The first step to planning for year-end growth and beyond is to align our priorities and values with specific far-reaching goals to include the latest applicable technology. No one person, company, or even country has all the answers. We must heed …

Growing up, many of us frequently experience bullying and degradation to begin questioning our existence. The underlying question relates to our meaning of life and what we may bring forward ‘one day.’
I was motivated to snap the photo of the beautiful clouds as we were flying home from overseas travel. Clouds can represent sunshine or storms or barriers vs. possibilities in real life. Our life story is about how we handle our unique clouds.

The anticipation of travel, the journey itself, and the aftermath raise awareness of the good, bad, and the need for improvement upon the trip’s conclusion. Of course, the goal is to walk away with fond everlasting memories. But nothing is safe from imperfection, and for business, we can pick up on instances and nuances to improve our approach upon our return. Travel can open minds to new business strategies.

NOTE: After today, new blog content will publish by the beginning of September. I am ready for a new adventure and will be traveling abroad to Oslo, taking a small ship cruise around Iceland, and ending the trip with a visit to Copenhagen.

The three-year almost isolation period due to COVID increased my desire to explore new countries, meet people of varying cultures, and learn from all the experiences before me. The open mind and willingness to learn daily from everything and everyone we encounter bring us unforeseen insights and new opportunities that can take us to new heights.

The sales profession teaches us that communications of all types and topics naturally include our body language or posturing. The posturing serves to get the point across, negotiate or mediate a solution, and ultimately come to a happy conclusion. Of course, we are describing the best possible situation and outcome.

My Story

An intimate group gathering for dinner and a more profound conversation afterward brings a smile upon recalling one gentleman’s facial expression. The next day, I told him I found his reactions highly entertaining, but discussing them in front of the person speaking would have been insulting!

Early in our careers, many of us tend to get bored, or the markets take a severe drop leaving us to wonder, is it time to journey in a new direction? A recent article in The Washington Post concerns a modern-day establishment in No. Virginia that has a remarkable history and prompts our blog post. The article-provoking reveals an inspiring woman’s career journey, and the thought-provoking article is titled, ‘Wolford Rolls out Round Hill Events Venue.’

Joan Wolford hoped to make it to Broadway at the start of her career, but it wasn’t in the cards. However, she did sing with bands plus other activities to support herself. Her career history includes waiting on tables at dining establishments and other endeavors. Today, she is creating a new Western dining and entertainment destination. The remarkable side to the story is that ‘Joan Wolford, owner of this year’s favorite Catering Company: Savoir Faire, has spent the past three years converting the former Round Hill furniture factory building into a Catering venue.’

Remote work is here to stay, and companies will do their best by enhancing their remote meetings. Enhancement may consist of ease of use, including varying ways for staff to share ideas. Examples include speaking and sharing a whiteboard with pictures or a film clip to add value to their thoughts. The greater the variety of methods for involving the team via video conferencing, productivity will likely increase, adding to business growth.

Our guest blog provides insights on how to boost your video conferencing productivity with their guide. Below you will learn techniques to improve engagement, efficiency, and outcomes in virtual meetings.

In today’s modern business era, remote work has become increasingly prevalent. Companies and employees alike are embracing the convenience and flexibility that video conferencing provides. However, video conferencing can sometimes feel burdensome and unproductive without better optimization efforts.

Creative communications of many types will enthuse your audience, but only some recognize the fact or want to take responsibility. The typical approach in the sales environment is to memorize scripts; sadly, not everyone acknowledges the lack of enthusiasm associated with doing so.
We each have varying abilities, and we must capitalize on our best. For example, I use humor to engage people, but only some of us know how to stir laughter. The essential element is speaking to the prospect’s interests and addressing their needs, wants, and desires to enhance our business. The question is, Are you ready to enthuse your audience?

Are you worried that AI sales assistants will take over your job?
For the next foreseeable future, AI will not replace sales professionals, but sales professionals who know how to use AI will replace those that do not know how to use AI.

In a McKinsey report about the future of AI in the workplace, one of their top recommendations to sales professionals is to get their team trained on generative AI basics immediately. Their research indicated that companies investing in AI have already seen a 10 to 20 percent sales ROI increase.

Throughout history, we have lived through good and bad times. The worst gets us down, while reflecting on the good can lift our spirits to move onward and improve future circumstances. Even better is being in good company with friends, networks, and groups with similar interests. Our hearts can dramatically lift while enjoying the time together. Periodically, recalling the past is wise to improve your future.

The caution we use comes in all shapes and forms, particularly in the degree we embrace and the individual embracing it. As one who advocates taking calculated risks to advance careers and business, we must weigh all contributory factors upfront before proceeding.

On the other side of the coin is the hard fact that we may be left behind if we do not do our best to understand and embrace new trends, technology, and concepts in their early stages, and prompts today’s question, Do you proceed cautiously?

Occasionally personal circumstances will get ugly for anger to appear. But we all know that getting angry resolves nothing except helping one go down a sinkhole. In business, many topics arise that create unnecessary competitiveness, ugliness, and, ultimately, threats of quitting. Using the typical approach serves no one.

Depending upon the profession, using this strategy below to resolve variances in thinking may use the term mediator or negotiator. The term negotiator implies tough questioning and answers, whereas mediation implies a more friendly tone to find a compromise solution. Therefore, today’s question for consideration is, do you prefer to negotiate or mediate?

In our youth, few consider what it will be like for our unique mind, body, and spirit in the coming decades. Most view themselves as invincible and living to be at least 100 years old. The question is, will you age wisely? refers to not necessarily increasing our IQ but realizing how we may improve our mind, body, and spirit. For many reasons, it’s wise to move into later years to diminish some of the prevalent issues for many.

Once again, there are two sides to every topic, conversation, and approach to how we expect to succeed. In today’s environment, caution is a necessity. Otherwise, clicking on a seemingly credible link proving to be otherwise can lead us where no one wants to go. In this instance, curiosity will not work in your favor, only to get the best of you.

The better model is to concentrate on the giving part of curiosity; doing so will have curiosity work to your favor. And underlying details of each segment may add to the confusion until we sort out our unique direction. Not doing so will have one fading into the crowded playing field while emphasizing one’s unique approach to business and life will attract those possessing similar ideals.

Upfront, we may laugh out loud upon seeing the question, Do you handle rejection well? The downward progression can take hold if we don’t act up front. Typical actions are tearing oneself apart to wonder if the possibility and the individual are worthless. Subscribing to the thought, people then accept job offers beneath their capabilities, quit their entrepreneurships, and then tend to feel sorry for themselves.

Learning how to handle rejection well can take years for many to cope with feeling unwanted and not having anything to offer. But when willing, we can rise above the hurt, doubt, and unreasonable occurrences to supersede the moment.

Businesses thrive when they hire well. From brilliant new ideas to hard-working individuals, these are the employees you want in your business because they can bring new productivity levels into your business. But most likely, most of those you hire won’t be workers going the extra mile.

On the one hand, most people join smaller companies to build up their resume so they can apply for more credible and better-paying jobs. However, there are still many ways you can improve your recruiting efforts and find incredible talent for your business. The bonus is in attracting longer-term staff. The topic prompts our collaborative blog, effective ways to improve recruiting and talent for your business.

Having skills and knowledge concerning a particular subject will always give you an advantage in business and life. Sometimes those skills help you to carry out a specific role, but we can also use them in other ways. Teaching your skills could be great if you’re considering setting up a business but need help figuring out where to start. Of course, teaching is a skill in itself, whether in person or through various methods such as online courses, books, and more. But if you can teach effectively, you could build a valuable business by passing on desirable skills, plus create a loyal fan base.

Our collaborative blog offers ways to embrace sharing your skills to build a robust business.

Do you want to improve your career, or are you looking to improve your business? Currently, we’re living in the age of brands and logos. Brands and logos are everywhere; in fashion, people will only buy certain foods due to a brand, and some will spend thousands with a logo on the product. Essentially, we’re in Logomania 2.0, and it’s far more robust than it was during the prerecession of 2007. With that said, a logo is one of the most significant ways for small businesses to stand out. Additionally, there are many benefits all small businesses can expect from promotional products.

It is essentially Business Owner 101, but it goes further than that. You can use your logo to promote your business through products. There are so many ways and benefits behind simply putting your logo on a product! Want to know more? Keep reading on to learn about all the benefits of promotional products!