Vered Neta's Blog, page 17

What is Balance?

There is a lot of talk about balance today. People are searching for balanced life. Arianna Huffington with her Third Metric movement is calling out to create a new definition for what is success beyond money and power. She is calling out to bring another dimension to success, which is all about balance and health.

I love Arianna’s initiative, I think that it’s high time that women would lead this movement of bringing new ways of looking at success and creating a much balanced life for people, beyond the search for power and money.

However, the question that needs to be asked is – what is balance?

In my opinion not only do we need to redefine the concept of success we need to re-examine the concept of balance. This search for balanced life where your working life and family life is equal, comes from a concept that does not support women (and men).

In a seminar I gave this year about “Women Do Business Differently” I stressed the need to look at balance from a new angle, a more feminine way of looking at balance. This concept of balance was developed when I looked at nature and the cycles of a year.

Here is a video from the seminar that explains this way of looking at balance.

Now I’m curious…

What is balance for you?

Share with us in the comment box below what do you do to bring balance into your life?

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Do You Have the Mindset of a Conscious Millionaire?

I was reading an interesting article lately which said that when Google went public, it set aside three million shares (now worth close to three billion dollars) for charity, and has committed an additional 1% of its profits to, philanthropic endeavors.

It has been donating the shares to the community and using the philanthropic fund to engineer solutions to the global problems of health, poverty, food, and energy.

A group called Google for Entrepreneurs mentors and support entrepreneurs in different parts of the world for free.

The reason I find it amazing is that this contradicts the common belief and an old condition that people have which is: “Rich people are stingy”. It also goes against those who believe that “business is evil” and that the BIG companies are only interested in money.

What it does show is that when you are rich you can give much more. You have the ability to contribute much more to society, and to the welfare of this world.

One of the basic rules for true abundance and wealth is giving. Giving is the other side of receiving. Therefore if you wish to receive anything in your life, you first need to give it. It is that simple.

If you wish happiness, simply give happiness to the people around you. If you wish love, simply give love. If you wish friendships, joy or abundance simply give it to the people around you and you will receive loads of it.

When you withhold your giving, you are withholding your source of abundance. You are stopping the flow of your own energy and you suffocate.

Sounds a little too easy, doesn’t it? Where’s the catch?

The catch is that you have to give without expecting anything in return. Giving for the sake of giving. Only then the flow begins.

The intention behind the giving is the most important. The intention has to be for the creation of happiness, harmony, peace and joy, as these are fundamental to life. The reward will be there when you give from your heart and without condition.

Most rich people know this Universal success rule and therefore you’ll find that most real successful people will be generous givers.

The more I look around the more I see that the richer the person the bigger are his or her contributions to society also on the financial level – that’s a sign of being a Conscious Millionaire. The world needs more of those today.

Now I’m curious…

What can you contribute today to the world?

Share with us in the comment box below

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Delegation is a Bit Like Marriage

One of the biggest challenges that women face when doing business is learning to delegate.

Are you suffering from that disease of trying to do it all on your own?

Do you tend to look at being “busy” as productive and overlooking the fact that you are not reaching the results you yearn for?

Let’s face it – delegating is an essential skill that NOT learning how to do it will sabotage the success of your business (not to talk about your life…)

Doing it all yourself means that YOU become the bottleneck of your business. The prices you pay on NOT delegating are more than just loss of income due to missing deadlines. You also pay emotional prices such as being exhausted, stress and cranky which effects your personal life and your relationships with your loved ones.

On the financial side – NOT delegating is putting a ceiling on your potential income. If you took the hours you spend on sorting through your inbox, proofreading blog posts, sorting your invoices and bookkeeping them and you put it into following up on prospective clients instead – what would be the result on your bottom line?

At the end of the day you get paid for giving value to people. The more value you give, to more people, the bigger your bottom line will be. When you are NOT delegating you limit the amount of people you can serve. When you are overloaded with your “busyness” you are reaping other people from your gift!

Here are 5 tips how to delegate in a way that would be both effective and powerful

1. Focus on your strengths

The purpose of delegating is allowing you to focus on your core strengths, which is what you do BEST and what drives the majority of your income.

Have a look at your daily activities – which ones are you great at and enjoy doing? What activities are important but are not your strong element – those are the ones you want to delegate.

2. Choose your team carefully

Finding the people to work with is a bit like trying to find the “perfect partner”.  You want to find someone whose skills can complete those that you are not strong at. However, more than just skills you need someone that has similar values and vision as you do.

Having someone on your team that might be great at what they are doing but does not share the same values and does not get inspired with your message is a remedy for failure (just like in marriage)

3. Successful delegation is all about clarity

The key to successful delegation is communication. You have to be totally clear in what you want, need, expect, how it should be done and when do you want the project to be finished.

If you are not clear about what you want invite your team members to ask questions and interview you so you would create clarity for them.

4. Become an excellent receiver

One of the side effects of learning to delegate is developing your leadership skills. In order for your team to be involved and engaged they have to be able to contribute their ideas and creativity. Creativity drives your business. Open the space for your team to show their talents and abilities.

Create time where they can come up with their ideas and suggestions. Spend time listening to them and tapping into their talents and allow them to contribute. Learn how to receive from them what they have to offer.

5. Delegating is NOT a Catholic marriage

Once you’ve started delegating you might feel that some of your team members are like your family and children, however, you need to remember that you are running a business, and not doing anyone any good, when you let your heart and emotions get in the way of seeing reality as it is. Delegating a task or a job to another person does not mean that you are stuck with them for life, even when you like them.

If someone on your team does not perform, communicate your expectations clearly and if things do not improve be prepared to make whatever changes are needed as soon as possible. Do not take mistakes or team mismatches personally, or overlook that things are not working just because you like someone.

Now I’m curious…

What tasks and roles do you need to delegate?

Also share with us your tips, suggestion and experience on how to delegate better, share with us in the comment box below.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Have a magical week! Vered

My Top 10 Business Movies

I have a small confession to make – I LOVE movies. I find that movies are a great source of inspiration, motivation and most of all a wonderful way to educate and teach.

Movies are a way to capture both our hearts and our minds and therefore are an integrative method of learning, which combines both sides of our brain, and allows us to understand much better concepts and ideas.

When I’m stuck in my business and I can’t find a solution to a problem I’m having, movies are a great source of ideas and inspiration which lead me sometimes to find a solution to something that I struggled for a long time with.

I might not be the only one using this technique, so I thought I’d share with you, this week, my 10 top movies about business. Hopefully you’ve either seen them or it would inspire you to go and watch them and see what you can learn from them.

I’ve also noted below a few learning points that I took from those movies. When you watch the movies, it would be great to think about them and see what you could take and what qualities and emotions do these movies stir in you.

So roll in the popcorn and.. have fun!

Kinky Boots

Synopsis – A drag queen comes to the rescue of a man who, after inheriting his father’s shoe factory, needs to diversify his product if he wants to keep the business afloat.

Staring – Chiwetel Ejiofor; Joel Edgerton; Sarah-Jane Potts

Main Lessons – Finding your niche market is essential for the success of your business; you need to change the product when times are changing

Dogma

Synopsis – An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels trying to exploit a loophole and re-enter Heaven.

Staring – Ben Affleck; Matt Demon; Selma Hayak

Main Lessons – The importance of your positioning and how to change your message so you will be able to position your product or service in a way that would attract people

Coach Carter

Synopsis – Controversy surrounds high school basketball coach Ken Carter after he benches his entire team for breaking their academic contract with him

Staring – Samuel L. Jackson

Main Lessons – It’s not enough that you or your business idea, product or service, have potential, you need a good coach that would allow you to fulfill that potential

The Bucket List

Synopsis – Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die

Staring – Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman

Main Lessons – Setting goals that would represent the values that are important for you in life. Asking the most important question – how would you live your life if you knew you have only a few months to live?

Freedom Writers

Synopsis – A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Staring – Hilary Swank

Main Lessons – If you wish to be successful you need to understand your target audience. You need to know what are they facing, what are their challenges, fears, dreams and hopes. You need to care enough about them to understand their world.

Pay it Forward

Synopsis – A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.

Staring – Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment

Main Lessons – The principle of giving first, the power of one person, how a concept can become viral and spread fast and far.

The Terminal

Synopsis – An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there

Staring – Tom Hanks, Catherina Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci

Main Lessons – In business, just like in life, you don’t need money to be successful you need creativity.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Synopsis – A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he’s poised to begin a life-changing professional endeavor.

Staring – Will Smith, Jaden Smith

Main Lessons – No body cares about you “doing your best”. In business, just like in life, the question is, are you willing to do whatever it takes?

Miss Potter

Synopsis – The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children’s book, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, and her struggle for love, happiness and success

Staring – Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson

Main Lessons – You can turn your passion into profits when you ignore what the rest of the world has to say about you. In business you need, sometimes, to take risks on something that doesn’t fit the “common sense”.

Moneyball

Synopsis – Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

Staring – Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright

Main Lessons – You need to ask the right questions in order to win and be successful. The “common sense” is not going to lead you to success; you need un-common sense to beat the system.

 

Now I’m curious…

What movies inspired you and what lessons did you learn from them?

Share with us in the comment box below which movies would you put in your 10 top business movies.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Have a magical week! Vered

Is Your Content Valuable?

Everyone is talking today about content marketing. Suddenly understanding about marketing is not enough now we all need to do content marketing.

I don’t know about you, but I get allergic when people start using buzzwords and sophisticated words without checking whether people truly understand what they mean.

So if you also feel sometimes a bit embarrassed about this whole thing called Content Marketing and you feel as if you are probably the only one who missed the day they taught about it in school (wherever that imaginary school is), let me reassure you – content marketing is NOT Quantum Physics – it’s just a fancy word for – delivering valuable content to your customers.

If you check Wikipedia you will find that content marketing is a general term used to describe different types of channels where you can engage your potential clients by delivering them high quality, relevant and valuable information.

The focus here is on the words high quality, relevant and valuable.

So here is my question to you today – are YOU delivering it to your customers?

The sad thing is, when I look today out there it seems that there are more and more bloggers, more and more posts on social channels, more and more videos and photos – but not a lot of quality or value – so are YOU giving your value to your clients?

Remember, your target audiences, not you, define what is valuable. It is what they want and need that would determine whether what you give is valuable.

Your audience wants to: 

Be inspired
Be motivated
Be educated
Be enlightened
Feel empowered
Know something their competitors do not know
Learn how they can make a difference in their world, for their customers
Have access to the best information possible to make decisions

Here are 7 Ways to make sure that what you give them is valuable:

1. Giving Solutions – remember the definition of entrepreneur is someone who solves problems for a profit. Does your content help solve a problem or a pain for your target audience? Do you solve the problem or do you just indicate the problem and just push on those pain points they anyway have – do you give them a solution for the problem?

2. Distinctive – Do you offer something of value which cannot be found all over the social media channels. Does your blog post have a distinctive voice to it that people can recognize it, or is it the same tone and words that everyone else is using? Do you offer something, which is truly unique to YOU and stands for YOUR brand? Do you offer a special way of solving a problem; learn a new skill. For example – Balanced Business Women offers a new perspective to balance and what it stands and how you can use it in your life. Are you sharing anything that offers a distinctive value?

3. Supportive – does the content you offer support them in any way? Does it support them in connecting with others? Does it educate them to think differently? Does it support them in improving their business or life?

4. Up-to-date – You have no clue how many blogs I see that their latest entry was somewhere in 2011. Hi guys have you noticed that the Internet is changing by the minute??? If you are sharing or promoting content that is two years old – STOP-IT! You need to refresh your content all the time. What was true for 2011 or even in this case the start of 2013, might not be relevant anymore – update your content. Period.

5. Focus – Is your content focused, or is it all over the place? When you create your content are you answering in your mind a question that your target audience has or do you just create it for the sake of creation? Is your content valuable, meaningful, helpful or inspirational?

6. Excellence – It drives me crazy to read some of the content that is out there. So many times it feels as if it was done on the run and without any respect to the reader. Is your content written in high quality? Is the layout attractive, do you have grammatical errors or typos? My yardstick to measure it is – would I want to read and obtain value from such content?

7. Inspire and empower – Most important element – your content needs to inspire them and empower them to believe in themselves and in their ability to create the life and business they wish to have. When you do that they would connect with you and your brand. Zig Zigler was right – if you wish to be successful ALL you have to do is help as many people as possible to get to their dreams. Write content that would help them achieve their goals and you will achieve your by default.

Now I’m curious…

What would be valuable content for you here on Balanced Business Women? 

What topics would you like to learn?

Also share with us your tips, suggestion on how you make your content valuable, share with us in the comment box below.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Have a magical week! Vered

3 Ways To Make Sure You Hit Your Goals

It’s the end of the summer time. Most of us as September rolls in are starting with the last run to the end of the year.

Taking this quiet and slow time of summer takes you away from the madness of “business as usual” and allows you to raise your head above the business. It gives you the ability to do the important part of business; which is; working ON your business instead of IN your business.

Last week I was interviewed for a radio talk in the USA, and I mentioned that I just came back from a fabulous vacation in Ireland and Austria, which allowed me not only to recharge my batteries but also rethink about my goals and plan ahead.

The host of the show, mentioned that taking a vacation of 10 days and more in summer is  a European element, but  an important habit that should be adopted by more cultures. It would create a balanced business life and certainly a much more productive and successful.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Usually we take the slow time of the winter break (Christmas and New Year) to set up our goals for the coming year. It’s part of the balanced system of business when we do the same as nature, which is, do the unseen work.

It is the unseen work that is being done that later will manifest itself in your life. Just like nature in winter. It looks as if nothing is taking place, but most of the work is being done underneath the earth.

However, very few are doing similar thing during the summer break.

Summer is a great time to reflect and review how far along the path you are to achieving your goals. Not reviewing the progress of your goals is like a pilot not checking his altitude!

If you’re like most successful entrepreneurs, you started the year by creating an annual plan. You know that not having a plan is like being lost with no map or GPS; there’s a slight possibility of getting to your destination but it’s more difficult and less likely.

Unfortunately, you have a business and marketing plan, many of you have trouble following it. Like your New Year’s resolutions, the plan was easy to follow in January, but each passing month brought with it new opportunities and new challenges.

As a result, by this time of the year you shifted your focus from the well-plotted course to the new realities of their business.

Taking the time to review your goals and check if they are still relevant for you is probably the best thing you could do for your business in the last week of summer.

So here are 3 steps how you can do it:

Make a new list.

The first step in this course correction process is to review the big annual goals that you set at the beginning of the year.

Now create a new list.

What can you realistically achieve in the remainder of the year?

Think about how and why your two lists differ. 

Why are certain goals no longer possible?
Did new opportunities get in their way? And are these new opportunities working out?
Think about what else has gotten in the way of your goals.
Have you spent too much time answering phone calls or emails?
Have you been stuck in too many meetings, or had to work tirelessly to satisfy the needs of certain customers?

Figure out what has caused certain goals to fall out of reach, and most importantly, what can you do differently to achieve them?

Next, create a plan for achieving your top goals this year.

Start by identifying the one goal you absolutely must achieve by the end of the year.

Write down the five things you need to do in the next thirty days to progress toward achieving that goal.

Then, after thirty days have passed, confirm you have achieved those five things and create the list of five things you must accomplish during the next month.

Doing this will get you in the habit of constantly setting and accomplishing short-term goals that result in the achievement of your bigger goals. It will also help you figure out how to stop the countless distractions that create problems for you.

Remember, that one-third of the year is still left. We’ve all seen sports teams make amazing progress in the final period and outperform their competitors. You can too if you create, and stick to, the right game plan.

Now it’s your turn…

What are your goals for the end of the year?

Share with us in the comment box below your goals on your 5 actions to take in the coming month, so we could support each other in achieving those goals.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Have a magical week! Vered

 

5 Ways to Unleash Your Creativity

Have you ever had one of those days when you scheduled your time to write your next blog post, but your mind went blank, your fingers were paralyzed and the white screen kept on staying white and blinking for eternity?

That’s when you know you should call the creativity fairy.

Since I wrote about the importance of having a blog, I’ve been getting many questions about – how to come up with ideas on what to write?

The most important rule in writing your blog post is to remember that it is all about THEM not about YOU. It’s about the challenges, worries, frustration and solutions that your target audience is looking for.

In order to write to them and answer their needs you need of course to know them and know what keeps them up at night, what is it that they are looking for, what is it that they need etc…

So here are 5 ideas on how you can present your information in a way that would keep them interested and inspired

1. Share “Behind the Scenes” in your life or business

Let readers catch a glimpse of inside your life and business.

Share your office and a few tips about how you do things, how you overcome challenges and show them what you do. If you sell a physical product, you could create a photo tour of your studio or workspace including details about the tools you use and your favorite work tips.

2. Do an advice column.

You can make up your own questions for this or better ask your readers to send you their questions or pick a question that you get asked frequently, or one that your customers should be asking and answer it. Then write a whole blog post about that question and the answer for it.

3. Use the format of all Women’s Magazines

You can write this one in many different ways and it doesn’t necessarily have to be 10, just using a list format can get our brains thinking creatively sometimes.

You could share…

Top 10 Reasons You Should (fill in the blank)
Top 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t (fill in the blank)
Top 5 Reasons I (fill in the blank)
The 7 Tools You Can’t Miss
5 Ways to Succeed at (fill in the blank)
The 10 Best Books I’ve Read
5 Business Tools I Discovered Recently
My 3 Favorite (fill in the blank)

Does this idea look familiar?  Like you’ve seen it used somewhere recently… perhaps in THIS post?

4. Take a ride on the bestseller’s list.

I love books. Growing up books were my best friends.

Today they are still friends but I also use them for all sorts of inspiration for blog posts.

How about these blog post ideas:

Share your insights from your favorite book and how it is related to your target audience
Create a “top 5″ required reading list for your clients/industry
Feature a book that taught you something or changed your perspective
If you’re an author, highlight your own book
Or, hop over to Amazon.com and go to the best seller list — either the best sellers, or top sellers in a particular category that fits with your blog.  You’ll find lots of inspiration just waiting for you.

5. Interview someone else.

Brainstorm a list of people who could make an interesting interview for your readers:

Other experts in your niche
Experts with complimentary services/products
Your own clients/customers (success stories)
Authors or popular bloggers in your niche
Members of your team

When you interview other experts not only you deliver value to your clients, but you  become The Expert in the eyes of the experts. You become the Go-To person, which is a great place to be when building your branding and expertise.

Now it’s your turn…

Do any of these ideas strike you as something that could work for your blog?  Or, what are your favorite creative ideas for blog posts?

Give us your tips, suggestion for creative ideas for blogging, Share with us in the comment box below.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

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Have a magical week! Vered

Does Your Facebook Page Work for You?

It’s not news anymore that Facebook is the leading platform for social media today and more and more business are using Facebook as a channel to market their products and services.

If for you this is no news and you quickly jumped on this wagon called Facebook – here is my question to you – How is it working for you?

Meaning – does your BUSINESS Facebook page work for you – do you see any return on investment (ROI) for the time (and maybe money) that you put in making that page work for you?

When I look at many businesses Facebook pages I’m astonished to find so many mistakes that people make when creating those pages – it’s sometimes sad to think about it.

It’s about time that you’ll start looking deeper and thinking more strategically about your Facebook page and start making some changes to it, so it would start working for YOU instead of YOU working for Facebook.

Here are some points to think about:

1. Size doesn’t matter … It’s not what you think …. It’s not the number of likes that will grow your business. It’s the quality of those likes, why they like your page in the first place and most importantly what happens AFTER the like. Check this post to get some tips how to make it work

2. Get over your perfectionism – In order to stand above the others you need to create for yourself a brand. Most people when they think of branding immediately think it would cost them an arm and a leg (and probably a kidney). But branding is not about the slick and shiny brochure anymore, it’s more about smart planning and thinking and you can always start with baby steps.

The biggest obstacle is the mindset of trying to make it PERFECT. In marketing and branding there is no such thing as perfect – a marketer work is never done. It is always about testing, trail and error and correcting it as you go along.

3. Branding is NOT a logo – thinking that having a logo and some business cards will build your brand is the first mistake you can make when building a brand on the social platform.

Branding is EVERYTHING from your tweets, Avatar, Facebook cover image, LinkedIn profile, the way you answer your phones, the photos that you share on Facebook to the quotes and posts that you put on your page

4. Uniqueness – Your brand is YOU. There is only one person in the whole world which is YOU and it makes YOU unique - so don’t try to copy your competitors. Bring YOUR value to your audience. Connect on the personal level with your target audience (you better know them before you can connect to them – “elementary my dear Watson”).

Connecting on a personal level doesn’t mean you should to post a photo of your birthday cake or your photos from your ski vacation, or sharing about your ski accident or problems at home. But share your struggles, success and solutions to the same problems your audience is facing.

Here is how you can use all that in your Facebook Page:

Profile Photo – Your profile photo is the small image right beneath the Facebook cover image. It appears in news feeds and pages when you comment next to your comment. Be sure to have a professional photo that people can see your face (smiling would be good)

Cover Image: Your cover image presents an amazing opportunity for you to present your brand to the world. It is a first impression that all visitors are going to see at least one time. Give them a reason to come back! Don’t just grab the closest photo you can find and slap it on there. Take some time to ensure you select an image and/or concept that is fresh, unique and represents you and your brand appropriately.

Status Updates:  Remember, your brand is not just your logo. Everything you say, post, tweet and update can and will be used for or against you when it comes to brand perception. Your brand are the people you hang out with both online and offline. Your partners, clients and even Friday night dinner friends if you’re posting photos and tweeting them to the world!

Make time to think and plan what you will post. The more you can inspire your fans with good content, the more they are going to click like, comment and share with their friends.

Images & photos: Obviously the social networks are becoming more and more visual. Photos are the most viewed content on Facebook. Therefore you wish to maximize the lifespan of your photos and images. Make sure the images you choose would reflect the brand that you wish to stand for.

Now I’m curious…

What can you do to improve YOUR Facebook page?

Share with us in the comment box below your tips on how to use better Facebook for business.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



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and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered

What Are You Reading This Summer?

It’s summer and one of my favorite things to do on vacation is to catch up on my reading.

Long time ago I got my most important lesson concerning growth and success.

When I was in University we used to get every year before the year started a list of 12 or 15 books they wanted us to read before the year started. I didn’t have the money at the time to buy all those imported books, so I went to the university’s library and sat there for 3 weeks from 9:00 in the morning till they closed in the evening – reading every book on the list and some others I found on the shelves.

A whole new world opened up to me.

A few weeks later, when I started my studies, I was surprised (actually shocked) to discover that most of my fellow students didn’t bother to read even one of the recommended books.

The result was that while I was studying I got some assignments and projects to run in my field, due to the fact that my professors realized that I was up-to-date with the latest information in the field due to my reading, while most of my fellow students had to wait three more years before they even got any chance to practice what they have learned.

By that time I had three years experience in the field and I was hiring them to work for me….

This was one of the most valuable lessons I learned early on in my career as an entrepreneur – a lesson which I have continued to implement since then: “keep on reading at least one business book a week – no excuses!”

I believe that after all the personal experiences I had, the seminars I followed and the mentoring I got from successful entrepreneurs – good business books provided me with some of the best inspiration ever…

So, I was wondering which business books have inspired you during your business career…

In the photo on the top, you’ll see some of my favorite business books, but if you press me hard to choose the 3 books that inspired me the most, I’ll probably choose:

What Would Google Do – Jeff Jarvis

Even though this book was written in 2009 it is still one of my favorites in understanding what is the New Economy and what business is all about. It taught me on what to focus in business and what makes a company a GREAT one.

Start with a Why – Simon Sinek

If ever there was a book that explained how to think strategically and what is the essence of business and of GREAT companies it would be this one. From all the business books that I’ve read this is the one that not only spoke to my head but also to my heart.

Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne

Maybe not the easiest book to read, but certainly the most practical and use-able book when it comes to translating how to turn your products, services and business model into a unique and a remarkable one.

Now it’s your turn…

Which business books inspired you the most, and WHY?

Give us your tips, suggestion for great inspiring books to read this summer.

Share with us in the comment box below.

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Using Pricing to Play to your Advantage

One of the most frequent questions that I get from women business owners is – “how do I price my products or services?”

If ever was a question that became like that mystical question asked by the Sphinx this would be it. The more you ponder on the answer  the bigger the question becomes.

I’ve had my struggles with that question and the answer I always end up with is I DECIDE! what is the right price for my products and services. There is no way to determine what is the value of my services or for a product.

How can you put a price tag on your time? How can you put a price tag on your creativity and care? How can you put a price tag on the value that you can give to your clients?

Remember – your CLIENT will always determine the value! So here we are back to square one – how should I price it?

Did I say already this is like those old mystical riddles?

However, being a practical girl as I am I’ve also came up during the years with some tips and concepts that helped me define my pricing.

Here are my tips for it:

Focus on Value

Most small businesses build their brand and their success on the value they deliver. Value is so much more than price, it embodies the product, your team, your leadership, and customer service – and it can help differentiate you in a crowded and competitive market.

If you have testimonials of satisfied clients, if you’ve build for yourself a name and a good reputation for quality and value it would speak volumes and clients would be willing to pay that little bit extra for good work.

Selling on this value instead of price will consistently differentiate you for the long term despite the temptation to fall into a price war with the competition.

How do you do this? Know your target market, your competition, your product and your advantage.

Create a Unique Customer Experience 

Once your realize that your pricing is driven by the value you give your clients make sure you deliver for them a unique customer experience. The first 10 years of the 21-century was the information age, people paid for information. Today we live in the experience economy. People pay for experience and they search for a unique experience.

As a small business owner you are in a unique position to create valuable customer experience. Your products and services serve a specific niche, your target audience is very defined and your business operation is small so you can respond quickly to the demands of your clients. You are not tied up to regulations and corporate rules and processes you can change quickly according to what is needed.

If you deliver your clients a buying experience where they would feel that someone knows them by their name, knows and understands their challenges, worries, needs and truly cares for them, they would not check the price twice. On the contrary they would be willing to pay more for that experience.

Price higher than you think you would

I’m willing to bet my money that if I come and check your prices 9.5 times out of 10 I would find out that you are charging much lower than what your clients would be willing to pay.

The question is how to charge it in a way that it would not look either too expensive for your clients or too cheap.

The solution is – give them a reference point. Usually when you give people too many options to purchase you lose sales.

However if there is a product or service that you are interested  they would purchase make sure to put next to it another option that would look much more expensive so they would go to the one that you anyway wanted them to choose for.

And finally…

Positioning

The truth is that all there is about pricing is how you position your price in the eyes of your clients. It is all a matter of HOW you present it to them in a way that they would FEEL that they are getting a GREAT offer.

For this there is a simple mathematical rule (that even someone who is scared of numbers. like me) can get it.

The rule is – the 100 percent rule.

Sounds mystical – I’ll give you an example.

Let’s say you sell a shirt for €20.

What would sound to you a better deal 25% off that shirt or €5 off?

I’m sure you agree with me that 25% off sounds like a much better deal.

However, in reality they are both the same. In both cases you pay only €15.

However, let’s say you are selling a €1,500 coaching program.

What would sound to you a better deal 25% off that program or €500?

I’m sure you’ll agree that the €500 is a better deal – also in real money it is!

That’s the 100% rule!- under 100 position it in % over 100 position it in amount of money they would save

(and thanks for Jonah Berger for enlightening me on this issue)

Now it’s your turn…

What is your experience? What worked for you in pricing and what didn’t?

Give us your tips, suggestion or advice on how to price in a way that would be profitable and attractive.

Share with us your tips, ideas and solutions on pricing in the comment box below.

If you find this article inspiring, please SHARE it on Facebook, LinkedIn or retweet it, by pushing the button on the left, for the right channel, so more women could benefit from it.

Please share this article with your:



- LinkedIn connections
and blog readers...

Have a magical week! Vered