Archive for the ‘Business Advice’ Category

What qualities do you look for in a good employee?

July 6, 2009

You’ll want to find energetic people who have the physical and mental endurance to complete tasks in a timely manner and contribute to each assignment with enthusiasm.
You’ll want hire people who will take initiative. You don’t want to have to babysit employees who have no sense of what needs to be done or how to do it, or who just wait around to be told what to do. People with initiative find out what needs to be done and find a way to get it done.
You’ll want to hire people with a cooperative attitude. The last thing you want to do is struggle with someone who refuses to do things the way you need it done in conjunction with the rest of the team. While there is nothing wrong with creativity and thinking outside the box, lack of cooperation by even one employee can create serious problems in productivity. Cooperation is not only productive, but is infectious and quickly spreads to other employees and eventually even affects customers in a positive way.
Hire people who can be trusted to be dependable or you and your other employees will constantly be compensating for the lack of dependability.
Hire people who take ownership of their employment. These employees have a sincere desire to benefit their company beyond what their job description might demand. These are the employees who take pride in their work and in the business. Employees who desire to grow with the company are more easily retainable than employees who are just there to put in their hours and get their paycheck.
Hire people who are pleasant to be around. No one wants to work with grumpy, negative people. Negative people will affect every employee in your business and also your customers. Every employee will occasionally have a bad day, but for the most part, you should expect your employees to be at least pleasant, if not cheerful, at work.
It goes without saying that you want employees who are trustworthy and honest. Do your duty and carefully screen employees before hiring them. It’s better for you to find out that they are dishonest by talking to their previous employer or by doing a background check on them, than by firsthand experience. Dishonest and untrustworthy employees can be a severe liability to your business. Don’t risk it.
Justice Mandhla is the author of Boost your sales and attract new customers and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about marketing and advertising strategies.
See more at http://www.businesslearning4life.com

Great Employees Increase Business Profitability

June 30, 2009

The employee/employer relationship is a unique one that is governed by federal and state law, personal convictions, and industry guidelines. It will be your responsibility to comply with all laws and be the kind of employer that motivates workers to remain productive and enjoy their job, while benefiting the company. Are you the kind of person who can do this?
Make a list of the characteristics you believe would be required in a good employee. Comprise a list of questions you would ask each potential employee in the interview process. Think about how you would handle employee issues when they are presented. Would you take them seriously and be willing to deal with them in a professional manner?
Think about what guidelines you’d set regarding your relationship with employees. Later on, you’ll define all of these things in detail in your employee handbook, so give some serious thought now as to what kind of employer you would be and whether you feel you could successfully manage people. If you have not gone through some form of business training that addresses management of employees, consider taking some employee management classes. Community colleges, local chambers of commerce, and other local business organizations often provide such classes.
Great employees increase business profitability, build excellent customer relationships, and help move forward your vision. It’s your responsibility to choose and retain good employees.

Justice Mandhla is the author of Boost your sales and attract new customers and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about marketing and advertising strategies.
See more at http://www.businesslearning4life.com

Draw on your Strengths to Be, Have and Do anything you want

June 23, 2009

Most self help and motivational books advocate that we are unique as human beings because we have a set of innate abilities to change and become anything we want to become. They provide us with tools; strategies and techniques which they claim could change any situation and areas of weakness in our lives to our advantage. They say any person can learn almost any skill when the person applies the techniques provided in these books.
Contrary to what these books say, reality dictates otherwise. That is why we have rocket scientist presumably thought of as the most intelligent, hard working researcher and the average cashier. Regardless of IQ one can grow and become successful in life. If success was measured in terms of IQ, India which has the highest number of people with the highest IQ could be the World Super Power and the richest and successful country in the World. But that is not the case.
Most people work 12 to 18 hours a day and that’s hard working. But hard work alone does not guarantee success. May be before we proceed any further on this discussion let’s define what success mean in our context. Success in the context of this topic refers to the accomplishment of your goals. It means becoming what you set out to be, it means having all what you desire and doing what you like to do, when you want to do it, and wherever you want to do it.
If self help and motivation books are not correct, if IQ and hard work has nothing to do with success, what then makes other people successful and others just slaves of their jobs. Most books profess that success is a mix of a number of principles including the following; you are born to be successful, success is ingrained in your fibre, taking action, positive thinking, goal setting, persistence, perseverance, patience, determination, focus, commitment, passion, hard work and never giving in. Think and reflect for a while how these principles apply in your life. You may already be using some of these principles in your business and personal life. But can you point one that is making you successful? If you are like most people you should be using the combination of these principles in your life.
In their book Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton put forward their argument, that people perform at their best when they’re playing to their strengths. They also dispute the fact that any person can learn almost any skill and that a person’s greatest room for growth lies in their areas of weakness. They say that everybody has a set of innate strengths and if they recognise and harness these they will enjoy greater success than if they expended their energy trying to improve their areas of weakness. They argue that most people focus on improving their weaknesses and fail to harness their strengths. How true.
You probably know something about yourself that you do naturally or something unique that other people always comment on about you. It may be a hobby, a skill that you know you possess but you are not utilising. You may be a talkative person who never stops talking even in places where you are not supposed to talk. You may be a data capturer and your work is always behind because you can’t help it, you just have to stop to talk to your peers. You may not have realized that your career path lay in other areas and not in being bog down to an office desk. Based on the above line of reasoning, I want to conclude by saying;
Recognising, drawing on your strengths and abilities will connect you with what will become your successful business idea or career.
Justice Mandhla is the author of Boost your sales and attract new customers and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about marketing and advertising strategies.
See more at http://www.businesslearning4life.com

How to edge your way and flow through this recession

June 22, 2009

In these tough economic times experts will tell you to take drastic measures to ensure that you remain in business. They will advise that you to take a complete overhaul on how you run your business. This may be true, but for a small business person this is not always easy, because taking drastic measures may mean cutting costs. It goes without saying that the salary bill for your employees is non- negotiable. Costs that immediately comes to mind and which are within your power to cut are marketing and advertising. As any business person will tell you, cutting your advertisement budget is detrimental for your business. You are going to experience even more financial challenges if you take this approach. This is the time to use your creativity and employ affordable multiple marketing strategies. If you have been using flyers as your main advertising strategy try and put up a well designed website. The more focused your marketing and advertising strategies are the more budget you will have to throw around and the better the profitability for your business. Knowing exactly what tweaks are needed will carry you through these difficult economic conditions. While you have to be informed as a business person about the economic meltdown, that is not enough, you have to be able to interpret what the economic downturn means for your business, and formulate responses that are relevant to carry your business through these challenging economic conditions.
How you respond to these difficult economic conditions will influence how well you are able to edge your way and flow through the storm. It pays to understand the marketing shifts and how you respond will enable you to take advantage of opportunities when the good times returns. The good thing is that your initiatives will continue to benefit your business long after the recession is over. Here are a few things you could do in this economic period;
• Harness the creative and clever combination of duplication and multiplication. Repositioning what you already have can provide your business with another selling point and change your challenges into opportunities.
• Diversify and change your product mix by adding clever extra profit sources by breaking up your products into a number of separate products and then reassemble those products into new offers that have a higher perceived value. Repackage and piece together your products and offer them on a number of different formats at a variety of different price ranges.
• Take care of your staff and ask them to upsell your new range of recycled products to ensure that your sales exceed your expenses.
• Create a process flow structure and develop an automated system in order to ensure a more seamless means of managing your business to deliver in a faster and more effective way.
• Develop a back-end business by improving the manner your customers are treated. Increase your relationship with your customers by being able to understand what your customers want. Be in tune with your customers and identify simple ideas that can make the customer’s lives easier by examining any inconveniences facing your customers.
You can beat the recession by pulling away from the pack and following the above strategies.

Justice Mandhla is the author of Boost your sales and attract new customers and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about marketing and advertising strategies.
See more at http://www.businesslearning4life.com

Business Planning

June 21, 2009

Few things are as rewarding as starting your own business. A successful business can contribute to your personal well being and feeling of accomplishment, as well as to your financial security – a security that can last for future generations.
 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream. Discover.”
–Mark Twain
During this time of economic woe and uncertainty, owning your own business can provide a greater sense of control over your finances, rather than depending on flailing and down-sizing companies for financial security. When you own your own business, you don’t have to worry about unpleasant surprises like getting handed a pink slip. You can keep a finger on the pulse of your business and avoid the shock of a sudden job loss.
Sure, you’ve heard the horror stories about small businesses that started up only to close a few months later, but you also hear inspiring stories about the ones that were very successful. Think about it, every successful business you know about, from your dry cleaners and grocery store to your bank, all started out originally as a small business. How many times have you thought of a great business idea but didn’t follow through with it, only to find that someone else did and it they reaped all the profits?
There are few guarantees in life and there is certainly no guarantee that your new business will make it, but you’ll never know if you don’t try.
Justice Mandhla is the author of business prep guide: you’ve got to read this book before you buy any business start up bookand he spends a great deal of his fulltime writing days researching and writing about business preparatory strategies.
See more atwww.businesslearning4life.com

Communicating with your clients

June 18, 2009

There are three key pieces of information that you must communicate to your clients or customers to achieve success with any marketing program.

1) I’m here!

If a potential client or customer isn’t aware of your presence, you’ve already lost the sale. He or she must know that you are there, what you are capable of providing, where you are located, what store hours you keep—or, in the case of an Internet business—where he/she can find you.

2) Here’s what I’m selling (or doing.)

If the client or customer isn’t aware of whom you are, what you do, or how you do it, he or she can know where you are located— but they aren’t going to consider you seriously for your abilities to meet their needs. Many businesses believe that they must include, in their name, what their business is. Examples of this would include Acme Office Supplies for a company selling office supplies; Denora’s Cookie Company, for a group which sells cookies; Samuel’s Delivery Service or John’s Barber Shop, to define either a delivery service or a haircutter. You will find that other types of businesses—may use the same theory in naming their business. Doctors, Dentists, Professionals such as Attorneys or Accountants almost always use their role in the name of their business.

It’s rare to find a group of Professionals that name themselves something other than the business they are in. It is becoming a trend in some parts of the world, however, to name a business entirely separately from the functionality of the business itself. An example of this might be the medical practice of several Physicians, which has recently named itself “Seasons.” Often, Professionals will think that they can name their group by a name which implies their competencies. An example of this would be a group of Dentists which go by the name “The Smilemakers.” Caution must be advised in going too far outside the norm in naming your business. A business named “Sunflowers” would probably not build custom bicycles or custom developed skateboards. However, as a counterpoint, who would believe the most popular software product in the world would be called “Windows?”

3) Here’s How to Contact Me!

One of the most important facets of business is the ability for your clients or customers to contact you. If they do not know how to find you, you have—again—lost the sale. One point made throughout the material you will review is to have your name, the business name, the business address, the website URL and a telephone number on all printed or online material which potential clients or customers will review. The easier you make it for potential clients or customers to contact you, the easier it will be to close on the working relationship with the client.

Justice Mandhla is the author of <a href=http://www.businesslearning4life.com/> Boost your sales and attract new customers</a>and he spends a great deal of his fulltime writing days researching and writing about Marketing and advertising strategies.

Ten essentials for running a successful business

June 17, 2009

1. If you are a business person you must aspire to be financially free.
2.Do something you are an expert in.
3. Do something that you love and have passion for.
4. Do your research
5. appoint the right employees
6. Build a long relationship with your customers
7.Keep track of all expenses- no matter how small
8. Upsell your products through diversification of products
9. In order for your business to grow invest in your business
10. Use the power of referrals and joint ventures
Justice Mandhla is the author of  business prep guide: you’ve got to read this book before you buy any business start up book  and he spends a great deal of his fulltime writing days researching and writing about business preparatory strategies.
See more atwww.businesslearning4life.com

Hello world!

June 17, 2009

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Justice Mandhla is the author of <a href=http://www.mystudent4life.com/>What they did not teach you in school: Life Long Learning Tips to land a job straight out of school</a> and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about job search strategies.

See more at <a href=http://www.mystudent4life.com/>www.mystudent4life.com</a>