Recent Articles
Qualities To Make You A Successful Business Leader
You might be a very talented businessman, but in today’s economic condition, talent alone cannot guarantee the success of your business or your success determining that you are a great businessman. I am not saying talent is insignificant factor, in fact, talent is one of the major qualities required for you to succeed but talent without any other attributes is like having a river without any water. There are couple of attributes you need to cultivate for standing out and influence others with your charisma.
Calm and Poise
Okay, this is one of the most cliché things to include but it is also one of the most important ones that we cannot amiss. A calm and poise personality ensures that you weigh your options, evaluate the pros and cons before taking any decisions. You need to have control at your adrenaline rush and refrain from taking impulsive decision. Business is mind game and not heart play.
Passionate
It is extremely essential that you have belief in your vision. You cannot expect others to believe in your vision if you don’t have faith in them yourself. Being passionate is all about following your dreams and trusting yourself to make it realize into reality. You are striven to work harder in order to materialize and mould your ideas into results.
Adaptable
If you want yourself to be an exemplary businessman, you must be able to adapt to the changing times. You need to be flexible to accept new technologies and follow the trend, being rigid will only lead to your empire downfall. It doesn’t mean you have to give up on your morals and ethical values, it just means that you have find a way to implement those values in a way that suits this generation and business world.
Patient Listener
Many underestimate the value of possessing this attribute. You must be wondering you do hear them out. But here I mean, really listen to what your employees are saying, let it be ideas or anything related to your business. You never know which brainstorming session would be the most innovative concept you would have ever come across. Listening is something which not only helps you being a successful business leader but also earn the respect of your employees in the long run.
Be Aware
Be aware of the interest your business is generating, be it positive or negative. You will never know how to rectify a problem unless you know what the problem is. The views of both, your employees and your customers play an equally important role. If your employees don’t really like the way the product is shaping or anything related to your business, they might not give their 100%. So be aware of what kind of interest your business is creating.
Honest
Be honest in all your business activities. Honesty helps you create goodwill and credibility as a businessman which will eventually enhance your business reputation. I personally believe, honesty is directly proportional to your business success. If you are honest with your employee, they will in return drop the Yes-sir face and be honest about their opinion. This will only help you in getting your business line in better perspective and not sugar coated half-baked lie.
Courteous
Everyone deserves respect. Treat everyone in a very courteous manner. You will receive back the same treatment that you deliver to others. This will also help you in building good reputation and relationship with your clients and other prospective deals. It all lies in the impression you create for yourself.
These qualities are not too difficult to inculcate, all it requires is perseverance from you and your strive to become a successful business leader. This is not just about being a good business leader but most important of all a better human being. Start working on it and you will surely notice the difference.
Today’s guest post is contributed by Heather Mills. She works as a professor in a reputable college and also works as a freelance writer. She says with online bachelor in business management made available to the people, studies have become really easy.
6 Ways To Set Up Your Home Office In Style
When you walk into someone’s home these days it wouldn’t be unusual to find a home office in one of the spare rooms. There are so many people working from the comfort of their own home and that number is rising every year. With so many doing the same thing it means lots of people can share hints and tips about how to set up a home office in style. If you work from home or you’re thinking about doing it soon you might find some of these tricks useful.
Energy from your walls
When you work from home you get to decide what color you want the walls to be. If you’re in a normal office your boss might decide he wants the walls to be a neutral color like white, but you should opt for something different. Did you know that different colors can change the way you think? Blue is great at boosting your creativity and when you’re trying to run a business you always want to be in a creative mindset. Maybe it’s time to get the paint out.
Wheel yourself around
You don’t want to waste time when you need to grab something from the other side of the room. That is what happens when you have a chair that is stuck in one position. When your legs are tucked under your desk you need to push yourself out and turn around to get up. You then need to do the exact opposite when you sit down again. If you had a chair with wheels you could move around much more easily and it would save you precious time.
Take advantage of the view
Do you really want to stare at a wall all day? Even if you have nice artwork hanging from the wall you’re going to get bored looking at the same thing all day. Nature is different because there is always a new bird flying around and the clouds never stay the same. If you position your desk so that you can look out of the window you will enjoy work a lot more. The soothing sight of nature can stop you from getting stressed when the workload keeps piling up.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves
Unless you live in a mansion it’s unlikely you will have a lot of floor space and you want to keep everything as organized as possible. An easy way you can do that is by fitting floor-to-ceiling shelves and it will leave you with plenty of room to keep everything. The last thing you need is to spend hours looking for a random document because you don’t know where it is. Just take everything you won’t need for a while and put them on the top shelves.
No more cables
When you buy a lot of equipment these days you can pay a little more and get a wireless model. It will make life easier on you because you won’t have a lot of cables running all over the floor. Not only will you not have to untangle the cables every few months, but the room will look a lot neater. If there are some things that can’t be used wirelessly you need to make sure they are as close to a plug socket as possible.
A creativity wall
If you have any walls left you should think about hanging a big whiteboard from it because you will find it very useful. Whenever you have an idea you can turn around and write it on the wall. It’s also perfect for drawing pictures or creating massive mind-maps. If you don’t have any room in your office to be creative you will have to use a notebook instead and it’s just not the same.
Attached Images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2010/12/13/09/51/audio-1822_150.jpg
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/04/15/17/58/school-34694_150.png
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/05/07/18/24/blue-48911_150.png
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/04/12/12/29/library-29811_150.png
Ruth Kenny is a leading supplier of business furniture. While the idea of a home office might not be feasible for some, he believes that it is a great way to work and increase productivity. He likes to share his opinions on different issues and also writes articles on numerous blogs.
Copyright Details On Computer Programming
You might be a computer nerd or a computer whiz and develop awesome programs and applications. But if you don’t know how to protect your work, it will not really help you gain anything. Before you realize you will find that others are copying and trying to present your idea as their own creation. You can’t sit back and accept it as fate or feel lost of action. Hence, instead of waiting for some hardship to befall on you, it is better to be proactive. Ever heard of Copyright? This is the keyword that is going to save your day.
Copyright law protects your original work from being copied or used without your permission. However, you must note that copyright laws protect the physical form of the idea rather than the idea itself. With regards to copyright, computer is viewed as any device which can process information.
Many people tend to confuse the copyright laws with that of the patent laws. In simple terms, copyright protects intellectual work which need not necessarily be published whereas patent protects inventions and grants the inventor ownership of the invention for a particular time period.
An important point for the developers to note is that the copyrighted material is generally available to the public for inspection which in case of computers involves source code. Hence, it is considered a smart move, to copyright only a part of the code rather than the whole code. This way the code that is not under copyright law becomes a trade secret and subsequently will not be available to infringe upon.
You might be wondering if the same copyright law which protects your source code will be protecting your visual content too. Then you might be disappointed, this is not really the case. The source code and visual content are completely different, your program’s source code falls under the intellectual category and its visual content content falls under the artistic category of the copyright law. Hence, it is important for you to file separate applications for your source code and your graphic content.
As the copyrighted owner of the material, you can distribute copies of your work. In order to protect your material, it is considered a good practice to put some kind of copyright notice on the copies. The copyright notice typically consists of the copyright symbol (letter c inside a circle), the year the material was first published and the name of the copyright owner.
Copyright owing to a computer program might get confusing. In simple terms, if you are an individual who wrote the initial program, then you are the sole copyright owner of the material. If you are a part of a team which developed the program and where all the members’ contribution are equal, then the copyrighted material is jointly owned by your team.
This scenario holds no weightage, if you or your team develops a program when you are working under any firm or organization. If a program is created in such circumstances, the employer or the organization will be considered as the first copyrighted owner of the material.
The lifetime of a copyrighted material depends on the ownership. If a material is owned by you, an individual, then you can own the material for the duration of your lifetime plus sixty years. Now that you are aware of your right, create amazing computer programs and at the same time be prepared to safeguard it from all external hazards possible.
The author, Keith Shelby, is a well known blogger and a dynamic individual. He enjoys writing on law and business related topics. He says if he gets stuck while writing he visits accesssolicitor.com for more information.
Hello Caller! How The Humble Telephone Call Has Changed For Businesses!
Ah the humble telephone call… it has been an integral part of modern day communication for years and years. Offices and homes are not complete without a telephone, and even cars have in-built phone systems these days. But as with all things, etiquette changes over the years and what used to be ‘the done thing’ is changing, particularly in the commercial market. The last thing you want to do is to alienate business associates by getting it wrong, so we’re going to help you out right here by letting you know what’s expected these days.
Keep Your Small Talk Small!
You may find yourself with a quiet morning (generally the rule is the more coffee you have consumed, the less there is to do!). But whoever you are phoning might be struggling under a massive workload, or racing to meet a critical deadline. Always bear this in mind, and don’t be tempted to draw them into lengthy discussions about the weather.
Plan Ahead
If you know that your intended subject for discussion is a meaty one, then it’s as well to let the recipient know beforehand. In business these days, meetings are often conducted over the phone and if your discussion is likely to go on then it will benefit you both to schedule some time in your diaries when you will be able to have a full conversation. Don’t take them by surprise – let them know you need a certain amount of their time and you will be much more likely to be greeted by a friendly voice.
And on the subject on planning… make sure you know what you want to achieve from a call before you make it. Write a little list so that you don’t forget to mention everything. With less ‘umming and erring’ you will come across as organised and assertive.
Creative Communication
It’s not just phone calls that dominate our working life these days. Video conferencing such as Skype is commonplace. Again, it is best to schedule a call rather than catch someone off-guard. Obviously when you video call somebody it is essential that you are looking smart – so those of you ‘working from home’ in your pyjamas might like to slip into something less comfortable first!
Always use the right tool for the job. A quick two minute telephone call is fine for a small question, but for anything that needs to be discussed at length a video call is probably better.
Some Things Never Change…
As much as the simple phone call has evolved, there is still no excuse for poor manners. Always answer the phone with your name and the name of the company. Be sensitive to the person you care calling – make sure you listen and don’t talk over them. And don’t forget your Ps and Qs!
Always remember to smile when you talk, you will come across as positive, friendly and approachable. Never forget your smile can be heard and you are sure to impress your associates and go far!
Attached Images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2013/03/23/10/11/woman-96109_150.jpg
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/04/13/15/04/teacher-32747_150.png
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/03/01/01/10/business-20031_150.jpg
Sam Fright is a business analyst by profession. While there are many factors that help a business to succeed, but singles out the humble phone call to be the most effective. Cordless phones especially is much liked in the corporate circles.
I Have A LinkedIn Profile, Now What?
Having a compelling LinkedIn profile is but one stage, though a vital one, in how to make the best use of LinkedIn. The next thought might naturally be “I have a LinkedIn profile, now what?”
A great way to display what to do next can be seen from this great infographic I recently received from Melonie Dodaro of TopDogSocialMedia:
As Melonie so rightly says, LinkedIn is not the place for chatting about the weather, it’s the place for doing business. She has some great ideas on how to use LinkedIn. If you have any questions or comments about “I Have A LinkedIn Profile, Now What?” do feel free to raise them.
ITIL Service Delivery – In A Nutshell
Pretty much all of IT is run under the ITIL framework nowadays, and it has been for some time. Along with the new best practices and methodologies have come a number of new roles and working disciplines. This article looks at the world of ITIL Service Delivery.
What Is Service Delivery?
The term Service Delivery is used to define the business of IT itself. It is an integral part of ITIL Service Management and it uses specific Service Delivery processes to:
- Define expectations of service availability, timelines and quality.
- Explain and define the specific roles and responsibilities of Service Providers, users and customers.
- To define the actual roles of the services themselves.
What Does It Actually Do?
Service Delivery provides processes that help IT staff to design processes that meet the business needs in a way that is cost efficient to the business. These processes enable the services to be defined in a way that allows them to be provisioned between internal staff, external vendors with equal effort. The processes provide a way for staff to measure how efficient various services are in a way that allows a continuous improvement process if required.
What Teams Are Part Of Service Delivery?
Because Service Delivery needs to be able to define and manage expectations in various parts of the IT Infrastructure business, it is comprised of 5 separate teams:
- Service Level Management
- Financial Management
- Capacity Management
- Availability Management
- Continuity Management
Service Level Management
Service Level Management provides a framework that defines services and agrees on levels of service that support business processes. It is probably the most important set of process within ITIL. Service Level Agreements and Operational Level Agreements are developed to satisfy these agreements.
Financial Management
Financial Management deals with the costs of the services that are agreed by Service Level Management. It also supplies a support system to the accounting process and ensures that all expenditure is accounted for and spent wisely. Depending on the particular IT Company, Financial Management can be seen as the cost centre, the profit centre or the expense centre.
Capacity Management
Capacity Management ensures that IT infrastructure has the resources in place to keep the business needs happy and catered for correctly. Capacity Management enters the application life cycle at an early stage and deals with the costs incurred by new applications and releases. It deals with potential future issues in a way that helps fix these infrastructure problems should they ever arise.
Availability Management
Availability Management deals with ensuring that vital online applications remain in an available state for users and customers. They must adhere to the Service Level Agreement conditions. They also play a big role in the Service Outage Analysis initiatives and Component Failure Impact Analysis.
Continuity Management
IT Continuity Management deals with the disaster recover aspect that is apparent in all IT services. It provides a framework that allows recovery to take place in a timely and cost effective manner. The individual Continuity plan can vary from each IT company, and they can cover such diverse risks as flooding, terrorist activities and tornados.
How Does Service Delivery Help?
As outlined above, Service Delivery is set up in order to predefine the best ways to achieve a cost effective outcome to most, if not all, IT related processes. It is constantly being updated and is a fantastic aspect to the ITIL set of processes.
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
Thomas Ethan is a project management consultant. He conducts business analysis training in Toronto and is one of the most sought after consultants in Canada. He shares his ideas and experiences through his blogs.
5 Ways To Keep Your Online Business Safe When Running It From The Road
If you’re building an online business you have a lot to be excited about. Working from a laptop means you can work from the coffee shop down the street, or if you want somewhere a little quieter you can go down to the local library. If you really wanted to do something amazing you could jump on an airplane and fly anywhere in the world, because as long as you had an Internet connection you could continue to build your empire from anywhere.
Everything seems perfect, but there are still some things that could go wrong. If you’re running your business from a laptop the biggest thing you need to worry about is security. You need to keep everything nice and safe, because if something was to go wrong or your laptop was stolen it could mean big trouble for your business. I know you don’t want to end up in a bad situation, so we’re going to look at what you can do to protect your investment.
Chase it down
Can you imagine running down the street trying to find someone that has just grabbed your laptop and ran off? You’re probably going to be wearing flip-flops and the thief will be running down back alleys you didn’t even know existed. That is why installing tracking software on your laptop is so important. You can locate it using GPS and there is a much bigger chance of you getting it back, so you don’t need to go and spend money on a new one.
Keep it in your bag
The easiest way to keep your laptop safe is by keeping it hidden at all times. You have got to remember how expensive it is when you take into account people’s wages. In most countries people could get a lot of money for selling a stolen laptop and it might provide their family with food and shelter for a few months. That is no excuse for stealing, but just to be on the safe side you should keep it inside your bag instead of flashing it in everyone’s face.
A secure room
When you’re at home you might have a nice house in a secure neighborhood and someone would have a hard time breaking in. This won’t be the same in some countries you visit and your room could be targeted if people think it contains treasure. Your laptop is your treasure because it’s what you use to run your business, so the best thing you can do is make sure the room you rent is secure. That means staying away from bamboo beach huts and $2 guest houses.
Save everything twice
Is your laptop so unique that it will never break? You never know what will happen and if it won’t turn on you will find it hard to run your business. It’s not even the machine itself that is so important. There are always Internet cafes you can use if you get desperate and the library will have computers, but the problems start when you can’t access any of your important data. If you make copies of your work files you can use any computer you want. I’d save everything twice just to be on the safe side.
Be careful with passwords
Passwords are the keys to your empire. Everything important will be behind a locked door and if you leave the key hanging out of the lock you’re inviting someone to do a lot of damage. Do you have a password manager? If you don’t you need to install one now, because it means all your important passwords will be locked away and you will only need to remember one to access them all. It’s also going to make life easier on you by saving you lots of time.
Attached Images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/02/22/19/38/business-15498_150.jpg
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/11/04/04/46/password-64047_150.jpg
Sheldon Lewis is a tech geek. He likes to follow up on the latest developments in technology an also runs an online business. He uses webwatcher software for tracking all his business data and suggests fellow business owners to do the same.
Brand Visibility: Building Your Brand
Building your brand is one of the core components in the successful establishment of any business. Without brand visibiliy a business will always struggle to show what sets it apart from it’s competitors. Without a reason for choosing you above someone else, potential clients will come and go without engaging with you and your business will be left on that slippery slope of only being able to compete on price, or worse still, you will only confuse people and they will quickly move on elsewhere.
It’s quite normal to not always get this right first time, in fact even some of the most successful brands have struggled for years before finding a successful identity. This great article by Susan Newman titled “Brand Visibility: Build Your Galactic Brand Like Batman” published on the Udemy Blog has some outstanding guidance on the most authentic ways to gain brand visibility, building your brand can then happen naturally. She uses a great example:
When someone opens Google and searches for you or your company name, what comes up? If they search for your type of business or industry, or by a keyword or phrase, does YOUR company come up?
Brand visibility is not just being the answer to your name, but being the answer for what you do, and maintaining that first-page spot consistently.
How is this accomplished and how do we attract our exact targeted audience so that we’re gaining new clients as well as extending our global and local reach?
It begins with understanding your company’s mission and goals.
Once you have discovered these key components, and once you have zeroed in on who your exact target audience is, you’ll be ready to write your content-rich, SEO-friendly website pages, blog posts and most especially add in the long-tail keywords that will draw the targeted audience to you.
The point is not to go out there looking for clients, selling all the time, pointing at yourself or answering every ad you see, but building your online presence in such a way that you are expanding your reach, and having people want to connect with you, share what you’re doing as advocates, and buy from you!
Be sure your online and offline selves are sending the same signs to others so their experience is the same no matter the place or format.
What does the public perceive about you, your products and services, and is it consistent everywhere? Is the experience of using your products and/or services in line with scanning pages of your website, flipping through your brochure or catalog, or visiting your store? If they met you, or your employees, at a function would they find your mindset to be in line with your company? Is your visual footprint the same across the web, on social media, in advertising and marketing, and in commercials on TV, past or present?
When we talk about brand visibility we must realize it means “all encompassing.” So, if you are a small business owner and entrepreneur, you must act, speak, dress, and fully represent your brand. You are your brand’s ambassador. When someone meets you in person when they previously only knew you by your avatar, are you the way they imagined?
The target with building your brand is to gain the correct brand visibility for it to have the foundations for potential future market domination. These are the first important steps to setting your business apart from its competition. Getting these correct will accelerate that task.
Stop Horsing Around!
If you love the outdoors, have a penchant for horses and would love to be involved in a new business venture, why not considering combining all three? Horse breeding can be a very lucrative and interesting way to make a living. You should be absolutely sure that this is the route you wish to follow and there are some important questions for you to consider. This article takes a look at those details and offers a few tips along the way.
Are You Serious?
Any type of farming is going to be extremely physical and emotional in comparison to a normal 9-5 style job. It will mean a total change of lifestyle, because you cannot just approach farming casually. You need to live and breathe the whole experience, because half measures and farming are not good bedfellows. Then there is the horse aspect. You need to really love working with these special animals, and that can be extremely demanding at times. Horses are beautiful creatures, but they can also be stubborn and downright dangerous if they sense you are not really sure of your own abilities. You may have owned a pony or two, but this is a whole new kettle of fish.
Good Points
If you truly love horses, then you will could one of the lucky people that have a job that they truly enjoy. You can also bring any knowledge that you have already acquired, to the business table. You will be spending a lot of time with beautiful animals you clearly have a lot of affection for. This will be beneficial for your soul as well as your financial issues. The money side of the horse farming business doesn’t hurt either. Horse are a valuable commodity and you are entering a business that caters for very wealthy people including various heads of state and royal families. If you decide to start a stud farm, you can expect a very nice profit and you will also be able to keep your favourite horses into the bargain.
Bad Points
As mentioned previously, this is not an easy job by any means. If you harbour any romantic notions of swanning about on your favourite steed whilst raking in the cash, then it is time for a reality check! There is a lot of hard work in store for you plus a few disappointments as well. If you are the sort that becomes emotionally attached to your animals, prepare to have your heart broken many times. You need to remember that this is a business, first and foremost. You will need to invest a lot of money into setting up the business, stables, land and the horses themselves. Even if you have a great business plan and the most stunning livestock, nothing is guaranteed in this business. You will be faced with the huge responsibility that is attached to having a large number of animals under your care. The veterinary costs will be considerable and the cost of decent horse feed may well surprise you.
Last Point
Sorry if the last paragraph paints a bleak picture, you just need to be clear about the huge step you are just about to take. On the plus side, the horse farming business can be hugely rewarding both financially and spiritually. Just be sure that you have the right stuff before progressing any further!
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
James Carter is a technophile who is likely to spend more on gadgets than on food, clothing and rent. When he is not writing guest posts to fund his gadget addiction, he works at IWF Fencing, a company that specializes in pool fencing in Western Australia.
Easy To Avoid Project Management Mistakes
Being a good project manager is not a simple task, you have to ensure that your team is with you every step of the way. Planning and communication are critical to a successful project, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. This article takes a look at some common project management mistakes and the best way to avoid them.
Are You the Best One For The Project?
To ensure that the project is completed in the best possible way, the manager needs to be the right fit. On many occasions, the project manager is elected to take control of the project simply because he is available. More attention tends to be focussed on the correct team and resources, this is a big mistake. Unless the project manager has the exact credential for the project, there is a high possibility that it will fail. You should ensure that the extra effort is spent on locating the perfect person for the job, it will be time well spent.
The Team Does Not Support The Project
A key attribute for a successful project manager to possess is the ability to ensure that the entire team supports the project. Failure to achieve this will spell certain doom for the entire project. As the project manager you must be absolutely clear with the intentions of the project and ask for total commitment from everybody involved. Explain the rewards of the successful project but also let them know that some hard work is required for each step of the way. Constant communication is the only way to allow the whole team to appreciate the work that is being carried out.
Bad Communication
Any project manager worth their salt will have the word ‘communication’ ingrained to their very core. The project will not go far if there are not sufficient progress meetings. People will become demotivated if they do not feel like a part of the loop. Set up at least five meetings in advance and ensure that everybody can attend, use telepresence or conference calls if need be, but do not omit anybody from these updates.
The Project Has Unrealistic Timelines
It may be a way to impress the stakeholders or the main client, but by offering unrealistic timelines, you are making a rod for your own back. Be totally clear when deciding on a deadline, and do not hope against all hopes that all of the testing or development may finish ahead of schedule, it rarely does. Once the first and second timelines are breached, you will have lost the confidence of the client and stakeholders. Using some decent project management software should allow you to come up with a plan you can stick to, but you should also add a little to allow for unexpected issues.
You Must Be Flexible
Your project management plan may be watertight, but at some point you may have to shift the goalposts to keep the project sweet. If you are offered some advice that doesn’t adhere to your own plan, have a listen and do not dismiss anything out of hand. A fresh approach can sometimes bring something important to the table.
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
This post is authored by Patricia Green. Crime fighter by night, she masquerades during the day as a project trainer at Scope Training, a company that specializes in project training and assessment. In her spare time, she likes to write about business skills.
