Daily Biz Solutions

Do your conversational skills sometimes fail you when you need them the most? Capitalizing on many of life’s biggest opportunities requires having the ability to communicate well in high-stakes situations. Written by the founders of leading organizational effectiveness firm VitalSmarts, Kerry Patterson, Jesephy Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, Crucial Conversations – Tools for Talking When Stakes are High provides readers with the power to improve their conversational abilities in virtually every situation.

An underlying premise of this book is the basic truth that human beings engage in crucial conversations on a day-to-day basis. Crucial conversations aren’t necessarily talks that have widespread significance. Rather, they are simply human interactions in which the stakes are high, opinions might differ, and people are emotionally attached either to the conversation itself or the outcome.

This publication provides specific guidance regarding how to improve communication ability by mastering techniques for crucial conversations. It is well-written and easy-to-follow, providing both theory and practical how-to advice. The information in this book will benefit anyone who understands the importance of remaining cool under pressure and is willing to put a little effort into improving his or her communication skills.

Thinking About Starting a Small Business ?

Owning a business is not for the faint of heart or those who would rather be job hunting. It is for those who want to take the future into their own hands. Over 1 million new businesses are started each year. That fact alone shows there are lots of other people that share the same desire, to be a part of the entrepreneurial wave.

A search of your mind,heart and spirit will help determine if you can manage your time and whether or not you are a self-starter with the experience and desire it will take to coordinate activities and events to create enough income to support your household.I mean that in every literal sense of the word, because you may find yourself and the rest of your family members all working together to make your small business a success.

Here is a short list of the skills you should posse beforehand, to help determine if you are suited, to owning your own business.

Organized, keeping track of expenses and orders while staying ahead of schedule will be essential to your business.

Flexible, can you shift gears easily from mom to boss or from boss to husband on a moments notice?

Driven, How long can you work 18 hour days without a day off?

Motivated, you must stay excited and enthusiastic about your product or service even when customers say no.

Creative, this trait can’t be learned ,but if you are smart, you’ll find someone to help you with this area.

Responsible, you have to be able to run errands, complete task and accomplish goals all at the same time.
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Are you serious about growing your business? If so, Million Dollar Networking by Andrea Nierenberg is a must-read for you. Mastering and utilizing effective business networking techniques is the key to building long-term, ongoing business relationships. This enjoyable and informative book provides step-by-step by step instructions for growing your business through networking.

Nierenberg also explains what separates those who are successful at networking from those who just don’t get the concept of building long-term, mutually beneficial business relationships. She shares suggestions for how cultivate the attributes that separate successful networkers from the rest of the pack.

The valuable insights you will gain from reading Million Dollar Networking include:

A solid understanding about why networking requires giving first

• How to connect with “unreachable” contacts

• How to make networking a part of your DNA

• Tips to re-start relationships with former contacts

• Many other practical and valuable business growth suggestions

• This book is a valuable resource for entrepreneurs, salespeople, consultants, and any other professionals seeking to build their reputations, credibility, and income. No matter what industry you are in, the tips and suggestions provided in this book can help you take your business to a new level by mastering the art of effective networking.

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One of my favorite clients calls the work she gives me her “junk bucket.” That’s the stuff she hates to do and that’s the stuff I love doing. What a great match!

But wait, some of the “Junk Bucket” stuff is really boooorrrrrring to complete; and repetitious, week in and week out. Sound familiar? One particular task was so boring that I could nearly take a snooze while doing it. I’m going to tell you about this project and I want you to keep in mind the tasks you do day in and day out. You have to think out of the box to apply your own situation to my experience.

Imagine this. Take information from emails, say for a certain product being sold and copy and paste about seven items into a spread sheet, put in some extra codes and send it off. Sounds simple enough, right? Until you have about 70 of the things to copy and paste, Let’s see, that’s 70 x 7 = 420 Control Cs and 420 Control Vs. Never fails, it takes about an hour or more to complete.And then the light bulb went off….automate! But I’m not a programmer and furthermore, I don’t want to be one. So, along comes PeakOneTech. In about eight hours they had a little program built that would do this task in 15 minutes, saving me and my client 45 minutes each week. That’s 39 hours a year or $1365 a year. Think of it this way – 27 more hours to do other tasks for your clients.

And that’s the story. I know, when we talk about “customized” programs, it sounds expensive, but you have to do the numbers. Say I was charging my client $35/hr. The program cost me $400. It will take about four or five weeks for the program to pay for itself. Read the rest of this entry »

Words change. Words that we used long ago may have new meanings today. Words can also have different meanings in different cultures. Be careful to choose yours wisely or you might not get your point across.

Words change meaning over time. I was talking with my daughter about the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” and pirates’ “booty” when she got embarrassed because of my ignorance. To her booty meant buttocks or bottom (thanks to urban rap music). A similar thing happened when I was looking for my sandals. I asked my son if he had seen my “thongs” when he reminded me that thongs are underwear these days. These faux pas (note I did not write “fox paws”) were unintentional on my part but are examples of how language can be transient, short-lived and can cause discomfort or can even completely sabotage a business deal by inadvertently offending someone.

Technology has changed the meaning of words. Remember when a firewall delayed or stopped the spread of fire? Or when a virus was something that caused a cold? Or, when the web was something that only a spider could make? To me spam is canned meat and best served with fried eggs and rye toast; to others spam is unwanted emails about Viagra or low cost mortgages. A hub was the center of a wheel not long ago; today it has something to do with a computer network.
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