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Tag: Business

Challenges to Millennials

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Millennials are facing significant and unique challenges as they enter the workforce, the housing market and attempt to construct their futures. The article below from the Detroit Free Press illustrates the realities and the obstacles they face.

Many millennials have accumulated thousands in education debt.These 25-34 year-olds now average over $33,000 in education debt. Nearly 50% of families with the head of household under 40 years of age owe money for student-related loans.

Although the recent economic recovery, has helped some, there are still challenges to finding decent jobs in this demographic. Many drop out of college because of anxiety regarding growing debt. And indicators are that even those who have not accumulated debt by choosing higher education are facing the same challenges to their financial futures.

Millennials are bringing home significantly smaller paychecks making it less likely for them to be able to own a home or save anything for their retirement. In essence, millennials are accumulating assets at a much lower rate than those even only 25 years ago.

Many are seeking alternative careers. Some becoming entrepreneurs and experimenting in businesses of their own. So they are searching for answers. But new businesses contain risks of their own including significant up-front investments which can begin the debt cycle all over again.

The company with which I am associated offers millennials alternatives that can help turn their frustrations into opportunities. It eliminates risk and is virtually at no investment. It gives millennials the opportunity to begin wealth creation and much brighter futures. There is hope, young people. 

www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2018/04/25/student-loans-millennials-generation/537227002/

Giving & Receiving Leadership

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Good leadership is complex. At the same time, it is simple. The “flow” of effective leadership is both up AND down. Mentoring your team is, of course, your responsibility as a leader. You are the leader because you have unique knowledge and skills, so you must share them.

In addition, there is another dimension to leadership, accepting feedback gratefully and willingly. That is the most difficult part for most leaders. Those whom you lead have valuable experiences as well. A good leader recognizes that and respects that feedback from his/her team.

Saying you are open to that and really BEING open to that are two different things. Employees and team members can sense when you are genuinely listening and absorbing their input. This article below from Forbes will give you some valuable perspective. The best leaders don’t just listen to feedback; they solicit it.

To get the feedback you want, you must build trust amongst your team. They must feel safe in giving it to you. There are no negative consequences. If you act defensively you will get less and less constructive feedback. Remember, you and they are sharing wisdom and you will both benefit from it. Balance your leadership with positive (when it is deserved; no fake stuff) and with constructive interaction.

This dialogue will enrich the culture of your business and it will gain momentum, so it will occur more and more often. After your interchange has concluded, be sure and thank the person for taking the time to provide this information. Sometimes it is an advantage to repeat what it was that you have counseled about so both parties are on the same page. Good leadership will pay considerable dividends to your business. The best news is that it becomes easier and easier as you practice it.

www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/01/16/being-a-great-leader-means-giving-and-receiving-feedback/#6a42c223ebc9

Benefits Of Mentoring

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Mentoring is a practice that is touted by many contemporary companies. You have probably also heard it referred to as “coaching”. No matter what it is called, it is a practice that, obviously, is an asset to those being mentored (mentees).

But, have you stopped to think that there are also significant benefits to those doing the mentoring? The article below from “The Chronicle” helps point out some ways where the benefits of mentoring not only flow down to the mentee, but up to the mentor. You see it is not a one-way street.

The lessons you teach can serve as a relearning experience for the mentor. As you increase the confidence and the posture, it improves your own and reinforces the skills that got you to where you are. So as you remind your mentees to have confidence in themselves and their personal resources, take an inventory of your own realizations.

Mentorship forces you to step back to when you were being mentored. As they ask questions you will be faced with your own past experiences that will put their questions in the context of your experiences. How did I learn that? What helped me when I was in their position?

Just because you are now the mentor does NOT mean you are all-knowing. Keep perspective on the perceived hierarchy and remember you can learn from those that you mentor, as well. So keep an open mind and be willing to learn from them. They are usually younger than you are and have a much more contemporary perspective than yours.

Let your mentoring experience make you a better leader. Bear in mind that, as you help them, you should be helping yourself increase your leadership skills. And always be aware that the mentoring journey is all about them. What you get back is collateral knowledge. They are happy to share with you because of what they have gleaned from your relationship.

The company, with which I have associated myself, has established the mentoring (coaching) process as the cornerstone of owning and growing a healthy business that will pay “lifetime” dividends.  It is so integral to their culture; it has been incorporated into the Mission Statement. I keep it on my desk so that I am able to review it every day.

chronicle.umbmentoring.org/four-ways-mentoring-benefits-mentor/

Five Critical Roles In Your Business

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As you begin to establish your new business, there are critical roles that must be fulfilled in order to assure or at least give you a bigger chance of success. If you have the luxury of a large, quality pool of team members from which to choose, you may have these resources on your existing team.

Most new businesses do not have the advantage of having existing team members that can accomplish these tasks, so the alternative is that you must fill these roles yourself with an eye to recruit with these necessary roles in mind. The below article from Forbes tells us that these roles must be filled and identifies what they are and why they are indispensable.

You are the “de-facto” leader as a founder of your business. As its primary coach, you must lead in a way that creates love and respect for the way that you lead. Your first task is to find an “expert” who knows the industry, the market, and the products and is able to communicate those to the rest of the team.

The financial guru who keeps track of the income matrices and expenses that the team deems worthy of taking on. This person may be domestic to the team or be an external resource. Most entrepreneurs are busy with the everyday tasks of being leaders, so there is a need for a strategist who is skilled at navigating the future and guiding the enterprise into a profitable and fulfilling enterprise.

Finally, there is a need for the executer that takes ownership of the company’s plans and monitors their progress in the day-to-day operation. The executer understands, fully, the company’s expectations and how they are performing from one day, one week, one month and one year to the next. The executer knows what needs to be done, when and how.

As we have said, earlier, sometimes in start-up and new business endeavors these roles must be filled by the founder with an eye to the future as you recruit for your team. A lot of work in the beginning and the use of some outside resources that are available to you can fill those roles in the short or even the long-term and can lead to great things in your business.

www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2013/03/30/five-critical-team-members-for-business-success/#1f775e42ad90

Facing Fear

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Fear (and not facing it) can degenerate your ability to succeed, in life, in business, and in your personal relationships. Fear is not the enemy, your inability to face it and challenge it is.

This article from “Help Scout” helps explain how fear can actually be your friend and how facing it often can be one of the greatest tools to achieving all the things that you consider success.

You have heard the term “comfort zone” numerous times and it is understandable that we all tend to cuddle in its’ warm embrace. IT IS COMFORTABLE. At the same time, that feeling of “being OK” is not that at all.

Fear is actually your friend. We all feel fear. It is NOT unique to you. Conquering it is the gateway to business success and life’s quality achievements. The fearful are punished as often as the bold. The difference is the bold gave themselves a chance.

Fear actually makes us do the opposite of what is best for us. The pain that facing fear causes is nothing compared to the gratification that facing and conquering it generates. Facing that needle, so that I may be immune to an illness or making that phone call for the appointment that can convert a new customer are better for me in the long-run and the long-term benefits far outweigh the prick of the needle or the anxiety that your finger dialing that number cause.

www.helpscout.net/blog/do-things-that-scare-you/

Lessons to learn from water

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Water a most important resource. Important because it is needed for life to exist. Yet only 2.5% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and more than two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. That means almost all of the water on Earth, more than 97 percent of it, is seawater in the oceans.

Water is also quite powerful. Longtime coastal community residents know the danger of water and storm surge all too well. If you ask coastal residents, ones who’ve experienced dozens of ocean storms, what their memories are of the most destructive storm surge or water events, you likely won’t hear them rattle off any hurricane names. It’s the large winter ocean storms that release a flood of bad memories.

Water can be a deadly enemy, yet it still serve as an essential component in our lives because over 70% of our body is made of it and we can’t survive a week without it.

Since  it is a vital part of life, we can learn a few lessons from water to apply to our everyday lives. Here are six of the best:

    1. Boiling water softens potatoes and hardens eggs.
      Its about what you’re made of; not your circumstances.
    2. Don’t water the concrete. Nothing grows there.
      Stay focused on doing what matters most.
    3. Don’t water yourself down, because you’ll be less palatable to yourself and cheating those who matter. Don’t water yourself down, simply because someone can’t handle you pure, undiluted and 100% proof.
    4. At 211 degrees fahrenheit, water doesn’t do very much, but at 212 degrees its boils and produces steam which can power trains weighing over 500 tons. That’s a change in temperature of less than half a percent. Small differences in behavior can create huge changes in results.
    5. Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. They sink because of the water that gets in them. Be careful who you let into your head.
      And finally…
    6. When life pees on you, remember the words of Billy Connolly who said, “Todays rain, is tomorrows whisky.”

Wellness Consultants Wanted

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Part-time Wellness Consultants needed!

We are expanding rapidly and looking for more at-home representatives to enroll and help new members. Great opportunity for stay-at-home Moms, Dads, singles, retirees, or anyone looking for extra cash or to replace their income!
We are an affiliate marketing company—there is no selling involved and no collecting of any money. The hours are flexible and can be done alongside a full-time position as well as around your schedule. We are approved by the Better Business Bureau with a A+ rate and the Torch award. No sales and No inventory!

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Inter-independence

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From the time that we were children, we were encouraged to learn and BE independent (self-reliant). As we move forward in our professional lives we may find that it doesn’t work as well as our parents intended.

You may want to explore some alternatives that actually make your search for business success and satisfaction more efficient and effective. Inter-independence is the combination of being independent while also being interdependent. The new economy, as the below article from “Authentic Organizations”, is discussed in some detail.

Even if you only examine the contemporary phenomenon of social media, you will find that we always depend on others and their input and information. It is a matter of the “you” and the “me” are becoming less important and the “we” is becoming the emphasis. In order to achieve your goals more effectively, it becomes more important to work WITH each other and HELP each other.

The company I’m associated with regards the dimension of helping others as so important it has incorporated it into its’ mission statement. In today’s new economy, even for a small business, independence is a myth and self-reliance is a bad strategy. I am an “independent businessperson”, but I am totally reliant on other independent business people with whom I work doing their job so that I can achieve my goals.

http://authenticorganizations.com/harquail/2012/06/15/self-reliance-versus-interdependence-in-the-boost-economy/#sthash.phsOMvIF.dpb

Growth In E-Commerce Fuels Sam’s Closings

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Shifts in purchasing from “brick and mortar” to e-commerce are undeniable, as the below article from Business Insider articulates. E-commerce sales are up by 15.5% from just a year ago. It predicts it will continue to take market share in the future.

This also factors in certain purchases that are not conducive to online purchase for various reasons. Those “resistant” sectors make up about 54% of total retail sales, so, for now, the growth of e-commerce is based on about 46% of available markets of conquest.

The resistant sectors include: new and used vehicle sales 21% (searching and pricing do not include purchasing), grocery and beverage purchases 12.6% (although some chains are taking a second pass at converting this sector with improved logistics methodology), gasoline sales 8%, and restaurant and bar purchases 12%.

Recently, it was announced that Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart, has made the decision to close 63 of its sales locations. It will convert about a dozen of those locations into—yes, you guessed it—internet sales warehouses, the USA Today inclusion below will give you the details.

It certainly looks like we can look forward to more closings of brick and mortar operations as we move into the future because of additional penetration. Although this process will be slow, it will be further fueled by retailers figuring out ways (and they will) to convert those “resistant” markets, over time.

What all this indicates is that businesses are finally catching up to the forward thinkers of the world. The company I purchase from started over 30-years ago with an e-commerce philosophy and is now one of the largest in the world with over $2 billion in annual revenue. Forward thinkers with amazing products and shopping options…just a few of the many reasons I love shopping there!

www.businessinsider.com/nothing-can-stop-the-shift-to-online-shopping-2017-11

www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/01/11/sams-club-closing-dozens-stores-reports-say/1024986001/

Appointment Setters Wanted

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My company is in need of ambitious, computer-savvy people available to work from home. This opportunity is only available to people in the USA or Canada who have a computer or smart phone. Startup extremely inexpensive.  Monthly pay for serious workers!

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