Have you notice how, quite apart from the admirable selflessness displayed by those people who help others, they often have an inner glow of happiness and contentment? And don't you sometimes wonder why celebrities and rock stars seem to be so tortured and unhappy in their off-stage lives when they appear to have it all?
This short video (from Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner) explains why the often short-lived feelings of happiness are the result of looking for it in the wrong place. So the sooner you identify what keeps you happy and motivated the sooner you'll know where to find it - both in your life and in your business!
Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh is passionate about positive emotions and outcomes for employees, vendors, and customers. This interest led him to study the science of happiness. In this clip, Hsieh shares some of his key findings related to finding and delivering happiness.
Here's the link to watch the whole talk.
Image via Wikipedia
It can be hard to know how best to talk to prospective customers so that they are receptive to your presentation. They will feel more at ease with people who show similar behaviours.
I hope this post will give you some ideas on how to adapt your approach to each of the 4 very different personality styles identified in the work of Dr David Merrill, co-author of Personal Styles and Effective Performance: Make Your Style Work for You
Driver – interested in seeing a bottom-line advantage
Be punctual for your meetings and make sure your presentation is well prepared and organised. Small talk will irritate them, so get to the point quickly with this personality type and emphasise the key results they will get. Show them plans and outlines; give them clear, specific and brief points without going into too much detail. Drivers do not like being told what to do.
You will recognise this personality type through their tendency to make direct eye contact and give a strong, assertive handshake. They use direct language and speak fast and forcefully, showing little emotion in their facial expression.
Expressive – respond well to humour and are outgoing
Allow time for socialising in your meetings with Expressives. Focus on developing a relationship with them. Recognition is important to these people so try to show how your ideas, products or services will improve their standing within the company. Your presentation should be enthusiastic and just give the big picture, they will not appreciate lots of detail. Ask for their ideas and suggestions and if possible support your presentation with testimonials from people they know.
This personality type speaks quickly and animatedly, using rapid hand and arm gestures, and has a wide range of facial expressions.
Amiable – will spend time talking and getting to know you
... and yet you’re not!
Have you ever found yourself dealing with a situation and thought that no-one else could possibly understand what you’re going through? If you have, you’re absolutely right – but you’re not alone!
Your situation may not be unique, but your particular set of circumstances is. You may take action based on advice from others who have been through similar experiences, yet your results come out differently. Your decisions are yours and yours alone, no-one else can make them for you.
We all have different ways of looking at things, usually based on past experiences, our personal belief system and values, and what we want from life. This mix is unique to each of us and is the reason no-one else can understand exactly what we’re going through.
And yet it can be useful to draw on the experiences of others, in fact we do it all the time. Everything from learning to drive a car (taking lessons from someone who already can), to cooking a meal (following a recipe someone has already tried), I think you get the idea!
When you’re facing a situation that is new to you, like giving a presentation to potential clients or training your new puppy, it can really help to learn from others who have been there and done it. Pick people you admire for the way they handle these situations, study what they do and do the same.
You are a unique individual, others love you for it, as you should love yourself. But you don’t have to ‘reinvent the wheel’ if someone else has already made it for you!
Find the best way for you and celebrate your uniqueness!
Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
This is a hardcover book with 226 pages, including a useful index at the back. It’s divided into 4 parts: Inbound Marketing; Get found by Prospects; Converting Customers; and Make Better Decisions. There are 16 chapters, each with a To-Do list at the end, followed by a few Tools & Resources and a selection of 26 ‘Tips from the Trenches for Start-Ups’. The occasional helpful screenshot, a few tables of statistics and a few cartoons break the text up nicely.
We keep hearing that ‘push’ marketing is out and ‘pull’ marketing is the way forward, and the authors provide lots of ideas to help small businesses attract new prospects and clients online.
A complete newcomer to the internet would probably find this book hard-going, but any small business owner who has been online for a while will enjoy the useful step-by-step guide. Experienced internet marketers could be left searching for more in-depth and advanced techniques.
As a self-taught blog and website owner, I found some new techniques to try out and was pleased to have confirmation of being on the right track with others. This book came highly recommended and I soon discovered why.
The chapters follow a logical path, enabling the reader to put the lessons into action (using the To-Do list) before moving on to the next. The format makes it a useful guide or workbook too. I wish this book had been around 5 years ago as it would have considerably shortened the time it’s taken me to put all the pieces together by myself.
There’s quite a bit of self-promotion throughout the text, although most of it is as examples to reinforce different points being made by the authors. Although noticeable, it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book.
If you’re serious about learning the best way to use a blog, search engine optimisation and social media to promote your business online and you already have a bit of internet savvy, this book will explain what you need to do.
It seems nearly every busy business owner wishes they were able to magically add more hours to their day, especially at this time of year when we’re trying to cram in all the extra Christmas-related tasks on top of an already full agenda. If only that was possible! But there are some alternatives that have a similar effect, here are a few quick thoughts to get you started...
1. Commit to a Daily ‘Will Do’ Action
This is the one activity you commit to do, even if it’s the only thing that gets done that day. Decide on it the night before, oh and make sure it is a step that’s achievable in one day, and not an ‘elephant-sized’ project. Repeat this every day for a week, and watch those actions stack up!
2. Reduce your working day
If the number of hours you work in your business has crept up to a point where it is regularly taking over time you should be spending with your family, or simply relaxing, then you need to do something about it. Work has a strange habit of expanding to fill the time available - but the opposite is also true! If you set yourself shorter working hours, it’s surprising how much more can be achieved when you’re up against the clock.
3. Focus on the 3 Activities that Matter
As someone who freely admits to being easily distracted by new stuff to explore on the internet (and Twitter!), this one always brings me back on track. Every activity you do in your business should fall into one of the following 3 categories: 1) Doing client work; 2) Looking for new clients; 3) Growing the business. Anything else should either be outsourced/delegated or put to one side until you have time to spare.
I recommend you print out this list and keep a copy somewhere prominent to act as a reminder. Let me know how you get on!
What would you add?
