1. Barter
If you have a business you should be bartering goods
and services with other businesses. You should try to
trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals
usually require little or no money.

2. Network
Try networking your business with other businesses.
You could trade leads or mailing lists. This will cut
down on your marketing and advertising costs. You
may also try bartering goods and services with them.

3. Wholesale/Bulk
You’ll save money buying your business supplies in
bulk quantities. You could get a membership at a
wholesale warehouse or buy them through a mail
order wholesaler. Buy the supplies you are always
running out of.

4. Free Stuff
You should try visiting the thousands of freebie sites
on the internet before buying your business supplies.
You can find free software, graphics, backgrounds,
online business services etc.

5. Borrow/Rent
Have you ever purchased business equipment you
only needed for a small period of time? You could
have just borrowed the equipment from someone
else or rented the equipment from a “rent-all” store.

6. Online/Offline Auctions
You can find lower prices on business supplies and
equipment at online and offline auctions. I’m not
saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for
these items try bidding on them first.

7. Plan Ahead
Make a list of business supplies or equipment you’ll
need in the future. Keep an eye out for stores that
have big sales. Purchase the supplies when they go
on sale before you need them.

8. Used Stuff
If your business equipment and supplies don’t need
to be new, buy them used. You can find used items
at yard and garage sales, used stores, used stuff
for sale message boards and newsgroups etc.

9. Negotiate
You should always try negotiate a lower price for
any business equipment or supplies. It doesn’t hurt
to try. Pretend you are talking to a salesman at a car
lot.

10. Search
You can always be searching for new suppliers for
your business supplies and equipment. Look for
suppliers with lower prices and better quality. Don’t
just be satisfied with a few.
—-

10 Effective Ways To Reduce Your Business Costs is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

1) Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.

2) A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterized by focus, governed by structure, and controlled by a budget.

3) Short meetings free people to work on the essential activities that represent the core of their jobs. In contrast, long meetings prevent people from working on critical tasks such as planning, communicating, and learning.

4) Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriate process, and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these to create an effective meeting.

5) Effective meetings require sharing control and making commitments.

6) The ultimate goals of every meeting are agreements, decisions, or solutions. Meetings held for other reasons seldom produce anything of value.

7) Unprepared participants will spend their time in the meeting preparing for the meeting.

It is better to spend a little time preparing for solutions than to spend a lot of time fixing problems.

9) Meetings are an investment of resources and time that should earn a profit.

10) A meeting can be led from any chair in the room. And if it’s your meeting, you want it to be your chair.

10 Characteristics of Effective Meetings is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

Coaching is a fairly young discipline, so there are a lot of definitions of the term “coaching”. Let’s take a look at various descriptions offered on the World Wide Web.

Coaching can be defined as:

* A process providing an individual with feedback, insight and guidance on achieving their full potential in their business or personal life.

* A strategy used to help individuals reach their fullest potential and achieve their goals.

* A set of practical skills and a style of relating that develop the potential of both the individual being coached and the coach.

* A professional relationship in which you work together with your coach to clarify your options, set goals and develop action plans to achieve these goals.

The notion of coaching originated from sports, but nowadays there are lots of different coaching types. However, in this article we’ll look at the two main types of coaching: life (personal) coaching and business (corporate) coaching.

Benefits of Corporate Coaching: Organizational Development.

1. Increase of performance. This is perhaps the main advantage without which coaching literally would have no sense. Coaching develops the best qualities of people and teams and enables the usage of these qualities at work for the benefit of organization. Thus using coaching in management significantly increases staff productivity.

2. Improvement of relationships at work. Questions asked during the coaching process add value both to the person being asked and his/her answers. Thus an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust is being established. Good relationships at work provide the fertile ground for staff productivity, while the instructions and directions typical for the directive style of management aren’t likely to bring such positive changes.

3. Staff development. Staff development means not only educational seminars and trainings, but also unlocking the inner potential of the company’s employees. Whether the employees are going to develop themselves or not depends mainly on the company’s management style. Initially, all of us have a great potential which can be revealed through coaching. Coaching allows the employees to develop themselves directly in the workplace, thus increasing their efficiency.

4. Flexibility and adaptability. Improving competitiveness on the market requires such skills as flexibility and adaptability. Coaching aids in quickly adapting to every kind of change, which is quite important in today’s business world.

5. Staff motivation. Nowadays people work under their own will, not under constraint. Coaching helps people to fully develop their potential, increase their self-esteem and thus raise the quality of their work. Of course at the same time people become motivated to be productive and work efficiently.

Benefits of Personal Coaching: Personal Development.

1. Life quality improvement. The most important constituent of a person’s quality of life is emotional satisfaction. This factor must be taken into account in regard to HR management. When using coaching, apart from improving relationships, every employee gets higher emotional satisfaction from their work, which cannot but motivate them to perform at their best.

2. Creativity. Coaching itself and the working environment created by it encourages employees to make creative suggestions. At the same time employees aren’t afraid of being laughed at or rejected. Moreover, they are motivated to put forward their suggestions to improve business processes. And one creative idea, when properly evaluated and accepted, generates lots of new ideas.

3. Fast and effective response to critical situations. If people feel an atmosphere of respect and recognition, they’re always ready to stand for the company’s interests in critical situations. Working overtime and temporary changes to the working environment won’t be a great problem for them and will be accepted with understanding. Moreover, the employees will do their best to avoid such a situation, and will handle it themselves, without any direction from management.

4. Unlocking hidden resources and potentials. Coaching creates an atmosphere of trust and confidence, where a person discovers inner resources that they didn’t know about earlier. The coach’s questions help the coachee to see the ways of achieving their goals. Coaching helps a person to find their inner ‘assembly point’, from which the way of approaching goals becomes clear.
Conclusion.

We can talk about the benefits of coaching for a long time. Today it’s indeed the most effective personnel management style, a powerful tool, which allows achieving amazing results. Coaching is not a theory, first of all it’s a practice, not difficult to master, but at the same time extremely efficient. To make sure it works, all you have to do is try to use coaching at work, and the results could well be positive, even the first time.

There is lots of useful literature and training on coaching. However, coaching can also be learned online. We offer the “Corporate Coaching” online course. http://www.speedteach.com/corporate-coaching-training.aspx This course gives you not only theoretical knowledge, but also gives you the opportunity to practicing coaching with business case characters. We wish you success on your way to becoming a successful coach!

9 Facts About Coaching – You Need to Know is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

As a small business owner, your company most likely represents a significant portion of your net worth. That’s why it’s crucial not to let litigation wash it away when the time comes to convert your years of hard work into cash.

Selling a business involves substantial amounts of money and a wide range of issues including warranties and representations, disclosures and contractual obligations. Consequently, there are many opportunities for litigation to arise. Not only is litigation highly unpleasant and disruptive to your lifestyle, it is also very, very expensive – even if you win.

But other than wishing, hoping and praying, what’s a small business owner to do? Rather than complaining try something more constructive. Here are eight strategies to follow when selling your business that can help minimize litigation issues.

1. Honesty is the best insurance policy. Tell the truth about your business. Do not attempt to hide any problems or issues that, if left undisclosed, might be the basis for future litigation. Rest assured that the cost of disclosure in a transaction is very small when compared to the cost of litigation for non-disclosure.

2. Develop a confidential business review. This is a high-quality and comprehensive document that describes your business and its background. Within this document, clearly disclose any negative issues that are involved in the business. Not only will disclosure reduce litigation risks, it will also add to your credibility with potential buyers and save you time by eliminating those who are unwilling to accept the realities of your business.

3. Accurately communicate historical financial results. Do so in a manner that demonstrates the earning power of your business. Ideally, this information will be presented in a summarized format that recasts your discretionary and certain other expenses to show EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization).

4. Require your buyer to go through extensive due diligence. Due diligence is the process by which a buyer conducts an independent investigation of the information you have provided about your business. The written due diligence materials should be incorporated into the final legal documents to minimize your litigation risks.

5. Assemble a strong team of experienced professionals. Your accountant and your attorney will play key roles, and their expertise will reduce litigation risks. You may also benefit from the assistance of an experienced intermediary, broker, or merger and acquisition firm that specializes in selling privately owned businesses. However, before hiring an intermediary, make certain that they do not charge up-front fees and that they have a litigation-free track record.

6. Ensure that closing documents are thorough and complete. Not only must these documents contain appropriate legal language, they also must anticipate and address potential disagreements that may occur after closing – disagreements on issues like equipment or inventory values and condition, collection of accounts receivable and more. These issues are easily addressed during the courtship phase with a buyer, but they can cause major problems after the transaction is closed and the honeymoon phase is over.

7. Be careful with employment, transition and consulting agreements. If you enter into longer term agreements with your buyer, make sure the terms are entirely consistent with your retirement plans. Otherwise you run the risk of being unwilling or unable to perform your obligations, and that can lead to litigation.

8. Maintain confidentiality throughout the entire selling process. Although confidentiality will not directly protect you from litigation, it will help minimize the risk of losing valuable employees, customers and vendors during the process. One of the best ways to avoid litigation is to help ensure your buyer’s success, because that success significantly reduces the basis for damage claims.

The goal is a successful, worry-free transition. Take the time to recognize and act on the many opportunities you have to minimize your litigation risks and reap the benefits later.

8 Ways to Avoid Litigation When You Sell a Business is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

A recent Gallop Poll stated that about 20% of people queried described themselves as “actively disengaged” at work. Most of these people also said that they were not given the proper tools to do their job or that they were not given clear directions for completing the task. From this Poll, we see statistics that are astounding. These employees who are being described as “actively disengaged” are costing employers more than 300 billion dollars a year! This same Poll showed that these people are more likely to go hooky or to be late and are also described as less enthusiastic to their jobs.

A frequent mistake that employers make is levying too many regulations for employees to follow. This is highly de-motivating for the employee! They feel that they are not empowered to creatively carry out tasks for fear of breaking a rule.

Having employees feel that they are not trusted is another critical mistake that management makes. Creating rules and polices that question an employee’s trustworthiness is common practice in major businesses. An example includes allowing a certain number of days off when a family member dies. This assumes that if there were no limit on the number of days, the employee would take advantage of their time off.

The following are tips to create a work environment that fosters motivation.

Guidelines for an Enjoyable Work Environment

• Minimize rules and policies to the essential. Rules are there to protect your business and create structure; if a rule does not serve that purpose, then you will need to consider retiring that particular policy.

• After the rules are established, it is essential that all employees know what is expected of them. Ensure apt promulgation of all regulations.

• Establish a code of conduct. Implement a collaborative effort which involves all or most of the employees that work with you. A vision and mission statement keeps the ship sailing towards a common goal.

• Follow the rules- no exceptions. If management fails to practice what it preaches, can it expect its employees to keep within the bounds?

• Management should address inappropriate behaviors immediately before they become habits. Use counseling or a progressive discipline approach rather than a “you’re in trouble” approach.

• Clearly broadcast work place guidelines for professional behavior.

• Seek employee feedback on rules and policies. Request for ideas to enhance these policies for greater employee empowerment. Sometimes staff have great ideas; after all, they do the job everyday!

• Ensure that these novel ideas of consistency in enforcing policy don’t come as a cold shock to rank and file. If you have been letting employees “get away” with things in the past, you should meet with them and explain that the new policies are there for everyone’s mutual benefit.

8 Golden Techniques To Get People To Love The Rules is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

Most people look to what they know they CAN do as a guide to what they WILL do; I think to get anything important done in the world, you have to look towards what you WANT to do, and then figure out how to do it.

When most people think about what they are committed to, they consider where they can build a bridge to from where they already are. What would happen if you chose where you wanted to go without considering your current circumstances and then worried about how to build that bridge?

There is nothing wrong with being reasonable, except that “what is reasonable” is a poor guide to action when designing actions to push the future. Being reasonable will help you feel safe in the sense of knowing that your actions will turn out pretty much the way you expect them to. But it is dangerous in that same sense of producing predictable results; what is predictable has, by definition, been done before. And what has been done before is unlikely to make much of a difference in the future.

Paul Lemberg

Seven ways to be unreasonable.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adopt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.” – Rita Mae Brown

“So what else is new?” – Paul Lemberg

Being reasonable

My dictionary defines being reasonable as being rational. Rational, it says, means being reasonable. A vicious circle: I know I’m in trouble already. Going further, reasonable also means being governed by reason; which in turn means explanations, justifications, underlying facts, good judgment, normalcy, plus the capacity for logic and analytic thought. Further, being reasonable means being within the bounds of common sense, as in arriving home at a reasonable hour, and lastly it means not excessive or extreme.

I’m all for logic and analytic thought, but does following the dictum “be reasonable” sound like a good way to build a breakthrough business?

The very idea of “being reasonable,” prescribes something restrictive. It exhorts us to remain “within the box,” to do what sensible people would do: not to over commit ourselves, to be cautious, to avoid risks, to hold our trump cards.

What is the alternative?

To be unreasonable, of course. Being unreasonable, like it’s more cautious cousin, suggests multiple meanings. Here are seven applications of being unreasonable.

1. Think beyond what is normal, proper, and appropriate.

Typically, one of the first things prospective clients say to me is, “But you’re not from our industry. How can you understand our problems, much less provide solutions?” My response is always the same: “That’s the last thing you need. You already have plenty of people thinking similarly and use over-used ideas.” What you need is thinking un-bounded by the traditional logic of your industry; ideas that can bring an un-reasoning perspective.

2. Eliminate the reasons why.

There are reasons why we have to do things a certain way. There are reasons why certain approaches to business are going to work and others will not. There are reasons why things should be the way they are and not some other way. Challenge the reasons why and ask people to set them aside. Ask, “Well, what if we did. What would happen then? Would that work? What would work better? What would really rock you?”

3. No more excuses.

When someone in your company doesn’t produce the desired results–results to which they have committed, perhaps promised themselves and their departments–they usually have a reason why not. Looking at it this way, you always have one or the other: desired results or reasons why you don’t. People act as if those reasons are almost as good as the results. How do I know this? Because they always say something like, “Well, it didn’t work, but here’s why not,” or “We didn’t get ‘it’ done, because…” Or, worse still, ” We didn’t even try because…”

Remove people’s option to resort to reasons why not. Take away their option to resort to excuses. I think the entire working world would shift if there was no recourse to the “excuse” option–if all you could do was produce the desired result, or try another way to get the desired result, or try another way, and so on.

4. Set unreasonable expectations.

Ask people to go beyond what they think is reasonable or normal, Ask them to go beyond cautious commitments that hedge their bets, to make risky pronouncements that exhilarate them but might threaten the natural order of things.

Place big giant stakes in the ground–then figure out how to deliver. Figure out how to turn those unreasonable expectations into reality. Taking this approach will dramatically increase effectiveness and productivity–and ultimately cash flow, if it works nicely–in any business. Why should you settle–why should your customers settle–for what is reasonable and predictable? Why accept the norm, the average, the median? Apply unreasonable thinking. Set unreasonable expectations.

5. Make unreasonable requests.

This approach will aid every executive when working with vendors, contractors and employees. Remember “Just say no?” Try “Just ask for more.” Keep asking for more, better, sooner. Up the ante. Ask people to perform beyond their best.

This is not a negotiating tactic. It is not “nibbling.” It is asking people to perform beyond their own sense of what is reasonable. Sometimes people will fail to meet these unreasonable commitments–don’t beat them up for it. Sometimes you will get stellar results you wouldn’t have dreamed of previously.

6. Make unreasonable plans.

Does this sound like an oxymoron? Most companies plan to achieve reasonable results relative to past successes and failures, or even worse, relative to questionable industry lore. Instead of setting these kind of goals, begin with a more profound question: what would make a really big difference? What would cause a breakthrough for the company? What would dramatically increase shareholder value or profits? What would be “worth doing?” The answers may not be reasonable; they may instead take you down a path towards huge success.

7. Forecast unreasonable futures.

Most businesses forecast their results–revenues, growth rates and so on, based on prior year’s results. They call this reasonable, and similarly they assume industry norms and consider them reasonable. But in the twenty-first century, driven by the incredible rate of change in all aspects of our: culture, industry, customer’s businesses, our workforce, available technology–to think that anything dating from last year remains the same in this one–this isn’t just not reasonable, it might be totally ridiculous.

Take into account all the factors–bring everything you know about the situation up-to-date, add to it all the future changes you predict–and use that to forecast unreasonable results and make unreasonable plans.

So what to do?

Should you give up all pretense of rationality and logic? Should you step outside the norms and ignore the accumulated wisdom of your industry? “That would be great if it works out,” you say, “but if it doesn’t, my job is on the line.” Right? Well, yes, but…

Unreasonable thinking does not mean un-thinking. Unreasonable thinking is about exploring. Pushing the envelope. Cross pollinating. Intuitive inventing. It may be that the line separating unreasonable ideas from ridiculous ideas lies where thinking is left behind. Or perhaps the line lies only in hindsight.

I think the fear of failing, the fear of jeopardizing your future, is the biggest obstacle to creating great results. Yet the only way to create big giant breakthrough results is to take the road less traveled–to create ideas and programs that are unreasonable–and going for it. If you fail people will–with perfect hindsight–call your idea ridiculous. But if you succeed… wow!

7 Ways To Be Unreasonable is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

1) Know what you want

Before the workshop, set learning goals for yourself. What do you want to learn? How can this program help you? What would make you feel that your time was well spent?

2) Ask for what you want

As the program unfolds, ask questions that guide the presentation toward the information that you need. Also, seek out specific ideas that will help you.

3) Focus on your success

Rather than fight against new ideas, greet them as possibilities. If the ideas seem unworkable, seek out ways to modify them so that you can use them. Or find parts of them that you can use.

4) Encourage the speaker

Learning succeeds best when you become involved. Thus, ask questions, make comments, participate in the projects. Pay attention. Let the speaker know that you are interested. This encourages the speaker to do a better job.

5) Care for yourself

Keep your body comfortable so that your mind can absorb more. Take a brisk walk during breaks. This increases your heart rate, which pumps fresh blood through your brain. Avoid eating a large, heavy meal. This sends blood to your stomach and away from your brain.

6) Be grateful

Thank the speaker after the program. Either write a note or stay to express your appreciation. Also thank the people who organized the event in your company. Seek them out to express your thanks.

6 Ways to Maximize Learning is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

In addition to the negative repercussions of having stressed out employees, your business may be experiencing lower productivity and poor quality of output. It is both clear and obvious that some very cost effective strategies could minimize stress on the job and provide your employees with opportunities to reduce other stress related problems.

Below is a list of 6 ways in which you can help your company reduce stress for your employees while increasing the output of your business:

1. Provide an attractive and comfortable work environment whenever possible to reduce stress. Pleasant surroundings can do more for a person’s attitude then we often realize. Create a less formal atmosphere by adding plants or improved decoration, even if that is just in a rest room it will help.

2. Supply a quiet room for your employees to take their breaks in. Not the canteen or games room, this room should be separate from the normal “hustle and bustle” of the work-place. It will give your employees an opportunity of a quick 10 minute break from work and anywork related stress that they may be experiencing.

3. Instead of giving orders 100% of the time try to create opportunities for employees to make decisions that will directly affect their job performance. This gives them a sense of personal power and less stress because they feel they have some control.

4. Thank your employees for work accomplished and recognize them for exemplary performance. A quick thank you will go a long way in reducing complaints and stress. Be genuine and only thank when workers have worked well otherwise you will be rewarding sub-standard activities.

5. Always choose ergonomically sound equipment, tools, and furniture. These will make work easier for your staff, reduce workplace injuries and therefore limit any compensation claims. In addition workplace stress will be reduced and staff, equipped with the correct tools, will be more productive.

6. Go out of your way to create opportunities for the employees to meet, socialize and build relationships away from work. Set up a bowling team from work where you gather and play once a week or maybe a softball team, or even a book club, for employees only.

When staff realize you have their interests in mind and are doing all you can to improve working conditions they will respond and you will see an improved atmosphere and productivity.

6 Ways to help your employees beat stress and work more is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

Below are some of the most common myths about succession planning.

Myth #1: If there are no imminent retirements, succession planning needn’t be a top priority.

According to a survey conducted by Capital H, nearly 22 percent of respondents expect to lose between 10 percent and 25 percent of their top performers to retirement within the next five years. These top performers play a significant role in a company’s success, often serving in high-level, supervisory roles. For successions to progress smoothly, the people chosen to fill these roles need to be prepared and adequately trained. That process takes time.

Myth #2: Succession planning is only an issue for big companies.

85 to 95 percent of all the companies in the United States today — more than 10 million – are family-owned or family-controlled. The smaller the business, the greater the impact is felt from a replaced employee. This is especially true of any employee succession in a sales or operations leadership role, as a poor month or two can mean disaster for a small company. Small companies need to plan early and invest in the training necessary to help the new or promoted employee succeed. For smaller companies, this may mean researching outside learning opportunities and setting aside a budget to cover them.

Myth #3: There need only be a succession plan for C-level team members.

During the recent recession, employees were often asked to broaden their lists of responsibilities. The Economic Policy Institute reports that employee productivity has increased 4.1% each year. Manager and director-level professionals have been asked to take on more duties than ever before. As such, it is important to look at a cross-section of departments to ensure proper succession plans are in place for each division.

Myth #4: Succession planning should be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Continuity works best. Allowing each department to come up with its own unique process for succession planning, can be a troublesome and time-consuming endeavor. Organizations, instead, should create a company-wide process that could then be used by each individual department.

Myth #5: Good talent is easy to spot.

As an employee moves up the corporate ladder, soft skills become more necessary and valuable components of success – management skills, emotional intelligence, leadership ability, and so forth. However, these skills can be difficult to quantify. To spot and cultivate employees with these skills, an organization needs an instrument to help measure and assess talent. According to a recent report by Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, organizations like Lilly, Dow and Dell have long-used talent assessment as part of their succession planning processes.

Myth #6: Succession planning only pertains to baby boomers.

According to SHRM and CareerJournal.com’s 2005 US Job Recovery and Retention Survey, 76% of all employees are looking for a new job. This means that your top performers may be leaving sooner than you imagine. As such, it’s important to think about succession planning – not as a one-time effort – but as an ongoing process to continually grow and develop your organization.

6 Succession Planning Myths…Debunked is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com

1) Avoid “Not.” Negative talk encourages arguments, counter attacks, and attempts to solve your problems. It also creates a negative impression. For example, when you say, “I can’t,” you appear helpless and ineffective. Instead, talk about what you can do and what you want.

2) Deal with impossible requests by 1) acknowledging the request, 2) empathizing with the other person’s feelings, 3) saying, “I wish I could fix it.” and 4) suggesting a reasonable alternative.” For example, imagine that you work at a resort and it is raining. A guest walks up to you carrying a golf bag, slams it against your desk, and shouts, “This place stinks! I spent thousands of dollars coming here and it’s raining.”

You respond by saying, “You’re right it’s raining. And I know how upsetting it must feel to travel this far and be stuck inside. I wish I could make it stop. In the meantime, you may want to visit our indoor putting center. Our golf pro is offering instructions this afternoon.”

3) Deal with difficult requests by 1) affirming your willingness to help and 2) asking the other person to help you plan a solution.

For example, if your boss asks you to start another project, you could say, “I understand you want me to start a new project. And right now I’m working on another project. To help me set my priorities, I wonder which one you want me to finish first.”

4) When possible, offer choices that show the consequences of different options. This allows the other person to choose both the process and its impact.

For example, you can say, “That’s a great idea. And there are different ways I can meet your request. We can use our existing supplies, which are free, or we can buy custom materials, which will cost $500. Which option would you prefer?”

5) Deal with complaints by asking the other person to describe a fair settlement. You can say, “What do you want?” or “What would you consider a fair solution to this?” or “What would make you happy?”

6) A smile significantly affects how you sound. It also makes you more approachable. When you frown, other people hear anxiety, caution, fear, and rejection. A smile (or at least a pleasant expression) encourages open communication.

6 Steps to Effective Communication is a post from: egodrivendevelopment.com