Why you should listen to Heart over Brain while making business decisions!

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Avoiding negative people is much more crucial than seeking positive company

Get rid of them from your hangout list as soon as possible, from your social network list, take a different route, come early or leave little late from office even if this is what it takes to avoid people with negative vibes. Don’t get into argument with such people, simply change the topic or leave the discussion spot. You don’t want to argue with a person, whom you don’t even want to face, do you. Argument is not going to change that person or his or her behavior, nor your point of view about him or her. It will only reinforce your previous not so good experience. If you can’t avoid them due to situation just mind your own business. Find out innovative ways to avoid them like you find out innovative ways and means to get in touch with positive influences in your life.   

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Two ultimate sources of free mentor tips which you can get objectively

It was always there, it’s just that you underestimated it.

Discussion Forums: you can get a continuous stream of advice from online discussion platforms when it comes to seeking advice objectively or anonymously, though you always have an option to participate in the discussion of seek direct advice. Though you have to be cautious in filtering the sensible advice out of tons of junk advice, but remember to reach the diamond you will have to filter tons of coal.   

Published Interviews: You can get tons of crisp, sensible and encouraging tips from interviews of successful people no matter which stream of life or business they belong, you should prefer online documented text versions rather than interview videos because it’s absolutely fast to search and extract the advice and tips you are looking for from a text file rather than a video format. For instance open a online published interview of any successful CEO, Search for the Key word “Success” in the documents through auto search option, highlighting word “success” located everywhere in the document, and read the relevant paragraph. Going through an hour of interview video or two minute search in a text document to get a single advice, you choose yourself! No matter what published interviews are one of the best ways to learn from others success and experience, objectively. 

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Free or paid, you need a mentor!

Mentors are there to guide you when you are lost, they are there to validate your dream, and they help you dream big, they help you remain sane. Everyone need a mentor at some point of time in their life and anyone can be your mentor from your wife, your daughter, your friend, your parents, your colleague your boss, or some professional mentor depending on who extend their wise advice to you when you need most. 

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From “Simply Customer” to “Repeat Customer”

There are two choices you make every now and then - either you like something of you don’t. You tend to retain what you like while discarding what you don’t like. It’s same with products, but more prominently practiced because of innumerable options available in market competing for the same position and segment by different brands.

You pick up a soft drink, energy drink or similar kind when you are a kid or teenage- either you like it or you simply don’t. If you like it, you like its color, flavor, smell, you associate it with some nice memory, you link it with some vague memory of an advertisement which you saw long back, you associate that wonderful experience of having that chilled soft drink and that cozy or adventurous environment, and you become a lifelong brand ambassador of that product. Now onwards you will pick up that same drink brand every time in future, given a choice. May be silent or talkative brand ambassador but a lifelong repeat customer for sure.  

Now your job as a company or manufacturer or promoter is to help your customer choose products offered by you.  How will you do that? We will see some strategies regarding that in the following upcoming post called “Help your customer choose what you want them to choose”.

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Govern your own circumstances.

You can’t fabricate favorable circumstances as per your wish all the time and at the same time someone or a bunch of some unlikely few can fabricate a situation not so favorable to you. Sometimes fabricated, sometimes accidental. Unlikely but possible and can happen without your knowledge and at times very swiftly. What would be your strategy? Which way out? Deal it whichever way but just don’t give up, because you know there is light at the end of tunnel. Might be lost today, might be clueless today but when you are out of darkness, out of that mess you will be incharge of your own destiny and showman of your own moves.

In those unfavorable circumstances trust your intuition, stay calm, weigh and assess in long term, don’t bother about every small loss. Your immediate priority is to survive and get going with least damage and to bounce back. If situation demands to calculate- Be Calculative- calculate your risks, create a backup plan, use the part of brain which you haven’t ever used,  Use the network you didn’t ever used. You can and you should govern your own circumstances.  

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Solution also needs maintenance

We are always looking for permanent solution in business and personal life, or solution to solve the problems of world, the poverty, hunger, or financial meltdown, fighting back to solve the problem. There is no conclusion, no single solution when we are searching for answer.

Solutions are temporary and fleeting in nature, larger the issue more volatile is the solution, in business every day throws a new challenge, and one need to respond sincerely with appropriate answer, keeping in mind that this solution is temporary in nature, solution has to be reinvented in course of time in the light of ever changing business landscape and technological evolution, even if the problem remains same. 

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How to earn money fast and how about a second job?

There are no shortcuts as such to earn money fast, but there are ways and tricks to enhance the possibilities and probability of earning money faster than business as usual. It needs hard work and determination backed by industry knowledge. You need to choose an industry, which is your area of interest, but be cautious to choose an industry which has either future growth potential or proven good track record.  One has to be persistence with a touch of patience, but should be ready as well to take the risk.

Risk has to be calculated and you should not put everything at stake in one go. One should be ready with a realistic backup plan as well. 

One suggestion for people with regular job who are also aspiring future entrepreneur is that you should expand your knowledge base in your future business area while you are continuing your day job and you can also expand your area of operation, may be a secondary income apart from your day job either in your chosen field or through, blogging, affiliate marketing, writing, freelance job etc. to support your dream. When there is a regular and sufficient income from your second job you can either continue with your second job with continuously reinventing your strategies or you can switch your job for a full-fledged launch of personal business. 

Learn how to materialise every Business Opportunity which comes your way in the following post - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/never-miss-business-opportunity-again.html

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How to choose Best Name for your Business

Words are loaded with emotions; also, same word holds different meaning for different region, community, age group, audience, ethnic groups, etc.  There is much competition in the industry as well and most of the first few names which come into your mind for your business or company are already occupied, web domains are already registered, you will find hundreds of similar names already in use. Company name also attracts legal attention, copyright and similar issues. So, one has to be very careful while choosing a name for their company.

Name signifies a lot about a lot many things, like the nature of business, geographic presence, direction of business, attitude of company etc.

Choose a name which is distinctly unique, may be a combination of few words or derived from them, but be careful to choose words from mainstream industry, so that it makes some sense to a layman or your target customers

Create a name which is global in its appeal even if you start local, because you might have to go global if future.

You can also choose a name which is derived from the very core of historical and cultural treasure of the region where you have launched your business, signifying its root.

Come up with a name with which people can relate themselves.

Choose a name which is easy to remember and has potential for word of mouth publicity.

Choose a name which is positive is its appeal.

Understand the legality of your business, choose your business name and content which is unique and does not attract legal notice. You can consult a lawyer or accounts consultants for further legal and procedural guidance.

Learn 25 Rules of success for business and online startups in the following article

http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/03/25-rules-of-success-for-business-and.html

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How to motivate your sales team

There is no predefined highest achievable target when it comes to sales and it varies from product to product and service to service, so there is always some scope of improvement, but one can always push the target further and chase it, which should be further backed by rewards and incentive through company policy to motivate the sales team, Chasing an apparently difficult target gives a thrill and help keep the team and employees positively charged. Motivation can surely help. One can try short term training program or organizing a workshop by influential and motivating mentor in said field.

To know what’s common between successful business leaders see the following article http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/what-is-common-between-successful.html

advantages-of-niche-marketing.html

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Key to TV Commercial business

TV commercials are highly competitive in nature and since viewers are getting more and more aware every day about the products, while being exposed to tempting products and offers of so many rival companies through different social media streams, one has to be very cautious while getting into TV commercial business. Few tips and question to ask yourself to get into TV commercial business -

Create a portfolio with different brands and products,

Focus on developing theme and script of your commercial no matter even if you are selling imaginary brands.

Test the commercials online through YouTube and different media channel.

Learn from the viewer’s feedback, re-launch the next version

It’s not just about what brand you choose to promote it’s about how you take an ordinary product and create a brand out of it.

It’s about how well you convey the message across to the audience, in that short period of time,

How sticky is your commercial, is it good enough for word of mouth publicity?

Does it have potential to go viral online?

Does it have wow factor?

Learn 25 Rules of success for business and online startups in the following article

http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/03/25-rules-of-success-for-business-and.html

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What should be the Long-term Targets of an online business and startups?

It’s very important to have a vision for any company and its process and strategies should be aligned to that long term vision to make it sustainable. Long term targets are generally macro level targets spread over the period of 10 to 15 years or more. Some of the essential long term targets for any online business can be-

To get established as a trusted and honest brand

To get recognized as one of the leading business faces of the industry

To get recommended as a stable brand with strong track record and consistent performance

To be known for excellence in service and product

To globally establish itself as a known brand

Should have a client portfolio which showcases some of the biggest and trusted  brands nationally and worldwide

Should have a project portfolio which showcases a healthy mix of projects which help establish company’s expertise

To accomplish some of the most challenging tasks in their industry

Should have a well established company culture and Vision in which employees have faith.

Learn Top 10 suggestions for new start-ups and entrepreneurs - http://bit.ly/zU5soj

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How to manage Business risk

Take calculated risk

Never put all your eggs in one basket

Have a functional back up plan ready

Assess vulnerability of your business plan on different parameters and varied possible future scenarios

Keep a flexible business mindset to quickly negotiate changing business dynamics

Don't regret on mistakes made, learn from mistakes, change the strategies and move forward

Maintain professionalism in in your work even if you are doing business with friends,

Always keep few alternate revenue sources or prospects around your business, it will give you hope and boost your moral when business in down.

Always be prepared to materialize approaching business opportunity

Learn how to materialise every Business Opportunity which comes your way in the following post - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/never-miss-business-opportunity-again.html

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Why and how of customer service

Why customer service?

It helps you retain customers

Returning loyal customers

You get word of mouth publicity

If your product is same as your competitors, you should have something sort of service edge which will keep customers busy talking about

How to service?

Customized services

Deliver wow

Launching regular new products will keep customers busy and coming back

Learn what are the top problems faced by new business owners in providing customer service in the following post -http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-5-problems-faced-by-new-business.html

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How to minimise obstacles between customer and product online

Give crisp and precise information regarding product or services

Provide customised information to repeat customer

Eliminate the membership and signup process for payment

Reduce the number of clicks from landing page to payment once and reduce it again

Using behavioral tracking software for optimised user experience

Create engaging audiovisual user interface

Induce surprise elements in the website to keep them stick to website till the payment is done

Learn about the top 5 problems faced by new startups in providing customer service here - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-5-problems-faced-by-new-business.html

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Some tricks of the tech-trade for service delivery business-

You need to have strong data base (single largest qualification criteria) of all the existing and future prospective clients, (let it grow)


You need to track your transactions using behavioral tracking software/ systems, 


Understanding nature of customers in terms of frequency, choice of product, etc.. and offer similar promotional products and services 


Technology will help provide tailored service experience to individual customers.


It will help you make loyal customers by exceeding there expectations, every time they come back to you


Word of mouth Publicity

Learn about the top 5 problems faced by new startups in providing customer service here - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-5-problems-faced-by-new-business.html

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Tricks of public relation - Workshop & Seminars

Attend every seminar and workshop in the city for first few years

Find out frequent faces of your industry attending seminars & workshop

Find out more about those influential personalities

Go ahead and introduce yourself - no matter how brief is the conversation

Do not forget to exchange business cards

Do write a customised mail to each of them within a week

Appreciate what they said or delivered in the presentation, or just thank them for their time

Do not let them forget you - keep posting mails appreciating their latest venture - also join them on Linkedin

Keep in touch

Your target is to be a recognized face in the crowd of thousands standing with the people you appreciated in your business startup days.

View top 10 suggestions for new startups and entrepreneurs, in the following post - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/10-suggestions-for-new-start-ups-and.html

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Business on the go - Ever ready entrepreneur

Always be dressed and presentable in business hours and beyond - 

  *You are the image of your company

  * Well dressed look increases your confidence level
 - Let the people enjoy your company and presentable personality 

Always keep your plug and play USB storage device with you-

                                You never know when is the next presentation

·                            You don't want to lose that precious new client  

·                             Keep Your Company information / proposal ready in different format

·                            Keep your company profile presentation updated

Keep your business relevant numbers and information at your fingertips

Keep one page profile/ project summary with you 

Learn tricks of “one page” business success strategies in the following post - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/one-page-business-philosophy.html

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How to keep business proposal and project schedule realistic

It's easy to get swayed away by sheer numbers - do regular reality check

Don't get overenthusiastic with numbers - get your numbers validated by partners / trusted others

Overall business plan should make sense to your over-skeptical clients

Keep all the odd possibilities in mind while preparing project time schedule 

Business strategies should reflect in numbers and should complement each other

Try to foresee all the future obstacles and keep the time schedule flexible enough to accommodate the time lost due to this obstacle

Learn how and why to use Mindmapping tools which helps you streamline your business and makes your business plans realistic- http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/why-entrepreneur-should-start.html

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How to leverage your business in 7 easy ways

Find out other similar area of business expansion

Create and maintain a synergy between these businesses

Cross-promote your products using products complimenting to each other through your different business

Faster service and turn-around time using business process re-engineering

Automate as many services and process as possible - Auto reply, FAQ etc.

Utilize Social media potential

Outsource time consuming complicated processes with predefined operating procedure"

You should learn how much value you have created for yourself through your expanding business and tricks to know your market position in the next article - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-10-indicators-to-assess-your.html

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