REPOST: 5 Tips For Exceptional Leadership

Becoming a leader is a huge responsibility and not everyone is cut out for the role. This article from Forbes shares some tips on how to be a good leader.

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What makes a good leader? Looking at my own personal growth at SAP, I have found that the Holy Grail of leadership today is engagement. It’s only through truly engaging customers that we’ve increased profitability, and only through employee engagement do we increase productivity. I have been lucky enough to work with an executive coach who truly understands how leaders can inspire teams and foster engagement within both their organizations and their customers’ organizations. This is some of the insight I’ve gained from her on engagement, people management, and leadership.

Build a team of your own personal challengers

A recent article in the Economist claimed that as technology continues to become more intelligent, the role of the leader will center more and more on innovative thought leadership. In order to prepare themselves for this reality, leaders must continually nourish their minds with complex problems, new ideas, and divergent perspectives. To this end, everyone needs their own group of personal challengers; external experts who fulfill that part of their development and growth on an ongoing basis. This could be mentors, coaches, business advisors, or just friends who work in different industries. While it takes some work to assemble and practice, it’s a critical element to developing your breadth of thinking and continuing your growth.

Image Source: forbes.com

Convene and intervene
A very helpful leadership philosophy that I have learned is to convene and intervene. On one hand, part of being a leader is cultivating growth which entails convening people under a common purpose and allowing ideas to flourish. On the other hand, it’s about knowing when to jump in and steer the ship which entails helping the team take their ideas and shape them into something meaningful and executable. The leadership philosophy of convene and intervene allows you to be more present in a meeting by taking the onus off getting to the answer and instead focusing on the process of watching ideas grow and then simply shaping them. Not only does this help people feel engaged in the process, it also helps you learn a lot about the people you work with.

Two-to-one

Traditional thinking says that when coaching people, be sure to balance things that are working (positives) with lessons to be learned (negatives). Recent thinking suggests that the magic ratio is not 1:1, but in fact, 2:1. The 2:1 theory is that by emphasizing the positives, you create more buoyancy, leaving people feeling bullish and supported while at the same time having something constructive to work on. It’s so easy to jump right into the issue, especially in a company like ours where urgency can sometimes rule the day. I find myself needing reminders to adhere to this simple 2:1 rule of thumb, but when I do, I am stunned by the results.

Flying high and diving deep

Leadership in a sales driven organization requires an interesting balance of skills: the ability to help refine the details while simultaneously understanding the business with enough breadth to shape the strategy. The balance of knowing when to ‘fly high’ and ensure the overall health of the business, and when to ‘dive deep’ and run right alongside the teams, is a careful balancing act that is imperative to master for the sustainable health of both the business and the team. It can be really unnerving for people when a leader moves from one to the other quickly, which happens when leaders have both skills. Over time, and with amazing support, I have learned that announcing the switch – in a deliberate way – can help people understand what you’re doing. It ensures that people know they’re still trusted even though you need to understand the finite detail, and it allows them to understand that you also see the big picture and are looking out for their long term wellbeing.

Give, give, give, gone

Because there is never enough of it, time is the most valued gift we have to give. I’ve learned that when you have time with someone, give them everything you’ve got – your absolute undivided attention. If you say you’ll do something for them, do it there and then. Make the phone call, find them the document, send the email – but when they leave, move onto the next thing. This means you can always be true to your word, people get from you what they need, and you’re fresh and available to do it again when you move on to your next meeting.

Follow this Marc Accetta Facebook page to learn more about the characteristics of a good leader.

REPOST: 8 Ways to Promote Your Business as a Leader in the Field

To be able to succeed in managing business, having an excellent leadership skills is a must. This article shares the key responsibilities of an excellent leader.

Image Source: tech.co

Clear values, innovation, pricing strategies, passion, and branding are all key attributes that will help to transform new and existing businesses into trusted household names. Yet without excellent leadership skills, a business can quickly crumble. Read on for 8 simple ways to promote your business as a leader in the field.

Strong Values

Strong values lay the foundation for a solid business, so it’s essential that these values are clearly defined from the get-go. Put some effort into the vision statement, instead of throwing something together quickly. Create a truthful set of values that radiates the company nature and intent. Don’t be afraid to make changes along the way. As the business blossoms, its key values will need to be tweaked.

Uniqueness

What makes your business different from the thousands of other similar businesses? A unique selling proposition is essential for attracting customers and standing out from the crowd. Define your niche, then promote it. Once you harness your skills and bring a unique set of skills to the market, your business is destined to prosper.

Honesty

Benjamin Franklin said that honesty is the best policy. This certainly rings true when it comes to leading a business to success. Your moral character, integrity, and honesty will all come into play when leading a business. Set the bar high and encourage a healthy work ethic, and you will find your employees will be happier and more productive in the process.

An Excellent Management Team

An excellent business needs a highly skilled management team behind it. Oracle chose to make Safra A. Catz and Mark Hurd Co-CEOs of the Oracle Corporation.

When asked why Oracle needed two CEOs, Hurd replied, “We’re a big company. This is bigger than the sales force. It’s bigger than Safra and me. Bigger than Larry, Safra and me. … It’s the development team, other teams. We have over 130,000 people. We need a lot of leadership in our company.” Oracle’s CEO shake up shows that it’s not afraid to take risks to make sure the company succeeds.

Leaders can take note from Oracle by choosing to step away from the norm. Companies should always be structured to fit the needs of their own goals.

Ability to Delegate

The ability to delegate is important for creating a well-organized business that will flourish. Leaders sculpt the vision of the company, but they will also need to trust their team to develop this vision and allow it to grow. Delegating tasks is a sign of strength as it proves the company has faith in its staff.

Push Things Forward

It’s important to adapt according to advances in technology and the ever-changing needs of customers. Oracle’s Mark Hurd is leading the company to success with a new cloud subscription strategy that could potentially generate a $10 billion annual cloud subscription revenue. Hurd’s strategies are paying off as a cloud subscription revenue run rate of almost $2 billion was reported in Oracle’s latest year-endings earnings reports.

Study Leaders

Modeling is a system where an individual observes an expert to extract parts of their beliefs, behaviors, languages, and strategies in order to achieve similar results in their own field. While you may not want to delve into the complex world of neuro-linguistic programming, by studying inspirational role models you can learn to improve your skills and become a better leader.

Choose to Inspire and Motivate

Finally, motivating and inspiring your team is important in any business. If you’re leading a start-up to success, you will need to inspire your team to see and believe in your vision.

Incorporating bonuses will reward staff for their hard work and motivate them to work to their full potential, while giving away equity is another way for your team to feel invested in the success of the company.

Leading a business requires forecasting, strength, perseverance, commitment, clear values, and the ability to inspire and motivate while trusting your team to carry out your ideals and visions.

Max DePree put it well when he said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”

Follow this Marc Accetta Twitter account for more tips on how to achieve success. 

REPOST: Why practice won’t always make you perfect, despite what Malcolm Gladwell says

The old adage, “practice makes perfect” has been applied to several kinds of learning. But Fiona Smith, a BRW correspondent emphasis that unrealistic optimism and belief can sometimes do more harm than good.

Image Source: brw.com.au

There’s nothing wrong with positive thinking. It is a hell of a lot better than a wet blanket of negativity that stops you from trying or encourages you to see the worst in everyone. But unrealistic optimism and a belief you can do anything you put your mind to can have some nasty consequences.

Because life isn’t fair.

Despite the popularity of the idea that 10,000 hours of practice can turn us all into masters of our domain, we don’t all enter the world with the same potential. We have different strengths and weaknesses and, if we are lucky, we will discover what they are at an early age and have the opportunity to develop them.

We may even be able to make a living from those strengths and, with enough natural talent and dedicated practice, excel to the point of mastery.

But even if I had dedicated my life to dance, I would never have passed an audition for the Australian Ballet. Even with the best maths teachers in the world, I would have made a lousy actuary. I have no sense of rhythm and my joke that I can barely count has an uncomfortable ring of truth. The danger of believing we can achieve anything, if only we try hard enough, is that it presents an impossible target for almost all of us. (The exception being those with the natural talents, means and dedication to achieve goals they are suited to.)

When we don’t become billionaires by the age of 30 and are still struggling with a mortgage, or when we are still weekend rock stars at the local pub, rather than Madison Square Garden, we may blame ourselves for not trying hard enough.

We may feel that what we have achieved is not good enough, neglecting to give proper credit to the things we do very well.

Practice doesn’t always make perfect

Six years ago, author Malcolm Gladwell popularised the “10,000 hour rule” in his book Outliers .

It is a seductive idea for dreamers but was torn down by a Princeton University study that finds practice does not necessarily make perfect. “We conclude that deliberate practice is important, but not as important as has been argued,” say the authors.

The impact of that practice depends on the area or domain. The more structure-based the domain (chess, tennis and classical music), the more of an impact practice has.

You can study up to be the best. But there are no hard and fast rules to becoming a rock star or entrepreneur and the most unlikely people can be outrageously successful while the seemingly best qualified never make it to first base.

But even in highly structured areas, practice has a minor impact: 26 per cent of the difference in performance in games, 21 per cent in music and 18 per cent in sport.

Other factors that make the difference between stars and the rest include the age at which you start and your genes (which account for well over half the variation).

Despite the popularity of self-belief books such as The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which states that your thoughts control the universe, even dedicated followers can find such exhortations ineffectual. You have to wonder what could have led the hosts of US motivational talk show The Pursuit of Happiness , John Littig and Lynne Rosen, to commit suicide with helium-filled bags around their heads.

A study by Joanne Wood of the University of Waterloo finds people with low self-esteem who repeat positive affirmations feel worse than those who don’t. However, those with high self-esteem did benefit.

“Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people but backfire for the very people who ‘need’ them the most,” says Wood.


Marc Accetta believes that to achieve personal goals, one must be able to shake off doubts and fears and improve self esteem. Follow him on Twitter for more updates about personal success.

Celebrating self-improvement month with a focus on boosting job performance

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September is self-improvement month and there’s no better time to review just how much one has accomplished since the beginning of the year. People often make New Year’s resolutions but it is common for many to fall short or lose steam along the way. With a few months to go till the year ends, instead of giving up entirely, it is better to adopt a stance that insists that there is still some time to complete some of the goals set in January.

With little time to spare, it is best to focus on some aspects in life that matter. One’s job career is a good aspect to focus on as people spend much of their life at work. As some of these suggestions will show, a little can go a long way in improving one’s job performance:

First, make it a point to always arrive early. Resisting the urge to hit the snooze button every morning pays off as getting to work earlier than others gives workers some quiet, interruption-free time to start their day right.

Image Source: fitness.makeupandbeauty.com

Second is to let go of the urge to multitask. By focusing on one task at a time, people can do better work, accomplish more, and feel less stressed at the end of the day after they’ve struck off everything in their daily to-do list.

Third, improve on communication. Many hassles and misunderstandings at the workplace can easily be avoided by listening and asking the right questions. Focus on improving communication with others and help improve the team’s synergy to get more things done right.

Finally, remember to find balance. Work is not everything there is to life so learning to limit one’s daily workload is vital to avoid burning out.

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Through his coaching seminars, Marc Accetta has helped inspire many individuals to continue on their path toward success. For more articles on self-improvement, visit this Google+ page.

REPOST: Twenty Invaluable Tweets on Leadership

Jason Nazar shares 20 philosophy of leadership in the form of tweets in this Forbes article.

This week I had the opportunity to attend my first Intuit Leadership Conference, a gathering of the top leaders across the 8000+ person public company that provides TurboTax, QuickBooks, Quicken, Mint and now Docstoc (the company I co-founded in 2007). Getting to meet all these amazing folks, there were a lot of conversations about what it means to be a great leader. So I asked my new friends to share their philosophy of leadership in the form of the tweets below.

I was going to include the name and titles of each of the individuals, until our CEO gave me this first tweet. Decide for yourself which of these rings the most true for you, and share your leadership tweets in the comments below and I’ll share them in return.

Image Source: forbes.com

Your title makes you a manager, your people will decide if you’re a leader - @IntuitBrad

Great leaders prepare during the good times, reassure through the bad times, and inspire teams to win at all times - @Wernikoff

Go big or go home; One for all and all for one - @sasan_goodarzi

Great leadership comes from the right mix of heart & mind…neither is good enough on its own to earn both trust and respect - @eileen1651

Good leaders drive, amazing leaders inspire - @tsitovich

Data and experimentation empowers teams by shifting the conversation from “I think” to “I know” - @chapo

Teams are reflections of their leaders; Passion for customers, attention to quality & integrity starts with you - @acce

True leadership is from the heart and if your heart points to the people you lead, great things will happen - @alonshwartz



Discover the timeless advice that the world’s great thinkers, billionaires, writers and businesspeople have to offer. An all-star team beats a team of all stars every time - @rlanesey

The best leaders make you believe you can achieve anything, and coach you to make it happen - @divinecassie

Always hire people smarter than yourself or you aren’t doing your job as a leader - @BarbGS10

Great leaders know when to lead from the front and when to get the hell out of the way - @jmillsays

Leaders think complexly; but communicate simply…if they can’t remember it, it can’t be executed - @jim_mcginnis

Leadership is making the sum bigger than individual pieces; touching hearts & minds to achieve more than ever thought possible – @jensenrickw

Good leaders learn by doing, great leaders learn by listening – @cfdonahue

You know a great leader when everyone on their team acts like one - @IntuitVijay

Leadership is making the team the hero – @hughmolotsi

Inspire a bold vision, listen actively, then empower your team by getting out of their way - @ozdane

Leaders don’t bring out greatness; they recognize it & create the environment where people can do the best work of their lives - @IntuitBrad

Leadership is the fortitude to achieve your goals, and the courage to pursue the right ones - @jasonnazar

People prefer their leaders with flaws, because it makes leadership attainable for the rest of us - @IntuitBrad


Being a life coach, Marc Accetta help people achieve their personal goals. Follow this Twitter page to learn more about his amazing life's work.

REPOST: What Death Taught Me About Life: 5 Inspirational Lessons

Death is inevitable in human life but as bad as it sounds, people can still learn a lot about life when faced with the death of a loved one. This article by Joyce Marter of Psychcentral.com shares the five lessons she learned about life through death.

Image Source: psychcentral.com

It was 3 o’clock in the morning when I opened my eyes and felt like my body had been hit by a Mack truck. I was in the guest bedroom of my parents’ home in Ohio. As I became conscious, I recalled the previous day’s unseemly events—selecting a casket, shopping for a black suit for my mother, and a surreal slew of other revolting tasks my sister and I completed with robotic formality as silent screams reverberated through my 28 year-old mind. Then I remembered—my father had died following a routine surgery.

My body ached with sadness from head to toe as I got up to go to my father’s moonlit den. I picked up a paper and pen with my hands, leadened with grief, and began to write his eulogy. Tears streamed down my face as the words flowed out of my heart and through the pen until the paper was filled. I wrote the eulogy from beginning to end without changing a word. In retrospect, I believe this is because in my grief-stricken state, I was stripped down to my most vulnerable and authentic self. The message I wanted to deliver was easily accessed from my soul and downloaded to the paper.

At the funeral, I heard the ‘click clack’ of my heels on the stone floor as I walked alone to the altar and up to the podium, relieved I was standing when I feared I would crumble. As I recited the eulogy, I heard a somber strength in the timbre of my voice as I looked into the mass of saddened faces. When I finished, I returned to my seat where my husband hugged me and my mother and three siblings thanked me through matching sets of blue-gray eyes, all overflowing with tears.

“Beautiful, Joyce…,” I recall the priest saying after taking a long pause. He noted that while my father had achieved a Harvard MBA and an impressive career as a corporate executive, I had mentioned none of that. The things I had mentioned included things about who he was as a man and as a father—things that mattered to me. For example:

• My father was masterful at packing the trunk of our car for our annual family vacation to Cape Cod. He meticulously arranged the luggage for all six of us ensuring there still was room for the board games and the volleyball for us to play with together.
• My dad told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. He asked me often if I was happy, because that was important to him.
• He almost always said yes to playing cards with his children or grandchildren (we had to put up with his corny jokes and bad puns, but he would play…)

Those who knew him best thanked me for capturing his essence. Others thanked me for reminding them of what is important and inspiring them to be better. For me, the eulogy experience was a critical beginning to my grief process—one that continues to ebb and flow, in different ways, many moons later.

Since then, I have lost others whom I have loved deeply.

Most paramountly, my mother passed away when I was 36. She had a brain tumor and died seven weeks after diagnosis. My children were small and I watched her deteriorate from living a full life as an involved grandmother, to unable to walk or speak, to death, all in under two months. I experienced complicated grief for months, if not more than a year, after hear death.

A year ago, I lost my dear friend, Carrie, to breast cancer. It was powerfully heartbreaking and high honor to be part of a circle of women whom she entrusted to process her feelings about her impending death and to establish a plan to support her husband and kids following her passing. (I was asked to give her daughter advice about love and relationships…)

Most regretably, I’ve also supported friends who have endured unimaginable losses; one who buried an infant and one who buried an adult child. There are no words.

Through my personal experiences of love and loss, and through 20 years of counseling countless clients through theirs, I have learned the following truths:

1) Life is a truly gift. We’re probably all guilty at times of viewing time as an obstacle we need to hunker down and get through (i.e. “Isn’t it the end of the workday yet?”, “I just need to get through this year…”) Death reminds us that life is precious, temporary and not to be taken for granted or begrudged. A daily practice of gratitude such as a meditation, affirmation or journal entry is a great way to stay positive and aligned with the awareness of the awesome gift of life.

2) You are not your resume. While our academic and career accomplishments bring knowledge and experiences, it is our choices that define our character and bring wisdom. When somebody one day gives your eulogy, it is doubtful your GPA or workplace title will be cited. What will be remembered is how you made people feel, so be mindful of being present in your relationships and be your best self.

3) The present moment is where life occurs. We all ruminate about the past and worry about the future. Death reminds us that all we have for certain is right now and re-calibrates our values. Don’t waste your life second-guessing your past or waiting to live your life. Live life passionately and fearlessly. Live today and every day to it’s fullest, brilliant magnificence. Laugh with abandon. (Even in the last weeks of my mother’s life, my sisters and I experienced moments with her where we were overcome by fits of hysterical laughter together. I’m grateful we seized those precious opportunities for connection and hold those memories close to my heart.)

4) Loss can bring unexpected and enormous blessings. Hardships are opportunities for growth. Unimaginable losses are openings for the soul to receive healing love from new sources. In my practice and in my own journey, I have been awed and inspired by the resiliency of the human spirit. You never know how strong you are until you endure the unendurable. While it may be impossible to understand our losses, I believe all people come in our lives for a reason; setting our lives on the correct trajectory for our psycho-spiritual development. Notice the blessings you have received from your losses and be grateful for the ways those experiences have carved wisdom and depth into your being.

5) Love is the currency of life. In our culture, we place far too much value on achievement, money, possessions and beauty. Love is what matters and what is remembered. It is LOVE which connects us to one another and to the world around us, in life and beyond.

"FORGIVE quickly,

KISS slowly,

LOVE truly,

LAUGH uncontrollably."

Discover more lessons in life by following this Mark Accetta Google+ page.

REPOST: Life coaching: Work your plan to make your dreams come true

This NewsPress.com article shares that you can make your dreams come true if you put an effort and set goals to be on your path to success.

Image Source: kerrypostel.com

How is your 2014 plan working out so far? Do you have a plan?

Mid-year is the perfect time to review the goals and resolutions you set for yourself six months ago. Or, if you're one of those who skipped the New Year's tradition, it's a great time to get clarity about what you want. No matter what stage of life you are in, don't let a lack of goals rob you of the most fulfilling life you can imagine.

It's been proven that people who set goals and write them down get far better results (actually, 1,000 percent better, according to a Harvard study!) than those who just think about their goals and those who don't have any goals at all.

But even after getting off to a good start with our resolutions, why do so many of us get stuck along the way? Why do we often give up after only a few weeks?

It's the power of your belief system! You must first identify your limiting beliefs and replace them with new, better feeling thoughts and beliefs. Otherwise, you are relying on the force, power, and persistence of your conscious mind alone to plow through those stubborn, negative thoughts and feelings that you have. Unfortunately, these long-held beliefs buried deep within us can prevent us from changing our behavior and getting the desired outcome.

So, how can you overcome this? It is possible, I promise! With a simple plan of action and a willingness to go with the plan, I see great results and miracles happen every day!

Here are four steps you can take to begin making your dreams come true:

• Get clarity. Determine your goal and write it down.

By writing your goal, you are deliberately beginning to empower yourself and take control of the powerful mind that you have. When you clearly define your intention, both your conscious and subconscious mind can work together to get you what you want. For example, the top resolution of 2014 is to lose weight. So, if this was your goal, here is an example of what you would write: "I am so grateful that I am inspired and empowered to live my life at my perfect weight of _____."

• Change limiting beliefs to empowering beliefs.

First, identify the beliefs you have that are not serving you well. How do you know if they are limiting? Say them out loud. If they don't feel good when you think about them or speak them, then they are limiting you. Once you've identified these beliefs, change them to something that makes you feel great when you think about it!

For example, if you have difficulty losing weight, you may believe that you'll always be heavy because your parents were overweight. This is frustrating and is holding you back.

It's time to create a new belief system that allows you to get what you want. It isn't that difficult to change, because a belief is simply a thought that we think about, speak about, and act on repeatedly. So, when you divert this focused attention to a new belief, you will change it.

How can you do this? Write down a new belief in the form of an "affirmation" (see the example in Step 1) and focus on it with intense joy! Repeatedly write these affirmations down and say them out loud. Memorize them until they become your mantra. This is your new belief that you can use to flip the switch during moments of doubt.

• Know why you want to achieve your goal and visualize the result.

Think about how good it feels to be at the weight you desire. See yourself feeling joyful and more healthy. Picture yourself in your mind being at that weight and feeling great. Visualize the outcome you want and replace the old picture of yourself that you have in your mind with this new person. If you have a photo of yourself at a time in your life when you were at your desired weight, tape it to your mirror and carry a copy of it with you to look at frequently. Your mind is very powerful!

• Take action everyday in pursuit of your highest dreams.

Start with small steps that you know you can commit to. Be willing to write them down and review them every day. Focus your energy on achieving just one thing at a time. Using the example of weight loss again, there are a few simple and effective ways to start your plan of action. For example, reduce your portions at every meal and eat more slowly.

These two actions alone used consistently at every meal will get you started on the right path. Beginning small builds your confidence as you begin to notice the results you are getting. With these small initial successes, your faith in yourself will grow and the next steps will be easier.

— Need help finding more joy and fulfillment in your life? Visit LivingAJoyfulLifeNow.com or call Mary Lynn Ziemer at 239-498-7290. She is a certified master life coach, business consultant, motivational speaker and a trendsetting entrepreneur. She has more than 30 years of experience as a successful senior executive at two Fortune 100 companies and has led multicultural organizations of up to 5,000 employees. Her dynamic and authentic coaching style creates trust, motivates, and moves people toward positive change with tangible results.

Marc Accetta has inspired many people to achieve their personal goals because of his innate talent in connecting with audience. Follow this Twitter page for more updates. 

Moving beyond unrealistic notions of leadership

Image Source: halogensoftware.com

Many things have been said about leadership. In taking note of the qualities of effective leaders and the skills leadership positions entail, people should be empowered to take on leadership roles and advance in their career. However, the opposite occurs as many people find the task too intimidating. They also judge themselves harshly based on unrealistic notions.

Often, these misconceptions about leadership involve thoughts about position, charisma, and genius. This shouldn’t be the case and people should move beyond thinking that they don’t have seniority, good ideas, or charisma to take charge and lead others to achieve more.

While many leaders who receive the most attention are undeniably the charismatic ones, charisma is not necessarily a prerequisite to becoming a leader. A leadership role requires more than great communication skills and a person’s other skills may still make them a prime candidate for a leadership role to take on the task on hand.

Image Source: queenic.com

Likewise, leadership is not solely banked on innovation and out-of-the box thinking. Sometimes, it is about deciding on actions with the least risk, the simple solution that others have overlooked, and the safest way to achieve the company’s goals.

Finally, seniority in a company is not a proper indication of leadership skills. Workers can demonstrate their willingness and drive to take on leadership roles even from the bottom of the organizational chart. Eventually, someone from the top may recognize their work and effort and give them the position that they deserve.

Image Source: greatleadershipbydan.com

Marc Accetta believes that people should cast away their doubts and learn to take on bigger responsibilities to become more successful in life. For more articles about effective leadership, visit this Facebook page.

REPOST: 10 Tips for Young Entrepreneurs From an Expert Looking for a Global Impact, Sylvester Chisom

Not all people have the courage to take the leap of faith. But successful people know that doing so is something that one must not be afraid of, in order to reach success. This article from Huffington Post shares the story of Sylvester Chisom, and how this man helps budding entrepreneurs to be great in their chosen endeavors.

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All entrepreneurs must overcome fear to start their endeavors, but most of us do this when we have some experience behind us. Maybe after an unexpected career change, or after a lifetime of looking for the right opportunity.

But Sylvester Chisom overcame this fear early on, when he founded his first business at age 17. Now, 11 years later, he is committed to helping other young entrepreneurs take the leap that could define their futures and successes. Chisom, one of Ebony's Top Young Entrepreneurs, is working hard to inspire the next generation, combat high youth unemployment, and motivate young people around the globe.

Sylvester and I bonded recently over our commitment to the youth entrepreneurship movement -- not to mention a few shared favorite reads like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and The Greatest Salesman in the World by OG Mandino.

Steve Mariotti: Tell me about your history in entrepreneurship -- from founding the car wash company to your current ventures.
Sylvester Chisom: When I was 17 years old and a senior at Parkway North High School, my friend Arthur Shivers and I started Showroom Shine literally out of the trunk of a car armed with a water hose, a bucket, and a dream of being entrepreneurs.

It was a cold winter day and I asked Arthur would he like to go with me to clean this lady's car and split the $20. He agreed, we cleaned the car, brought it back and there were two other ladies interested in having their cars cleaned so we did those as well. That day we made sixty dollars in a couple of hours and the light bulb turned on for us that we had something. In college we would come home for breaks and grow our business. We have since grown the company to have mobile units, a full service facility, and three airport locations through our partnership with, The Parking Spot. Our customers have thought enough of us to vote us as the Best Detail Shop in the nation four years in a row through The Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards.

SM: What is your background? How did you get to where you are?
SC: I grew up in a single-parent home in Saint Louis, MO and saw a woman raise two kids by being an entrepreneur. My mother, Darlene Gibson, founded Professional Touch Salon in her early twenties and provided for my sister and me on the revenue she generated from her salon. She started me on the road to entrepreneurship early. I practically grew up in the salon answering phones and taking out the trash! She is definitely my inspiration.

I also have had the pleasure to have one of the greatest mentors a person could have in Tony Thompson, founder of the Kwame Building Group in Saint Louis. His company has helped to build everything from Busch Stadium to airport terminals. He has helped to groom me into a successful business man and making sure that I understand the importance of giving back. I am a firm believer that everyone needs a good mentor to help take them to the next level.

SM: What is the key to being an entrepreneur?
SC: I believe a great entrepreneur believes that their greatest work is still ahead of them. Part of the entrepreneurial mindset is always looking for opportunities to do more. When you have success you should ask yourself, "Because I accomplished this goal, now what doors are open to me, what are the byproducts of my success." Thinking in that manner led me to my current venture www.sylvesterchisom.comwhere I offer professional speaking and books for entrepreneurial education including, The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Success 2.0: 8 Lessons to Launch Your Big Idea.

SM: What about business excites you? 
SC: I consider myself an idea development guy. I get excited about working in the unknown space of what a business idea could potentially turn into and identifying the key activities required for a successful launch. However, my favorite thing to do is speak and inspire young entrepreneurs and at risk youth at conferences, colleges, and high schools. I love sharing with them how they can find success in business and life when they apply the entrepreneurial mindset.

SM: Tell me more about your role as a youth entrepreneurship expert. 
SC: I speak to educators and youth how to apply the entrepreneurial mindset to their lives. I have had the opportunity to work with entrepreneur educators and students from M.I.T to India and in between. One thing my parents and mentors have taught me is that you must live your life in a way that you make the greatest impact possible with all of your gifts and talents.

Working with that understanding moved me to write two books to help young entrepreneurs including The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Success 2.0: 8 Lessons To Launch Your Big Idea. It is being used in high schools across the country to teach entrepreneurship.

Based on the book, I created The $50 Startup Program for schools. Students actually create real businesses on a $50 budget during one semester. At the end of the program we have a school-wide Youth Entrepreneur Day when, students setup tables for their businesses and sell their products to the students and staff during their lunch periods. Students learn entrepreneurship, business skills, and charitable giving. It's incredible to see how their lives are impacted when they see someone believes in their ideas and passions.

SM: What is your best advice for young entrepreneurs? 
SC: The most useful thing I have learned in life is that you should live life with a limitless success mindset. That means you should never let your past successes or failures dictate the person that you are meant to become. I also want to share the 10 tips that I talk about in The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Success 2.0:

1) Follow your passion and think big. Have a clear vision for what you want your company to become.
2) When you get started, define what success looks like and what failure looks like so you know if you are headed down the right path or if it's time to try something else.
3) Have a Limitless Success mindset: Remove any self doubt from your way of thinking. Believe in yourself!
4) Find great mentors, people who have been where you want to go.
5) Keep your business idea flexible and be prepared to pivot based on what your customers are telling you.
6) Build a great team, to include business partners, accountant, lawyer, etc. You can only go so far flying solo.
7) Create a business that can scale, meaning revenue grows at a faster rate than expenses.
8) Run a lean startup. Bootstrap the business as far as you can.
9) Create a working demo if possible before pitching to investors. It is easier to find funding for something that has proven customers.
10) Have Fun!!! Make sure you have a good work/life balance.

Special thanks to Lauren Bailey and Maya Horgan for assistance on this article.

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More inspirational articles and tips on how to live life to the fullest are shared on this Marc Accetta blog site.

REPOST: Productivity Hacks That Successful People Use Every Day

This Forbes.com article shares ways on how to manage your time properly and be productive at work. 

Image Source: forbes.com

If you feel like you’re consistently finding there’s more “work” than there is “day,” you’re not alone.

Too many of us get caught up in putting out fires, wasting time on tasks that don’t really matter, and using our time ineffectively and haphazardly. But when you start to think about yourself as a steward of the eight precious work hours you have during the day, your work habits can’t help but become more streamlined and purposeful.

Following are seven hacks that can save you an hour or more each and every day, when applied consistently. Keep in mind that not all of these hacks will work for every business or industry. For instance, if you’re a paramedic contracting with the local health authority, I wouldn’t recommend letting all phone calls go to voicemail!

Note: Any savvy mathematicians in the crowd will notice that, upon implementing each of the seven hacks below, you’ll save up to 13.5 hours per day. But before you get excited thinking these hacks will allow you to not show up at the office at all, keep in mind that the amount of time you’ll save per hack will vary depending on how much time you currently spend on each task. Sorry.

1. Set specific times to check email

One of the biggest time-sucks known to modern man is checking and responding to email. If you don’t believe me, try monitoring your email usage for an entire day and you’ll see exactly how much time is spent in this regard.

In fact, some research even suggests that email takes up 28% of the average worker’s day; this translates into the second-most time-consuming activity we take part in during the day.

Resist the nearly overwhelming urge to answer every ping that comes from your smartphone or computer, and instead limit yourself to checking and responding to emails at set times during the day. The number of times you’ll check will depend on the type of business you run, however Tim Ferris of the 4 Hour Work Week suggests checking it twice per day:

He writes on his blog, “the fastest method I’ve found for controlling the e-mail impulse is to set up an autoresponder that indicates you will be checking e-mail twice per day or less.” By letting your customers, clients and colleagues know exactly when you’ll be on email, you are essentially training them how to communicate with you – on your terms.

I’ve found that Inbox Pause for Gmail has been enormously helpful in reducing my mental overhead when it comes to email.

Estimated Time Saved: 2.24 hours per day, assuming 28% of an eight-hour work day.

2. Let your calls go to voicemail

Unless you’re expecting a life or death call, don’t feel obligated to pick up every time the phone rings. If you’re a sole proprietor, this can be a little more difficult; you probably don’t want to let important sales calls go to voicemail.

But if possible, take a quick peek at the caller ID, and only take calls that must be answered immediately. In time you may find you can let up to 90% of your calls safely go to voicemail, returning them at the end of the day (just be sure you actually do return them!). For an excellent overview of why phone calls are often a waste of time and cause lost productivity, see “Sorry, No Calls.”

Not only will ‘batching’ your phone calls save you time, but it will mean you’re more focused and intentional when you do talk to clients or colleagues. They’ll appreciate the fact that you’ve purposefully set aside time to connect with them, and that the time you do spend on the phone with them is uninterrupted and productive. Estimated Time Saved: one to two hours per day.

3. Have a daily plan in place

If you’ve ever come home at the end of the day with that sinking feeling of “I didn’t get anything done today,” this hack is for you.

It’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of responding to situations, people, and crises. But rather than letting others dictate the course of your day, have a plan in place for proactively tackling projects and tasks.

By setting a specific amount of time for each task – for instance, one hour to get that budget report done – you’re more likely to be hyper-focused and to not allow yourself to get distracted.

This doesn’t mean you completely ignore those around you; it does mean, however, that you build time into your day to deal with unexpected situations that may arise.

Estimated Time Saved: one to two hours per day.

4. Monitor your social media usage

We know that social media, while an absolute necessity for business owners, can really eat into the workday. Most of us would probably be embarrassed to admit how much time we spend checking Facebook and Twitter!

As part of your daily plan, build in time to check, monitor and respond to social media. Be sure to build in time for writing blog posts, checking blog comments, as well as monitoring and responding to comments and queries on social networking sites.

Online time-tracking tools like Rescue Time and Toggl can give you an accurate picture of how much time you’re spending on various tasks, and can help you keep your time spent on social media under control.

Estimated Time Saved: one to two hours per day.

5. Keep meetings to a minimum

With the average meeting lasting approximately 45 minutes, and the majority of us spending nearly half our days in meetings, limiting the frequency and length of meetings is critical.

Many meetings can be avoided and replaced by a group email or a quick phone call, so don’t be afraid to suggest alternatives to traditional, in-person meetings.

If a meeting is unavoidable, as far as it’s in your control, make sure they’re highly organized, that members are kept on-task, and that an agenda is kept to. Give a set starting and ending time, and be sure everyone involved knows what time the meeting is to be officially over.

Estimated Time Saved: Up to three hours per day. Assuming half of an eight-hour work day is spent in meetings, up to three hours can be saved by replacing in-person meetings with group emails or phone calls.

6. Say no to “busy work”

There’s a growing acknowledgement among business professionals that “busy” doesn’t equal “productive.” Don’t let yourself get caught up tending to small, insignificant tasks that don’t contribute to the bottom line.

While tasks like organizing your desk, color-coding your files, or fiddling with fonts may seem important in the moment, they can be huge time-wasters. While there is a time and place for most tasks (even seemingly insignificant ones), be sure you’re not just doing them to stay busy.

Having a daily plan in place should help you stay on task, but asking yourself periodically throughout the day, “Is this helping grow my business?” can give you a bit of extra motivation and clarity.

7. Use efficiency-maximizing tools

Software tools are a great way to speed up common tasks that otherwise take up bandwidth. Roboform, Boomerang for Gmail, and Dropbox are just three of my most-recommended productivity tools. For the entire list, see my article, “10 Tools to Make You More Efficient.”

Estimated Time Saved: Up to one hour per day.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve used your allotted “reading favorite blogs” time to read this article; otherwise, it’s time to stop reading and build it into your plan for tomorrow! For more business & entrepreneur insights, see these resources.

What productivity hacks from this list are you already using with success? What other hacks are missing from this list that you find particularly helpful? Share in the comments below!


Marc Accetta believes that one must be able to shake off doubts and fears, improve self-esteem, and mold personal skills to become successful. More of his insights can be found by visiting this Facebook page.