business Archives - TEVO Small Biz

Frustrations Facing Women in Business

January 1, 2013 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

To be a woman in business means facing some frustrations. One of the most obvious is being categorized as a woman in business. For example, lists of the Top 25 Female Executives. Hello? Where are the lists of the Top 25 Male Executives? They don’t exist because men are expected to be in the realm of business. As you work your way to the top, there are those who float the theory that you slept your way to the top. Even if it’s only intended as a joke, the same assertion isn’t made of men in the same position. The usual salts in the wound also come up. Being assertive and/or competitive can earn you a label for being a bitch. Being intelligent is usually met with either skepticism or the impression that you’re some sort of anomaly. This is particularly true if your strengths are found in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). That sends a very harmful message to our girls who are still in school.

So the question arises, how do we address these frustrations and present solutions to them? For starters, be yourself and when you encounter any small-mindedness, address it head-on. Be aware of the stereotypes but don’t try to avoid them. They’re out there and the only way to disparage them is to simply show prove them wrong. Finally, as you encounter articles about the Top 25 Female (Fill in the Blank), respond to it asking why women had to be singled out. Where is the list of the Top 25 (Fill in the Blank)? Women don’t want to compete only with other women. They want to compete with other people in their field without gender being a measurement of their success.

Filed Under: Leadership, self improvement Tagged With: business, female executives, women

How you can Hire Your Initial Employees

August 10, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 2 Comments

What position your business should initially fill will vary for every business, depending upon location, industry and the founders skills. Entrepreneurs have to boil down their staffing strategy to a handful of individuals who could get the business’s service or product to market. High-level execs are not typically employed until the business has witnessed some substantial growth. For instance, you do not require a VP of sales or marketing prior to there being a product. Within a tech organization, an acting CEO and a CTO typically suffice.

It is additionally worth stopping to consider: Do I really need to employ somebody? Most services could be outsourced or performed by freelancers. The work might involve manufacturing, accounting, marketing, public relations and website design— even administrative assistants could be employed now upon a ‘virtual’ basis on the Internet.

Determining which duties to outsource, as well as what to employ a worker for might boil down to whether the duty lies within your company’s primary areas of strength, as well as whether this function is required on a consistent basis. Furthermore, vendors oftentimes possess more experience and knowledge than somebody you could afford to employ.

As it comes to whom you should hire, small businesses oftentimes do better with flexible candidates used to close-knit environments. Within many instances, the best candidate could work with a good amount of autonomy and won’t need hand-holding.

It may be tempting to employ candidates who have big-business credentials, yet they are oftentimes not a good match. Within a big organization, there are regulations, rules and processes to perform everything. Within a small business, there oftentimes are no set duties and everybody might do some of everything.

An entrepreneur’s ideal bet for locating workers typically includes networking. Ask for a referral from friends, colleagues and advisers, like your accountant, lawyer, organization members and board members.

Filed Under: Systems that Work Tagged With: business, Planning

I See Light at the End of the Tunnel…… Holy Crap It’s A Train

July 25, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 1 Comment

Do you feel like that with your business? I have certainly had days where there is so much going on I don’t know where to start. In the early days of my business, I could see all the opportunities that were available to me but I just didn’t know where to start. So I often entertained myself with learning new stuff. I am a “research junkie”. When I get stressed I learn, when I am happy I learn and I get a ridiculous high from knowing new stuff. That’s all great but how do I make money with all this new stuff??? I have heard it called “shiny object syndrome”. What, squirrel……

Thank goodness that was long time ago and I now have a plan that keeps my inner urges to learn under control (well maybe almost), but I have been able to put a format together that makes sense from a business perspective. I can use my need to learn as part of my business and create products and services that shares all the good stuff, without people like you having to sit through all these seminars and webinars. I have tested the materials and created programs to help people like you to move forward in your business. Nothing better than learning from someone who has been there and really gets the frustration, fear and exhaustion of doing your business all by yourself.

Let me tell you a story that just happened today. I am also an executive coach, so when one of my friends gets into a pickle they call knowing I will give them the straight goods. This friend of mine called today to try and understand a past trauma that she had experienced. She also told me about some really cool stuff she was doing in an effort to move forward. I asked her if she would like to make her move forward plan something to build on. (She was talking about taking her experiences as an executive and turning them into stories. I said Huh, #Patrick Lencioni made a fortune doing that. Maybe you could be a writer. She said “oh I don’t think I could do that.” Of course as a coach my response was why not?She said I am better at talking than writing. I have great stories though and I have a lot to teach.

My response; So, why don’t you record your stories and send them to a transcriber. I do that all the time. It will cost you under $20.00 and I have a name for you. If you do this a bunch of times you have an book. Get it put into the right format for Kindle or some other ebook reader and Bob’s your uncle – you are an author. By the way, I have a name for that service too. You can also have a book cover made for under $20.00 so you can make it look real spiffy.

My friend was gob smacked. She said “I had no idea you can do that, I am so excited” She was so busy thinking about going forward that she had completely forgotten about her worry about the past. Now, that will rear it’s ugly head again, but nothing beats feeling bad about something with an exciting new project and success. So this is how I use my learning to help others.

I recently put out a fabulous 24 page resource guide with the top tools and apps that I have gathered in my travels while learning from some top professionals. Many of these I have used myself but they are all tried and true. In the early days I spent a fortune trying to secure these resources. These are so amazing. This is my gift to you if you feel that the light at the end of the tunnel is a train. Even if you are not overwhelmed, you will enjoy the material.

I will keep you posted on other ways to keep that light at the end of the tunnel , optimism and not a fatal locomotive. It is my job to Grow Businesses and Empower People.

Click the following link for your free Killer Tools and Apps – Your Life Just Got Easier report

bit.ly/PFDZ50

Filed Under: Blog, Goal Setting, Leadership, One Page Business Plans, Systems that Work, Uncategorized Tagged With: accomplishment, business, development, goals, leadership, learning, self development, time management

How you can Craft a Business Plan Which Turns Investors’ Heads

July 17, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

Here is a list of the minimum data you ought to have in your plan which will boost your odds of gaining a ‘yes’ to your dollar request.

Your executive summary: It allows prospective investors to rapidly decide if it is worth their effort to read your whole plan.

Overview of your business: The primary reason for your business, involving services and products and all proprietary technology or additional special features.

Company vision & mission: It’s the largest picture for your business — that ‘why’ behind what it is that you do.

Rationale for the investment: Merely, how much you wish for and what you are going to perform with it.

Competition & market analysis: It’ll cover your market’s size, as well as what your competition is for your service or product.

Strategy for marketing: You’ll wish to show that you understand how you can generate funds for your company.

Your organization: The location and structure of your business are critical measures of how well you have prepared for future expansion. It could be an easy organizational chart that has brief explanations of roles, alongside the address of the operation.

Management: Your skills and expertise and background of your staff members could mean the difference between a no or yes in terms of funding.

Your operations: How your business is going to run. Think about utilizing flow charts.

Execution of your project: Do specific projects have to be finished prior to you generating money? List them along with a plan for completing them.

Mitigation & risk analysis: It’s the section in which you prove that you’re aware of the risks, as well as have considered how you will eliminate or handle them.

Monetary strategy: Within this section, you will have to layout your fund structure that informs investors where they’ll fit in the equity of the business. You also will have to list your predicted start-up expenses, alongside monetary projections for the initial 5 years.

Filed Under: Systems that Work Tagged With: business, development, Goal Setting

Top 10 Twitter tips and tricks

July 9, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 3 Comments

is a listing of our top 10 favorite Twitter tips and tricks. These tips will help make your Twitter experience more enjoyable and can help increase your followers.

Customize

Change your profile picture. Use a picture of yourself to make it seem more personalized if this is your personal Twitter account.
Utilize as much of the 160-character limit Twitter BIO space allows. Include keywords your followers or potential followers may be searching for.
Create your own background image. However, do not make the image too much like an ad or sales pitch. The background image must be less than 800k and we recommend a size of 1600×1200 for a large image or smaller if you plan on tiling the image or just having it on the left-hand side. Finally, keep in mind that smaller resolutions and monitor sizes will hide much of the background.

Third-party tools

Take advantage of the hundreds of different third-party online tools and services that enhance your Twitter experience. Below are a few of our favorites.

TwitPic - Take advantage of TwitPic to post pictures on your tweets. If you want to post pictures while away from the computer, use the Twitterific app.
Qwitter - Great service that sends an e-mail any time someone unsubscribes from your Twitter profile and mentions a possible Twitter post you made that may have caused them to leave.
Manageflitter - Fantastic site for managing your followers and getting an easy to read overview of people not following you back, quiet users, and inactive users.
WeFollow - Great website that allows you to add yourself to a listing of Twitter users by tags you find interesting.
SocialOomph - Another great service with a collection of free Twitter tools including the ability to schedule when a tweets gets posted.
Tweetbeat - An excellent site that takes the trending topics on Twitter and gives you a clearer explanation of present and past trending topics.
TwitterMeme - Another great location to find the hottest links on Twitter.
Twitter Grader - Great service that grades any Twitter account and gives you additional details and ranking information.
Twitter Fan Wiki Apps - Finally, this wiki has a listing of several hundred different Twitter applications and tools for users wanting more.

Use Twitter search

Take full advantage of the Twitter search tool. Below are just a few tips that can help improve your search capabilities on Twitter.

Search for your website or blog URL and see if others are mentioning your page.
Search for anything near you by adding near:”city state”. For example, typing near:”Salt lake city Utah” club would return current tweets that have happened in Salt Lake City, Utah with the keyword club in them.
Find people who you may enjoy following by searching for keywords that interested you.
If you do not want tweets with links add ? -filter:links at the end of your search query.
Need more options, use the Advanced Twitter search.
Any time you get excellent results click the “Save this search” button to save that search. These searches can then be found under “Saved Searches” on the right-hand part of your profile on the old Twitter interface or under the “Searches” tab next to your timeline on the new Twitter interface.

Followers

Engage followers.
Do not follow too many people. No one is going to follow someone who is following thousands of people but only has 10 followers.
Retweet interesting posts.
Retweet and participate in conversations with people with a lot of followers.
Realize it is impossible for anyone to read every tweet.
When first joining do not follow hundreds of people, doing this may mark you as a bot.

Create useful and interesting tweets

Try making all your tweets informative, useful, or funny.
Do not post mundane posts, e.g. eating a bowl of cereal.
Add hastags to your tweets. For example, if your tweet is about computers, consider adding #computer in the tweet.
Tweet frequently. No one is going to follow someone they do not know who has not tweeted in months. Try at the very least to tweet a few times a week or daily if you can manage.
Do not whine or complain. Everyone will unfollow anyone who constantly whines or complains.
Try making your valuable tweets during the times people will most likely see them.
Keep some space available in your tweet in case someone retweets your post.
Use special characters in your tweets.

Know the lingo

Know the Twitter lingo, these are just a few examples: @reply, Direct Message (DM), Follower, Hashtag,Retweet (RT), Trending Topics, and Tweet. See the Twitter description for a full listing of Twitter terms and Lingo and related terms.

Follow the masters

Following a few of the masters of Twitter and Social Networking will give you an understanding of how to tweet better, posts to RT, and inspiration for tweets of your own. Below are the top ten Twitters we recommend following.

@GuyKawasaki
@Scobleizer
@jeffbullas
@briansolis
@tonyrobbins
@kevinrose
@timoreilly
@donttrythis
@zappos
@brainpicker

Twitaholic - A full listing of the top users on Twitter based on Followers. This is a terrific service to find and follow the top users and possibly incorporate some of the ideas they are doing on their account.

Tip: Many of the first few hundred people are celebrities on Twitaholic, if they do not interest you skip the first page.

Create and use lists

Twitter lists are an excellent method of filtering filter through the people you follow. To create a list, click the Lists link and then Create a list. After creating a list visit the persons profile page you wish to add and click the list icon, as shown in the picture to the right. Our Computers and Tech list is an example of a public list we created.

Go Mobile

Apple iPhones, Blackberry phones, Android phones, Windows phone 7 phones, and most of the other smart phones have Twitter applications. Take full advantage of these applications. For users who do not have smart phones Twitter also has extensive support for SMS, which can send tweets over a text message.

Advertise

Mention your Twitter page as many places as you can, e.g. your business card, e-mail signatures, web page, blog, Facebook, etc.
Create a tweet button or at least your Twitter name on your pages, similar to the below examples.

Thank you to “Computer Hope” for this great information.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: business, great tools, great twitter tools, list building, seo, social media, time management, twitter aps, twitter tricks, visual learning

Eight Ways to Overcome your Fear of Public Speaking

June 22, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

It’s common to seem intimidated by the idea of stepping up in front of strangers in order to give a speech. But, with these techniques listed below, you could begin to beat this, as well as attain a positive outcome.

1) Jump in: One common error which beginners make includes believing that the ideal method of overcoming speaking fear includes waiting until you feel prepared. It’s really better to dive in and just begin speaking. As you have done it a couple of times and built up confidence, it’ll get simpler.

2) Mingle with the audience: If you take some time to talk to a couple of audience members prior to your speech, you might be more relaxed.

3) Join public speaking circle: There will include support circles with other people who additionally wish to study how to beat public speaking fear. Talking with like-minded people could increase your confidence.

4) Try to practice in front of individuals you trust: You can practice in front of friends or family members.

5) Locate the proper balance in between relaxation and preparation: Practicing the speech multiple times is strongly advised to build up confidence, yet you ought to take some time to relax prior to your public speaking presentations, too.

6) Practice breathing: With the assistance of a speech coach or additional classes, study how deep breaths might improve concentration and vocal tone.

7) Speak of topics you’re passionate about: If you select subjects which you’re passionate about, you’ll better have the ability to beat the fear of public speaking.

8) Don’t be frightened of making mistakes: It’s alright to wish to be a perfectionist while speaking in front of others, yet if you relax and go with the punches, the delivery is going to be more natural.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: business, self development

Leadership

May 10, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

Most people see leadership as nothing more than a stage in order to promote themselves. As it is a fact that being within a leadership position might afford you a great platform, it is vital that you realize that there isn’t any leadership platform except for the people. You did not build up this platform, the individuals you lead built up the platform and entrusted its well-being and care to you. If you forget this, failure will be certain.

Leadership could represent an obsession, compulsion, duty, obligation, competency, skill, calling, passion, practice, discipline or pursuit. I have known people who’ve worshiped leadership as a religion, as well as some reflection reveals more than a couple of leadership revolutions dotting historical timelines. Do you lead in order to glorify yourself, or for a reason bigger than yourself?

Leadership is all about understanding, humility, service, concern, care, stewardship and trust. If you build up the ones you lead; if you, as a leader, make them better, if you add some value to their lives, only then will you have earned their loyalty and trust. It’s the kind of bond which spans philosophical and positional gaps, survives errors, downturns, challenges and additional struggles which inevitably will happen upon your journey of leadership.

You do not modify mindsets by being right, you do this by exhibiting that you care. Reason and logic possess their place, yet they’ll never beat a strong philosophical or emotional position.

The ideal leaders have the ability to unify and align opposing interests for the greater good. You will not ever be a successful leader until you comprehend an individual’s necessity to be understood and heard, and this is a lot more important than satisfying your necessity to impart wisdom. I am going to make it as easy as possible; leadership is about the people – nothing more and nothing less.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: business, success

Outsourcing Advice From Freelancer.com’s Matt Barne

May 9, 2012 By Judy Mackenzie 2 Comments

Outsourcing Advice from Freelancer.com's Matt Barrie

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Emily Suess
Posted in Collaboration, Interviews

On the Small Business Bonfire social network, members have been chatting about their experiences with crowdsourcing and outsourcing work. The general consensus is that handing over work to someone else will either be a really good or a really bad experience — but rarely do small business owners feel indifferent about their experiences.

So the goal for entrepreneurs is to figure out what shapes the collaborative experience and use that knowledge to increase the odds that the crowdsourcing experience will be overwhelmingly positive for both parties.

To help us figure it all out Matt Barrie, Chief Executive at Freelancer.com, has agreed to answer a few basic questions.

MB: Crowdsourcing, simply put, is pitching your problem out there and having groups of people propose solutions. It creates a competitive social interaction between diverse sets of crowd who you would probably overlook, simply because they are not the usual people you run to.

This does not mean, however, that they do not possess the skills needed to resolve your problems — it’s just that the whole system reinforces the idea that expertise is limited to the “experts” is broken down. It encourages everyone who has a great idea to step up and eventually stand out.

MB: You have to trust the right people and communicate regularly with them to achieve the results you want. Freelancer.com gives small business owners peace of mind … Milestone payments ensure the entrepreneur never has to pay for work that doesn’t suit his requirements and that freelancers also get what is due them for the work they accomplish.

MB: …The small business owner can always check the reputation of the freelancer he or she is planning to hire. Entrepreneurs should not always go for the people who bid the cheapest — instead, they should check the quality of the freelancers’ [past] work. Cheapest is not always best.

MB: Alexander Seinfeld, a writer and ordained rabbi who used Freelancer.com’s services, once shared this:

“I have a published Android app, and it would not have been possible within this budget or time frame without freelancer.com. I’m grateful for this amazing service, which has made this and other projects possible. I hope that my experience will help others be successful and avoid some of my stumbles. Freelancer.com helps you, but you still must do your due diligence.”

You can see the Android app he’s talking about here.

Filed Under: Blog, Home, Leadership, Systems that Work, Time Management Tagged With: achievement, business, Goal Setting, goals, hiring, learning, outcource, performance management, self development, small business development, success, time management, work smart

The Top 10 Ways to Get What You Want Out of Life!

December 7, 2011 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

I have spent the last 20 years researching and working in a field that helps people live their dreams. By assisting people with creating exciting goals, reducing distractions and aligning beliefs and values, I ultimately help them get to the most important part—achieving their goals.

For my clients the most significant aha! moments often occur when they realize why they have been unable to meet the goals they set out for themselves year after year. The primary reason is that their goals are out of sync with their personal or professional values and beliefs. Understanding this can serve as a catalyst for approaching your personal or professional life planning in a different way—a way that will dramatically increase your success rate.

If your goals often get away from you, then the following 10 steps will be very helpful. This list is based upon challenges my clients have faced and learned from over the years. I know it works, and I am only too happy to share it with you.

The Top 10 Ways to Get What You Want Out of Life!

(a.k.a. 10 Key Considerations for Making Plans and Goals)

Make sure your goals are actually yours. They cannot come from other people’s expectations or desires.
Stay out of the past. The present and the future are very important, and the past has already happened. As they say, “It is a new day.”
Make sure you keep your ideal life clearly in your mind. You need to keep a close comparison of the ideal and your daily life. This is the stuff that keeps you on track.
Understand clearly what makes you happy.
Do you know where you want to go in life? This is your life plan. It is really important to have a life plan that resonates deeply with you.
Make sure you live your life to make your personal or professional plan come to life.
Are your goals in alignment with your values? Are you clear about what your values are? You need to revisit them regularly to make sure you are moving in the direction you really want.
Examine your beliefs. Your thoughts become your beliefs. Your beliefs become your behaviour. Your behaviour becomes your actions. Your actions become your life. How about those beliefs? Do you have any that aren’t working for you now? Are they getting in the way of your success?
Never, never limit your potential. There is very little you can’t do, and even that is debatable. It’s all about alignment.
Keep your negative thoughts, limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging behaviours under control.

After reading this list, what are you going to do differently?

What is your first step, and when are you going to have that completed by?

These action questions should follow any new plans you decide on. You will find the whole process much more invigorating once you have adopted the 10 Key Considerations to Making Plans and Goals.

Please share your success stories about how these simple but effective tools have moved you from frustration to action.

Do YOU Have Clear, Written Goals?

September 4, 2011 By Judy Mackenzie Leave a Comment

A Harvard Business School Story

the bestseller book by Mark McCormack

In What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive by Mark H. McCormack, the author tells of a study conducted on graduates of the 1979 Harvard MBA program. Those graduates were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all. Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing…

The 13 percent of the class who had unwritten goals were earning TWICE as much, on average, as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about those who had clear, written goals and plans for accomplishing them? That three percent were earning an average of TEN times as much as the other 97 percent… put together!

In spite of such proof of success, most people don’t have clear, measurable, time-bounded goals.

In the bestseller Goals! How to Get Everything You Want-Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, Brian Tracy teaches how to identify in the clearest terms the things you want out of life and how to make a plan to help achieve those things. He includes the following list.

Four Reasons Why People Don’t Set Goals

They don’t realize the importance of goals. If the people with whom you spend the most time—family, friends, colleagues and so forth—are not clear about and committed to specific goals, there is a chance that you won’t be, either.
They don’t know how to set goals. Some set goals that are too general. In reality, these are fantasies common to everyone. On the other hand, goals are clear, written, specific and measurable.
They fear failure. Failure hurts, but it is often necessary to experience failure in order to achieve the greatest success. Do not unconsciously sabotage yourself by refusing to set goals for which you might fail.
They fear rejection. People are often afraid that if they are unsuccessful at achieving a goal, others will be critical of them. This is remedied by keeping your goals to yourself at the outset; let others see your results and achievements once you’ve accomplished your goals.

Make a habit of daily goal setting AND achieving, for the rest of your life.

Focus on the things you want, rather than the things you don’t want.

Resolve to be a goal-seeking organism, moving unerringly toward the things that are important to you.

—

Have these tips motivated you to set some goals? Do you have any goal-setting success stories that you’d like to share? Please speak your mind below.

Frustrations Facing Women in Business

How you can Hire Your Initial Employees

I See Light at the End of the Tunnel…… Holy Crap It’s A Train

How you can Craft a Business Plan Which Turns Investors’ Heads

Eight Ways to Overcome your Fear of Public Speaking

Leadership

Outsourcing Advice From Freelancer.com’s Matt Barne

The Top 10 Ways to Get What You Want Out of Life!

Do YOU Have Clear, Written Goals?

A Harvard Business School Story

Four Reasons Why People Don’t Set Goals

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A Harvard Business School Story

Four Reasons Why People Don’t Set Goals

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What Our Clients Say

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