Category: Business & Entrepreneurship Page 1 of 2
Many professionals resist the notion that they are in business, and prefer to think they are above selling themselves, their firms or their products and services.
A good example of this are the Universities, where intellectual professors are boring their students out of enrollment. Only when they realize that the students are their clients and responsible for their salaries and that education is big business will things change.
The professors that add value are entertaining, interesting, and passionately sell their subjects. The difference between the past and future is that these professors made the same amount of money in the past, and in the future, the ones who know how to sell, will be paid more money while their boring counterpart will become redundant and probably replaced by Automated Intelligence.
The truth is, we are all in business.
The dictionary defines business as a commercial activity involving the exchange of money for goods or services. By this definition, if you are receiving money in exchange for goods or services – then the activity you are engaged in is business.
As a professional, regardless of your title – you are not only in business – you are a business. If you are employed by an organization for which you work and you receive money in the form of a salary then you are a business.
Viewing your career or your work as a business will radically alter your point of view, the way you think about work, productivity, return on investment, your image and your income.
A person who is unique, interesting, and passionate about their personal contribution to any business, they are involved with, becomes increasingly irreplaceable and valuable to that business. A person who is mediocre, boring, and dispassionate, becomes increasingly replaceable and expensive to that business.
As a business, your goal is to maximize your return by seeking ways to get the maximum return from the minimum risk, time and effort. This means that you will see yourself as a tangible asset that has brand value, and a market value. What would you do differently if you thought of yourself as a brand? How would you increase your personal market value? What is your current image, and what are the different ways that you could upgrade your image to be more representative of what you want? How you become ever more unique, interesting and passionate?
The answer is in your ability to value the asset that you are and to feel good enough about yourself to invest in yourself, to develop both your personal and professional skills and to do this continually.
This video is an excerpt from the GOLDZONE Experience.
All intangibles grow when they are shared!
If a business operates on the purpose of making money only, sacrificing principles in order to make money, what type of products will they produce?
A purpose-driven business operates differently!
by Jay Abraham
Orderlies buying a hospital?
I do need to tell you they were actually two gentlemen going through med school who intended to become doctors and during the time that they were in that process, they worked at a hospital as orderlies to pay for school.
Here’s what they did.
Since more than 3/4 of the top-developed nation’s working population are engaged in the service sectors, the intellectual capital and varying levels of development of these people are a major factor in a nation’s competitiveness.
And so it is among competing firms. They do similar things, with the same people, for similar clients, using similar technology at more or less the same prices. However, data shows that there are wide differences in performance between competing firms. Why is this? What is the key factor that is different?
A business is comprised of a group of people who have come together to play a specific role in the success of the business. If the business is to grow, then its people must grow. If the people are small-minded, unmotivated and not very creative – then the business will reflect this.
On the other hand, if the team members see themselves as vital, contributing, and able to excel, then the business will reflect this also. Many organizations invest time and money in the professional development of their people; however, they neglect their team’s personal development.
Investing in the ongoing personal development and training of your team is one of the best investments you can make. If someone makes $50,000 a year and can generate you $500,000 in value, why not take this person and increase their skill, ability, talent, attitude, and education, so that they can add a million dollars in value?
A $50,000 investment that brings a $1 million return is a very, very valuable asset. There is no better investment that companies can make than in the education and development of their own people.
Areas of personal development include:
- Relationship skills
- Interpersonal communication skills
- Emotional health and self-esteem
- Personal responsibility
- Self-motivation
- Financial Intelligence
- Personal Leadership
A dramatic change in the structure of modern organizations is transforming the very nature of work. The traditional position descriptions that are part of a formal, rigid, hierarchical organizational structure are changing into loosely structured, multifunctional virtual project teams.
These virtual project teams work across time zones and borders as part of multiple project teams. They can be easily assembled and dissembled at the completion of the project.
The purpose of this article is to go over a few key points that are important if you are serious about adding new sources of income.
This information is an EXTRACT from the content of the Optima Business Archives from 2002. Still relevant today!
IF YOU ARE A BUSINESS OWNER, you need to add new sources of income personally — and also within your business. We have found that most businesses rely on one primary source of revenue, and if you look across your industry, you will find that most businesses within the same industry follow the same pattern.
HOT TIP: Look at the ways other businesses from different industries find new customers and sources of revenue. Ask yourself this question: “How could I apply the same method to my business?” Don’t say to yourself (like most people do) “that will never work for me, my business is different.” You would be surprised at how this one thought, can get in the way of new money-making ideas!
If you keep an open mind, you will discover new ways of marketing, and new sources of income that you had previously never considered before. And here is the best part — most other businesses within your industry won’t be doing it that way! So you will gain an instant advantage.
“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you loose a little money; that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything. Because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It cannot be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”
– John Ruskin 1819-1900
It is interesting that the world’s largest beverage company is still producing cans with Bisphenol-A. Commonly known as BPA, the chemical is used in many plastics that have been found to leach into the liquid contents. The FDA discovered it could cause many medical problems including cardiovascular disease, liver disease and diabetes.
Many organizations have recalled products using BPA – but not Coca-Cola. Don’t get me wrong – I am not anti-Coke per se.
What interests me is that it’s taking the shareholders pushing a resolution to encourage the company to remove BPA from Coke cans. There can be only one conclusion as to why Coke is lagging the industry with regard to BPA…
Read the Shareholder Resolution here >>>
If you are interested in this subject, check out this site for a list of 2010 Shareholder Proxy Resolutions, where the shareholders are promoting changes in various companies via resolutions >>> and also a short description of Shareholder Activism >>>