a side that fights for freedom from a responsibility in hope of escaping the consequences whether good or bad. There is a side that fights for freedom of responsibility and to retain the consequences whether good or bad.
Consider the power freedom of responsibility can bring to your organization. The #1 cry of most leaders is their employees don’t have the same heart and drive as they do. The followers don’t feel the ame ownership for the organization. The followers are not responsible for the outcome of the business. These people do their time and leave it behind. When the followers do not feel a responsibility for the outcome of the business and they do not see the impact of their contribution, there is no ownership. The followers “feel” free from responsibility.
A wise leader will design strategies into the organization that gives ownership/responsibility to the follower. Ownership is responsibility, and that creates freedom for the follower to produce greater results. The leader will create the sense of purpose in the organization. Each employee will know why they come to work today, and it will be for more than a paycheck. When the followers feel the sense of ownership/responsibility they will work harder simply because they are. Give your followers the freedom to be responsible and you will be able to glean out the irresponsible and build up the responsible. When freedom is created, safety is created.
Principles Create Safety
Principles applied correctly provide safety to the leader and the organization. Do you remember the feeling when someone questions what you are doing? That feeling of interrogation, that you are already found guilty and must defend yourself. Remember the feeling that you are on trial, and you are not even sure why? You are asked questions but not given the reason for the questions. Before we go on, it is important to note that if you interrogate your followers, you are practicing poor leadership. If you don’t like the way it feels neither do your followers.
As a leader, have you ever felt you are the number one target? Have you ever felt that you are standing out on a hill all alone with an angry mob ready to charge the hill? Many times the followers feel the same way. Do you feel as a leader you must “be the heavy,” knowing people may respond in-kind? Being “the heavy” can be un-motivating for both parties!
A follower will not take risks if they are punished for mistakes. If you want the heart of your follower to give their best, they need freedom of responsibility and the support of the leader.
It is hard to play the blame game when everyone is taking responsibility for the outcome. Principles create freedom of responsibility and the safety to take risks!
10. Principles are the Foundation of Wisdom. Wisdom is the correct application of principles. If you want to be a wise leader, hunt for principles and use them correctly. The path to wisdom has a simple focus, yet is profoundly deep and never ending.
Four Reasons to Custom Tailor Organizational Strategies
1. Strategies are not universal. One size does not fit all. Strategies which would work for a small non-profit may not work for a large corporation. A small non-profit might take everyone to lunch once a month to build unity. That will not work for a corporation of a thousand or more people.
Many leaders are sucked into fad strategies. Leaders hunt for that one magical strategy which will finally revolutionize the organization. Fad strategies are a form of gambling. When enough money is spent and that strategy is found then the organization will finally succeed. Strategy gambling is very poor leadership. Instead of taking inventory and building strategies based upon principles, the leader looks for shortcuts, to take the easy way out.
2. Strategies are not timeless. Strategies change as the organization changes. It takes different strategies to pursue the same goals within the organization as the organization grows.
3. Strategies can be complicated and confusing, or dull and boring. Ineffective and complicated strategies are not built upon principles.
4. Strategies can be limited by the organization resources. Resources are limited to three categories: time, money, and people. If strategies are not built upon principles, they will be costly in time, money and people. Strategies limited by resources might be purchasing a growth model, or seeking expensive consultants to give needed leadership the leader did not want to give.
Many leaders go to various kinds of conventions and seminars to find new strategies. Everyone is hunting for new strategies to give their business a new edge. Strategies may or may not fix organizational problems or improve productivity. The power of a strategy is in the principle it rests upon. Strategies are circumstantial and change with time and the next business fad. Principles of a strategy is in direct proportion to its uses of foundational principles.
Continue reading Four Reasons to Custom Tailor Organizational Strategies »
Charisma
How do you develop charisma? Well, you have to be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are in making them feel good about you!
So, what are some of the traits of a charismatic person?
- CONCERN – What they show.
- HELP – What they offer.
- ACTION – What they provide.
- RESULTS – What they produce.
- INFLUENCE – What they do.
- SENSITIVITY – What they follow.
- MOTIVATION – What they give.
- AFFIRMATION – What they share.
Charisma is a trait or quality in our life that can be developed! The potential lies within each one of us.
Usernames & Passwords
If you haven’t already realized it, you are going to be using Usernames and Passwords for just about anything you do on the internet. So that you don’t forget or lose this valuable information, here are some tips to get you started and organized so the time you spend working on your online business presence won’t be wasted.
Before you determine your username and password, I want to stress the importance of security.
It is imperative that you keep your usernames and passwords (which there will be many of) safe.
You don’t want your site to be hacked (illegally accessed by other people or systems with the intent of destroying, disrupting or carrying out illegal activities).
While I could go on and on about this subject, suffice it to say that the internet is generally very safe, thanks to recent developments in technology; however, nothing is completely safe and I have found that the old adage “better safe than sorry” could not be more true when it comes to developing and maintaining an online presence.
That said, let’s keep moving forward.
With a pen and paper determine a permanent username and a few passwords.
As for the username, I recommend selecting a single username that consists of letters and numbers, such as: 22max09.
Or, if you want to be even more secure, you can mix up the capitalization of the letters, such as: 22mAx09.
I also suggest you get a “little black book” so you can manually record important information like this.
As for the password, I recommend coming up with a few different ones in addition to using numbers and a variation of upper and lower case letters, such as: 05Mags02, or 05mags02, or 0ma5g0s2, or M0A5G0S2.
The goal here is to have a SINGLE username that can be used for EVERYTHING from this point forward.
I suggest you use 4 letters and 4 numbers in each to make your username unique.
But, be careful of using one that others may have.
For example, MARK1234 runs the risk of being taken. So don’t choose a name like this.
But, by using the SAME numbers and letters, you could use 12MARK34.
Then, do something similar for your password, such as: 05Mags02.
In many cases a username is not necessary, – just a password. But, often both ARE needed.
So, you need to be prepared.
In my mind, I always think of the username FIRST, as in, “username and password”.
This makes it easy to remember which is which.
Trust me on this. It WILL make your life easier on the Net.
So, take the time to do this.
When decided, place them in your little black book.
Important: When assigned a password by someone else, – login and change it to one of your preferred passwords right away.
To get you started, – once you’ve chosen your permanent username and a few passwords, – you may want to change as many of your current usernames and passwords as possible.
How to Have a Productive Meeting
Good meetings CAN happen!
Productive meetings don’t just happen. They’re carefully crafted. Here are some tips to remember.
Know the agenda you want to cover.It’s amazing how many meetings fail for the simple reason that there’s no clear agenda.
Know the participants and as much as you can about their opinions on agenda topics. If possible, survey the people beforehand for their views. That way you can anticipate problems and gauge the level of support you’ll be getting.
Try to defuse conflicts beforehand. If you know there will be a strong disagreement between various participants or groups of participants, try to head off any time-wasting opposition beforehand by meeting with opponents separately. Try to work out some compromise they both may accept.
Don’t surprise participants with undisclosed meeting topics. They’ll come to dread all meetings (and start to distrust you).
Arrive early, if possible. It’s a chance to quickly survey other early arrivers’ opinions on agenda items.
If time is a factor, set limits. Before the meeting, establish an approximate time limit for each agenda item. Keep track of the time. Explain to participants that because you don’t want the meeting to exceed a certain time limit, you may interrupt the discussion when it veers off-track.
Make clear-cut assignments. If participants are expected to make presentations or prepare information to share in the meeting, make sure they understand exactly what is expected. If possible, check with them a few days prior to the meeting to determine how prepared they are. It will reinforce the importance of their homework.
Set a positive tone. You’re not likely to accomplish much if the meeting turns into a laugh-fest. But nothing turns off participants quicker than a dead-serious meeting with no place for levity.
Be supportive. In the meeting itself, if someone offers a suggestion that you don’t want to accept, look for at least a part of the suggestion that you can support.
Don’t be afraid to compromise when you disagree with someone. It sends a powerful, positive message to others.
Schedule breaks – even 5 minute breaks – every your. Purely for the regenerative effects.
Know when you’ve reached the point of diminishing returns.Are the suggestions getting more and more unworkable? Has the discussion mysteriously circled back to where it began? Are participants looking more and more sluggish by the second? Do you see yawning? Don’t be so wrapped up in orchestrating the meeting that you fail to notice that the entire percussion section has gone to lunch.
Look for opportunities to summarize. It will help participants to get the most out of the meeting.
Assign an implementation strategy for any decisions made during the meeting. And follow up on it.
