Common Business Mistakes to Avoid

Good information, very poorly presented. Will this help or hurt your business?

I was just reading an article on how to use YouTube to advertise your business. They had the Old Spice ads running as an example. They went viral and I realized I was in trouble.

Videos are really big in getting people to pay attention to your product or service, but I found the Old Spice ads disturbing. I thought, “Gad, if [...]]]>

Common Business Mistakes to Avoid

Good information, very poorly presented. Will this help or hurt your business?

I was just reading an article on how to use YouTube to advertise your business. They had the Old Spice ads running as an example. They went viral and I realized I was in trouble.

Videos are really big in getting people to pay attention to your product or service, but I found the Old Spice ads disturbing. I thought, “Gad, if I give that to my husband the house is going to end up destroyed.” It did nothing to make me want to buy their product. I wonder if it really worked? They had 110 million views on their channel, but did it really turn into 110 million sales?

I know that YouTube videos are almost essential to make your business go, even if you put them up so that you can have them on your web site. However, I do think that you need to really look at the impression you’re making on viewers.

They say that videos need to be entertaining, instructional, or weird. So, what impression do you want to make? I think most businesses should avoid the weird category. Unless you are a really out there sort of business, it will only make people want to avoid you.

Instructional seems easy enough, however, you need to make sure you aren’t boring. Plus you need to keep it to 5 minutes or less, if possible, so be very focused on what you cover. You aren’t going to be able to teach someone how to build a house from scratch in one video (you might show a house being built in time lapse, though). You’ll need to keep it to one step of building the house for each video and that can add up to a lot of videos to get the house completed!

The area that is the most nebulous is entertaining. As I said I didn’t find the Old Spice ads interesting. I thought they were dumb, with some overly built guy, screaming at everyone. So, if they were effective I better stick with informational, because I just couldn’t do a video like that one.

I know that there are a lot of kinds of humor out there and maybe there’s one that will work for your business, but make sure you know the type of humor that appeals to the market you’re looking to attract, before you go into production.

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It’s important to never become too serious when you are working. Did you know that they’ve proven that people who have a lighthearted attitude toward their work are actually more productive than those that are serious? So, when you see that your employees need a break, come up with something crazy like a duckface contest.

Lighthearted doesn’t mean you don’t get the job done. I just means that you don’t allow yourself to [...]]]>

Keeping things light actually makes you more productive!

It’s important to never become too serious when you are working. Did you know that they’ve proven that people who have a lighthearted attitude toward their work are actually more productive than those that are serious? So, when you see that your employees need a break, come up with something crazy like a duckface contest.

Lighthearted doesn’t mean you don’t get the job done. I just means that you don’t allow yourself to get bogged down in stress, tension, worry, and perfectionism. All have been shown to not only reduce productivity, but also damage your health.

So, when you’ve been crunching numbers all day for your new business and all you can see are visions of numbers dancing before your eyes, remember to take a break. What better way to take a break than to find something funny, like these Photoshop Failed attempts.

Or maybe you can set up a messaging system with a co-worker where you send each other funny autocorrect text messages periodically throughout the day. Whatever position you have in a company; be it owner, boss, manager, supervisor, or general worker, you should find ways to lighten the load for those around to keep your department or business energized and productive. Look at some of the most creative businesses around. They sometimes include video gaming centers, skateboards, mini-basketball courts, etc., to keep some of the most creative minds on the planet alert and free flowing. How can you bring that to your workplace?

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There’s a relatively new site available call LinksGage that Indexes the best free websites ! They then allow people to rate the site. When someone does a search in your category, your site will be shown in the listing according to your rank in the thumbs [...]]]> Today’s market is totally about page rank. There are a lot of ways to get a higher page rank. Having a lot of people come to and like you site is one of the more powerful ones.

There’s a relatively new site available call LinksGage that Indexes the best free websites ! They then allow people to rate the site. When someone does a search in your category, your site will be shown in the listing according to your rank in the thumbs up percentage. The higher the percentage the better your ranking.

It looks like it might be a useful way to reach a group of people who are tired of wading through reams of sites only to find out the one they chose has a bad ranking. I’ve done this a dozen or more times with mail order nurseries. I get all excited, having found what I’m looking for, only to check on the reviews for the nursery and find them horrible. One company actually had a number of lawsuits against it, but it was still able to do business as usual on the web. Hopefully sites like Links Gage will help weed those sites out and bring only quality sites to the web.

At any rate, it might be worth your time to check it out and see if it is a place for your site to be listed.

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Working from home means being able to be there when the kids get home from school.

Working from home is really nice for me. I love being able to be home with the kids but also use my clear service providers to stay in touch with the office from any room –sometimes I even email with my colleagues while my car’s in park waiting for the kids to get out of school! My mom always [...]]]> The Author of this post is Darius Boone

Working from home means being able to be there when the kids get home from school.

Working from home is really nice for me. I love being able to be home with the kids but also use my clear service providers to stay in touch with the office from any room –sometimes I even email with my colleagues while my car’s in park waiting for the kids to get out of school! My mom always worked so I really wanted something different for my family since I missed her and hated being a latch-key kid. I think it’s great to be able to be there when they get off the bus and I know how nice it is for me to be home when they’re sick and whatnot so I don’t have to worry about taking time off work. I love being a mom far more than I like working but it’s nice to be able to do both and not have to worry about losing one or the other. I think it’s fun to be there for my kids when they need me the most but I’m happy I’m able to work, too.

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There are so many misconceptions about bankruptcy that I thought it might be helpful to highlight a few. There were massive changes to the bankruptcy law back in 2005. Some people even came out of it believing that if you hadn’t filed by 2005 you never could! That’s how mixed up everything got.

I’m just going to highlight a few of the more common misperception here.

First, your [...]]]>

Do you feel the hammer hanging over the head of your business' financial security?

There are so many misconceptions about bankruptcy that I thought it might be helpful to highlight a few. There were massive changes to the bankruptcy law back in 2005. Some people even came out of it believing that if you hadn’t filed by 2005 you never could! That’s how mixed up everything got.

I’m just going to highlight a few of the more common misperception here.

First, your house, car, and boat are not exempt from paying off the loan if they are listed in your bankruptcy filing. You’ll still need to pay off the loans, but you can keep them if you can make the payments.

Second, spouse’s credit reports ARE affected by a bankruptcy filed by the other spouse, if they have any joint accounts. Since most people who are married have joint accounts, it will affect both of your credit ratings.

Third, bankruptcy gives you a “start over” with your credit. Your credit rating will reflect your bankruptcy for a certain time period. During that time you may have to pay higher interest rates, be denied credit, or even lose a job opportunity. Not only that you’ll need to get permission from your partner if you want to file joint bankruptcy.

Fourth, you’ll never be able to buy a home again. That’s not true. Creditors look at your most recent history, so it depends on how long ago you filed. You may have to pay a higher interest rate or make a higher down payment, but you can definitely own a home again. After some time it will have little if any influence.

The list actually goes on and on. The best way to know if bankruptcy is the right thing for your particular circumstance is to review your situation with a lawyer. I found a Nebraska Bankruptcy Lawyer who even offers some free consultations and, amazingly, home appointments. That way you can understand what you’re really getting yourself into. How it will affect you on all levels and what options you might want to pursue before taking such a big step.

Often when the bills are piling up, and we’re getting further and further behind, we just want to get out of it as fast as possible. However, look at all the options before rushing into anything. You may just be able to save the day, without having to go through bankruptcy.

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I just read a blog by Pamela Slim about entering the new year powerfully. I looked at her ideas and thought, “Those are great, but I just need money coming in right now.” One thing that I find myself losing sight of as the months roll by and I still don’t have my business off the ground is perspective. I lose [...]]]>

Keeping your sites focused on the most important thing can sometime be hard when starting up a new business.

I just read a blog by Pamela Slim about entering the new year powerfully. I looked at her ideas and thought, “Those are great, but I just need money coming in right now.” One thing that I find myself losing sight of as the months roll by and I still don’t have my business off the ground is perspective. I lose the fact that this is a journey and I start to focus on the end product, money.

Right now I find it difficult to think about what I could be proud of as an addition to my “body of work.” I’m more concerned with having any work. When I stop to think about values I find my mind thinking about the business plan that is still unfinished. How would I define success this year? I would define it as being able to pay all the monthly bills without having to dip into our retirement savings.

However, when I look at the big picture I realize that when we lose sight of the questions Pamela asked, we also lose sight of ourselves, and our purpose for existing or creating the business of our dreams. When we are up to our necks in figuring out how to put up a web site, do social media, creating offers, etc., it is extremely easy to just get in a rut of working like a dog all day without any focus. All your creativity goes out the window when you do this, plus, at least for me, I suddenly start to feel panicked and like I’m being swallowed alive by the business I wanted, that would to allow me to have some freedom in my life.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to balance this all: relationship, house, social, and business. Right now I feel like I’m failing at all of them. However, I know enough to keep my head above water. If I can do that much at some point things will start to fall into place. First I’ll find a board to help me stay afloat, then a dingy, then the oars to the dingy will be found and suddenly I’ll see land within a reasonable rowing distance. If you find yourself feeling like you’re going under, just keep your head above water. It will eventually get better…

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Not too long ago my husband and I were attending some festival or fair and someone was demonstrating a machine that could laser cut out any shape you needed. It was pretty cool. It took a solid hunk of metal and lathed it in short order into an intricate pattern.

Sometimes the work isn’t so artistic, but it needs to be just as precise. Even if you’re just putting together a frame that isn’t [...]]]>

Watching laser cutting or tooling is fascinating.

Not too long ago my husband and I were attending some festival or fair and someone was demonstrating a machine that could laser cut out any shape you needed. It was pretty cool. It took a solid hunk of metal and lathed it in short order into an intricate pattern.

Sometimes the work isn’t so artistic, but it needs to be just as precise. Even if you’re just putting together a frame that isn’t going to show the fit that Laser Cutting give you will ensure that there’ll be no bad joints in your finished product. Also saudering is much simpler if the pieces fit precisely, there’ll be no gaps to fill in that could eventually bend or break.

In today’s world where everything needs to fit perfectly having a company that can do precision Cutting & Band Sawing can save a lot of time and effort. Machines don’t ever make mistakes, unless they have a bad part, so having the work done for you by a infallible “robot” ensure that your product will be a breeze to put together.

Flat pieces of metal need to fit perfectly together, especially in many machines, even a small gap can spell trouble. A company like Industrial Metal located in Southern California and Arizona has the equipment to do Production Shearing to your specifications. They offer next day delivery, same day pickup or will-call, no minimum purchase, and are open six days a week. So, if you live in the Los Angeles down to San Diego area or Phoenix you might want to check them out.

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In preparing to start new businesses, it’s not a bad idea to talk to friends, relatives, and acquaintances about their experiences. Find out what worked well for them and what didn’t, so you don’t have to make the same mistake over again.

Recently my husband and I were talking to a friend that has had a business for over 20 years. We asked him about what software he uses, etc., [...]]]>

Play your "chips" right and you could have a winning business.

In preparing to start new businesses, it’s not a bad idea to talk to friends, relatives, and acquaintances about their experiences. Find out what worked well for them and what didn’t, so you don’t have to make the same mistake over again.

Recently my husband and I were talking to a friend that has had a business for over 20 years. We asked him about what software he uses, etc., but the best bit of information he gave us was the one line strategic plan idea.

When you start up a business you go to a lot of work and thought to produce a business plan, or at least you should. Once that’s done some people will summarize that in a one page strategic plan.

However, our friend suggested taking that even a step further and summarizing the summary in one line. He gave us the example of an earth moving company, that was coming in from out of the country, that wanted to compete and win against Caterpillar. Well that’s a tall order for an unknown company. How did they do it? They came up with a one line strategic plan or motto you could say. Everything that every employee in the company did was measured against this motto. If it supported the motto it was implemented, if it didn’t it was scrapped. Their motto was “number 2 surrounds number 1.” This implied that everything they did was to try and make all business going to Caterpillar have to go through them first. In just a couple years they had taken 38% of the market away from Caterpillar.

So, what’s your businesses one line strategic plan? Oh, by the way, you should share this with any of your competitors. They might like it and start using it too, and/or plan to thwart you with their own motto.

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Over the years I’ve received a number of rewards for various things, employee of the month, contribution rewards, etc. Most of them have been inexpensive wooden plaques that I wouldn’t hang anywhere, so really they were a waste of money.

When considering offering your employees some sort of reward think about something they could reuse, or something that is like a work of art. For instance I saw [...]]]>

A beautiful desk water set reward like this would be useful as well.

Over the years I’ve received a number of rewards for various things, employee of the month, contribution rewards, etc. Most of them have been inexpensive wooden plaques that I wouldn’t hang anywhere, so really they were a waste of money.

When considering offering your employees some sort of reward think about something they could reuse, or something that is like a work of art. For instance I saw these beautiful Art Glass Trophies online. They are really stunning pieces of art that I would have enjoyed having on my desk or bookcase in my office area. There are also stunning Crystal Awards for executives. They can come in the form of a bowl, vase, and my favorite was a desk water set. That would be really useful. You could fill it up in the morning and sip on the water throughout the day, without having to leave your desk.

There are all kinds of small rewards that double as something useful for your desk including nameplates, business card holders, and pen sets, so why give them a dorky plaque that has no other function than to clutter their walls?

If I had any employees, other than myself, which I do hope to have some day. I would definitely choose something useful for them rather than something that goes to Goodwill the next time they move or clean out their cupboards.

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