Today’s successful business leader is an emotionally intelligent, collaborative visionary
By Victor G. Snyder
There’s a particular brand of humor conjured by “Mad Men” and other retro workplace dramas. The outdated office culture — from the way women are treated to the nonstop drinking on the job — provides a throwback reason to snicker and commiserate about the “old days.”
Add in the prototypical business leader of generations past (rigid, fierce, gruff and intimidating), and you’ll see a picture that’s completely different from the modern corporate climate.
Today’s successful business leader is an emotionally intelligent, collaborative visionary. Explain that to your grandpa, and he’ll likely have a good laugh. But if you want the bottom line on what it takes to be a business leader today, read on.
Empathy
Empathy is the ability to feel what someone else is feeling — to put yourself in his or her proverbial shoes. When your middle manager, Caroline, tells you her son is sick, you know she needs to pick him up from school because she’s a single mother.
An empathetic person immediately understands the stress and frustration Caroline must be feeling, and validates it. The empathic leader approves her request to leave early. In addition, the empathic executive empowers Caroline with the option to work from home during the next few days so she can tend to her son.
Business leaders of the past would have been indifferent toward Caroline’s situation, feelings or options. Today’s successful leaders recognize the critical nature (and bottom-line business impact) of taking care of their employees. They know that when employees are happy, they’re more likely to be engaged — and engaged employees are more productive.
Gary Vaynerchuk described it this way during a recent episode of his “DailyVee” program: “You work for your team — they don’t work for you. How many times have you sat down with [them] one by one for three hours and asked them what they care about in life and how can you help them? That’s the answer, bro. How do you get your team to care? Care for them first”
Data-driven decision-making
Data-driven decision-making means relying on analytics to guide every business decision. Data-based evidence leads to insights, and executives then can turn those insights into actions that position the business for success.
Back in the day, technology limited the amount of available data. It made sense to make decisions based on a combination of gut feelings and past experience. Today, however, the truth is out there, and 60 percent of companies regularly analyze four or more internal data sources before making decisions.
“Every company has its problems, and often data-driven methodologies can help solve these problems,” explains Eran Levy of the business-intelligence (BI) platform Sisense. “Whether it’s high customer churn rates or ballooning operational costs, data analysis can help you understand where your business is stumbling as well as suggest possible causes and solutions.”
Team-building
To succeed in business in the past, you had to succeed on your own. Success, power, raises, promotions and market share resulted from what you could do better, faster or cheaper than the next guy. Building, inspiring and motivating a team didn’t make sense.
Today, we value the power of accomplishment in groups. We know we can get more done if we work together. The Larry Tates of the world never would have asked direct reports for ideas or direction. He was the boss, and he dictated thusly. In his mind, lower-level employees were supposed to work their way up and respect their elders.
Today, however, successful executives are not only comfortable relying on their teams for new strategies, they actively foster a culture of collaboration.
Transparency
Corporate transparency is a commitment to informing employees about what’s going on in the company, whether it’s positive or negative.
In the past, business leaders kept this information to themselves. Only those in positions of power needed to know the score. Today’s leaders understand that being transparent about company goals and earnings makes employees feel more valued.
Corporate-culture consultant Glenn Llopis reinforces the idea that transparency helps cultivate trust. “If you are transparent, especially during the worst of times, you actually strengthen your leadership as people begin to trust you as person and thus will respect you more as a leader.”
Be today’s leader
Although business leaders of the past did help us get to where we are today, let’s stop relying on them for inspiration. It’s time to turn over a new leaf and embrace the modern executive.
Learn from my mistakes and save yourself unnecessary hardship
By Jonathan Long
We all make mistakes — it’s part of life, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. This game is far from a cakewalk.
Mistakes can end up costing you time and money, while also causing you to miss out on opportunities. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in the early days of my entrepreneurial journey. Here are five early mistakes I made — don’t make the same ones.
1. I didn’t value my time.
This is a common mistake many entrepreneurs make, and I chalk it up to excitement — you want to talk to everyone that shows interest in what you are doing. The trouble though, is that when you give away your time for free, you are pulling it away from your business.
When I started my marketing agency and we were a service provider, I would speak to every business owner that inquired about what we offered. There were no qualification steps in place to ensure the potential customer had the budget to hire an agency. Over time, we implemented qualifying questions into our lead forms. Throughout the years, my company has evolved into a consulting agency and I now charge for my time.
2. I didn’t think long-term.
When I first started, I was so focused on the “now” that I failed to think long-term. My agency offered every digital marketing service under the sun — from SEO and social media management to website design and pay-per-click management.
It would have been wiser to specialize in just a few services and focus on growing them, which we eventually did. Over the years, we limited our offerings, eventually eliminating all services and becoming an online marketing consulting agency. Try to look ahead three to five years when making decisions — it’s something I wish I did from the beginning.
3. I did everything myself.
I thought I was unstoppable — working 18 hour days and living on Red Bull washed down with pre-workout supplements for non-stop energy. Instead of helping my business, I was burning myself out and living an unhealthy lifestyle.
The sooner you can come to terms with the fact that you can’t do it all and learn to delegate tasks, the better off you will be. I put people in place that were exceptionally good at what they did, and assigned them to handle applicable tasks, which cleared my plate. This allowed me to not only better allocate my time to work on the business, but to create a healthy work-life balance as well.
4. I wasn’t active on my personal social media accounts.
I knew the importance of social media from day one, but I focused on building and engaging through accounts for the company. I completely ignored my own personal profiles, which was a huge mistake. Today, all of my social media energy is focused on my personal accounts, with the majority of my focus on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
You can have social profiles for your brand, but you can’t neglect your personal social media. Personal branding is so important today, and social media is a huge component of that — most consumers would rather interact with a person, rather than a faceless company account.
5. I didn’t develop industry relationships in the beginning.
When I first launched my marketing agency, I thought of the competition as enemies. I wanted to crush everyone. I would get emails from founders at other agencies wanting to network and discuss strategies. Selfishly (and foolishly), I deleted every single one.
Over the years, some of the most beneficial relationships I built were with other industry professionals, and today, some of my close friends work in the industry. There is so much to gain from networking and bouncing ideas back and forth — take the time to network in person at conferences or at the very least, join industry related Facebook groups.
Entrepreneurs need to overcome the scarcity mindset
By Scott Oldford
If you want to scale your business in 2018, there is one thing you need to upgrade on a near daily basis. It isn’t your marketing, sales or operations, and it has nothing to do with Facebook Ads, marketing funnels or social media.
The one thing you have to consistently keep growing is your mindset.
But, this isn’t about personal development, yoga or meditation. This is about escaping the scarcity mindset that society has created over the years. This is the mindset the vast majority of people are stuck in, as they fear there isn’t enough to fulfill their dreams.
If they want something it has to be at the expense of another. There isn’t enough in their world, so they are afraid to take a risk, challenge the status quo and step outside of their comfort zone.
But, as an entrepreneur you are part of the 1 percent, so you cannot think like this. You are part of the 1 percent that must escape this scarcity mindset, because the other 99 percent rely on you to progress and innovate.
In a scarcity mindset, you will not achieve this. So, one of your biggest duties as an entrepreneur is to discover, accept and embrace an abundance mindset so you not only create abundance for yourself, but for others, too.
Abundance breeds freedom.
Without true freedom all you will do is remain in “hustle mode,” and Instead of becoming the king or queen inside your business, you’ll constantly worry about what’s in it for you.
This is a problem, because so long as you’re worrying about where the next dollar comes from, you will never be able to unleash your “why” onto the world.
This “why” is what separates you from everyone else, and holds the key to achieving the business you desire. But, the only way to have this “why” is to be free, and the only way to become free is to enjoy abundance every single day. Abundance allows you to think about the big picture and how you truly impact those you serve. It lets you imagine the impossible instead of how you can continue to just “get by.”
Abundance leads to fulfillment.
Once you step into your “why” and start focusing on the big picture, something amazing happens because you begin to feel fulfilled. Fulfillment breeds contentment in ways you have never experienced before, which leads you to happiness (in your work and your life).
When you break down what you want as an entrepreneur, isn’t it this?: Freedom, fulfillment, happiness.
Isn’t the reason you do what you do is so you can have a massive impact on those you serve and change the world in a way only you can? No matter how big or small this impact is, it’s this notion of impact that fuels your motivation, desire and purpose.
The only way to have this impact is to live-and-breathe freedom, fulfillment and happiness, and this all begins with abundance; an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity based one.
Why are most people afraid of abundance?
Most people are afraid to live a good life. This may sound strange, but it’s true because they are afraid to escape their scarcity mindset, challenge their beliefs and commit to leaving a meaningful impact on this planet. The reason is, we were all brought up to believe there’s only so much pie. Our parents, teachers, society as a whole taught us there’s only so much to go around.
This is not true!
For you and me, there’s a limitless amount of pie because we can always go out and create more value. This is abundance. There is no limit to the value we can create and distribute, so long as we have the creativity and ability to create this value. Because of this, there’s always an abundance of money, opportunity, resources and impact (for us and those around us).
Abundance creates true success.
I often write and talk about how you need a seven-figure business to fulfill your version of success in today’s fast-paced world. But, you don’t need this because of the money it brings, rather the impact you will create on the back of this.
The fact is, you need profit to have the impact you desire. You need money and you need a scalable, profitable, successful business to make this happen. Without this, you will struggle to live your “why” and have a meaningful impact on those you serve — you will simply keep going around and around the six-figure hamster wheel, feeding your scarcity mindset as you do.
So you see, you aren’t building an abundant mindset to make money or lead a fame-filled lifestyle. The lifestyle is nice, as are the fancy cars and things you can buy. But, the real reason you need an abundant mindset is because it breeds the freedom, fulfillment and happiness you need to achieve your “why.”
This “why” allows you to build a profitable business that unleashes the impact only you can unleash. This is the reason you are here, and this is the reason you are part of the 1 percent who do not play by the same rules as everyone else. So, if you know you’re afraid to let go of your scarcity mindset, I challenge you to fight it and become part of the 1 percent, because abundance breeds abundance.
You will elevate your own business to the next level, but you will also impact and inspire others to follow suit (those people you serve: your team, customers, partners, family …).
We have all been lied to our entire lives.
The pie we’re fighting for is infinite, as are the opportunities that await us. Your job as an entrepreneur is to discover this, accept it and embrace the abundance. So, let go of what holds you back, and get back to work.
You need passion to start a business but a lot more than that to succeed at business
By Timothy Sykes
With the end of 2017, you may look at the stock market and think businesses can do no wrong right now. That’s because the S&P 500 is up 20 percent on the year, and similar numbers have been recorded for major stock markets in both Europe and Asia.
But, don’t be fooled. Everything goes in cycles and if you’re in this for the long haul you must iron out the mistakes undermining all your hard work.
Here are my four of the most common entrepreneurial mistakes destroying your business, and what you can do about them.
1. You haven’t learned the needed skills.
Nobody should do business without truly knowing what they’re doing. Take former day trader and mass murderer Mark Barton as an example. In 1999 in Atlanta he lost his life savings and inheritance through day trading. His lack of skills sent him over the edge and he would go on to kill 12 people, including his wife and children.
An extreme example, yes, but it’s just one of the many examples of failed businesspeople who tried to take on something they weren’t qualified for.
That’s why I coach; to help novices learn their craft. I never advocate just jumping in and picking it up as you go.
2. You mistake having goals for having a strategy.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You have a strategy, so you don’t need to worry. But, the truth is that a lot of business strategies aren’t strategies.
Let’s say you decide that you want to expand into Europe from North America. That’s a goal, not a strategy. It doesn’t tell you how you’re going to do anything or offer a roadmap for how to get there.
Take British toy company Hornby Railways as an example. They created a strategy to avert bankruptcy through creating scale models of trains that appealed to nostalgic adults and serious collectors. It was successful because it was clear, direct, and told them how they were going to achieve their goal.
Remember, a strategy shouldn’t just reveal your goals it should tell you how to get there.
3. You aren’t doing your research.
You may have read in the Tim Ferris book 4-Hour Work Week that he gathers knowledge through relying on others to do the hard work.
To an extent, this is possible. However, I always advocate doing your own research. In the business arena if you just copy everyone else you’re reliant on their success or failure to succeed.
Forge your own destiny by researching things yourself.
4. You ignore your instincts.
I’ve lost count of the amount of times my gut instincts have saved me from making a big mistake. I like to think of my gut as my subconscious. It knows things I can’t recall right now. It’s tapping into that knowledge deep inside my mind.
Sometimes thinking obsessively can lead us to making the wrong decisions because we paralyze ourselves. Obey your gut and if you really feel as if something about your business isn’t right make a change.
These four mistakes are also my four principles for doing business right. Read back over them before you move on and see if you can apply them to your business.
Building your future requires equal measures of passion and hard work
By Suhaib Mohammed
Building a small business online is scary. Big businesses can easily outspend you with PPC, SEO, SMM and inbound marketing campaigns.
However, smart startup founders grimly pass around business battles on the blogosphere, charging low prices for quality product, reversing their vision, failing to voice their opinion on their podcasts, showing contempt for our product, and disrespect for our craft.
And yet, look around at the World Wide Web jungle. It’s watered by the services offered by small businesses. The technology to produce product and convert customers exists because we create codes, design services, and write web pages, blog posts, and marketing materials that generate leads and close sales. And every 350-pound gorilla company uses our products or services to thrive.
If you’re a small online business owner, you can chicken out and quit when you face your competitor in the marketing arena, or you can choose something better. Because there is something better.
In the time since I began building my content marketing business online, I’ve noticed some mindsets, traits, and abilities that make the difference between businesses that want to accelerate their sales, make a profit, and survive, and businesses that want to sell more and increase their ROI but don’t seem to have the ability to do so.
Based on my observations, here are the seven most important things small businesses need to succeed online.
1. Passion.
This might sound too simple, but if you’re a small business owner, you know what I mean.
There’s no substitute for the love you have for your products or services. There’s no substitute for the commitment of showing up every day. There’s no substitute for the excitement of receiving an order or for the burning desire to work extra hours, to reach your prospect, to ship an order, and to make more money.
If you don’t love entrepreneurship, your product or service, and the process of getting things done, none of the rest of this really means anything.
I could have just as easily dreamed of building another Moz, Kissmetrics, or Shopify, but I chose what I loved most. Whichever business idea you dream of, it’s about refusing to do it just for the money. It’s not only about making money; it’s about changing your customer’s life for the better.
If you want to achieve that, you have to dominate your industry. You have to be the go-to person for your products or services. Be super professional at your offerings so that your customers won’t want to leave you for your competitor.
2. Attitude of service.
Making money can be a tempting proposition, pursued for the sake of your own interest of becoming rich and dominating the headlines.
However, as soon as the customer clicks to order your product — the vitamin C pills, the Smartphone cover, the SEO or PR services you sell — the product becomes the focus.
Professional founders work with an attitude of serving their customers great value, yes, serving them with beautiful, durable, quality products. They also work to provide excellent customer experiences that exceed their expectations, that gratify rather than aggravate, and that are born out of the genuine attitude of serving the buyer.
Successful consultants, bloggers, and content marketers all live in service to our clients. No matter how stunning or super sexy we may find an idea, if it doesn’t serve our client, out it goes.
Why? Because we have deep love and obsession for our customers.
3. Obsession for the customer.
It has always struck me as odd that many of the most serious startup founders pay more attention to selling than to their customers.
It shouldn’t be that way. Customer obsession comes first. It’s like the engine that pumps cash into your corporate account. It comes from your company’s culture, value proposition, mission, and overall vision to change your customer’s world with your product or service.
Serious visionaries are obsessed with their customers. “If you’re truly obsessed about your customers,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO says. “It will cover a lot of your other mistakes.”
You can’t just sell your products. You can’t just sell your services. You can’t just advertise your brand.
You need to appeal to your customers first, because they are your buyers. And you can’t see a spike in your revenue unless you’re obsessive about charming them with your brand and building quality products that will ease their lives.
4. Obsession for quality.
Many small-business owners imagine that if you have a great business idea and a great vision, you’re qualified to be called an entrepreneur.
Not so fast.
Successful CEOs and entrepreneurs are not just creative; they’re producers of quality products. They understand what type of products to create in the first place, based on the feedback they get from their customers.
They also understand that their products must solve their customers’ pain points. Their products must add value to their customers’ lives and must provide great experiences for them. You can learn more about how to build a solid product by looking at how great companies like Apple, Amazon, and Starbucks did it.
If you are obsessed with quality, you can incorporate what you learn from these companies into your business culture. Beyond your product or service, you can internalize quality packaging, simple usability, prompt responsiveness to customer queries, and even quality, compelling content on your company blog.
Because in today’s digitally driven marketing world, quality blog content is king. It’s crucial for your traffic, sales, and revenue.
5. Compelling content.
You may have a brilliant idea. You may have gotten the perfect product/market fit. But, if you don’t devote yourself to the butt-in-chair time needed to produce a significant quantity of compelling content on your company blog, you won’t get where you want to go.
To a great degree, writing compelling content is a skill that can be cultivated. As a small business owner, you can devote some time to practice the art, ingrain writing into your schedule, and write every day to master the craft, or dig deep into freelance marketplaces to find a superb content creator.
Compelling content does more than just amuse your clients. Compelling content can change your life. After writing this viral post on this amazing platform, I received a dozen praises from readers across the globe. I also got a couple of writing gigs.
The blog post went viral not only because the story appealed to its intended audience, but also because the conversational tone and writing style are so engaging and entertaining … the reader feels compelled to share it.
Writing compelling posts has nothing to do with your degree, your experience, or whether or not you’re a native English speaker. It’s about how you make readers feel. That’s why every writer — just like every entrepreneur — must be creative, imaginative, and innovative.
6. Innovation.
Innovation is critical for your business growth for a number of reasons.
First, innovation develops customer value. Your customers are always in need of a product that will ease their lives, and once they get it, they move on to something else — something easier, newer, or simpler. As Steve Jobs put it, “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them,” the Apple founder opined. “By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
Second, innovation is vital for your traffic, sales, and revenue. New ideas, new products, and new stories are what always get the most attention. “The arrogance of success,” according to William Pollard, “is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”
Third, innovation-active businesses are more productive and generate more jobs than non-innovation-active businesses, according to a recent data by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
But, building new products from your new ideas is risky. There’s a good chance that you’ll fail. Still, you must do it. You must double up on your experimentation. Bezos says, “If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your inventiveness.” You’ll see wonders if you consistently innovate.
7. Consistency.
One of the tough things about growing a startup is that the path you walk is one you make yourself.
There’s no one to tell you how you should work, no one to tell you which direction to go, no one to tell you when to go for a break, no one to tell you when to work extra hours, and no one to tell you when to say no and when you need to be where.
That’s one of the fantastic things about running your own business. But, sometimes Fantastic is also Difficult. You might open your e-commerce shop today, work for an hour, check your email, and retreat for the day.
But, can you come back to do exactly the same thing tomorrow? Can you do it again the day after tomorrow, and again the day after that, and again, and again? Consistently?
That’s the difficult part. And that’s where many entrepreneurs are getting it all wrong.
Building a thriving business is not about working for extra hours today and not working the next day. It’s about doing the work that matters consistently. It’s about showing up every day. It’s about minimalism, not complexity.
So roll up your sleeves and keep working. “For the future,” as Paul Wellstone puts it, “belongs to those who are passionate and work hard.”
People who listen are heard. Braggarts mostly end up talking to themselves
By Sherrie Campbell
When we imagine the traits of successful leaders, whether they are managers, high level executives, CEO’s or owners of successful companies we typically view them to be strong, charismatic, enthusiastic and visionary. The one important trait often overlooked in great leaders is modesty.
To be great, leaders need more depth than a loud mouth, the power of persuasion, and over the top self-confidence. This type of leadership is top-down, wedging a great divide between leaders and their team members or colleagues. Leaders who possess an air of modesty have shown to produce higher quality work and to drive higher quality performance in the following ways.
1. Inclusive
Modest leaders have no need or desire to be better, separate or above those they lead. They take an egalitarian approach to their leadership. They welcome and are open to hearing the thoughts, ideas and opinions of others. Rather than seeking others to approve of them, they are more interested in seeing how others can help them improve the overall culture of success.
These types of leaders are effective because they place such a high value and making decisions which are in the best interest of their team. They are clear that no one person has all the answers, especially themselves. People work harder for leaders who value what they have to contribute rather than having their opinions ignored and/or dismissed. Modest leaders are comfortable asking for input but can be equally as decisive when the situation calls for it.
2. Other centered
When leaders are genuinely concerned for the well-being of their team members, it makes sense that team members would show higher quality performance. Their leader is viewed as among them, as “on their team.” This doesn’t indicate the leader has to babysit or micromanage their every move; rather, the work environment, as a whole, is based in caring and teamwork. No one is left alone to struggle.
Unassuming leaders used positive acknowledgement as a motivating force, as they know people cannot be demeaned or beat-up into producing quality work. It has been shown time and again, that productivity is much higher when team members believe their leader is consistently looking out for them.
3. Accountability
One of the key makers of modesty is the ability to admit wrong. It is difficult for team members to be transparent and open when leaders make themselves emotionally unavailable, immune to being wrong or to making critical mistakes. This creates an oppressive, causing team members to work in fear and to hide mistakes whenever possible.
As human beings, we all make mistakes. When our leader is self-effacing and open about their own missteps, how they deal with and recover from them, team members learn to trust their leader more deeply and to see him/her as more understanding and approachable. This inspires team members to openly seek guidance and receive feedback when needed. People don’t typically feel compelled to follow a leader who has never suffered. The greatest compliment to a great leader, is the trust of their team members.
4. Composure
Modesty brings composure. Effective leaders are able to accept ambiguity instead of struggling for the need to control. They accept that not everything can be perfectly anticipated or predicted. When humility is present, leaders show the composure to wait and see how uncertain factors fall into place before making decisions. Many leaders want to control everything.
Reality is, there are simply some things that absolutely cannot be known upfront. The composure to wait takes self-control, and helps leaders to more accurately know when to step in and take charge, and when to give things a bit more time to marinate. These types of leaders are great models for letting things go instead of trying to force things in place. There is great value in being able to admit that the best answer or course of direction isn’t always available until more information becomes available. This skill is exactly what they want to teach and see emulated in those they lead.
5. Personal growth
Modesty is best developed through investing in our own personal growth, as modesty doesn’t come easy to everyone. The large majority of effective leaders engage in daily journaling and reading to keep themselves focused and well managed. They examine where they’re succeeding, and the areas in which they need improvement. By documenting what they do well in their interactions and how they could have communicated better enhances their perspective on where they are in need of some improvement. They encourage their team members to also actively engage in their own self-reflection, so as to increase their capacity to succeed.
6. Value independence
Overcontrolling leadership kills morale, longing and high-quality performance. Humble leaders take a vested interest in hiring good people, in training them and then getting out of their way so as to allow the people they’ve hired the freedom and independence to do their job.
Modest leaders are able to admit that their way is not the only way and that some of the people they hire are more effective than themselves in certain roles or with certain responsibilities. In being able to accept these truths it allows team members to offer the best parts of themselves to the whole, creating an environment of comradery and team cohesion. When people are given the freedom to utilize the best of their skills to any job, and they feel valued for their part, teams succeed.
7. Optimistic
Optimism is the driving force that supports team members to be as successful as they have the potential to be. Modest leaders demonstrate the depth of their own self-awareness along with the awareness they have of each individual team member. They use this knowledge and insight to treat each team member according to their unique needs.
Optimism makes team members want to perform up to standard or above. The better they perform, the more positivity they contribute to the overall work environment. When the leadership is pessimistic, the trickle effect is that the negativity infects each and every team member, taking morale down and increasing tensions and conflict. It takes steadfast modesty to stay positive, even when things aren’t perfect.
Building confidence is a daily habit that every entrepreneur needs to incorporate into their routine. It can be easy to listen to that inner voice and recognize your faults over your accomplishments. Having the proper amount of self-esteem is necessary to perform as a business owner, and you need to learn how to silence the critic that seems to take over your mind at times.
There are a variety of techniques that you can employ to increase your self-confidence, from good posture to a sharp outfit, according to a report by Pick The Brain. These tips can help you focus on the task at hand instead of your shortcomings, making you a more effective leader and business owner.
Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their favorite activities for building confidence. Here is what they recommend:
1. Improv Classes
Improv classes can greatly cut down on your inner critic (“What if I look like an idiot?” “What if no one laughs?”). Having to not only think on your feet — a great skill for entrepreneurs — but also present those thoughts in a cohesive way will be greatly valued as you grow your business.
Putting yourself in uncomfortable situations in front of strangers will only help you gain confidence in your presentation skills. Early in my business, I would often be in meetings where new questions that I had never thought of were being thrown at me. Instead of sweating and fretting, I was able to communicate calmly and enthusiastically that I would be able to get back to them with answers. Signing up for improv classes helped me to live out the motto of, “never let them see you sweat!” – Kim Kaupe, ZinePak
2. Meditation
I find that practicing meditation and clearing my mind works best for silencing my inner critic. It’s difficult at first, but if you keep at it, you’ll get better with time and start noticing that your mind is so clear that if a negative thought comes in, it feels out of place. Sometimes before giving a speech in front of a large crowd, I’ll get nervous and notice my heart pacing fast, so I will focus on taking deep and slow breaths to bring my heart back to a normal, relaxed pace. When the rhythm of my heart is steady, my whole body is relaxed. – Syed Balkhi, OptinMonster
3. Ten Unique Ideas, Every Single Day
From “10 things that are better than staying home all day,” to “10 old ideas that I can make new all over again,” to “10 industries that I can remove the middleman from,” I make sure to write 10 ideas inside my bullet journal every single night. It doesn’t matter if I’m having a great day or a terrible day.
This one exercise encourages my brain to get over the fear of coming up with bad ideas and pushes me to think beyond the ordinary. There are a lot of speed bumps along the way, but when I look at the future log in my bullet journal and see the big picture, I realize that I’m still relatively on track. So I do the best that I can to continue coming up with ideas, no matter where I am. These ideas actually do come in handy! – Cody McLain, SupportNinja
4. A ‘Good Feelings’ Folder
Each time someone praises my work, I add their comments to my “good feelings” folder. I’ve got everything in there, from one-line emails to book reviews. Whenever I feel less than confident in my own abilities, I read through the folder.
Personally, knowing that other people think good of my work is really reassuring. This strategy does require keeping an eye out for people saying nice things about your work. You may be surprised by how many examples you find — our inner voices are good at replaying criticism and keeping it fresh, but not so great at reminding us of praise. – Thursday Bram, The Responsible Communication Style Guide
5. Public Speaking
I was at a large agency working with top brands online, and I was asked to be an adjunct professor in SEO at NYU. As a non-native English speaker, I was nervous about my presentation, but it was one of the best things I have done. Public speaking and teaching seminars diversified my business, allowing me to build my own boutique agency and an SEO academy.
My inner critic was my spoken and written voice. The more I use both, in the form of seminars, lectures, and videos, in addition to two books with incredible editors, the stronger a public speaker and writer I become. I am able to offer my clients much more of myself and my products, and my accent has not stopped me. I use my narrative as a lesson in how to silence the inner critic now and celebrate the diversity. – Matthew Capala, Search Decoder
6. Mantras For The Entrepreneur
I was having a discussion with some founders, and we were talking about the mantras we tell ourselves when the going gets tough. Two of mine are, “No one can steal my peace without my permission,” and, “Help or get out of the way.” These two have kept me calm and moving at a successful speed over the years.
For instance, when someone is rude or dismissive of me in business, because of the former mantra, I simply let their behavior and opinions be, and move along. I don’t take it personally. The latter, “Help or get out of the way,” is helpful because I like to listen, but ultimately, the work just needs to get done. I know where I am going and whose advice I need. Everybody else can either help or get out of the way! What do you need to hear today to give you a better tomorrow? – Rebecca Devaney, Hunter Creative Labs
7. More Reading And Writing
There is nothing that can make someone feel more confident than mastering the ability to understand their inner thoughts and express those thoughts to others. Reading challenging literature will help you understand abstract concepts and expand your vocabulary, helping you to define the world around you. Practicing these new terms and concepts by writing for leisure in your spare time will help reinforce this new skill, and will improve your ability to communicate.
Taking a public speaking course can be helpful for, well, public speaking, but it doesn’t guarantee you will be able to say anything interesting or insightful. Speaking skills are almost worthless without some knowledge backing it up, which is why reading and writing regularly can improve your confidence exponentially. – Bryce Welker, Beat The CPA
8. Making Lists
Making lists has always worked to help me recognize patterns and behaviors that have a negative impact on my personal or professional life. My process involves creating a list of criticisms I’ve weighed against myself, coupled with complaints I’ve received from partners or peers. I then spend time internalizing these criticisms and try to discern whether or not these elements can be improved upon, or whether they’re personality traits that would otherwise be difficult to change.
I try not to fault myself for behaviors that are intrinsically a part of who I am as an owner and an individual, and instead focus on those aspects I can truly correct for the betterment of myself, my company, and my colleagues. Just be careful not to over-analyze; work towards improvement, not perfection. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
9. Jamming Out
Whenever I’m in need of a confidence boost, I turn up the music. There’s something about singing and dancing that creates energy and loosens you up. Generally, low confidence is related to low energy. So the first step is getting your blood flowing. I don’t care if it’s the crack of dawn, a good tune can make all the difference in the world. Singing your favorite power anthem really helps. They say it’s not the Air Jordans that made Michael Jordan fly. While that may be true, Air Jordans are like music: confidence boosting. And when you’re playing at the top of your game, you need all you can get! – Robby Berthume, Bull & Beard
A woman took her 2-year-old son on a five-month biking journey and learned valuable lessons to start a company
By Maggie Schlarb
I had just left a steady job to launch a career as a health coach. My husband, an ultra runner, was in the Air Force: a good job with good benefits. We had stability and a 2-year-old son, Felix. But like a lot of entrepreneurs, stability wasn’t enough. We wanted to create a way to make our lives a permanent adventure.
So we made a big leap. We quit our jobs, drew on our savings and set out to bike across the South Island of New Zealand for five months, with Felix literally in tow — in a trailer. Some of our friends thought we were insane. But we had to go.
The cycle tour began on a rainy, gray day, just outside Christchurch. We had all the belongings we needed for the next five months and a loose itinerary. The latter was out of necessity — you can only plan so much on a trip like this — but it also represented a chance for me to let go a little bit, to learn to worry less about not knowing exactly what was going to happen on any given day.
And a lot happened. During our first week, we got a flat tire about six miles from our destination. It was getting dark, and rain clouds were looming. As we sat outside a small shop in Staveley, fixing the flat, I felt a sense of urgency to get going and find shelter. A woman came over and invited us to come to her place just down the way so we could stay dry. We said no. I was stubborn. I wanted to get this tire fixed and get on with it. But she persisted.
Finally, we said yes. Her son made us a delicious meal, and we enjoyed a beautiful conversation on the deck while the rain poured down. We ended up being invited inside her home to sleep. Best of all, we found out that this woman just so happened to be Lynda Topp — one of the famous Topp Twins, recently returned from entertaining Prince Charles.
We had countless experiences like that. We met a lot of friends, had a lot of adventure. And Felix, if you’re wondering, was a star. It shaped who he is.
Same for me. Today I run my own business. It blends my love for travel, the outdoors and finding inspiration and insight in physical activity by combining seminars with adventure travel. We now have three people working for us, and revenue has increased tenfold since we launched three years ago. I couldn’t have done any of it without the lessons of our trip. Yes, persistence is critical, but sometimes putting yourself in the middle of nowhere and going with the flow is the real key to achieving the life you want.
Here are some simple tips to jumpstart your success
By Rose Leadem
There are certain habits and qualities you can develop to position yourself toward success. When it comes down to it, one of the most important success qualities is focus — in fact, 80 percent of successful people focus on reaching a single goal, rather than on many things at once.
It’s also important to be optimistic and cultivate a positive mindset. Believing in yourself and keeping up your morale is a key component towards reaching success. Staying committed, being brave and taking action are other important qualities that you have to develop in order to steer yourself on the road to success.
Developing the right habits is also important, and these can be as simple as keeping a journal to jot down your thoughts and ideas, visualizing success and having a solid morning routine.
Success and Work-Life Balance – Follow These Resolutions to Have It All
By Susan Ward
The end of the year is a good time to reflect on your business’s progress over the past year and plan how you want your business to develop. Do you want increased success in the coming year or the chance to enjoy the success you’ve achieved more?
These top New Year’s resolutions are designed to help you do both – strike a better work-life balance and increase your business success in the new year.
1) Learn how to delegate and do more of it.
There are so many things to do when you’re running a small business, it’s easy to delude ourselves that we need to do all of them. Then we wonder why we’re so tired and frazzled and have no time to do anything else! Let someone else do some of the tasks for a change. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance.
2) Promote your business regularly and consistently.
Too often the task of promoting a small business slips to the bottom of the to-do list in the press of urgent tasks. If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. One of your top New Year’s resolutions should be to hire a marketing expert or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through. Try some of these Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business to get started.
3) Make business planning a weekly event.
Planning is vital if you want a healthy, growing business.
Business planning lets you take stock of what worked and what didn’t work, and helps you set new directions or adjust old goals. So why do it just once a year or once a quarter? Set aside time each week to review, adjust, and look forward – or even better, make business planning a part of each day.
Not only will this help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on track, but you’ll feel more focused and relaxed.
4) Learn something new.
What you choose to learn may be directly related to your business or completely unrelated. Learning something new will add to your skills and add a new dimension of interest to your life – another important part of achieving a healthy work-life balance and increasing your business success.
Learn How to Choose the Right Business Consultant, Trainer or Business Coach. Depending on how you choose to learn, you may meet new and interesting people, who may become customers, colleagues or friends. How will you find the time to learn something new? By delegating, remember?
5) Join a new business organization or networking group.
There’s nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas, refining old ones, and making contacts. Whether it’s a group specifically designed for networking or an organization dedicated to a particular type of business, in person or over the internet, making the effort to be a part of a group will revitalize you and your business. These 22 Tips to Use at Your Next Networking Event will make your next time out a more successful experience.
6) Give something back to your community.
There are all kinds of worthy organizations that make a difference in your community. Those that give get. As I say in Top 10 Ways to Get Known, nothing will seed and grow goodwill for you and your business better than giving back to your community.
So make one of your top New Year’s resolutions to find a cause that matters to you and give what you can. Make this the year that you serve on a committee, be a mentor, volunteer or make regular donations to the groups in your community that try to make the place you live a better place.
7) Put time for you on your calendar.
It’s so important to take the time to recharge and refresh yourself; a healthy work-life balance and your small business’s success demands time out. All work and no play is a recipe for mental and physical disaster.
If you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, write time regularly into your schedule to “meet with yourself” and stick to that commitment. If you won’t invest in yourself, who will?
8) Set realistic goals.
Goal setting is a valuable habit – if the goals lead to success rather than distress. Resolve that the goals you set will be goals that are achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they only lead to frustration.
9) Don’t make do; get a new one.
Is there a piece of equipment in your office that’s interfering with your success or something that you lack that’s making your working life harder? Whether it’s an old fax machine that’s a pain to use or the need for a new employee to lighten your work load, stop putting off getting what you need. The irritation of making do just isn’t worth it.
10) Drop what’s not working for you and move on.
All products aren’t going to be super sellers, all sales methods aren’t going to work for everyone, and all suppliers or contractors aren’t going to be ideally suited to your business. If a technique or a product or a business relationship isn’t working for you, stop using it. Don’t invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable workable. Move on. Something better will turn up.
To a Better Year
Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these top New Year’s resolutions throughout the year, you’ll not only feel better but have more energy to put into your business and make it the success you deserve!
Lucidity SBM 