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Your Mentor May Be Close at Hand

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Where can you find someone who is just what you need? They may be sitting next to you reading the paper. Look around.

Personal Mentors

I’ve had several wonderful personal mentors. My godmother, Northwestern University professor Alvina Krause, had “teas”. At these salons, I learned the fine art of  conversation. My grandmother taught me the importance of family. My mother  helped me find my voice and be comfortable being myself. She always said, “We grew up together”. Maybe so, but she was also my guide. [Read more…]

Mentoring Is All About Choice

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Do you want to find a mentor? Do you want to be a mentor? As Pamela Ryckman says, the author of Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business.,  “Mentoring—or at minimum connecting with a variety of people in all industries and age groups—has never been more important.”

Having a successful experience as a mentor or as a mentee is dependent on the choices you make before and during the relationship.  You can be better prepared to use mentoring if you understand what each side is expecting and what choices have to be made. If you already use mentoring, consider how you made your choices.  There are ways to improve the experience for both of you. [Read more…]

Networking Rules for Friends

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4 More Networking Rules: Successful Networking with Friends

There are standard Networking Rules that can be applied most of the time. But friends aren’t just anybody and they deserve some special attention. Consider using these rules with the most valuable people in your formal and informal networks and when doing personal networking with friends, family, and others who are close to you. [Read more…]

Tweet Me Some Tweets

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Work lazier not harder.

I like to create a post or a page then tweet about it. In the past, I have created the post / page, run its URL through bit.ly to get an abbreviated URL, then tweeted about the post / page just created.

A friend of mine, Dr Jan Triplett of the Business Success Center, web site of ownersview.com wanted to be able to tweet directly from a just completed post /page without the extra steps I just described above. [Read more…]

Ghost Competitors Are Out to Get Your Sales

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Photo by Adam Kusmierz from flickr.com

Photo by Adam Kusmierz from flickr.com

Ghost competitors. They come out at night. They come out during the day. They come when you are awake. They come when you are asleep. They come when you are at work or at play. They are always there. Lurking.

There are four of them; like the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They ride down on you. You can’t fight them so you need to be vigilant and get out of the way. They seem harmless or well meaning. But, beware!

Who are they?

Your worst nightmares:

  1. Government
  2. Non-profit and tax exempts
  3. DIYers
  4. DNAAs [Read more…]

Sales and Use Tax Could Be Your Nemesis

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Tax sign

Sign of the times for buyers & sellers. Photo by 401(K) 2013

Sales and use tax is not logical and it can’t be ignored. It’s tough to understand, hard to follow, and frustrating at the least.

According to a recent Fred Pryor seminar, when you charge sales tax, you aren’t taxing the property or service itself, but the retailing of it. Use taxes are complimentary or supplemental to sales tax and are designed to help the state get all the taxes due for the storage, use or consumption of goods or services in a state. They are used to help prevent tax evasion by those who make out-of-state purchases, level the playing field between in-state and out of state sellers, and  to deal with transfers or sales  of property or used equipment between division or subsidiaries. Use taxes are usually remitted by the buyer. [Read more…]

8 Ways to Avoid Networking Burnout

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(from The Networker’s Guide to Success*)

Too many options can lead to networking burnout

Too many options can lead to networking burnout

What’s Networking Burnout? It’s like other kinds of emotional burnout.  You get it from doing too much and not “giving it a rest”. It can happen at any time but people are extremely vulnerable at the end of the year or end of a quarter when they begin to focus on what’s not done.

I was recently at a meeting and someone I respect said if you’re a good networker, you’re always networking. She may be right but it can be draining so don’t let it happen to you. [Read more…]

Repositioning Makes Old Products New Again

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Dogs have slept with humans for years. Now it's used as a repositioning reality™ for Serta. Photo from Commons at flickr.com

Dogs have slept with humans for years. Now it’s used as a repositioning reality™ for Serta. Photo from Commons at flickr.com

Repositioning helps customers think of your product or service in a new way.

Sometimes it works. I grew up with $10 tennis shoes. Nike told younger generations they were “training tools” (with appropriate tool and endorsers  names) not just shoes. Nike got it right and made big profits. [Read more…]