Seth Godin on the tribes we lead [Część 1/2] [PL]

This is incredible! A must see!

Reinvent Your Business

By Linda Smith

In reading More magazine’s online version recently about their Reinvent Yourself feature I was struck by an idea: reinvent your business.   I liked reading the articles that answer their questions: “…Have you turned your passion into a business or a nonprofit? Have you pursued a dream, nurtured an artistic talent, or mastered a new hobby?…”

I know a few women who have changed direction in midlife and admire their courage and enthusiasm.  But what about those who like their business and don’t want to change careers or direction?  I began to think of the term “complacency.”  I like the Merriam-Webster definition: “…self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies….”  It’s the “deficiencies” aspect that struck me.  How many of us get so satisfied with our business, or with our current success, that we’re in danger of being complacent…of being blind to the deficiencies that might exist?

Let’s explore this by picturing our business as an office…four walls and a door.  Those of us with an office go in and out daily and over time can begin to not see what is there.  Have you ever noticed the phenomenon that at some point you no longer see the paintings hanging on your wall?  If one were to be removed, you might not even notice its absence at first?  That’s complacency and over-familiarity.  I think we can see our businesses this way.

What if you took everything out of your imaginary office?  What if you pulled everything out and stacked and piled it outside in the hall?  Pull out the furniture, haul out the filing cabinets and pile up all the electronics and books and paraphernalia that clutter the office.   All that should be left inside is the carpet/flooring and window coverings.

Now stand in the doorway and observe.  How long have you had this office [this business]?  How long has it been since you’ve seen its “bones?”  Look closely:

• do the walls and woodwork around the doors and windows need repair?  Repainting?
• does the carpet need cleaning or even replacing?  Have you been “making do” with a cement slab and now its time to add a carpet?
• do the windows need cleaning?  New window treatments?  Do you even have a window?
• do you need more electrical outlets? Better lighting options?

The room is the foundation of the office.  Make the repairs- repaint, clean, scrub and tend to the carpet and window treatments.  Choose new colors and textures to reflect who you are now and where you want to be.  You may have started your business with old sheets turned into curtains but now it’s time for double-pane glass and bamboo blinds.  Make the changes, upgrades, additions or subtractions then begin to address everything stacked outside the door.

Look at the furniture, electronics, filing cabinets…all the “stuff” that occupies the office.   What has outlived its usefulness?  What needs an upgrade?  What no longer works and has been sitting in a corner collecting dust?  What’s missing – a couch? conference table? recycle bin?

The same protocol we used to clean out and renovate the imaginary office  can be used with our businesses.  How long has it been since you’ve:

• taken inventory of your offering(s)?  Do you know what actually works and what doesn’t?
• re-schooled, re-trained, re-tooled?  Are your “best practices” truly “best?”
• looked at your business from your customers’ viewpoint?  Is there something your customers or clients wish you would offer that you don’t currently?  Do you know which aspects of your business keep your customers or clients coming back?  Is it the products or services alone or do you have added value through exemplary customer service?
• looked at your business from your competitors’ viewpoint?  Can you identify your business’ uniqueness in comparison?

Is your business:

• unique?
• growing?
• adaptive?

Complacency is a killer.  Resting on past success is no guarantor of future success.  We all know these things but seldom do we take our business outdoors and shake it like a floor rug in the fresh air.

In any professionals life, there comes a time to Put Up or Shut Up and often it’s tough to truly know what the risk is.  Below are 3 tips shared through BNET author, Steve Tobak about how to gauge situations:

Here are three tips that will help you know when to put up and when to shut up:

1. Choose your battles wisely, only fight the ones you can actually win, get some allies first, and never fight on multiple fronts at once. And no, I’m not really into the whole Art of War thing; this is just something you learn from experience.
2. It almost never hurts to take some time, ask around, and get your facts straight before you open your mouth. I don’t care how smart or experienced you are, for any given decision there are a number of considerations you won’t immediately think of but somebody else will.
3. Success in business is all about how you mitigate tradeoffs. Rarely is any decision black and white. Even when you have to make quick decisions, if you don’t at least give yourself enough time and gather some quality data to take a stab at analyzing the tradeoffs, you’re taking a big risk.

What are your stories of great decisions?

Happiness Chick

I just love this list that Sylvia Brown shared on her blog this morning. These are the words of wisdom her Grandma Ada shared with her…I say hats off to Grandma ADA!!! To re  ad the full article, click here:

1. “Love can overcome any problem.”
2. “You can shatter the vase if you will, but the scent of the roses clings to it still.”
3. “Don’t let negativity fill your heart . . . it will show in your eyes and on your face.”
4. “If you lose something precious, God will replace it with something good.”
5. “God lets us see ghosts and spirits to show us that we live on beyond this life.”
6. “Ignorance is the worst thing you can let your mind entertain.”
7. “If you have a secret, keep it to yourself, or else the whole world will know it.”
8. “Unkind words are like opening a feather pillow in the wind and then picking up all the feathers.”
9. “Don’t put sweaters on your children when you are cold.”
10. “If you lie, you weave a web that you become imprisoned in.”
11. “God answers prayers. He just sometimes says no.”
12. “You have to be respectful to be respected.”

Hope you enjoy!  Happiness Chick

Good Evening,

I’ve been thinking alot about branding and have been working recently with lots of folks who are focusing on what makes them and their business a unique solution to the marketplace.

What I see are three things an organization HAS to do to grow and sustain a good reputation for value:

1. Honestly talk about what YOUR organization brings to the table that is unique and BE THAT.  If you say you give personalized service, give it.  If you say you are different than your competition, every piece of your organization needs to BE THAT or your reputation will suffer.
2. How you treat your employees and partners IS ALSO the brand of your company.  If you are a pill to work with, you will be unable to consistently service your customers due to morale and absenteeism.  Your employees of today could be connected or close friends with the wife of the one client you have been working to get.
3. How you treat your customers IS the brand of your company.  If you believe your customer’s are stupid, no matter how well you hide it, they will leave and hurt your reputation.

Would love to hear what you are seeing!  the happiness chick

Lunch N Learn Part 3 of 3

Contributing Education and Connections to the Business Community

Host: Ready for Happiness Group
Type: Luncheon

Price: Attendance is FREE, Lunch is $ 15.00
Date: Monday, September 21, 2009
Time: 11:30am – 1:30pm
Location: Capriccio’s, 5301 Alpha Road, Suite 66 . Parking is FREE in the parking garage.
City/Town: Dallas, TX

Phone: 2145277391
Email: kathy@readyforhappiness.com

RSVP HERE!

Presents:

PART 3: MANAGING THE FLOW

Welcome to the 3rd and FINAL part of our 3 Part Lunch N Learn Series:

PART 1 TAUGHT US how to truly market our unique personality, eliminating competition.

PART 2 TAUGHT US how understand and grow and connect our business through Access Partners!

PART 3 WILL TEACH YOU how to insure you are turning as many opportunities and connections into revenue generating activities without losing your passion or the FUN!

Highest Value Tasks = Passion and FUN!
Kathy Brandon, CEO Ready for Happiness Group

MANAGE YOUR BRAND IN 30 MINUTES PER DAY
Damian Skinner, CEO Riot Lounge

WE ARE not a networking group, we are a group of business owners who serve business owners and business related groups THROUGH BUSINESS EDUCATION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION.

RSVP HERE!

No words necessary! Love this! Hope you enjoy, the happiness chick

The Business Case for Praise

By Susan Gunelius

Post by M.J. Ryan, contributing Women On Business writer

What if I told you you could improve employee engagement and create greater profitability and productive without spending a dime and expending only seconds a day? You can with a very simple action that too many of us take for granted—praise.

Based on ten million workplace interviews in 114 countries, The Gallup organization indentified 12 questions that when people can answer yes to create workplace excellence.

One is:    In the last seven days have I received recognition or praise for doing good work? Employees who answer no are twice as likely to quit in the next year. But there are bigger consequences for the organization beyond folks leaving.  Variations in this question account for 10-20% differences in productivity and revenue, and thousands of loyal customers. One large company calculated that each percentage point this element rose in the yes column equated to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. It is so powerful that Gallup identifies it as the greatest lost opportunity in business today.

In a certain way of course, the fact that praise affects the bottom line is obvious. If I tell you you’re doing a good job, you will feel motivated to keep on going and perhaps even work harder. But is only recently that brain science confirms why. When you receive praise or recognition, your brain releases a chemical called dopamine, which gives a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. Brains crave dopamine and people change their behavior unconsciously to get more. In a very real way, we are all working to get this “hit.” That’s why 71% of workers in another large survey said that praise was more important than money.

Making sure the folks who work with and for you (and you too!) get enough dopamine is important because it actually helps the brain make good decisions and choices. It is also crucial to memory and learning. When we don’t get praised, the person’s brain says, “There’s nothing here so let’s move on.” Therefore success is not leveraged or reinforced.

Understanding this means that we rethink performance evaluations, which generally are focused on weaknesses.   Praise supports strength-based development, which has been shown to create a 36.4% increase in performance over weakness-based approaches that actually have a -26.8% impact on performance. That is a huge difference! It means that you want to look for when the person is doing it right—even if it’s only once and not perfect, and encourage them to continue to improve on that rather than focusing on what they’ve done wrong.

Liberally sprinkle praise and watch performance zoom.

Praise How Tos

• Effects of praise are short-lived, so need to be applied frequently—daily at best, weekly at least.
• Aim for 5 expressions of positive feedback to every negative one. Research has shown this ratio creates high performing teams because it generates “grounded positivity.”
• Praise must be specific to be effective. “Great job” doesn’t work because the person doesn’t know how it’s great or what the results of their efforts were. Make sure you put the action that s/he did and the effect. For instance: “When you stayed late to finish the report, it meant that our team could meet the deadline. I appreciate your persistence and hard work.

Just had to post this entire article, so profound!

Hope to enjoyed this!

The Happiness Chick

Check out this video from Mark McClure, about the best description of a Unique Selling Proposition I’ve ever heard!  Why someone buys from  you is truly about who you are.  Check it out!  The Happiness Chick

Another great video shared by Damian Skinner. No more elevator speeches…simple conversation is much much more powerful!