Previously I have show a video from Rich Hopkins who is preparing to compete in Toastmaster's International Speech contest next month in Calgary.



In his blog today he says that most people quit right before they are about to reach their goal. Rich makes a pretty profound statement here. How many of us cannot look back at a situation and say if we had just kept going...

Of course hindsight is the proverbial 20/20 but instead of thinking about the past we must work toward our feature learn the lessons we can and make sure that we do not stop until our goal is reached. Once we set a goal for ourselves we must set goals everyday that will put us on track to win the goal.

Think about people like Thomas Edison who had many failures before finally figuring out the light bulb. What if he would have stopped before reaching his goal?

The picture shows the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Trophy won by Alan Kulwicki. Despite overwhelming odds including loosing his sponsor after 1990, Alan never lost sight of his goal: to become a winning car owner/driver. He was offered big money to driver the very car he would beat to the championship. Kulwicki would die in a plane crash just months after winning the trophy but he remembered today as the person who fought all the odds and won.

You can go ahead and stop today, but what if that goal of yours is just around the corner or close to it? Will you be second guessing yourself for the rest of your life?

Here is part II of the video from Eden Pagan about hiring.

First he talks about the normal hiring process usually starts to happen when you need a person desperately.

Then he discusses trying to find people over a period of time before you actually need them. One of the ways he mentions to find people is through networking with other business people.

Finally he talks about the cost of miss hiring someone.

What is the meaning of life?



Many people go through life not having proper direction and inspiration in their lives. I have mentioned many times that you need to find out what inspires you, what excites you and will make your life enjoyable.

Now you ask how to find the meaning of life and that spark in your life. The Positivity blog has some ideas on were to find the meaning for your life. The answers may sound obvious but many people still have a hard time working on the answers.

The first thing you need to do is take control of your life. Too many people seem to go through life on autopilot letting others control their lives and taking control of their own lives. This could mean you stay at the same job because you're in a comfort zone or you let someone in your personal life to dictate what you do in your life.

You must take control of your own life.

Second you must add value to your life. Adding value to your life means that you are serving others. This could mean volunteering your time at a homeless shelter or being a part of Habitat for Humanity or any other charity that is designed to help others. Some have abandoned their existing lives to dedicate their entire lives to help others and that gave their life meaning. You do not need to give up everything to find the meaning in your life but serving others is part of finding the real meaning in your life.

Finally you need to do what you love. How many people work a job or have a business they hate and don't enjoy doing? The business you decide to go into must be something you enjoy if you're going to give it all.

In my life I have tried doing something I did not enjoy but thought it would be a good earning opportunities and it just did not work. I gave the job my all but something just did not click and I dreaded when the alarm went off. When I finally found a new position it that I really enjoyed it showed me that you cannot work a job you do not enjoy. When the time comes that work is becoming a chore and you dread that alarm going off, it is time to move on.

Only you can find the true meaning of life for you, make sure you are doing all you can do to find it.

Can you maximize your price in this economy?



The Sales and Sales Management blog has an entry asking this question and giving the answer of yes!

The blog points out that one of the biggest hurdles in being able to maximize your price is not your customers or the economy but instead the fear of asking for the maximum price. Of course there is always fear that a customer will baulk at our price and go to a competitor but you need to be able to sell them on the value of your service.

This works well for service related businesses but what about retail?

In retail the answer can get a little more complicated. If you are in a price conscious market then you can be limited to the price you can sell a product. However, if you have found a unique niche in which you sell products that most of your competitors do not have then you have some more flexibility in your pricing so long as you do get your prices too high.

The Sales and Sales Management Blog has some good information that you may find of use in your business so take a look.

Here is another video that deals with hiring people. This is part one of four, and I will present the other three very soon.

In the Video Eden Pagan talks about how we hire and treat our employees. One of the things he mentions that can really hit home is that many entrepreneurs had bad experiences working for someone else myself included (I can write some whopper books on the subject).

However, he points out that often when we start hiring at our own company we often become the manager or the interviewer that we had a problem with. We fall into the trap of become like them because we are now in that position instead of them.

Another point that Mr. Pagan makes is that we need to find people that do not need to be managed but do need leadership. In other words they can manage themselves but we can lead them to create a great team.

Here is a nice short video that talks about hiring people and managing them. The video also discusses the differences between being a manager and being a leader and there is a big difference.

The video also discusses holding people accountable and how to work with people to make things work better.

One of the things I like about the video is that they say you should not have a job description and instead have a "to do" and not to "do list". This way people now exactly what they should be doing and you do not have the ambiguous nature of some job descriptions.

Finally the speaker talks about when you hire someone, what things you should be looking for including the bad.

Pay attention to the details.



As I have mentioned many times, as a small business owner you have an advantage over the larger businesses because you can provide better and more personal customer service. Another way to stay ahead of the competition is to pay attention to the details. With many companies having payroll cut to the bone, it makes it very hard for them to pay attention to the details and this once again is a chance for you to shine.

One of the ways to pay attention to the details is remembering your customer's names. This was a difficult one for me because I am good at remembering faces but it took me longer to start remembering actual names. However, when you remember a customer's name, you show that you care about them and puts you are a higher level.

One warning about people's names and that is people with difficult spellings and pronunciations. Make sure you ask the person first how their name is pronounced and then practice before calling them by name. The last thing you will want to do is offend a customer you're trying to take care off.

Another detail you will want to pay attention to is deadlines. Plain and simple, if you promise someone it is going to be ready at a certain time or on a certain day, make sure you are done early and have to ready for them.

Nothing will turn customer against you faster than you being late.

Things are going to happen but if something does make sure you take care of your customer. As I have mentioned in the past, there has been a couple of times in the last few years that I have sold on Ebay and shipments have been delayed. Without asking I refunded the customer the shipping charges because it was late. I did not have to do this but I wanted my customer to be happy. I am also happy to say that the customers who had their shipping charges refunded also went on to purchase additional items.

Remember names and make sure you make your deadlines. For more on paying attention to details check out the Freelance Folder Blog.