How Employers Choose From Among Many Great Candidates


I wrote recently about the fact that lots of great job candidates are getting rejected these days because there are more good candidates than there are jobs available in this job market. When I have tons of great candidates and only one slot to fill, it's a certainty that lots are going to get rejected. My point was that job seekers shouldn't beat themselves up because it's (probably) not them—it's the market.

In response, a few people asked how employers do make a decision when they have so many great candidates to choose from. Is it random selection?

When hiring managers have the luxury of many outstanding candidates to pick from—such that any of them would seem likely to do an excellent job—here are the factors that usually help make the decision:

• Among a group of great candidates, are any "more great" than others? I often find myself with many candidates I'd be happy to hire, but one in particular who stands out as the dream candidate. Maybe it's her experience, or writing, or industry knowledge. It's the kind of thing that doesn't reflect poorly on the other good candidates, but can make one person stand out as the one to hire in a strong group.
• How is each candidate likely to get along with the manager? Is the manager's management style likely to be an especially good or bad fit with any of them?
• How much does each candidate fit with the company's culture? Do any seem like they'd easily embrace the culture, and do any seem like they'd struggle to assimilate? Company culture matters because it's the invisible force that controls "how we do things here."
• How much does each candidate seem to want this particular job? I'd rather have a candidate who's going to be excited to come to work and will stay a long time than one who sees it as "just business."
• Who do we most want to work with? All other things being equal, maybe one candidate seems especially on our wavelength (and thus easy to work with), or especially likely to bring cheer into the office, or markedly equipped to handle the office's difficult personalities.
• Does anyone bring a "bonus" that isn't a job requirement but that would help our work, such as fluency in another language or professional copy-editing skills?

Keep in mind, though, that in a job market like this one, with more great candidates than jobs, you can be fantastic and still lose out to someone else. It doesn’t say anything about you; it says something about math.

By Allison Green

Source: U.S. News Money

7 Myths About the Economy, Jobs, Taxes & Small Business

America’s Got Talent is the No. 1 show. Spider-Man is the No. 1 movie. “Call Me Maybe” is the top song in the country. Who’s the most popular guy in Washington, D.C.?

Why, me! The small-business guy. Everyone’s buzzing about me. That’s because I represent more than 20 million others who are supposedly just like me. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, my confidence is down. Oh, no! But don’t worry. The President and Congress are battling over ways to help me succeed. Hooray!

I appreciate everyone’s concern. And I certainly love the attention. But really, I don’t want to waste your time. My technology company has 600 small-business customers. And I agree that I probably don’t have the right to speak on behalf of the other 19,999,400 small businesses in the country. But then again, why not? I know that small businesses will be an important part of this year’s election. We’re already getting a lot of attention from the media. So let me help explain a few things. And put to rest a few silly myths about us.

Silly Myth #1: Small businesses collectively oppose higher taxes.

My customers sell scrap, provide roofing services, distribute machine parts, and build wrought-iron fences. These are good, hard-working people, and they also hate to pay taxes. Why? Because we are control freaks. We’re the ones with the TV remote. We do the barbecuing when family comes over, because our wives don’t know how to cook a steak as well as we do. And, as small-business people, we believe that we can spend our money more wisely than the government. But we do not oppose higher taxes. We know that the government, like our own businesses, requires revenue to run. And sometimes, like our own businesses, a rate increase is needed. But when I’m forced, every few years, to raise my hourly rates, I need to be darn sure I can explain why to my customers and justify the rate increase with added value. And that the increase won’t happen again for a long time. Small-business owners are looking for that same rationale from the government.

Silly Myth #2: More taxes on the wealthy will significantly hurt the economy.

I hate taxes like the next guy. But the fact is that the President’s proposals are to let rates rise for those families who earn more than $250,000 a year and only on the income in excess of $250,000. So if a business owner brings home $350,000 per year, he’ll pay 5% more taxes on the extra $100,000 of income, or $5,000. That stinks, but it’s not the end of the world. Personally, I’d rather see that guy keep the $5,000 and spend it on a vacation, roof repairs, a diamond necklace for his wife, an upgrade to his accounting-software, or to help this guy buy a new car already, for God’s sake. Oh, and hire more people because he’s the main guy doing that. Those are all things that would probably help the economy more than just giving the money to the government. But I don’t believe the additional tax rate will kill him or further wreck the economy. I just think that a lower (and, more important, long-term and stable) tax structure would help him a lot more.

Silly Myth #3: Small-business owners and other people who make $250,000 a year are wealthy.

No, they’re not. They’re not doing so bad, mind you. But they’re not wealthy. At least a third of that money will go to federal, state, and other taxes. The majority of what’s left will go toward tickets to The Dark Knight Rises, along with a large popcorn and a Coke. The remainder will go toward a mortgage, car payments, clothes, alimony, cable, Scientology fees, insurance, summer camp, a vacation, health care, and maybe, just maybe, a retirement account. Oh, and a college fund. It’s a good life, but not the high life. And, by the way, the people that I personally know who run businesses and make that kind of income easily work 14-hour days to make that happen. They have the pressure of people depending on them. They deal with many, many problems. They are stressed out. No one, with the exception of Scott Disick, just sits back and makes that money by doing absolutely nothing worthwhile.

Silly Myth #4: Tax incentives create jobs.

No, they don’t. Most of the small-business owners I know laugh at the government’s attempts to help them hire. A tax credit to hire someone is nice, but if we don’t need the person, we’re not going to hire him just because a credit is offered. Here’s why: I still have to pay the employee’s salary and benefits. So I’m still significantly out of pocket, despite the tax credit. Even Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to the President,admits that there’s no hard data to support that tax incentives create jobs. The government can’t make me create a job for someone. Only more demand can do that. Or a request from my largest customer to hire his kid for the summer.

Silly Myth #5: All government incentives are useless.

That’s not true either. Some work. Extending the popular Section 179 deduction that allows smaller companies to immediately write off the purchase of certain capital equipment and investments is helpful. Credits for research and development really do spur research and development. Targeted tax relief in certain urban zones can attract businesses to build and invest. Easing of rules (like the “Quick App” for bond guarantees from the Small Business Administration) helps us get money faster.

Silly Myth #6: The Senate’s Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act will create 990,592 new jobs.

Not 990,593? What about that poor guy? I’ve done my own calculations, and I think it will actually be 990,589. So there! I mean, really, is anyone believing this data? Our government cannot even balance its own budget by a trillion dollars, but it can predict the number of new jobs that would be created by a proposed legislation to that degree of certitude? Wow! The fact is that small-business owners don’t believe most of the predictions provided by the government (or its research organizations) any more than we believe that professional athletes are braver than the average guy. We hear about the upcoming “taxmageddon” and the “fiscal cliff,” and we know that the people predicting disaster were the same people who predicted that last summer’s credit downgrade of U.S. debt would be calamitous. (It wasn't) And where were they prior to the 2008 financial meltdown? The latest financial downturn has taught small businesses that those supersmart Ivy League guys on Wall Street, in corporate boardrooms, and in Washington policy think tanks still don’t have a clue.

Silly Myth #7: The government can stimulate the economy and create jobs.

We don’t believe that either. We’ve seen the Fed ease money and keep interest rates at near zero over the past few years. We’ve watched our President spend trillions on stimulus and tax incentives. We’ve let cats run our towns. And all we’ve got to show for it is an anemic 2% growth rate and a couple of new democracies in the Middle East. Big whoop. Don’t misinterpret me — governments can help get the ball rolling. The Marshall Plan began an economic recovery after World War II. Johnson’s Great Society (not to mention the Vietnam War) helped spur growth. Reagan’s defense buildup in the wake of Soviet aggression was one part of his economic recovery. A stable tax system and well-managed Federal Reserve is critical. But the government can only do so much. Merger-and-acquisition activity was a big part of the stock market explosion during Reagan’s administration. A dot-com boom fueled the economy under Clinton. A housing surge helped Bush. A lot of things could happen that would make our next President seem like an economic genius. So small-business owners don’t look to the government for answers. We try to avoid dealing with the government whenever possible.

I hope this clears up a few myths about us. Now, if you don’t mind, I have some work to do. I’ve got exactly 990,592 new jobs to start creating, and that’s not going to happen overnight!


By GENE MARKS

Source: Time Business

Family business: How to pass the baton

Retail CEO Jack Mitchell outlines how his family's business has been able to successfully pull off succession from one generation to the next.

FORTUNE -- Fifty-four years ago -- with three suits, a coffee pot, and a dream -- my parents, Ed and Norma Mitchell, founded a men's clothing store in Westport, Conn., in a little 800-square-foot building.

In the mid-1960s, my brother Bill and I joined the family business, and in 1974 our parents passed the torch to us. By the mid-1980s, Bill and I had built the business into a dominant clothing store in Westport. In the 1990s, our seven sons came aboard, along with my wife Linda, and the business has grown into the largest family-owned upscale clothing store in the United States, with sales exceeding $100 million.

Can you imagine spending half of your working life in a family business, beside your mother, father, and brother, and all getting along? And then spending the next half of your work life with your brother, your spouse, your four sons and three nephews, and still all getting along? I pinch myself. We have been able to create an environment of mutual respect and trust, one where we can function as a team that shares the emotional and intellectual challenges of business along with its financial rewards.

MORE: Healing our nation of corporate lemmings

The succession from the second to the third generation has been a joyful journey, so much so that we have already begun to plan for the transition to the fourth generation. When I think back over our half century, I can identify seven things that made it all go smoothly.

1. Passion to pass the torch

You have to want to do it. You have to want to pass the equity and the responsibility to the next generation. My mother and father had this passion, and my brother and I embraced it.

2. Asking for help

My father gave us a wonderful phrase that my brother and I adopted: "I need your help." To shape a successful succession plan, we needed help. We didn't know everything about family businesses and so we agreed to study successful ones. In 1979, we joined the Forum, a networking group of a dozen or so similar family businesses. At a 1985 meeting, David Bork, a family business consultant, gave a talk that resonated with us. The next day, we hired him. Bill and I worked with him for several years on our plan. We also set up an outside advisory board to assist with this and other strategic issues.

David shared with us from the beginning that we should think of our family business as a business first. In other words, run it as a business, and most of the time what is good for the business isgreat for the family.

We were blessed with seven bright sons who went to excellent colleges and did well. We wanted them to make their own decisions about their careers. If they wanted to enter the family business, our arms were open, provided that they satisfied two rules we established in the late 1980s. I intensely dislike rules, but David and Bill convinced me that we needed to have a couple of firm ones.

3. The five-year rule

Our sons had to work five years elsewhere after finishing college. This rule was not popular with our father, who was still very much with us. He worried that we were sending his grandsons "out to pasture" and that we might lose some of the great talent and passion for the business that his grandsons had already demonstrated.

MORE: Women and success: Where's the honesty?

While Bill and I recognized that risk, we felt they had to gain experience, self-confidence and an understanding of what a real job is about in the real world. They needed to know what it meant to be hired, transferred to a different city, promoted, pushed, and pulled by someone other than their father or uncle. If they decided on becoming an astronaut or a podiatrist instead, we would support it wholeheartedly.

The five-year rule not only gives the next generation work experience, it also gives them wisdom they can bring into the family business. When our sons join the business, they made positive recommendations, and my brother and I respected them even more because they had these outside experiences.

Russell worked at IBM, Bob at Sports Illustrated, Andrew at Footlocker and Godiva Chocolatier; Todd at Apple (AAPL); Scott at Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), and Ann Taylor; Chris at NBC Sports and Neiman Marcus; Tyler at Henry Bucks in Australia, Brioni, and Harry Rosen in Canada; and Linda worked at her own family business.

4. No guarantees

The second rule was that a family member was not entitled to a job simply because their name was Mitchell. They needed to be qualified, possessing both the skills and the passion to grow within their area of responsibility. Our sons ended up choosing different areas: one picked finance and administration, another sales and merchandising, another marketing, and several managing newly acquired stores. Our outside advisory board and our consultant David Bork supported this policy.

And now, after 20 years, our sons and nephews hold leadership positions within our company. Two of them are co-presidents and will soon become co-CEOs.

5. Pass the equity early

When our oldest sons, Russ and Bob, were 29 and 27, and Tyler, Bill's youngest son, was only 13, my brother and I gave them a large percentage of the equity of the business. Sixteen years later, the remaining stake was transferred. We trusted them with our business early, and they became much more responsible and accountable because they were owners. They stuck by the guiding principles and values that had served us well, building relationships with each and every associate, customer, and vendor by treating them as friends, and measuring every facet of our business.

MORE: The Barclays school of crisis management

6. Provide financial security to the senior generation

A solid succession process requires a financial plan that allows the older generation to retire with enough assets outside the business to ensure that "money" is not the reason to remain in control forever. Often, when all of their assets are in the business, the owners not only tend to stay active too long and block the next generation from leading, but they also become too conservative, unwilling to take bold risks out of fear that they might cripple the entire business.

7. Communication: candid and transparent

Of course, our family has had its share of challenges. We are not perfect. And over the years, all of the family and senior non-family executives have agreed that a lack of transparent communication would be the only thing that could pull us apart. So we have many different, yet important, meetings.

Faithfully, we have scheduled weekly Tuesday morning family meetings. We discuss in a confidential way, in a safe haven of sorts, any issues that are on the active working family members' minds.

We have had a Family Council since the mid 1990s, which consists of all members of the Mitchell family descended from Ed and Norma, our parents, who are 14 years old and above, including spouses.

8. Have fun

We work hard and we play hard. Of course, things are not always perfect, yet we clearly all enjoy our family fun.

By Jack Mitchell

Source: CNN Money

Ten secrets of being successful from motivational speakers and others

Succeeding in something, be it a small goal or a large accomplishment, is no plain sailing for most people. Except for those blessed with an outsize talent who are indeed by virtue of their inborn abilities a few steps ahead of the rest most people simply need to put in plenty of effort to reach whatever aspirations they have committed themselves to. Here are ten factors that can help you pull it through.

One. you chances of having another success to your credit are greatly increased if you are very specific about what you want to achieve. Do not make hazy plans that are very difficult to verify, since this lack of focus can breed frustration and dampen your 

aving clear expectations switches on a mechanism that helps us to disregard distractions and get down to the point.

Two. Timing is essential in your road to success, so you have to learn to plan how you are going to achieve something. It makes it easier to adjust your effort to opportunities as they appear – planning in advance helps you grab them at the right time.

Three. Breaking your effort into stages that are easier to manage and help to get oriented is very important too.

This helps you keep track of where your are along the road and how much ground there is left to cover before you reach your destination.

Four. The process of achieving a goal is as important as the goal itself. As you move forward, there is plenty of time and opportunity to develop and improve your skills, your confidence and your focus. There is also lots of pleasure in making progress, not just in reaching the finishing line.

Five. Outliers are capable to commit themselves to long-term goals and see easily beyond piecemeal steps. This helps them overcome short-term roadblocks.

Six. As motivational speakers highlight in their speeches, positive thinking is a must for those who are after success. Its impact is hard to overestimate when it comes to driving motivation levels up, something which is necessary to sustain an effort over a longer period of time.

Seven. Every other keynote speaker who specializes in talking about success is also likely to mention exercising willpower as a prerequisite for a lasting attainment. You have to keep yourself on your toes in terms of discipline and determination to face challenges in ongoing projects.

Eight. People often make a mistake by foregrounding things they are not good at, while research shows that one driver of success is putting priority on what you can do. If you focus on action, you are more likely to move forward than if you focus on non-action.

Nine. It is important to keep distractions to a bare minimum, as they are capable of derailing your effort. Identify trouble spots and do you best to minimize their impact on the process.

Ten. When you finally reach your destination, it is time to rejoice and celebrate. Neglecting this stage is a big mistake.

By: Torri Myler

Source: EzineMark.com

Remembering the 7 Habits

I am sure Leaders Beacon will be afloat with memorials to the Great Stephen Covey. For those who are unaware, Mr. Covey author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, has died in a cycling accident outside of Provo, Utah.

I was introduced to Stephen Covey in my leadership class at Arizona State University. I was part of a select group of student leaders that had the pleasure of being taught by Mayor Neil Giuliano once a week. The Mayor used Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as part of our course material. The diverse group of student leaders in Leadership 401 met James Carville, participated in community activities, spoke to students at the local high school, and the lived the 7 habits of highly successful people.

In tribute to the departed author and the Mayor who taught me so much about leadership, I figured we should revisit the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

Be Proactive – in my 15 years of business development and management I have learned that ignoring a problem only intensifies it. Too often we fear an ill fated outcome that never occurs. Be open, honest, and attack every problem before it attacks you!

Begin with the End in Mind – don’t allow mundane detail to derail the train from the tracks. Envision the ultimate goal and stay true to it. Thinking big picture is the key to remaining focused on what is genuinely important.

Put First Things First – nothing is more important than effective time management. Balance your pipeline, prioritize action items in order of importance, and put busy work at the end of your list.

Think Win-Win – coming from a prominent career in sports, it was difficult for me to embrace this concept. I learned that in order win you do not have to defeat someone else.

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood – the key to being great in business is listening more than you talk….this was difficult for me to grasp as a young salesman. I now know that researching, assessing a clients needs, and differentiating a solution is the greatest path to a mutually beneficial partnership.

Synergize – the apex of achievement is finding a link between seemingly unrelated events. If you love sports and music and can discover their relevance to your professional development, you will live in successful harmony.

Sharpen the Saw – recreate the process every day, learn consistently, and evolve ahead of the curve. There is no finish line.

I would guess the sign a life well lived is the legacy that a person leaves on this earth. Rest in Peace, Mr Covey, we continue to serve your legacy.

By: David Kovacovich

Source: Leader's Beacon

5 Ways to Deal with Know-it-Alls

Their name says it all. They believe they have all the right answers and know what’s best for everyone. The problem is deep down, they know that they really don’t know it all; their behavior is a cover-up for their feelings of inadequacy. They pretend to know everything; being right makes them feel validated, which temporarily eases their feelings of insecurity.

Know-It-Alls don’t listen to opinions of others and offer information or advice whether it’s asked for or not. Their smug, superior attitude implies that others are stupid, weak and inferior; they speak with a tone of authority, even when addressing issues outside their expertise. Know-It-Alls relish saying, “I told you so!” if you fail to follow their advice. They can’t be right without making you wrong, so they persist at the know-it-all game in order to gain a feeling of power, albeit a false power.

Some Know-It-Alls are perfectionists by nature and have plenty of talent to offer; yet they can flaunt their intelligence and competence, turning people off in the process. They’re sometimes so self-absorbed that they need a reality check. Depending on your role or relationship to them, you might open their eyes regarding how their behavior is getting in the way of their success or positive connections.

Based on the book, “Get Along with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere … 8 keys to creating enduring connections with customers, co-workers – even kids” by Arnold Sanow and Sandy Strauss, here are 5 tips for handling Know-It-Alls:

1. Give Credit to them when they’re right, but resist the temptation to rub it in when they’re wrong.

2. Don’t discount, discredit, or disagree. Validate their ideas first and then introduce your own: “Justin, that’s certainly a possibility. Here’s what I thought”

3. If they deliver information with a surly tone, tell them that while their advice is instructive, their tone is a turn-off.

4. If you should be a recipient of their favorite line, “I told you so!” respond that such a statement isn’t productive, focusing on the consequences of such a comment.

5. If you have concerns about the validity of what they say, ask probing questions as well as verifying their information to keep them on their toes. Ask “what if” questions to put their logic to the test. Have them play out their worst case scenarios as a way of checking the legitimacy of their suggestions.

By: Arnold Sanow

Source: Leader's Beacon

Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches

If you’re like thousands of other designers, programmers and other creative professionals out there, at one point in time you’ve considered starting your own business. Unlike most, you’ve gone against common sense and decided to open shop for yourself. And not just freelance full-time, mind you, but file for the company name, get some stationery, and wade through the legal mumbo-jumbo. Maybe even get a real office with a water cooler.

This article offers real-world advice from the trenches of a small start-up, and is applicable to designers, web developers, copywriters, usability experts and all manner of service providers. Freelancers take heed: there are several items that are just as pertinent to your profession.
Write a Business Plan

The most important thing you can do to prepare for starting and operating your own business. Developing a business plan requires a lot of time and energy, but it’s invaluable for one primary reason — it forces you to come to terms with your business idea. You must decide how you will generate income, what your expenses will be, who your competitors are, and most important, WHAT YOUR BUSINESS DOES. This may seem obvious to you now, but write it down. Think about it. What sets your business apart? What service do you offer that is superior or unique? What’s going to put you ahead of the competition?

Beyond the mental exercises, a good business plan will give you a much better chance of getting a small business loan from a bank than walking in and saying, “I like Photoshop and maybe a can do some websites or something. Gimme money.”

A few years ago, new age business rhetoric said forget the business plan and just run with it. Obviously, that didn't work out so well, so if you go that route, God bless you. The business plan exists for a reason. There are libraries of books written on them and huge websites devoted to developing good ones. Some resources:
SBA
Scott Kramer’s articles on A List Apart
Businessplans.org
Business Plan Archive

Take a few weeks and develop a strong and thought-out plan. Give it to friends, co-workers, even family to read. Your business will be immeasurably stronger because you took the time for this step.
File for a Fictitious Name

A fictitious name (called a doing-business-as or DBA in some states) is the government’s term for your company name. If you choose HyperGlobalMegaSoft as the start-up’s name, it has to be registered with the state to ensure no one else is using it. This will cost about $100, but prevents you from accidentally using someone else’s registered name, or from someone else using YOUR name. Also note that two companies can usually register the same name for different industries. For instance, Luigi’s (design studio) and Luigi’s (pizza joint).

Note the fictitious name is not the same thing as a registered trademark. A trademark involves a whole separate process, more paperwork and additional fees. Unlike a fictitious name, however, a trademark is not required.
Funding

This is a pretty involved topic, and enough books and articles have been written about it to make for years of boring bathroom reading. Advice in a nutshell: start the business with your own savings or borrow from a bank. I highly recommend the former or a combination that includes it, since it makes you pinch your pennies a little more. If you go the bank route, make sure the business plan is polished to a high shine. This may be a good time to hire a professional business plan writer/editor.

There is one Golden Rule: Don't borrow money from family or friends. 99% of the time, you won't be able to pay them back, and on the off-chance you are, it won't be for months or years. The amount is irrelevant; $1,000 or $100,000 can quickly create bad blood.
Get an Accountant

In starting your business and maintaining its future financial health, there is no greater ally than an accountant. He or she (or they if you go with a firm) will be able to give advice on innumerable aspects of your new venture. They can advise on what type of business entity to start with, setting up bank accounts, a means of invoicing and collecting, and more. Most importantly, they also guide you on paying taxes properly and punctually.

Brief advice on accountants:
Go with an accountant or a firm in your state. Each state has different laws.
Make sure the accountant knows business taxes. Do not hire a family-oriented accountant.
Unless, you are really, really strapped for cash, hire an accountant who is not a family member. While it may be tempting to get a family discount, it is better to have an unbiased viewpoint about your finances, and also better to keep your family’s nose out of your funds in general.
Try to trade services! Maybe your accountant wants a new logo, website, or brochure.
Start with a Partner

If you can, start the business with a partner. This person should be another designer or programmer with a level of experience equal to or greater than your own, but with a different skill set. If you’re the God of Annual Reports, your partner can be the Overlord of Identity Design. Having two Annual Report Gods will make for some lacking identity work when the client requests it. And for the record, once again, it will be better if this person isn't family.

“But why a partner?” you ask. “I'm a darn good designer, and I'm really really gonna do this right.”

A partner will keep you on your toes. When you want to buy that $2,000 scanner, he or she should question why. If you want to design a promotional piece, it should be a group effort to get the best results. If you start to slack off, he or she will be there to remind you of business priorities. No one can do everything, and two complementary skill sets create an asset that cannot be reproduced when flying solo.
About Your New Office

When you start a business, the option of setting up an office outside your home has dramatic pros and cons that must be weighed carefully.

Good:
You have a place for clients to visit if they are local.
Reinforces good image (see below). Proper presentation goes a long way, and making your office appear as if you’ve been in business for years (you didn't tell them you were a start-up, did you?) helps build client trust.
You can write off all office expenses (rent, repairs, phone, etc). This will affect your bottom line drastically.
Gets you out of the house. Having a real place to go to work makes the business more real, and forces you to take it that more seriously.

Not-So-Good:
Money out the window. Renting an office costs $250-$10,000 a month, not including the initial deposit. This is a lot of money if you have a thin or inconsistent client base.
Requires additional expense. You will need to get a fire inspection and a certificate of occupancy, not to mention additional phone lines, Internet connection, furniture, etc.

Setting up an outside office for a new business is a case-by-case situation, and depends almost entirely on start-up money and cash flow. Some businesses truly require a place to host clients (ad agencies),and for others it’s not as important (web development). Weigh the advantages carefully against capital, because being locked into a lease without a means to pay is no fun.
Retain a Good Paper Trail

Make sure to keep a solid paper trail with clients, and that means a real, physical file with hardcopies of proposals, contracts, invoices, time sheets and anything else you can think of that relates to the project. This also includes all financial records, bank statements, receipts, deposit slips, etc.

Before beginning your business, establish several important things. First, design a consistent and scalable filing system for all the forms. Whether you organize by client or project is irrelevant, but make sure you can find the information when you need it. Second, make sure to have airtight contracts. I advise against writing them yourself. There are many places on the net where you can get generic forms, such as www.creativepro.com. You will also need to look for NDAs (non-disclosure agreements, for contracting work out to other freelancers), RFP (request for proposal) templates for clients to fill out, expense reports, invoices, and time sheets. Every project is different, so be prepared to make changes on these forms.

And please, when you sign a contract with a client, make sure you have a copy with BOTH signatures. Seems like an obvious thing, but you'd be surprised. Don't do any work without one, because legally, you will have a very hard time forcing a delinquent client to pay without one.

Part of maintaining a solid paper trail is having a good invoice system ready to launch at a moment’s notice. Make sure your invoices arrive in the client’s mailbox while the project is still fresh. Every invoice should clearly mark the amount to be paid and terms of payment (30 days, etc.), and clearly indicate any additional fees resulting from delinquent recompense.

If payment is late, don't be afraid to call the client. Sometimes they just misplaced the invoice. Other times they don't have the money and are trying to slink away. Sometimes, “the check is in the mail.” Regardless, the business that does not call to get paid won't get paid!
Start Small, Conserve Loot

Consider working from your house/apartment to start, especially if you have clients that will never visit you, or if you live in an expensive metropolis (NYC, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, etc). Keep your expenses down! Don't buy a new quad Xeon workstation if your current machine can cut it, or a truckload of networking equipment for two computers. Be cheap! Look for sales at OfficeMax, clip coupons, and just shop smart. You’re going to need the start-up capital down the road, so don't drain it on frivolous expenditures. (And yes, the folded die-cut business card with the metallic ink counts as a frivolous expenditure.)
Don't Undercharge, but Be Flexible

If there’s one thing to remember from this article, it should be this point. Proper pricing is the one thing that keeps the business alive, on multiple levels. When you charge appropriate amounts for the work, the client will feel like they hired the right people; when you undercharge, the client will know this and take advantage of you by demanding similar rates in the future.

If you give every client a discount just to get the job (and this will be tempting, especially in the beginning), you'll find yourself working twelve-hour days and not being able to pay the bills. Undercharging hurts the industry in general as well; undercharged clients come to expect and request absurdly low prices.
Legal Software

Make sure all the copies of your software are retail versions. Do not use “educational” or pirated software. This is very important, and should be part of the start-up budget.
Separate Personal and Business Finances

Nothing much else to say about this. It will save you innumerable headaches come tax season.
Marketing

Even the most reliable clients have dry spells, so make sure you are constantly putting your company’s name in the marketplace. Word of mouth is the best, but getting truly fresh work usually requires spending money.
The Importance of Image

The importance of maintaining a positive image in the eyes of your clients and potential clients cannot be overstated. Know your firm’s identity so you can project that identity to the customer.

The visual identity is critical. Get business cards, letterhead, and envelopes. Design a good logo or pay someone to do it if you’re not a design firm.

Dress the part. When meeting with a client, look like someone who’s come to do business, not some clichéd black-turtleneck half-shaven graphic designer who’s gracing them with your presence half an hour late. It sounds exaggerated, but it happens all too often.

Make the office welcoming. If you entertain clients, keep the office clean, organized and hospitable. Make good coffee. Purchase comfortable chairs. Make sure they have a place to park.
Use Outside Resources

Running a business takes long hours and a willingness to learn. However, there are many services that exist to help businesses succeed and get work. For instance:
Your local Chamber of Commerce
SCORE
Attend business seminars. You can learn a lot and do some powerful networking. Many are free.
Creativepro.com. Full of valuable resources like stock photos, business contracts, freebies and more. $29.99 / year.
Elance.com. A cause of dissention among many designers for the ridiculously low rates you have to work for, but a good place to find work when the rest of the world has shut its doors.

If you still decide to start a business, there’s nothing more I can say except good luck.

You’ve got to have the “fire in your belly,” or you will fail. There are long hours, hard work, and incredibly frustrating and stressful times ahead. But the rewards — being your own boss, being able to work on a variety of projects, feeling that proverbial sense of accomplishment — these are all very real results.
A SPECIAL NOTE FOR THOSE STILL IN SCHOOL

When I was in school, what I wanted more than anything was to start a business creating customized audio solutions for multimedia content creators. I asked my teachers — they said it was a good idea. I asked my classmates — they thought it was a good idea. Then I took a six-month internship at a “new media” company whose focus was streaming audio and met people so poor they slept in the warehouse with the equipment because they didn't have the experience to succeed in what they were doing. (Incidentally, they didn't have a business plan either.)

Before you start a business fresh out of school, wait and get some real world work experience first. I started my design company when I was 23, and the business clearly suffered because of it. Not because I was young and dumb (well, not that young and dumb anyway), but simply because I didn't have enough street smarts to REALLY succeed.

Technical knowledge and raw talent only go so far. When working at a company, you see how established businesses function: how workflow is managed, how clients are dealt with, how managers treat workers, and the absolutely critical nature of deadlines, no matter how tight. These are invaluable lessons that school does not teach.

By: Kevin Potts

Source: A List Apart

When others said, "It can't be done", these eleven people said, "Just watch me!"

Last night, as I was skimming through Joseph Sugarman's book “The Adweek Copywriting Handbook” (sounds like a thriller, doesn’t it?), I came upon a section on page 56 called Assumed Constraints.

And believe it or not, this section of the book truly captivated me. This section proved that no matter how crazy, stupid, whacky, ridiculous, unheard of, or out-of-this-world your idea may be—it can be great.

Sugarman writes:

“Have you ever looked at a circus elephant anchored to the ground? If you have, you might notice that the elephant has a metal collar around its leg to which it is attached a small chain. And the chain is attached to a wooden peg driven into the ground. Pretty good protection?

Pretty lousy, if you ask me. That 12,000-pound elephant could very easily pick up its foot and with one fell swoop yank the peg out of the ground and walk away. But the elephant doesn’t. Why? I’ll explain.

When that elephant was still a baby, that same collar and chain and peg were used to hold the elephant in place. The restraint was sufficient to hold the baby elephant in place even if it wanted to break way. And break away is indeed what the baby elephant tried to do.

So every day while the baby was chained up, it would pull at the chain and pull and pull and pull until finally a cut appeared on its leg exposing the sore sensitive layers of deep skin tissue. It hurt to pull like that and soon the baby elephant, realizing the effort was both futile and painful, stopping trying to escape.

As the baby elephant grew older, it never forgot that bad experience with the chain and the peg. And so whenever it was anchored down in a sport, it would think, ‘Hey, it’s impossible to break away and besides, it hurts.’

The adult elephant had what I call an ‘assumed constraint.’ And all of us have the same problem to one degree or another.”

In my option, this is especially the case for entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs: Today, I challenge you to break free of your chain and peg and collar and cause a circus of your own. When people tell you “it can’t be done”, then it’s time to show them that it can. Here are a few examples of individuals who broke free of their own assumed constraints to take on the world:

1. “Consumers will rip you off if you let them buy using their credit cards over a toll-free line without having them sign anything.” – What people said to Sugarman himself. He then launched toll-free order taking in the US.
2. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in teir home.” – Ken Olsen, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977.
3. “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” – Popular Mechanicsmagazine, 1949
4. “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible. – Yale university management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith later founded FedEx.
5. “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try to find oil? You’re crazy.” – Drillers whom wildcatter Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in 1859.
6. “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” – Ferdinand Foch, professor of military strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, later commander of Allied Armies in World War I.
7. “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” – Irving Fisher, professor of economics, Yale University, 1929.
8. “I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers,” –Thomas Watson Sr., president of IBM, 1943.
9. “So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it back to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary; we’ll come work for you.’ And they said ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” – This was related to Steven Jobs, Apple Computer co-founder, on his attempts in the mid 70s to get Atari and Hewlett-Packard interested in his and Steve Wozniaks personal computer.
10. “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” — Response in the mid-70s to Debbi Fields'’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields Cookies
11. “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, 1981.

So when people tell you that you can’t, my solution is this: Think big. Get out there. Prove ‘em wrong.

By: Allison Way

Source: BrooWaha

4 Leadership Lessons From The Founding Fathers

Now inscribed on the Library of Congress, James Madison's words are as true today as they were in 1829: “The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.” In forging such a nation, the Founding Fathers were the most exemplary of leaders.

In celebration of our independence, let us note how their ideals hold true today. Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” She's right. Here are four leadership principles our Founders taught us.

The courage of convictions: Our founders clung to and fought for the cause of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” With years of hindsight and the benefit of our modern comforts, it is hard to comprehend their sacrifices. Leadership in a global economy requires steady conviction in the face of incredible challenges. To say that our Founding Fathers were men of conviction would be an understatement, but all great leaders are. What will be the measure of your leadership? 

The sanctity of sacrifice: In the formation of our republic and in signing the Declaration of Independence, the Founders pledged to one another, “our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.” The leadership principle of sacrifice is not new. Our Founders understood it well. And to that end we understand that sacrificial leadership is selfless, not self-serving. The commitment made 236 years ago reminds us that no great accomplishment comes without sacrifice and that causes greater than self are the lasting ones. Time tested through two centuries, today's best leaders understand the power of sacrifice when it comes to building a lasting business.

The fulfillment of faith: To their credit, the Founders understood and valued the practice of faith. In their wisdom the founders recognized the truth that we are all “created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” by which we live our lives and practice our faith, whether or in a higher power or ideals greater than ourselves. Stepping back to contemplate allows us to see the world around us, and the people entrusted to our leadership, in a more meaningful way. The executive model today is not so much an “independence from” mentality as it is a “responsibility toward” philosophy. Thoughtful leaders seek to be a blessing and to serve causes greater than self; wise ones remember the source.

The power of purpose: It was through persecution, hardships, and struggles whereby the Founders rallied and mutually pledged their “reliance on the protection of Divine Providence” in declaring our independence. The innumerable lessons our Founders taught us transcend political ideology and religious creed. The rally today is for leaders with purpose, backed by the power of their convictions, faith, and sacrifice, to make a difference in the world. Just as the Founders were men of clear purpose and mission, successful management today charts a clear course with the right women and men in place with the necessary tools to achieve their goals.

Our Founders were leadership pioneers; let us honor their memory as we celebrate.

Happy Fourth of July!

By: Doug Dickerson

Source: Fast Company