Entrepreneurs need to embody many traits — chief among them being, leadership. Whether you’re hiring a staff to help you in your business endeavor or whether you’re a solopreneur, the traits of leadership cover almost all aspects of a business operation. What is leadership? Peter Drucker, a leadership expert, says it’s “someone who had followers.” John Maxwell describers leadership as, “influence.”
Regardless of what definition you have for leadership, there are traits and qualities that most leaders possess and they are:
Decisiveness
Loyalty
Courage
Tenacity
Emotional stamina
Dependability
Competitiveness
Self-confidence
Credibility
Responsibility
Do you see yourself or your strengths listed above? Do you feel you possess some, but maybe not all, of these traits? If you need assistance in strengthening those areas in which you may not excell, we help through our coaching programs. Give us a call and we will help you assess your strengths and develop your weaknesses.
As we prepare to attend Piscine Global in France, we get to thinking about how to make the most of any conference you’re planning to attend, whether it’s one in your own backyard or one on another continent.
Here are our best tips for making the most of your attendance at a conference:
Spend time with the brochure prior to showing up at the conference site. Print out the brochure or conference schedule. Note which sessions you want to attend, why and what you’re hoping to get out of it. Write questions to prompt yourself to either ask them during the session or to ask them after if the speaker doesn’t address them.
Attend the before and after conference events. Many conferences host breakfasts prior to the sessions opening and these are great for getting to know other attendees. After conference events are also great for mixing and mingling and will likely put you in the same room and within chatting distance of the speakers.
Once you get back from the conference, follow up with the people you met there. Send an email, follow up with a phone call, write a blog post. Don’t let the excitement and the information you gleaned from your conference attendance fade away. Keep it alive by after-conference networking.
What will you do to make sure you get a return on your investment from your next conference attendance?
Think back to the last networking event you attended. Did you walk away with a fistful of business cards? Did you hand out business cards to those you met? Even in today’s electronic age, there are many venues in which your good, tried and true business card will be your best “giveaway” when you meet someone.
How can you make your business card memorable and keep it out of the trash can or shoved, forgotten, in the back of a drawer? Here are three items I believe are crucial to have on your card:
Your company logo and/or a photo of yourself (if you have a good one). You don’t want to clutter the card with a lot of wording but if you have a memorable logo, it should be part of the card. Putting your photo on the card helps make you more memorable as well, especially when you consider that if an individual receives a dozen or more cards having a “face with the name” may make it easier to make a connection following the event.
Don’t forget to have your contact information on the card. Don’t force an acquaintance to go to your website then search for a Contact Us section. Make it easy to be contacted by having your name, phone number and email on the card.
Make use of the base of the card. If you are a service provider, list your services on the back of the card. Add your social media handles there. If you’re an author put a thumbnail of your book cover there. It is valuable real estate if you use it wisely.
Do you still use business cards? If you don’t, how do you gather contact information at networking events?
Do you ever wonder how your competition “gets found”? Do you ever assume that in order to “get found” you need to have deep pockets and a major advertising and promotions budget? While having a large budget may help, if you’re not trying to be found in places that make sense for you and that are natural for your clients to seek you out you will be spinning your wheels and spending money needlessly.
Here are my three top tips for helping your business be front of mind and top of search:
Build a local search profile. Grab your Google location, add your business to Yelp or even Yahoo Local and Bing Places. Make sure the information is accurate and that your profile is complete. Use keywords for the goods and services you provide as well as your business summary, contact information, photos and business biography.
Ask current clients for reviews that they will post on your local profiles. Having reviews posted are extremely important to not only getting found, but to building the credibility of your business.
The more complete your profile, the more highly searchable your business will be. Add a photo of the business owners, make sure there is an address and a phone number. If you’re a virtual business there are many ways you can get a business address whether it’s a post office box or an office share situation. Search engines take notice if you have a complete business profile with your key words. Make certain you update the profile when changes are made.
What steps have you taken to help your business get found locally? Have they worked?
sessions you want to attend, why and what you’re hoping to get out of it. Write questions to prompt yourself to either ask them during the session or to ask them after if the speaker doesn’t address them.
major advertising and promotions budget? While having a large budget may help, if you’re not trying to be found in places that make sense for you and that are natural for your clients to seek you out you will be spinning your wheels and spending money needlessly.