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5 Ways Professionals Can Succeed As New Entrepreneurs

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5 Ways Professionals Can Succeed As New Entrepreneurs

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It’s been a common occurrence in recent years: Company downsizing or restructuring has left skilled professionals looking for a job. Or, feeling constrained, they jump to a better growth opportunity.

But, with the era of lifetime jobs at a single firm or company long gone, many doctors, dentists, lawyers and other professionals also are opting to work for themselves, becoming entrepreneurs and launching their own start-ups.

Some who already started small practices have expanded into several locations. As dentists and business partners Dr. Seth Newman and Dr. Efstathios Giannoutsos can attest, the learning curve of running and growing a business in multiple offices — while still practicing their profession — can be challenging but also rewarding.

“It was never my plan to run a practice, or even co-run one,” says Giannoutsos,  (www.asktheorthos.com), an orthodontist and co-author, with Newman of Giving It To You Straight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Orthodontics But Were Afraid To Ask. “But then the financial crisis of 2008 happened, and a lot of the opportunities that had been available before were now gone.

“But we were able to flip those circumstances on their heads and use them to our advantage.”

“The biggest challenge initially was finding clients,” Newman says. “But we learned to use different resources and educate ourselves in the business side as we did in our chosen career.”  

Newman and Giannoutsos offer five tips for professionals transitioning to running their own business:

–Be passionate. Entrepreneurs tend to be extremely passionate about their work. They need to incorporate the same passion for running a business. “Think about how running your own business could transform your career, send it soaring,” Newman says. “That kind of spirit energizes you and all those around you.”

–Be bothered by inefficiency. Entrepreneurs don’t have a high tolerance for inefficiency, and the bonus is they don’t have corporate red tape to cut through. “You can fix problems that come up quickly because of your expertise and the freedom of not running into typical corporate obstacles,” Giannoutsos says. “If you or your business partner are mired in work processes that are too slow, analyze the inefficiencies and consider the places you could implement solutions.”

–Don’t be afraid to take on more risk. One thing that sets many entrepreneurs apart from the average professional is their appetite for risk. “A business owner knows the risk-reward possibilities, and by taking well-calculated shots, bigger rewards can come,” Newman says. “Set aside time to strategize, and listen to the best-qualified people working for you to develop a precise plan.”

–Brainstorm more. Constant innovation is crucial to a business’ long-term success, so entrepreneurs have to take time to let their minds be loose and creative. “Set aside time each week for brainstorming sessions with your staff — and remember to have fun doing it,” Giannoutsos says.

–Don’t limit your dreams. “The most important aspect of the entrepreneurial spirit is being limitless – the sky’s the limit,” Newman says. “Many people are conditioned in the workforce to be realistic and practical, but dreaming big sets the mission for your company, and it’s why you became a business owner.”

“It can be daunting at first, performing the myriad tasks of a business owner,” Giannoutsos says, “but if you believe in what you do and those you’ve hired around you, it’s so worth the effort.”

Dr. Seth Newman (www.asktheorthos.com) is an orthodontist and co-author, with Dr. Steve Giannoutsos, of Giving It To You Straight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Orthodontics But Were Afraid To Ask. He owns orthodontic practices in the New York City area. Dr. Newman completed his dental training at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine, where he was a member of the National Dental Honor Society. He was a clinical instructor of the Invisalign system at the NYU School of Dentistry.

Dr. Efstathios Giannoutsos, or “Dr. G.” as he is commonly called, was born in Astoria, Queens, just outside of New York City. He graduated from St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens, with high honors and a BS in Biology.  He is also the co-author with  Dr. Seth Newman of Giving It To You Straight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Orthodontics But Were Afraid to Ask (AskTheOrthos.com). He completed his dental training at NYU, where he graduated with a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. He was also accepted into NYU’s highly competitive orthodontic residency program. During that time, he also discovered a passion for treating children and adults with facial deformities. Coinciding his passion, his research thesis to attain specialty certification involved children with cleft deformities.

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5 KEYS TO EFFECTIVE PLANNING FOR CAT EVENTS

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently issued its forecast for the 2019 Atlantic and Pacific Hurricane Seasons. Specifically, NOAA forecast 9-15 named storms, 4-8 hurricanes and 2-4 major (Category 3+) hurricanes between June and November for the Atlantic Basin. It also forecast 15-22 named storms, 8-13 hurricanes, including 4-8 major hurricanes, through November for the Eastern Pacific Basin.

Although NOAA indicated its forecasts are “near normal” for the Atlantic Basin and “above average” for the Pacific, even one storm making landfall in a populated area can have dire consequences for local residents and businesses, as well as their trading partners and customers. 

Business leaders and managers whose enterprises and key trading partners are located in areas vulnerable to catastrophes need to plan effectively and well in advance for any potential disaster. Here are five keys for effective disaster planning and management.

1. Develop and test an emergency response plan.

Create a team of key personnel and external resources needed to prepare for and respond to a disaster affecting your operations. Besides members from your risk management, executive, legal, accounting/finance, IT, HR, operations, and communications, the team should include your insurance broker, risk consultant, claims adjuster, and restoration contractors for emergency repairs of damaged facilities.

Have multiple contact information (including office, home and cellular phones; business and personal email) for each individual and create call trees to contact everyone on a timely basis.

Designate an internal leader, such as the risk manager or CFO, and alternates to coordinate  response and claims teams, and oversee the plan’s implementation.

Next, carefully assess the potential vulnerabilities of each facility, such as wind damage, flooding, and fire. Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your organization’s facilities and locations situated in regions prone to hurricanes so you have a full understanding of business interruption and asset values at risk from these events.

A key lesson from past storms: Planning must address not only wind-related loss, but also storm surge, flooding, extended power outages, and interruption of land line, cell phone and internet access, as well as the potential for sustained site inaccessibility.

List all measures needed to prepare for such events in advance, as well as to respond at each stage as they unfold, including pending, immediately prior, during, following, preparation of the insurance claim, process management or repair and restoration through full recovery.

Develop a project flowchart or playbook so everyone involved understands the plan and their responsibilities. New planning “apps” on mobile devices can ensure all team members have ready access to all required details as storms approach and their actions are needed.

Rehearse the plan and test it using tabletop exercises. Be sure to update it regularly to account for any changes in personnel, operations, and activity.  

2. Know emergency procedures and resources.

Well in advance of any event, contact the local Emergency Management Office to gain an understanding of community evacuation plans. Have a citizen band radio system at each facility to track storms and obtain critical government notifications.

3. Engage employees.

Inform all employees of your hurricane and natural disaster plan and have supervisors explain elements that apply to them, including their individual responsibilities when storms occur in areas where they live and work. They should know facility shutdown procedures, including how, when and by whom they are to be implemented and communicated.

Prepare for events that occur when employees are at any facility; make sure they have access to adequate emergency supplies (such as 72 hours of nonperishable food, potable water, first aid kits, lighting and communications devices) and safe locations onsite if they need refuge from floodwaters or structural collapse.

4. Safeguard facilities and critical equipment.

Plan to protect or secure outside equipment and inventory. Safeguard windows against breakage with permanent storm shutters or cover them with marine plywood as storms approach. Divert water from holes in foundations, doorways and sills, and other openings. Inspect roofs, HVAC systems, elevators, and loading docks for potential exposures.

Be prepared to anchor or move yard structures and equipment (trailers, cranes, loose yard storage, high profile materials, storage racks, etc.) that may be vulnerable to high winds. If sites contain drums of hazardous chemicals, move them to sheltered areas.

If your inventory includes perishable goods, have back-up generators for refrigerators/freezers or arrange transport to another facility. If possible, move susceptible equipment to higher levels.

5. Create a detailed business continuity plan.

Building on the measures taken in the emergency response plan, work with your team to create a comprehensive business continuity plan. Set priorities by identifying critical operations where any downtime or outages will have the greatest impact on the company’s revenues and business, including potential loss of market share, customers and key employees.

Be prepared to move records, computer equipment, and other sensitive equipment/valuable items to other locations in the event of a pending disaster. Additional advance steps include:

-Create electronic back-ups of critical paper documentation.

-Prepare for disruptions in telecommunications, including email and internet access.

-Plan for electric power outages and utility service disruption. Fill diesel engine-driven emergency generators and fire pump fuel tanks. Maintain extra supplies of fuel.  

-Develop a system to advise customers and suppliers of a potential disruption in operations, as well as for keeping them informed of progress in restoring operations after an outage.

-Check key suppliers’ plans to address any disruptions in service or the supply chain.

All measures should be documented, communicated to individuals involved, and the entire plan should be reviewed and updated regularly.

Besides helping protect employees and properties, emergency response and business continuity plans are a key part of a company’s property and business interruption insurance application process. Often, evidence of comprehensive and robust preparation may have an impact on the availability and cost of related insurance protection.

With appropriate planning, businesses can help minimize the potential impacts of hurricanes and other disasters on their operations. As the 2019 hurricane season progresses, these measures can reduce the chances of storm-related employee injuries and property damage, as well as accelerate recovery and reduce potential losses.

__________________________________________________________________

Peter Jagger, a managing director, Aon Global Risk Consulting, works with the firm’s clients on their pre-loss and post-loss planning and risk mitigation. During an insurance industry career that has spanned more than 25 years, he has been involved in claims program design and development, and the preparation of property claims for a variety of industries. Previously, at Aon, he served as director of Property/Casualty Claims/Specialty Services responsible for the oversight and management of the property and casualty claim staff. Over the years, he advised clients around the world that have sustained losses due from such large-scale disaster events as Hurricane Georges, Super Typhoon Pongsona, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Ike, Thailand flood, and Super Storm Sandy. 

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So You’re Not The Boss? Here’s How You Can Still Be A Leader.

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Are leaders born or are they developed? It’s a subject that’s long been debated.

And in the workplace, can an employee who holds no supervisory job title be an effective leader — before being entrusted with managing people? 

Grant Parr, a mental sports performance coach, says yes — and adds that it’s almost mandatory if someone hopes to be ready as a leader when promoted to a bigger role in an organization.

“Leadership is a choice,” says Parr (www.gameperformance.com), author of The Next One Up Mindset: How To Prepare For The Unknown. “It’s not a title, position, or rank. You don’t have to be a department head, manager or CEO to be a leader.”

“Leadership is a group of characteristics, and you can acquire them even if you’re not the boss. You’ll never be a leader when you assume that prime time role unless you have developed the qualities of leadership as part of your preparation for the next big step.”

Parr offers five ways to become a leader at a company without holding a leadership-type position:

Listen to others’ ideas. “Leadership is about others, not about the self, and it starts with listening,” Parr says. “Being a leader isn’t putting yourself above others, interrupting them, or acting like your ideas are more important than anyone else’s. True leadership brings out the best in others and your culture, and you do that by making them feel valued and giving them a voice.”

Be accountable for mistakes. “Own your errors,” Parr says. “It sets an example of accountability that is good for the culture. Too many people, when told of a mistake, assign blame and make excuses. A leader corrects constructively and surveys for solutions. As a subordinate, staying positive and offering ways to fix your mistake, and showing the humility of asking for help, is a path toward being a leader people can trust.”

Learn flexibility. “This applies in so many ways,” Parr says. “If you’re stuck on doing something one certain way, you’re headed toward being a micromanager who few would like and fewer would want to work under. Leadership is about tapping into your broad base of workplace talent, expanding knowledge, improving systems and raising the ceiling.”

Interact and network. Networking isn’t only about finding jobs, it’s about connecting with people in a way that enhances important relationships and the work environment. “As you learn to interact with different types in the workplace,” Parr says, “you’ll learn which relationships are most effective, how to help those people with their career, and show your ability to direct and lead.” 

Develop a thick skin. To become a leader, Parr says it’s vital to rise above annoyances and petty slights from others and let them roll off your back. “HR isn’t the principal’s office,” he says, “and if you vent every time about someone doing something irritating, you’ll get the reputation of being a whiner. Don’t complain behind closed doors, gossip, or criticize people behind their backs. No one who does those things can be viewed as a leader.”

“People want to be led,” Parr says. “But they don’t want to be bossed around. Great leaders can learn this as underlings on their way to a management position. Then when they get there, they’re ahead of the game — and everyone’s in step with them.”

Grant Parr (www.gameperformance.com) is a mental sports performance coach and the author of The Next One Up Mindset: How To Prepare For The Unknown. Parr owns and runs GAMEFACE PERFORMANCE, a consulting firm that enhances mental skills for athletes and coaches. A recruiter and sales leader in the corporate world for 17 years, he now works with a wide variety of athletes including Olympians, professionals, collegians and high school athletes. His podcast, 90% Mental, provides a window into a broad range of athletes’ and coaches’ mental games and shares their insights around mental performance.

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3 Types of Stories Every Leader Should Master

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The fact that people are wired to react so strongly to stories should motivate business leaders to develop their storytelling skills. But what business situations call for a story?

You might have guessed the answer—it depends. It depends on both the situation and what you’d like to accomplish in the situation. The situation might be a staff meeting where you’re introduced to the people on your new team, for example. As their new boss, your objective might be to get them to like and respect you and to start dismantling the barriers of mistrust and uncertainty. Another situation might be that members of your team have lost enthusiasm for their work, and your objective is to restore their engagement and give them purpose, so they understand the “why” of what they’re spending most of their waking hours doing. Or maybe valuable members of your team feel unappreciated or don’t get the credit they deserve. In that situation, your objective may be to reinforce or highlight certain norms and behaviors with your stories and to draw positive attention to them.

Below are three types of stories that every leader should master. My hope is that they inspire readers to dig deeper into this topic and to identify and cultivate potential stories that can help you accomplish important objectives.

1. Stories We Tell Ourselves

We constantly assemble bits and pieces of information of what we observe around us and automatically turn them into stories that tend to reinforce our long-developed beliefs. If those stories are positive ones—you admire a colleague and tend particularly to notice the admirable things she does, you pride yourself on your own punctuality and pat yourself on the back whenever you find yourself (again!) to be the first person to show up at a meeting—these perspectives are often uplifting and empowering.

The problem comes when we tell ourselves negative stories. For instance, if I feel that the people around me are lazy and incompetent, the stories I create will be based on morsels of data that “conform” that belief. Or if I feel that I don’t measure up to others’ expectations, the stories I create will reinforce this self-assessment, prominently featuring my mistakes, my failures, and others’ expressions of disappointment in me. And so a vicious loop is created where negative perceptions—including of the self—determine the stories we tell ourselves, which in turn play out in full color to reinforce these perceptions.

Clearly these aren’t productive narratives, nor do they serve the people and organizations we lead. And while I’m aware that years of cognitive behavioral therapy may sometimes be the most effective solution to modify such beliefs-and-values–powered narratives, I’d like to suggest that we have the option to intervene any time we recognize (self-awareness!) the unproductive nature of the stories we tell ourselves.

It’s clear that the stories we tell ourselves have an impact not just on our own behavior, but also on our engagement with others and in turn on their perceptions of us as leaders, colleagues, and partners. By carefully examining our dominant narratives and making sure they contribute positive value to our and others’ lives, we’re one step closer to wielding real influence with the power of storytelling.

2. Stories We Tell Others About Ourselves

Whether you are a leader joining a new team, or a job candidate in the first round of interviews, or someone meeting a potential new client for the first time, the stories you tell about yourself often set the tone for how the relationship will unfold, if it does, that is. Which are the right stories in such scenarios? It’s hard to go wrong with stories that illustrate your humility, good judgment, integrity, and expertise and experience. As for what to emphasize, putting yourself firmly into the shoes of your audience should provide clues. The needs and expectations of the people in your audience will, of course, vary, depending on the context of the meeting and their future goals as they involve you.

For instance, if you are the new boss meeting the members of your team for the first time, you know they’ll wonder about your leadership style and how you’ll treat them. Acknowledge this and share a personal story or two that show you empathize—maybe from when you met your boss for the first time. Mention the lessons you’ve learned in managing others and make sure to highlight any mistakes from which you’ve grown. Share examples of how you’ve navigated new cultures in the past—organizational or regional—and what you’re hoping to learn in this next stage with their help. This shows humility, humanizes you, and reduces the power distance that can hamper the open and honest dialogue that builds trust.

If your audience—whether a group or an individual—is looking to engage you for your expertise, share stories that illustrate how you’ve delivered results or solved similar problems for others. Mention the challenges you encountered along the way and how you met them successfully—even if it took a few attempts to get it right. This is also an elegant way to share your strengths without bragging about your accomplishments.

When others want to get to know us, they aren’t just looking for the content on our LinkedIn profile. They want to know the real us to determine whether we’re trustworthy and whether associating with us will be of positive or negative value to them. That’s why recruiters and hiring managers no longer have qualms about digging into our social media pro les and online musings to evaluate our reputation and our judgment.

And judgment is key whenever we share personal information. Faulty judgment can result in some awkward moments if not lasting reputational harm.

Faulty judgment in personal stories isn’t always this glaring. But if you are unsure of how your stories might land, run them first by people you trust. In the end, with personal stories less is more and humility is better.

3. Stories We Tell Our Teams or Organizations

The type of storytelling that is intrinsic to successful leadership is the ability to tell compelling stories of the future, to articulate a vision, to both internal and external audiences. Leaders need to master another kind of story too—this kind is about organizational values.

Whatever the management goal, there are storytelling strategies that can help further it. A former Facebook director of engineering, Bobby Johnson, once saw the need for a cultural shift in the company’s infrastructure team. Although many of his engineers were drawn to exciting new projects and innovations, Johnson knew that other Facebook engineers, the ones who worked behind the scenes to ensure that the existing systems ran faster and better than before, also did critical work. He wanted to highlight these “unsung heroes,” both to honor them and to get more engineers interested in their less glamorous but nonetheless essential work. To accomplish this, he would take every opportunity—in one-on-ones, in meetings, and in group e-mails—to share stories of important fixes that these day-to-day engineers made and to publicly praise them.

Similarly, if you want people to speak up more in meetings and challenge each other, share a story of how a lone dissenting voice was able to change your mind about a decision you’d made, and how this wouldn’t have happened if the person hadn’t felt comfortable in challenging you. Or if you want to increase collaboration among teams, share a story about two teams who decided to join forces and whose combined creativity and brainpower led to important breakthroughs for the organization. And if it’s courage and risk taking you want to promote, highlight stories of risk-taking colleagues—and include their failures, to make the point that learning from mistakes is just another way forward.

As you can see in the three types of stories above, the formula for telling a story is simple. Decide which values you want to promote and which behaviors you want to encourage, and then make those traits the themes of your stories, and include characters who demonstrate the desired traits. Do these stories have to be true? It helps if they are, and it’s even better if your audience knows the protagonists. However, hypothetical scenarios can pack just as big a punch, as we’ve learned from neuroscience research and our own experiences from the myriad of stories that surround us.

Harrison Monarth is the CEO and Founder of Gurumaker and author of Executive Presence: The Art of Commanding Respect Like a CEO. An Executive Coach, he teaches C-suite leaders, senior executives, high potential managers and other top professionals effective leadership and positive behavior change for professional and organizational success. For more information, please visit, www.gurumaker.com and connect with Monarth on Twitter, @HarrisonMonarth and LinkedIn.

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5 Tips For Going From Bench Player To Star In The Business World

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Sports history is filled with the heroics of substitute players coming off the bench and playing a big role in a victory.

Likewise, in the working world, being a dedicated and consistent role player can prepare someone for a promotion that entails bigger responsibilities. The key, as in sports, is being ready when called upon.

“Understanding and fulfilling your role as you await your opportunity is a critical aspect of truly growing so you are prepared to make good on that opportunity when it happens,” says Grant Parr (www.gameperformance.com), a mental sports performance coach and the author of The Next One Up Mindset: How To Prepare For The Unknown.

“Athletics is filled with role players ready to meet the demands and the game speed of competition. The mental preparation is equally important in the workplace for those aspiring to climb the ladder and be continually successful.”

Parr offers five ways to spend time wisely while waiting in the wings and how to be well-prepared for the next, bigger opportunity:

Maximize your role. The path to promotion, Parr says, starts with the right mindset in lower positions. “Training the mind for success is essential,”  Parr says. “It begins with fully understanding and embracing your role. Doing that consistently gets you ready for the next one. Your role will be what you make of it — a launchpad for future success and a support to others while you learn, or a holding pattern leading toward stagnation and frozen development.”

Set achievable goals and commit. “How you approach your goals matters,” Parr says. “You need to write them down, including all the tasks required to accomplish them, and you need to visualize the feeling of reaching them.”

Remove negatives. “These invariably come up,” Parr says. “Be aware of the obstacles, people, and thought processes that can derail you, demotivate and distract you from making the most of your opportunity. That way, when those things appear, you are prepared to manage them and stay on track.”

Lead and set an example. “In sports, always being one of the first to practice and among the last to leave, and being the one who always encourages others — all those qualities stick in your teammates’ minds as a disciplined, winning example they can count on,” Parr says. “In the business world, your chances of reaching the next level are greatly enhanced when you exemplify a team-first, cheerful attitude on a daily basis, always being helpful to the levels above you as well as your own team, and going the extra mile.”

Study good examples/role models. It certainly helps in sports, and the corporate office is no different, Parr says, when it comes to the benefits of learning from mentors or reading up on achievers who had humble beginnings. “Watch, listen to, read, and learn from the advice and experiences of those who have excelled,” Parr says.

“Moving up in the world entails lots of things that can knock you down,” Parr says. “Embracing your role, whatever it is, means embracing the struggle to get where you want to go. You are working toward something higher, preparing for the unknown, and it requires diligence and commitment.”

Grant Parr (www.gameperformance.com) is a mental sports performance coach and the author of The Next One Up Mindset: How To Prepare For The Unknown. Parr owns and runs GAMEFACE PERFORMANCE, a consulting firm that enhances mental skills for athletes and coaches. A recruiter and sales leader in the corporate world for 17 years, he now works with a wide variety of athletes including Olympians, professionals, collegians and high school athletes. His podcast, 90% Mental, provides a window into a broad range of athletes’ and coaches’ mental games and shares their insights around mental performance. 

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5 Things Leaders Can Learn From Stand Up Comedians

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As you can imagine, stand-up comedy can make you a better presenter. After all, it’s one of the hardest forms of public speaking you’ll ever do (aside from effectively teaching second graders), which means if you can do okay in stand-up, all other types of business presentations will seem easier. But stand-up comedy can also make you a better leader.

The majority of my leadership training has come from two places: 1) the internal leadership development program at Procter & Gamble, and 2) stand-up comedy. The first is expected, after all, P&G is a promote-from-within company, so they have to have good leadership training. The second is surprising, but has been just as valuable in my career development.

Here are five important ideas leaders can learn from stand-up comedians:

1. Start strong.

The most important part of any stand-up set is the first 30 seconds. It is in that small timeframe that an audience decides if you are worth paying attention to.
 
Those first 30 seconds are just like the first 30 seconds of any recommendation or proposal you give at work. Some people know this concept as “headnodding”–get people in agreement early on (e.g. make them realize you’re funny), and they are much more likely to agree with you later.
 
In standup, a good introduction relates to something the entire audience can be a part of (such as a joke about the city, something a previous comic said, or the ridiculousness of your own voice…) In the business world, that may mean starting off a presentation by establishing that you are all on common ground. If you are proposing a solution to a problem or “opportunity,” confirm with the audience that you all agree that there is, in fact, a problem, and you agree on what it is. Then, once they’ve settled in and have already been nodding along (not nodding off), you can transition into the meat of the meeting.

2. Deliver with Confidence.

Comedy is a mixture of both content and delivery. Yes, the material itself has to be good, but so does the delivery. In fact, delivery can often make up for weaker material–just look at Dane Cook’s early career. The jokes weren’t mind-blowingly funny, but his delivery of it was.
 
The same is true for leading others. If you’re not confident in what you’re doing, it will be much harder for people to follow you. As Adlai Stevenson said, “It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.”
 
The key to improving your confidence as a leader is the same as developing it as a comedian: through practice and repetition. The more often you do something, the easier it tends to become and the more comfortable you get.

3. Seek feedback.

Comedy, in a way, is simple. How do you know something is funny? It makes people laugh. The only way for a comedian to know if people will laugh at the joke is to try it out and see. The immediate feedback they receive on stage is invaluable as a performer.
 
Similarly, feedback to a leader is crucial. Stopping to ask for ways to better connect with each of your direct reports, improve a presentation, or what went well in a particular meeting can guide you in finding what works and what doesn’t. Then you can start working on the right things–working smarter and not harder.
 
One key thing to note is that feedback doesn’t just have to come from other people. Comedians record their performances so they can go back to evaluate a performance. Checking in with yourself periodically or tracking your daily progress can help you find what is and isn’t working for you.

4. Give credit where credit is due.

The cardinal sin of stand-up comedy (just after murder) is stealing material. Taking someone else’s jokes and pretending they are your own is like buying a Coke, putting your own label on it, and selling it as Joe’s Soda. After all, jokes are the primary product that comedians “sell.”
 
In management, to take credit for what other people have done is not only dishonest, it’s limiting for both you and your team. Your team doesn’t get the proper recognition they deserve, and you don’t showcase your ability to inspire your team to great results.
 
Taking credit and stealing material may help you get ahead in the short-term, but in today’s world, the frauds and the thieves tend to get found out and left behind.

5. Respect people’s time.

The second biggest sin in comedy is going over your allotted time (called “blowing the light”). Nearly every comedian imagines they could entertain the crowd for hours upon hours, but (thankfully) shows typically limit the amount of time each comic has, often based on their skill-level or connection to the show. To go over the amount of time given is to tell the show producer and all of the other comedians, “I think I’m more important than you” and “I don’t respect you.”
 
When you, as a leader, hold people longer than the scheduled time, or consistently show up late to meetings, you’re saying the same thing: “I think I’m more important than you” and “I don’t respect you.”
 
Respect people’s time and they’ll respect yours (and you) for it. If you need help keeping meetings on track, you can always do what comedians do: give people a notification when their time is almost up and then cut the mic if they go on for too long.

Stand-Up Leadership

Becoming a stand-up leader isn’t easy, but following some of these principles from stand-up comedians can certainly help. Plus this is the perfect excuse to finally give stand-up comedy a try or at least watch some of your favorite comedians online. You won’t just be having a laugh, you’ll be on your way to becoming a better leader as well.

Andrew Tarvin is the world’s first humor engineer, teaching people how to get better results while having more fun. He is the author of Humor That Works: The Missing Skill for Success and Happiness at Work and CEO ofHumor That Works, a consultancy for human effectiveness. For more information, please visit,www.humorthatworks.com and connect with him on Twitter, @drewtarvin.

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Want To Do Business With Baby Boomers? You’ll Find Them On Social Media.

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Forget those jokes about Baby Boomers and their supposed struggles grasping today’s technology.

They may have grown up in a black-and-white TV, rotary-phone era, but most Baby Boomers long ago adapted to the 21st-century digital world. And that includes social media, which they took to with almost as much delight as their children and grandchildren if recent studies on the subject are any indication.

As a result, any business or professional who wants to market to Baby Boomers needs to understand that reaching them through social media channels should be part of the strategy, says Jonathan Musgrave, owner and chief digital marketer for Steep Digital Marketing (www.steepdigital.com).

“I always tell people that educationally based messages are the key to getting traction when it comes to reaching and influencing people on social media,” Musgrave says. “While plenty of goods are sold on Facebook, for example, that’s not primarily why Baby Boomers, or anyone else, logs in each day.

“Instead, the reason they are addicted to social media is to see what’s new. What’s new with their friends, kids and grandkids? What’s new in the news? The best way to reach them and market to them is to position yourself as an educator; someone who is telling them what’s new.”

If that still sounds more like a way to reach younger generations rather than BabyBoomers, consider this: A study by Google revealed that Boomers and seniors spend more time online than they do watching TV. Also, 82.3 percent of Boomers who use the internet have at least one social media account, with Facebook being their favorite.

Musgrave says his company uses several approaches when creating effective Facebook ads, but many of these elements also can work for routine social media posts on a business or professional site as well. They include:

–Images. It’s important to have compelling images to catch a social media user’s attention while they’re scrolling through their newsfeed and makes them stop to take a second look. “We use colors and font combinations that grab your attention immediately,” Musgrave says.

–Captivating headlines. Headlines are the gateway to getting people to read the rest of your copy. “Shorter headlines are easier to read and get straight to the point,” Musgrave says. “We want things to be as easy as possible for people to understand what we are offering in their area.”

–Engaging copy. Once the headline draws them in, you need to deliver with an engaging message. Musgrave suggests one way to do this is with questions. “Asking questions of your audience creates a desire for an answer to those questions,” he says. “This creates an open loop that makes the brain grab on tight. It acts like a ‘pop quiz’ and keeps the audience glued.” It’s also important to avoid buzzwords, he says. “You want your copy to be easily readable, and buzzwords usually do the opposite of that,” Musgrave says. “People do business with people who make things easier for them.”

“Facebook is the primary way Baby Boomers interact with content online, although you can find them on other social media platforms as well, such as Twitter and LinkedIn,” Musgrave says. “It’s critical that anyone who wants to do business with Baby Boomers understand that if you’re looking to reach them, social media is a good place to make the connection.”

About Jonathan Musgrave

Jonathan Musgrave is the owner and chief digital marketer of Steep Digital Marketing (www.steepdigital.com), which he founded in 2017. Musgrave leverages his 13+ years of experience in the financial services world to help financial professionals reach more than 8,000,000 prospects each month with social media advertising. Steep Digital Marketing has rapidly grown and was recently recognized as one of the top 100 Colorado Companies to Watch.


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5 Mistakes New College Grads Make as They Enter Entrepreneurship

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It’s that time of year again. Thousands of qualified college graduates are getting set to enter the workforce. They were promised that their hard work and diligence will earn them an attractive job and a high chance of success.  With ambition, motivation, and dreams, scores of young men and women will forge their way into the business world. Some of them have lofty goals of entrepreneurship.  Many are under the impression that whatever works for high profile examples of successful leaders in business will also work for them. Public information and theory are often misleading, and so is attempting to imitate another company’s or leader’s blueprint. According to some experts, new college graduates often make five brutal mistakes as they try to navigate their own potential new enterprise.

1) Recent college graduates think they know a lot more than they do upon graduation: Implementation is different to theory and ideas, so you need to be able to bring operational performance and many other skills to the table. Knowledge is one thing, but true execution will provide the experience you really need.

2) Many do not understand how funding works and the capitol needed in the initial phases of a business. Inexperienced people are misled when it comes to startup funding and what is needed to begin and grow a business.  Often young founders don’t think about basic concepts like unit economics, which is selling something for more than what it costs to make. Even some very well funded startups tend to ignore this.

3) Raising funds does not equal success. Many young entrepreneurs are focused on the superficial belief that the more money they raise, the more successful their business is going to be. While it’s true that, everything else being equal, having more money to spend on your business is good, there is a lot more to it than that simple formula. Plenty of businesses fail because they raised too much money and it encouraged them to do things that didn’t make sense. Many other businesses fail because they raised money that they believed would fund all of their dreams of growth, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Other businesses fail because they raise the wrong kind of money, such as debt they can’t repay on time or equity that causes them to lose control of their business.

4) Inexperienced founders often overestimate their own importance and don’t appreciate the importance of the team they build around them. It is not easy to find skilled people who also happen to be a good fit for the culture and mission of your enterprise.  This takes a lot more time, effort, and trial and error than many founders realize if they haven’t done it before.  You need a great team to build a great team. But that the classic chicken and egg problem you have to solve. You have to be careful, and realize you will make mistakes, about who you hire early in the life of your company. Only offer substantial equity and responsibility to those who have proven themselves. Recognize your hiring mistakes and correct them quickly. Teams often don’t rise to the level of their best people. They often sink to the level of their worst people. Keep that in mind as you build your company.  
 

5) Know and own your limitations. Young innovators especially, though it applies even to more experienced entrepreneurs, tend to lack self-awareness of their own weaknesses. These blind spots can be disastrous.  Most highly successful people understand their weaknesses and surround themselves with others who can do what they cannot, who share a similar vision, and with whom they can collaborate. Inexperience can lead to overconfidence. This is an especially dangerous pitfall for early stage startups and new entrepreneurs. 

Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is a good example of a culmination of all 5 of these mistakes and what inexperience can do to a business idea. She raised $900 million. Her company was worth billions. She was on the cover of magazines and featured on TV shows and one of the best founders in a generation. But it ended in failure and she may go to prison for her behavior.

There are real world, and sometimes life altering, consequences for making these mistakes. Think through your decisions carefully and be aware of the risks you take as you pursue your exciting and hopefully rewarding entrepreneurial journey.

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Score a Workplace Win with These 5 Traits of Successful Athletes

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When Tiger Woods thrilled the sports world by winning The Masters golf tournament, many golf experts and fans viewed his triumph as inspirational.

After all, the 43-year-old Woods demonstrated not just athletic skills, but also mental strength that allowed him to overcome declining physical prowess and years of adversity that included a sex scandal, divorce and numerous back and knee surgeries.

For high-performing athletes, that’s not so unusual because mental attitude is often critical to success in sports. But the same can be true in the workplace for those willing to learn from the practices of athletes and apply them in their own lives, says Grant Parr (www.gameperformance.com), a mental sports performance coach and the author of The Next One Up Mindset: How To Prepare For The Unknown.

The key, Parr says, is to be prepared when big opportunities arrive – sometimes unexpectedly, as it did for Woods.

“Many of the demands we face at work are not so different than those faced by high-caliber athletes,” Parr says.“The need for mental toughness in the face of chaos and adversity is similar.

“But what happens when a big moment is at hand, like a promotion, and people aren’t ready for it? What did they not do to be properly prepared? The world is filled with unexpected opportunities for greatness, and there are processes that athletes and people in all types of positions can execute to get prepared for that moment.”

Parr focuses on five areas where athletic examples can be applied toward readiness and success in the workplace:

Applying grit in the face of adversity. “Handling adversity starts with being flexible,” Parr says. “Take difficult people you have to deal with; you must be able to adapt and adjust, know when to let things roll off your back and when to stand your ground. Or when you’ve missed your sales quota, you lose key people, etc., the stress can be enormous. These are times you have to rely on your inner warrior and draw on your past examples of strong mental performance.” 

Turning crisis into opportunity. Some athletes are summoned to a bigger role because the performer in front of them is ineffective or hurt. “Can you see opportunity when everyone else sees uncertainty?” Parr asks. “When others react with fright, you can choose mental might.”

Embracing your role.  Every team requires people who fulfill their roles. Part of embracing your role is recognizing that the team’s needs are bigger than your own. “Rock your role, and people will notice,” Parr says. “But keep aspiring, studying the practices of those in higher roles, and you’ll be fully prepared for advancement when it comes.” 

Visualizing success. So critical to success in sports, visualizing success is just as vital in business. “See the performance as you wish it to go,” Parr says. “See yourself performing with energy and confidence; pump yourself up with positive talk.” 

Assuming leadership. “Doing your best, showing enthusiasm and trustworthiness help establish a culture that lifts everyone up,” Parr says. “Showing leadership when you don’t have a formal title allows you to develop the skills you’ll need when an opportunity arises and offers evidence you’re the one to fulfill that opportunity.”

“You may wait 10 or more years for a big opportunity, or it may come suddenly,” Parr says. “But if you’re not ready mentally, that opportunity will pass you by.”

About Grant Parr 

Grant Parr (www.gameperformance.com) is a mental sports performance coach and the author of The Next One Up Mindset: How To Prepare For The Unknown. Parr owns and runs GAMEFACE PERFORMANCE, a consulting firm that enhances mental skills for athletes and coaches. A recruiter and sales leader in the corporate world for 17 years, he now works with a wide variety of athletes including Olympians, professionals, collegians and high school athletes. His podcast, 90% Mental, provides a window into a broad range of athletes’ and coaches’ mental games and shares their insights around mental performance. 








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Poker and Business: How Poker Skills Mirror Negotiation Tactics

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Similarities exist between strategic poker play and negotiating or operating in private enterprise. Few have likely given it serious thought but if they did commit brain time to the subject, they’d see how table image, portraying yourself as stronger than your hand may be, body language, controlling the look in your eyes, displays of sincerity or weakness all are exemplified in both scenarios.

Negotiating the price of purchasing a business, negotiating with vendors, discussing sensitive matters with employees and a host of other things that regularly occur in business may also happen in many poker hands one engages in.

In my earlier years, the risks I took with a new business venture certainly had me all-in more than on a poker table. On a table your all-in move is limited to the chips in front of you. When I went all-in on a business, it would also include debt in addition to the available capital (as in chips) immediately accessible to me. 

When negotiating for products or services with vendors, I’ve found many of the matters being discussed would contain pricing variables an astute business owner could avail themselves of if they try. In poker, nothing is cut and dry. Pocket aces get cracked, a full house on the turn can be surpassed by a bigger boat on the river and a check with a monster pair could give your opponent a free look at a card on the board that fills their hand with a pair-beating result. Similarly, in business, good timing and the right move can advance your position when played right and implemented at the optimum time.

Table banter makes the game fun but could reveal things about your game philosophy that an observant opponent could use later in a hand to relieve you of some of your chips. Likewise, the things a business owner may say in front of an observant employee could certainly rear its ugly head my way when dealing with a human relations-based employee issue. As a pivotal point in my autobiography, Tenacity, describes in graphic detail, my casual comments within earshot of someone who would later be found out to be a thieving waiter would result in some life-altering consequences for me. 

Every word you say and every act you perform possesses the power to affect you in ways you’d never imagine. Being ever cognizant of the things you say and do on a poker game are as important as the profile one portrays in their business life every day.

Ron Coury is the author of Tenacity: A Vegas Businessman Survives Brooklyn, the Marines, Corruption and Cancer to achieve the American Dream: A True Story