Business Practices That Rock!

Management

A great business leader is someone who can motivate their team and follow business management best practices for success. Business management is the process by which a company gets its employees to produce the greatest results with the least amount of effort using the resources available to them. Businesses that follow these practices can build a streamlined system in which employees are inspired to produce their best work.

1. Engage Workers

Alienated workers do not care about performing their jobs. All they care about is getting a paycheck and advancing their own interests. The first thing a manager needs to do is find out how to make his employees care about the company's vision. Engaged workers are not only more enthusiastic and productive; they also become less passive, taking responsibility for their performance and attracting fresh talent to the company.

2. Reward Effort

No one likes their work to go unrecognized. Recognition of effort and achievement –thanks for a job well done – makes employees feel valued. It seems like an obvious point, but often business management training overlooks the positive impact of appreciation. Some managers might even feel that being too "touchy-feely" undermines their authority. On the contrary, reward motivates people to achieve more and helps to build company loyalty.

3. Be Vulnerable

Vulnerability is a recurring theme in Lencioni's business management articles. He believes that managers need to stop being anonymous figures in the lives of junior employees and that getting to know employees is one of the best ways for management to engage their workers. He also sees vulnerability as crucial in team dynamics; without being able to speak openly and put one's ideas on the spot, it is impossible for teams to build trust.

4. Stay Committed

When team members don't trust each other, they devote a lot of time to avoiding conflict rather than airing their real opinions and working to find common ground. A state of perpetual ambiguity ensues, in which clear goals and strategies fail to emerge out of group discussion. Lencioni labels this lack of commitment the "third dysfunction" of team dynamics. It can lead to poor decision-making and stifle productivity. Staying committed to the team's initiative means creating an atmosphere where conflict is welcomed, not feared, because differing perspectives help to shape a clear goal.

5. Seek Clarity

A problem with many companies is a lack of alignment among managers, who either stop working to fulfill the company's vision or never understood what that vision was. Lencioni points out that company's need to focus on alignment of core principles by asking the following six questions:

• Why do we exist?
• How do we behave?
• What do we do?
• How will we succeed?
• What is most important, right now?
• Who must do what?

Without leaders developing – and sharing – a clear sense of the company's vision, its values, its strategic goals, and its delegation of responsibilities, the best business management education in the world won't matter, because the company will lack purpose and direction.

6. Create Cultural Cohesiveness

Here, "culture" doesn't refer to socioeconomic status or ethnicity. Rather, it means a sense of shared values that, with the right level of engagement, will lead to the development of productive and efficient outcomes. It is a good business management practice to make new hires based on an alignment with the company's core values and its vision, because workers with shared values make good team members. Diversity of race, gender, and socioeconomic status is a positive thing because it increases collective insight. But, diversity in values can lead to a company's downfall.

7. Focus Team Effort

Sometimes managers invest the bulk of their energy in making sure that the team gets off on the right foot, hosting retreats to boost solidarity, and being attentive to ideas as they first come out. It's essential to focus on ongoing team dynamics, however, to make sure that members don't get distracted by individual activities that lead them off track. Consistent reassessment and realignment of team goals is the way to achieve the best results.

8. Hold Regular Meetings

The importance of meetings to a company's success: "No action, activity or process is more central to creating a healthy organization than the meeting." In order to be fully successful, management should do the following:

• Create separate meetings for tactical and strategic business planning.
• Assess a tactical agenda only after the team has reviewed its progress against goals.
• Make sure there is enough time allocated for the clarification, debate, and resolution of major issues.
• Meet quarterly outside the office to review what is happening in the industry, the company, and the team.

Meetings provide the organization with a regular forum on core values, allowing members to realign principles and give perspective on business practices.

In order to succeed in a competitive field like business management, you need to stay true to yourself before you can hope to have a meaningful impact on the organization you represent. Ultimately, the best practices are ones that focus on your developing authentic connections among yourself, the junior employees, and the company as a whole.

Skills & Jobs: Lost in Tandem

The average duration of unemployment in the U.S. jumped to a record 35.2 weeks in September, up from 16.5 weeks when the recession began in December 2010, according to the Labor Dept. Today, almost half of unemployed Americans have been out of work for 47 weeks or more (the official definition of long-term unemployment), vs. 30 percent in June 2009.

PERISHABLE SKILLS 

Industries with highly perishable skill sets include health-care technology, telecommunications, and finance, where regulations have changed dramatically in the past year. The toughest, though, may be information technology. Companies in that sector have cut payrolls for 32 of the last 33 months, through June, for a cumulative loss of some 312,000 jobs, or about 10 percent. In technology, "if you've been out of work for a year or two, you're probably somewhat outdated," says Shami Khorana, president of HCL America, the U.S. arm of New Delhi-based HCL Technologies, which employs about 5,000 workers in the U.S. He plans to hire at least an additional 600 people as the economy improves and anticipates retraining some candidates with obsolete skills.

Unemployed workers in construction, retail, low-level health-care jobs, and teaching are more likely to be attractive to employers once hiring picks up because such jobs don't change as quickly, experts say. "You don't get the sense that residential construction has changed that much in the past decade," says Harry J. Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and the Urban Institute in Washington. The skills needed to work at a grocery or clothing store—running the cash register, for instance—are "rudimentary," he says.

There are downsides to switching careers, because doing so can push workers into fields where their training isn't valuable, creating a less skilled workforce, says Daniel S. Hamermesh, a former Labor Dept. official who is now an economist at the University of Texas. "It's tremendously difficult [for workers] to decide when the skill is no longer valuable," he says.

When employers start hiring, they'll want to see prospective employees who have done more than pump out résumés trying to find a new job. Accenture (ACN), for example, will want to see "how the applicants used their time" to stay marketable, says Catherine S. Farley, a Seattle-based managing director at the consulting firm. "Did that person do something to keep their skills fresh?"

The bottom line: As more workers remain jobless for half a year or longer, they risk losing skills needed to get hired.

A sad situation that can cost this country dearly in the end. Solutions need to be proffered up and implemented as soon as possible. But will it be soon enough? 

Why Small Business Fails

One of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why small businesses fail, and there’s a simple reason for the confusion: Most of the evidence comes from the entrepreneurs themselves.

I have had a close-up view of numerous business Failures —including a few start-ups
of my own. And from my observation, the reasons for failure cited by
the owners are frequently off point, which kind of makes sense when you
think about it. If the owners really knew what they were doing wrong, they
might have been able to fix the problem. Often, it’s simply a matter of denial
or of not knowing what you don’t know.

In many cases, the customers — or, I should say, ex-customers — have a better understanding than the owners of what wasn’t working. The usual suspects that the owners tend to blame are the bank, the government or the idiot partner. Rarely does the owner’s finger point at the owner. Of course, there are cases where something out of the owner’s control has gone terribly wrong, but I have found those instances to be in the minority. What follows, based on my own experiences and observations, are the top 10 reasons small businesses fail. The list is not pretty, it is not simple, and it does not contain any of those usual suspects (although they might come in at Nos. 11, 12 and 13).

1. The math just doesn’t work There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that will produce a profit for the company. This, for example, would include a start-up trying to compete against Best Buy and its economies of scale.

2. Owners who cannot get out of their own way They may be stubborn, risk averse, conflict averse — meaning they need to be liked by everyone (even employees and vendors who can’t do their jobs). They may be a perfectionist, greedy, self-righteous, paranoid, indignant or insecure. You get the idea. Sometimes, you can even tell these owners the problem, and they will recognize that you are right — but continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

3. Out-of-control growth This one might be the saddest of all reasons for failure — a successful business that is ruined by over-expansion. This would include moving into markets that are not as profitable, experiencing growing pains that damage the business, or borrowing too much money in an attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. Sometimes less is more.

4. Poor accounting You cannot be in control of a business if you don’t know what is going on. With bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one thing, it is a common — and disastrous — misconception that an outside accounting firm hired primarily to do the taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality, that is the job of the chief financial officer, one of the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is hired.

5. Lack of a cash cushion If we have learned anything from this recession (I know it’s “over” but my customers don’t seem to have gotten the memo), it’s that business is cyclical and that bad things can and will happen over time — the loss of an important customer or critical employee, the arrival of a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. These things can all stress the finances of a company. If that company is already out of cash (and borrowing potential), it may not be able to recover.

6. Operational mediocrity I have never met a business owner who described his or her operation as mediocre. But we can’t all be above average. Repeat and referral business is critical for most businesses, as is some degree of marketing (depending on the business).

7. Operational inefficiencies Paying too much for rent, labor, and materials. Now more than ever, the lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that are reflective of today’s economy may leave a company uncompetitive.

8. Dysfunctional management Lack of focus, vision, planning, standards and everything else that goes into good management. Throw fighting partners or unhappy relatives into the mix and you have a disaster.

9. The lack of a succession plan We’re talking nepotism, power struggles, significant players being replaced by people who are in over their heads — all reasons many family businesses do not make it to the next generation.

10. A declining market Bookstores, music stores, printing businesses and many others are dealing with changes in technology, consumer demand, and competition from huge companies with more buying power and advertising dollars.

In life, you may have forgiving friends and relatives, but entrepreneurship is rarely forgiving. Eventually, everything shows up in the soup. If people don’t like the soup, employees stop working for you, and customers stop doing business with you. And that is why businesses fail.

Leadership in the 21st Century

At the most basic level, a leader is someone who leads others. But what makes someone a leader? What is it about being a leader that some people understand and use to their advantage? What can you do to be a leader? Here's what you need to know and do.

A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Let's look at each of those in detail.

The Leader's Vision

A leader has a vision. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wants to tackle. Whatever it is, it is the focus of the leader's attention and they attack it with a single-minded determination.Whether the goal is to double the company's annual sales, develop a product that will solve a certain problem, or start a company that can achieve the leader's dream, the leader always has a clear target in mind.

This is a big picture sort of thing, not the process improvement that reduces errors by 2% but the new manufacturing process that completely eliminates the step that caused the errors. It is the new product that makes people say "why didn't I think of that", not just a toaster that lets you select the degree of darkness of the toast. Edison did not set out to build a better candle, he wanted to find a whole new way to illuminate the darkness. That's the kind of vision a leader has.

The Drive to See It Through

It is not enough to just have a vision. Lots of people see things that should be done, things that should be fixed, great step forward that could be taken. What makes leaders different is that they act. They take the steps to achieve their vision.

Is it a passion for the idea, an inner sense of drive, or some sense of commitment? Whatever it is, it is the strength that lets leaders move their vision forward despite all the obstacles, despite all the people saying it can't be done, it's too costly; we tried that before, or a dozen other excuses. The true leader perseveres and moves forward.

Trait and Skills a Leader Must Have

There are things that set leaders apart from other people. Some people are born with these characteristics. Others develop them as they improve as leaders. These are not magic bullets. They are things you can do and be if you want to be a leader.

Traits of a Leader

There are as many traits of a leader as there are lists of what makes a leader. Here are the fundamental traits of a leader from my perspective:

Has Integrity….. People have to believe that you are pursuing your dream because it's the right thing to do, not just because you are ego driven.

A People Person….Understands the differences that make people unique and is able to use those individual skills to achieve the goal.

Is Positive…. A leader encourages and rewards people. They make you want to do it and do it right. A leader is not a negative person and doesn't waste time/effort telling everyone what they're doing wrong.

Leadership Skills

Beyond the personal traits of a leader, there are specific skills someone must master if they want to be a leader.

Effective Communication - It's more than just being able to speak and write. A leader's communication must move people to work toward the goal the leader has chosen.

Motivation - A leader has to be able to motivate everyone to contribute. Each of us has different "buttons". A leader knows how to push the right buttons on everyone to make them really want to do their best to achieve the leader's goal.

Planning - The leader has a plan to achieve the goal. He/she doesn't get too bogged down in the details, that are what managers are for, but rather uses a high-level plan to keep everyone moving together toward the goal.

Bottom Line

Leaders dream dreams. They refuse to let anyone or anything get in the way of achieving those dreams. They are realistic but unrelenting. They are polite but insistent. They constantly and consistently drive forward toward their goal. You can be a leader. You will be - when it matters enough to you.

The Ubiquitous Cash Flow Problem

The last thing any small business needs is cash flow problems. Actually, any business for that matter. In a good economy it's bad. In a bad economy it  can be the kiss of death.  So if the recession has you scrambling to come up with money to pay your bills on time, then these four ways to cure cash flow problems quickly should come in handy.

Eliminate Unnecessary Business Expenses

Pull out your bank statements. Pull out your credit card statements. What expenses do you notice? For the biggest return on investment, look for recurring monthly expenses you can cut.

There are often multiple business tool subscriptions, newsletter subscriptions, and software subscriptions in every business. And probably 5% to 15% of these are no longer being used or serving their original purpose. Identify those and cancel them immediately.

Another easy way to cut costs is to replace expensive services with cheaper services. For instance, replace your land line phone with a paid Skype account. Or find a free open source solution to replace a paid solution. Once you start researching, you’ll be amazed by how many good, affordable services are available to you. (Just ask your social network if you need help getting started.)

Invoice Faster, Pay Bills Slower

When cash is flowing out faster than it’s coming in, you have to do whatever you can to reverse the trend. Because ultimately you want the cash flowing out slower than it’s coming in. One easy way to do this is to collect on invoices faster, then “float” your money.  So, for instance: If you normally invoice on Net 30 terms, see if you can get your clients to pay sooner. Give them a small discount for paying the full amount up front or within a shorter time frame, say 14 days. The faster you get paid, the better your cash flow will be. The second step of the process is to keep your money as long as possible. So that means you will want to try to delay paying your vendors. 

You can ask for terms or ask for an extension on a specific invoice. Or if you’d rather not negotiate with vendors, you might try paying with a credit card. By paying with a credit card, you will automatically have an extra 25-30 days to pay. (Just make sure you have enough cash to pay off the balance at the end of the billing cycle.)

Outsource Tasks that Are Not the Highest and Best Use of Your Time

If you’re doing data entry when you could be doing work valued at $1,000 an hour, then that’s contributing to your cash flow problems. You will never have time to work on your business if you’re always stuck doing menial work in your business. 

You need to focus all of your time on doing things that maximize the monetary value of your skills. Any task that falls outside of your highest-value skill set should be outsourced to a reliable freelance worker. For instance, if you’re a solo entrepreneur, you might hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to take care of some of the mundane and tedious tasks you have to do on a regular basis. Or you might contract with a company to screen phone calls, take messages, and book appointments. This alone could conservatively save a couple hours a week — freeing you up to do the things that generate more revenue and more profit.

Don’t Let a Good Month Ruin Your Cash Flow

If you’ve ever had a really good month in business, then you know how exhilarating it can be. You know how tempting it can be to go out and buy that expensive thing you’ve been lusting for. Here’s a piece of advice: Don’t buy that thing. Keep your emotions in check.

Set aside some cash when times are good so you can easily weather the bad months that may (or may not) happen in the future. Unfortunately, this advice is not usually followed. Just look at the guys running big product launches. The influx of money causes them to do stupid things… like buy six-figure luxury sports cars and 10,000 square foot bachelor pads. This is a huge mistake. Because one good month does not a good year make. Past performance is no guarantee of future earnings. The economic conditions of today are not the economic conditions of tomorrow. Etc., etc., etc. If you become financially over-committed in your personal life, it can very quickly bring down your business. 

The most successful business men (and women) I’ve met are those who are willing to forgo a lavish lifestyle so they can make wise investments and keep their businesses running smoothly. Some of the wealthiest are also the most frugal. It’s the entrepreneurs who run lean operations — even when the cash flow is good — that survive tough times and achieve longevity in their respective markets.

Follow these four business optimization strategies… be intentional about implementing them in your business… and you’ll cure your cash flow problems quickly.

First to Thrive in the Cloud: SMBs

Many SMBs have their heads in the clouds and the rationale is becoming definitive. Cloud computing is changing how computer business apps and related services are fulfilled. With the onset of the cloud, essential aspects of every business like data management, content, and collaboration tools are delivered from the Internet rather than supported by locally installed software and servers.


For SMBs there are many compelling reasons to migrate to cloud-based applications, like the following:

• Scaling up or down on demand
• Outsourcing the expensive burden of maintaining your own servers and software
• Accessing data from anywhere and from any device
• Replacing heavy IT expenditures with predictable operational expenditures
• Focused strategies and execution managed from a centralized environment

Many businesses are already using the cloud and don’t even know it. Several services we take for granted such as WordPress, Gmail, Skype and GoToMeeing are cloud based. And the skies are just going to get cloudier. Harbingers of the future, VCs are insisting their startups stay lean and mean by using cloud services to test and build out business concepts as well as to scale the business.

Concerns about security aren’t putting much of a damper on the party. Cloud-based startups are predicted to number in the thousands over the next few years. Cloudy with a chance of cost savings. Depending on whether you want to make a wholesale move to the cloud or shift a few operations, there are several hot services designed specifically for SMB productivity.

For the small and medium sized businesses out there these are very exciting times. Although technology has always been a game changer, the stark realities of over-extended budgets and shrinking revenue streams are constant. Remember, you don't have to dive headfirst into total migration or radical paradigm shifts in the infrastructure of your organization. You may want to start off by analyzing the myriad of Cloud software and services out there. Some are even free. The following list should help start the process:

• Mozy.com  Data Storage
• Salesforce.com CRM
• DropBox.com File Storage
• SoSonlinebackup.com Data Backup
• Schedulicity.com Scheduling
• Outright.com Accounting
• Google Apps Full Suite of Business Tools

For questions about your business and successful integration into the cloud, please call Computech Data for a no cost analysis today. 760-469-9118

Reluctant SMB Market Left Behind?

A certain famous Beatle is letting go. According to CNET, Paul McCartney and MPL Communications, his own media company, has partnered with HP to archive his personal media library hosted by HP. McCartney’s library is supported by HP’s Converged Infrastructure solution, a system of storage, servers and networking, resting on a private cloud in HP’s datacenters. Though MPL Communications and McCartney may be a ringing celebrity endorsement for HP, other SMBs are not quick to jump on board with the public cloud. In a recent survey, the research firm In-Stat reported that 70% of the SMBs who are using cloud storage are coupling it with an on-site storage unit. Hence, they are not truly leveraging the cloud.

The innovator/laggards dichotomy is applicable here. Since cloud is still a relatively new concept, most firms are wary of the “bugs” – performance, security, control, etc. Thus, they want to wait until the technology is more mature. Reluctant SMBs are removing themselves from the innovators and early adopter category and placing themselves squarely in the position of being late majority or laggards.

One way to mitigate these worries (and to not get left behind) is to engage in a private cloud or a hybrid – a combination of a public and private cloud – to meet SMBs’ infrastructure needs. Nonetheless, the costs of a private cloud deployment can be outside an SMB’s budget. While public cloud has security and performance implications, private and hybrid clouds are equipped with financial barriers.

When will SMBs be ready to let go and migrate to a public cloud? Despite the reports, adoption may be sooner than expected. Cloud security providers are working around the clock to develop best in class solutions for prospects. Additionally, Intel’s unveiling of AppUp, a hybrid cloud solution aimed at SMBs, is an example of how major players are actively engaged in pushing SMBs to the cloud.

It’s just a matter of time before most firms will be ready to let go – like Paul did, of over one million personal photos, videos and music clips.

This article originated from http://wiredre.com which I recommend to any IT professional interested in the latest industry trends.

Chris Borowski

Leadership Lessons

I found this Forbes article appealing in analogy and usage of truisms. It was worth the time to be sure.

Losing the Battle: Ethical Business Practices

Ethics is concerned with "doing the right thing" but moral standards differ between individuals depending upon their upbringing, traditions, religion, social and economic situations, and so on. Hence, the existence of gray areas. Therefore, state the "moral" problem in a simple manner and review feedback so that an acceptable decision can be made with minimal overall harm/loss-i.e., we are concerned with "Pareto optimality," which is related to the net balance of benefit  over harm for society as a whole.

Economic theory is concerned with the efficient utilization of resources to satisfy consumer wants and to maximize profit and satisfaction. Pareto optimality exists at the point where it is impossible to make any given individual better off without harming another given individual. Although most businessmen believe that profits and cash flow are very important, there has been a move toward the recognition of social responsibility.

The blind pursuit of profits has resulted in bribes, environmental problems, injured workers, unsafe products, closed plants, and so on-this is unethical. Many business schools emphasize the philosophical, rather than the practical aspect of ethics. We need a practical approach to the solution of ethical problems. Ethical leadership calls for morals, fairness, caring, sharing, no false promises or unreasonable demands on others, etc. Is "ethical leadership" an oxymoron?

I believe that "ethics" should be a part of all management courses. Yes, there are grey areas depending on different perspectives, but there are also areas of "black" and "white". There is more to ethics than drafting and implementing codes of ethics for others to observe. Leaders should lead by example and refrain from adopting an approach which conflicts with ethical interests. Therefore, leaders should respect and care for all stakeholders: owners, employees, customers, suppliers, the community, etc., rather than only stockholders.

Making false promises and unreasonable demands on employees and others, preventing participatory management, talking about the "green" approach as a public relations exercise, rather than adopting a "green" approach, is unacceptable. Ethics is conscience-based, knowledge-based and attitude-based, and not suited to some individuals, who, by their very nature, have consistently demonstrated selfishness and greed.

Business ethics is concerned with dealing with dilemmas that sometimes do not have a clear indication as to what is right or wrong e.g. potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts, false promises and exaggerated demands on resources which include personnel.

Right and wrong are black and white - pure and simple. Our ethical system and behavior are a function of several factors, including our cultural background, upbringing, education, ego, environment, circumstances and the related stress. Hence, the development of gray areas i.e. areas where explicit rulings or guidance is not available Looked at in another way, there are shades of black and shades of white, just like when you go to a paint shop to buy black paint or white paint or when you go to a clothing store to buy a black suit or a white suit. If you find that your ethical standards are higher than those of most people, you should follow your own standards.

It is possible to improve, from an ethical point of view. As we mature into adulthood, we develop an ego and try to use our communication skills to justify our behavior, while focusing on our own goals. With our ego-based approach, our innate selfishness, and the influences of friend and environment come many gray areas. One's image will depend on one's operation within the black, white and/or gray areas. This should always be borne in mind.

Alas, many business schools provide courses in business ethics which are philosophical, rather than practical, in approach. This needs to be rectified in the light of experience in the real world. Research confirms that the focus on ethics deters people from straying, although it is difficult to alter the basic nature of some people e.g. Bernie Madoff and Vincent Lacroix.

Constant communication and open discussions on ethics foster a bond between individuals who are keen on being ethical and help promote teamwork built on good spirit. Emotionally intelligent people are often more ethical than others.

Business Communication: Doing it Better

An insightful PDF booklet with many suggestions for enhancing your business communications.

Business Communications Tips    

Satisfaction Guaranteed....Not!

 Many people are unhappy with their jobs, but in today's rough economy now is not the time to be unemployed and looking for a new career. While most have opted to grin and bear it, their may be a few simple steps you can take to help you find happiness in your current position. 

The old saying misery loves company rings true. If you feel as if you're being overworked, or that the workplace environment is becoming more and more toxic, chances are you are not alone. Talk to your co-workers or others in similar positions and you may find solace in knowing that others feel the same way as you. It is of psychological benefit to have somebody who can relate to your problems and it is crucial that you have allies who can help you to try and change your working conditions. It also possible that you will find that your expectations are a bit unreasonable and you will then be further encouraged to find the positives in your current position.

It is important that you recognize that you are most likely your own toughest critic. If you begin to take note of what is most upsetting you at work you may find that it is your inability to reach your own goals. If upon doing a little self-analysis you find this to be the case, you may want to split up your goals into smaller more attainable sub-goals. In doing so you may find a bit more satisfaction in your work. You may also find yourself to be more organized and focused throughout the day which can insure your success.

Alternatively, if you discover that it is your manager who is issuing too many expectations, you may want to set up a meeting with them. Most people find themselves achieving more career success if they are given a bit of freedom in which they can utilize their creativity as opposed to being micromanaged. In exchange for this freedom you may have to offer improved results, so only meet with your boss if you think you can deliver otherwise you may be putting your job in jeopardy and may only find less happiness.

If you are finding that with the downturn of the economy you are being asked to do more and more, you may need to develop a few coping mechanisms. If you are a manager suddenly faced with an increasing number of tasks you may want to sharpen your delegations skills. Delegating to competent employees can help spread the workload and gives your employees an opportunity to shine. You may also need to make more of an effort to reduce stress in your life. Whether you relieve stress by meditating, exercising or meeting up with friends you may need to up the ante if your work begins to demand too much of you. Ultimately however you need to know when you've been given too much. It is important that you cap your hours, ideally keeping them in the single digits, and that you let your boss know if you're drowning in work.

For some unfortunately these tips may not be enough to ward off unhappiness within their careers. If faced with that situation and little other alternatives, people may want to consider if they can turn one of their hobbies into a career. Obviously self-employment is a risky endeavour so you may want to start it as a side-project. While this may cause you to have less downtime, ideally you'll enjoy the work necessary for pursuing a hobby as a career pleasurable. Eventually you will hopefully find that you're able to leave the job you are currently so unhappy with and solely pursue this new business.

In summary, if you are unhappy with your current job don't just settle. You should identify what is causing your negative feelings and ask yourself if there is anything you can do to try and change it. Often you'll find that the answer is yes.

SEO: Using Key Sites and Experts

The internet is a big place. The potential for business is huge. How does the normal small to medium sized business get there? It all starts with a quality site and SEO/SEM.

Nobody ever knew how internet marketing was going to turn out once it got started a few years back. This was the concept being introduced by people about a decade ago which is now flourishing and giving the utmost results to many people all around the globe. It involves many techniques, tactics and skills. It has emerged as a strong, lively foundation with the local and international commercial fields creating a whole new industry that is growing everyday.

The expanded concept of information and technology has supported and advanced the website skills and tactics in which SEO experts have a fundamental role to play. They are essential and important for the internet marketing field because of the knowledge, information and skills they have. Search engine optimization or SEO is the creativity of designing, writing, coding, link building and programming several different types software that add up to enhancement of web pages. SEO experts come up with the ideas where these elements can appear on the web pages giving priority to the people typing in the specific keywords relative to their search.

SEO experts are behind the science of marketing and they generalize the positioning of the website instead of learning more and more about how to divert traffic towards a particular product. SEO experts give the respective audience a chance to target the needs and concerns they have through online websites and content posting. They make it convenient for the readers to find the suitable and relative information they want on the web pages. They have mastered the skills of copy-writing, website designing, effective coding, development, programming, linking, and analytical skills. 

For link development, an SEO expert knows how to carry out publications within websites to create value added content. Many of the business organizations which are out there in the market hire SEO experts to optimize their websites and develop suitable advertisements for visitors to find.

The maintenance and progress of the company depends on the team of SEO experts which are the real players of the game. They have the knowledge which helps in all of the beginning and advanced stages of search engine optimization. Although you can also perform the task of search engine optimization on your own if you have some basic knowledge and know how to implement some SEO techniques practically. However, if you running your business on a large scale then it is advisable here that you should get some assistance from SEO experts in order to carry out each and everything in the right direction. You will find an excellent firm that work magic on the SEO front with thousands of pre-established links and a proven SEO strategy. Check out A Greater Town to establish a relationship with the top SEO experts in the industry.

The Cloud: Do your Homework

So this raises the question.  How scared should the average business owner be about moving to the cloud?  Of course it’s a complex question.  If you look at it completely academically, you’ll need to value assets, calculate risk and all the rest.  But let’s cover a few practicalities here.

It’s very common for small businesses (and some large ones) to have an attacker inside their systems for months if not years before anyone notices.  When they do notice, there is seldom a competent forensic investigation to determine what has happened and for how long.  Actually, what usually happens when there is a security incident is the sysadmin or IT provider does his/her best to patch it up and move on.  

So would you rather have someone directly inside your systems, or just have a bit of your data in a large pile of other data that a random person may or may not ever go through or use against you? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying “a compromise is going to happen anyways so don’t worry about it”.  What I am saying is that you have to evaluate how critical your data is, and how much you want to protect it.  If you are really worried, build your own solid protection mechanisms.  If you aren't worried, then why would the cloud worry you any more or less?

While I predict there will be several large scale cloud compromises in the next year, the usual attitude of “I don’t need security, nobody would target me, and security consultants and products are too expensive” won’t position you any better.  If you are using security as a reason not to move to the cloud, make sure you’re doing it better.

Somehow, given the aforementioned rationale I doubt most businesses a capable of doing it better. Look closely at your data and how much it means to the bottom line. What if your database were wiped tomorrow and your backup failed. I imagine heads would roll if not total business collapse. 

Bottom line.....do your homework and have people that know the total picture advise on the best course of action.

Social Indexing: An Overview

Search sites could take your friends' opinions into account when you look for restaurants. Newspaper sites could use their knowledge of what's previously captured your attention online to display articles you are interested in. Fundamentally, the Web would be better if it were more oriented around people. To bring this idea to fruition, Facebook is creating a kind of social index of the most frequently visited chunks of the Web.

Many sites have tried to personalize what they offer by remembering your past behavior and showing information they presume will be relevant to you. But the social index could be much more powerful because it also mines your friends' interests and collects information from multiple sites. As a result, the index can give websites a sense of what is likely to interest you even if you've never been there before.

This ambitious project gets much of its information from the simple "Like" button, a thumbs-up logo that adorns many Web pages and invites visitors to signal their appreciation for something—a news story, a recipe, a photo—with a click. Facebook created the concept in 2007 at FriendFeed, a social network that pre-dated Facebook, but was acquired by Facebook in 2009. Back then, the button was just a way to encourage people to express their interests, but in combination with Facebook's user base of nearly 600 million people, it is becoming a potent data-collecting tool. The code behind the Like button is available to any site that wants to add it to its pages. If a user is logged in to Facebook and clicks the Like button anywhere on the Web, the link is shared with that person's Facebook friends. Simultaneously, that thumbs-up vote is fed into Facebook's Web-wide index.

That's how the Wall Street Journal highlights articles that a person's friends enjoyed on its site. This is what lets Microsoft's Bing search engine promote pages liked by a person's friends. And it's how Pandora creates playlists based on songs or bands a person has appreciated on other sites.

This method of figuring out connections between pieces of content is fundamentally different from the one that has ruled for a decade. Google mathematically indexes the Web by scanning the hyperlinks between pages. Pages with many links from other sites rise to the top of search results on the assumption that such pages must be relatively useful or interesting. The social index isn't going to be a complete replacement for Google, but for many types of activity—such as finding products, entertainment, or things to read—the new system's personal touch could make it more useful.

Google itself acknowledges this: it recently rolled out a near-clone of the Like button, which it calls "+1." It lets people signify for their friends which search results or Web pages they've found useful. Google is also using Twitter activity to augment its index. If you have connected your Twitter and Google accounts, Web links that your friends have shared on Twitter may come up higher in Google search results.

Another advantage of a social index is that it could be less vulnerable to manipulation: inflating Google rankings by creating extra links to a site is big business, but buying enough Facebook likes to make a difference is nearly impossible. Social activity provides a really authentic signal of what is authoritative and good. That's why Hunch and other services, including an entertainment recommendation site called GetGlue, are building their own social indexes, asking people to record their positive feelings about content from all over the Web. If you're browsing for something on Amazon, a box from GetGlue can pop up to tell you which of your friends have liked that item.

A social index will be of less use to people who don't have many online connections. And even Facebook's map covers just a small fraction of the Web for now. But about 10,000 additional websites connect themselves to Facebook every day. 

With what appears to be an almost casual global data mining frenzy, there is a nefarious side of the Web's voracious appetate for your data. Privacy in business and for the casual web user could be the next casualty in this exponential information explosion. More on this topic can be found in part II of this series.