Experience is the key to surviving in your path through the maze of regulations, computations, and tribulations that will face you when you set out on your own business venture. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, experience is what you get immediately after you needed it. That's why it's so important to borrow the wisdom of others - and that's what mentoring is all about. Mentoring is a time-honoured tradition in...
In a very real sense, relationships are the fundamental building block of human society. It should come as no surprise, then, that when it comes to your business, the way you create and maintain your network of relationships is paramount to success. After all, a business is a vehicle for delivering goods or services between people – a transaction that is itself just another form of relationship. When you're in...
You might think you're getting into business for yourself to pursue your dreams. Finally, you think, you'll be doing what you love and working for yourself, and you'll be happy. You might even be right. Unfortunately, odds are good that you're not. Even if you're getting into a business that you're passionate about - which you should be, if at all possible - working at anything for 18 hours a day,...
No matter what industry you're in or what business you manage, the most important component of your business is your reputation and authenticity. When you interact with somebody, they have to make a judgment as to whether or not what you're offering is worth their time. We live in a fast-paced world, and a lot of businesses try to offer rapid-fire convenience or bare-bones service in exchange for low prices....
I've got a to-do list that's a mile long, it sometimes feels, and I'm sure you can relate. My list is important, and it helps me focus on what I need to accomplish and prioritize my tasks - both essential undertakings. But man, can it be a drag! What's more, it's not as useful as you might think. The time you spend on your to-do list doesn't always match up...
In many ways, your business is like an organic life form – it grows, it consumes resources and converts them into other resources, and if neglected it decays and eventually dies. It makes sense that business would in so many ways mimic their component human lives, just as the human life cycle so closely resembles (and is so utterly dependent on) the life cycles of its constituent cells. Another sense...
Experience, as they say, is what you get immediately after you need it. No doubt you've experienced this unfortunate truth many times in your life; I certainly have. That's the beauty of training. It allows us to learn from the mistakes of others, rather than having to make our own (not that any teenager in the world is going to believe that). Fortunately for us both, we live in a...
Whether you're struggling with being productive, or a productive person who wants to increase that productivity still further, there are a few simple tricks and techniques I've picked up over the years to get my mind on track and get down to business. It's easy to procrastinate (and I've heard it said that the things you spend your time doing when you procrastinate are the things you should try to...
When you're a leader, you've got a lot on your plate. Some things simply need to be taken care of by you, rather than delegated or outsourced. Naturally, that means that the less attention you're spending on management, the more you have left for other things. But how do you give your team the guidance they need without over attention? The answer is building a culture that focuses on your...
Maybe you don't have a smartphone. If not, this is your day off. Go out and have a beer or two and ruminate on the simple, unencumbered life you've chosen. For the rest of us, put the phone down for a minute and take a look at this article. A smartphone is a powerful device for productivity - and equally as powerful a device of distraction. If you're anything like...