Dodo Loves Marketing

Even if you thoughtfully examine the match between the employee and the role, you’ve still got a problem. No matter what conclusion you come to, the employee will invariably want to move up. The employee will want to be promoted. Every signal sent by the company tells him that higher is better. A larger salary, a more impressive title, more generous stock options, a roomier office with a couch and a coffee table, all this and more awaits the lucky employee on the next rung on the ladder. No wonder he wants to move up. ..more

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Here are two, of the infinite number of possible answers:

“I think it is very important to be persistent, particularly if you really believe in your ideas. We really encourage that kind of candor here. With my team, if I have a suggestion that others disagree with, I know they will expect me to keep supporting my idea until somebody comes up with a better one. In fact, it happens all the time.” ..more

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If you want to be sure of creating the best impression you might decide to hire an interior designer. Alternatively, Laura Ashley charge £500 for a styling consultation for three rooms, refundable against purchases of £500 or more. At the most basic level:

• Rooms in one neutral colour, particularly white and cream look larger than their actual size. ..more
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There are thousands of successful businesses that started on kitchen tables. Laura Ashley, for instance, started as a ‘corner of the kitchen‘ business and went on to make millions. However, just because a business starts on the kitchen table doesn’t mean it should end there. If you intend to spend ten hours a day at work, then it makes sense to give some thought and time to the environment you work in. If you plan to entertain clients, then making sure your office is presentable is even more important. ..more

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Licensing, registration and inspection

It is amazing how many businesses require some form of licensing, registration or inspection. Bed and breakfast establishments, for instance, may need to be inspected by fire officers, to be registered with the local authority, and may even need planning permission and official approval of their signs from local planning officers. That’s before they start taking on catering, in which case there is another host of rules to contend with. These rules have been set up for the public good, wisely or otherwise. But many people do not know about them. Unfortunately, ignorance is no defence and you could end up being fined heavily if, for instance, your kitchen is not up to environmental health standards for a catering business, or if you are an unregistered childminder. If you make toys which do not comply with safety standards or sell clothes without the correct labelling, you could also end up in hot water. ..more

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Most people cringe at the thought of giving a speech or chairing a meeting. The limelight is on you and everyone is watching and listening. Who wouldn’t feel at least a bit on edge under these circumstances? While many can muster their courage to get through these events, there are some who find their limbs shaking and their foreheads perspiring at the very thought of the next public speaking occasion. ..more

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Shyness affects just about everyone under certain situations. While most people cope reasonably well with occasional shyness, there are some who live in a personal prison, unable to reach out and make friends or relate positively to others. Being shy at work can severely limit work effectiveness, unless of course, you work generally on your own with little or no contact with others.

Shy people present themselves at work in many varied ways. There is the quiet wallflower who fades into the background and is not often noticed. At the opposite extreme, there is the raging extrovert who can be loud, aggressive and abrasive, but who finds it difficult to relate on an intimate level to others. In between, there are many other people, such as the knocker, the person who knocks or degrades others. ..more

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Market research is also invaluable in pricing your product or service. Ron Flounders, of Hertfordshire Business Link, which offers free advice to start-up businesses, says that all too often people work out their pricing ‘back-to-front’. They ask themselves how much they need to earn, what their costs are, and then price the product accordingly — regardless of what the market will pay. In fact, what you need to do is market research to establish what price the market will pay, then work out your costs and from that see whether it is worth going into business at all.’ ..more

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There are thousands of grants and low interest loans available for small businesses. The problem is finding out what they are and whether your business qualifies. Some fields are more liberally provided with grants than others. For instance, the Crafts Council has a setting-up scheme which allows selected craftspeople to receive a grant of £2,500 for maintenance and up to £5,000 for equipment (they pay half of equipment costs), provided they apply within two years of setting up. While this would not cover your start-up costs entirely, it could certainly be a very useful addition. Other areas where grants may be forthcoming include : ..more

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Homeworkers also need to work especially hard at ensuring they know what is going on within the office and avoiding isolation.. When BT conducted a teleworking experiment, allowing some of its Inverness operators to work from home, they found that one of the main grumbles was that the operators felt they were not kept up to date with company news the way they had been in an office. For those who work only a couple of days at home, this can still be a problem. It pays to phone in on your days out and to take part in any social events in the office. When you are in the office, make sure everyone knows that you are there — and keep your wits about you. ‘I make sure that when I’m in the office, I listen very carefully to what’s going on,’ says Helene Hook of the computer firm ICL. Kevin Attwood of Nat West Bank has formalized the process by having an updating meeting with his boss every week. ..more

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With reference to a particular person X at work, do you frequently

• Wake up in the morning and immediately think ‘Oh no, I’ve got to face X again today’?
• Store anger throughout the day about X?
• Find yourself frequently in conflict with X?
• Experience jealousy about others‘ ability to get on with X?
• Back away from confrontations with X and then get angry at
  yourself because of your inability to act appropriately?

• Disagree or have arguments with your boss, who unfortunately is X? ..more
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So what becomes of our individual privacy and anonymity in a world where there is an Internet-ready device at every turn we make. Aren’t we being bombarded with enough information and advertising as it is? Are car manufacturers going to “eavesdrop” on our weekend getaways? And who’s going to know that I rode an elevator in Chicago last Thursday afternoon? Is “somebody out there” going to know every TV show-watch? Are we marching toward a privacy nightmare or a service and convenience dream? What is going to keep the car manufacturer from selling your whereabouts to other vendors, or even letting it fall into the hands of sophisticated robbers who could drop by your house while you’re spending the weekend in the mountains? ..more

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Now that we have examined some of the negatives of expansion from a very small business to a medium-sized small business, let’s give equal time to the potential benefits.

One of the most important components of gross profit is the degree to which you’re able to set your selling price. Your ability to set that price is largely a function of your control of the marketplace. At one extreme, you may have a patented product for which there is no substitute, and for which there is totally elastic demand (people will buy it at any cost). If that item costs you a dollar, you may be able to sell it for ten dollars, one hundred dollars, even one thousand dollars. At the other end of the spectrum, you may be selling wheat in Nebraska. In that case, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to command one-tenth of one cent over the market price on the day you sell. ..more

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George has owned a small machine shop for about twenty years. He’s very good at what he does. He delivers precision parts at good prices on time. He is so good that his customers are always pushing him to expand his capacity. You see, George has maintained his on-time delivery reputation by having the audacity (and the discipline) to turn down work he knows he can’t deliver on time.

Five years ago George had eight employees. The business consisted of a bookkeeper, an estimator, a production supervisor, and five machine operators. George took home $90,000 a year and paid cash for each new machine. He owned the building free and clear. He had no bank debt. ..more

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After an interview, send a thank-you letter to the person who interviewed you. If there was more than one interviewer, write the note to the one who has the power to hire you. Mail the letter that day so the person doesn’t have an opportunity to forget you. Now continue your job search, meeting managers and lining up interviews— keep working at it. Your goal is to have at least two or three offers to choose from.

When you get a job offer, generally by phone, thank the person sincerely. Write down the details; starting date, wage, hours, and so on. Tell the employer that you’d like to accept but you need a day to discuss it with your family. Now talk it over with your parents and some close friends. Compare the job offer to your original goals. Sometimes in the excitement of landing a job you can lose sight of your own best interests. ..more

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3. Be Real

There are two voices in your brain. The first says, “If I admit my mistakes, I’ll look weak and lose people’s respect.” The second says, “When a person I respect admits her mistakes, I end up respecting her more.” Isn’t it amazing how you can know a fact but think you’re the only one on the planet that it doesn’t apply to?

When you’re wrong, say it. It may temporarily streak your self-image, but it polishes the image others see.

Let’s say you lose your cool and ridicule a worker in front of everyone. A moment later you regret your action and decide to admit you were wrong. You can say you’re sorry in two ways. No matter what words you use, the first kind of sorry means, “I’m sorry because what I did made me look foolish.” The only thing you regret is the damage you did to yourself. Let’s call that a selfish sorry. ..more

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If you end up getting a loan, make the payments on time. If your payment is late, the lender will usually report this to a credit bureau; everyone looking at your credit report will know. If you mess up two or three times in one year, it looks really bad.

If the loan has no early repayment penalty (can you believe you’d get in trouble for paying back someone too soon?), pay it off as rapidly as possible. Even with an extra $10 in each payment, you’ll pay it off much faster and save interest. If you have money in a bank account and you don’t need it for a couple of years, use it to pay off the loan. Then deposit your monthly loan payment into your bank account instead. You’ll be the one earning interest on the payments instead of the lender. ..more

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How do you keep track of who is in your downline? All networkers, when they join a network, are given a personalised number. This number identifies them as belonging to a particular network. You may ask: ‘But how can I keep track of all the people in my downline?’ The answer is that you don’t need to. In network marketing each individual works three levels deep. You are directly responsible for the distributors you recruit (level one), the people they recruit (level two) and the people they, in turn, recruit (level three). That’s not too much to manage. ..more

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