Find Your Enthusiasm Every Day

 

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. Henry David Thoreau

The mantra do what you love, and love what you do is so true. And when you run a small business, it can be one of the fundamentals of your success. When you find what you love, your passion shines through in that and everything else you touch. If you don’t particularly love to manage the business side of things, but you love selling, you will be great at selling and the management side will be easier and more fun because it supports what you love.

I believe every person should make every effort to do what they love in life. But I also believe that if you must do something that you don’t love so much, you can always find something you love about what you are doing.

If you are a small business owner you wear many hats, and today probably doesn’t necessarily look like yesterday or tomorrow like today. You will have to do different things on different days to make things work. So the challenge is to do something you love every day. Do whatever it takes to release that passion so that it shines through everything you do. If you are feeling particularly creative, find some time in your day to create something. If you are in your analytical place, organize something in a spreadsheet or database so some part of your life will be easier. If you need a people fix, find a networking event or meet a client for lunch.

Inevitably there will be those days when every minute is filled with some mundane task that isn’t so exciting. It’s just the nature of the beast. So, while you are doing it, crank your iPod or tune into your favorite Pandora station, wear a red dress and stilettos when you would normally wear pajamas, or put a box of crayons on your desk and doodle for a minute every hour. This is also the day you should stop by the ceramic shop and paint something after work or find a new recipe and whip up a gourmet meal for dinner.

No matter what, really think about it and do something you love every day. You will be happier and your business will flourish!

What bone will you gnaw at today?

___
Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff.

 

Adding Benefits for Your Small Business Employees

One of the largest costs for your small business is the cost of having employees. Salaries, medical benefits, payroll taxes, etc. all add up to a significant percentage of your budget. And, especially in these difficult economic times, it can be hard for small businesses to stay competitive by adding extra benefits.

But there are creative ways to add benefits that can increase productivity and significantly improve morale, without a significant impact to your bottom line.

Flexible Scheduling

Flexible Start/Stop Times - Some workers are more productive in the early hours and others later in the day. Flexible start and end times can offer your employees options to meet their personalities and personal priorities and can benefit your company by offering extended coverage throughout a longer day.

Compressed Workweeks - Compressed workweeks come in different configurations, such as an 80-hour basic work requirement over two weeks completed in less than 10 work days. This can be offered as four 10-hour days with one day off, or nine 9-hour days with one day off every other week. Compressed workweeks can be staggered to assure your business always has coverage and still offer a significant perk to your staff.

Telecommuting

Another great benefit to consider is telecommuting. Telecommuting offers some of your employees the option to work at least part of the time from home. This can increase morale by limiting the amount they pay for their commute, offering them a change in scenery from their normal office or cubicle, and allowing them to work around challenging family issues such as sick children home from school. It can benefit your company by offering increased productivity and morale and is, of course, a benefit to the environment with reduced fuel and less vehicles on the road.

No matter what your company’s financial situation, there are always creative ways to offer benefits to your employees that will help ensure a stable, motivated, and productive staff. Get your staff together to ask them what types of benefits would help them. Be creative, and you’ll be surprised at what you may be able to offer without spending a dime.

What creative benefits have you implemented?

___
Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff.

Tool Review - Google Alerts

One of the best ways to keep track of a particular topic that impacts you personally or professionally is through Google alerts. Google alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (such as web pages, news articles, blogs, etc.) that match your search term. You simply enter your search criteria and you can receive email alerts as news happens, once daily, or weekly updates. You can enter as many separate search terms as you wish and turn them on and off with a few simple keystrokes.

Google alerts are a great way to stay informed about:

• What is being said about your company or product
• The results of your PR (you’ll be amazed at how much more exposure you are getting than you really think)
• What’s happening with your competitors
• Things happening in your industry
• The latest about your clients
• The most current happenings in a company before you apply for a job

You can enter search queries for specific or general topics, companies, products, and more. In addition to your other monitoring efforts like social networks, news, and blog sites, Google alerts are a great way to keep up with the good, bad and ugly on any particular topic.
___
Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff.

Business Solutions – Sometimes You Need to Get out of Your ‘Go-To’ Zone

There are so many tools available to assist small businesses with their daily business activities that most of the time it makes sense to use existing technology to meet your needs. Software is available to do just about anything you need, and some of it is even offered at no or very low cost these days. A simple Google search and a few software demos will typically tell you what you need to know to make the right choice for you. It’s usually that simple and the ‘go-to’ practice for most small businesses.

Recently though, we were searching for a solution for a client of ours. We literally searched for hours over the course of a couple months to no avail. What they needed did in fact exist, but the available solutions were outdated, way too expensive, or so basic that it just didn’t make sense for the client to make the investment. Nothing was the right fit.

So, we decided it was time to create a customized solution that met our client’s budget and met their specific needs. We aren’t software developers, so instead of searching for a tool to meet the end-need, we searched for a tool to help us build the end-need.

Once we found the right tool, we mapped out the client’s requirements and had a new solution built in a matter of days. It was a great example of how getting outside of our ‘go-to’ zone enabled us to provide a more efficient, effective, and cost-saving option for our client.

Do you have a story about how you got out of your ‘go-to’ zone at work or for a client? Click on the comments section and tell us how!

___
Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing, administrative, and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff.