|
Breaking News
|
Useful info mesothelioma and mesothelioma cancer
What is mesothelioma, mesothelioma treatment, mesothelioma support, lawyer mesothelioma, mesothelioma lawsuit
|
|
Save like the rich and famous |
|
 In a down economy, how are the wealthy protecting their money? Let the same advice they are receiving guide you through these hazardous financial times.
|
|
|
Lessons of a $618,616 death |
|
Two years after her husband's death and almost 10 years after his cancer diagnosis, a woman examines the wrenching emotional and financial costs of keeping him alive.
|
|
|
Entrepreneurs: Don’t Take the Call from the Office Copier Guy |
|
I do most of my entrepreneur coaching by phone and often I never meet my clients. When they're located in the New York metro area though, I like to get together at least once to put a face to a name. Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing that with one of my terrific clients who heads up a fast-growing consulting firm with a staff of about eight people. As we were talking she was interrupted when her assistant buzzed her on the phone. The office copier rep wanted to talk to her. She declined the call and we resume talking. Our conversation went something like this:
ME: Why was the office copier guy calling you?
HER:We need a better machine with more capacity.
ME: Who's the heaviest user of the machine in the office?
HER: My assistant, Sheila.
ME: Why isn't Sheila responsible for working with the copier rep on finding the right machine?
(Long pause)
HER: I guess it's question of trust. Sheila's great within her skill set, but I'm not sure she can do some things outside of it.
ME: Well, let's assume she can, under your guidance, get all the information needed to make a decision, and then together you and she decide what to do? Wouldn't that be a better use of your time? And wouldn't Sheila feel more empowered with some extra responsibility?
And that's the course of action my client decided to pursue. We spent about 15 minutes of our hour talking about the copier machine, which may seem silly. But it turned out to be a metaphor for where the business tends to get stuck. The CEO of a really fast-growing eight-person company just cannot evaluate copiers. Or peel stamps for correspondence. Or make lunch reservations. Or file documents. Every action that is not moving the business forward strategically is wasted motion and is the enemy!
One of my favorite extreme examples of delegation was my old boss, the president of a $500 million publishing company. He delegated everything. He didn't even read or respond to his own email. He had a special assistant who would print out a stack of emails, get on a plane with him, read him the emails, and he would tell her how to respond. I always chuckled at his extreme-delegation techniques, but he was smart. Any activity that wasn't about increasing the value of the company was forbidden work for him. And so it should be for any entrepreneur, even if your company's sales are $5 million or $500,000.Entrepreneurs: Don’t Take the Call from the Office Copier Guy originally appeared on About.com Entrepreneurs on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 09:14:21.Permalink | Comment | Email this
|
|
|
Questions Not to Ask if You're Thinking of Buying a Franchise |
|
I own a franchised business in addition to being a coach for people who are considering franchises or other business startups. My franchisor refers people to me regularly for what are known as "validation" calls. Prospective franchisees call around to existing franchisees to do research on the franchise and learn what it's like to be in the system. If they ask good questions, they can come out of the process with a much clearer decision path (pro or con). The trouble is, 90% of the people who call me ask the wrong questions!
Here are some of the questions they ask:
I know you may not want to talk about your financial results but do you think I can make a six-figure income in this franchise? Now, how could I possibly know whether you can make a six-figure income? I know what I can do. I haven't got a clue about you! And don't bother asking me how much I make, not because it's none of your business (which is isn't) but because my results and your potential results have absolutely no relationship to each other! You are you! You can't be me (and you don't want to be anyway). You need to ask you questions about yourself, and ask me questions that will get you thinking about yourself. More on that idea in a moment.
Why did you decide to go into this franchise? Again, what's the difference? If you really want to know, a franchise broker told me about it, I wasn't excited about the other two ideas she had, and I didn't want to get a job. There you go! But who cares why I got into it? What do YOU want to get into and why? Are you running toward something or running away from something as you think about starting a business? (Most people are running away, fast.)
If you had it to do over again, would you buy this franchise? ARRGHs)$^*Q#$TJ!!!! I hate this question because it makes me start thinking of all the things I want to do over again! I have this little fantasy where I get a magic wish and I go back to a particular date in my life just before the moment when I did something really dumb. Only now, when I go back, I know what the future is, so I don't make the same mistake. It's a great fantasy! And then I remember I can't do that and it makes me really angry at your dumb question!
So what are the right questions? I list them in my book that's coming out next month. A preview:
Why did you start your own business? What was going on in your life that led you to that decision? What's the back story? Great question, because everyone's back story is different. You can learn a great deal about core characteristics of entrepreneurs by getting them to talk about their story.
Do you consider yourself a success in this business? If so, why? If not, why not?
Why did you go out of business? (You need to speak to at least a couple of folks who failed and find out why. What's really interesting is who they blame. Discount the ones who blame the franchisor, and learn from the ones who blame themselves.)
What are the key traits you have that led to your success? This is a good question because you may be able to get a consensus from different franchisees as to what the core success traits for this franchise are. (And it's different with different franchises.) Then you can decide whether you have those traits, or if not whether you can develop them.
What were the most difficult lessons you learned in your first one to two years in operation? This is a better way of getting to the "would you do it over again" question. I can tell you where I made mistakes. If you listen you'll save thousands of dollars.
Few people ask these questions, but if they did they'd learn about my franchise at a higher level. There are many more you can ask to get the information you really need to make a good decision. Because even if I answer questions that seem to be about me, like the ones above, they really are about the skills and disposition you will need if you decide to get into my franchise or any other.Questions Not to Ask if You're Thinking of Buying a Franchise originally appeared on About.com Entrepreneurs on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 11:57:40.Permalink | Comment | Email this
|
|
| |
|
Special Edition
|
|
|
BLACK ONLINE NEWS NETWORK VIDEO |
|
|
|
BENJAMIN'S NEWS |
|
Eat out for less |
|
Here are 10 strategies to save money and still have a satisfying meal out.
|
|
|
Wal-Mart's new problem: Its customers |
|
The discount retailer, one of the recession's big winners, felt the pinch from belt-tightening consumers in its fourth quarter as sales at US stores fell for the first time.
|
|
|
Leaving your job? Don't forget your 401(k) |
|
Question: I'm in my 30's and have a 401(k) from a previous job, 75% of which is invested in a variety of stock portfolios. Although my stock holdings have recovered a bit recently, I'm still down about ,000 from my peak balance. I'm planning to roll over this old 401(k) into either the 401(k) at my new job or into an IRA account, but I'm wondering whether I should do the rollover now while stocks are still cheap or wait until the market has recovered and then do it. What do think? --Todd Gerecke, Lynden, Washington
|
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PRESS RELEASES
 THE WIRE |
Loading...
 |
BONN SITE MAP
Links to other BONN websites |
| |
|
DIVERSITY CAREER SEARCH
The
Bonn Group is proud to announce an affiliation that provides users with the
ultimate in job search and career advice, CareerBuilder.com!
As an official diversity partner we can now bring the power of CareerBuilder to
jobseekers and employers alike.
Diversity Jobs
Search Jobs
Post Your Resume
Have Jobs Emailed To You
Job Seeker Toolkit
Career Advice
Post a Job
Review Resumes
|
|
|
| |
|
EXPRESSIONS |
| YES I CAN |
 |
| I will no longer feed the cravings of high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney failure............I will feed the desires of a healthy body |
|
| SCHOOLING DIVALEESHA |
 |
| Divaleesha.............your self esteem should come from the inside and not the outside which is your designer labled clothes and bags........self esteem cannot be bought it must be taught ! |
|
| THE ACTIVIST |
 |
| In 1986, before mandatory minimums for crack offenses became effective, the average federal drug offense sentence for blacks was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later following the implementation of harsher drug sentencing laws, the average federal drug offense sentence was 49% higher for blacks. |
|
| REV. TELL IT LIKE IT IS |
 |
| Sisters......... don't call a good man a dead beat dad when he is financially supporting his children and wants to be an important part of their lives but the woman is making it hard for him because he no longer wants to be in a relationship with her........And Brothers.........don't give up on a relationship with your children just because the woman is making it hard for you to do so.......Your children are worth more than your child support! |
|
| THE MYSTERY OF BLACK HISTORY |
 |
| George Washington Carver developed 300 derivative products from peanuts among them cheese, milk, coffee, flour, ink, dyes, plastics, wood stains, soap, linoleum, medicinal oils and cosmetics. |
|
| THE KNOWLEDGE NUT |
 |
| Did you know that........ no matter how ticklish you may be, you can't tickle yourself....................
This is because your brain keeps your senses focused on what's happening in the world; important signals aren't drowned out in the endless buzz of sensations caused by your actions. For instance, we are unaware of the feel of a chair and the texture of our socks, yet we immediately notice a tap on our shoulder. |
|
| DOCTOR KNOW |
 |
| 35% of African Americans have hypertension, which accounts for 20% of the African American deaths in the United States - twice the percentage of deaths among whites from hypertension. |
|
| GIRL TALK |
 |
| Girl.............the tabloids watch Oprah's weight more than she does........If I had Oprah's money I would tell the tabloids that they can go and kiss my collard greens |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
