Face it; Business is driven by profit and you must make a profit to have a successful business. While it is the most important thing, you can’t dwell on it. You need to get busy, and try different things to boost your overall profit. Every business is different, so the following ideas and suggestions that I have may not work for everyone. Also, trying to implement them all immediately into your business will drive you crazy. Start with just one or two, track your numbers, and try a couple more in a few months. Drop what doesn’t work and expand on the ideas that do. You will see your profits grow and your business grow along with it.

* Tie in some back end products that are not related to your main product but are needed by most people.

* Take on as many of your business’ chores as you can handle; outsource what you can’t. Only you can determine how your business is operated. Also, be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. If you aren’t that great with people on a one-to-one basis, hire someone for your point-of-sale/

* Create an alliance with 3 or 4 web sites. Include each of your ads or banners on the other web sites. You will all share targeted traffic from each other. Refer customers to each other.

* Create a free e-zine directory. You’ll attract a lot of traffic from ezine publishers and people that want to subscribe to the e-zines. This might not move your product, but subscribers pay money, which means profit.

* When you offer a freebie from your site, submit it to free stuff sites. They provide target categories, which means targeted traffic.

* When you ask someone to sign-up to receive a freebie, make sure you keep it brief. Name, and either address or email. Do NOT ask for really personal information. (Marital status, kids (unless it relates to your business) etc. This is a sure-fire way to lose a potential prospect.

* Make your visitors feel comfortable at your web site. Give them your main business address; your visitors may not trust you if you’re using a P.O. box. Also if you operate a store in addition to your web site, people will drop in when they are in the area.

* Run promotional sales or “product of the month” on your website. People will come back to see what the new special of the month is. Starbucks and Yankee Candle are two that come to mind that do this well. Record all your new promotion ideas into an idea journal, good or bad. Sometimes you can combine ideas to create new ones to increase your sales.

* If your customers or product results in multi-lingual business, consider, converting your web site and free e-mail newsletter
into different languages. This will increase your over-all target market.

* As with any business, remember your customer is always right, even
if they are not. Resolve all conflicts quickly and painlessly. They are the lifeblood of your business.

* Create a bond with your visitors by bringing up likes or dislikes you have in common with them in your ads. If you have no idea, hire a target group or run surveys to find out.

As you can see, profits are all determined by the satisfied customer. Give them what they want and your business will succeed. Good luck!

Jeff Bunnell is a part-time marketer and full-time Dad. He has worked as a Realtor, Concert Promoter, Computer Tech, Salesman, Manager, etc. Now he is using his years of experience to help others make additional income on the internet.
For more information go to http://www.easybigmoneymaker.com

A colleague flew in to town for a visit. Being recovered coffee-holics we backslid and went searching for morning coffee. In days past we would instruct the waitress to leave the pot, bring two bowls of creamers and when she wasn’t looking we’d swipe sugar-packs from adjacent tables because our packets always disappeared.

I will never forget the time I drank fourteen cups during a late dinner we had. I was trying to prove I could keep up with my colleague. On the way home, my car had a tough time keeping within the lanes.

This time it’s a bit different. We’re both more health-conscious. Our coffee-thon days are in the past.

So we drove by Marie Callender’s but then he remembered they switched their coffee brand after the new corporate owners took over. It was too strong. There was a Denny’s next door but their coffee was a bit too blah.

But that’s when we discovered a goldmine…

We cruised into the next driveway and found a New York style deli/bakery/restaurant camouflaged within a mini strip mall. We entered D.Z. Akin’s and found a bustling eatery reminiscent of San Francisco’s busiest restaurants. The only item missing was the counter where you can sit up close and watch your servers pick up orders from the kitchen through an opening.

Autographed celebrity photos lined the walls, which added personality to the plain decor. But patrons don’t return to DZ’s for the ambiance. They come back for the gigantic, appetizing food portions served with East Coast flair.

My eyes bulged out of their sockets when I saw some of the thickest deli sandwiches this side of the Mississippi making their way to the tables. The kind where the meat dwarfs the bread and the sandwich covers the entire plate. And if you don’t squeeze tight on the bread-you’re not going to fit it in your mouth. Certainly not a chain restaurant.

And the coffee was excellent. Light-bodied and smooth. The servers moved briskly and kept our mugs warm. And when you ask for more cream, they don’t pretend there’s a dairy shortage. You get about a dozen creamers in a bowl.

We struck gold.

As small business owners we often miss the golden nuggets that surround us. They’re often within eyesight, but we’re too focused on daily tasks to see them. And unfortunately, we pass up the chance to profit.

I remember the time I received a call from a prospect. The message came late in the afternoon on Thanksgiving Eve. I decided not to call until the following week. I took down the number and erased the message.

Guess what happened next?

The number disappeared. I must have thrown it away as I cleaned out my car. And there was no way to retrieve it.

Here’s the lesson I learned:

Cleaning the car wasn’t as important as a new prospect. Yet I was too busy with the minor stuff and lost focus on the major stuff. From that day on, I constantly remind myself not to major on minor things.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at www.TommyYan.com.

Get a FREE 5-week Secrets to Web Mastery e-course. If your websites aren’t making sales or capturing leads, you can’t afford to let it idle in Cyberspace. Read more…

What can the small business owner learn from these days of mergers, takeovers and bankruptcies of very large corporations, plus the market set backs of recent months?

Let’s look at the market. Way back in 1987 (and some even now) there were stocks that were selling for 22 times earnings. In layman’s language, if you bought one of those stocks and its earnings remained constant, it would take you twenty two years to recover your investment. It’s no wonder the market is in need of a correction from time to time. That’s another way of saying that the market was grossly overvalued. And again in layman’s language the stock market is saying, “Hey, on takeovers today, we want more stock swaps, more cash and less debt.” How about that!

A well known market “Guru” said it best, “One era is ending, another beginning.” Highly leveraged buyouts are in trouble because in a soft or down market assets are hard to sell off and there isn’t enough cash flow (profits) available to make the loan re-payments that are due.

Small Business Owners - Listen Up

So what does this mean to the small business owner? It goes something like this , , , build your business base on profit! And that means real cash profit, the kind that shows up on financial statements and the kind you pay taxes on. Why?

Let’s take a hypothetical company called ABC Distribution. They do about $1-1/2 million in sales and like many firms have experienced good growth in their 15 plus year history. The reinvested available cash into inventory and equipment and each year have shown a negligible profit on their tax return. The owner is 59 years old, married and has two children who are not interested in the business. One morning, the owner has a mild stroke. Shortly thereafter he comes to the realization that while his wife has been somewhat active in the business, she could not manage it “alone.” He decides to put his business on the market. He feels it’s a really good business, well established, with good people and he should get a good price when it sells. Right? Probably not.

Why not? Let’s assume we have a qualified buyer who is motivated to purchase. But at what price? The owner wants “X” because he “knows” his business is worth it. The buyer, however, will only gamble on a price that for the most part represents the value of the inventory and equipment. The buyer is saying to the owner “If I accept your asking price it will take me too long to recover my investment, considering the risk.” Why? Because the price/earnings ratio on this business is too high.

Today’s Buyers Are “Savvy”

When a buyer buys a business, the purchase price, for the most part, is based upon the demonstrated record of profit (earnings) through today. Not next month, next year, or over the next several years. The past record through today.

In each of the mathematical formulas used in our business valuation model, the presence of profit has a dynamic if not startling effect on the business value. Great care is taken to meticulously identify and re-cast the total profits in each business we value. Let’s take an example of a small business with an indicated annual profit of $11,000. Using a standard capitalization rate (Cap Rate), that works out to a business value of $42,307, when just considering the income stream. But should that same business boost its total annual profit to $61,000, and we use the same cap rate, the value of the income stream is now a whopping $305,000. This increase in value for just adding $50,000 per year to the total profit!

P/E Ratios . . . Tell The Story!

Now let’s go back to our hypothetical company. If ABC Distributing had supporting materials (valuation documents, updated P&Ls, balance sheets and cash flow statements) to verify that the business had a record of consistent and increasing profitability in recent years, ending with a healthy profit last year and continuing through the present, what kind of response could we anticipate from our buyer, when exposed to the seller’s asking price of “X.” In addition, if that price falls into a P/E Ratio range of from 4 to 7 (years in which to recover the total purchase investment), the deal can be done with only moderate risk. Not the substantial risk when there was little demonstrated profit history and a much higher P/E Ratio.

So what is our market lesson for the small business owner? If it looks like your business may be sold , divested or re-organized in the next 5 to 10 years, keep you P/E Ratios low by packing your business with “visible” profits, for any and all to see. Your sale, when it happens, will then be easier, quicker and you’ll get a higher price!

Paul A. Halas, Jr. is a valuation analyst, certified management consultant and has operated the firm of Halas & Associates in Charlotte since 1978. The Halas Business Valuation System has been used to value thousands of firms nationally and internationally since 1985. Visit: http://www.halas.com

It’s true. I have been accused of spouting cliches just like the title of this article.

Here are a few other favorites of mine:

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

Inch by Inch Life is a Cinch….Yard by Yard it’s Hard

Everything in its Place….A Place for Everything

In my coaching practice I find there are two types of practitioners: visual and linear. One is not better than the other and many people are combinations of the two. Both types accomplish great things. They just get there differently.

This article is about visual entrepreneurs who, frequently, find that their vision gets all mixed up. They start out on a straight path - know where they are going - but, after traveling that same path for awhile they suddenly start doing S curves. They veer off target. Their days get all mixed up. So many things happen at once that each day now feels like one long crisis. For a while they hold things together. But, sooner or later, they need a life jacket to help them swim safely to calmer waters where they can relax and regain their vision and purpose. And, most importantly, direction. For these people it is putting systems in place that allows them to walk the high road.

For example, I coach the owners of one company that has grown quite substantially each year since inception. They do many things right and want to be sure they don’t miss something that will trip them up in the future. They are a husband and wife team. He’s the visual and she is the linear. She works at their business part-time, while holding down a full-time corporate job. They are about to have a baby so they are truly intent on taking the temperature of their business.

They have employees. Mr. X does a great job with the group of employees that closely matches his interests; however, he does a terrible job with the others. As we talk we see that there are no systems in place to set the employees up to succeed AND to make his job easier. As so often happens, employees hired in the early stages of a business become very much like part of the family. The owners become increasingly dependent on them as they become stretched in many different directions. How hard is it to discipline a member of your family? How hard is it to fire a dear friend? And, this is the predicament many new businesses get into and, worst of all, can’t figure out how to get off that track and onto a better one.

Enter the performance objective system. It starts with job descriptions - very detailed and precise (not so precise that it leaves no room for flexibility or the opportunity to create or add other duties). The goal is to help your employees truly understand their job responsibilities. Next come performance objectives - sitting down with the employee and setting parameters within which both the employee and the boss can measure performance. From there it is easy to have reviews. If the employee performs well both of them know exactly what to do. If the employee does not perform well, they still both know what that means and how to handle it. Think of the peace of mind this owner will have - no more struggling with how to handle a situation. The system is in place and you work it! It’s easy and so stress-free. Entire books are written on this system.

Another productivity thief often lies in not developing systems to accurately bill clients. “What!” you say? “Billing is the lifeblood of my business. If I don’t bill I don’t have cash flow. I can’t pay expenses or make payroll.” Nobody doesn’t bill! True? Sorry, false is the correct answer.

Many (lots) sole proprietors, especially visual types, fail to accurately keep track of their time as they do clients’ work. They write notes all over the place, and then spend hours retrieving them to do the month’s billing. They get so mixed up that often they do not charge as much as they should and so collect two-thirds or less in fees.

Here are two systems to eliminate all the hassle in billing for time:
1.-QuickBooks - QB has a time/costs menu that enables you to run a clock while working for a client. If you are a coach, like me, you can do this two ways: Either set the clock when you start work for the client (remember to turn it off!) or, fill in the clock when you return to your desk. Do this as many times during the month as needed. To create invoices enter the client’s name and a screen pops up that says “you have billing for this client”. Retrieve the entries you made during the month, click a box and the invoice is automatically filled out. Thanks to Mary Lynch, CPA for helping this coach create a system that has worked beautifully for many years.

2.-Manual - not everyone uses QuickBooks, so here is a fail-safe system to use with pen & paper. Create a 3-ring binder which you carry with you or leave on your desk. On a plain sheet of paper, list each of your clients and number the list. This is your Index and guide to the tabs so you don’t have to worry about keeping names in alphabetical order. Then, using an accountant’s green sheet with columns, create a single sheet for each client and put it behind the tab. Depending on the amount of work you do you can have a sheet for each month for each client, or use a single sheet with the months across the top and the items listed down the side. This is really easy because so much of your work probably repeats. As you are working, make notes on the client’s individual sheet, noting date, work accomplished and time spent. When it is time to invoice all the information is neatly gathered on one sheet. Think of the time you will save not having to rummage through all of your notes. I recently gave this system to someone and she says it is so great I have to tell all of you about it.

Life is too short to waste it drowning in a lack of systems. Take the time to create ones that work for you and then delegate the task to someone else. True growth comes from continually replacing yourself. By working smarter, you will prosper and keep your sanity, too.

Gail P. Zelitzky is the founder and principal of Silver-Robins Consulting, a business performance coaching firm offering both individual and group coaching. Silver-Robins Consulting helps businesses grow by developing and implementing new sales, marketing and business strategies. The end result is greater revenue and profitability. Gail has 30 years of entrepreneurial experience that offers practical, no-nonsense solutions to the challenges faced by small business owners.

In addition to individual and group coaching, business owners can participate in a Business Performance Roundtable, a peer advisory group format facilitated by Silver-Robins consultants, where participants set realistic goals, focus on priorities and gain objective feedback on the business challenges they face. Only one client per industry may participate.

Silver-Robins Consulting also creates custom-tailored seminars to meet training objectives on sales & marketing, customer service, leadership and management.

For information call 773-665-2340 or email info@silver-robins.com

Any one who has seen the abbreviations “inc” or “llc” will realize that most businesses are incorporated. However, what most people are in the dark about is the reasons why so many businesses seek incorporation or why incorporation is so valuable. There are numerous reasons as to why a company will incorporate, all of which are designed to help protect the owner from an onslaught of liability that can result from operating as such. No matter what type of company a person may own, there will be no escaping the dangers of liability.

When a business is incorporated, it becomes owned by entities of people known as shareholders. Each individual shareholder owns a certain amount of the equity of the company. Some may own equal shares, some may own majority shares, other may own minority shares, but when combined they comprise the totality of ownership of the business. When it comes to certain business decisions, the majority of the shareholder’s agreement need to be procured before moving forward.

Also, when a company is incorporated, the shareholders are protected from the dangers of personal liability if any legal action is taken against the company. No business is worth risking one’s personal wealth, savings and property so to become involved in any business that is not incorporated, even on a very minor level, is to take a great risk. Yet, many individual business owners still insist on keeping their business a sole proprietorship.

When seeking incorporation, it is essentially perpetually prolonging its existence. That is, it will survive long after its owners. A firm that has been incorporated will become a legal entity that can continue onwards as its ownership will be determined by shares; and these shares can be transferred to another person who can operate the company.

While some people may ask “Why should I care what happens to the business after I die?” Well, if the owner is concerned only about the business health while he is alive, then he should definitely seek incorporation as it would be incredibly difficult to raise private equity capital or find any partners if these parties realized that the company could dissolve at the whim of a sole proprietor.

In order to expand and be successful, it can not exist within a vacuum. The easiest way to remain in a vacuum would be to operate as a sole proprietorship. Taking a business and placing it under the banner of incorporation will properly handle the elimination of limitations of growth.

Ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide whether business incorporation is right for the company. However, all individuals must understand that to ignore the benefits of incorporating a company is to take a huge risk.

Craig Thornburrow is an acknowledged expert in his field. You can get more free advice on offshore incorporation and business incorporation at http://www.incorporationchoice.com

If you want to be successful at anything, you will need to set some goals for yourself. These can be short terms (immediate) goals or long term (future) goals. I find it easier to start with my long term goals. What is it that I want to have accomplished 2 years from now, 3 years from now? Where do I want to be? What do I want to achieve?

Once you have these answers, it will enable you to see the big picture. Now write down your goals. A goal is just an idea until it is written down. Write your goals down, all of them and place them somewhere where you can see them every day. I have mine next to my computer with another list on the refrigerator. Visuals are also good to have. If it is your goal to move into a bigger house, have a picture of that house near by. This is going to give you the motivation that you need to succeed.

Now that you have the big picture, we need to work backwards and set smaller goals that will lead you to your bigger goal. If not, your big goals might seem so big and overwhelming that you will not be motivated enough to take the necessary action to reach them. Breaking them down into smaller goals, baby steps, will definitely get you motivated. For example, if your goal is to lose 100 pounds, you will find it difficult to find the motivation for losing 100 pounds. However, if you set a goal of losing 2 pounds a week, that’s much more attainable.

Write a 90 day plan for yourself. Where are you now? Where do you want to be? Try to think of what possible obstacles will stand between you and your goals. How will you deal with them? Every 90 days, re-evaluate where you are and set another 90 day plan. Make adjustments as needed. Stay focused! This will take some discipline on your part. Without focus, there is no motivation. Without motivation, your goal will never be reached.

Lori Gorman is the owner/webmaster of http://www.myebizplace.com as well as a successful work at home mom. Visit her site for up to date, legitimate work from home opportunities.

How many entrepreneurs have you met who have gone out of business, simply because they failed to keep up with the times and with their competition? Those who refuse to innovate, update and improve, those who fail to reinvent themselves, are doomed to join the ranks of that sad, pathetic group of has-beens that often label themselves as “consultants” and “coaches” and haunt the “networking” meetings. They tell wonderful stories of their past successes and promise to lead you down the same path for a tidy fee! Scary, huh?

The fact is, times change. If we don’t continually seek ways to add value, initiate new directions, woo our clients and update our technology, we will be left choking in our competitors’ collective dust. Remember the song, “When you’re in love with a beautiful woman, you watch her eyes… everybody wants her…”? Well, our customers and prospects are inundated with offers, bribes and shiny choices. They face a daily barrage of exciting options. Our competitors are constantly finding new ways to lure, entice and tempt our clients away. They become more sophisticated by the day. They spend tons of money to attract our patrons.

“If you don’t look after your wife, somebody else will!” The same applies to your clientele. Watch television. See how many times the screen changes? People get bored really fast, these days. Watch an old movie and see how fast you lose interest. We’re used to constant stimulation, and we demand more and more for less and less. We become more and more sophisticated. We expect more. We want to be wooed and romanced by our vendors, don’t we? We take so much for granted these days, and here’s a wake-up call: “Customer loyalty” is a thing of the past.

Word of mouth advertising and viral marketing are based on massive, unprecedented value. Instead of wasting your precious marketing budget on advertising that doesn’t work, why not spend it on adding value to your existing customers and paying them for bringing you more business? Innovate. Initiate. Don’t get lazy. You snooze, you lose! Don’t fall asleep at the wheel. The shepherd who falls asleep will awake to find that the wolf has eaten his sheep. Don’t underestimate your competition. He is spending money, attending seminars, reading books and finding ways to grab market share from you. He will steal your ideas. You have to constantly be five steps ahead of him.

Look at the most successful companies today: they are constantly initiating new value and inventing new benefits. Look at Google. Follow the winners. Reinvest into your business and your education. Align yourself with the top entrepreneurs. And you will lead the field.

About Robin J. Elliott

For more than 19 years, Robin J. Elliott has worked with thousands of businesses in over 49 industries across the United States, Canada, and Africa. He specializes in helping small business entrepreneurs build wealth and gain access to new markets and profit centers through Joint Ventures. Through his Joint venture Seminars across North America he has thought thousands how to create increasing, multiple streams of income without cost or risk and very little time.

Get Robin J. Elliott’s FREE: “How To Grow Serious Wealth Using Joint Ventures” Mini-Course, and The Prophet of Profit e-Zine along with video blogs, world class articles, free video, and access to top Joint Venture Partners at http://www.jvwisdom.com

The DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum at www.JVWisdom.com is a great place to align yourself with top entrepreneurs.

My 9 year old son loves to play the board game Checkers. At one time playing against him was a snap, because he didn’t really understand the concept of the game, he only enjoyed the family time together sharing an activity. However, after much practice and a graduate student of “Checker Camp” directed by his father, he became an expert player. The once short checker game became a long competitive checker tournament. One evening as I was losing horribly, my son asked me why I had not been focusing on the game. I replied that I didn’t feel the need to do such strategic thinking and planning. His response became my mantra: “It is a waste of time to make a move without a plan or strategy because the consequence will almost always = loser. Always play to win”!

Do you play to win or are you satisfied with the results from minimal effort and persistence? Do you plan your day? Is there blocked time on your daily schedule for action items? Do you have a big picture goal with small reachable daily tasks that will lead you to the bigger picture? Are you spending your days confused about what to do next? Do you operate from a strategic action plan?

If you responded NO to any of the above questions, stop wasting time and play to win.

Incorporate these strategies in you routine to win:

► -Always Plan Your Day, Preferably The Night Before

► -Develop A Strategy To Get The Results Want

►-Visualize The Big Picture

►-Complete Daily Bite Size Tasks

►-Stay In The Present, Focus Only On The Work At Hand

►-Rejoice In The Small Accomplishments

►-Create A Successful Environment

Winners do what those who lose do not want to do!

© 2007 Bridgette Boudreaux

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Business Coach, Bridgette Boudreaux, teaches female small biz owners to get it all done in 6 hours or less daily!

If you’d like to work less hours, accelerate productivity and double your income while creating more time for family & fun stuff with Bridgette’s simple but powerful 5 Step System, call today to schedule a Free half-hour phone consultation at 512-351-4842. Learn more now at http://www.yourtime2soar.com

Coach Bridgette also offers Free teleclasses Free articles and other resources to help female small biz owners to get it all done. Learn more now at http://www.yourtime2soar.com

Soaring to Achievements, Inc.
7670 Branch Drive
New Orleans, LA 70128
512-351-4842

STEP 9: Establish a brand

There is one very important intangible asset I need to create and harvest in my business; a powerful brand. Brand here refers to the “summary” of my business identity, how unique is it from the rest, and why buyers should choose my product/service over other alternatives.

Branding is important for small businesses because many small operations do not have the funding to carry out a heavy branding campaign. Thus, a brand must be so powerful that it reduces a buyer’s perception of risk and makes the purchase a satisfactory choice.

In my research on what makes a brand a “super brand”, I have found out that a SUPER BRAND consists of six elements:

1. Brand Essence - Traits of the brand in terms of its purpose, uniqueness, personality and commitment to the consumers.

2. Target Market - The brand must be specific enough to the target market it seeks to penetrate and market.

3. Brand Name - A superb brand name has several criteria; emotional, easy to be remembered, has character and original.

4. Logo - It’s a visual image of the brand that communicates the brand essence.

5. Website - Dedicate a website for your brand with a domain name similar to the brand name.

6. Demand for the brand - Product performance or service quality, consumers’ experience dealing with the company all add up to a brand experience. Make them perfect so that the brand will bring more new and repeat business, even if the company diversifies to another field. Once the trust for a brand is established, the sales will keep flowing in.Besides the six elements, I will be proactive in creating brand awareness. I constantly find out ways and means I could promote my brand to the public through “free” advertisements, media write up, newsletter, Q & A column, discussion board and classifieds. There are many media publications and online newsletters (and community or discussion forums) that allow me to advertise for free or for a very small fee. I won’t allow shortage of advertisement or promotion budget to slow me down in creating and enhancing brand awareness.

*Note: Unproven teories to not be shown to my readers! If you need any small business startup help, feel free to visit my Website

=> To get the complete online business course on
small business startup guide, log on to

http://www.12daysonly.com, and redeem your
BONUS PACKAGE worth US$1,396.00

–
Disclaimer - This article may be freely reprinted in its entirety in any e-zine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Dave J, is an E-preneur, NLP-Certified Business Coach and Author. Within a decade, Dave J has served as an advisor to countless small-level to high-level business leaders around the world. Despite such a short span, Dave J has becoming a highly-respected authority on the psychology of business leadership, business startup, management and marketing. His forte is coaching ordinary people to attain professional and financial breakthrough.

STEP 8: People

In a small to medium scale business, the importance of a single team member can be enormous. Every person I place under my organization (be it associates, staffs or suppliers) must be a star. This may sound “impossible”, but it is possible. Firstly, I would define what a star is within each role in my organization. Then I would seek them out.

Throughout the years, I have been employing three simple approaches to be sure superstars are attracted to work for my organization - they have been proven to work successfully:

1. Understand the power of people
2. Take proactive role in recruiting great people
3. Retain great people through constant motivation.

Great people can make mediocre idea and turn it into success. Thus do not underestimate the power of great people. I have read many autobiographies of successful business magnates and all do point out that their businesses shine partly because they have great people serving them.

Hence, I usually brainstorm to list down what kind of great people I want in my organization. I would cover all the people that I will be dealing with including my associates, suppliers, association members, staffs, sales representatives, etc.When it comes to attracting great people, I always keep the recruitment role to myself. If I want a superstar, I must be proactive in recruitment. Find out as many ways as possible that I can to attract and recruit great people - for example personal observation, advertisements, word of mouth, recruiting agency and so on. Once I have the names, either through personal observation or advertisement, the key step is to call them for an interview or a meeting. People like to be invited or head-hunted to join an organization because people are flattered when they know they are wanted.

Once I have recruited great people and they have proven to deliver results, I would retain them at all cost. Of course I have to be cautious not to over commit! It is true that, many people work for money but money is not the sole denominator for loyalty. Here are some effective ideas I constantly put into practice to keep people motivated to stay loyal with my organization in the long term:

* Sharing the business vision and mission, and if possible, I would accommodate theirs into my business plan
* Creating a positive and supportive working environment
* Giving them a personalized touch so each member feel wanted and respected
* Customizing perks and incentives so that they could get what they desire
* Recognizing the whole team for their performance, yet avoid bias recognition
* Organizing regular social events to linger with my members to enhance the organization’s sense of belonging
* Listening to members’ problems and morally support them to solve their own problems
* Motivating for positive results and avoid fear management

*Note: Unproven teories to not be shown to my readers! If you need any small business startup help, feel free to visit my Website

=> To get the complete online business course on
small business startup guide, log on to

http://www.12daysonly.com, and redeem your
BONUS PACKAGE worth US$1,396.00

–
Disclaimer - This article may be freely reprinted in its entirety in any e-zine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Dave J, is an E-preneur, NLP-Certified Business Coach and Author. Within a decade, Dave J has served as an advisor to countless small-level to high-level business leaders around the world. Despite such a short span, Dave J has becoming a highly-respected authority on the psychology of business leadership, business startup, management and marketing. His forte is coaching ordinary people to attain professional and financial breakthrough.