7 Reasons Why You Need a Business Mentor—And How to Land One | AllBusiness.com

February 27, 2020February 25, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One way to get strategic with your business trajectory is to land a trusted adviser in the form of a mentor. Mentoring can take many forms, such as a one-on-one relationship or a mentoring circle within an organization. The best mentor-mentee relationships involve two-way learning and reciprocation.

Mentors help professionals feel more engaged, derive more meaning from their careers, and grow their businesses. According to the Small Business Administration, small business owners who receive three or more hours of mentoring report higher revenues and increased growth.

Need more of a push? Here are seven reasons why you need a mentor this year:

Problem Talker vs. Problem Solver | Management Consulting Connection

February 26, 2020February 24, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

In life and work, there are two ways to approach a problem. You can talk about a problem, or you can solve the problem.

The problem talker spends all of his time complaining about the problem.

“Boss, this budgeting process is so inefficient and a waste of time.”

The problem with being only a problem talker is that complaining about a problem doesn’t actually change the situation for the better.

5 Expert Tips to Boost Growth of your Small Business | The Startup Magazine

February 24, 2020February 23, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Growing a business is difficult and can be very tiring. In the beginning, it could mean doing almost everything yourself in the company, including dealing with sales and marketing. It also means understanding taxes and company policies, everyday interaction with customers, and a lot more. However you look at it, achieving business growth is definitely not easy. There are probably hundreds of business development strategies out there, all of which will show you some things you may not know about growing your business, but these few, hopefully, will also do the same thing.

How Create Music Group Became Inc.’s No. 1 California Company: Proof You Can Profit From YouTube | Inc.com

February 20, 2020February 19, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

By the mid-2010s, big-name artists like Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney were railing against YouTube: The site was home to loads of unauthorized uploads of their songs and even the authorized versions paid paltry royalty sums. It was an even harder battle to fight for the much less famous–and less lawyered-up–musicians in the industry. So a lot of them simply put music on YouTube for free and focused on other ways to make money.

It was that “middle class” of artists that Jonathan Strauss and Alexandre Williams had in mind in 2015 when they founded Create Music Group, a platform designed to help musicians monetize their music on YouTube. Their pitch was simple and convincing: It consisted of an Excel sheet that showed all the instances in which a particular rising star’s music had been uploaded without her consent. Also in the doc was a royalty figure–not massive, but for some in the thousands–the musician would be able to collect per month if she signed up with Create.

A Coding School Tuition Model Spreads to 4-Year Colleges | WIRED

February 19, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One day in 2017, Lauren Neuwirth sank into a chair in her university’s financial aid office feeling out of options. She was finishing her second year at Purdue University in Indiana, a school she’d chosen for its top-ranked engineering program. Neuwirth, who grew up near Milwaukee, was working two jobs to cover her living expenses and quickly running through the money her mother had set aside for college. Federal student loans only covered some of Purdue’s pricey out-of-state tuition. She worried that to remain in school she’d have to take out expensive private loans or join the Army.

Why You Should Look for Speed and Reliability From Your Internet Service Provider? | Getentrepreneurial.com

February 18, 2020February 17, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Many people searching for an ISP get hung up on whether they should opt for higher speeds or reliability from the service. The fact is, both are important to the overall value of the service, but if you’ve got specific internet needs, you may want to focus more on one over the other. Whether you’re a small business looking for an ISP to meet your business needs, or you simply need service for your home, here are some tips on choosing a service while considering speed and reliability. Here’s why you should look for both speed and reliability.

The Art of Followership: How to Be an Invaluable Team Player | Business News Daily

February 14, 2020February 12, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Following is just as important as leading.

It is critical to understand the qualities a good follower should possess.

Leaders can become followers.

No matter how big or small your company is, it’s likely that there are more followers than leaders. Many individuals strive for leadership positions, so being content to be a follower is often treated like a bad thing. However, the opposite is actually true

The Pros and Cons of Being Self-Critical (And How to Strike a Balance) | Life Hack

February 13, 2020February 12, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It is easy to hear the term “self-critical” and be immediately put off. After all, it’s difficult to be our own critics. However, utilizing self-criticism means taking a more self-aware path to ensure that you aren’t overlooking any possible areas of self-improvement.

Self-criticism is a useful tool to identify patterns of weakness that you can look to eradicate by adapting your behavior.

How Busy Are You, Really? Here Are 5 Ways to Find Out | AllBusiness.com

February 11, 2020February 10, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Are you busy, or just busy bragging?

You might feel personally attacked by this question, but it’s a legitimate one—and one that’s been on minds of most bosses in all industries, especially in the past couple of decades. According to one study of 10,000 adults across 28 different countries, 42% of adults admit to habitually overstating how busy they are, with 60% believing their peers overstate their levels of busyness. Given that this is a self-reported survey, we can probably assume those numbers are even higher.

Why might you exaggerate how busy you are? There’s a chance you could get out of doing work if your boss already thinks your schedule is full, but in most cases, it’s due to competitive pressures. Being busy is something of a status symbol; claiming you’re busy makes you seem more diligent than your peers, and makes you seem more indispensable.

So, what can you do to find out how busy you really are?