Five Tips to Motivate Small-Business Workers

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WHEN YOU RUN A lean operation, how do you motivate your work force?

Sure, large corporations with deep pockets can easily dangle bonuses, perks and an array of fancy reward programs (often created by outside consultants) to encourage employees to outperform. Yet, small businesses with limited budgets have a distinct advantage: Chances are, you probably know all your employees. So it's easier to show 'em you care.

In many cases, employees will perform best for a boss who can accommodate their needs, whether that's giving them an afternoon off to take care of a personal situation, re-arranging their work schedule so they can pick up kids from school, or allowing them to telecommute as needed, says John Challenger, head of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago.

"Small business can be so flexible," he says. "Big companies have policies, and if they make an exception they think the whole world will fall apart."

So when it comes to energizing your staff, being small can be your best advantage. Here are five steps to engage your employees:

1. Communicate your vision

A boss at a small firm should explain the company's missions and goals, preferably right when a new employee starts, says Jeanie Adkins, a rewards consultant at Mercer Human Resource Consulting in Louisville, Ky. Studies at larger corporations show that employees perform better when they understand the company's vision, think the company's mission is worthwhile, and think they can contribute to the success of the organization, she says. "Small businesses have perhaps an easier task than big ones because it's easier to create that line of sight," she says.

2. Acknowledge your limitations

Admit it: You may not be able to provide the same opportunities for promotion that a large company can. But, "what you can do is make sure employees are getting the mentoring, training and development that they need to build a career with you — or someone else," Adkins says. While it sounds counterintuitive, offering an employee valuable (and marketable) work skills can reinforce good performance, she says.

3. Involve workers in special projects

Ask your employees to step away from their routine jobs and come up with creative solutions to customers' problems, suggests Ron Wince, president of Guidon Performance Solutions, a Mesa, Ariz., consulting firm. That sends a message that you value their creativity, which in turns boosts their job satisfaction. "If you go into a company and all people do is punch the clock, you as a customer can almost always tell how the morale is in an organization," he says. Once a month, invite a cross-section of employees to meet for a few hours and work on a particular issue, usually one involving customer service. Not only will you probably get some good ideas, but "the employee feels like they're part of something," he says.

4. Offer "add-ons" in addition to wages

Younger people, in particular, have grown up hearing catch phrases like "work-life balance" and value benefits such as child-care programs, flexible schedules, and even wellness initiatives almost as much as competitive salaries, says Pete Stoddart, a spokesman for Ceridian, a Minneapolis human-resources company. A small-business owner might not have the resources for formal programs, but can promise the flexibility to work with individuals in the event of major life events, such as the birth of a child, the death of a relative or health problems. And consider employee-assistance programs, which have come down in price and can be purchased by small businesses for roughly "a few dollars per employee per month," he says. "It's a very easy thing for a small-business owner to have in place."

5. Get creative with rewards

At trucking company Admiral Merchants Motor Freight in Minneapolis, which has about 60 employees, human-resources manager Augusta Kirk has come up with an original (and relatively low-budget) rewards program called "Run to the Border" to encourage the office staff to exercise. Working under a $2,000 budget, Kirk doles out gift certificates to restaurants and sporting-goods stores to employees who agree to work out for 30 minutes, five days a week, for all of 2007. (Kirk says each work-out session equals about six miles, so by the end of the year, employees who stick to it will log 1,508 miles, roughly the distance between their office and the Mexican border.) "You definitely do have better-performing employees if they are more active," she says. If an exercise routine doesn't work for your staff, Challenger suggests something like an NCAA basketball tournament. "Rather than drive the pools underground, do it for free and give an award out to the winner," he says.
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Taking the Mystery Out of Mystery Shoppers

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Who wouldn't love to try luxurious products for free? It's this premise that entices many people to become mystery shoppers.

Market researchers often solicit real consumers to anonymously evaluate the quality of a product or service by purchasing it and then reporting back. It's a seemingly great deal for consumers -- mystery shoppers are reimbursed for their expenses and get to keep the product.

But beware: There are a number of fraudulent mystery-shopping promoters waiting to pounce. In fact, last week the Federal Trade Commission charged a company called Mystery Shop Link with promoting fraudulent claims to consumers who lost millions of dollars because of the service. In a written release, the FTC states:

"In exchange for the $99.95 fee for one year of service, consumers thought they would be trained and certified as mystery shoppers, and would gain access to job postings available through the company, with enough paid assignments available to ensure a steady part-time or full-time income. Instead, consumers received a worthless certification and access to re-postings of other mystery shopping assignments posted by other companies, who were unrelated to the defendants. Consumers still had to apply for these jobs, most of them low-paying, and had no advantage over anyone else who found the postings elsewhere for free."

So how do you find a legitimate mystery shopping gig? First of all, know that you will almost never have to pay to become one. If you come across an ad promoting a mystery shopping service that requires you to fork over any cash, move on.

Also, you should avoid mystery shopping promoters who claim they can get you "certified." Companies that need mystery shoppers usually require no such thing. And if you get a pitch to become a mystery shopper by e-mail or see an ad in your newspaper's "help wanted" section, it's probably best to move on.

To make sure you're not swindled, follow these steps from the FTC to find a real mystery shopping job:

• Do a Web search of mystery shopping companies. Look for ones that are accepting applications -- and don't charge a fee for you to complete it.
• Do your homework. There are many books available on the subject, such as "The Mystery Shopper's Manual" and "How to Become a Mystery Shopper." Read up and understand what it takes to be a good mystery shopper.
• Start with the Mystery Shopping Providers Association Web site at www.mysteryshop.org. You can find out how to register with an MSPA member company, browse available jobs and feel confident that the ones represented there are legitimate.

Source: StartupJournal | Retailing

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Managing a Satellite Staff

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Mergers and acquisitions, plus flexible time and multiple work sites, have created the need for alternative work situations--and in many cases this means offsite teams. In the electronic age, employees at different sites can be connected by e-mail, fax, telephone and web conferencing. Whether your employees are working at a different plant, factory, office building or simply from home, addressing the issue of satellite staffs is vital to your business’s success.

What type of employee is best suited for off-site work? Specifically, employees must be independent self-starters who do not need an on-site supervisor. They need to be assertive enough to speak up, state views and ask for assistance before situations become critical. In addition, they must be self-critical workers who can evaluate their own work and know when input from others is needed. They must voluntarily seek advice and counsel from others without fear of appearing inadequate, unconfident or unprofessional. And most importantly, they must be able to create their own work day and schedule without the structure of a formal, eight-hour day.

But what problems can arise in a satellite or home office? First, off-siters sometimes complain that they don’t feel like part of the team, that an esprit de corps doesn’t exist because of the physical separation between offices. Also, developing a rapport between supervisee and supervisor can be difficult since the latter isn’t on-site. As a result, it’s easy for milestones and deadlines to go unmet. Unsupervised work can become distracted, off-course and less than optimal. A related issue is “out of sight, out of mind”: An off-siter’s work may not be considered or valued as highly as that of on-siters. And finally, without an externally imposed structured day, work performance can suffer.

So what can you do to ensure that your offsite employees’ productivity and success don’t falter? First, you must clearly communicate your expectations of remote workers, including key milestones and deadlines. The milestones should be firm and short term to ensure that work is acceptable, timely and coordinated with on-site employees. Feedback on progress should be specific, measurable, timely and action-oriented. Above all, your remote workers should feel that they can easily seek out a supervisor for advice, counsel and input.

To further ensure accountability, goals must be clearly stated and written to guarantee agreement between all parties. An oft-stated truism applies here: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.” Starting off on the wrong foot or in an inappropriate direction can spell disaster, especially when working at different sites. In addition to goals, agreed-upon standards and level of quality will help eliminate any doubt about what’s required. Reporting relationships also should be outlined; each employee must clearly understand to whom he or she reports. Having the line of authority and responsibility clear greatly improves the intensity, effectiveness and quality of the reporting relationship.

The final aspect of off-site management to consider is communication. Often, e-mail is the easiest and the quickest way to communicate, but it can make expressing emotion difficult and can lead to misinterpretation. Someone who is always succinct in e-mails may come across as rude to a friendlier co-worker, while a good-natured joke might lose its intended humor and be read as an insult by the recipient.

The most effective means of sending and receiving messages is a combination of e-mail, faxes, regularly scheduled telephone conference calls, and video and web conferencing. The latter are particularly important since they contain the all-important aspect of seeing the people with whom you are speaking. While this visual component can help facilitate personal relationships, nothing can replace the quality of a face-to-face meeting. To maximize interpersonal interaction, create rapport between employees, and improve working and personal relationships, in-person meetings should be scheduled at least quarterly.

David G. Javitch, Ph.D., is Entrepreneur.com's "Employee Management" columnist and an organizational psychologist and president of Javitch Associates, an organizational consulting firm in Newton, Massachusetts. With more than 20 years of experience working with executives in various industries, he's an internationally recognized author, keynote speaker and consultant on key management and leadership issues.

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Biz Idea: Chch inventor's baseball cap to light world

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A Christchurch inventor has gone into production with a revolutionary cap and is looking for international distributors to take the product to the world.

Simon Dyer, a software development manager by day and inventor by night, has spent the past three years developing the 2C, a solar-powered baseball cap that includes two high-powered LED lights controlled by a microprocessor.

The product is aimed at campers, tradesmen, emergency workers or anyone else who needs a rechargeable source of light.

The caps, which sell for $50 each, use sunlight to recharge during the day and will provide light all night if used on low power.

On high power they have a two-hour life.

"It's designed to look as much as possible like a normal cap. You don't want to walk around with what we call a `dickhead light' on your head."

The caps were developed in Christchurch and are manufactured by local contract manufacturers.

Dyer presented his idea on television's Dragon's Den but turned down $250,000 in funding in return for half his company from entrepreneur Julie Christie.

He knocked Christie back because he did not want to give away half his company for so little after doing so much work.

He has spent $250,000 developing the cap, getting patents and trademarks in place, and is now looking at how to fund himself for the next stage.

His wife, Vanessa, said the family had been eating, sleeping and dreaming about 2C caps for three years.

"I started off in the garage and I've taken over three rooms in the house," Simon Dyer said.

"We need new premises," Vanessa Dyer said.

She has been selling the first caps off the production line at street markets and over the internet but the couple are now looking for distributors to take the 2C around the world.

Simon Dyer came up with the idea of developing a personal light 20 years ago while out photographing a sunset in the tropics.

"The sun went down and it was suddenly pitch black. I was crawling through the undergrowth thinking I wish I had a light."

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If starting a business were easy, everyone would do it. But they don’t. Only those of you who know deep down inside you're entrepreneurs at heart will ever take these steps--even if you’ve denied that entrepreneurial spirit burning inside you for a long time.

Using that burning desire to grow your business, however, is a far different task from simply lighting it. Most people start with the odds stacked so much against them that it’s difficult for them to fan the fire beyond the first few months or years. Here are a few pieces of advice I can offer to help you keep your new business growing in size and profit:

1. Hire people who are better at the job than you are. It’s a fact that companies are built by people, and the best people build the best and most profitable companies. Put simply, great employees may cost you 20 to 30 percent more in wages, but they can be twice as productive as mediocre employees. Invest in good people.

2. Place high urgency in everything you do. Always do everything you can today. When I started each of my businesses, I'd work constantly until I just had to go eat and sleep. Too many people treat their businesses as nine-to-five jobs. Never put something off until tomorrow if you can do it right now.

3. Get customers coming back. The road to profitability is through repeat business. Too few business owners set themselves up for long-term success. Your business grows when you add regular new customers on top of existing regular customers. Think of it this way: What if every customer you ever got stayed for life? How many regular buyers would you have?

4. Make decisions quickly. New companies don’t have the time or resources to stand still. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf once said to me, “When placed in command, take charge.” He also believes it’s better to make a decision and move than it is to stand still.

5. Deliver more than you promise. If you tell a customer it'll be three days, deliver in two. If you think it'll be two hours, say three hours and surprise them. This is the best form of marketing ever.

6. Price yourself for profit. Don’t ever be the cheapest. You're the little guy; you don’t have economies of scale. Big companies can make up in volume what they lack in margin. You can’t.

7. Never spend a dollar you don’t have to. You don’t need a new desk, you need a cheap desk. Too many new business owners go and buy the best stuff because they think image is important. Listen, when you get profitable, you can have a big mahogany desk. Right now, just get a desk.

8. Set a big vision.Start Small, Finish Big should be the title of your book. Don’t aim to be the best dog trainer in Montana--aim to be the best in the country. Remember, building a business is a 10-year plan, not a one-year plan.

9. Marketing is math. Don’t ever let an advertising sales rep teach you anything about marketing. Reps will say dumb things like, “Half your advertising works and half doesn’t--and you’ll never know which half.” Rubbish. If an ad that costs $100 makes you $100 back in profit, it’s a good ad. One other tip: Image advertising doesn’t make sense when you're not yet profitable.

10. Learn to sell. There's nothing worse than a business owner who isn’t willing to sell--or even learn to sell. No company makes money unless someone sells something, and you can’t just rely on people you hire to do the selling for you. If you want to grow a profitable business, you’ve got to learn sales yourself.

11. It’s simpler than you think. Before most people even go into business, they work it up to be far more complex than it really is. Business is very simple: Sell at a profit and keep at it. Overcomplicating the process won’t help anyone. If your business seems too complex, it probably is--so make it simple and watch yourself succeed.

Remember, you have a lot to learn--and that’s a good thing. You'll make mistakes. Just try to make them small ones at the start. Never bet the ranch on one deal.

---

Brad Sugars is Entrepreneur.com’s Startup Basics columnist and the founder of Action International, a business coaching franchise.

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http://www.renellie.com

Startup Costs: $100,000

An observer might say Ellie Genuardi and Rena Puebla act a lot like a married couple. Having known each other for years, they even finish each other’s sentences and bicker playfully. In 2004, this pair of longtime friends and business associates said “I do” to a marriage-related business: Puebla and Genuardi wed their entrepreneurial ideas to form Renellie International.

Renellie is a line of elegantly handcrafted, multiethnic wedding cake figurines. Made out of polyresin stone, the interchangeable brides and grooms are offered in Asian, black, Hispanic and white versions.

“There are so many interracial marriages,” says Gen-uardi. “We felt there was a definite need for this type of product.”

“When I got married the first time, I had two white people on my cake,” says Puebla. “No one had choices.” It was Puebla’s second marriage--to an Asian man--that inspired Renellie’s mix-and-match cake toppers. Puebla and her husband, Ron, are one of more than 2 million interracial couples in the U.S. That growing market, combined with a $72 billion-per-year wedding industry, provides an endless customer base for Renellie, which projects 2007 sales of $400,000.

Renellie also caters to same-sex couples. The company currently offers a bride with a tailored skirt and jacket, and it may introduce a bride with flowing pants. These versatile options could also be used for an anniversary cake, a second marriage or an older bride, Genuardi says.

Prior to Renellie’s unveiling in Janu-ary 2005, interracial and same-sex couples had pretty much resorted to putting either flowers or nothing at all on their cakes, Puebla says. “We want to go back to tradition, while representing those who are marrying.”

With an attractive alternative to plastic and a product in tune with modern-day values, Renellie lets couples have their cake and eat it, too.
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Schools Out, Summers In!

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As young student entrepreneurs, the summer season is the time to get down to business! That also means it is money making time!

Here are a couple tips for business success this summer:

Make a Plan
Without a plan of what you want to do, you will not be able to accomplish your goals for the next few months. Take some time and figure out what you want to do (your goals) and put a timeline together. Many entrepreneurs need deadlines to be able to finish something, so if you want to redesign your website, put a launch date with it; if you want to gain more clients, set deadlines.

Stick To The Plan
There is no use in making a plan if you are not going to stick to it. This is pretty simple, so I won’t spend time dwelling on the importance of it.

Find a Balance
Find a balance between your business ventures and your life (family, friends, fun, etc). It is important for you to realize that if you work in corporate American after you leave college, you may get no more than 2 weeks of vacation a year, so enjoy your summer and vacation time while you have it and do stuff you enjoy – hanging out with friends and having fun, spending time with family, etc.

Keep Records
Be sure to keep records of what you do with your business. Keep track of all your expenses and revenues, whether that is in excel or through bookkeeping software. Keeping track of your financials is not only important for your business if you are officially registered with your state, but it is important to also help you gauge how you are doing on reaching your goals.

Besides your financials, keep track of your clients and conversations you have with them, the work you may be doing, or any developments you are making. All of these will help you see how you are progressing on reaching your goals and having success over the summer.

Just be sure to have fun no matter what you are working on this summer. If you can have fun, love what you are doing, and find a balance, you will be successful! Keep up the good work and be sure to share your successes with everyone else!

What are your goals for the summer?

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Toxic employees

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Toxic employees are the ones that have difficulty with their co-workers, or worse, far worse, with your customers.

They make two big confusions:
1. They confuse "How can I help this prospect/customer?" with "How can I get rid of this person and get back to work?"

2. They confuse, "How can I have a better day by treating this person with a great deal of respect?" with "Why isn't this person treating me with the respect I deserve?"

Toxic employees are usually afraid, poorly managed and underappreciated. They can rarely be bullied into changing their behavior, often because they themselves are bullies. Managers can hire the non-toxic, re-assign the toxic and be really clear with themselves that they're willing to pay almost any price to keep toxic employees away from everyone else. And if toxic employees appears to be a pattern, my bet is that it's your fault, not the employees.

[Via - Seth Godin]

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7 keys to making more moolah from your copywriting

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Before you write one single word!

#1: Know what the heck you’re talking about. In other words, do your research. Spend time getting into the mind of your prospect.

Convince yourself this is the best product ever and everyone needs to know about it. Use the product!

I always request samples and use whatever I’m working on (with the exception of the male potency stuff. Doesn’t work for me and my husband swears he’ll never need it).

I want to see and feel a difference the product makes on ME. In other words, I’m convincing myself before I try to sell anybody else!

Many times, I’m so certain the product works, I write my own testimonial in my package!

If you’re working on a product and don’t believe its value -- do yourself a favor and turn down the job. The odds of failure are great — and why do you want to sell a crappy product anyway?

#2: Work with a few clients – and really get to know their business! I’m in my 8th year as a freelance copywriter. And I’ve found the years I worked with just 2 or 3 clients produced more revenue than when I worked for 6 or more companies!

Of the 14 packages I wrote last year, 9 were from one client. They were a variety of nutritional products – but all were going to the same demographics and files! That means I knew immediately whom I was writing to.

I didn’t have to “learn” my market every time – just had to get into the benefits of the product. And because I was familiar with the company, I knew their risk tolerance. That helped avoid a lot of edits from the legal department!

How to handle “writer’s block”:

#3: Stop staring at the blank screen! If ideas aren’t coming to you, get up and do something else. Give yourself permission to goof off. When I’m stuck, I take my 96-year grandmother to Wal-Mart...tackle a new recipe in my favorite crock-pot cookbook...or take a nap. Sounds contrary to SPEEDwriting, doesn’t it? Well it’s not. Here’s why...

Before I enjoy these diversions, I tell myself, “Ok, Carline, you can take a break, but you need to come up with a headline, or lead.” Then I get up from my computer.

What I’ve done is given my subconscious a direct order to start working. While I’m “goofing off”, my subconscious is free to be as creative as possible.

Many times I’ve burned a recipe because right in the middle of cooking, an idea pops in my head. I start writing it down and am usually back at my computer and raring to go!

Don’t believe me? Then read the book, "Psycho-cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz. You'll discover how to unleash the power of the subconscious mind. Then, try it for yourself. I promise—it’ll work for you!

#4: Never start with a blank screen! You get writer’s block ‘cause you don’t know what to say. Plus that blank page can be very scary!

So the first thing I do when I start writing is to quickly fill up the blank page. For example, you know you’ll need an order form, guarantee, testimonials and other static elements—so go ahead and cut and paste some standard ones into your document.

Then write the words, “Big freakin’ headline goes here!” – Hey, look, you’ve already got at least 3 pages of copy — and you haven’t even written a word yet!

Don’t worry, you’ll eventually tweak your original headline and make it stronger — but at least for now, you’ve got something!

#5: Take rest breaks: Tell yourself you’re only going to write for 15 minutes and then you’ll take a break. That’s easy right? What you’re doing is called “baby steps” – take a huge project and break it down into easy to handle segments.

After 15 minutes, you can take a break. But most likely, you’ll find you’re writing for 30...45...even an hour or more!

#6: Don’t reinvent the wheel: Ask clients if they have standard elements of a package they prefer to use.

For example, one of my clients uses a standard order form for his promotions. Why spend time writing a new order form when it’s going to get dumped and replaced by the standard one?

Instead, focus your time on writing a strong headline for the order form and killer copy for the positive acceptance statement (the “YES! I want to ... section of the order form).

#7: Minimize distractions: When you’re in heavy-duty writing mode, keep your momentum by eliminating distractions.

In the movie, “The Pursuit of Happiness”, Will Smith’s character found out he could save 8 minutes a day just by pushing the button instead of physically hanging up the phone after every sales call. And he saved even more time by not drinking water so he wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom.

What he did was maximize productivity by minimizing distractions. You can too.

Put your phone on mute while you’re working. Contact your client and request any additional info by e-mail only...let your neighbors know you really do have a job and not to “pop in”...and post a sign on your door that says “WARNING: DON’T BOTHER ME UNLESS YOU’RE BLEEDING!” In other words, do whatever you need to protect your writing time!

I know I promised you 7 keys to speedwriting. And I hope these are helpful to you. But a good copywriter always delivers more than promised. So here’s probably the real key to my success...

#8: Love what you do and “niche your passion”. When I first started copywriting, I took whatever job I could get. I needed the money and the experience. But I didn’t achieve real success until I focused on just one area and made myself an expert.

I love the alternative health field and I love writing about nutritional supplements. So now, 90% of my projects are for the nutritional health field.

I turn down projects that push me too far away from my niche. That way, I stay focused on the pulse of my market...and write faster, more profitable copy!

Carline Anglade-Cole

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