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Every day as we do business either in person or online, we experience either great customer service, or a total lack of it. Business owners can gain credibility quickly as they are starting out in order to gain business….there are so many clues for success that we can implement from our own personal experiences.
Our daughter is expecting our first grandchild and is going through the process of sorting out everything they will require for the baby. It’s been many years since I have stepped inside a baby store to search for all the gear young parents need. A big difference since we had our children, is the amount of knowledge young parents today have. They are educated, they have done research online, and they know what they want. When they come into a store they have specific things they want to know. Our daughter and son-in-law are in the process of deciding on a stroller. Today it is not uncommon to spend over $700 on a stroller. For a $700 investment, you would expect great customer service. Our daughter went to a specialty shop first to “test drive” the stroller she had in mind. The reps there were extremely knowledgeable and helpful and answered all of her questions. Next, she brought our son-in-law to another store (chain store) that was nearby to an appointment they had. This store carried the same brand and make of stroller, so she thought he could also get all his questions answered. They couldn’t get anyone to help them, and after a long wait, tracked a rep down to ask questions. The rep knew nothing and gave absolutely no service whatsoever. This is an example of two stores, both carrying the same product with the same price tag. One store had 5 reps on the floor, 1/10th of the size of the chain store. It wasn’t a matter of the specialty store being more expensive so they could hire and train more staff. They simply understand the importance of providing outstanding customer service. Today our daughter went back to the specialty shop to look at the car seats, which again, is a much bigger decision than it was 30 years ago. Car seats today expire and are government regulated, at least here in Canada. The car seat is somewhere around $300, so just these two purchases alone will be over $1,000. For that type of price, one expects to have their questions answered. This goes a lot further than just the mom & dad purchasing what they need. Guaranteed they have friends that are also having children, and will be sharing their shopping experiences with them. Add to this the “registry” the expectant parents are putting together for showers. They are not going to direct any business to the store with no service. This is one of the differences between thinking like an employee, and thinking like a business owner. Successful business owners understand it isn’t just about the immediate potential sale, and it isn’t simply a matter of ringing it in on the till. Each person that comes in looking for something specific, no doubt has a list of other things they need, friends that also are going to be needing similar items, and in this case, dozens of other potential customers that will be buying something the parents put on the registry. But it also goes even further. This business with the exceptional service is 1 hour away from our town. I had never heard of it. We used to have one of the chain stores in our town that provided the poor service. It is closed now. Anyone that decides to purchase something from the registry from this store with the exceptional service, will remember this next time they have a baby gift to buy. We have a tight-knit group of friends, about 40+ in total, and the biggest majority of them don’t have grandkids yet. These are all potential future customers for this store. Of course, the staff has no way of knowing the potential of 1 single client that comes into their store, but here lies the importance of getting to know your customer, and providing outstanding service. Good customer service is vital to building a successful business.CLICK TO TWEET There is nothing more powerful in advertising than simple word of mouth, which doesn't cost anything.CLICK TO TWEET As published on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/staff-training-why-its-important/
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 We have all talked about, and heard about the importance of work/life balance. Society today is more connected than ever. There doesn't seem to be a downtime for most, as we witness people attached to their cell phones everywhere we go. We see people in restaurants sitting across from each other, talking to someone else through text messages. This also happens within homes, around the dinner table. People leave their work day, and respond to messages from the office during their evening family time.
I have been self employed since 1985, working out of my home. While this is wonderful, it's important to have disciplines in place. Something effective I did many years ago when our children were young, was install an unlisted phone in our home. That number was only given out to family and closest friends. If it rang during family time, I knew it wasn't work related. Another discipline I put in place was closing my office door when I was done work for the day. Over 30 yrs later, I still maintain these practices. I thank my daughter who actually woke me up to this when she was young. We were baking Christmas cookies and I took a business call in the middle of it, and she started crying and said "mommy you promised you wouldn't work". We have an opportunity to either shuffle moments like this under the carpet, or, recognize it as a wake up call and take different actions. There are also those "important" meetings that just can't be missed. Many work "mandatory overtime", which is a concept I will never understand. These people will lose their jobs if they don't work this "mandatory overtime". Don't get me wrong, I do understand, but I will never accept this is their only choice. There is no way an employer would ever tell me I "must" work overtime or lose my job. It's interesting, when you are self employed you gain a sense of independence and become very solution oriented. We work to live and provide a better life for our families...we do not live to work. There are other jobs, there are other solutions, but as long as employees all "accept" this type of rule, companies will continue to force this upon their employees. There is great danger in neglecting work/life balance, that many do not recognize until it sneaks up on them. All of a sudden an individual feels stressed, unhappy, too busy, pulled in too many directions, and ends up feeling burned out. When you come to this spot of being burned out, you have no energy, and are totally unproductive, in your work, and in your personal life. You cannot possibly bring the best you have to give to the table when you are in an emotional state like this. Your work production goes down, as does what you put into your relationships. Let's look at one of the busiest work roles and learn some powerful distinctions..... I came across an article about our Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who was taking a day off on a Japanese business trip to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife Sophie. Something important I have noticed about this prime minister, is the way he DEMONSTRATES through his actions, the words he uses. We can't talk about work/life balance if we let things that are important in our personal life go. If the Prime Minister of Canada can take a day off, what is so important in your business life that you can't? Think about this example from another perspective. Let's say the Prime Minister put his wedding anniversary on hold until he had more time. What message would this give to his wife? How supportive would she be of his career? What would this do to their relationship? How would that guilt affect his meetings? What would he be demonstrating to his children? Credibility is built by our actions, not our words. If you don't understand the importance of your down time, eventually you will come to resent the work you do, regardless of how much you love your work. We work to live, we don't live to work. If you are putting the important things in your life on the back burner, the joy goes out of your work, you feel resentful and it becomes something you are doing just to pay the bills. You will not be producing at your maximum potential and your work will suffer. Those that understand the importance of work/life balance, understand the many benefits associated with it. Creativity - I have personally found that it is during my downtime I get some of my most creative ideas. Being around water is particularly effective for me, pools, the beach, on a boat. The same type of effect can also come from fire - fireplaces, campfires, etc. It is the action of sitting still and staring at either water or fire, that the mind slows down and you identify new ideas. It is important to understand the ideas come because the mind is still and relaxed, not because you are attempting to force creativity. We CAN create this type of feeling at any time. We have often built a campfire in our backyard on a week night for instance. It is amazing how much of a treat this feels like, and how refreshed you feel, as if you have been away for the weekend. Refreshed - When you have taken some downtime to do those things that fill your heart with joy, you become refreshed, and you can see new perspectives. It gives you a renewed energy to get back to work. Happiness - When we are stressed we lose our sense of happiness. When we come back from a break, we feel happier, we have created some new memories and the "reason" for working is felt through the reward of time off with those we love. This translates into feeling happy. Happy, refreshed, creative people are obviously more productive in their work, in their relationships, and in their personal lives. It's vital to understand that this is all intermingled. When we have balance between work and our personal lives, we naturally perform better in everything we do. I challenge anyone reading this to take a moment and reflect....are you "too busy" and putting things in your personal life off? Take a moment and ask yourself what is so important? If the Prime Minister of Canada walks the walk of work/life balance, and can take a day off, so can you. Click HERE for my FREE e-course: Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset.Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this pg. Debbie's also on: FB YouTube G+https://plus.google.com/+DebbieRuston-TheSuccessEducatorAnd now on iTunes As published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-worklife-balance-debbie-ruston?trk=prof-post It’s no secret that employee retention is important, and lack of focus on this area, costs companies millions of dollars per year. Yet, many companies continue to experience high turnover and are not doing anything to address it. The first step is to actually VALUE your employees. When you have good people in a position, do what it takes to keep their engagement high and their job satisfaction at a peak. Realize if you don’t keep employees happy, another company will be happy to. Today's employees want to FEEL valued.CLICK TO TWEET There are many ways employers can accomplish this. Recognition is often overlooked. When people are going beyond the call of duty, recognize them. This could be done verbally, in a staff meeting, employee of the month recognition, taking them for lunch, a small gift certificate for a local coffee shop, or many other ways. If you choose to take them for lunch, it can benefit in a couple of different ways. The obvious is they will appreciate the gesture. Secondly, and often overlooked, is the opportunity to talk in a non work environment about the goals they have, what they would like to learn, etc. A casual conversation over lunch is different than a formal mtg in an office. You may very well gain some valuable information that you wouldn’t otherwise get, in the office. Because today’s employees want to learn and grow, you could tie this into feeling valued. Give out gift certificates for books, or actually take 60 seconds to wrap up a favorite business book that you would like them to read. What a great way to provide training, get the messages across that are important to your organization, and to help them learn, grow, and feel valued. Remember if they cannot learn, grow and advance in their present role, most will not stay past 2-3 years. The millennial generation is looking to make up time and hit their career goals.CLICK TO TWEET If this can’t be done where they are, they will move on to another company that will support this. Make sure you are supporting their ongoing learning and development to help them reach their potential. This benefits them as well as your company. Being a part of something meaningful is another area of importance to today’s employees. Get creative, ask for feedback on things you can do as a company to make a difference. Your employees have ideas, give them the space to share those ideas. This will also help them feel valued. Nothing feels better inside than to feel what you do actually makes a positive difference. When employees are happy, self motivated, feel they have a “reason” beyond the paycheck to do what they do, they are more engaged, and employee retention is a natural result. As featured on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/employee-retention-is-important-to-your-business/ IT IS VERY COMMON to hear people say becoming an entrepreneur is just too risky, or too much work, or not secure. Yet, everyday, people have that dream in their hearts, but don’t act on it.
Let’s look at some of the things we have done in our lives that have been risky:
Learning to drive can be fearful and risky. What if you have an accident, what if you injure someone, yet look how many drivers are on the road. It’s normal to get your license. Choosing a career path and going to higher ed to obtain the knowledge/degree to pursue that career can be considered very risky, yet most have also accepted this is normal. It is not uncommon today for young people to be carrying $50,000+ in outstanding student loans. What if after a 4, 5, 8 year program, and all the cost that goes with it, you find it doesn’t fulfill you and isn’t what you want to do for a living? What if you incur all that debt and can’t find work in your field? This is happening to many grads, there is a very high underemployment rate. Something else to consider is people who thought they would be working in a particular field their entire careers are being downsized that never thought they would be – teachers, health care professionals, etc. Again, this investment into higher ed is considered “normal”. Making a life commitment of marriage can feel risky. Some people become very anxious at the thought, while others embrace it fully. For the most part marriage is something that a very high percentage of people accept as being a normal risk to take. Remember buying your first home? What if you can’t keep up the payments, what if you lose your home? These are all risks that every home owner has taken, yet, like marriage, it is considered to be a normal risk to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to put a roof over your head. Add to this, that most leave that home they are paying for to work 40, 50, 60 hrs a week, just to pay the bills, and don’t have the time they want in the home they are working their butts off for. Again, this is considered normal. Starting a family is risky. Will you be a good parent? Will it affect your relationship? Will your children be healthy? Yet everyday, new lives are brought into our world. There is also the expense of raising children, that is a lifetime commitment….again, society accepts this as normal. Stop for a moment and ask yourself: WHY IS ALL THIS CONSIDERED “NORMAL”, AND WHY ARE PEOPLE WILLING TO TAKE THESE RISKS? It isn’t RISK that people are afraid of…people take many risks every day. It is doing something that is not considered NORMAL. If most of the population isn’t doing it, it doesn’t feel “normal” . THIS is what stops people from following their hearts…if they don’t see everyone around them doing it, they think it’s not normal and therefore too risky. This is the way we have been conditioned to think. Once you have an awareness of this, it is a wake up and you have the opportunity to actually start thinking for yourself. Really reflect on this….how many of these “risks” have you taken? Were there challenges with any of these things? Did you push through those challenges? Why did you push through the challenges you encountered? We tend to push through and find solutions to challenges when our desire outweighs the challenge. CLICK TO TWEET It’s amazing how creative we can be when our desire is strong enough. 100 years ago, it was “normal” to be an entrepreneur. Everyone had their own little business of some sort, and took responsibility to provide for themselves. When the industrial age started, companies started “conditioning” people that they “needed” the security of working a job, being paid a set salary, having benefits, etc. Society bought this belief and today, there are so many years of conditioning, that people have forgotten just how capable they are, and, how to think for themselves. Those that want to become entrepreneurs often talk themselves out of it, or listen to “well-meaning” people that discourage their dreams. Their fear of risk, and their conditioned belief to be normal, outweighs their desire. The first step is to recognize it is not fear of risk that is holding you back, it is fear of not doing what society considers NORMAL. Next look at all the areas you have successfully taken risk and had success. Identify how much capital it requires to start the business you want. This can vary greatly….from a few thousand dollars to several million. Something I see on a regular basis is potential small business owners giving up on their dreams of becoming an entrepreneur because they are afraid to invest $2,000, $5,000 $10,000 into a business they want to start. A wake up for these individuals is to ask themselves “why would I invest $50,000 in a car that will only depreciate, and not invest a small amount like this into a business that will pay me over and over again. When you bring it into perspective like this, you recognize how small you are playing in life, and how you are letting fear of risk stop you from achieving your goals. As published on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/is-it-normal-to-become-an-entrepreneur/_ A very simple principle that all successful people understand fully is to surround yourself with people that you can learn and grow with, and those you enjoy spending time with. When you surround yourself with those that you can learn from, it accelerates your own progress. This applies to all aspects of life. Here are a few I have experienced....
Work - like minded goal driven people. There is nothing more frustrating in business than to be surrounded with small thinkers, people that are just settling for whatever life brings, and those that do not pull their own weight. That is, unless that is what you want in your life. I am very fortunate to be surrounded by visionary, creative, fun, happy, self motivated, supportive, big thinkers in my work. This adds to the fulfillment I gain, we learn from each other, share in each others's successes, and work doesn't seem like work. If you find yourself constantly frustrated with your work, reflect and ask yourself if you are on the same page as your co-workers and employer. If not, you will feel like you have no sense of control...work just becomes something that pays the bills and in many cases, leaves you coming up short. Identify what is important to you, what you want to experience in your work, and have the courage to make a change. If you are the employer, and your staff is not on the same page, you either have to explore to find out what is missing, and start providing it, or, you have the wrong people in the role and may be time to replace them. It's vital in the workplace to be surrounded with those that are in sync with the vision you have and are doing what it takes. Cooking - I have never been interested in cooking. To me, it was always just another domestic "job" to do each day. I've always had a career, and I wasn't interested in spending time cooking. Of course I did it to feed my family, but didn't enjoy the process. That all changed when our daughter grew up and met her future husband. They spend a ton of time with us, and are extraordinary cooks. Something that I first learned from them, was to make cooking fun. Put on some music, have a glass of wine, have some laughs together as a family as you are preparing the meal, and make it a real experience. It was such a different perspective than I had all the years our kids were growing up, and I am very grateful they had such a positive influence and demonstrated how to really enjoy the process of cooking. Let's face it, it's something we have to do everyday to live...why not enjoy the process? A good strategy is to identify something that you don't enjoy doing, but needs to be done, and find a way to implement these type of ideas. Find someone you know that does enjoy the activity, and pick their brain on their methods. You will find some distinctions you can implement that you may not have thought of. Exercise - Many years ago, our grown son was working at a gym. He was in a sales position, so of course, one of his first sales was to my husband and I. I had avoided exercise my whole life and only signed up for the gym to help him out. However, since I paid for it, I was determined to attend classes and get my money's worth. I started losing weight, feeling better, having more strength and energy, was capable of doing things I had never been able to. Because of that experience, I became committed to my health and fitness. Simply helping him, gave me a gift of better health and fitness and I have been fully self motivated for many many years now. He is very committed to his health and fitness and because of that, it rubbed off on me. Friends - We are fortunate to be surrounded with fun, happy, funny, music lovers as friends. We all also love to get together for pot luck dinners, wine & cheese, appetizers, attending live music events, etc. These are all things that we personally love, and by surrounding ourselves with friends that enjoy the same things, it adds so much joy to our lives. Our grown kids are always at these events, and our friends are a big part of their lives as well. It takes these experiences up another notch when you share these things with people you love. The ordinary, becomes the extraordinary and increases the joy in your downtime. If your life isn't where you want it, take a look at all the areas that you are dissatisfied with, and reflect on who you are surrounded with in each area. This will be very revealing. The next step is to have the courage to go forward in the direction you want to go and seek like minded people in those particular areas. As Published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accelerate-your-life-debbie-ruston?published=t Click HERE for my FREE e-course: Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset.Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this pg. Debbie's also on: FB YouTube G+https://plus.google.com/+DebbieRuston-TheSuccessEducatorAnd now on iTunes “Why are we doing “it” this way? It’s the way we’ve always done it.“
IF YOU ARE LIKE MOST PEOPLE, you have heard this said more than once in your life. It is a way of thinking that tremendously holds people back in life and in business. As an entrepreneur, it is vital that you don’t make this mistake. If you are doing things the way you always have, you will miss out on new growth opportunities.CLICK TO TWEET For instance, you may have always done your marketing through print…newspapers, magazines, trade publications, etc. Although social media has been around for many years now, it is something you have avoided, and believe you have always done print, it’s been good enough, why change. The key distinction is, if you are missing out on something that is new and proven to work, you are limiting your growth potential. Adding a FB page where your clients can follow, learn about updates, post sales, gain knowledge through added value content you post are all free forms of marketing you just can’t get through print. You are missing a whole market of people if you are not on social media and will be left behind as millennials continue to become part of the largest demographic. Another example might be looking at something that isn’t quite producing what you want. It might be a service, a product, or simply your way of interacting with clients. If it isn’t producing the result you want, it is time to tweak it…ask yourself how you could do it differently. The answer may not come to you immediately, and you may be married to your old idea. Be willing to be flexible and think out of the box. If you keep asking yourself how you could tweak it, you will get new ideas that you can test. It’s important to understand, that not every idea will work…be willing to test new things, and run with your inspired ideas when you have them. Test, and test again until you find the magic idea that takes you to the next level you aspire to.CLICK TO TWEET Maybe you have thought about adding to your product line, but not sure how it would go over. Why not ask your existing clients? Send them out a survey and get some valuable feedback from people who already do business with you. I just had this experience with a business I support, and was happy to do the survey, and excited about what they are looking at bringing in as a new product. Another local business just posted this on their FB account: In celebration of the fact that we really, really like you. Our Friday Half Price Margarita Pizza and $5 Beer Promotion will now be served ALL DAY all YEAR ROUND. Get the word out: Share and Like and we will pick a name to win dinner for 2. What an easy way to reach the people who already support your business, and to spread the message to the people THEY know. By posting something similar to this, you will benefit from your clients spreading the news on your behalf. Have the courage to step out the box of conformity and test new things….very often one little idea can bring about brand new, amazing results! As published on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/follow-your-inspired-ideas-to-create-more-success-as-an-entrepreneur/  Have you ever gone through a period where you felt like you were stuck?
It could be writers block, no ideas, forcing it, no direction, etc. This comes up for me as well every once in a while when I am writing. Like many, I sit in front of my computer attempting to come up with something, forcing it, and I'm never satisfied with what I produce in this state of mind. This could be stressful and frustrating because I made a commitment to myself to provide valuable content in several different forms each day of the week, Mon-Friday, to anyone who follows me. If I have a down week when nothing is coming to mind, I would be so stressed out and beat myself up because I wouldn't be keeping that commitment to myself. I have learned through trial and error that makes you even more unproductive, and have found some solutions around it that have been very effective. Something that has proven time and again, to get me out of that funk where I can't seem to create, is to read, or listen to TED talks or something of that nature. I don't read to"get" ideas. I read and watch things of interest. I get back to noticing things. I watch educational videos. I watch and listen to people, everywhere in every interaction I have. I look for lessons, that apply both to life and business. Even though I consider myself "the student" and always learning and growing myself, I put my "student" cap back on, with an awareness that if I am not creating, I can be learning new things. Before i know it, I am back in to "flow"....ideas come rushing to mind as if I never had the block at all. And when this rush starts, I sit at my computer and write and write and write about my ideas. The really interesting part of this, is when I attempt to force, it can take hours to write an article and I am never happy with it. Yet, when I am in "flow", I can produce each article in about 5 min., and I rarely change anything about it. I also produce my material in advance so that if I have a week or two were I can't seem to create, or, if I have other commitments coming up, I can keep my commitment I have made to myself of bringing valuable content to my followers 5 days a week. I have a vault, so to speak, of material I have produced that is ready for release. This allows me to pull from the vault when I have these little down times, without beating myself up. It also allows me to maintain balance in my life and be present for things that are important in my personal life. My daughter is having our first grandchild in Oct., so I have been working away filling up that vault of content the first few months of this year while it was cold and snowy, so that I won't miss a beat when the baby comes and I can maintain my schedule even though I will be taking some time off. Inspiration is fascinating...when we are in an inspired state, it is like someone turned on the tap of ideas....they come fast and furious. The key is to take advantage of this. It will take far less time to get the job done when you are in an inspired state of mind. Click on the HERE for my FREE e-course: Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset.Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this pg. Debbie's also on: FB YouTube G+https://plus.google.com/+DebbieRuston-TheSuccessEducatorAnd now on iTunes As published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lacking-creativity-debbie-ruston?trk=prof-post WHEN YOU WANT to grow your business in a new direction, sometimes you can be at a loss as to what will work and what won’t. Most people have a “built in” fear to attempt to do anything new or different. We are conditioned to play it safe, and “color within the lines” so to speak.
This is fine if you want the same results as you have always had, or if you are happy settling for what everyone else has. The most successful entrepreneurs think differently however. Successful entrepreneurs are not afraid of testing new things, thinking out of the box, doing things differently than others in their field. If you want to raise the bar in your results, ask yourself, what could be done better? CLICK TO TWEET Very often if things are running along just as always, we never think to ask ourselves what we could improve upon. Just because something is working well, doesn’t mean it couldn’t be done better. Let’s say you have a website that is bringing in business on a regular basis. You may think it brings in business, why would I change it? Take a different approach. Develop another website that would attract a whole different market. Allow yourself to think out of the box and determine who else could benefit from your product or service that you are not currently servicing as clients. Once you determine that niche, work from there and put together a site that speaks to the needs of that niche and how you can provide service. This can also be duplicated on social media channels. There is no rule in business of having only one website. What you offer most likely would benefit many different niches, and to capture that in all one website is not effective. Direct your sites to the markets you want to penetrate. Imagine just adding one new niche market every year. How could that lead to massive growth in your business. A question that may arise is, what if I spend the time and or money (if you can’t do it yourself) and it doesn’t work? This type of thinking is what holds businesses back. If it doesn’t work, you will learn some new powerful distinctions that could be the stepping stone to finding what does work. They key is to listen to your heart. I read a great book by Elizabeth Gilbert recently called Big Magic that addresses this principle if you would like to learn more about following your inspired ideas. If an inspired idea comes to you, act on it…there is a reason you are being inspired in that direction. As posted on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/successful-entrepreneurs-innovate/_  I read a great article recently by CEO Kim Shepherd, talking about culture in organizations.
She stated something powerful that many in business miss. "Great culture welcomes like family. Invest in onboarding and you’ll see the returns. When a new team member starts at DT, we send a giant fortune cookie that says, “We predict a very bright future for you at Decision Toolbox.” We let them know they have the freshest eyes, and that makes them one of the most important people on our team . . . please tell us what you see that’s missing or inefficient or redundant. Not only does that set the stage for them to engage and participate, but it also sends a loud and clear message that they are valued." I have a new puppy, and as I was sitting outside on the first day this spring, it reminded me of this. She notices and observes everything! A couple of flies were buzzing around the grass, and ants crawling on the deck, and she was watching them with amazement. She notices every sound, and is curious about absolutely everything, just as we are as infants. As we progress through life, we start to lose this childlike curiosity and stop noticing all the little things around us. This also happens in business. When we are new, we notice everything and how things are done. We are usually conditioned on the "how". After some time, we become almost robotic....performing our work without having to think. This is both good and bad. It's great to become competent, however, it's so important to maintain the fresh perspective, curiosity and observations that we have when we are new at something. We have all heard the phrase "we couldn't see the forest for the trees". Reflect and think about how long you have been in your current career. Bring yourself back to the first day. You most likely felt like you were on information overload. You may have felt overwhelmed at all there was to do and learn. But, you got through it, and are now sitting where you are today. What if you stopped, and asked yourself some new questions....could this potentially bring about new, innovative ideas you haven't identified? Ask yourself: -How long have I been in this role -What has changed -What hasn't changed -Are there any new ways of doing different tasks that I haven't learned about -What needs improving -Does anyone I work with know how to do things I would like to learn -How could we help each other learn and grow You could literally add as many questions here as you like. The point is, to step out of comfort, step out of the box, be willing to shake things up a bit, be willing to be the student and look at things with a fresh perspective. If you are a business owner, you could make this a new project with your existing staff. Hold a "innovation" week, where you encourage staff to submit any and all ideas they have to make it a better place to work, more effective ways to communicate, deal with customer service, marketing ideas, etc. You could start an "employee suggestion of the month" club, whereby you use this exercise as the launch pad to create an environment where staff is self motivated to bring ideas to the table. The rewards could be as simple as their picture up for the month where clients can see it in the place of business, and perhaps a feature spot on your website and social media channels. Give them recognition, it builds their confidence, their sense of feeling valued and their self esteem and self motivation. You might include a gift card for a coffee shop, or online shopping. It doesn't have to be much, even a $25 gift card is valued by people. This will also be noticed by your clients, that will see you value your employees. Think for a moment what one new idea could do for your business. -increased profits, new clients -happier, more engaged employees -build loyalty in the workplace -employees taking on stronger leadership & personal responsibility -staff teamwork -clients will "feel" the strength of the company through those employees -clients will be confident in doing business because of this The rewards absolutely outweigh the very small cost..... As featured on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-fresh-perspectives-business-debbie-ruston?published=t Click HERE for my FREE e-course: Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset.Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this pg. Debbie's also on: FB YouTube G+https://plus.google.com/+DebbieRuston-TheSuccessEducatorAnd now on iTunes |
AuthorDebbie Ruston - Entrepreneur - International Trainer, Visionary Leader 
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