Top 10 New Year's Resolutions For Business Success

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Susan Ward of About.com's Small Business:Canada has a great article on the top 10 New Year's resolutions for business success in the 2007. I encourage you to read through these and take them to heart. It's always good to see the start of the new year as a clean slate and a chance to start fresh.

Here is one of my favorite from the list:

2) Promote your business regularly and consistently.

Too often the task of promoting a small business slips to the bottom of the to-do list in the press of urgent tasks. If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. Make a New Year's resolution to hire a marketing expert, or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through. Try some of these Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business to get started.

Read all 10 resolutions [via About.com Small Business:Canada]

Top 10 Holiday Gifts For Your Techy Coworkers or Employees

If you are looking to buy an inexpensive, yet thoughtful gift for someone in the technology field, these 10 ideas from Girlrobot are worth looking into.

Two of my favorites:

2. Worst Case Scenario Game (Work Version) - Who knew the popular Worst Case Scenario series has a version for Work! Here is the game description:

Be prepared to survive any workday worst-case scenario. From dealing with a boss who’s a control freak to stopping an overflowing toilet in the executive bathroom, you’ll have fun learning to survive the worst that comes with your job.

I found these on sale again at [Bed Bath and Beyond] for $2.99!

7. Starbucks Gift Coupons - Ok, I have this trick where I bid for these on Ebay (search for Starbucks coupons). I usually get them in bulk for about $2 to $2.50 a coupon.. They are worth way more than that because the coupon will work for ANY drink ANY size. Include these with your christmas card and you have yourself a nice treat for your coffee drinking coworker!

All 10 gift ideas [via Girlrobot]

Business Networking For Introverts

We all know the importance of networking and meeting the right people. In fact, the people we meet account for a large part of our business opportunities.

However, for introverts, networking can be seen as just another uncomfortable social chore. Rob May at Business Pundit shares nine (9) great tips on networking for introverts.

Go regularly to things you like.
When I was living on the Space Coast, I went to a group called Founders Forum. It was for entrepreneurs and investors. I learned a lot at the meetings, but it took about 6 months for people to start recognizing me and saying hi. It was uncomfortable, being 23 in a room of mostly middle aged people. You just have to keep showing up, month after month.

How To Network: For Introverts [via Business Pundit]

Problem Solving Skills Managers Must Have To Make Their Business A Success

By Mario Churchill

The success of any business relies heavily on the competency and ability of the manager.

That is why managers are usually given the most ardent and difficult task of directly supervising the business operations, dealing with staff, getting into negotiations with potential business partners for deals and making sure the overall well being of the firm is maintained.

Those would be enough to justify the usually attractive compensation provided to them.

That way, more kids are aspiring to be tough and effective managers someday. Business management is a profession gaining more popularity as people and economies continue to realize their contributions not just to the progress of a company, but to the entire economy.

But it pays to be a business manager. To be one, you should acquire and develop effective . Yes, managers are first and foremost, problem solvers.

Problem solving skills

Different managers and experts have been coming up with their own problem solving skills. It is inevitable because that is mankinds nature---to improve what is already widely used norms and practices.

Practically, all problem solving skills and practices are derived from the most basic problem solving processes most popularly known in the academe as the scientific approach.

It could be inferred that Science in general, regardless of specific branch or discipline, has forced men to come up with a systematic approach to problem solving.

Thus, the scientific approach to problem solving, being the basic process, is very potent and effective in putting solutions to every challenges, especially in businesses.

Scientific approach

As refresher, it would help a lot if you would be reoriented to these scientific problem solving steps:

1. Know the problem.
2. Gather pertinent data and information regarding that problem or issue.
3. Formulate/ Devise a hypothesis. This will serve as a guide that would give direction to your problem-solving effort.
4. Test and do activities and tasks that would help you prove the validity of your scientific guess.
5. Make a striking and practical conclusion. It follows that when you arrive to this stage, the solution to your problem is already established.

After doing the steps, you could now solve the problem more effectively. Encountering the same problem again in the future would never be a problem.

The SWOT analysis

In the management discipline, business schools and most practitioners are using what they call the SWOT analysis in making sure their business is headed to success.

Success is not only achieved through physical hard work. Mental processes and skills are very essential when a manager aims to make the business successful.

You may be wondering what SWOT analysis is. SWOT is an acronym, more of a mnemonic devised to make the concept of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats easier to remember.

Usually, a SWOT analysis is employed by managers when they are putting up a business. But the practice is very flexible that managers of existing companies are widely employing it when they are facing challenges over the business operations, prospects and profitability.

To do so, enumerate the Strengths the business currently has. Then, list all the Weaknesses, or those gray areas where the business is not really doing well at.

Opportunities foreseen in the future are listed, in contrast to the threats, or the pitfalls and dangers the business is expected to encounter along the way.

By simply doing that, you could have the relevant data that would lead to you to a simple analysis to solve your business problems and challenges.

Indeed, success of every business is attainable only is the managers would pay particular attention to details and would try to flex their mental muscles for some analyses.

About the Author
Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information on business ideas or brainstorming checkout his recommended websites.

Submitted at: http://www.Content-Articles.com - The Premier WebSite Content and Article Directory

THE BIG HOLE IN YOUR DAY

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

We all have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. And if you multiply that out and my math is correct (I assume it is because I've done this a few times), that gives us a total of 168 hours per week. And the thing about time is that it can only be spent, it cannot be saved. (Did you ever have any time left over on Sunday night that you could lop on over to the following week?)

And there are only two ways to spend time, spend it wisely, or, well, not so wisely.

The average person is working in excess of 40 hours per week and I have found that most people lose about 3 hours per day or 15 hours per week in a Black Hole that sucks away and consumes better than a third of the quantity of time we have available to be productive in our work.

The Hole? Needless interruptions.

Now an interruption is nothing more than an "unanticipated event". (That's what makes it an interruption.) They come to us in two ways, either in-person or via the telephone. (Telephone would include all the electronic devices such as fax, email, beepers, pagers, etc.)

Like everything we encounter, interruptions are both good and bad. A lot of what you and I do on a daily basis is to address the "good" interruptions, those that are "crucial" and "important". Indeed, a lot of what we are paid for is to handle those "good" interruptions. Those are not the concern.

What takes away from achieving higher levels of productivity are the "bad" interruptions, those that have "little" or "no" value".

Examples of "good" interruptions are when a client or customer calls you to place an order, your boss stops by to inform you that you will be getting the raise, or a co-worker interrupts you at your desk to show you how to complete a project in less time. These are all interruptions but they will lead to enhanced results. They are "good", so very good.

Examples of "bad" interruptions are when a co-worker drops by to complain about the price of hay in Denmark (assuming that you are not in that business) or some irrelevant, uninteresting topic or a telephone solicitor reaches you at work to try to sell you something you do not need or want.

Here are some interesting statistics. (Your actual mileage may vary, but if you need something to compare yourself to…). On average, we experience one interruption every 8 minutes or approximately 6-7 per hour. In an 8-hour day, that totals around 50-60 interruptions in the day. The average interruption takes approximately 5 minutes. (Some may take several hours or days; others may only take a few seconds.) If you are receiving 50 interruptions in the day and each takes 5 minutes, that totals 250 minutes, or just over 4 hours out of 8, or about 50% of the workday.

Now, if you we were to track and rate each interruption we experience during the day, (let "A" = Crucial; "B" = Important; "C" = Little Value; and "D" = "No Value"), most people will discover that only about 20% of their interruptions are of the "A" and "B" variety and 80% are of the "C" and "D" variety. (Maybe you will come out better; I hope so.)

Finally, if you experience 250 minutes of interruptions in your day and 80% are of the "C" and "D" variety, having "Little" or "No Value", 80% of 250 is 200 minutes or just over 3 hours per day going down the drain being consumed by interruptions that are not worthy of your time.

For most, there is a hole so big in their productive day that they could drive a truck through it.

If this article has been useful to you, we have prepared an additional article entitled, "The Tools for Increasing Employees’ Productivity". It’s free. To get yours, email your request for "tools" to: ctsem@msn.com

Would you like to receive free Timely Time Management Tips on a regular basis to increase your personal productivity and get more out of every day? Sign up now for our free "TIME MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION LIST". Just go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement and select "subscribe". We welcome you aboard!

Dr. Donald E. Wetmore-Professional Speaker
Productivity Institute-Time Management Seminars
127 Jefferson Street
Stratford, CT 06615
(800) 969-3773
(203) 386-8062
fax: (203) 386-8064
Email: ctsem@msn.com
website: http://www.balancetime.com
Professional Member-National Speakers Association
August 23, 1999

Seven Ways to Beat Procrastination

By Jim Estill

I am a student of Time Management and a big part of time management is beating procrastination. We all procrastinate, even those of us who pride ourselves in having good time management skills.

From my studies, I have come up with seven proven ways to beat procrastination.

1. Do the worst task first: I have used this technique for years. I have even created more than one “first thing.” There is first thing in the morning, there is first thing after lunch, and there is first thing in the evening. I take a look at the items on my To Do List and figure out which one I am dreading the most and spend a limited time on it at least moving it forward. This is known as swallowing the frog first thing; if you begin your day by swallowing a frog, then the rest of the day looks good.

2. Break it down: Often the reason that we procrastinate is because the task ahead of us is too big. Often there are small parts of the task that can be done. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.

3. Use a friend: I am not actually referring to delegation (but of course I don’t mind that either); what I mean is to tell a friend what you want to do and get them to help you start the task. Often it is the act of starting a task that is enough to get the task done.

4. Do the pleasant part of the task: Often many distasteful and large jobs have some parts to it that are not particular distasteful. Do them so at least you are moving forward on your most important items.

5. Fifteen (15) minutes: Just spend 15 minutes on a task. I have the attitude that I can spend 15 minutes doing virtually anything and I can certainly survive spending 15 minutes on something. Often by spending the 15 minutes on a task, I either complete it or I will get it moved forward enough that it has momentum to finish.

6. Track it: The simple act of tracking a goal is often enough to keep the goal moving forward. It seems odd, but knowing that you are going to write down whether or not you have done something is often enough to make you move forward.

7. Reward or punish: The reason we do something is because it is more painful than not getting it done, so if we can make the completion a task more rewarding or the consequences of not completing it more painful, then we tend to move forward on things. Tying successful completion of a task to a reward is often a successful technique.

Remember that even successful people occasionally procrastinate. Procrastination is not a permanent condition.

Jim Estill is the CEO of SYNNEX Canada. His time management expertise is available in his ebook, Time Leadership. To read a sample chapter of his ebook, and to check out his highly acclaimed CEO blog, visit http://www.jimestill.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Estill