Three weeks ago we added a new employee to our team. But he had no name.

It’s a funny thing though. I kind of knew his name all along. My husband, Richard, took some convincing… now he’s fully on board! (And he played a key role in figuring out his last name.)

Meet Jack:

Jack Blue to be more specific. (And when we’re feeling really chummy, he’s JB.)

Jack’s been learning the trade since we first introduced him to you. And he’s acquired some great skills. Things like swatting at the cursor on our computer screens. Stealing our chairs the minute we get up. He makes a pretty good paper weight too.

And then of course, there’s the thing he does best:

He’s pretty great at power naps… while still expecting his hourly rate.

Not a bad idea!

Oh! and a very special thanks to all of you who gave us some great ideas for names! We loved every single one of them. You guys are amazingly creative.

Related posts:

1. If we don’t feel valued, we walk.
2. Will You Help Us Name Our New Employee?

a.k.a.

referral systems

revenue sharing

cross industry marketing

joint venturingIt’s basically I’ll reward your business for each customer you bring me as a result of your marketing efforts.

Or,

• You help me penetrate a new market.
• I help you do an add-on business (to what you already do).
• You piggyback on my sales efforts, my established goodwill and my existing relationships.

Whatever you call it, however you look at it… you should be asking yourself, “Why am I not doing this right now????” (And if you are? You are one smart cookie!)

Ready for a great story about affiliate marketing? Visit my friend Eugene’s site and read his post, Cupcake Marketing: Affiliate Marketing Beyond the Internet.

Take a look.

Leave a comment:)

Think.

Let’s make friends in business. When I love and trust you… and you recommend someone to me, I realize exactly how much time you just saved me. I’m thrilled if you get a referral fee!

Your turn. What amazing affiliate relationships have you been involved with? Care to share?

*********

This is the final installment of my vacation posts. I’ll catch up with you later this week:) Thanks for all of the great comments!

Related posts:

1. How to Give a Great Sales Pitch!
2. Neverware: A Great Story of a Young Entrepreneur

Today’s awesome guest post is written by Daniel M. Wood of Looking to Business where he blogs about Motivation and the Principles of Success.

We had an amazing Skype call yesterday for about an hour. It wasn’t really related to this guest post, we just decided to talk one step removed from online.

And let me tell you this.

Daniel is smart. Really smart. I love his blog — I hope you pay him a visit. You are guaranteed to be inspired.

Enjoy!

*********

Today’s globalized high competition society requires us to do more and more. It requires us to produce better and better results.

What makes this difficult is that we aren’t only expected to produce more, but everything we produce has to be of a even higher quality.

If you are to be able to produce more you can either work for a longer time or you can start learning time management and improve your efficiency.
Either way works, but there is a limit to how much time you can spend working, after all you only have 24 hours/day.

How I doubled my efficiency

A few years back I was given the honor to start a new office for my company.

I went from a regular manager role to being in charge of advertising, recruiting, sales and all the fun administrational duties that come with it.

I know what you are thinking, delegate!

The problem was that there was no one to delegate to, I was alone at the office.

All the work was up to me.

Sure, as we built I would be able to start delegating, but when I started I had to do everything myself.

I started working my regular 8-17 and realized I just couldn’t keep up.

I had to work later and later, before long I worked from 7.30-22.00 every single day (On weekends it was enough with 9-17).

This was of course not sustainable and I knew I had to do something.

I talked to my bosses and all they could do was offer some advice on how to work faster, I talked to my friends who told me to quit.

Luckily I got advice from one of my customers to start reading about time management.
I read books from Stephen Covey, Brian Tracy and David Allen. Before I knew it I was caught up. I started producing better and better results. I could start coming home earlier and earlier at first 9 pm then 8 pm, 7 and finally at 5 pm like my colleagues.

The techniques below are the ones that saved me. You might be using some right now, but if you aren’t using all of them, try them out and you will start seeing a difference in how much you can produce.

Plan Your Weeks

Start by listing everything that I know will need to be done during the week (this can be saved, as the basic week looks pretty much the same), then I plan it out.

What do I do Monday, what Tuesday and so on.

I have a basic plan for what I do each day and can from there organize it to make me as efficient as possible.

The ABC Method – Organizing Your Days

Prioritization is the bread and butter of time management. Choosing your most important task and sticking with it until it is completely finished will save you lots and lots of time.

There are 5 types of tasks (in order of priority).

A – Tasks with severe long-term consequences.
These are tasks that, if done, will have a great effect on your long term success.

B – Tasks with moderate long term consequences

C – Minor long term consequences

D – Tasks that could be delegated to others (a typical quadrant to action is to delegate all of these tasks to others as soon as you can).

E – Tasks that should be eliminated.

They might even have a negative effect on your future if completed.

Prioritize at the beginning of the day

Every morning go through the tasks you have planned for the day and assign them a letter.

If you have multiple of a letter call them A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2 and so on.

Start with your most important task and work down the list

Conclusion

If you use these 2 simple techniques your days will be a lot more productive and will be able to produce more and more every day. You will produce better results which will help you move forward quickly in your career.

I hope you liked this article and found it useful.

If you would like to read more from Daniel M. Wood you can find more at his blog Looking to Business.com. He writes mainly about Motivation and the Principals of Success.

Related posts:

1. Do You Wish You Were More Creative, Productive and Better Looking? #7links
2. Are You Running the Whole Show?

Last week I wrote a post about the perils of not having a team help you run your business. One of the responses I received raised an interesting question. It’s one I’ve often pondered.

My friend Ruzanne of Oh!SomeAngels made the excellent suggestion that I consider hiring a VA (Virtual Assistant) during those times when I need some extra help. A VA could help out with things like customer service, writing, editing and proofreading and for social networks site management. It’s a great idea.

But here’s my little dilemma:

When is it okay to hire someone to manage your social media for you?

In other words, is it acceptable to pay someone to be ‘you’ on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin? I believe the obvious answer is yes. But…. I find myself wondering.

I have a friend who is widely known as a guru in the wealth building industry. She’s billed as a top expert in her field. She has built a multi-million dollar business and over the years has created a huge team that supports her. (If you read my blog with any regularity you know I am a firm believer in hiring a team and in delegating the work of running your business to that team.)

A number of years ago she mentioned to me that she has trained some of her employees to speak in her ‘voice’. They know how to sound exactly like her. She’s tasked these individuals to handle all aspects of her social media presence.

They tweet, post and engage online as her.

I’ll admit to being fascinated by this strategy. And I was surprised by it. It seemed like a good solution for someone who was incredibly busy while at the same time it struck me as slightly disingenuous.

I found myself thinking, “You mean all this time you were replying to my tweets and ‘liking’ my posts on Facebook, it wasn’t really you?”

Over the years I’ve found myself presenting this as a viable option to some of my coaching clients. I’ve recommended this strategy to people who have zero time to devote to social media but desperately need to incorporate social media into their business marketing strategies.

I’ve even suggested my husband consider doing this.

In some ways, this is a classic case of “Do as I say, not as I do.”

For example, when I engage with you on social media, it really is me doing the liking, sharing and tweeting. Yet, over the past couple of weeks I was so busy I pretty much disappeared from the social media scene. Now I’m wondering, would it have been acceptable to bring in some temporary help to stay active and current?

I’d love to know what you think about this. Is is okay to have your team manage your social media? If so, is it acceptable to have them speak in your voice? Strategically what is the best way to go about this? How much time do you spend managing your social media? Would you consider delegating this to a member of your team? Is it disingenuous or is it an acceptable practice?

Related posts:

1. Social media, changing the way we do business.
2. How do you use social media in your business?

I’m barely inspired lately.

I’m totally exhausted.

And I’m elated this is almost at an end.

Last fall we fired a property management company (for extreme gross negligence). That’s a story of its own. And not a short one. Sadly. Then we hired a new ‘professional’ company (or so we thought). Now they are gone (their reputation suggested they were perfect for the job — but they totally flaked on their promises). That too is a long story. Both stories should probably be told. Some day. I know I’ve learned a great deal.

However, today’s story is about what happens when you don’t have a team working with you. It’s about the perils of doing everything yourself.

It’s about working IN your business not ON your business.

This entire week I’ve struggled to feel inspired enough to write. And then a light went off in my head.

Of course I’m not inspired.

During a normal day I’m meeting tons of people. I’m hearing stories. I’m reading things that truly inspire me. I’m listening to the radio, exploring the internet, constantly exposed to snippets of great ideas and thoughts.

I’m strategizing on where my projects are going. I’m looking to the future and working on things that support my vision. I’m achieving goals. I’m around people who are in action and doing great things.

Instead, this past few weeks, I’ve been working 14 hour days while scrambling to fit my other businesses in. I’ve been buried in paperwork, interviews and phone calls. Operating and managing a 29 unit apartment building is a job. I’m not growing a business, I’ve been buried in running a business.

I lost touch with my favorite people. I’ve had almost no time to visit my favorite blogs. Friends like Phil at Philz Corner are tweeting things like,

@bigfishtopdogs You are quiet lately! Still busy with the business? Hope all is going good. =]

(Thank you Phil, it’s nice to know someone realized I disappeared. Don’t send out the rescue dogs just yet!)

I have disappeared. My husband hardly sees me. We have a quick dinner and it’s back to work. I’m not reading for pleasure or following the news.

The net result? I’m barely inspired. My typical energy level has dissipated. It’s been sucked into the minutiae of a million little tasks. Tasks somebody else should be doing.

This is not a woe is me post. I’m writing this to demonstrate what happens when you do not have a team to handle the daily tasks. Those tasks that keep your business running.

Hopefully this will help make the point that if you want to grow a business, if you want to be inspired and have the bandwidth to be innovative and creative, you’ve got to hand off the running of your business(s) to someone else.

You cannot run a business alone and expect it to be a success.

You can’t be cheap and try to save a buck by not hiring staff.

You’ve got to have a team. It will pay off in spades. Having a team allows you to monetize your business. It frees you up to do the things that will grow your business. It allows you to keep your eye on future results.

It also contributes to a growing economy. This is what entrepreneurship is all about.

Has my story helped you step back and take a look at what you’re doing? Are you doing everything yourself? Are you working super hard or are you working super smart?

***

I’ll admit, I have had some fun this past week. I did a couple of Skype calls with some blogger friends (thanks Phil & Stacey!). I got my eCourse done from start to finish (something I sat on for a full three months). Stacey over at The Beginner Businesswoman interviewed me for her Meet the Experts Column. I took on two new wonderful coaching clients.

Collaborating.

Engaging.

Connecting.

Creating product.

Getting new clients.

These are the things I want to be doing. btw — we did find a new management team. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Related posts:

1. The Logo Project – Day 3 – Working With a Graphic Designer
2. Owning a Part Time Business While Working Nine to Five

In business, your team is your number one asset. Casting a cold eye over prospective team members is your job. In this task, the old saying, “Nice guys finish last” is worth considering.

These tips will help you approach the job of hiring professionals or contractors with a careful and critical eye.

References can be worthless. Industry reputation should be your guide. What do non-references say about the professional? For example, are they integrity driven? Don’t stop at one recommendation. And for heaven’s sake, don’t rely solely on the references provided by the person you are hiring. Make some phone calls, ask around.

A professional might wear only one hat really well. If your professional has overestimated their ability to perform multiple tasks, you lose. Not them. Be clear about your tasks and carefully analyze whether the professional has the team and experience to deliver — before you bring them on board.

Verbal commitments are risky at best. If your professional balks at papering a deal, move on. Performance is impossible to measure when two possible interpretations of outcome exist. You do not have a deal until the ink is dry.

If motives are questionable, it’s your job to ferret out who stands to win. When an offer is presented as being in your best interest, and not of the professional presenting the offer, something is amiss. Look for language that can be translated as “Help us, help us.” Look carefully for terms that are not in your favor.

Listen to your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t.

Professionals do not always have your best interests at heart. “I’ve got your back” is a rare occurrence. Conversely, the professional that delivers in hard times deserves every recommendation you can throw his way.

Your turn. What great, and not so great, experiences have you had when hiring professionals to do a job for you? What would you do differently?

Related posts:

1. Entrepreneurs, lead your team — “paper” a deal
2. Who Else Has Your Customer?

“I’m firing him. I don’t need a QA man who can’t actually tell me the bad news.”

This is a quote from a novel I read last week. It’s a memorable line and one worth thinking about.

If you have someone who reports to you, who has direct control over any aspect of your business or to whom you’ve delegated responsibility, they need to tell you the truth.

It’s human nature, I suppose, to present a pretty picture. Even our kids do it. They tell us what we want to hear. Some people do it to protect their pride or job or even their freedom. But if you have someone in a right hand position — with a direct impact on your livelihood, businesses, investments or assets — they need to give it to you straight. No sugarcoating.

And it’s your job to make this clear.

Take a minute today and think about this. Who reports directly to you? It could be your stockbroker, your banker, your employees, your hired contractors, your kid’s teacher, etc. Do they know that they can come to you with the truth, and that you can handle the truth? That you can stay calm in a crisis? That you don’t take things personally? That the best way to solve a problem is at the very beginning, when you first learn of it?

And, rather than firing someone, wouldn’t you rather set some guidelines on communication upfront?

(Comments welcome.)

source: The Windup Girl

No related posts.

Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions why not set a target date of May 3, 2011 as the day three big things will be done? These are your strategies.

Then back into them.

What tasks need to be completed in order to accomplish those strategies? These are your tactics.

And, who is going to hold you accountable?

*************

Oh! And here’s a bonus post from last February that may help you think differently about those New Year’s Resolutions: How’re you doing on those resolutions?

Your turn! What are you planning to do differently in the New Year? Comments are open!

Related posts:

1. How’re you doing on those resolutions?
2. Big Blue Monsters That Hold You Back

Do you want to drive yourself totally crazy? Spend a day, or a week, reacting to everything that comes your way… and getting nothing done as a result.

After publishing my post, Proactive vs Reactive: Who Really Owns Your Business?, I’ve been getting some questions about how to tell the difference between reactive and proactive activities. This list will help you start the New Year with some essential course corrections to your activities:

When you are reactive you are:

• Letting events control you.
• Letting other people dictate your schedule.
• Jumping to take phone calls, reply to emails, and answer questions.
• Correcting mistakes.
• Putting out fires.
• Doing everything yourself.
• Waiting for things to happen.
• Buried in paperwork.

When you are proactive you are:

• Making your business happen.
• Working on your vision.
• Delegating and making sure the right people are on the right projects.
• Making sure your team feels valued.
• Taking control of events.
• Planning your schedule, and sticking to it.
• Actively marketing your business.
• Working on new projects and products.
• Strategizing on ways to monetize your business.
• Developing affiliate programs and joint ventures.
• Working collaboratively to grow your business.
• Connecting with others for advice and partnership.
• Evaluating your market.
• Improving customer service.
• Predicting outcomes.

When you spend your time reacting to the needs of your business, you are working in your business. When you focus on nurturing your business, you are working on your business. It’s that simple.

As you head into the New Year take some time to really give this some thought. Knowing how you spend your time is critical to setting new goals and projections for your business. You want to be working on your business. Ask yourself, “How am I going to accomplish that?”

You can start by leaving a comment here. Putting things down in writing is a great way to explore your thoughts, to plan, and to make things happen!

Oh! If you haven’t done so already, grab my RSS feed or subscribe by email by clicking these links… you’ll be the first to receive new posts hot off the press!

Related posts:

1. Perseverance: Getting Off the Ground
2. Proactive vs Reactive: Who Really Owns Your Business?

Our Doctor, one of the nicest guys we know, recently discovered his trusted employee of 10 years had embezzled over $400,000 from his practice. Most of the embezzlement occurred over the past four years.

It’s a heartbreaking story of a trustworthy employee who turned out to be a thief.

And, a shocking one too.

Of course you might wonder, “How could this possibly happen and why didn’t he know?” but the simple truth is he completely and utterly trusted his long time employee. She was like part of the family. And apparently, he had no systems in place to protect his practice from embezzlement.

As an entrepreneur, company owner, founder or CEO it’s important to delegate responsibilities to your team – you shouldn’t be micro managing the operations of your company – but to what degree do you turn over all responsibility? Obviously, this has to be an individual decision. Here are some safeguards you can implement today to protect yourself.

At the very minimum you should:

• Hire a professional to perform background checks on all employees.

• Hire your accountant to conduct an annual audit or periodic review.

Here are some other precautions you might consider taking to protect yourself and your company from a dishonest employee:

• Do you have less than 3 people handling your accounting? Assign one person each to handle the mail, the accounting and the bank statements.

• Establish a “no penalty for ratting” office policy. Let your employees know they can come to you with any suspicions confidentially.

• Do not give one individual too much authority. The person who does your bookkeeping should not be the person who reconciles your bank account and credit card statements.

• Have your employees rotate duties & responsibilities.

• Review canceled checks, credit card statements and bank transfers on a monthly basis.

• Always look at the balances on your credit card statements.

• Have your bank and other lenders send your correspondence to your home. Read all letters and statements.

• Put your database and files on an external server. This way you’ll have a back-up tamper proof copy of your files.

• Be aware of lifestyle changes and behavior changes in your employees. Trust your intuition, not what the employee tells you.

Let your employees know up front what systems you have in place against embezzlement. This is not the time to play “nice boss”. Let your employees know that periodic audits will be conducted and that you will pursue any theft to the full extent of the law… including incarceration.

After our Doctor fired his employee, his patients began to tell stories about how they didn’t really like his assistant. Granted, this could be a case of 20-20 vision or of armchair quarterbacking, but if your customers or clients have complaints about any of your employees, you should take note.

If you have ideas to contribute to this article, please leave them in the in the comments below. Thank you!

Oh! If you haven’t done so already, subscribe by email to bigfishtopdogs.com over on the right sidebar of this blog… you’ll be the first to receive new posts hot off the press!

Related posts:

1. Do You Wish You Were More Creative, Productive and Better Looking? #7links
2. The Logo Project – How To Buy a Good Logo Design Online

The project: Hire two teams to design two new logos for under $100. I’ll be blogging about it and showing you the results. Update: I’ve hired three design companies for the competition.

It’s Day 10 of The Logo Project and all of the logo concepts have been delivered (with apologies from gotlogos for their tardiness).

I guess bubbles and paw prints rule the day, which makes me think these design elements are way too obvious. On the other hand, some of them are pretty good.

Here are the final concepts from the three competing design firms:

gotlogos:

Nice colors.
The ever present paw print.
The .com was a serious afterthought.
And, yes… the bubbles.

Not bad… it’s a strong logo.

*********

19dollarlogos:

OK… for 19 bucks… but what’s with the fish? Kind of like a deer — rather, fish — in headlights… as drawn by a three year old. Sorry guys – it is what it is. I told my friend Janet the fish looks like the fish symbol on the back of a Volvo.

The paw print (again!). I guess color wasn’t part of the package. But they were clever with the choice of type.

*********

logonerds:

One thing I’ll say, for 47 dollars they delivered 12 concepts of the logo and 3 “characters” although they totally missed the boat with these characters. After all, they did ask me,

“Anything you do not want to see in your logo?”,

My answer?…

“I do not want to see bad ass cats and dogs. Big tough guys. Girly girls. I don’t want a cheesy dog in a top hat.”

Whoever drew the characters had talent – but these guys are bad. Like a horse head in the bed bad. Or, Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. (Godfather.)

And here are 3 of the 12 concepts:

I gotta say this, the logonerds – hands down – delivered. The cost? $47 with revisions to the final concept of my choice. They were creative. They gave me a total of 15 ideas to choose from. I was able to communicate directly with my designer via online communications. And as we speak, they are making revisions to my final choice. These guys rock!

*********

Final thoughts: This project was about being in action and hiring & working with team. The total cost — $91. The experience? Priceless. I’ve learned a lot… which actually gives me more to write about on another day

Like… how to work with a team. How to delegate a project you could otherwise do yourself (I am a graphic designer after all). How to treat a customer. (Was there a personal touch? Decent customer service? Were projects delivered on time?) As I said, plenty to write about on another day. And I will.

The lesson: When you put one small little action into motion it is amazing how much you can learn.

I hope this project has inspired you.

How about you? Any final comments on the designs? Or on the process of working with a team? Are you ready to start a new project yourself? I’d love to hear from you!

Related posts:

1. The Logo Project – How To Buy a Good Logo Design Online
2. The Logo Project – Day 4 – The First Logo Has Arrived! Let’s Critique!

The project: Hire two teams to design two new logos for under $100. I’ll be blogging about it and showing you the results.

It’s Day 3 of The Logo Project and I’m ready to place my orders for my new logos. I’m ordering from the three top competitors! 

And, already, I’m stuck at one of the first questions,

“Exact name you would like to be used in your logo: *” (the asterisk means it’s required).

This is from the logo nerds. I told you yesterday they asked good questions. You’d think this would be easy, wouldn’t you?

The thing is, I thought I was all prepared for the questionnaire. I was feeling like “bring it on, I’m ready!” Now I’m stumped at the third question!

Jeez. Do I put: “BigFishTopDogs.com”? or, “bigfishtopdogs.com”? Or am I branding myself – using my own name? Or should I do both? “Theresa Bradley-Banta’s BigFishTopdogs”?

So, I’ll just type in… hmmm…

OK, I’m going with bigfishtopdogs.com. I’m kinda just looking for a cool graphic anyway.

*********

Let me stop here and say this. I’ve been designing logos for over 20 years. I’ve pushed and prodded and pulled this information out of clients a gazillion times!

If you’re doing this project with me – and I hope you are – this stuff is important. You can’t just tell a graphic designer,

“Well… we’re a window washing company. You know. We wash windows”.

You’ve got to have an idea of who you are. Your personality. Your vision. Your competition. Your landscape and environment.  Your flavor, your color… are you worldly and fun? Are you academic or jovial?

What makes you distinct? Separates you from the competition?

How do you talk? What words do you use?

Are you branding yourself? Or, are you branding a company name?

It isn’t easy, is it?

*********

I would highly recommend that you take an opportunity and complete the logo nerds questionnaire.  Click this link.

Here’s a sample question from the questionnaire:

“What should come to your customers mind when they see your logo?”

My answer: A little edgy. A little humorous. A little… sangfroid with some insouciance and obstreperous(ness) thrown in. Daringly innovative. Yet friendly and approachable.

Let’s see what all 3 make of this.

*********

Post update: I finished the logo nerds questionnaire. I was right about one thing; the other two were a breeze.

And, I’ve placed all three orders giving each design group just about the same information – hopefully this will level out the playing field for the competition.

Oh! And did I mention this? I want you to help me pick the winner!

I’ll be posting the designs as they come in and keeping you updated on the progress.

See who the competitors are by visiting Day 1 and Day 2 of The Logo Project.

Until then… how about you? Are you playing along with this project? Do you have any great ideas you want to share?

Related posts:

1. The Logo Project – How To Buy a Good Logo Design Online
2. The Logo Project – Day 2 – Buying a Logo Design Online

The project: Hire two teams to design two new logos for under $100. I’ll be blogging about it and showing you the results.

It’s day 2 of The Logo Project and I’ve been checking out the sites of the four competitors I selected. When I wrote about this yesterday, I figured I could get 2 unique logo designs for my blog within a budget of $100.

And in the process, show you how to do it.

Guess what? I think I can go with 3 of the 4 designer groups and stay within my budget of $100. And, so can you!

Here’s what my early research has uncovered.

*********

Already out of the running:

99 designs: They’ve lost the race before it’s begun. For $99 I get to choose from an array of 9,181 ready-made logos. These are not original designs unique to me.

They do offer a really cool idea, though. I love this idea. You can launch a design contest to a “community of 77,666 designers then sit back and choose the design you like!”

Hmmm, tempting (and fun), but not in the budget.

Here’s what happened as I went through the process online:

• $395 for the “most popular”, standard package, around 80 designs.
• Add $85 for the “power pack” “Contests with the power pack attract 185% more designers!”
• NOW THEY WANT MY EMAIL ADDRESS
• OK – so I’ll give them my throw away gmail address here (see my post on why you should have a disposable email address.)
• My total payment so far? $480.00
• The “more money you offer, the more designs you’ll have to choose from”.
• Note: they do offer a money back guarantee.

*********

OK, so moving right along I checked out the next competitor:

19 dollar Logos: I’m definitely going with these guys. “Seasoned pros working for peanuts”! And, I love their philosophy.

Here’s what they say:

“Are you looking for a good quality design at a really affordable price? That’s not easy to find. How about the highest quality design for next to nothing? Now, that’s impossible to find. You always get what you pay for. Well, not always…

There’s a small catch here though. We don’t accept any revision requests for $19 logo designs. The first design is also the final design. This is neither related to laziness (on the contrary, we are really hard workers) nor low price – it’s related to our logo design philosophy…:

FACT 1: In the majority of cases the initial logo idea is usually the best.

FACT 2: The more revisions you make, the less professional the result is.”

Oh! I agree, I agree! As a graphic designer myself I know these facts to be true.

So, I’ll go with this package:

“Order Logo Package #1 for only $19 – one version of the logo and no revisions. This is the cheapest and yet the most recommended option because it matches our logo philosophy and the essence of this site in full!”

*********

Now, for the third competitor:

Got Logos: “Home of the $25 Logo! Hey! Only 25 Bucks!” They specialize in the design of site graphics, and more specifically, domain logos.

Just what I’m looking for.

Lot of upsells available but I’m sticking with the website logo package… 25 bucks!

*********

And last, but not least:

Logo Nerds: Love the name! Gotta go with these guys. And I’ll tell you, of the four I’ve looked at, these guys ask the good questions about what I’m looking for in a design.

They have three packages. I’ll go with this one:

• Professional Business Logo $47.00
• Web Ready Formats
• Print Ready Formats
• 6 Different Concepts
• Free Revisions
• Delivered in 3-5 Business Days
• Satisfaction Guaranteed

*********

All of these companies have an online gallery that shows their work. You can click on the links to each one and check them out for yourself.

What I haven’t seen yet are any disclaimers with terms and agreements. I may be in for some surprises, but we’ll see.

With credit card in hand, and a little time, I’ll be ordering from the three top competitors! All for $91!

The contest is on for the winning design.

And, I’ll keep you posted.

How about you? Have you been procrastinating on getting a logo design for you, your blog or your company? What are you waiting for?

Please leave a comment about your success or challenges in your quest for a great design… or some tips for me as I do this project!

Related posts:

1. Asking Someone to Mentor You and Part II of the Joel Comm Project
2. The Logo Project – How To Buy a Good Logo Design Online

Are you looking for someone to design a new logo for your business or website?

Join the club.

People snicker (c’mon, I know you do) at my blog design because it’s the basic cappuccino Thesis theme. It’s starting to really bug me, too. I’m getting sick of looking at pictures I didn’t take. Who ARE those girls on the beach anyway? (You might have to scroll around my site to figure out what I’m talking about.)

The kicker? I was — I guess I still am — a professional graphic designer. Meaning I earned money for it.

I’ve been holding out for that day when I find time to design my own logo.

So today I’m announcing the Logo Project. Any entrepreneur knows you use team so you can free yourself up for working on the bigger picture… right? The vision, if you will. After all, I don’t personally manage my real estate, I have property managers doing that. So I can look for new properties.

My husband – who seems disappointed I’m not tackling this myself… he thinks it would be a really cool project — told me yesterday that I should just design a fat cat… with a bowler, a diamond studded cane and a vest. Get it? Big fish… Top dogs… FAT CATS!

But, it’s just not getting done.

On my way to writing this post, and just for the hell of it, I stopped by Google and looked for some graphic designer jokes – a joke in itself because I really didn’t expect to find any.

Huh.

Graphic Designer Humour:

“You’ve learned your lesson and stopped using the word “final” in any file name when saving.”

“You’ve intentionally given up trying to explain your projects to non-designers.”

“You’ve kept a ragged concert ticket just so you could scan it.”

Well, I thought these were pretty good jokes.

So, I’m resolutely going to pursue this idea of hiring my logo design out. Inexpensively is the goal.  Here’s some resources I’ll be checking out (and I’ll keep you posted).

• gotlogos.com
• 19dollarlogos.com
• 99designs.com
• logonerds.com

I really like the name “logo nerds”… I’ll probably hire them just because of their name!

The project: Hire two teams to design two new logos for under $100. Oh, and I’ll be blogging about it. And showing you the results.

And here’s a story only a graphic designer would love and truly appreciate – take it from the Keyboard Shortcut Queen (that’s me):

Area Man Knows All The Shortcut Keys

How about you? Do you have any good leads for the project? Do you have a new logo? Or a logo you really love? Email it to me and I’ll post it on my blog with a link to your site.

BTW – When you leave a comment below, please try to refrain from saying, “You get what you pay for”… I thought of that already.

Related posts:

1. Finding Inspiration in a Single Action
2. Asking Someone to Mentor You and Part II of the Joel Comm Project

How much of the work are you doing in your business? Are you doing everything?

You cannot micromanage a business and expect it to thrive. You’ve got to know how to delegate and to create an environment where two or more people can work together towards a common goal.

Start thinking like an entrepreneur.

Get a team. Surround yourself with talent and get out of their way.

Set challenging goals.

Don’t underestimate the ability of your team.

Create an environment where motivation can thrive.

Be open to all ideas and strategies.

Collaboration is about achieving something that you would not be able to achieve on your own. Like growing your business. This gets easier with practice. Thinking like an entrepreneur gets easier with practice.

Do you see opportunities around you where you can act collaboratively? What are they? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Related posts:

1. 30 Tips to Becoming a Great Leader
2. Do You Wish You Were More Creative, Productive and Better Looking? #7links

One of my favorite bloggers, Darren Rowse, posted a challenge to his readers.

I love his challenge because it gives me an opportunity to help you be a better, more creative, and productive entrepreneur in a single post.

It also gives me a chance to introduce you to two bloggers I really love following.

Great idea huh?

The idea is to publish a post that is a list of 7 links to posts that “you” and others have written that respond to 7 categories. You might want to take the challenge!

• Your first post
• A post you enjoyed writing the most
• A post which had a great discussion
• A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
• Your most helpful post
• A post with a title that you are proud of
• A post that you wish more people had read

Here are the 7 links:

Are you an entrepreneur?

My first post. Short but sweet. In a nut shell this post challenges whether you are truly an entrepreneur. Read it and see.

The Art of Creativity in Business

The post I enjoyed writing the most. These tips will help you approach business survival with creative thinking. It will help you turn conventional rules upside down.

A great interview question; How to ferret out what someone doesn’t want you to know

A post which had a great discussion. Is someone hiding something from you? Would you like to know the one thing your customer isn’t telling you? Are you struggling to hire the right employee or contractor? My good friend Ron Laurent commented on using this technique to get his boys to incriminate themselves.

How to Live With Your Inner Critic

A post on someone else’s blog that I wish I’d written. Jean Sarauer writes about how we let our inner critics stomp the breath out of our dreams with their verbal attacks. She’s funny and refreshing.

Setting Goals for Entrepreneurs: Three Easy Exercises for the Entrepreneur

My most helpful post. This is a three part series on setting goals. You should read these. Really. I guarantee this will give you new motivation for setting goals you can achieve.

Is Your Ego So Big You Get In Your Own Way?

A post with a title that I am proud of. Is your ego a liability or an asset in business? In life? You do not have all the answers. This will help.

30 Tips to Becoming a Great Leader

A post that I wish more people had read. Please read this. Read it more than once. And comment.

Thanks to Darren Rowse at problogger.net for the inspiration to write this post. Did you take the 7 link challenge? Please leave a link to your post in the comments below!

Related posts:

1. You Are Not Your Ego — It’s An Illusion
2. Looking Outside Your Industry for Inspiration

Posted by Guest Entrepreneur Gail Hahn

Are you inspired by your work? Are you inspired by how you serve your clients? If not, why not? Inspiration is different than motivation. Both come from within, with the energy and feeling of spirit inside. Inspiration spreads outward, so if your work isn’t inspiring to you, there’s no way others would pay to work with you or want to be around you. If you don’t give a hoot, then neither does your client or colleague. You’re just marking time and time is our life energy. You’re just wasting your life if you’re not doing something that inspires you towards a greater good.

I hear from so many clients that they don’t like their work, but they don’t know what’s wrong. I would ask that you compartmentalize your work into segments dealing with who you’re serving, how you’re serving them, who you’re working for (your boss, your organization, yourself), and what you’re serving.

Sometimes pinpointing that you love your mission, but don’t like the distribution channel, or that you love the actual work, but not the person you’re working for can be tremendously helpful. Perhaps you love or dislike your physical location — or the population you’re serving. If you can figure out how to take the good parts of what you do, the inspirational parts, and separate them out from what is not inspiring you, you’re on the right track.

When you’re feeling inspired, it will resonate with others. Those feelings set off vibrations in others that compel them to work with you or repel them from being around you.

Your clients feel inspired by you when you help them feel successful and fabulous about themselves, their work or their organization. You light them up. When they feel inspired, it activates possibilities and transformation in their lives. If they feel uninspired, they do nothing to uplevel their business or their lives.

Create your work to first inspire you, and then it will inspire others. Power and passion resonate from inspirational people. Mediocrity and busy work resonate from uninspired workers. What are you doing today to inspire yourself, to inspire your team, and to inspire your clients?

Related posts:

1. Service & Self Care First, Clients Second
2. What You Think is Right, May Only Be Cultural

Posted by Guest Entrepreneur Gail Hahn

I was on the Ivory Coast of Africa while facilitating team building and communication style workshops with members from 34 different African nations who all worked for the same international organization. Bringing some semblance of order, cultural understanding, corporate culture adherence and just plain getting your point across was no small feat.

The main point was that what we think of as ‘right’ may only be cultural. What we think of as ‘right’ is based on our beliefs and our values. The way we think and behave is based upon what we learned from our parents, society, supervisors and general socialization. We can take this further in business and in life by saying what we think of as the right thing to do may be based upon regional, national, familial, political, gender specific, religious or corporate cultural norms.

We can take this to personal relationships and how we run our families and households, to how we celebrate traditions or how we offer ourselves to the world. We see this play out in corporate culture not only among different nationalities, but in every single individual and the ideologies and work ethics they bring to the workplace. The clash between Baby Boomers, Traditionalists and the New Generation X and Y’s is a classic example of who holds what important and how they get things done.

Blending your personal cultural values with your corporate culture, or even if it’s your personal corporation for entrepreneurs, can be a tricky minefield. When you catch yourself saying “they should” or “he shouldn’t” or “that’s a stupid rule”, you may need to take a fresh perspective on the situation. Whenever you hear the words ‘should’ come out of your mouth, it’s a red flag that you’re in somebody else’s business or placing your way of ‘right’ onto somebody or something else.

Managing the ‘rightness’ of how things are done in your partnership, in your work, with your coach, in your family or in moving through the world takes awareness that your ‘right’ may not be somebody else’s ‘right’.  Seeing the world through a different pair of eyes gives us a new perspective. Even if that someone else is a new and improved you.

After working with coaches, I am continually gaining new insight and new perspective on how I do my life and my work. I find where I once saw the ‘right’ line, is now a more flexible noodle of a line. It’s softer, more flexible, more gray and movable. I find myself saying, “isn’t that an interesting way to look at things?” much more often. Who is coaching you to take a look at what’s right or what doesn’t work in your life and in your business? Is your ‘right line’ bold, straight and immovable or does it have some play or is it open for discussion?

I invite you to be more open and aware of different ‘rights’ that pop into your life and take a gander, then ask yourself, “who says it’s right?”

Related posts:

1. 30 Tips to Becoming a Great Leader
2. You Are Not Your Ego — It’s An Illusion

Posted by Guest Entrepreneur Gail Hahn

Is there alignment with your values and those you choose to deal with in your work and home life?

If we don’t feel valued, we walk. Whether it’s in our personal life or in our professional life. If our partner isn’t valuing us, or our values don’t match with them, there is a good chance the relationship will fizzle

In business, it’s the same thing. If we don’t feel valued as a client or customer we take our business elsewhere. If we’re mistreated, not honored, patronized, ignored, spoken to in a rude manner, experience unacceptable or sub-par service, we walk. It takes just one person in the service delivery chain to really screw things up for a business owner or company. Your font line is your bottom line. It’s where the rubber meets the road in customer retention. One surly, sour receptionist/cashier/call center rep/sales person can ruin it for you. And there goes the lifetime value of that customer.

It pays you dividends many times over to train your team in the manner you wish to be treated and in the manner you wish them to treat your customers. It starts at the top – how they are treated is how they will treat your clients. Value your team and they will be more likely to value your consumers. It sure helps to hire them with positive dispositions in the first place. You can train skills, but it’s much harder to train attitude and outlook.

Matching your values to your workplace or to your preferred providers of service is critical in maintaining a long-term happy partnership. Before deciding upon a career path, job, personal or business to business provider, get clear on how your values match the values of the other business. If there is a big discrepancy, then it will create tension, strife, frustration and ultimately a deterioration of the connection. It is not a pretty sight. If you can determine some of the foundational values of your chosen business, then you’re one step ahead of the game.

You’ll find clues as to what a company values in their marketing materials, in how they treat their team members, in how they treat their customers, in the type of business they are in and in who is running the show. Make sure there is a good match between what you value and who you spend your time and money with to ensure smoother sailing in future endeavors.

How are you offering value to your customers, your employees or business partners? How do your personal values spill over to your work? How about your friends, family, and loved ones? Is there a good match between what you hold in high value and what they hold in high value? If not, there may need to be some tough decisions ahead.

Is there an alignment with your values and what you do for a living? With how you treat your customers? If things are out of alignment, you will know something isn’t right. Take stock of your values and how they color your choices in your personal and professional life and make changes to align them to feel more energized.

Related posts:

1. 30 Tips to Becoming a Great Leader

Posted by Theresa Bradley-Banta

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

Lao Tzu

One of the best things I’ve learned throughout my life — first as the oldest of 6 kids and later in running multiple businesses — is that a really good leader doesn’t tell you he or she is leading.

If you want to be a successful leader, and I believe everyone is capable of leading well, here are some approaches you might want to consider practicing on a daily basis.

1. Demonstrate a clear vision.
2. Refuse to blame others.
3. Be honest about your own mistakes.
4. Don’t make speeches.
5. Don’t be afraid of the unknown.
6. Approach your role as leader with humility.
7. Suspend judgment when listening to others.
8. Ask, “What if…?”.
9. Worry only if your team stops bringing their problems to you.
10. Seek out diversity.
11. Keep your promises.
12. Don’t let your feelings cloud your decision making.
13. Put yourself in other people’s shoes.
14. Have a deep, subconscious belief in your worth.
15. Don’t underestimate the ability of your team.
16. Be willing to work hard.
17. Keep your eye on future results.
18. Maximize others contributions – give credit where credit is due.
19. Be a story teller when describing the big picture.
20. Let your team find the answer when it is already clear to you.
21. Be consistent in your personal style.
22. Set challenging goals.
23. Inspire, coach and empower.
24. Never leave anyone behind.
25. Surround yourself with talent and get out of their way.
26. Be cool in a crisis.
27. Bring a can-do attitude – enthusiasm is contagious.
28. Possess unwavering courage.
29. Create an environment where motivation can thrive.
30. Make sure your team feels valued.

This blog definitely gets better with your comments – anyone else have suggestions?

Theresa Bradley-Banta, co-creator of www.bigfishtopdogs.com, is a musician, award winning graphic artist, mentor, coach, blogger, and owner of multiple businesses. You can follow her on twitter @bigfishtopdogs.

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