The Smart Pounder

Effective people management is crucial in order to achieve the best in your business success. These skills may be acquired and studied. Having a innate affinity for dealing with people is an advantage, even so you can do some things that will make the process simpler. Forging relationships: Start by using staff’s names. Speak to staff; make eye contact when you’re speaking. Show respect, and be sure to be attentive to the other person’s thoughts, even if you disagree or have a different opinion. Paying attention to everything staff have to offer is one of the best talent management skills you can develop. Show an interest in what everyone can offer the business. Show integrity: Don’t give promises you can not keep. When you don’t keep your promises, the delicate bond of trust is destroyed, and nobody will offer you their best if they don’t trust you. Each time you make a commitment or give a promise, you are squandering your time and effort if you don’t follow through. To be frank, if you can’t be depended upon, they will not be there when it’s really important.

Feedback is essential: Feedback should be a two-way process. Human Resource management skills mean being receptive to all feedback. Being approachable and receptive shows that you appreciate other’s opinions, and they should value yours. Open discourse also encourages new ideas, new ways of achieving goals, and develops the company in general. When your staff are given a voice, the project and the results will become important to each member.

Promote all sorts of communication: Good communication is central to dealing with individuals skilfully. Be accessible, use good listening skills, keep an open mind, and permit team members an equal voice. Staff must be inspired to speak to each other not only with you. The sharing of ideas is imperative in the creative process, if the employees communicate well, it is simple to identify problems at an early stage, and corrective measures can be put in place before matters get out of hand.

Some time will be needed, yet the payoff is worthwhile. By building the bonds of a good team and by taking heed of your team’s opinions, a successful business will be yours.

A resume plays a crucial role in our lives. Whether its your first job or your changing your profession, a winning resume is what you need. This will distinguish you from the rest. So, it’s time to focus your time and energy on creating that winning resume. There are thousands of employers just waiting to hear from you and now is your time to shine.

The resume is the first impression an employer sees of you and it has to shine as your entrance into the employers mind. It should be something that is different and yet simple and it should follow some conventions.

Today’s resumes though have to tell the employer about you in about 10 seconds or they move on to another person. I order to make sure you’re one of those who get into an interview; here are 10 tips to help:

1. Clarity make sure that your resume is clear and reads well. Employers are checking for more than just what you do; they want to make sure you can write well.
   

2. Attractiveness although you aren’t there are win a beauty contest with your resume, it should be pleasing to the eye and attention getting. You can do this without using special characters.
   

3. Keywords every profession no matter what it is has a variety of keywords it uses. The employer will expect you to use these words on your winning resume.
   

4. Formatting formatting your resume is part of the attractiveness. Always use a clear font like Arial and at least a 12 font. Remember it has to be easy to read and for some employers, smaller fonts are difficult to see.
   

5. Check it once, twice, three times check your resume to make sure there are no typos or misspellings. This leads to a sloppy resume. Have someone else check it over as a second opinion.
   

6. Make it interesting although a resume highlights your job information, it can be an interesting read. Use full sentences and only write about your experience that is pertinent to the job for which you are applying.
   

7. Use action words we emphasize this in two points because people forget to use action words. You want your resume to come alive in a manager’s hand and you want it to look different.
   

8. Motivation what motivates you in a job? Let the employer know. It is very important to let the potential employer know what job you are applying for and your goals and objectives for that job.
   

9. Emphasize achievement not job duties let the employer know what you achieved in the other positions. They will want to know what you will bring to them.
   

Customize your winning resume if you have had more than one job or interest, it’s a good idea to have more than one resume targeted to each interest.

I know your thinking…Okay John, 5+5 does not equal 5 so let me please explain. Let’s start with a question. How many times have you heard that you need to have a “long term” goal and be focused for the entire length of that “long term”? In this article, I am going to focus on a 5 year goal and explain how you will know if you are truly on track to achieve your 5 year goal in life.
In the equation, the answer 5 is your five-year goal and the 5+5 is the underlying secret to attaining that goal.

As I speak with numerous people on a daily basis, I hear their frustration about their goals that they’ve set and the lack of progress that they have made. As I say, “A mountain is built one pebble at a time and climbed one step at a time.”

The first “5″ in the equation represents the 5 people that you call our friends, associates, etc. I suggest that you make a list of the 5 people that you associate with on a regular basis, and then take a good look at it to see if they either have goals similar to yours or are progressing towards the achievement of a goal similar to your 5-year vision. A major key to unlock the secret to your future is to be 110% conscious of the fact that you will ultimately become who you associate with. For example, if you have dreams of becoming healthy and wealthy and your associates are overweight smokers that complain about working one-minute overtime, then I can predict the odds of you being healthy and wealthy is slim to none. Millions of people never attain their dreams, because their “friends” serve as “cement shoes” as they walk towards their goals in life. As I set my goals, I surround myself with people who are on the same path in life that I am on. If you truly internalize this same mindset, then you can achieve your goals in life.

The second “5″ in the equation is to take a personal inventory of the last 5 books that you have read or cd’s that you have listened to. Just for fun, the next time one of your friends complains about something…ask them what were the last 5 books that they have read or cd’s they have listened to. You will get one of two answers: I do not remember or I do not have the time to read. Your last 5 books that you read will determine where your focus or direction is in life. The average person reads 1 book a year after high school, which is the #1 reason why 95% of people are “dead broke at age 65″.

Even the greatest computer in the world needs to be programmed in order to perform its functions. We are all designed for greatness, but we need to be conscious of our associations and what we are reading or listening to on a daily basis will decide the level of greatness that we all reach. Decide today to focus on your 5 year goal and realize that your 5 friends and the 5 books/cd’s that you listen to will determine if you hit your Why or not. Success is simple, but not easy because it takes the ability to grow, stretch, search and learn to enjoy everyday as you progress towards your 5-year Dream.

I can actually predict your results…

5 + 5 = Your Dream

Changing Lives one heart at a Time,

John Di Lemme
http://www.FindYourWhy.com

John Di Lemme
www.FindYourWhy.com

Author, speaker, entrepreneur this Million Dollar producer now teaches others the inside secrets on how to truly build a million dollar business. John was a 24-year-old stutterer working in his family art gallery that dreamed of becoming a world-renowned motivational speaker. Desperate to acheive his goal, he answered an ad that allowed him to break free of the art gallery and build his own business.

John built a massive marketing team of over 25,000 representatives in 10 countries and earned a seven figure passive residual income. Seven years later, John retired to Palm Beach, Florida where he continues to live the life of the rich and not so famous.

“My personal vision is to empower each individual to build the belief in themselves to take the actions needed to achieve their personal goals, dreams and aspirations. I truly feel each person has trapped inside them an outstanding person full of achievement in every aspect of their lives. .

My goal and focus of my writings, trainings and speaking engagements is to share some ideas and concepts that will empower people to believe and to expect to attain their ultimate vision for themselves.

She had a nice smile and attentive eyes.

That’s what I noticed about the waitress at the Italian restaurant we visited the other night. After first asking permission to explain the restaurant’s menu in detail because we were first-time visitors, she thoughtfully pointed out special dishes, made her own personal recommendations and added emphasis to the specials of the night.

She had a nice smile and attentive eyes. Those two traits are important. I could have hired this young woman to do many different jobs in many industries. She has the prerequisite every employer wants in sales, marketing, finance or personnel.

That nice smile and fully present look told me she had a good attitude about work. The prerequisite is attitude. Attitude is the one thing we can’t change in employees. You’ve got a good attitude or you don’t. Given adequate ability and desire to learn, everything else can be taught to employees with good attitudes. I have tried many times to teach good attitudes and have come to the conclusion it is about as easy as making a mud fence.

How do you find employees with good attitudes?
It’s simple to understand. You look for them. They are everywhere.

• They are behind the teller counter at the bank.
• I’ve seen them at BestBuy selling computers.

• I’ve spotted them volunteering for their favorite causes.

• You’ve struck up a conversation with them working out at the gym.

• He showed up to fix your cable TV problem.

• She solved your insurance claim problem over the phone.

You have an employee(s) with good attitudes. Ask them about who they know that might want to work in your organization. Ask those with good attitudes because they hang out with others with good attitudes.

When you spot a good attitude try this technique. Simply say to the person, “You have a terrific smile and attitude. My organization is always looking for people with attitudes like yours. If you are looking for a change, please call me”, as you hand over your card, ” keep up the good work.”

The above message delivered correctly will, at the minimum, be the high point of the recipient’s day. It may be the next step on a career path.

For you, delivering the above message may be the first step to finding more employees with good attitudes. You can’t find gold without looking for it.

Doug Emerson trains consults and coaches business owners on how to make more profit in less time using 8 key strategies. He writes a free electronic newsletter about the business of life called Getting to the Point. Free subscription available at the homepage. http://www.douglasemerson.com

I’ve noticed that to the degree that I’ve taken my own coaching in the area outlined below, the more my own business on purpose has flourished.

So, here’s my question to you:

Are you working ON your business or only IN it?

Do you want to know one of the major ‘blind spots’ that I find prevent so many health care professionals from reaching their business goals and is a significant contributor to professional burnout?

It’s the failure to carve out the time to work on your business. It’s really easy to understand how this happens. Most health care professionals didn’t enter their profession to become business owners. What guided them to their chosen profession was a desire and passion to make a difference by helping people in some way, whether it was helping them by taking care of their animals as with veterinarians, or by helping them with their own health as with dentists, physicians, and chiropractors, or by helping people reach their life goals as with coaches.

We all seem to have this common blind spot because we mostly just want to help people in our chosen way. Being a practice/business owner simply comes with the territory, so we often get caught up in vetting, doctoring, coaching, etc. and fail to realize that to make the biggest difference with the most people and to reap the financial rewards that come with that, we have to devote a fair amount of time to working on our business as well.

What Does It Mean To Work ‘On My Business?’

While there are many ways to answering that question, one of the simplest ways is by looking at what a business is. It’ll take us a long way to helping us understand when we’re working ON the business and when we’re working IN the business.

To paraphrase Michael Gerber, business guru of ‘The E-Myth’ fame, a business is a set of systems and structures that allow us to deliver on our chosen work, be it health care, or baking and selling bread, or manufacturing widgets. If that’s the case, then working ON our business means we’re working on the systems and structures that allow us to deliver our product and/or service. This often includes creating those structures and systems as well as polishing and perfecting them.

What Are Ways To Work On My Business?

Another great question. I’m so glad you asked it. Here are just a few ways to be at work on your business:

1 – Regular Staff Meetings: Particularly staff meetings where you are training your staff to deliver on your products and services, because your staff is one of the major and most important systems that make it possible for you to deliver on the goods.

2 – Identifying where a system or structure is missing and then designing one to fill the void. For example, can you imagine running a professional practice without having a reminder system to alert your clients when it’s time for them to return for routine care? Well, that’s a system that someone recognized a need for and designed. This is a great place where your staff can make a major contribution if you’ll take the time to listen because they are on the frontlines and know when and where a system is missing. In fact, they are often the best ones to design a system that will really work.

3 – Perfecting and polishing an existing system. Systems wear out or outlive their usefulness, so often times you need to address how to improve and/or replace a system or structure that is no longer getting its job done. Again, this is a great place to call upon the assistance of the people involved with those particular systems.

4 – Working on the Big Picture. Envisioning, goal setting, and strategic planning are all vitally important aspects of working on your business, and is probably one of the most common places that health care professionals miss the boat. In many of my presentations to the veterinary profession I ask how many practice owners have a clearly written vision statement. The hands that go up are rarely more than
5 -10 %. When I ask of those with their hands up how many of them could tell me verbatim what their vision statement is, almost all the hands go down. And I can’t remember the last time I met someone who said that if I asked any of their staff members what their vision statement was, they’d be able to tell me.

Yet, a vision statement is a critical piece of your business because it tells you and the rest of the world who you are as a business and what you’re up to in the world. Big…big…blind spot.

And this leads to my last point, which is in a way a confession. Although I consider myself an excellent coach, and have plenty of testimonials from satisfied clients to verify that assessment, I feel one of the strongest reasons for you as a health care professional to work with a coach…any coach…is because the coaching relationship will ‘force’ you to spend at least some time working ON your business. And without that structure in place the truth of the matter is most of you simply won’t get around to it. And it’s this blind spot that is costing you BIG TIME, in revenue lost, in satisfaction and fulfillment missing, and in it eventually leading to your burning out in your profession.

?2005 Brad Swift of Life On Purpose Institute, Inc.
This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.

Dr. Brad Swift founded Life On Purpose Institute in 1996 with the vision of creating a World On Purpose by assisting people like yourself to clarify their life purpose & live true to it. Determine how on or off purpose your life is with the fun & insightful Self Test at:
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