Archive for the ‘Business success’ Category

2009 Virtual Copreneur Camp for Entrepreneurial Couples

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

 Friday, October 23, 2009 from 11am EDT to 6:45p EDT
Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 11am to 4:45p EDT

For $29, this 2-day conference aims to educate and inform copreneurs on timely topics for couples in business. We welcome married couples, those who are dating, or are in same-sex relationships. Every registrant receives a FREE 1-year membership to National Copreneur Society. Here is just some of what you’ll find at Copreneur Camp:

·                             A keynote address from Paul and Sarah Edwards, copreneurs and award-winning authors

 ·                             7 sessions led by professional consultants, coaches, authors, or copreneurs

·                            2 opening sessions by the National Copreneur Society co-founders

·                             2 Copreneur Roundtables where attendees can learn and share with each other

·                             Twitter Chat Room for live interaction during the Camp

·                             A virtual swag bag of educational and informative goodies provided to all attendees

Plus, the best part, is that it’s virtual! Attend from your home or business. All you need is access to a computer and telephone (or computer speakers and a microphone).View the schedule, session outlines, speaker list, and register for Copreneur Camp http://www.copreneursociety.org/membership/2009-virtual-copreneur-camp

 If you have questions on anything, please e-mail NCS.

Business Owners are the Happiest Bunch

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

The Wall Street recently reported that the results of the most comprehensive survey of how occupation affects happiness showed that business owners outrank 10 other occupational groups in overall well-being. “Defined as self-employed store or factory owners, plumbers and so on, business owners surpassed other occupational groups on measures of contentment, emotional and physical health, job satisfaction, healthy behavior, access to basic needs and self-reports of overall life quality.” Read the rest of the article here

 

More Business Relationship Building Skills

Friday, August 7th, 2009

As promised here are a few more essential skills to master to build great business relationships. 

 

Managing - The true art of management is knowing when to instruct and when not to instruct. A great manager understands that individuals desire to lead their own lives and they can accept or reject any pressure exerted from the outside. Managers need to recognize those who need clear guidelines for the execution of a task and those who need to be given guidelines, but ultimately given free reign to create solutions and to seek out means. 

Leading - A great leader creates opportunities and winning environments, where people feel liberated to become what they have been born to become. Great leaders encourage their followers to utilize their gifts and talents and develop hidden abilities. They then acknowledge and appreciate all members’ contributions to the overall success of the team. 

Partnering – Collaborating with a partner saves your resources, and can bring innovation and creativity to projects. Learning to include and even lean on others is important because, as the world becomes more connected, the synergy that comes from working together becomes a competitive advantage. Going it alone can cause stress and overwhelm leading to business slowdown, poor customer service, and loss of market share.

 

Need help mastering any of these skills? Let me know and I will gladly help you build great business relationships. 

Top Business Relationship Building Skills

Friday, July 24th, 2009

 

 

Building any relationship requires many skills. Business relationships, where money, power and reputation are involved, require strong specialized skills. Three of the most important business relationship building skills are as follows:

 

Listening - Listening is essential in effective communication. It serves as the foundation for relationships and improvement. Those who listen well hold the keys to success. Listening requires commitment, an act of the will, and perception. When building a relationship make sure that you help it along by carefully listening. Create an environment where as you listen, you make commitments and agreements upon which you deliver.

 

Setting boundaries - Professional boundaries are about how you want others to treat you within your business. Boundaries not only protect you from unwanted behavior, but also  foster behavior you desire and need. Strong boundaries let people know where they stand with you and thus foster honest relationships.

 

Negotiating – Most business situations require some level of negotiation.  In negotiations, mutual respect for each other’s priorities must prevail to build a solid relationship. Negotiating need not be a contest to prove who is better nor involve a battle. It should be a two-way process to come to terms as easily as possible.

Coming soon will be a post about additional important business relationship building skills. In the meantime, if you need help honing any of the above skills, please let me know and I will gladly help you build great business relationships. 

Choose ‘guru’ partners carefully!

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

In my last post (rant) I pointed out how there are really no magic ‘its’ that lead to success.  And to beware of anyone who claims they can teach ‘it’ to you, if you pay them a lot of money.

 

Although there are tons of these self-proclaimed gurus around, there are some who have valuable wisdom to share. How can you tell which ones are the real deal?

 

The following are some signs of ‘gurus’ you might want to consider as mentors.:

They have done what they are teaching. 

            They have a lot more than book knowledge and information. They have successfully used the systems and strategies that you want to learn.

What they are teaching is still working for them.

            As I said in my last post false gurus teach what used to work. You want to learn from someone who is up to date, continually learning and still experiencing success.

You can get proof that their teachings work for others.

            Many false gurus have lots of testimonials on their websites (although the same names appear on many). It would be wise to find and contact real customers and ask how well the guru’s teachings actually worked for them.

What they are teaching suits your style.

            There are some gurus out there whose methods are questionable and/or overly aggressive.  Know what your business vision is and find mentors who run their businesses in that manner.

 

So know what you are looking for and choose a guru partner you can trust to deliver!

Napolean Hill didn’t say,”Join a group and get rich.”

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

 

The Law of Attraction, “the right mindset”, and “just believing” are all great, but what most people seem to miss is that they have to think and put in the work to be successful in business. My husband’s favorite saying is “People don’t want to think.” I am beginning to believe him as I hear about so many “takers” for get rich ‘effortlessly’  programs that I see offered on the web.

 

The ads read “Join my (insert name of a precious metal here) Club, Mastermind, Group” “Go from 0 to 1 million in a year” “I will teach you how I did ‘it’.” “Read these testimonials from all of the others who have also done ‘it’!” “Get in before it’s too late.” “Just pay me $100,000 and you are in”.

 

These ‘takers’ should wake up! They can start by reading the names on the testimonials. Most of these offers seem to be circle games of ‘insiders’– A joins B’s group, B joins C’s group, and then C joins A’s group. So the insiders’ $100,000s just get passed around the circle.

 

The only money “made” is from outsiders X, Y, and Z who join one of the groups and pay the fee without getting it back from an ‘insider’. The outsiders you will supposedly get their pay off when they follow the teachings of the guru and do ‘it’. The only catch is that by the time the guru tells them how to do ‘it’, ‘it’ doesn’t work any more because other outside suckers have caught on. They found out that this is no magic ‘it’- and they have moved on to the next . Hopefully, many of them will finally realize that they do have to think for themselves, put in the work and invest a lot more than money to become successful.

 

“Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be.” Jim Horning