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3 Reasons to Treat Your Business Like a Workout

admin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:42:36 +0000

3 Reasons to Treat Your Business Like a Workout

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

When you’re on the edge of burnout, or you’re not sure if you’re leading your business in the right direction, sometimes it helps to think of your business in terms of analogies. Hopefully, as a business owner, you make time to care for your physical health, and maybe you even go to a gym every once in awhile. Here are three reasons, taken straight from the gym, to treat your business like a workout.

Small Adjustments Make a Big Difference. If you’re like many people, you started out trying to teach yourself how to use the gym equipment. Later on, you may have enlisted the help of a personal trainer to give you even more details about how to use the machines most efficiently and effectively. Even just a small adjustment in arm or leg position could result in making you use an entirely different set of muscles altogether. Just a few inches can make a huge difference! And if you had never learned to use the equipment properly, then you would have never seen the benefits.

Compare this to the way you use your business website. Many business owners start out thinking they can manage their websites and their search engine optimization tasks. Then they realize that just a few hours of consultation with an SEO professional, plus a few tweaks to the website, can turn an unproductive website into a gold mine of traffic and leads. Much better than just giving up the business website altogether!
Create Deadlines and Appointments. If you’re trying to lose weight or reach another fitness goal, you need to set a time in which you expect to reach your goal. Otherwise it’s too easy to think to yourself, “I’m too tired to go to the gym today. I’ll just go tomorrow.” And then, as you know, tomorrow turns into next week, which turns into next month, and on and on. Another helpful thing to do is to make an appointment with a personal trainer or a workout buddy. You’re much more likely to show up if someone is expecting you.

The same is true for your business. You need to set clear goals and deadlines for yourself, otherwise you will put off those tasks that don’t motivate or inspire you but need to be done anyway. And if you find that you need to consult with someone about your business, pick up the phone and call them right away. Make that appointment as soon as possible, otherwise you’ll just continue to put it off.
Enlist Third-Party Help. Personal trainers are helpful in that they can analyze your physical fitness needs and help you design an exercise regimen to address those needs, but the most important thing they do is to encourage you and keep you motivated. The trainer might make your workout harder, but she’ll also be right there beside you to cheer you on.

Your business is very much the same. You know exactly what you need to do to get better and improve your business, but sometimes it seems daunting. And then when you do those things to improve your business, you give yourself a break. But it won’t be long before you need to take on new challenges to grow your business even more. And as you take on each new challenge, you need to surround yourself with people who will cheer you on and encourage you to continue, no matter how much you resist or want to give up.

Running your business is not unlike working out at your favorite gym. You need help making the right adjustments for a successful business, you need to dedicate yourself to deadlines and appointments, and you need to constantly improve your business despite the difficulty this may pose. And remember to surround yourself with supporters who will keep you motivated.

9 Keys to Motivating Your Employees

admin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:44:58 +0000

9 Keys to Motivating Your Employees

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

If you’re a business owner, you know that one of the most difficult aspects of your job is finding and retaining good employees. After all, your business is only going to be successful if you have high-quality people working for you. Here are 9 keys to motivating your employees.

Make the Job Meaningful. Your employees won’t be satisfied unless they feel that the work they’re doing is meaningful. They need to feel like they add value to the company. Not only does the employee need to feel that his skills and abilities match the requirements of the job, but also that he has the opportunity to use his creativity and put his own stamp on the projects he completes. He needs to feel that his employer recognizes his contributions to the company’s success and that his contributions actually make a difference in the company’s bottom line.
Make the Pay Fair. While pay is not the sole motivating factor for an employee, it is essential to job satisfaction. And it is by far the most difficult factor for an employer to monitor. Your employees must find their pay competitive and fair, and yet you must be able to pay your employees and still make a profit. This will be one of the most difficult motivating factors to control.
Keep the Job Secure. Let’s face it, given the fast-paced environment of today’s business world, many, if not most, employees are insecure about whether or not they will be able to keep their jobs. This is another sticking point for their employers as they determine how to ensure a positive market share that will allow them to maintain existing staffing levels.
Make the Coworkers Positive. When you spend 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, with your colleagues, you want to have a good relationship with them. Make sure that you plan orientation programs around allowing people to get to know one another, and facilitate positive socialization experiences through recreation and times of rest. Using work teams is also a great way to allow for positive interactions.
Give Credit Where It’s Due. Praise your employees when they go above and beyond what you expect of them. Use monetary rewards when appropriate, and offer public recognition via bulletin boards and company newsletters. You will find that your employees are more loyal and more productive when they’re recognized for their contributions.
Provide Advancement Opportunities. Not all of your employees will want to advance, but they will feel more secure if they know the opportunity is there. So make sure that your employees know that advancement is possible without pressuring them to take advantage of it.
Make the Workplace Comfortable. You have employees who are going to spend a lot more of their waking hours at work than at home, so make sure the workplace is attractive and comfortable. When there is a high quality of life at work, people take fewer sick days, they experience fewer injuries, and they are willing to tolerate more pressure from the workplace.
Make the Leadership High-Quality. Nothing is more depressing to an employee than having a boss who has no idea what he’s doing and who refuses to get guidance from elsewhere. Competent leadership results in energetic, creative, transparent employees and assures employees that their job security is protected.
Make the Organization Relevant. Given the global nature and interconnectedness of today’s workplace, a high priority for employees is social relevance. Community involvement and development is a high priority for today’s workers, and few employees are willing to prioritize “making money” over making a positive difference in the community.

You’re going to spend a lot of time and money in the process of recruiting and hiring your employees, so make sure you know how to motivate them once you’ve found them. These 9 keys are a great way to start ensuring loyal, productive, motivated workers.

The Entrepreneur’s 8 Tips to Making it Big

admin — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:20:17 +0000

The Entrepreneur’s 8 Tips to Making it Big

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

Every entrepreneur dreams of making it big! Here are 8 keys to making it happen.

1. Don’t Do It if You Don’t Love it. You’re only going to succeed if you love what you’re doing. Your love for your business is what keeps you going even when things look bleak or, worse yet, boring. Your passion it what gets you out of bed everyday to face what it sometimes thankless work. If you don’t really love what you’re doing then you’re not going to see it through to the finish. Never make money your primary goal. Your primary goal should be to have fun doing what you love.

2. Be Relentless. Persistence is often the only difference between wild success and abysmal failure. If you’re challenged, stand up to the challenge, whether it’s another person or a business setback. If you back down, you’re going to lose respect for yourself and doubt your ability to make your business succeed. If you truly believe in what you’re doing, then stand up to whatever tries to get in your way.

3. Negotiate. Aim high and settle if necessary. Taking less than you wanted isn’t always a bad thing.

4. Dream Big Dreams. What is it that you want most? Imagine what your business would look like if you had everything you could possibly ask for and then do everything in your power to make that vision a reality. We are almost always limited most profoundly by our own fear of success. Don’t be afraid to make decisions that lead to success, and don’t be afraid to win. The challenges will still be there when you get to the top, so don’t be afraid to succeed for fear that you will no longer be challenged.

5. Dare to Be Different. You’ll probably find that, whatever your business idea is, someone else though of it first. So set yourself apart from the competition. Do things people don’t expect you to do. Be unconventional. Try something new just for the sake of trying something new, whether it’s redesigning your product or papering your walls with inspirational quotes. If you surround yourself with the unconventional, you are more likely to think unconventionally. And in the business world, that’s a good thing.

6. Shameless Self-Promotion. Take some time to examine your strengths and the strengths of your business. Now, what can you do to let other people know about your strengths? How can you go about calling attention to the great things about your business that will compel people to seek out your products or services? Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself. If you don’t, chances are nobody will!

7. Trust Your Instincts. Be an extrovert. Ask everyone you know what they think about your business idea. When you feel like you have enough input, spend some time listening to your inner voice, the one that tells you if this is going to be a great idea or a bust. And then heed that voice, no matter how others might question your judgment or criticize your decision. Your gut is almost always right.

8. Be Great at What You Do. You’re never going to be successful unless you endeavor every day to be great at what you do. Being great is a choice you make, not something that just happens to you because you were in the right place at the right time. So choose greatness, intentionally and consciously, every day. And you will be great.

Success is a result of being proactive, of pursuing your dreams, of taking little steps every day that bring your goals to fruition. If you take the advice outlined above, you will see your business grow, and you will see yourself evolve into a great businessperson. Never be afraid of success. Make success the only thing you’ll settle for.