How to Leverage What Everyone Has In Common for Your Success
What is most personal, is most general. – Carl Rogers Empathy. It’s often defined as the ability to sense another’s emotions…or to connect with another on a personal level. It can seem like a niche, soft skill. Not one, perhaps, that you need to prioritize in your business. However, sometimes simply putting yourself in someone […]
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The Single Most Dangerous Number For Your Business
You’re Number One! You’re Number One! For much of our lives, we’ve been accustomed to thinking of the number one as the goal. We want to be on top, right? As we build our businesses, we’ve kept that tantalizing idea in mind: To be the number one company in our fields. Why, then, does marketing […]
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The Power of “Muddling Through” Your Complex Problems
In the middle of the 20th century, a Yale University professor named Charles Lindblom published an article comparing the way that public administrators made decisions to a different – and potentially better – way: incrementalism. According to incrementalism, you should make decisions through a process called successive limited comparison. Translation: A series of small comparisons, […]
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Supercharge Your Team’s Motivation (And Success!) By Celebrating Small Victories
If you own a startup, you know that your to-do list is already MILES long. Likely, it seems like you’re always adding more tasks. We’ll give you one more. Schedule in routine celebrations. Little victories. Mark them. As you go about growing your business, you have to remember to celebrate whenever you possibly can. This […]
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Grow Your Business Strategically: Chase Antelope, Not Mice
Think about your current projects. Your current clients. Any pending sales. Okay, now that you’ve got that information swirling around in your head, here’s a question: Are they antelope, or are they mice? (Not literally, of course.) Are they big-deal projects, clients, or sales that represent a big win and a lot of resources for […]
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Pro Tip: Put Your Best People on Your Biggest Opportunities
“The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities…” – James C. Collins It’s a simple equation: When you find hard-working, brilliant, and creative people to work at your business, give them ways to shine. Think about it…it’s not hard to find assistants. It’s not hard to find people […]
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Investing in the Backend Of Your Business Will Pay Off (It’s Where the Money Is!)
Let’s start with a couple of quick definitions. The frontend of your business involves what the public sees: Marketing, sales, and customer support services. The backend of your business is…everything else. Accounting, distribution, and delivery. Engineering, finance, human resources, inventory, and manufacturing. Your business depends on all of these systems running well — and on […]
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Your Setbacks Can Be Precious Gifts for Your Business
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates When was the last time you were happy specifically because something went wrong with your business? For example…when you lost a client because they weren’t satisfied with their experience? (Doesn’t sound familiar?) For most of us, a setback doesn’t exactly make our […]
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