success
To boost growing small businesses, start mentoring
Small businesses will play a pivotal role in creating jobs and helping our economy recover, and nothing can give mid-to-late-stage entrepreneurs a better leg up than connecting them to business leaders and all the resources they command. Launching startups requires folks with ideas, passion, and energy, but scaling them takes management expertise. Full article.
Ivy League and privilege not required to make billions
Anyone who doubts that America is the land of opportunity just needs to speak to Harold Hamm, chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Resources, an oil & gas drilling-and-exploration company. Many of his fellow billionaires are men and women who started out with little or no formal education. Experiences with poverty and struggle in their youth gave them the hunger to seek out opportunity and the determination to press on until they succeeded. Full Article.
Avoid first-impression mistakes
Poor first impressions are avoidable; the secret to avoiding this mistake is to spend time preparing before the meeting. There's no excuse for not learning as much as possible about whom you are meeting and their company. If people prepped as much for an important business meeting as they did for a first date, there would be a lot more business success stories. Full article.
Oil and Gas expected from Avoyelles Parish well
The apparent success of the Deshotels 20-H No.1 well, drilled in the southeast section of Avoyelles, set off interest by oil companies in buying mineral leases from Avoyelles Parish land owners. The well, expected to produce both oil and natural gas, is one of seven wells in the North Bayou Jack Field planned by Nelson Energy of Shreveport. Full article.
Basics for aspiring business owners
There is a lot you must know to be successful, yet few of us who own small businesses have the opportunity to attend a good business school. Tips on being successful include joining business groups, not following a lame or non-existent marketing strategy, and making sure you have competent legal advice at a reasonable cost. Full article.
Break the rules and vastly improve your marketing success
With marketing, one of the most important things you need to remember is to ask yourself if what you are doing is right for you, your customers and people you want to associate with. If you follow someone else’s rules and you are not comfortable or it doesn’t make sense as part of your marketing communication, then reconsider it. Breaking the so-called rules means that you are open to possibilities and opportunities that can grow your business and strengthen your relationships. Full article.
Get employees on the Social Media bandwagon
A recent online survey found that when companies look to ramp up social media initiatives, many turn in-house first, especially for small businesses with limited resources. For those companies currently looking to build out or maintain their social media presence, employee buy-in is vital to ensure success, and there are several ways companies can entice employees to embrace the benefits of social media. Full article.
Discover your leadership blind spots
To succeed as a manager, you need to learn how to recognize your blind spots and overcome them because behavioral blind spots create dire and unintended consequences: They corrupt decision-making, reduce our scope of awareness, create enemies, silos, and camps, destroy careers, and sabotage business results. In good times, blind spots are annoying and frustrating; in tough times, they can be lethal. Full article.
Playing Favorites: Identify Your Best Customers
We all have our favorite customers -- the ones who pay promptly, handle problems respectfully and, most important, give us repeat business. It is important, however, to minimize time spent on difficult customers and maximize the time catering to the pleasant and profitable -- the ones who drive our success and satisfaction. The first step is to identify your best customers (if you don't already know) -- and then devote yourself to keeping them utterly delighted with your goods or services. Full article.
Succeed in a down economy
There is much discussion about the importance and power of small business in political, media, and business circles. Some practices in particular can have the greatest impact on retaining and securing new customers. They include being reliable, being financially prudent, being strategic and building a strong team. Full article.
