I’ve always associated the term “forecast” with the weather. Coming from the Midwest, I am culturally inclined to a near obsession with the weather. Few places have unchangeable weather, and living someplace where a tornado, a blizzard, a scorching heat wave or some other short or long term event can come slamming down on top of you makes you a bit skeptical of anyone’s ability to tell the future. Granted, in the area of meteorology, science is improving, but sometimes it pays to just step outside for minute and look at the sky.
smart business
3 Reasons Why Your Business Shouldn’t be on Facebook
It’s true…..despite the knee-jerk desire to get your business into social media and “everyone’s on Facebook”, it may not be a good idea for you. Here are three reasons:
1. You don’t have time to post anything interesting: A business page lives or dies by visits and interaction, not ‘Likes’. If the last time you posted anything was 4 months ago and it was camera shot of the front of your office or a copy of your logo, you can bet no one has returned to see what else you’ve published. Sure, you’re busy actually ‘doing’ your business, but part of you business is marketing. If you are unable to share things that your clients and prospects find relevant, you should retire your page.
Sustainability, Triple Bottom Line and the Solopreneur
English: Balance of Sustainability (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A business forum I attended a while back consisted of a panel of folks from various kinds of businesses, including a local bank, a cafe’/bakery, an architectural firm and local health care. The discussion revolved around how they each approached the overall idea of sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) of People, Planet and Profit (or as they were presented: Social, Environmental and Economical). Each have very interesting and unique approaches, and the challenges they encountered (and still work through…) were instructive.
Just Don’t Call It Change
I attended a very interesting forum yesterday. The topic was what they termed the “triple bottom line” of sustainability: Environmental, Economic and Social. The members of the panel were from varied industries and sizes of companies and all had unique stories and perspectives on how they have approached sustainability in a way that truly benefits everyone. It was thought-provoking and I intend to write some more about it in a different post.
However, a comment that one of the panelists made leapt out at me. In telling how some of the changes that the company had made and continues to make to enhance their sustainability, they had found that couching the efforts as improvement instead of change had a significant impact on the feelings that other team members had about the efforts and their buy-in.
As she said at the time, “No one wants to change, but who doesn’t want to improve?“
A Prairie Dog Place
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have always found pictures of prairie dogs popping up from their burrows to be hilarious. There’s something about the idea of this small animal getting a better view of its surroundings that just makes me smile. This made me think of some experiences I’ve had lately with smaller local businesses.
Build a Business by Giving
I recently found out about a 7-week course focused on building a business that was both profitable, engaging and fun. I couldn’t resist that combination, so I dropped the company a mail and asked for them to get in touch with me so I could find out more…to see if it would really be something that would address my needs and give me some tools and best practices. I was contacted within the day and the owner asked if we could have a call to talk about it. I agreed.
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Just How BIG Does That Strategy Need to Be?
Any kind of strategic planning requires time, space and an approach that most of us don’t utilize so much in our day-to-day
Marine Institute Ireland, Strategic_Planning_Symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
business. This is too bad, but not surprising. We’re focused on the day-to-day, tactical bits of the business and the strategy time is time not spent on keeping the whole thing moving forward.
Authentic Voice 