Proven Growth Structure to Take You to the Top
A little time wasting goes a long way. Photo by Cleaver.
No business can afford to have employees waste time or effort. No manager can expect employees to be 100% efficient either. Some time wasting activities can actually be rejuvenators according to an article on finding a productivity sweetspot by NICE Systems.
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Stakeholders can be useful to you but can go wild as well. Photo by cone_dnm
Stakeholders: can’t live without them and sometimes can’t live with them.
They are customers, providers, allies, employees, colleagues, the government, the media, competitors, influencers and many, many others. After reviewing a stakeholder map example that had 105 entries, I came up with at least 50 more. [Read more…]
Is bank robber Willie Sutton the inspiration of cyber criminals who are targeting small businesses?
If you thought only big business and infrastructure were at risk from cyber terrorism and cyber criminals, think again.
Small and medium-sized businesses are the new favorite targets of cyber criminals. This is according to Verizon’s 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report. That makes it something that affects every company of every size. It causes destruction and disruption and it has to be stopped. [Read more…]
Help interns learn the difference between their time & work time.
An intern isn’t just an employee. He or she is a student exploring this world you’ve created, ready to learn.
Even though many companies treat them as cheap labor or a part-time worker, that’s not living up to the pact between an employer and an intern. That’s bad for both parties and can lead to big problems, bad feelings, and worse. [Read more…]
GoLocal, a great rewards program, based in Austin, Texas, to encourage people to buy locally.
I have just finished a five-hour sales training session for Go Local an Austin, Texas company that is licensing its program nationwide to encourage people to support their locally owned businesses and buy locally. This is a great marketing tool for businesses and reward system for new and existing customers. Even though some of the licensees had sales experience, their questions and concerns prompted me to put together this list of sales concepts that I consider critical to success.
It starts with agreeing with the first “golden rule”. [Read more…]
Price right & reap your reward. Cartoon by Roger Stewart, Porthole Productions.
I have proposed a topic, “Best Practices in Pricing”, for ProductCamp Austin. If you’ve never been or ever heard of it, it’s a great day of free business information for product managers, business owners, and those thinking of starting a business. Attendees select the topics the day of the event so they get to hear what they are most interested in that day.
Although the session has sold out, there is a waiting list. I encourage you to get on it. For more information on Austin Product Camp, go to http://productcampaustin.org. For information on my session on Pricing and the 39 other great sessions, go to http://bit.ly/e6chc0. [Read more…]
Left-handers rule!
My brother gave me a copy of A Left-Handed History of the World by Ed Wright for Christmas. As my husband, Daniel, said, that’s much better than a previous gift of 101 Uses for a Dead Cat by Simon Bond. Others found it amusing, as a cat lover, I did not.
I am left-handed. It was interesting to read about other prominent lefties. Some of my favorites include: Queen Victoria, Charlie Chaplin, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Madame Curie, Henry Ford, Ramses the Great, and Joan of Arc. Several US presidents (Reagan, Ford, George W. Bush, and Clinton) were on the left – when it comes to hands at least. [Read more…]
I was just interviewed by Patricia Rogers of the Austin Business Journal . Ms. Rogers is the List Director for ABJ, writes the Growth Strategies and does some wonderful profiles. She asked me a lot of good questions and I learned something about her. She’s from Houston, we share a love of animals especially horses, and, luckily for Austin, she didn’t follow the advice of her uncle to stay out of journalism (he was a journalist in Houston).
What’s your scariest business moment. Mine? No one would show for a seminar I was giving. Photo from Flickr by Aunt Owwee
One question she didn’t ask was about a scary moment in business. Mine was scary and the most fun. Last March I did a program for SXSW “Networking for Introverts”. Why was I concerned? What if no one showed up? That didn’t happen. As a matter of fact the room was full to overflowing.
I wondered if they would participate. Not good for a speaker when everyone is silent. No worries here either. I found that if you give an introvert an opportunity to talk, they’ll take it. They came up with good comments and questions. It was a blast that I wish I could repeat. [Read more…]
Owners are often insomniac. Photo by Olivia Townsend.
News 8 reporter Harlan Schmidt interviewed me about why Austin is a good place to start a business. I told him it was Austin’s “can do & it’s ok to fail” culture. And it is also about the fact that we have a highly educated population which means we can learn from our mistakes.
Then he asked me what needs to be done to improve our ability to sustain businesses. After all, it is not about starting — anyone can start one. It is about keeping it going — although not necessarily growing as large as, say Dell. [Read more…]