What project would be the best use of your time to get you to your goals? If your goal is to travel the world. What is the next thing you have to do to begin traveling? That will depend upon where you are on your path. For some people it might mean getting themselves to […]
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Author: Frances Schagen
April is All About Starting
Starting is half the battle and yet we have such a hard time doing it. Once we start, that’s it. There’s no starting over. Feels like we better start it right. Starting is the time when we make choices about what we are going to do and more importantly, what we are not going to […]
Finding your Strengths
It makes sense to work to your strengths, but how do you figure out what they are? You know you are working to your strengths when you feel energized, excited and happy doing a task. What were you doing the last time you felt like that? Break down the job into […]
Strengths Based Leadership
Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath Our book club studied this book last time and it sparked deep and meaningful discussions about what leadership means and where it begins and ends. Do we have the responsibilty as leaders to ensure that all of our staff are working to their strengths or is it their responsibility […]
March 2009 Working from Your Strengths i...
I believe in working from your strengths. Everything I’ve read about it is focussed on a work environment; usually a corporation. Not a one-person shop, not a 2 or 2 1/2 person business, net even a small group. Here’s how you can use this if you are just you, or you and a few: 1. […]
The Matrix of Business
There are 4 acknowledged pillars of business: marketing, production, human resources and finance. The theory is, if you can master each of them separately, you will have a successful business. Let’s look at this a different way. What if they are inter-related and the goal isn’t to master each separately, but to master the relationships […]
Hard Skills/Soft Skills
What do you call HARD SKILLS? Accounting (my fave), copywriting, inventory control, employee relations, sales, collections, purchasing, etc. These are acknowledged to be essential for business success. Then there are the SOFT SKILLS: listening, empathizing, being optimistic, problem solving, showing compassion. They are much more difficult to measure. They are not the focus of the […]
The Peter Principle
Most people start a business because they are good at what they do – bookkeeping, hairdressing, selling, fixing cars, cooking etc. They start off as self employed…(bookkeepers, hairdressers, mechanics ) and do fine. Over time they decide to grow their business. Soon they find they spend less time doing their business and they have to […]
Why do 80% of Businesses Fail?
The statistics tell us that 80% of businesses fail in the first 5 years. The reasons cited include: lack of basic business skills not enough good advice cash flow problems lack of sales losing focus pricing poorly not seeking help underestimating the competition and the market undervalueing promotion Usually the reasons are directly related to […]
Best Business Books That Make a Differen...
Take a look at my Squidoo lens. You can vote for your favourite books or add the business books that made a difference to you. While you are there, think about making your own lens. It’s an easy way to aggregate information that’s important to you and that you want to share. I’ve set mine […]