Scrum and Lean for Beginners: All You Need to Know about the World’s Best Management Systems | Page19

December 29, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

At some point in your life, you’ve probably had a stroke of genius, a brand-new, revolutionary idea for a company or product. Maybe it was an idea for a new micro-learning app, a navigate-your-city jacket, maybe it was an idea to colonize Mars, or to capture cow farts in methane backpacks?

But as any science fiction show knows, conceptualization is not the same as creation. So how to make your idea a reality?

And indeed, it’s a good question: inevitably there’s an unexpected thing or two (or two thousand) to take into account as you pursue your idea. As your business begins to take shape, these challenges will only grow. Because how to manage this project in the first place? How to manage time? Your team?

This is where scrum and lean come into the picture.

2015: The Year in Tech Tweets | CB Insights

December 29, 2015 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

From VCs crying “bubble” to Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca crossfire, we did a retrospective on the year by digging up our favorite Tweets.

4 Mistakes That Ruin Business Meetings | Business News Daily

December 17, 2015December 17, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Business meetings have a longstanding reputation for being unexciting. Sitcoms, films and even stock photo collections are filled with scenes of employees looking at the clock, rolling their eyes and falling asleep while the presenter seems to drone on interminably.

Though these staged “boring meetings” may be slightly exaggerated on camera, they’re not too far from the truth: A recent survey by enterprise intranet company Igloo Software found that about half of all employees find meetings to be unproductive. The most common meeting pet peeves reflect this sentiment, with unnecessary meetings (76 percent), meetings going off-topic (59 percent) and people repeating one another (58 percent) topping the list.

3 Ways to Use CRM to Ramp Up Your Sales | All Business

December 16, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As a female entrepreneur, I, like so many others, have to juggle my time carefully. I’m always looking for strategies to use one thing in many ways. One tool I’ve discovered that can do more than meets the eye is customer relationship management software (or CRM).

A lot of people mistakenly think CRM is only something marketers use, or it’s just a place to throw all your contact information. That’s simply not the case; it’s also a fantastic tool to increase sales for your business. And hey, I’m all about using it for as much as I can, especially if it helps me grow my business!

Today’s CRM solutions are much more sophisticated—not to mention more useful—than their predecessors. Here are three effective ways to use CRM as a sales tool:

11 Tweaks To Your Morning Routine Will Make Your Entire Day More Productive | Forbes

December 16, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know anyone who couldn’t use a little boost in their energy, productivity, and self-control.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham recently published findings from their exploration of 83 separate studies on energy and self-control. What they found will change the way you start your day.

The researchers found that self-control and energy are not only intricately linked but also finite, daily resources that tire much like a muscle. Even though we don’t always realize it, as the day goes on, we have increased difficulty exerting self-control and focusing on our work. As self-control wears out, we feel tired and find tasks to be more difficult and our mood sours.

This exhaustion of self-control kills your productivity, and it makes the morning hours, when self-control is highest, the most important hours of the day.

But the trick isn’t just to spend your morning hours working; it’s to do the right things in the morning that will make your energy and self-control last as long as possible.

100 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter, Better, and Wiser | Inc.com

December 14, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Podcasting is a great way to learn and be inspired. It’s a new use of technology that hearkens back to the original social medium, storytelling.

If you have an interest in entrepreneurship, tech, leadership, business, creativity, or just learning and expanding your mind, here are 100 podcasts that can help you bring your best to all you do.

Pick out a few to start with, then get ready to listen and learn while you’re in the car, on the treadmill, or during your morning commute.

The 4 Things Employees Want Most From a Job Cost Nothing | Entrepreneur

December 11, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Attaining, training and retaining top talent isn’t easy, especially in today’s information age when immediate feedback and an over-stimulation (in the electronic sense) lead the way. Convincing a new prospect requires not only charm, charisma, and influence but also tangible and intangible rewards that people can expect to receive upon joining the workforce.

The 2015 list of best companies to work for is out, and it includes behemoths such as Google and The Boston Consulting Group ( consulting firm? Seriously?). What is the secret sauce that make people love their place of work? After all, the life of a consultant isn’t exactly awesome (I was one).

These New Google Shopping Updates May Affect You | Small Biz Trends

December 10, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If your small business regularly sells products via Google Shopping, a new reorganization of the company’s policies is on he way.

Though the company insists the new policies are mostly a simplification of the way merchants currently do business.

However, Google also insists those using the service do review the changes to make sure noting is missed when the new policy takes over.

Google’s Shopping Policy Center will be updated come February 2016.

7 Networking Hacks to Connect Better at Your Next Conference | Page19

December 10, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Whether you have a job that entails regular conferences or you’re a freelancer who gets to work like a hermit, you’ll probably need to network at some point in your life. Here’s how to do it so everyone you touch gains from the experience.

It’s an indisputable fact that personal contacts open doors. One classic study, outlined in the book Getting a Job, showed that among the 282 men surveyed, 56 percent had found their jobs through personal contacts, whereas only 19 percent had found theirs through job advertisements and 10 percent through applications of their own initiative.