There are many ways to kill a business. Lack of strategy, poor execution, and the wrong team could lead any business down a path of failure, but did you know there are two very specific phrases that can kill any business, including yours? Whether you or an employee has said one of these phrases out loud or simply allowed them to enter your thoughts, they can spell impending … [Read more...]
5 Essential Habits to Be a Successful Woman Entrepreneur
To be a successful woman entrepreneur, you need to be more than just a good leader. You also need to be a good business person, and you need to be able to build a strong team. The list goes on and on, but at the heart of all of the things you should know to be a successful woman entrepreneur are some key habits. If you take the time to cultivate these habits, your business … [Read more...]
Tips for Female Business Owners on Ending Workplace Toxicity
A toxic environment is a business owner's worst nightmare and causes employee morale to dip quite a bit. Toxic environments in the office can also mean that your employees lose the motivation to get their work done, which means your office's to-do list isn't completed on time. If work isn't turned in on time, this can spell disaster for the entire office. This can happen even … [Read more...]
4 Alternative Ideas for Team Bonding
The team that plays together stays together -- right? We’ve all been on our fair share of business bonding excursions, from brunch to bowling, from workshops to drinking. Spending time with your coworkers that isn’t work per se is super important, but it can be difficult to come up with creative, affordable activities all the time. There are only so many times you can play … [Read more...]
5 Critical Resources for New Managers
A good friend recently started a new, dream job, and it includes managing other people for the first time. When I ran into her at an event, she shared with me the difficulties of learning to manage other people. Her arched brow and wringing hands showed how much it was weighing on her. I felt her pain. Developing as a manager has been at once the most challenging and most … [Read more...]
How to Achieve Peak Performance – Business Lessons from a Baseball Mom
My son has been playing travel baseball for nine years, and throughout those nine years, I have learned some valuable lessons: An eight a.m. baseball game in a state outside my own is the perfect alternative to the average family vacation. Life is far too short to waste precious time scrubbing stains out of white uniform pants. The True meaning behind “heads up!” is … [Read more...]
Traits of a Successful Leader
Effective leadership is far less common than it should be. Fortunately, you can learn to be a better leader. It's takes wisdom, intuition, confidence, and humility to be one of the best leaders. To help you be a better leader, here are five key traits that many successful leaders have in common: 1. Be Available Great leaders are effective communicators in every situation. … [Read more...]
3 Vital Skills Every Leader Needs
My very first boss led our team from a place of wrath and terror. We feared his raised voice and demonizing glare. He could melt your self-esteem with one withering look. If one of us made a mistake (or sometimes, even if we didn’t), the thing we would fear the most was his reaction. He may have meant it as leadership, a foolproof way to bring a team to victory. To me, it was … [Read more...]
The Best People For The Job vs. The Best Job For The People
I was a bit of a late bloomer. I accepted my first "real job" five years after graduating from college. Sure, I made a living, but I bounced around jobs that, at least for my goals, were not career-track endeavors. Finally, I landed what I considered to be a “real job” – working for a law firm. Although I majored in advertising & marketing at Boston University, my lack … [Read more...]
If You Want Everything Done Right – Delegate!
I know this is nothing new. We are all aware delegation is necessary. “If you want something done right, Do it yourself.” Raise your hand if you can relate to this quote by Charles-Guillaume Étienne. That’s me, jumping up and down waving my hand in the air. I have been known to fall victim to that mantra every now and again. That's not terrible advice. The truth is if you … [Read more...]