To Grow Your Business, Leave Your Door Open...

To read the article for yourself go to this link: http://www.richgee.com/2010/05/to-grow-your-business-leave-your-door-open-whenever-possible/

Rich Gee talks about the advice from his older brother and how to succeed in college by leaving his dorm room door open. Now, I never had a dorm life, but I can relate with this method by personality. I believe I am an 'open door' type of person; I am an easy listener and I am easy to conversate with, I make friends easily and I can relate to many different types of people.

This method sparked my interest because of my workplace. These are simple, easy to do ideas and they are just a couple of ways to build your business' success.

• Be open to your current clients/customers. You should always be available with someone who is working with you, or someone you are working for. Have different modes of communication, phone, email, or other social media sources such as Facebook or Twitter. If your client cannot get in touch with you, then how are they going to feel comfortable enough to send more people your way, or return themselves? If there is no communication how are you going to accomplish anything?
• Ask for feedback often. Not only is this helpful for understanding the faults of yourself or your business to help build change, but it is also a very helpful tool to understand what your customers or clients enjoy about you and your business, so that you can keep doing what your people want you to do!
• If you can, meet with your clients face-to-face. In my line of work as a Clerk majority of my business is face-to-face. However, I also answer the phones and deal with customers via email and most of my customers always say, "it is so nice to be able to see the face that has been helping me!" and I believe that is so true in any type of work. Sure meetings and conferences can be more convenient over Skype or the phone, but I believe a team can collaborate better when working face-to-face, and this also builds confidence with your customers or clients. Technology is very advanced and it is easy to take care of business without dealing with a human reaction at all, but I believe we all still crave that human interaction.
• Be flexible with your business model. Leave your 'door' open to new ideas, different input, another point of view, and other things that could help build onto your original idea or concept.
• When out in the world, hide the sunglasses, iPod, and newspaper. Keep yourself open to different types of people, you never know what type of business will present an idea that you could use in your line of work. Don't hide from the world, embrace it, and make it fit your business or work place.
• Ensure that any client/customer touchpoint encourages connection and conversation. Just because you have a website with information doesn’t mean your customer or client can’t hear that information from you or a real person. Ensure that you follow your customers or clients through the process of their business with you. Be open and let your customers know that you are open to whatever mode of communication they find best suits them.
• Use social media (like Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, etc.) A lot of people in the business world shunned these types of outlets for a very long time, but they are now realizing that these outlets open up your span of people you have the ability to communicate with. Be open, be willing, and be ready for the possibilities!
• Play your music loud to attract others. The way I took this idea is, find out what attracts your customers, what attracts other people that would otherwise pass by your business, find out what attracts people and make it loud, make it bright, make it bold and throw it into the next level to keep them people coming!
• Teach your colleagues and team to leave their doors open too. If you are the only one leaving your 'door' open your customers and clients will realize that, and they will favor you and your business, but keep in mind they can find other open door businesses very easily. Get your team involved and if you open some 'closed door' people in your group, then your business will have an even greater effect!

Some Motivation for YOU at WORK!

Okay ladies, who doesn’t get stressed? Who doesn’t get worn out by our daily lives? Who marvels at waking up early in the morning? who enjoys sitting in front of the computer for 9 hours, feeling like a tether ball to your desk, or dealing with people who are more than willing to vent their problems onto you (in all of the meanest ways)?
Let’s face it, we all have to go to work, we have to support our family, we have to deal with customers, computers and all of the things that make work WORK. If you are like me there is a divine force that keeps you sane, calm, collected, and gives you the grace to deal with all of those negative aspects of a job. Sometimes I find that comfort through scripture, or from a little inspirational or motivational quote.
I ran across this website one day while trying to find a tiny pick-me-up quote, so I thought I would share it,
http://www.motivational-quotes-for-women.com/work-motivation-quotes.html
It is very easy for me to find inspiration or motivation in a quote from a song, a line from a movie, scripture from the Bible, or even just a little quote (like this website provides) so I hope it will help you also.

Here are some of my favorites:

The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.
Sir William Osier

This is so true because, if you have no desire for your work place, organization, or you job in general then you will have no success.

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When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home.
Betty Bender
I love this quote. Many people look at work or a work place as something they HAVE to do, but it is possible to desire your job. I feel like my organization is filled with people who genuinely love each other, who love the organization, along with all of the things our organization stands for, and who all have a desire to see each other succeed. It is a Blessing to be able to work in that kind of environment.

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Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun.
Colleen C. Barrett

 "It depends on your attitude" that is so true! If you have the attitude where you come to work already in a negative mood, there is no room to rise up. If you have the attitude where you come to work ready and open to all the possibilities your job and life have to offer, then you will not only benefit yourself, but you will also benefit the people you work with.

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Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.
Robert H. Schuller

This quote says everything...

23 Qualities of a Great Leader

I wish I could share the link to this article, but I have not been able to find it since the day I printed it out. I found this article on CNN.com (from CareerBuilder.com) and I completely agree with all 23 Qualities. This article is a compilation of just a handful of characteristics from five credible people. These five people include, Rachael Fisher-Layne, VP of media relations, JCPR, a public relations agency; Darcy Eikenberg, a leadership and workplace coach, Red Cape Revolution; Tom Armour, co-founder, High Return Selection, a recruitment firm; Mike Sprouse, CMO, Epic Media Group, and author of "The Greatness Gap"; and Nancy Clark, author of "18 Holes for Leadership".
I am not going to go through all 23 Qualities; however, I will touch on my, personal, top 10. In no particular order;

Honesty-This is such an important characteristic to me, you must always be honest with your team or group, no matter what. If you toss this Quality out of your priorities you will just encourage your team members to do the same thing, and it can be very difficult to lead a group of people that are not honest with you.

Passion-No matter what your vision, mission, or goal is you MUST be passionate about it. If you are not passionate about your mission how can you effectively lead a group of people to meet your goal? Passion is a driving force, a NEEDED driving force when you are trying to lead your team through the process of reaching your goal.

Respect-If you play favorites in your group your members will pick up on it. A group that does not feel respected will not show respect. Respect yourself, respect the members of your group, and respect the strengths and weaknesses of your team.

Confidence-A great leader has got to have confidence, because if you do not believe in yourself, no one will. Have the confidence to know that you are a great leader, and have the confidence in your team or group.

Clarity-You must be clear about your intentions as a leader. It will be very difficult for your team to reach goals if there is confusion about the process or the next step to take, or even of the goal itself.

Care-This Quality is not just about caring for yourself and your group, but you must also care about the business, the work you and your team members do, and the community your business operates in. If you do not care, your team will not grow or build lasting goals.

Integrity- A great leader is not just a person who is respected, but someone that is worth that respect. You must be honest and follow through with the things you say you will do for your team.

Compassion-For this one I must quote the article, “Talented people want to work for leaders and organizations that truly care about their employees and the communities in which they operate." Do not manage your business or your team at the expense of your team members and especially not at the expense of your customers.

Collaborative-A great leader is a great listener. Ask for and listen to feedback and ideas from your team or group. Sometimes you may have to really dig to get ideas from some of your team members, but you never know when a different point of view may breed a revolution for your group.

Supportive-This is close to the most important quality to me. You must be a supportive leader. Be supportive of your team members, goals, input, feedback, and new ideas. If you shut down or ignore your members and their contributions, then they will not be supportive of your leadership.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

If you would like to read the article for yourself: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit7.php

This Habit is our last Habit, and I couldn’t imagine a better note to leave this subject on. Sharpening the Saw is all about YOU! It is not about improving something or picking up a new skill, it is about taking what you have, enhancing those qualities, values, morals, etc. and finding a balance.
That balance needs to be found between these four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. You can enhance your physical life by exercising, eating healthy, and simply loving you for you! You can enhance your social/emotional life being social, reaching out to new types of people and interacting with people of different personalities and interests in order to keep you open and accepting. You can enhance your mental self by taking up a new hobby, learning a new process or even by simply reading a new book. You can enhance your spiritual self by relaxing, meditating, re-reading your favorite verses of the Bible, or simply by saying a little prayer.
If you continually renew and revive yourself in these four main areas you are continually growing; and nothing is better than self growth (that is what this whole blog is about!). When you strive to live a life of balance it takes work and time and finding what works for you, when you are working to better yourself, either by understanding or growth it takes time to find harmony. It is important to understand that you can burn yourself out, or over do what you set out to finish.
'Sharpen the Saw' is about taking yourself (in every aspect) and simply doing a little stretching. If you enjoy reading a blog, try reading a book. If you enjoy writing, try another genre. If you enjoy eating healthy, try a new recipe. Keep yourself open to new things, you never know what little divine pleasure you may find in something you never saw yourself doing.

Habit 6: Synergy

In case you would like to read the article for yourself: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit6.php

Just this morning on our drive to work I was talking with my co-worker, who I car pool with, on this very subject. The habit of Creative Cooperation is a beautiful habit to attain. Two heads are always better that one, in my opinion. However, both of those heads need to be working towards a common goal TOGETHER, not in competition or to beat out the other.

In order to grasp this goal you must first understand that you do not hold all of the answers, ever. You are not the center of process, and yes, your group can go on without you. You must know that your opinion is valued, and like-wise, you must value the opinions of the other people in your group or team.

No matter how many times you have done something, or read about something, or researched a topic, or played out the game plan on your own you must utilize SYNERGY with the other people in your group or team or you will fail. You may reach the goal that you and your team set out to accomplish, but you will fail because you did not achieve your goal as a team.

This can pertain to your day-to-day office environment, or to a new work group, or to your life in general. The use of synergy lets us uncover and discover things we would not have on our own.

At the end of this article Covey says,
"Valuing differences is what really drives synergy. Do you truly value the mental, emotional, and psychological differences among people? Or do you wish everyone would just agree with you so you could all get along? Many people mistake uniformity for unity; sameness for oneness. One word--boring! Differences should be seen as strengths, not weaknesses. They add zest to life."

I would have to honestly say, majority of the time I just want everyone to get along. I believe in order to appreciate people you must appreciate what makes up the person as an individual, and that (as humans) is a very difficult thing to do. I have witnessed one of my co-workers honestly try to understand and appreciate all of the different personalities and personal habits that make up our office. It is a very humbling thing to see, because I can honestly say I do not. On most days I have no desire to understand the women I work with; I just want to get through the day in harmony like we all work inside of a Disney movie. However, that is not reality. In order to achieve harmony (in real life) you must strive for it, work for it, and if everyone is working for that same thing you will achieve it.