To Get on Top in Home Business, Fix What Surrounds You

5 Shocking Facts You Never Knew Could Increase Your Productivity

When you start your own home business, you are the boss. No one is constantly nagging you to hit your targets and quota. Hence, you are increasing the chances of being less productive by the minute. Staying at home also means that there are more distractions arising from your personal life, which shifts your focus.  As a newbie in business, profit should not just be your main ideal but instead yo should also heed your attention to creating a system that maintains your optimum level of productivity.

Here are some things you can do to your surrounding environment boost your productivity.

1. Tidying Things Up

A study has shown that people can be more creative and do tasks properly when they are in a clean and tidy environment. Nobody can really be highly effective when working in a messy office. Lets say, you are looking for your pen to write a bank account number but you can’t find your pen with all the clutter. Minutes are wasted just to find your pen, which lessens your productivity. Tidy things up, you’ll see how it can help you.

2. Turn the Lights On

You may want to work on a dim place, since you feel more relaxed. However, studies show that a well lighted workplace increases alertness and helps your brain to fully functional properly. A dim working area also makes you feel sleepy and exhausted.

3. Hide Your Personal Phone

Instead of focusing with your business, you might get hooked up with personal messages and calls that can shift your concentration. You’ll be losing hours and get to be very less effective on the process. Also, according to a study, the act of turning your phone off does not simply ensures a more productive day. Seeing your phone, lying at your side, constantly tempts you to know everything that’s happening with the people you know. So, better hide it when you’re working.

4. Handwritten To Do List

It is always helpful to have a guide on things that you will be doing for the day. It gives you an idea of how productive you are for the day. So, you might have thought in typing these to do list in your computer. However, studies show that writing your task with pen and paper increases your mental cognitive ability. Therefore, increases your productivity. If you want, post-its can add more life and color to your tasks.

5. Avoid Multitasking

Doing a lot of things at the same time can be productive when you think of it. However, studies show that it takes you 40% more time to finish your goals when you are multitasking. When you have lots of things to do, it’s still better to do a single task at a time. Concentration is the key here. Once you divide your concentration to lots of things, your mind gets too confused and less productive along the process.

Managing small things that surround you can create a big impact on how you bring your business to the top. So, start changing some things in your environment and be more productive.

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Speak and Write

One of the Most Important Things Any New Author or Speaker Must Do

Every profession has an obligation to give to the society. Unlike any other career, the ones who have the moral obligation to empower surrounding people are never too easy. Such profession, like being a public speaker or an author, requires pure determination and an incomparable discipline. There are lots of things to consider before pursuing such career, and if just you figured out that you want to take the path of being one, there are things you need to do as preparations before you take on any gigs or stints.

Publicspeakers who are now well-known are even paid to travel around the globe to share their own philosophies in life. Their every word are food for both the mind and the soul of each person listening, while on the other hand, authors are those people who gives hope and inspirations through their writing. Both professions have their own style in empowering people who are being touched by them. So, how do you become one? Here are some of the tips of any aspiring authors and public speakers should take note.

• Define Who You Are as a Speaker or an Author

Beinga public speaker or an author requires you to give a piece of yourself to your audience, and you cannot give something not unless you know what it is you can offer. You cannot give what you do not have, therefore you need to know who you are before proceeding to such careers. Be it be motivational or a business expert trying to part some skills, you need to have a ground to stand before sharing anything to your audience.

When you try to define yourself as an author, you have to look into your passions and your areas of expertise. No topics are irrelevant, just as long as you better shape your audience’s lives into something better. Pick out a topic that you feel strongly about and let it be your identity as a speaker or as an author.

• Practice Your Speech, or Your Topic to Write

Most people have never considered words to be very effective to touch lives since it is used on a regular basis. However, when the right words are written or uttered, it gives wisdom and transform lives. Practicing to choose the right words is essential for public speakers and writers, and should be done quite often.

You might want to take some classes to make you better, or contemplate by yourself on the things that you want to tackle. But the bottom line is, you have to practice not to be perfect, but to be effective when sharing something to your listeners and readers.

• The Words Are For Your Audience

Always look out for your audience. Try not to focus on yourself, and get rid of your egotistical ideas. Besides, the words you share are not for your own satisfaction but for the people who are listening or reading at your work, So, when you are practicing or preparing for a public speaking or a new article you might want to write, always think of your audience and how they can learn, be motivated, or be entertained by your words.

• Make it Personalized

Let’s face it, the average attention span for people is quite low. With 8.25 secondsof attention, a goldfish has a higher attention span than most people have. Therefore, make your presentation a bit more entertaining and more personalized before incorporating any boring statistical data, if there’s any you want to add. Audiences want to hear and read the triumph, sacrifices and the journey of other people’s lives and it makes them get connected.

Trying to find that connection is not easy at first, but as the years go by, you can definitely manipulate your audience’s attention.  You can share other lives if you think that it would be better, may it be a friend of yours or someone close to you, just as long as it doesn’t get overboard and still be within the topic that you are presenting.

• Visualize

Have you ever heard the common line “if you can see it, you can do it”? It’s actually a part of visualization, where you try to see the things and topics you want to talk about. When you harness this skill, it will never be hard for you to pick out the things you want to talk or write about for a specific group of people.  Visualization also fights anxiety and makes you a more comfortable speaker when facing the crowd. By visualizing, you are also practicing your brain to be constantly sparking new ideas for you to share to your audience, which also practices you to be a more effective speaker and as an author.

• Stop Trying to be the Perfect Speaker or Author

Perfection is an illusion this industry. For there is no perfection in everything that we do, we shift our focus on being more efficient on what you do. Unlike writing where you can just erase the words if you think you may have done something wrong, in public speaking, you just have to keep going once you have done a minor slip. Do not ever stop, not unless if it the error is something major such as racism, ageism, or the likes that might insult a group of people.

Never apologize for the minor slip you have done, sometimes those errors are barely noticeable. The things the audiences don’t know won’t hurt them, so just continue if it’s really that small.

The above list will surely give you a stepping stone in pursuing a public speaking or a writing career, if that is something you really want. By becoming a tool yourself, you serve people by motivating and entertaining them at the same time. It is a long journey and the destination can be quite hard to picture for now, but the journey itself gives you emotional, mental and moral satisfaction unlike any other profession. For words are the building blocks of this career, better start practicing and touch people’s lives.

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A Spark of a New Beginning

The Strategies Super-Successful High Achievers Use Every New Year

A new year sparks a genesis of opportunities for any types of businesses. From a small scaled enterprise to a business empire, every single one of them are eyeing and on their knees to see a glimmer of hopeful beacon for success. The productivity and efficiency of your company within the entire year would depend on how you are well prepared and organized with your business strategy. If your business didn’t do well for the past year, it is about time to do a reboot and open up new ideas for you to begin the year. Like the phoenix’s rebirth, your business can shoot up its success just as long as you have laid out your yearly plan.

So, if you want to get the year started with positivity, here are some of the tips we can offer:

1. List 5 Important Objectives For The Year

May it be increase your sales, or to develop your public relations, try visualizing the things you want to focus for this year. Make sure that the objectives should be measurable, attainable and of course with a given time frame, you don’t want to re-write the same objectives for next year do you?

Listing at least 5 things in your mind creates a big picture on which path your business should be undertaken for the next 12 months. Why only 5 things, not 20 objectives? Because, you should know what to prioritize for this year, and when you start tto emphasize on the biggest aspects you need to work on, efficiency comes after that.

Also, for each of the objective, try to write down the things you have to do on how to achieve these goals. Try creating a master plan on how to realize these objectives, and do not forget to share these to your employees.

2. Breaking Down The Year

The whole year is composed of 12 months and it would be wise to break down objectives and plans on specific months or seasons. Taking a look strategically on sales, productivity and efficiency and implementing some new ideas should be taken in and reviewed quarterly or monthly. Keep your objectives open for some minor changes for the rest of the year, for sometimes, things might get out of hand and it’s always nice to have a contingency plan ahead of time.

3. Keep Your Eyes on the Goal

When other things that are not connected to your plans springs up, it would be best to keep track of your objectives and stay as is. You have already laid out your plan and changing it all of a sudden may put you in stress, as well as to your employees who will be adjusting to your new plan. A quick fix do not always make things better, and most of the time, it makes things worse.

You can always consider new things once the plans were already achieved. Do not let your judgment and goals be clouded by what is seemingly new and shiny. Keep your eyes on the goal, and make it happen.

4. Fill Out Your New Calendar

Filling up your calendar of activities will also help you have a visualization of the things that should be done. Plan ahead the possible events that you want to look into implementing for this year. Keep only one calendar for they year to avoid any mix ups with other plans, and always keep it under your nose all the time. In every day of the year, divide it to specific blocks of schedule for you to do that will make you fulfill a bit much closer to your listed objectives. May it be phone calls to your clients, or sending emails to your partners, and even meeting with your employees, you need to make sure it has been listed.

5. Continuity of Goals

If there are things you should have done last year, you should make sure to do it by the start of the year. If a goal was not met by last year, it stains a red ink on your ledger and should be dealt with as soon as possible. Try to evaluate why the goal wasn’t met and check if the unfinished goal is something beneficial for the upcoming year.

6. Updates of Necessary Documents

Before the year starts, try to check if your licenses and other important documents are up to date. If not, try to make sure to get these documents be done as soon as possible to avoid any problems within the workplace, may it be possible lawsuits or even health inspection problems. Your business can’t run if your documents are incomplete. So, Chop! Chop! Get done with it.

7. Never Think Like a Lone Wolf

No man is an island, and in businesses, you need more than two or three partners to run a good company. Before the new year starts, make sure that you are still connected with your partners and clients and aim to gather more clienteles as much as possible. Build rapport and trust to possible clients and win them over with you New Year presentation.

8. Evaluation of Performance for the Past Year

Before you start jumping around and celebrate for the upcoming year, try to see what things you should work on with your business. The things that might have given you a splitting headache the past year and the things that boosted your sales enormously are some of the things you need to re-evaluate.

Your business history should give you lessons on what you should avoid this new year, or what things you can do to boost proficiency. There are lots of things you can learn from the past year, so it is a good  business strategy to evaluate your past performance.

9. Just Chill!

Lastly, don’t beat yourself up. Try to stay as calm as possible and as clear minded as possible. You cannot run a business if you’ve gone cuckoo over trivial things. So, just chill and let things flow accordingly.

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The Becoming

How to Lead a Business at a Higher Level?

“Like a fragile sapling, handling your business takes incomparable effort and time to see its branches sway with opulence through the undying breeze blowing the ceaseless changes of the global market. Starting from a thriving small business, there is much to know with too little too less time to learn such vast knowledge. But as the seasons change and experiences turn out to be the tree guarding sticks and bricks, your business will flourish with fruits of success ready for you to reap.”

Nurturing a small business to turn into an empire someday, it is best to foster the roots first. The roots of a business are those people who commenced the start-up of the company, who serves as the aspirant models and leaders of the emerging enterprise. These forerunners are the sources of inspiration, ingenuity and motivation of employees that are working for them, and even to themselves. The spark of a great leadership is a business strategy that should be emphasized from the beginning. Then I begin to wonder, how do you know if you are a great leader who, by definition, exudes the charismatic aura to influence employees to perform with diligence at their peak? How to succeed in business with leadership hanging on a fine line?

·               Be A Good Leader

Unlike a flock of sheep who unknowingly follows the shepherd out of fear and confusion, employees are aware of how you treat and lead them. Emanating an aura of good leadership stems out from the better understanding as to who you are as a leader. Assessing your leadership skills and utilizing your strengths to tend your employees can be a good start.

·               Morale Boosting

           

The morale of your employees plays an important aspect in the development of your company and with your business strategy. If you boost their morale and empower them with programs and benefits, you increase the eagerness of your employees to perform, which in most cases creates a cascading effect towards your customer. Here are some ways for you to boost their morale:

o   Include Employees in making Some of Your Decisions

Your workers are doing the hard labors, and most of the time, they have ideas on how to make things easier for their hob. It is best to keep both ears and your mind open to any of their suggestions, and even implement them if you deem their propositions to be logical, measurable and attainable. However, as the leader, you should always need to remind your employees to consider the customers, the whole workforce team and the profitability when they make any forms of proposals.

o   Let Them Feel That Everything They Do is More Than Just a Job

Employees need to feel that their job is for a higher purpose and is something that they should be proud of. By letting feel like part of a family when at work, or better yet, maintaining camaraderie to your workers boosts their morale and their willingness to work for you. Another good thing you can do is offer time away from the four-cornered office that you are working and do some community service. It creates a positive feedback not just by your employees to you, but to the possible customers that have noticed your company’s selfless act.

Loyalty is also increased with a lesser number of resignations, staying in the company for better or for worse.

·               Doing a Performance Review Regularly

A business strategy to gauge their workers with their performance is doing a performance review regularly. Everybody wants to know how they are doing, and graded well when they know they have gone the extra mile for the job. For you, as the employer, it is also your gleaming moment to insert some comments or any words that you might want to say for your employee’s room for improvement.

·               Never Forget To Say an Unexpected‘Thank You’

When you know that your workers has done their best and has increased your company’s profitability, it is best to send everybody your heartwarming thank you. A personalized thank you would be best to let your employee fell that you of them highly. A handwritten note with some gift certificated will do, or some movie tickets, as long as you never forget to let them feel that you owe them the success for the company.

·               Have Some Lunch and Learn Moments

It is best to include in your business strategy to have educational opportunities they can gain knowledge of about the company and the type of business you are running. Te creation of a bulletin and a once a month meeting with the team to talk and learn from everybody would be a nice way of letting them feel they are highly appreciated by the company. So, here are some examples of the activities you can do for your educational moments.

o   Sharing Work Experiences

Try to let them talk about moments in the workplace that they had troubles with and let them share to other people how they solved it and nailed the said predicament. It helps other people to have prior knowledge on how to deal a possible problem in the workplace. It would also be your chance to know some of the risks and problems arising that you were not aware from the start.

o   Team Goals

Discuss to them their monthly team goal and offer some outing or a benefit when they hit the quota. It increases the eagerness and fun moments in the office.

You are a great leader only, and only if, you pull your workers to the light, letting them see fun and happiness out of the tedious job they have to do for your company’s profitability. A great leader is someone who is never consumed by the idea of superiority over their workers, leaving them behind the shadows of fear and unwillingness. For like a sapling, you’re the roots, and your employees are the stem and branches that hold you up, and even higher as the years go by.

C. Beesley (Aug. 19, 2105). 7 Ways to Lead and Empower Your Team – Because Satisfied Employees Make for Happy Customers [Blog Post|. Retrieved from https://www.sba.gov/blogs/7-ways-lead-and-empower-your-team-because-satisfied-employees-make-happy-customers

M. Erb. Seven Ways To Boost Employee Morale [Blog Post]. Retrieve from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220000

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