Category Archives: Coaching

3 Easy Tips to Up-Scale Your Iphone testimonials

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Today’s comment came from a busy business owner

One easily attainable marketing tool are video testimonials. If you are already giving a talk, it’s easy to take advantage of the excitement and enthusiasm that your audience is feeling right after your presentation. If you wait until they leave and are back into their daily activities – it’s going to be harder to get them to refer or comment on that event. Don’t miss that opportunity to get that genuine reaction and excitement for your genius.

So – even if you don’t have expensive camera equipment – you can use your iphone or ipads for impromptu testimonials. What are some simple steps that people can do with their iphones or ipads to increase the quality of these impromptu videos?

3 Quick Tips to improving your videos are:

1) Take your videos in the horizontal view.  It will give you more real estate to work with to work with.

2) Be aware of your background.  Take time to look at your viewfinder and make sure your client doesn’t look drawn or washed out.  Often times putting your subject in front of a solid white or black background or simply taking them outside into the sun will do wonders for their color.

3) Be aware of the background noise.  Often times you are in an large, open conference room with many conversations taking place around you.  And your iphone or ipad microphone is picking up all the ambient noise.  Take the time to move into a smaller room or corridor to tape your testimonials.  Video experts can often fix the background colors and size — but they can not easily fix the background noise in your video testimonial.

Bottom line is to merely be aware of the surroundings when you are taping your testimonials.  You may want to get your comments in front of your large banner – but if that banner is in a place where there’s lots of background noise, you may be better off moving to a quieter location and in front of a warmer backdrop.  Then supper-imposing your logo or banner later.

 

How can you choose the most appropriate job title when wearing many ‘hats’ in your company?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

How can you choose the most appropriate job title when wearing many ‘hats’ in your company?

As a very new small business, anyone I bring on to my team is going to be responsible for more than one area of expertise. How can I name or define their positions when they are going to be doing much more than one thing?

Regardless of the title – you should have a full job description and even a Personal Business Commitment (PC) Plan for each of your employees (SMART Goals for the coming year). Their PBC’s should be based off your PBC’s and shows specifically how their role and responsibilities will help you achieve your PBC’s or SMART Business Goals for the coming year. Then during your quarterly performance reviews, you can easily measure their performance against their yearly goals – and give the appropriate tweaks and encouragement. Explicitly spelling out their roles and responsibilities is slightly different that giving their position a title. If you need help creating PBC’s, lets chat.

 

When giving titles, I recommend select a title that best supports or helps achieve their business goals. Consider the end-user of their business cards.   For example – if you have a employee that is a developer, but he also goes on the road with the Sales Staff to setup the demos and man the trade-show booths; I would give him the title of Subject Matter Expert or Technical Sales Engineer. Something – when given to the customer assures the customer that he is knowledgeable about the client’s use of the product as well as encouraging the client to call them about making the sale.

What if your project manager also does the accounting and bookkeeping for your small business? This person also answers the phones and fills in as the receptionist.   Although this person wears many hats, the title on their business card should be Project Manager, because affluent clients receiving that business card are more apt to carry on business dealings and conversations with the Project Manager over a book keeper or receptionist.

If you only have one sales person on your team and they also man the tech support line, their title on their business card should be Sales Manager – because an affluent client feels more important talking to the Sales Manager – than either sales person or a technical support person. They feel that the Sales Manager can actually get something done in the company.

Think about your business goals – and which title (from their many hats) is going to support bringing in the money.

Also – there is nothing wrong with creating multiple business cards with the different job titles. Then you give out the appropriate card at the right occasion. I don’t recommend doing 1 business cards with all the titles like: Project Manager/Developer/Tester. You want to present clarity, confidence and expertise to your potential client. Showing them that you are a jack of all and master of none will defeat the purpose.

Should I separate my personal and professional values?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

If a business or organization asked me for web and reputation services should I deny to work with them if I do not personally agree with what they do? Example: I don’t believe in their business practices or the credibility of their product. On the other hand, I am running a business and need work to keep growing my business.

 

If you believe that this business or organization is the only show in town – then I see your dilemma. But we both know that it’s not.
On the other hand – we want to make sure you are discounting them for the right reasons and in the right way. One way is to clearly articulate your company vision and mission statement; as well as stating the kind of company that you want to work with. Try clearly itemizing the attributes of your target client. For example: I work with high-quality, high-integrity based corporations that focus on customer satisfaction. My clients succeed because they are ready for success.
If you clearly articulate your company mission statement – then you will attract clients of that caliber.
Once you make your goals and expectations known — and (for example) this same company that you say have credibility issues – still want to work with you, you now have a foundation or baseline to work from. You can now comfortably and diplomatically point out any discrepancy between what they are currently doing and what they actually want to be doing (because they have told you their company mission is the same as your company mission). You can help them achieve both your goals.
On the other hand – if this same company doesn’t want to work with you because of your mission statement and goals – then they are the ones refusing to work with you and not the other way around.

 

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

We’ve come to the end of this episode – Once again – this is Laura Lee Rose –  At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Until next time – relax and breathe – everything is unfolding perfectly.

 

Does Lack of Involvement Cause Employees to Behave Unethically?‏

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

There is a new research from the Univ. of Georgia that shows “what happens when employees feel excluded at work”:
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-cheater-employees-excluded.html

While this article attempts to explain why some workers do unethical things in the workplace, it does not actually highlight the actual internal source.   What is your opinion?

In general – it’s easier for employees to rationalize unethical behavior when they feel resentment, unrecognized and under-valued.   Although the employee is the only one that can “cause themselves to behave unethically”, there are various circumstances that individuals use to rationalize their own behavior.

1) If they feel they are being overworked.
2) If they feel others in the organization is getting inappropriate bonus, rewards, promotions.
3) If they feel they are not getting the recognition they feel they deserve.

The feeling of “resentment” comes from the “victim” mentality.  Or the feeling that someone else is creating these difficult situations around you. But regardless of the external stimulus – you are totally responsible for your own behavior.

There are both ethical and unethical responses to the exact same situations.  The company does not “cause” the employee to behave in any certain way.  It’s the individual that will and can gravitate in either direction.  Since all employees are different, it’s not the company’s responsibility to create environments that increases their chances that all their employee’s will act ethically.  The training and development needs to come from within the individual and not external.

My recommendation is not to change the external workplace to “create ethical behavior”.

Since employees today average 4.6 years at any given job, my recommendation is to coach employees on how to positively respond to any situation and environment that they encounter.  That is really the way to succeed in any work environment.  With the proper professional development, training and coaching, individuals can be made aware of more ethical responses to the current workplace environment. This training will start a chain reaction such that when the executives, managers, and employees start implementing this training; when they are openly executing at a higher level and when they are transparent with their goals and procedures. – the entire work environment culture experiences an ethical transformation.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

How to handle uncomfortable networking events

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.


We all understand the importance and value of business networking. How do we handle networking events in a proper and professional manner?

One of the best ways to break the ice at a networking event is to pretend or put on the persona of a host. Focus your attention on “your guests”. Put the spotlight onto them. Allow them to shine and talk about themselves. Most people are there to talk about themselves, anyway – why to against the flow?

  1. Ask them questions about “What brought them here tonight?” “What are they hoping to gain or what are their goals for this meeting?”
  2. If they share that they are looking for referrals on XYZ or people that they can work with on ABC – connect them to someone that you just met at the same meeting that shares those goals.
  3. Don’t stay too long with any one person. Like a host, make sure you mingle. You can say “I know you want to meet more people, and I want to respect your time. I would love to stay in contact, why don’t we exchange contact information and make plans to call each other on Thursday.   How does that sound?”

If you really want to stay in contact, take out your calendar and then move on.

But what if you are shy or is an introvert? Are there any other special tips for us?

Normally what makes shy people uncomfortable is having the spotlight shined on ourselves. So – much like the above advice, shine the spotlight on other people. Instead of worrying about what other people think about you – focus on learning more about the other person. People love to talk about themselves and it takes the pressure off you to carry the entire conversation.

Also, look around to see if anyone is sitting alone or hiding in the corner (make sure it’s not you doing the hiding as well). Then go up and visit them. They may be feeling uncomfortable, so be a good host and go up and introduce them to some other folks.

For additional articles and videos on tips for introverts, check out these artifacts:

 

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

How can I keep activity/participation high around slower demand seasons like the holidays?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.
Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

The success of my mobile app relies heavily on the activity of users being high and consistent. We have seen a drop in participation which I believe is correlated to it being Thanksgiving weekend. I am predicting the same drop in activity around Christmas and New Year. What are some marketing techniques I can undergo to build up activity and keep my audience interested?

 

Without knowing what your “mobile app” does – it’s hard to give a specific answer. But one way is to provide apps for those specific holiday or natural slumps. For instance, if your target market are parents with small kids – providing a mobile app that tracks Santa’s activity level between Nov – Jan, incorporates the season’s activities.

If you mow lawns, offering leaf-blowing and snow shuffling for the fall and winter months (when the lawn is not growing) are some additional services designed for the natural “mowing-lawn” slumps.

If you own a greet card company, offering CARE packages (Congratulations, Appreciation, Recognition and Encouragement) packages for the slumps between busy holidays card-giving seasons is a way to up-turn the down-turn of business.

Once again – without understanding your target audience, it’s hard to answer this question. Let’s chat so that I can better understand your unique situation. Then I will be able to better recommend your next steps.  It’s really easy to setup an appointment directly into my calendar with this link: https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

Are there career risks a person should never take?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

Are there any career risks that a person should never take?  These career risks may be on the job, during a job search, while networking, or some other aspect.

Everyone is different, so it’s difficult to say what absolute career risks different people should never take.  Career risks are relative to each person’s tolerance to financial security, family obligations, and debt/credit issues.
But there is the adage of “The bigger the risk, the higher the reward”.

The general rule of thumb is – if you are proactive with your risk-management activities, then no career move is off the table.  Take the time to do a risk analysis (determine the probability and impact of the risk) on your career decision. If the probability of it actually “falling apart” is low and the impact is insignificant, then simply go for it.
If the Probability of it “actually falling apart” is HIGH AND the Impact of the situation is significant/major – make sure you have a contingency plan in place.  If you have an appropriate contingency plan in place, it’s still a feasible path.

For example – What if you are considering giving your manager an ultimatum to give you a raise or you will walk?  What is the career risk of this action?

1) Since you have been the top sales person, was responsible for single-highhandedly responsible for 60% of the company’s profits, MVP for the last 3 year and is currently making lower than 10% of your sales – the probability of you getting fired is low AND the impact of moving on is low because you can easily find another job based on your past performance and client connections.  In this scenario – go for it.
2) But what if you are already being paid more than you bring in and are in debt (which is why you need to ask for a raise)?  At the same time, you have been getting Average and Below-Average performance ratings in the last 3 years. Well then the probability of you not getting the raise is HIGH and the impact of you losing your job (via this ultimatum)  is significant (because you are currently in debt and have not savings).  So – should you avoid asking for the raise? Is this a career risk that you can’t afford to take?  Not necessarily.

My recommendation is to find another way to accomplish your goal.  The real goal is to increase your income. Propose a change in position in the company that is salary based (versus sales commission).  It may be a better match to your talents, allowing you to get higher performance ratings and a higher, consistent income/salary.

So – take that time to do a risk assessment on your significant decisions, regardless of the situation (professional, personal and private).

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

How should a small business handle the holidays?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Santa1Now that the holidays are right around the corner – how does a small business prepare for it? Do they close their doors? Do they stay open as a differential to other businesses closing for the vacations?

Of course it depends on what type of business and industry, but the one thing that you do know is that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years happen at the same time every year. It’s not a surprise. Therefore, anything that repeats can be managed.

  • Make sure everyone has all their vacations identified early (by mid-year).
  • Make sure all your project schedules block out the vacation time.
  • Make sure that all your procedures, outstanding items, and possible issues that may arise during the holiday season is clearly documented and shared with those responsible for handling these issues during the break.
  • Make sure the staff has been trained on the outstanding issues.
  • Make sure your clients have been informed about the holiday schedule far in advance.
  • Make sure your clients provide you with all their requirements far in advance so that you can accomplish their goals before the holiday schedule take in affect.
  • Make sure you understand your client’s holiday schedule and plans

At the end of the day, be transparent with your holiday schedules with your clients, with your employees, and with your other stakeholders. Proper planning avoids chaos and snafus.

One last tip: Don’t depend exclusively upon email to notify your staff, client and other stakeholders. Pick up the phone to verify that they understand your holiday schedule as well as providing a personalized and individual holiday wish.

For more information on these techniques, contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
phoneTake that first step and setup an appointment: https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Resumes that Lie and How Small Business Owners Can Detect Truth, Fluff, and Con Artistry

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It is difficult to filter out the lies and exaggerations in some resumes.

One way is to arm your screening staff with adequate questions AND acceptable answers.

1) Some companies provide qualification tests on the basic skills for the job.

2) Provide Scenario-Based interview questions, in which you provide a problem or issue that they need to resolve.  Then ask them how they would solve it.

3) Select a solution off their resume, and ask them how they specifically achieved that goal.  Ask specifically for references regarding that specific resume action item – and call that person up (versus just calling the people on their reference list).

There are several ways to detect inconsistencies in a resume.  These are just a few.

Strategies and Tips on Being More Productive Each Day

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I have written books and articles on this topic. “TimePeace: Making peace with time” has several strategies.

But some of the top 3 tips would be:

1) Be clear on the TOP 3 Things you want to accomplish today. Everything else on your to-do lists are “nice to haves”. Focus on your MUST DO Top 3. Although it might be nice to accomplish more, you will abandon the other items to assure that your Top 3 items get done.
2) Take control over your calendar. Block out time to work, Block out time to interact, Block out time to network. If you actually schedule the time in your calendar to do these things, then you don’t have to worry about having the time to do these things. Have a place for everything and everything in it’s place.
3) Get into the habit of allocating and announcing time limits on everything. For instance, make better use of 5 minutes. For example, when you want to get someone’s opinion, or someone stops you in the hallway or you want to make an appointment with someone — tell them upfront “Hey there. I would love to talk about this – and I only have 5 minutes”. This trains people to start with the bottom line (eliminating chit-chat). Act as if you are talking to a lawyer how is charging you by the minute. When you are talking to a lawyer, you get straight down to business.

One last tip. Be transparent in your goals. If you state your goals upfront, people will immediately align and you will be more productive in accomplishing the common goals.