The Entrepreneur's Bible: Business at its Best

Keep Things Exciting

While routines are nice and provide a certain level of comfort, they also can become monotonous.  If every Wednesday is pasta night at your house, it may seem like a good plan at first.  You know that halfway through the work week you will enjoy a filling dinner of carbs.  However, after several weeks of this, it becomes boring, and you begin to dread pasta night.  Not again. . .

Writing a corporate blog can begin to have that feel.  You look at the calendar and realize, “Oh no!  It’s Tuesday, which means it is time to create a post.”

When you begin to feel this way toward writing on your corporate blog, it is time to consider a change.  The point of your blog is to engage your readers and build better relationships.  However, if you are entering into your writing with a “get this done” attitude, it will come across in your writing.

So, how can you keep things exciting?  There are a few simple changes you can make to spark some interest:

  • Try a new format.  Write your blog post as a bulleted list of suggestions.  Include a poll for your readers.
  • Write the article on a different day of the week.  Publish on Fridays as an end of the week recap.  Schedule the post for Monday as an intro the week.
  • Add a guest writer once a month.  Find someone within your company whose writing you like and ask him or her to submit a column.  It is amazing what a week off can do to reignite your writing.

If your interest in your corporate blog has dissipated, give one of these strategies a try.  Do you have some ideas for keeping your blog exciting?  Please post your suggestions in the comments.

About the author: Michele Pesula Kuegler is founder and CEO of Wasabi Media Group.

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Reach for the Stars to Achieve Your Best

Almost everyone has in their heart that special project or job they want in place but is seemingly unattainable.  Reach for that distant star by working backwards, creating a list of major milestones to be accomplished until you are at the present day.  Next, answer these questions:

Of all the milestones…

– which appeal to you most?

– which are the easiest to implement?

– for which are you willing to self-educate or get help?

– will you take a calculated risk?

– are you willing to admit something didn’t work correctly and try again?

– are you willing to not give up?

– are you ready to keep reinventing yourself?

Success means making a commitment to education and self-improvement.  Sometimes hurtful remarks need to be ignored.  Quitting is not an option while reinvention is a requirement.

“Anne” shared she had the opportunity to interview under the title of Vice President.  She was somewhat hesitant to proceed, due to her younger age, although the title greatly appealed to her.  Helping her to review her background, I reminded her of the industry awards she won, the campaigns she created and led, the presentations she provided and the public speaking platforms she enjoyed.  Anne was then reminded that people in their 20’s create innovative start-ups receiving huge sums of money from investors, and that age is not a factor.  It only is such if we allow it to be.  Anne proudly announced she will proceed full steam ahead.

When it comes to reaching for a star, popular thought should be ignored. Instead, examine what is of importance to you.  Remain true to your principles.  Make time to deeply contemplate what you do and do not want for future work or clientele.

By maintaining the long-term vision and milestones, you will always have a working plan in place to be followed.  A sure-footed and realistic approach each day will help you reach that distant star.  Others will watch in amazement believing that for you it was always a Smooth Sale!

 

About the author: Elinor Stutz is the author of two books, one for improving business sales techniques and the other for improving interviewing skills: Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results, and, HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews.

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Finally, Getting Your Reading Done!

Don’t you just marvel at people who talk about the books they read and what they learned? You think, “Good for them, they’ve got time to read. . . but I don’t.” Yes, time is certainly a factor but what’s one of the best ways to make time? Make a commitment to others and meet regularly. In other words, create a business book club!

Being a member of a business book club is the easiest, most fun way to get you to read while infusing your brain with usable information. It’s also a great way to network with like-minded people. (You can also adapt this information for starting a casual book club with your friends.) Setting this up is easy if you follow these simple parameters:

•  Ideal Size: 10-12 like-minded people (knowing that only 8-10 will probably make it on a regular basis)

•  Meeting Frequency: Once a month at the same time (i.e. 1st Friday of the month)

•  Suggested Meeting Length: 30-60 minutes – maybe a breakfast meeting would work?

•  Location: A quiet and private location – restaurant back room, someone’s home, an empty office

•  Fees: Just the cost of the books (and food if in a restaurant)

•  Refreshments: optional, pot-luck or bring-your-own

At your first meeting, decide what types of books you want to read. Create a 12 month reading list with one book a month (or two months if life dictates). Then talk about ground rules to include the responsibilities of members such as reading the book(!), attending meetings, absentee policy, judgment-free participation guidelines, guests, etc.

If you prefer to make this a business magazine reading group, go for it! There’s a lot of great current information disseminated in magazines with much to talk about. Just make sure everyone in the group have similar interests and want to read the same publications.

Every meeting should have a designated facilitator who reminds members of the upcoming meeting, leads the discussion, monitors start and stop times, and encourages dialogue from all participants. The facilitator can stay the same or rotate among the members.

That’s it! As you continue to meet, go with what works and abandon things that don’t. As a result, you will be more interested in reading, more interesting to talk to and more well-informed!

 

About the author: Abby Marks Beale is America’s #1 Speed Reading Expert. She has taught speed reading for the past 25 years and is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading and 10 Days to Faster Reading.  She is also the creator of Rev It Up Reading, the online speed reading course. Please visit www.RevItUpReading.com for more.

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What One Thing…?

If you’re looking for a way to make 2012 your BEST year ever, I have a recommendation.  Ask yourself the question, “What ONE thing HAS to happen this year for me to feel happy with my progress?”  It can be something in your professional life or in your personal life.

The most common reaction I get from people at this idea is: “I have more than one thing!”  Well, so do I, but here’s the truth as I see it.  IF you identify ONE outcome that is not negotiable in order for you to get the results you want in 2012, and you get results, the positive outcome will roll over into many other positive results. But if you don’t identify — or acknowledge — that one goal, the resulting negative energy will prevent you from accomplishing the other goals as well.

I’ve identified that the most important thing for me to accomplish in 2012 is to get more sleep.  In a recent conversation with my best friend of nearly 30 years, she pointed out something she has observed repeatedly through the years: Whenever I don’t get enough sleep, I have a variety of negative results which dramatically reduce my productivity.

It turns out I’m not alone.  Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, in a speech to Google employees makes the staggering statement that sleeping less than 6 hours/night for 2 weeks has the same effect on cognitive ability as 48 consecutive hours without sleep.  He further points out that we deny the effect, the same as someone who drinks too much alcohol denies any negative effects. If you’d like to learn more astonishing effects, do a search on YouTube for “Tony Schwartz Google.”

So, based on all this data, and much more research that totally supports it, I’m committed to getting more sleep in 2012, so I would share with you how I am using our 5-Step Productive Environment Process:

1)  State your vision.  My vision is to get 8 hours of sleep at least 5 nights out of 7, and on the other 2 nights, no less than 6 hours.

2)  Identify your obstacles. One big obstacle will be my travel schedule. Another will be a habit of watching TV with my husband when I could be going to bed. And, admittedly, the biggest obstacle is not making sleep a priority.

3)  Commit your resources.  My resources include my business partner and my best friend who are also working on similar goals, and are committed to helping me be accountable, and my husband who has been saying for years I don‘t get enough sleep.  Other resources include My PlannerPad calendar, and numerous resources I have collected on the subject of sleep which I have put in my SwiftFile tickler system throughout the year to remind me!

4)  Design your plan.  First of all, I will track the number of hours of sleep I get each night in my Planner Pad so that I have to face the truth about my progress. I have shared my goal with Andrea, Flo, and Alfred. Once a week, at a minimum, I will read or listen to one of my resources on the subject to get encouragement and new ideas.

5)  Maintain your success.  At the end of the 1st quarter of 2012, I will assess my progress and share with my accountability partners.  If I have reached my goal, I will plan a night out at a new restaurant (one of my favorite things to do) to celebrate my accomplishment, and I will make any necessary adjustments for the next quarter.

So, that’s my “one thing” for 2012.  What’s yours?

 

About the author: Barbara Hemphill is the founder of Productive Environment Institute whose mission is to help businesses reduce costs and increase productivity by implementing systems to manage information, space, and time.  For information about speaking or consulting services, www.BarbaraHemphill.com or call 888-380-6799.

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