Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. An important aspect of your business is attracting new clients to assure that your pipeline is continually filled. There several important keys to your marketing strategy. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Ideas To Attract New Clients.
When you’re running a business, you’ve got to balance your time between retaining your current customers and working to attract new ones. To help you attract new clients today, these five tips may come in handy.
1 . Offer incentives
To attract new clients to your business, it can be useful to offer incentives. Provide discounts for your new customers; simple actions like this can work wonders. With a discount or two you can lure in those customers who wouldn’t have otherwise made a purchase. Once these customers have made a purchase with you, ensure that you make a note of the offers which drew them in. By tracking customer purchases, you can improve your marketing efforts to retain their ongoing loyalty.
2. More networking
When you’re looking to boost your brand awareness, networking is a crucial step. You should start by joining networking organizations and your trade association. You can also network online using sites like LinkedIn or apps like Shapr and One Million Cups. As an entrepreneur, it can be useful to join up to organizations such as ‘The Association For Entrepreneurship’. Here you’ll find networking opportunities, education, peer mentoring, and community involvement.
3. Improve your content marketing
To attract new clients, one of the most critical areas to focus on is your content marketing. Focus on best responding to search intent and on ensuring that your content is educational and engaging. Video marketing is one of the best ways to engage new audiences, boost your credibility, and increase conversions. To present your business as authentic, it’s helpful to focus on user-generated content. When customers can see that their peers are enjoying your products, they’ll be far more likely to convert.
4. Appeal to international markets
To attract new clients, you should aim to appeal to international markets. One of the easiest ways to do this is to cater to international client needs. Here are a few areas of focus:
● Currency Exchange: First off, make it easy for international clients to pay using their own currency. ● Worldwide Shipping: Offer worldwide shipping options so that your clients are not restricted to only one geographical location. ● Languages: Ensure that your website, your chatbots, and marketing materials cater to different languages, depending on the markets that you are targeting. ● Software Localization: Investing in a software localization service is a great way to target new markets. It refers to the procedure used to adapt your software to cater to new languages and cultural requirements.
5. Review sites
Last up, putting your business on review sites is a great way to get some glowing testimonials. When customers are looking for products, one of the first things they do is to look at reviews and testimonials. Make it easy for them to find you on review sites, and ask your existing customers to provide testimonials.
To widen your reach and keep on growing it’s important to be attracting new clients all of the time.
Two focuses of my blog are Health/Wellness and Home/Living Discussions. With Covid-19, this has been an unusual year where everything has been impacted even our holidays. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Make Christmas Fun For Kids This Year.
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Christmas will always be a fun time for children, but sometimes the magic can be forgotten a little as adults try to make sure everything is ‘just so’ before the big day. Although this is necessary, it can be hard to get everything done and make sure the kids are entertained not just on Christmas Day but in the days (and maybe weeks) leading up to it.
This year especially is potentially tricky; you may not be able to see friends and family, and children may start to become frustrated because the things they would typically do each Christmas aren’t available.
Children are only little for a short time, and it’s important to make sure every Christmas is the best it can be, including this one. This doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to cause you stress or put you under pressure. There are many activities and fun traditions that kids can join in with that will give you time together or apart (depending on what you need to be doing) and ensure they have a Christmas holiday they’ll always remember. Read on for some great ideas to keep the magic alive for the kids this Christmastime.
You can never have too many Christmas ornaments, and if you want to give the kids something to do that will keep them – and you if you want to join in – occupied for a while, and give you something lovely to hang on your tree year after year, making ornaments is a great choice.
You can even mix this idea up with a scavenger hunt so that the children have to search around the house for the items they need to make the decorations with. They can use natural items such as pinecones and twigs or any leftover materials such as cardboard, ribbons, wrapping paper, Christmas cards, and more. This should be a cheap but fun activity for everyone.
Enjoy A Party
Restrictions might mean that parties can’t take place in the way they usually would, but that doesn’t mean there are no parties to be had, and the Christmas season can be a jolly one when you think a little more laterally.
Using video calling technology such as Zoom means your children can ‘meet’ with their school friends to have a great online party. You can organize this yourself and plan out games and other activities for everyone to enjoy, or you can hire someone to do it for you. You can even pick a theme such as a Zoom magic show that will keep everyone happy for a while and give them a lovely boost of Christmas spirit as they can see their friends and interact with them even if they can’t meet up in real life. This idea can even be used for adult parties too, and your office party will really be livened up with a magician on Zoom.
Try Baking
You don’t have to be an amazingly skilled baker to have fun in the kitchen. You don’t have to have any skills at all, as this particular way to make the kids happy is all about enjoying yourself and laughing together, rather than creating a masterpiece of baking prowess.
Make sure you set aside plenty of time for this task, as baking can often take longer than you think it will, plus you’ll need to plan so you can get the ingredients you need to create each baked item.
Ask each family member to choose one thing they would like to bake, and then you can plan ahead. On the day itself, don’t be too strict about things, though; it’s good to let loose and experiment a little, and if the cakes and sweet treats don’t look exactly like the recipe says they should, it really doesn’t matter as long as they taste good (and even if they don’t, if you all had fun it was worth every second)!
Christmas Movie Day
One thing that will never change when it comes to Christmas is all the great movies you can find around the theme. Whether it’s Elf, The Polar Express, Home Alone, Miracle On 34th Street, Santa Clause the Movie, or any of the thousands of other examples, taking a whole day off work to be with your kids and enjoy the magic and fun that a good Christmas movie can offer is something they will never forget.
Make it even better by adding snacks like popcorn or getting pizza delivered. Create a blanket fort to watch the movies in. Draw titles from a hat so you never know what’s coming next, or all take a turn watching. Wear your pajamas all day.
The point is, your kids will appreciate the time spent with you when you’re not distracted by work or trying to do other things. This is what makes Christmas special, this year and every year.
Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In the post Covid-19 world, virtual events have taken on an increased significance. As such, you want to host the best events possible. The following contributed post is entitled, How To level Up Your Virtual Event.
The events and tradeshow sector has taken a huge hit this year due to travel restrictions and policies around COVID-19. However, the industry is starting to find its footing again in the form of virtual events. 79% of event planners are now providing virtual events.
Rather than simply holding a glorified online PowerPoint presentation, you need to up your game and find ways to make your virtual events a must-attend event with our top tips.
Send out promotional items to key registrations
Who hasn’t been to an event and walked away with a bag full of pens, notebooks, USB keys, socks, and candy? It’s one of the perks. Well, just because the event is virtual doesn’t mean you have to dispense with the corporate swag altogether.
Identify key people that you want to sign up for the event. Once they do, send them out a package full of promotional items ahead of time. Or you can use it as an incentive for early registration. Think of items your audience will want and get in touch with water bottle companies and promotional item suppliers.
Use gamification to keep attendees interested
Stop attendees drifting in and out of the event by adding a layer of gamification to your virtual event. Attendees can build points for attending sessions or asking questions. These points can be converted to prizes or discounts with some of the companies running the show.
Up your keynote speaker game
A great keynote speaker is one of the key factors that draw people to sign up for events. As you’ll likely be saving the budget on venue rental and the cost of travel and accommodation for the speaker, you can funnel this budget into a fantastic keynote.
Facilitate 1:1 meetings
For sponsors and attendees, one of the main reasons to attend a trade show is to meet with potential sales prospects. Create a facility where people can book 1:1 short virtual sessions with each other.
Create different streams
At a standard trade show, people from various disciplines attend the sessions relevant to them. Resist the urge to have one track-linear timetable for your virtual event. CEO’s don’t want to sit through content aimed at finance managers and marketers don’t want to watch content for IT directors. It’s a sure way to lose attendees quickly.
Promote the different stress to the right people so that they can enjoy the entire event without waiting for their relevant sections.
Make breaks interesting
You don’t want to risk people drifting off during breaks and not returning to the event. Resist the urge to fill it full of boring promo and arrange something a bit different. It could be something like an interactive quiz (for prizes) or a live demonstration of cooking or even a comedian.
Provide high-quality content downloads
Once the event is over, keep a website live so that attendees can access videos of the sessions, marketing downloads, and get in contact with sponsors and corporate partners.
Two key focuses of my blog are Current Events and Organizational/Management Discussions. The Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected the landscape of most workplaces. A continual consideration for managers is how to maximize employee productivity. The following contributed post is entitled, Effective Ways To Boost Employees Productivity Levels In 2020.
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2020 has been a strange and scary year for everyone thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. Out of what seemed like nowhere, the entire world was hit hard by the virus, causing many countries to go into complete lockdown and forcing businesses to adapt around these rules. Whether your team worked from home, or you were able to stay open due to being key workers, if your business has made it this far then congratulations! It’s likely that your team has worked hard during these strange months, and you may be beginning to notice a little lackluster in their efforts – and that’s totally understandable given the year we’ve had! However, to ensure your business continues to thrive, it’s your job to keep productivity levels high, and here are some effective ways to boost your employees productivity in 2020.
As a boss, you expect your staff to work hard but sometimes, motivation can drop and a great way to boost their productivity is by giving incentives to your staff. Your employees may already have the advantages of using your Health Reimbursement Account, so you may want to look for more creative incentives! You could offer a day off completely paid if targets are met, or vouchers for money off their favourite brands. Having something exciting to work towards is an extremely effective way of boosting productivity levels, and it’s a great way of saying thank you to your staff for working so hard!
Reevaluate your office layout
Sometimes motivation and productivity levels can drop because of your surroundings. Rooms with little to no natural light, boring and dull decor, and even an office layout can affect this, so shake things up! Provided you’re complying with COVID-19 office regulations, you could experiment with different seating plans, the direction desks are facing, or even treat your staff to brand new office chairs to maximise their comfort while working. A great way of achieving this is by speaking directly to your staff so they can voice their opinions and ideas. Creating an environment where everyone works well will help your business thrive.
Switch up roles
Job roles can become mundane when you do them day in and day out for months or years on end, so why not switch up your employees job roles a little? If possible, allow your team to switch roles for a day or two each week to keep things interesting. Not only that, more ideas and opinions for each job role could lead to bigger things for your business. Obviously, this might not be applicable for specialist job roles, but generic roles such as answering the phone or data entry could be switched up to keep things interesting for your staff.
Millions of businesses have been forced to close thanks to the pandemic, and if yours is still going but your staff are struggling with motivation or productivity, then use this guide to help bring those levels back to where they should be. Remember that showing gratitude for all of your employees hard work will make the world of difference.
Two focuses of my blog Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. An industry that affects all of us and which will likely always be around is the recycling business. Once you get into this sector, there are things you’ll need to do to be competitive. The following contributed post is entitled, Things You Should Do to Make Your Recycling Business Successful.
Whether you are starting or running a recycling business, you can make it successful. However, you need to put some factors in the right place, for instance, hiring a committed senior manager, assessing the program’s progress, and evaluating material wastage exchange. Read on to get a good understanding of what you should put in place.
The Senior Manager
The level of the senior manager’s commitment is crucial for your business success. Although your business’s overall success requires cooperation from all the team members, the senior manager can greatly influence it. You need a senior manager who has leadership qualities and excellent personal relations skills. You also need to allow the whole team to be part of developing the mission statement so that they can own it and work towards it.
Select the Right Equipment
Do not invest in machines that will leave a lot of waste in the process of recycling. You need to save every material you have already collected to get maximum profit, save on energy, and still produce quality. If you are recycling metallic waste, you can get the alligator shears. There is proof it saves on the materials.
Assess Material Wastage Exchanges
Typically, waste materials from one company are utilized in other companies. While markets for recyclables keep growing fast, some factors can affect the recyclables’ value. They include market demand, the recyclable condition, proximity to the markets, bale sizes, and availability. These factors will help you make appropriate decisions on what you should recycle, at what time, and whether you should diversify.
Do the Math
It is an amazing thing to be part of the team that keeps the environment clean. However, you are doing business, and you need to pay your employees. You need enough revenue to cater for all the costs and leave you with a balance. Calculate all the costs (transportation, storage, maintenance, among others), then cross-check with the revenue. Expanding the business also requires capital. If your profit is good, you can save part of it to grow your business.
Have a Routine of Re-evaluating the Program
Every business requires constant monitoring to assess its progress and to put in place strategies to move forward. You need to know whether the program is efficient and effective, the production range, employees’ motivation/morale, and the environmental impact. Some of the feedback sources include
● Custodial staff can tell you of the handling practices and material quality. ● Your employees ● Your clients ● The waste hauler can tell you of the type and the recycled amount of waste.
Place and Label Recycling Bins Properly
When recycling bins are far from people, most of them will throw waste elsewhere and won’t use them. However, when they are near them, they will use them effortlessly. It is a simple way of encouraging people. You also need to ensure that all the recycling bins are well labeled so that people place each waste in the right bin. It will make it easier for your employees.
Conclusion
A recycling business not only cleans the environment but also creates employment opportunities. Nevertheless, for your recycling business to be successful, you have to keep a few factors in check. Hire a committed senior manager who can lead and relate with your employees exceptionally, use equipment that saves on materials, and get feedback to assess the program’s progress.
Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A major component of your business is you marketing. It’s good enough just to market though. You have to do it effectively. The following contributed post is entitled, How Do You Get A Better ROI From Your Marketing Strategy.
What does ROI mean? For those that are unaware, it stands for Return on Investment, relating to what you gain from investing your money. In marketing terms, it basically addresses how much you earn as a result of a marketing campaign/strategy. As a basic example, let’s say you spent $1000 on a marketing campaign, and it yielded sales totaling $2000. Here, you’re made a positive ROI as you essentially gained $1000.
With that in mind, how do you get a better ROI from a marketing strategy? Marketing and advertising cost lots of money nowadays, meaning many small businesses struggle to profit. Nevertheless, here are a few worthwhile ideas:
Utilize free marketing as much as you can
The first step is to be more frugal in your approach to marketing. There’s no need to splash the cash all the time – many marketing tactics are free! Think of things like social media marketing; this can be done without spending a penny. Word-of-mouth marketing works well for small businesses – get people to spread the word for you. You’ve also got ideas that initially cost money, yet provide free marketing afterward. Handing out branded products is a fine example; give customers a free tote bag with your branding on it, and they basically advertise your business whenever they go out with it.
Switch from traditional to digital marketing
Traditional marketing includes loads of classic ideas like billboard ads, newspaper adverts, flyers, etc. Nowadays, these methods aren’t as effective, meaning they provide a lower ROI. Instead, it’s worth venturing into the realm of digital marketing. Now, what is digital marketing? In short, it relates to all the different ways of promoting your business through digital channels. Again, social media falls under this umbrella, as do SEO, PPC, etc. Digital marketing helps you get a better ROI because it’s easier to tweak and measure the success of a campaign. You have access to all kinds of metrics that tell you what is working and what isn’t. Therefore, you can make adjustments to ensure you see a positive ROI.
Plus, most digital marketing tactics are more affordable than traditional ones. Do you know how much it will cost to get an advert on the TV during a prime time show? A fair bit more than paying for an advert on social media!
Set a strict budget
Finally, you should set a strict budget and stick to it. Many people see a negative ROI because they keep paying for more things. Your campaign isn’t producing results, so you increase the budget and keep promoting as much as you can. In the end, you spent far too much to make it possible to gain a positive return. A strict budget forces you to think smarter and make your money go a long way. It limits your spending, which could help you see a better ROI.
In summary, it’s all about being wise with your spending. Think of ideas and tactics that don’t cost much money, yet provide excellent results. Contrary to what you might believe, you don’t need to spend a fortune on a good marketing strategy.
Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Aspect of your business is its marketing. Today there are multiple ways to do this. The following contributed post is entitled, Key Techniques to Attract More People to Your Business.
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There are a lot of ideas that you have to keep in mind when it comes to making the best possible decisions for the future of the business. You have to come up with ideas that will help you to attract more interest in the company and drive more traffic to the business. Now, there are quite a few ways of being able to achieve this, and this is one of the best ways of moving forward with this.
Make sure you come up with ideas that are going to allow you to improve this process, and there are a lot of elements that play a part here. You need to consider the different techniques your business can use in order to generate more interest, and these are going to be a key part of your marketing regime. Here are some of the things that you should be looking at to make the best of this right now.
Launch a Blog
One of the best things that you can do to help attract more people to your business is to ensure that you launch a blog as much as you can. There are a lot of ideas that you have to try to make the most of as much as possible, and a blog is going to generate interest and curiosity in the brand, as well as providing a great way of being able to talk about the industry, and talk about a multitude of topics. Many businesses these days are launching their own blogs, and this is certainly something that you need to try to make the most of by doing the same.
Attend a Trade Show
Trade shows are an underrated part of promoting a business, and you definitely need to make sure you think about how you can make the most of your next business trade show as a brand owner. There are so many ideas you can use that are going to help you when it comes to making the right choices here. A trade show allows you to interact with potential customers on a more personal level, and you can show them what your business is about and how it functions. Trade shows are the perfect environment to see your business gaining traction, and this is one of the most important choices you can make right now.
Get Creative with Advertising
Getting creative with promotion and advertising is really important, and you have to make sure you are focused on improving the way you market your business. There are a lot of ideas that can help you when it comes to making the right choices, and this is something that you need to make the most of right now. One of the best ways of being able to do this is to look at getting billboard sized printing to help you improve your promotion and generate interest in the company. There are also plenty of excellent ideas you can use to get creative and make positive decisions with your company advertising.
Bringing more people to the business is really important, and this is one of the key ways of being able to secure success as a modern brand. So there are ideas that you need to try to use in order to make sure you come up with ways of attracting more interest in the business. Try to consider what it takes to bring things to the next level in terms of interest in the brand, and this is something you need to try to get right as much as you can.
Two focuses of my blog are Current Events and Health/Wellness. In addition to impacting everything else in our society, Covid-19 has impacted our holiday celebrations. After impacting Thanksgiving, it will impact Christmas as well for those who celebrate it. There are still ways to enjoy you holiday though. The following contributed post is entitled, Making The Most Of A Locked Down Christmas.
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Many people around the world are likely to be caught in the middle of some kind of lockdown during Christmas – or at the very least, having some kind of restriction on what they can do during this period. Indeed, these are very challenging times. Even if things are looking to improve slightly, there is no doubt that Christmas is going to be very different this year. With that in mind, let’s take a look on how you might be able to make the most of Christmas this year, even if things are in lockdown where you are, or something very much like it.
Now that you might have some idea about what you are allowed to do during Christmas, you might want to start planning for it in some way or another. As long as you do that, you are going to be much more likely to make the most of it, and you should be able to mitigate against any unwanted or unforeseen incidents as well that might crop up. You can’t plan for every eventuality, but if you start thinking now you should be able to find out what you can do. The more you plan, the more you will be able to make of this strange Christmas.
See Some Family
If you are able to and it is within the rules where you are, you should aim to try and see some family at the very least. However, make sure that you only do this if you feel okay about it – and try to keep everyone as safe as possible while you are doing it. That means not going too overboard and ensuring that you are always keeping up with the latest restrictions. But there should be nothing wrong with seeing some family at least, even if it is not always going to be simple to do this.
Take A Short Holiday
If you would normally take some kind of a holiday during the Christmas winter period, you might want to try and do this still this year. Of course, your options are bound to be limited compared to most years, but even so you should still find that it is perfectly possible to have some kind of holiday with at least a couple of family members or friends. For instance, you might want to go on a winter road trip with your 4×4 wheels and see some of your home country that way. Or you could find an indoor ski centre that is open and try to replicate a skiing holiday that way. However you do it, taking some kind of holiday is going to really make it easier to feel like you are having a normal Christmas.
There is a good chance that you are going to struggle to get all your Christmas presents in the same way as normal, and in all likelihood you are going to have to think about doing this earlier than usual. You will probably need to do much more of it online than you would normally have to too. It’s therefore wise to start thinking about this now – and over time you should find that you are going to have a lot more in the way of appropriate gifts by the time Christmas comes around. This is one year when it might be worthwhile thinking outside of the box a little, so that you can find some gifts for people easily and without causing yourself too much stress. If you can do that, you are going to be helping everyone to make the most of Christmas this year.
Different families and friend groups tend to have a variety of different ideas around the concept of Christmas cards. But if you are keen to make sure that you are still buying people cards, you should consider the easy option of going online to buy them. Although you could buy Christmas cards the traditional way and simply post them, using an online service is going to mean that you can have them delivered straight to the person as part of the process. You can often customise these cards more than you could normally too, so that makes them much nicer to receive on the whole.
Host An Outdoor Christmas
If there are some people you are not going to be able to see on Christmas day itself, you could try and organise an outdoor Christmas event on a different day earlier in December – or just after Christmas – and in that way, be able to have a socially distanced Christmas with those people. This could be as simple as having a decorated Christmas tree in your garden and sharing gifts around it with some hot drinks, or it could be more along the lines of a night-time fire. However you do it, you might find that this is a fair compromise, and a great way to see your friends safely without breaking rules, while still having a wonderful Christmas.
If you are wondering just how seriously you should take the restrictions for this year’s Christmas, you might want to spend a little time thinking about where your priorities lie. Truly, nobody else can tell you what you should be doing or what is right and wrong. It’s up to you to decide. But you should make sure that you are clear on your priorities. For most people, this will probably mean that the obvious step is to have a slightly less active Christmas than usual, and therefore keep everyone safer on the whole. It’s all down to you, but make sure that you spend some time before Christmas itself comes around deciding what you want to do. The sooner you get clear on this, the less of a shock it will be when Christmsa time comes and you find it is not quite the same event as usual.
Delay Celebrations
One option, and one that quite a lot of people are thinking about, is to simply delay certain Christmas celebrations until next year. There is every chance that things could have massively improved by February or March, at which time you could decide to have a Christmas celebration then instead. This is a great way of having the best of both worlds. You can simply have a quiet Christmas at home this year, and then see friends and family in the new year once it is perfectly safe to do so. Although this might seem like a bit of a sacrifice, it’s actually a great way to get the best of both worlds, and it will mean that everybody can keep as safe as possible along the way too. It’s certainly something you might want to consider.
Keep It Quiet
Finally, why not make use of this year’s strangeness to simply have a quiet Christmas at home? If you are someone who generally gets a little overwhelmed by Christmas at the best of times, you might even be secretly looking forward to this one. There are certainly benefits to keeping it quiet, and you might find that you are able to save up some energy for next year instead. If this appeals to you, give it a go and see whether it improves your experience of Christmas this year.
As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider this year for Christmas. The most important thing is that you think logically, plan ahead, and don’t let the stress get to you.
A key focus of my blog is Career Discussions. Many people work one career for years and then decide that they want to change things up and switch to another career. The following contributed post is entitled, A New Career: Preparing Practically.
A new career isn’t just a new job, but it’s about embarking on a whole new aspect of your personality. Preparing for any change in life can be physically and mentally exhausting. When you are preparing for a change, it’s not just about making sure you are ready to do the job but it’s about understanding how best to look after yourself. In many ways, looking after yourself is about getting to grips with the job before you go. But it’s also about making sure you are prepared in every single way possible.
Doing Your Homework It can be very pressurizing starting a new job, especially if they expect you to sink or swim right away. It’s so important these days to hit the ground running as soon as you get in there. This is why it’s so important to give yourself as much time as possible to get a feeling for the environment, but also do your homework. In a practical sense, you could very well practice doing the job by setting yourself tests. Practicing certain scenarios can also help. And you can do this in so many different careers. For example, if you are preparing for a new career as a pilot, you can very easily set up a basic simulation at home and purchase the relevant items associated with it, such as joysticks and aviation headsets. The more you research the role before you dive into it, the better prepared you are mentally. You may have the skills, but you also need to think about the day-to-day activities associated with the role.
Preparing Your Finances You have to prepare financially for a career transition. Starting any new job may very well mean that your income may drop in the short-term. While you may have gone to a new job because of better pay, there can be issues that need to iron themselves out in the short-term. This is why you need to examine your expenses closely. During the first week or two, it can be tempting to treat yourself to nice lunches, but this can eat into your expenses. Find ways to treat yourself but in a more cost-friendly way. You also need to look at your spending needs as well as your spending wants. It’s about providing a financial cushion, as you make transitions into a new career. As much as you want to celebrate your new start, this could be to the detriment of your finances in the short-term. Hang tight during this time, and take sandwiches into the office. Besides, it gives you the opportunity to pre-pack healthy meals rather than relying on unhealthy take out and feeling the temptation to order pizza and donuts, which are more than common in every office.
Don’t Get Ideas Above Your Station Going into a new job for many is about climbing up the career ladder. But you have to remember that you aren’t going to be in this job for a few weeks before you move on up. You need to set yourself goals, but you’ve got to be focused where you are. It’s about establishing short-term objectives, but also keeping your eye on the long-term ones. You may find that when you are working in a certain environment that people will attempt to sabotage your abilities to develop. It’s about keeping a clear head and remaining focused. To begin with, you don’t want to be seen as an opportunist. Instead, keep your head down, listen, and plan your trajectory gradually.
This Isn’t the Final Hurdle You may have spent a long time getting relevant qualifications and preparing for this moment. But we all get itchy feet on occasion. Your new career might be perfect for you now, but you may feel differently in a year or two. You have to remember that any career change is a process. And the best way to view any new career is as a transitional obligation. Because when you’ve been looking at a certain career from the outside, it may feel different when you are there. It’s everything that you wanted from an outside perspective, but when you get into the role, you realize that it can be a bit further down the pecking order. And this is why it’s so important to celebrate small milestones. Take the opportunities to give yourself a pat on the back as you go. And when you are preparing for a new career there are things you can view as the next stage in your trajectory.
A key focus of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success. They say that having children forever changes you. If done right, it imparts one specific quality on you, leadership. The following contributed post is entitled, What Having Kids Teaches Us About Being a Leader.
Being a parent is about raising this little person and nurturing them. In essence, you are the most influential person in the world to this little thing. As they grow older, you can find yourself losing your way, becoming caught up in your emotions, or making wrong decisions. And it’s the little things that can help you directly if you want to be a better leader. If you are looking to motivate employees or you are considering becoming a leader, what can having children teach you about being a leader?
It Is About the Team, Not the Individual In the working environment, it’s about a group effort. As parents, we can get drunk on our own sense of power. If we start to be the parent that tells our children not to do things and then respond with “because I said so” when they ask “why,” we’ve got to make a lot of changes to our own abilities. Think about working as a team. And you can do this in simple ways. You can start to play sports together. You can incorporate extracurricular activities where you all play sports, such as baseball or softball. You can even start to make it a real team effort by providing a tangible goal for the kids, such as a trophy. And you can also make it a more fun effort with personalized lineup cards and create a tournament. And it’s all of these little things that work so well in both scenarios. By helping people to focus on the bigger picture, you start to motivate them. This works for employees, but it also works for children. And it also works for you because it makes you realize that you are part of a team and are not someone who is above them.
Everybody Is More Resilient Than They Think They Are When you have employees and you are trying to improve their performance, despite stress coming from every direction, it’s about applying enough of a stimulus to facilitate an appropriate response. When we experience stress, we have to learn how to adapt to new situations. And there will be things that we can learn from our children that as adults we will completely forget about. Seeing children adapt to new situations is really interesting. You may see that they are incredibly upset when you drop them off for their first day of preschool. After all, you’re giving them away to a foreign environment, but what happens is that they adapt and get over their fears. This is something that we can all learn because we experience troubles but when we get stressed, we, as adults, internalize it. Children tend to externalize it so they don’t necessarily feel the scars, but they also learn to adapt. If we ever start to feel overwhelmed by something, we need to look at our children and remember that they have gone through stressful times more recently than we have, from preschool to all the emotional changes they have experienced in quick succession.
As a parent, we’ve got a lot of life experience, but we have to remember that this life experience can transfer to the office. Having children can train you to be a leader in more ways than you realize.
