Blog – Page 52 – Ask Michele Today
The Advantage Of Being A Female Entrepreneur
Source: huffingtonpost.com ~ Author: Carolyn Gregoire
The tech and business worlds aren’t always seen as female-friendly places — just 37 percent of entrepreneurs are women — but female business leaders may actually have a surprising advantage over their male colleagues.
According to recent data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, entrepreneurs in the U.S. feel a greater sense of purpose than the average worker (51 percent vs. 44 percent), which contributes to greater fulfillment from their work and lives.
Among female entrepreneurs, “purpose thriving” is especially strong. Fifty-six percent of female entrepreneurs say they have a strong sense of purpose, compared to 47 percent of male entrepreneurs, 48 percent of non-entrepreneurial female workers, and 41 percent of non-entrepreneurial male workers.
Separately, the study found that female entrepreneurs are also more likely to report greater physical well-being than male entrepreneurs and male and female non-entrepreneurial workers, the study found.
The findings ring true across age, race, and socioeconomic demographics, and also account for factors like martial status, income and weekly hours worked, the researchers found.
“Demographic factors alone don’t account for entrepreneurs’ higher purpose well-being,” a Gallup press release notes. “Rather, there is something else about being an entrepreneur that relates to liking what they do each day and being motivated to achieve their goals.”
According to a recent global ranking from Gender-GEDI, the United States is the best country in the world for female entrepreneurs to prosper, followed by Australia, Sweden and Germany.
To be sure, women face a number of challenges in starting businesses — including work-life balance concerns, fear of failure, and lack of female role models in business — but they still seem to be happier than their male and non-entrepreneurial counterparts. According to the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) U.S. Report, female entrepreneurs who become established business owners ranked their well-being more than twice as high as non-entrepreneurs and non-business owners.
4 Ways to Max Out the 40-Hour Workweek
Source: entreprenuer.com ~ Author: Craig Cincotta
In today’s 24/7 world, is the 40-hour workweek still possible or is it a pipe dream?
It is absolutely possible; you just need to work smarter, not harder.
In my role as VP of Communications at Porch.com, a home-improvement network, I communicate this philosophy to my team along with the importance of adopting work-life balance principles.
So how can other businesses implement these ideologies? They need to have a plan of action.
To help people crack the code for how to create an efficient and impactful 40-hour workweek, here are four methods to set a course for successfully working smarter, not harder.
1. Ignore the visibility trap.
Over the years I have observed one consistent action that extends their workweek well beyond 40-hours: The never ending quest for visibility. The No. 1 sign you are stuck in the visibility trap is you are going to too many meetings and particularly meetings you don’t really need to go to. Why is this trap so common? I have found that many people may feel left out or left behind if they are not at every meeting with their colleagues. Ignore this trap. I know it can be hard, but if you are in meetings, chances are you are not working.
How do you ignore this? Meetings are expensive so don’t spend valuable minutes in meetings you don’t really need to be in. Do a hardcore audit of your meetings. What is being discussed in the meeting that you can’t get after the fact? Does the meeting really need to be 60 minutes or can it be 30 minutes? What are the goals of the meeting? If a meeting does not have a structured agenda, clear roles for participants and a set of desired outcomes, it is probably not going to be a great use of your time.
Throughout the day you need to ask yourself, are you producing tangible outcomes or are you just participating in activities that you think are important? If you don’t have any goals in mind for the week, you won’t know if you are on track and driving actual value to the business. When this happens you also won’t have clarity, predictability or know if the week was truly a success (and if you spent your time on the right things).
How do you do this? Set up weekly priorities and stick to them. Communicate daily with your manager to ensure you are always on the right track and your week is setup for success. Are you getting the right support and resources? Do things need to change on the priority list? Have a conversation on Monday to set the table for the week. When you get to Friday, how will you know that the week was a success? If you focus on the outcomes over activities you are halfway there.
3. Your ARE the Boss of You.
Only you can truly control the fate of your week. Yes, things come up that you can’t plan for, but if you are focused on working with your manager on the right outcomes, you will have the air cover you need to stay focused on the task at hand. If you allow people to pull you off on the wrong path you will lose focus. Pick your spots, leverage the help of others, and control your day in a way that keeps you in the driver’s seat.
How do you do this? At the beginning of the day take a serious look at the day ahead. What MUST get done? What needs to happen to hit your daily goals? If you feel randomized call a time-out and reassess how you will carve up your time for the rest of the day.
4. Fly above the noise.
When you need to truly get work done nothing matters more than finding a way to fly about the noise. You can easily fall behind if you are spending too much time chatting in the hallways with colleagues, taking extended lunches, getting wrapped up in conversations and other activities that pull you away from the task at hand.
How do you do this? Stay heads down. Stay off Facebook and Twitter. Don’t get wrapped up in the gossip chains. Ignore the shiny objects. If you can do that you are well on your way to maximizing out your workweek to produce great results.
There are two things we have always heard about success – TIMING of something and ACTION you must take action.
Tact and figures are absolutely needed to assess and business intelligence however the key to “tipping” the oddes in your favor is timing and action.
I BELIEVE you Make the TIME – to assess things that are introduced in your path and you
take ACTION one way or another . . . either to CANNON BALL in or GET OUT!
This has always taken my life forward and yes lots of things that I said no to – maybe would have been right – YET I did not BELIEVE it would so the action to walk away was the right decision.
ACTION is really effective in getting you to make that decision work or simply make a new decision. What happens to often is that lack of action – no belief and thereby you remain static or stagnant
This months news letler is intended to provide you business intellect – your SUCCESS relies on YOU and your timing and action. I wish for you so much continued success and appreciate you allowing me in to your life!
The recession officially ended in June of 2009, at least according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But as entrepreneurs and business owners, we know that the economy sure doesn’t feel like its roaring on all cylinders. There aren’t many businesses that have been shielded from the economic downturn and it can create a lot of anxiety for would-be entrepreneurs.
Something I’ve been hearing a lot from entrepreneurs and business owners is that they want to wait for the economy to pick up before they start a new business. This is an understandable concern but I want to assure you that it’s a myth. When economies turn downward, it actually opens up opportunities. Sometimes recessions claim businesses because they are bloated or have lost focus on their core competencies. This means that a lean and aggressive startup can often fare better when times are hard. The disruption that occurs during the downturn and ensuing rebound often favor startups as well because they can be more nimble.
Video; 2014 Job Market Forecasted
Published on Jan 9, 2014 by cbsnews.com
As we head into 2014, the economy may be in recovery, but that hasn’t made finding a job any easier for millions of unemployed Americans. Barry James, president of James Investment Research, weighs in on the current state of the job market.
Get your engines ready: Americans are spending again, and that’s a good sign for the economy.
Purchases of durable goods such as furniture and cell phones increased almost 2% in August over the prior month. That’s a healthy uptick after mere gains of 0.1% in July, according to data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a branch of the Commerce Department.
So what drove the “August rush” in spending? The biggest factor was auto sales — everything from cars to parts — which accounted for half the gains.
People typically don’t make large purchases like cars unless they feel confident in the economy and their personal finances.
“How a Real Estate guy in Foreclosure Sponsored 28 People in 21 Days at a Minimum $500 Buy-In, and Today Regularly EnjoysMultiple $5-Figure Months in Residual Income Thanks to this #1 Skill-Set You Can Master Starting Today…”
Obamacare, Improving Economy Fuel Faster U.S. Health Spending
Health spending, which slowed last year to growth of 3.6 percent, will roar to 6 percent growth annually for the next decade thanks to the ability of more Americans to buy medical services from an improving economy and the Affordable Care Act.
A new report from actuaries of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the population of aging baby boomers will continue to drive future increases in health spending, but additional factors such as “faster economic growth” that triggers more spending on elective procedure will also come into play.
A few years ago, Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett spoke about one of his favorite companies, Coca-Cola, and how after dividends, stock splits, and patient reinvestment, someone who bought just $40 worth of the company’s stock when it went public in 1919 would now have more than $5 million.
I have exciting news to share with all of you! Instagram is really a great social media tool and is getting bigger and more exposure. It is owned by Face Book which should tell us something.
I have had some great results from taking action with my instabizbuilder FREE video.
1500 new followers in 6 weeks ~100 new followers in 4 days
… and the connections are targeted, in fact as targeted as you design them to be or not. Feel free to contact me for more information on Instagram marketing.
Keep up the good work and as always thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day and business strategies.
Entrepreneurs will often have amazing business ideas, but they put them on hold due to a lack of capital. They assume that their idea will never get far off the ground unless they have major funding behind them.
It seems that every day there is a new startup receiving millions of dollars from venture capital firms, but what you don’t hear about is the several startup failures that burn through millions of dollars only to fizzle out and shut their doors forever.
Build your business around what you know.
Tell everyone you know what you are doing.
Don’t get buried in credit card debt.
Make sure your receivables policy won’t sink you.
Build up sweat equity.
Take advantage of free advertising and marketing.
Read more to get all of the details…
Robert Kiyosaki How to be Successful in Network Marketing and Direct Sales
In the following video, best-selling author Robert Kiyosaki talks about implementing a realistic and achievable plan of building and growing wealth.
Click to watch – http://youtu.be/onsxOZPh6Bc
“31 year old snowboard bum and frustrated employee fires his boss and goes on to build his first $100,000+ Year With a Home Business”
Free 10 minute video that outlines his 23 productivity secrets, instant access!
Zig Ziglar – True Performance – Attitude
Zig Ziglar shares his insights on how your motivation can impact your personal life and career. Motivation is the key to the beginning of any worthwhile endeavors. Motivation gets you going but habit gets you there. Zig gives his insights on how to get up when you’ve been knock down, how to develop a positive attitude, and how to develop positive relationships along the way. Zig Ziglar shares his personal stories on how staying motivated and having an attitude of gratitude brings out the True Performance in all of us.
Click to watch – http://youtu.be/lkEiymUQ01c
Motivation is not magic. It does not come in a bottle. Read more…