by stevengconnelly@aol.com | Oct 27, 2018 | Business
If your like most small business owners you’re always working to improve the product you sell. Could also involve better marketing ideas, incentives, buy one get one at half price or a slight change in how sales are conducted. Nevertheless, as an owner we always work to be our best. Today there’s more competition in the market place. Although some see that as a threat, when competition is what keeps us on our toes! Truth is we are all challenged each day as the winds of change in business blows on us all. Clients tend to demand more and more of our attention as well as at times question pricing. There is no way to tell how the future is going to turn out in the business cycle, right? Well that’s not entirely true. I’m from the baby boomers generation, which can have an affect on business. As we age our demands change, our needs for material things is not a priority, we move from consumption to saving. This change is a challenge as time goes buy, depending on your business model, revenue is most likely to change over the coming years. The economy is going through a difficult point in time with the millennium generation getting pulled down with massive student loans to my generation struggling to create enough savings for retirement, although the markets are up at the moment, recent activity has peoples 401’s loosing money which presents the question where do you invest these days? You should ask your financial advisor before you make any quick moves. Another change we’re experiencing these day’s is the ability...
by stevengconnelly@aol.com | Jun 22, 2018 | Business
We’ve all set goals to hit a target in a period of time. We have also missed those targets and did not complete the goals, however each time we fail to hit that goal we didn’t fail we just became better, stronger and more focused. The challenge is we tend to never look back to see how far we’ve come, instead we look at where we are at this point in time and judge our performance. Needless to say an incomplete task often time can discourage us as well as set us back on our feet and not allow us to self examine our actions. Fear weaves it’s self in the fabric of our soul. It is like a ball and chain we can never get rid of. Unless you let it. In today’s world less and less people are passionate about their work, They’ve heard stories of people who took a chance and failed. Yet if they never took the chance their life would be exactly the same today as it was yesterday. The only difference from yesterday to today is how we communicate, instead of calling on the phone we now text our kids, even Facebook is not utilized as much these day’s to talk to the kids. For us to overcome challenges we must first understand fear is the main reason we shy away from facing an issue. The fear of the unknown as well as failure leaves us in uncharted territory. Truth is fear can be controlled. Not by ignoring issues but looking within to use passion as a vehicle to overcome any issue. Have...
by stevengconnelly@aol.com | May 25, 2018 | Business
In today’s world we depend on email to communicate with people, it can send a message to all within the office in seconds, it’s easy and fast. Tell the person next to you about an issue or an FYI to keep all informed. I can’t imagine how we’ve been able in the past to get the word out to co workers within the work place. Before the email was invented you had to get up and walk over to the person next to you and talk face to face. Or you would call people one by one, yikes that could take hours…Many hours were wasted just to pass along information. In addition the hours wasted were also not just yours, we all have good intentions however when delivering a message in person or on the phone, seems like a conversation would start up often times not related to the initial conversation! Not only a waste of your time but a wast of the person you are attempting to communicate with as well. Email can be misunderstood, not everyone is on the same page as you, discover a funny email and forward to that person thinking they would get a kick out of it, only to be let down when they respond on the defensive side. It can be easy to offend someone with an email which they may or may not think is funny, in fact if the wrong message is sent that person may think your email is far from funny and could be offended by your message. This can lead to further issues as time goes by....
by stevengconnelly@aol.com | May 18, 2018 | Business
If you are in business or working at a job it doesn’t take long to figure out, each day is getting shorter and workloads are getting longer, sound familiar? Time is more valuable now then any time in history, we determine if we’re able to complete a task based on time which often times is true however if we slow down and look at how time is utilized we might think a bit different. Developing a check list is important when looking at all items you wish to complete. One challenge is how each task is delegated. If there’s to many to-do’s and we don’t complete the list each day we end up with a few things left incomplete. Over time tasks which appear day after day can be discouraging. One of my good friends was working over the past month trying to complete his list only to become frustrated when he was not able to finish, in fact the list grew. His schedule is a challenge up early work all day as well as a very long commute as a result of traffic getting out of the city. For him Saturday’s tend to be the only day to pull it all together. His intentions are good but along the way life has a unique ability to pull him in other directions. There are ways to overcome life’s challenges one way is to use leverage, we think of leverage as in a financial investment or debt. In 2008 people leveraged their homes taking out equity to purchase anything they desired. Over time people over leveraged their homes and got...
by stevengconnelly@aol.com | Mar 17, 2018 | Business
In any business first impressions are essential in developing a good working relationship. From the first step you take entering a room people are forming an opinion of you, they look at you’re overall appearance, they also look to see what type of person you might be, honest, trustworthy, competent, sincere, all can be established within the first few minutes of your presence. Body language is noticed during this time, if you are confident in your approach your more likely to gain their attention. If your body language is not steady, you appear nervous and unsettled people are less likely to give you the time you need. Actions speak louder than words, even the slightest amount of change in body language is going to have some sort of impact in your first impression. Words do have meaning however body language has a bigger impact in your presence. This applies to business as well as first impressions during a job interview. We’ve all heard that old saying “dress for success” seems like one of the most overused phrases out there, yet one which often times gets over looked. Along with first impressions in body language how you dress is essential in the development of your status as a professional in your field to your potential employer. When preparing for an interview select proper attire as it pertains to the position you seek. Proper dress man not get you the job but will give you the edge you need. If your not sure how to dress on resource can be to simply call human resources and ask. I am of the...
by stevengconnelly@aol.com | Mar 10, 2018 | Business
Over the years I’ve been blessed to work with some amazing people, some were the best in their field others were the future generation of that trade. All had the same mission, improve on the craft. As demanding and at times difficult as it was the time was not wasted or taken for granted. I knew the place I was in was where I’d learn and grow. Along the was there were many coworkers who didn’t see it the same, most wanted to “just put in their time” however my goal was to be my best. You meet many different personalities, some kind, some not so kind, and others were just hard to get along with they were never happy. At the time it didn’t occur to me I was learning how to cope with diversity which I would use later in my career. Most days I’d come home from work tired and drained, down deep I knew it was for my own benefit. As time goes on people come in and out of your life. You develop friendship and work side by side completing each project to the best of your ability. As an apprentice you imagine what it would be like to become a journeyman and be the one in charge. Make all the major decisions while assigning work to your apprentice. However one guy whom I became good friends with had no such desire, he was very good at his work but seemed to lack confidence in himself. We’d discuss this opportunity at lunch, but never seemed to want to make the jump. Then one day...
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