Author: Scott Asai

Helping people develop their leadership skills to advance in their career

How to Keep Pace with Your Competition

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The business world is full of competition and if you want your business to succeed, then you need to keep pace with the rest of your industry. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean simply copying what other businesses are doing, it means being able to read the signs, innovate with new ideas and understand where the possibilities lie.

Whether you are just starting out on a new venture, or your business is as old as the hills, you will need to have the right tools at your disposal to help you make the right decisions for your future.

Reputation Management

It might sound like something from a political TV show, but reputation management is one of the most important things you need to do in order to keep your business in the running. With the right tools, you should be keeping track of your own online presence, including what people are saying about you, as well as your competition’s online presence. This will help you to keep tabs on what your competition are doing and where you might be able to get ahead.

Though you might think that your reputation is all about your social media presence, it is also affected by any online mentions, listings and reviews that may be written about you. As well as seeing how these online comments bring business back to your website, you should also be on the lookout for any negative comments that may have a detrimental effect.

SEO

Like reputation management, SEO can be used to keep tabs on your competition and to influence your own website construction and content. For example, if you find that your competition are doing particularly well on a keyword you aren’t using, you might want to consider editing your content to include it.

SEO can also be used to see where you competition falls short and sometimes it is more obvious to you what they are missing than what you are. If you can track a few competing businesses, you will stand the best chance of keeping up with the industry as a whole.

Social Media

In an online world, social media presence is vital for any company. In 2018, this is even more pressing as customers expect faster response times, high quality content and social interaction too. If you can make sure that your social media is managed well, either in-house or by an agency, then you will be off to a great start.

As it goes hand in hand with your reputation, you should also look at what other companies are doing but don’t feel you must restrict yourself to your own industry. There are lots of innovative social media marketing campaigns out there and you shouldn’t limit yourself. Doing something different is usually the best way to grab the consumer’s attention, so be brave and do something bold.

Keeping pace with the competition is about more than just seeing what they are up to. You need to be thinking of ways that you can improve your own techniques, spot the gaps in the market and be bold with your approach.

Finding The Right Career Path For You

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Lots of young people struggle to identify the best career path, and so they end up working jobs that are less than suitable. Some tips on this page should help to turn that situation around. When all’s said and done, you just need to find something that makes you feel excited to get out of bed in the morning. So, take a moment to consider this advice.

Play to your strengths

Most people have at least one talent or another, and so it makes sense to consider career paths that enable you to play to your strengths. If you’re excellent at mathematics – become an accountant. If you’re fantastic at woodwork – become a carpenter. You get the idea, right?

Consider your hobbies

Everyone has a hobby they could use to earn a fortune if they take the right approach. The infographic at the bottom of this page highlights a system for those with pilot’s licenses to turn a profit, but you could do it with almost anything.

Go for the money

If all else fails; you should always go for the money. Nothing takes the sting out of working a job you hate better than a significant wage packet at the end of the month. If you can’t find anything you enjoy; at least make sure you become rich.

Those tips should help you to make better decisions this year when it comes to seeking out the best employment solutions. Put them into practice as soon as possible, and you could turn your situation around within just a few months.


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3 Tiny Things That Could Make A Massive Difference To Business Success

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When you think of your business success, you probably think of all of the huge things that can make a difference to it – like the marketing company you choose, how much of a budget you have for certain things, and other obvious factors. However, even the small things can make a huge difference to your success. If you’re wondering, ‘like what?’, read on for 3 tiny things that could make a big difference for your business!

Having An Open Door Policy

An open door policy that is implemented correctly could make a huge difference to your company. Not only does it encourage staff to come and speak to you about any problems, it also lets them know that you care. A leader that cares about what goes on in the office and wants to help is way more effective than a leader that sits behind their desk and lets their staff get on with it. Make sure they know that they can come to you about anything, not just office problems. You could potentially help them with other situations that still affect their working life. For example, one boss helps his employee to secure an apartment when they couldn’t find anywhere to live. This gave them peace of mind, increased loyalty to the company, and improved their productivity at work tenfold!

Keeping A Clean Work Space

A clean work space is a good idea for a number of reasons. Having your employees clean their own workspace takes up time that could be spent working on their projects, and dilute their efforts. This is why it’s a good idea to work with an experienced company, backed up by a growing list of clients. They can take care of the cleaning side of things for you, so you and your team can focus on what’s most important and enjoy the benefits of a clean work space. Not only does a clean work space do wonders for the mind, it is imperative for health!

Celebrating The Small Stuff With Your Team

Celebrating the small stuff should be emphasized – after all, the small stuff adds up to the big stuff! Make sure you give plenty of employee recognition, as this helps to keep their job satisfaction high and encourages them to continue working hard for you. Make sure you praise your employees both as a team and separately. Simply praising them has been proven to have a huge effect on their mindset and how they work for you. Treat them occasionally too, even if it’s just buying a pack of Krispy Kremes on a Friday. Show them that you care and give them incentives, and they will continue to work productively for your business.

By implementing the 3 simple, small things above, you could make a massive difference to your business success. Create an open door policy and make it known, keep your workspace clean, and celebrate the small stuff with your team. Watch in awe as the benefits of these things take hold!

Growing Your Business: The Need To Know Essentials

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Taking the plunge and setting up on your own is one of the hardest, but most rewarding challenges that you can take on in your working life. More and more of us are opting to set our own rules (and working hours), find our passions in life, and creating something true to ourselves. Getting a start-up running smoothly is no small matter, but once you are operation and even turning a profit, a great challenge lies ahead: how to go about expanding. Sometimes knowing where to start can be the biggest barrier, so set your sight on progress and remember the basics below.

Find Other Businesses to Partner With

Sometimes, expansion can be as simple as finding partner businesses to work with. By pairing up, you gain the benefit of each other’s resources, including staff time, customer data and facilities. The trick is finding a company that has compatible – not competing – interests and identifying areas of mutual benefit to present to them. Getting serious about networking can help you find suitable partners, where both companies can bring something to the table. It’s a excellent way to expand sales without usually needing to invest in costly infrastructure.

Locate The Investment You Need

Financing an expansion effort can be almost as much of a hurdle as gaining the cash to set up in the first place, but you do have the bonus of a track record of success to help persuade investors. There is quite a lot of government funding available from economic development authorities to help your business grow – so check the U.S Small Business Administration as a starting point, before seeing what is out there at a local level too. You may require a small business loan to purchase equipment or make an investment, so look for credit unions and the rise of specialized lenders such as Kabbage, who support online retailers, or Biz2Credit. Remember to include a budget for marketing your new offer too.

Get Help With Hiring The Best Talent

If you need bodies to expand, then making recruitment mistakes can be costly and time-consuming, just when you most need to focus your efforts. So it may be worth calling in a recruitment professional in your sector to help with the hiring. Not only will the best ones already have an overview of key players in the market, but they’ll be able to take on some of the administrative burdens and pre-screen new candidates for you. If it’s your first time hiring, they can also help you to avoid legal pitfalls by ensuring that you have the correct policies, legal cover and employers liability insurance in place.

Consider Your Location

If you’re expanding operations, often you’ll need to consider new premises. You may just have been working from a co-working space or a home office before, but expansion means you’ll need to house new people and equipment well. Find space in a dedicated start-up hub that offers access to in-house legal and marketing services, or consider setting up a custom space – perhaps you could fit out a warehouse space or consider a fabricated best steel building to house a tailor-made set-up? When you source your new space, factor in future projected growth as well and future proof your premises for future expansions.

Creating Good Employer/Employee Relationships

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No one wants to be a jobsworth when it comes to being a manager, and being the boss of a business often gives us an air of authority that can be used properly and abused in equal measure. However, it’s finding a good balance between work and play with your employees that makes the workplace a lot more enjoyable to be in, and your employees a lot happier when receiving instructions. So if you’re looking to foster better relationships between you and your employees, here’s a couple of tips for your consideration. You know your workplace, so apply them where you can.

Set Boundaries from the Beginning

You want your workers to trust you, and crafting such a bond takes time and good planning. It’s most easily done however by creating acceptable boundaries, as a constant flow of give and take often breaks a lot of trust on both sides. Don’t be an overbearing boss that your employees need to set boundaries specifically in return for; keep work to work hours and keep your expectations realistic.

Ending up with needing to run a disciplinary trial or other such behavior extremes can be avoided when you’re firm but fair from the beginning, so check out www.elliswhittam.com for ways to put this into practice. Knowing what you can and can’t do as a boss to lead your more errant employees in the right direction means you’re less likely to make a mistake that can damage a career, and keep them around for longer to do good work.

Recognize Achievements

Everyone likes receiving praise, and no one will appreciate this more than your employees when they do a good job. Being able to pinpoint to them what they’ve done right and where they could improve is great in terms of constructive criticism, but make sure it’s fair and really could help them.

No one appreciates being shouted at or being sent passive aggressive emails, so be outright with what you want to say so a message is clearly gotten across. Otherwise you may never get a proper result in the tasks you set them; words have different meaning for all people after all.

Get Feedback

We don’t know we’re doing things right unless people tell us, so make sure you get the feedback from the people you work with on how your run your business concerning them. You can do this via an anonymous survey, really allowing people to be honest with what they want to say to you, or you can ask them in person.

This is often a more personal touch, as we can see people’s body language at the same time, which helps to show up how they interact with you. Don’t let it become a formal occasion, and make sure they know no harm to their job will come out of it.

If you think you’re a good boss, make sure you really are in how you act towards your employees. Wanting better is a good sign!

Create an Affordable and Unique Office Space by Converting a Warehouse

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Property developers have been converting warehouses into homes for many years now. As more and more businesses move their operations out of the city and into other locations, inner-city warehouses are becoming available for purchase for reasonable prices and they can become promising developments for anyone willing to invest.

But should you convert an old warehouse into an office? In this article, we’ll be going through some of the positives of taking this route, but we’ll also explain a few concerns that you should keep in mind as well.

Great value for money

For business owners that are looking to grow, warehouses present an enticing deal. They’re relatively large meaning that you have plenty of space to work with. This means it’s possible to keep a part of the warehouse for product manufacturing or storage and use the rest as office space. This is a great way to get a 2-in-1 deal so that you don’t need to hire external warehouse space or look for alternatives for storage.

However, this does mean that you’ll need to renovate it completely, but having such a large blank slate means that you can do virtually anything with it. For large open areas, you’ll need suitable commercial grade pendant lights which can be relatively expensive if you need to cover a lot of ground. If the warehouse is large enough, you might even be able to build a second story that is used for office purposes or meetings with clients and investors.

Overall, the value proposition is a great one. You’ll get a lot of space for your money and you have the ability to customize it to your liking. Just keep in mind that failing to budget is a common pitfall that could turn your warehouse renovation project into an absolute nightmare, so make sure you’re aware of the costs and speak to several contractors before investing your money.

Safety considerations

It’s a good idea to keep safety in mind when you’re renovating a warehouse. They’re not exactly known to be the most sturdy buildings in existence and there’s a good chance there could be some structural damage or compromised areas that need to be fixed before it’s suitable to be renovated.

This means that you will need to hire a safety inspector to determine if the structure is safe enough to work in and use. You may also need to hire another safety inspector once you start bringing in industrial machines or build tall shelves to store all of your stock. If your warehouse is large enough to have forklifts operating, then you’ll need to obtain licenses and also teach your staff how to use them.

In short, a warehouse represents an affordable and unique method of getting the office space needed to grow your business, but it’s not as simple as hiring a contractor to freshen up the place and then moving in with your employees. There are many considerations to keep in mind, but it’s well worth the end result.

Design Team Essentials: Free Reign And Grounded Minds

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The design is an industry that is full of different people with both creative and scientifically logical minds. You have the bold and brave who will approach design as an art form, creating 2D and 3D models using advanced software. On the other hand, you have designers that will look to make complex interiors workable and futuristic with circuits and electrical appliances coexisting to bring humanity closer to tomorrow. Regardless of which category you fall in to, leading a group of people with various and at times repelling personalities can be daunting. Any business that has a design team be it an automotive manufacturer, movie studio, marketing agency and or technology company, the essentials are always the same. You need a great mix of people and advanced systems to get the most out of your projects. It’s therefore farsighted to make sure you have these systems ready and lined up before you go ahead with any task.

Balance creatives with grounded minds

Ask half the design graduates in the world why they took an art and design degree at university they’ll explain how they want to see their imagination come to life. The other half will say, they want to use their logical and experimentative mind to see how far they can bring humanity into the future. Any team that is worth its weight in salt, will always have a fine balance of these two kinds of designers. The somewhat combative question will always pop up and that being, which kind of person should be in charge of a project? The simple but perhaps controversial answer is, the logical, grounded person. Creativity is great, but its nature is to be formless and work within a realm where instability is actually a positive attribute. The leader of the design team in your business, should be able to know and fully comprehend the limitations of the company itself as well as the state of the tools available.

Giving free reign of needs

Every team will want to set its own parameters. Of course, the leader has the largest say as his or her authority includes communicating what the group needs. The simple truth of the matter is that some design teams want to build their own software and hardware structures from the ground up. Not every business owner will be tech savvy and least of all knee deep in the complexity of any speciality other than their own. But with companies like http://www.altium.com/ designers have the opportunity to create their own PCB hardware from scratch. They can choose their components from a list of varying kinds, each with attributes relevant to certain crafts in the industry. From start to finish they’re also able to take anything out and replace it in the virtual design interface. Easily edited and shared among the entire team, this kind of company offers advanced circuit systems for those wanting specific capabilities.

The essentials of every design team are the brilliant minds themselves. Balance the grounded and logical brains with the outlandish and creative souls that make the design industry so exciting. Don’t be afraid to give them the reigns and let them create what they need to give you the best of what they have to offer your business.

3 Technologies You Need for a Successful Startup

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Choosing Tech that Will Help Your Business Grow

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Opening a new business is exciting because it’s a creative venture– you spend a lot of time making decisions that will shape your company’s brand and affect its success as it grows. No pressure. One of the biggest decisions you’ll make about your business is what kind of technology infrastructure your company will need to be successful.

Here are three things that your company absolutely must have in the beginning to make sure everything goes smoothly later on:

  • Local technology consultant
  • Solid data security
  • High speed internet access

Your Tech Consultant is Your New Best Friend

Perhaps the single most important investment you can make in your company’s technology strategy is hiring a technology consultant. Your consultant will learn about your business like it’s their own. That means that they can help guide your tech decisions from the launch of your company and continue to offer advice as your company grows. Having someone help you figure out which technology solutions fit your startup’s specific needs is a tool you can’t afford to skip.

Securing Your Data Is Essential

According to Symantec’s 2017 Internet Security Threat Report, an estimated 229,000 cybersecurity web attacks are blocked every single day. It’s absolutely imperative that your company secures its sensitive information. Some basics you should have in place:

  • Firewall protection for your local network and all company computers
  • Anti-virus software that includes software to detect phishing and other online attacks as well
  • Secure wireless network
  • Back-up of all your business’s data
  • Plan to recover data in case of emergency

Keep Your Internet Up To Speed

No matter how big or small your business is, high-speed internet is no longer an option– it’s essential. Slow internet will limit your business’s ability to grow and succeed because so much business these days relies on the web to connect you with your customers. Plus, high-speed internet opens up the door for you to invest in important tools like online data backups, VoIP, and other technologies you wouldn’t be able to support with a slower connection.

Choosing technology for your startup is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make about your business, and it will shape how your company develops down the line as well. Make to include a technology consultant, data security plan, and high-speed internet in your tech infrastructure, and you’re startup will be all set for success.

Kobe Bryant’s Transformation Into A Leader

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As a 17 year old recent high school graduate Kobe Bean Bryant was drafted 13th by the Charlotte Hornets, but traded to the Los Angeles Lakers immediately.

Back then fans didn’t pay attention to youth sports like they do now, so it was up to professional teams to send their scouts to watch players and invite them to workouts. Jerry West, the Lakers General Manager then, said Bryant’s workout was the best he’s ever seen. West was known for having a keen eye for talent so with his endorsement the deal was as good as done.

Fast forward to December 18, 2017 when Kobe’s two jerseys (#8 & #24) were retired and the question asked was: which was better #8 or #24? Bryant hesitated to give a definitive answer, but when forced he responded with #24 because the journey was harder.

Bryant’s career in either jersey is Hall of Fame worthy, but what impressed me most is the maturation of who he has become over the years.

In his teens and 20’s he was an athletic, arrogant and brash individual that would do anything to win. In 2004 when the Lakers lost the NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons, Kobe pondered jumping to another team, but once his counterpart Shaquille O’Neal was shipped to Miami he was talked into staying.

This was fresh off his sexual assault case in 2003 and the years to come were not fruitful as a Laker. Kobe’s best years individually came while the Lakers were down and before the 2006-07 NBA Season he changed his number to #24.

Once they acquired Pau Gasol at the trade deadline in 2008 the Lakers won 2 championship in the next 3 years. The end of his playing career saw him endure 3 season-ending injuries on bad teams, but here is where the real story begins.

Asking recently what advice he would have given his younger self he said “empathy.” Coming from an anti-social, ego maniac driven person in his prime that’s huge. Bryant was always a solo artist, working harder than teammates and chastising those who didn’t share the same values. Sure, he was great, but few wanted to be around him or play with him.

But sometime after his court case and Shaq leaving town it clicked. Bryant’s last 2 championships were sweeter than his first 3 because of how he did it. Yes he won Finals MVP in his latter two, but it’s more about how he embraced his teammates. Watching all his former teammates gather for his final game and jersey retirement ceremony shows how he has evolved as a person.

His retirement speech had more to do with his family and message to the youth than it did about his accomplishments. Bryant is arguably one of the smartest basketball players and you can hear it in his words. He’s at peace with his career transition and done what few professional athletes have after retiring: move on.

The funny thing is even before Kobe became a leader, he didn’t strive for adoration. Why he’s adored so greatly in China is because of his work ethic. Although selfish at times, you can never fault him for not trying. He played every game like it was his last.

Over the years he’s softened his approach towards media, fans and critics. That’s because he’s at peace with who he is and his priorities have shifted to his family. Never has their been an athlete so polarizing from the start transform into a truly likable individual over time.

Bryant’s transformation is inspiring because his story can be ours too. No matter where you are, you can always change for the better. It starts with the small choices you make daily. Kobe is starting a new chapter in his life and with 2018 here so can you. #mambaout

How To Grow Your Business with Humor

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Photo courtesy of  Andy-Eskha

Guest Post by Misa Chien

They say laughter is the best medicine. But did you know you can grow your business with humor?

Michael Kerr is the author of The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank. He works to empower leaders to improve company culture through increasing the energy level of employees.

Kerr’s work empowers leaders to grow their business with humor. “In all my previous work experience, as a manager, as a leader, I was always known for my sense of humor,” he says. “I saw the benefits of humor in the workplace.”

After being in a position where the company culture seemed draining and unexciting, Kerr focused on the use of humor in building up a more energized culture. “That’s when I had this ‘aha’ moment and realized that I think there’s a lot more to this humor than just a nice to have,” he says.

He began by researching and attending conferences of how to use humor to improve company culture. Now he helps lead business leaders implement those valuable tactics he’s learned to grow their business.

Less Stress and More Success

In his book, Kerr has a chapter that introduces the importance of lowered stress levels is connected to more success.

Stress strongly influences employee retention.

“I think the pace of change has gotten so crazy,” he says. There are a number of contributing factors to stress in life: caring for family, technology, work, leisure. “And I think a lot of the stress in so many workplaces is from poor leadership where they don’t feel valued or appreciated,” he says.

The solution: Laughter

So how can companies deal with this level of unnecessary stress? Kerr’s solution is simple: laughter.

“It’s a fun solution at the same time,” he says. “We know from research that laughter is one of the most effective ways of relaxing us. Just from a physical response, we know laughter can ease stress.”

But the benefits of laughter don’t just stop at the internal level. Laughter and a good attitude can help us build networks and relationships at the workplace. “It creates an environment where we want to work together as a team,” he says.

He also adds that humor helps employees reframe what are perceived as problems into a more realistic perspective. “We do have to remind ourselves that stress is in the eye of the beholder. It’s not the things that happen at work that stress us out, it is our interpretation of those things that is the source of stress.”

Humor allows people to lighten up and enjoy life, both at work and home.

Types of Healthy Humor

Certain types of humor fair better in the workplace than others. The type of humor used is connected to how effective and influential it will be among leadership and coworkers.  

“Everything that I’m talking about in the book is about good and safe humor – humor that laughs with people, not at people,” he says. “Humor that tears down barriers, not humor that builds barriers; that laughs in the supportive, creative ideas as opposed to humor that laughs at people’s suggestions and ideas.”

Grow your business with humor that encourages and builds others up.

The two kinds of humor to implement that lead to increased mood and company growth are affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor.

Kerr describes affiliative humor as, “the tendency to tell jokes, make humorous observations and say funny things as a way to reduce tensions in the workplace, to facilitate relationships,” he says.

Self-enhancing humor, he says, “It’s about having a humorous outlook. It’s about keeping one’s sense of humor in the face of stress.”

Practicing these styles of humor greatly improves the attitudes of the workplace at all levels.

The other styles of humor, aggressive humor and self-defeating humor, shouldn’t be used to boost company culture.

Laughter Leads to Longterm Growth

So laughter supports a positive company culture. How can you grow your business with humor?

“What we know from so much research…we know that culture is a key driver of business success,” he says. “It is what drives our success. We know it’s your number one competitive advantage.”

Some other benefits of laughter in company culture he mentions:

  • Lower employee turnover
  • Lower absenteeism
  • Increased sales
  • Improved customer service
  • Lower presenteeism

Goals are essential to business, but those goals should also be accomplished within the context of having fun and enjoying the ride.

“Great cultures don’t just happen,” he says. “Everybody says they’re great, but there’s a difference between saying and doing. And what the great companies do so well is they’re intentional about their culture. They recognize that you can’t just buy your culture; you have to build it day in and day out.”

To encourage others to join in on your culture, create engaging content and advertisements that demonstrate the fun they want to attract in hiring talent. To grow your business with humor, it all comes down to culture.

Resources

Michael Kerr’s business, Humor At Work

The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses are Laughing All the Way to the Bank  

Author

Misa Chien is an asian model signed with LA Models and cooking mom based in Los Angeles.  Her food blog, Nom Nom TV, specializes in blog posts such as soba noodle recipes all the way to the top items to buy at 99 ranch market.