Have you ever wondered what you’ll need for your treatment room? Here’s my handy checklist.
Want to shop my faves? Start here: https://kit.co/rachelbeider/massage-studio-kit
How to Grow Beyond Yourself: My Podcast Interview with Darryl Turner
I had a blast speaking with marketing guru Darryl Turner for his podcast. When I started my business, it was just me 100% of the time. In this episode we discuss how to grow beyond just yourself to hiring your first team members, and why this is a vital step to scaling up your growth and getting more free time for yourself! It doesn’t have to be scary or expensive. Check out the episode HERE
13 Ways to Make Your New Hire Feel Welcome
1. Get to Know Them Personally
“To make anyone feel welcome in a new space, you need to inquire about them and get to know them better. It’s the only way to form a genuine bond with your colleagues, especially those who are new to the team. Without getting too personal or nosy, get to know their interests to see where your similarities lie.” ~ Jared Atchison, WPForms
2. Get Them in Touch With Their New Team Members
“At our company, the head of HR will schedule a call between the new hire and every member of the team. A team influences company culture, so there’s no better way to introduce your new hire than to get them in touch with the team. It’s also very important for a new employee to understand the tools they will be working with so they can get familiar with what might be a new system.” ~ Chelsea Rivera, Honest Paws
3. Praise Their Strengths
“Giving credit where credit is due is an important aspect for making someone feel great about themselves. Not only will praising them make them feel welcome to the rest of the team, but it will also give positive vibes to everyone. It will create two positive things: an inner competition to see who’s best at what certain things, and setting the tone for a new standard.” ~ Fritz Colcol, ABN Circle
4. Give Them a ‘Friendly’ Company Handbook
“You are likely required to share a very dry handbook with a bunch of policies and legalese on hire. Augment this and give new hires a friendly version that walks through the “soft stuff” like the history of your company, who your customers are, the people they should know, management philosophy and so on. This gives somebody the background they might spend weeks trying to learn through osmosis.” ~ Tony Scherba, Yeti
5. Check In With Them
“Even if it’s just a quick note to ask, “How are things going?” a brief check-in with a new hire can make a huge difference. It allows them space to ask questions, and makes them feel welcomed knowing that they are being considered and thought of.” ~ Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
6. Prepare Their Workstation Ahead of Time
“It means a lot to a new hire when they see a desk, computer and other equipment assigned to them. We make sure to have a few desks open and notify people when to use a desktop or a laptop, depending on their duties. That way they can start immediately. Even when you have a small office, designating space can make your new intern, part-time or full-time employee feel like part of your workplace.” ~ Duran Inci, Optimum7
7. Create Detailed Instructions for Everything, Even If It Seems Obvious
“While it’s important for a new hire to show initiative, you must remember that what seems common knowledge to you may not be so apparent to them. Try to create instructions that are explicit and detailed, leaving no stone unturned. Your company culture and practices may be different, which is why you need to be willing to help them with smaller details and processes. ” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
8. Schedule One-on-One Time
“The most valuable thing you can provide a new hire with is one-on-one time with you. While it is a significant investment, the more of it you can provide in the first few weeks, the better. It’s the best way to indicate to a new employee that they are a valuable member of the team and actually part of the company — not just someone on trial. It will pay dividends for a long time.” ~ Karl Kangur, Above House
9. Ask for Feedback
“New hires will almost always come in on their first day with thoughts and ideas. After a week on the job, I like to ask my new hires for their feedback. What are they enjoying and what do they see that can be improved? Getting feedback from a new set of critical eyes can help us learn a lot about what we are doing. It also makes them feel more comfortable as their opinion is instantly valued.” ~ Rana Gujral, Behavioral Signals
10. Pair Them Up With Someone on a Project
“People always feel more welcome when you get them interacting with others right away. One particular way I like to introduce somebody is to get them working on a project with other team members. This will allow them to build a working relationship and they can start getting their hands dirty with some guidance from people that have been on the project already for a while.” ~ Andy Karuza, FenSens
11. Help Them Get Familiar With the Area
“If a new hire is new to town, it’s important to make sure that they’re comfortable outside of work as well as in the office. Take the time to show them around town, or suggest places to grab a bite to eat or fun places to spend their spare time at. Being happy outside the office is going to ultimately lead to a more focused and successful hire inside the office.” ~ Anthony Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings
12. Maintain a Friendly Attitude
“Your attitude automatically signals to someone how you’re truly feeling regardless of what you claim. It’s important that everyone has a friendly attitude towards new hires to make them feel as welcome as possible. It’s difficult enough being the newcomer, but when you have a team that supports you being on board, it makes all the difference.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
13. Keep the Lines of Communication Open
“To make a new hire feel welcome it’s important to have open communication in your company’s culture. As a manager, let them know that your office is open-door and make yourself available if they have questions or comments. It’s also important to have a well-planned and smooth onboarding process, one that helps the new hire understand how everything works and also meet and interact with colleagues.” ~ Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME
10 Ways To Craft A Truly Captivating Brand Story: Rachel Beider in Forbes
1. Stay Consistent And On Mission
Consumers value consistency. The image you present of your company should be consistent across all platforms and brand elements, brand story included. When crafting your own brand story, keep it aligned with your company objectives and the rest of your marketing efforts. This isn’t limited to visual brand elements either. The values expressed in your company’s mission should be clearly seen in your brand story and backed up by your company’s behavior. It's all connected in how your customers form an opinion of you. Consistency over time is viewed as a sign of authenticity and integrity, and your customers will reward you for it. - Jordan Conrad, Writing Explained
2. Support Your Customers' Ambitions
Everyone wants to be a better version of themselves, and brand messaging is more likely to resonate with customers when they feel your company can help them accomplish that. Whether you offer sports apparel, software or even sleep solutions, you want people to remember that supporting your brand actually helps support their own personal ambitions. Think about their end goal and suggest ways your products can help them achieve that. They'll look beyond the practical applications of your offering (which are usually boring details for them) and focus on the larger benefits (which excite customers and improve brand recall). - Firas Kittaneh, Zoma Mattress
3. Tap Into The Cultural Conversation
Every day is an opportunity to go viral as a company. The smartest ones follow what is happening in the world of Twitter and add their own spin to it. If you want to understand the masters of making their companies relevant, follow Taco Bell, Wendy's, Chipotle, Netflix and Old Spice, to name a few. These accounts are so funny and on-trend they actually make you want to consider breaking your organic-only diet for a hot minute. Long gone are the days of staid press releases. Now you need to meet your audience where they are and talk about the things they care about. - Codie Sanchez, Cresco Capital Partners
4. Start With Your Purpose
Tell a story from the core outwards. This means beginning with the mission and purpose in mind and building context around that. Every brand is rooted in a single purpose, their “why” of business. Everything beyond that is superfluous in comparison. If you begin a story describing the key features of your product or the service offering only you provide, you can bet your audience will move on to something more engaging. Know the purpose behind the products. This could look like solving a problem, sparking a specific emotion or bringing to life an aspect of the world you want to share. Whatever your purpose is, use this to share your story. - Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.
5. Make Your Customers Feel Like Part Of Your Story
Your brand story should present the evolution of your company, but with personality. That way your customers will be able to connect to your story and feel like they are part of your evolution. Making it personal will help your brand build trust with your customers and as a result, your story will be shared by others. Let your customers feel that they are not just purchasing a product, they are contributing to something big. The best way to do it is to have the right story that engages and interacts with others. - Kevin Leyes, Team Leyes
6. Use Your 'Oddities' As A Hook
Be the outlier in the noise of it all. Think about the oddest part of your brand’s story and make it the hook to your narrative. Talk about how your company started over a cup of spilled coffee or how you almost gave up because your dog ate your business permits. Then talk about how you got from there to here. Just like a good fiction thriller, your brand story has to have a strong enough hook to make it worthwhile to the consumer. There is always something unique about everyone’s journey as an entrepreneur—your clock that strikes 13 on a bright, cold day in April. - Maria Thimothy, OneIMS
7. Simplify It
Our natural inclination to try to stand out is to say and do more. I've found that the best brands say the least, but whatever they do say is clear, concise and cohesive. Simplicity is actually what differentiates, whether that be through design, content or any other medium for getting your message out there. Less is more if you can figure out how to clearly convey what makes you different or better than the competition. It can be done and it's a goal at our agency right now. The question we are asking now is how we can simplify our messaging and even the aesthetics of our brand to get our message across quicker and easier? - Joel Mathew, Fortress Consulting
8. Make An Honest Connection With Your Audience
The best stories behind brands are those that audiences can connect with. Companies that are created from a problem, situation or benefit experienced by the creator lets customers identify with them. Your followers will know you care because you went through exactly what they are going through now. For example, our CBD-based products help pets with different issues, and it was created from my own experience with my dog, who suffered from a problem that I solved with CBD. Transparency also lets your audience know you are honest and lets you stand out from other brands that might not always be 100% open about how their products are made. Honesty and connection are the best characteristics any brand can have, no matter what industry they are in. - Chelsea Rivera, Honest Paws
9. Communicate Your Mistakes
Communicating the trials and tribulations of your company throughout the entrepreneurial process creates an authentic narrative that will captivate an audience. It takes confidence to admit there were difficulties, especially in this era of social media where perception is prioritized higher than reality. People will identify with your journey and are more likely to support your company along the way. Currently, by the time the public is aware of a brand, the brand is either already extremely successful or about to raise a bunch of private capital. This leads to a misjudgment about how the brand developed or just how hard it was to get to this point. Your honest communication may motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to take the leap themselves and start executing their own vision. - Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports
10. Consider What People Would Miss About You
To get to the heart of what makes you unique and ask yourself what would your clients miss most about working with you if you were to close up shop tomorrow. That's usually the key element that differentiates you from others. Make sure your website and social media reflect that sentiment. If you're struggling to convey it in your messaging, consider hiring a writer who specializes in storytelling for brands. Delegation is so important in building on your strengths and knowing when to hire for your weaknesses. - Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
My latest in Forbes: How To Handle Negative Customer Reviews: Eight Expert Tips
A business is built on the reputation it gets through its dealings. Not all the press a company receives will be positive, however. Depending on how the consumers see the business, a company might have mixed reviews on social media.
While you might think that positive reviews are the only thing that can aid the company, there are several critical benefits that negative reviews offer as well. Unfortunately, in the haste to do damage control, many small businesses overlook the takeaways contained within these negative comments.
1. Respond Fast
When your company gets a negative review, it's imperative to respond fast to stop the damage. You don't want that reviewer to leave more negative reviews on other sites or post about a negative experience on social media. When posting a negative review online, people want to know that their opinion was heard. By responding quickly, it shows you care and it gives people the satisfaction of knowing that they were heard. Once a dialogue with the customer is started, they are much less likely to continue the negative postings and reviews. - Ben Walker, Transcription Outsourcing, LLC
2. Use Them As A Learning Experience
It takes eight excellent experiences to motivate customers to leave a positive review, but only one subpar experience can compel them to leave a negative review. However, when you treat the negative reviews as learning experiences instead of roadblocks, they can often take your business to new heights. Bad reviews are an opportunity for introspection. Raise a red flag with every single negative review you encounter and delve deep into what caused the disconnect and dissatisfaction. Work on taking corrective actions while letting the reviewers know that you are actively working on the resolution of their issues. Taking such a proactive approach would not only propel your team to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction, but would also result in reviewers becoming lifelong engaged customers. - Rahul Varshneya, CurveBreak
3. Show You're Listening
There's always something to be learned from listening to customer feedback—and you often learn a lot more from negative feedback than positive. It could be that you made a mistake or that you didn't communicate expectations clearly enough. Whatever the reason for the issue, truly listen to the client, reflect on their feedback, validate their concerns and express empathy and gratitude for their time and experience. Make the changes necessary to keep people happy. - Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
4. Hug The Haters
When someone leaves you a review that is less than stellar, you can ignore them, put them on blast or you can do what you should do, which is hug the haters. What can you learn from a negative review? The hater was a customer? Sure it's bad, but they took time to leave you a review and they must care. If the hater specifically mentioned parts of your process that need attention, they paid attention. In some way, the haters are quality control and they are on your side! So how to best handle this? Have an online reputation management service. Respond to all reviews. Thank the haters, ID the problem in the response, end by thanking them again and offering to continue the conversation offline. Positive reviews are good to have, but when it comes to haters, give them a hug! - Magnus Simonarson, Consultwebs
5. Attract Attention To Them
Use your negative review to launch a new product or service. Obviously, when the negative review first appears online or comes to your attention, you should address the reviewer and try to fix the situation.In the long run, using a negative review as part of a broader strategy to launch a new business is really successful. Using a negative review to launch something new has the effect of subconsciously creating trust in your client or user. Launching something to address a complaint shows that your business solves problems and takes action, not just giving an apology and showing remediation efforts. In the long run, you will be gaining much more business using this approach of building trust. If you wanted to profit off the approach even more, you could have the original complainant endorse the new product or service. - Matthew Capala, Alphametic
6. Prove The Customer Wrong
To turn a negative review around, prove that customer wrong. Exceed their expectations by going above and beyond to assist them and make them happy. This gives you the opportunity to not just show them, but other customers as well how your business handles customer support. You can show them that you take your service to the next level and want to tend to their needs. - Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
7. Offer Something Tangible Or Specific
Every negative review can be an opportunity to show customers that you care about their needs. We've often seen responses to online reviews where businesses ask customers to reach out to them to make up for the bad experience. However, it's more sincere and meaningful if you offer something unhappy customers will benefit from, such as a refund or a gift card. Respond to negative feedback and offer an apology where needed, but also back it up with a helpful "peace offering." - Blair Williams, MemberPress
8. Track Them Qualitatively And Quantitatively
Reviews can tell management and teams a lot about how they can improve. You should be keeping track of the negative reviews qualitatively with a spreadsheet that identifies key product or experience issues. This type of tracking will give you an idea of how big the problem is and assign a priority to fixing the problem with the appropriate team members. Perhaps it's a new software bug that is affecting 20% of your users, and it's probably a big deal to pass this onto the software team to have them fix it, but other issues might not be as pressing, rather just minor annoyances. Every issue should be assigned a priority level. Lastly, actually reading the reviews will give you a qualitative perspective and let you know what problems really irritate customers. - Andy Karuza, FenSens
Anxiety as my Superpower: Podcast Interview with Lisa Princic
I had a blast talking to Lisa Princic on her podcast, Scaling Deep. She writes:
“My guest today is Rachel Beider of PRESS Modern Massage, and she also happens to be one of my clients! Rachel grew her business from a one-woman private practice in the 2008 recession to a company with five locations and over fifty employees. She’s a really savvy businessperson, and she’s built her company by leaning into continual learning, commitment, and her own superpowers.
Rachel and I talk about how and why she started her business and what the last ten years of her journey have been like. She shares her strategies for turning anxiety into a superpower that allows her to keep her business ahead of the curve and her philosophy on hiring great employees. Rachel also talks about how she got over the chip on her shoulder about not going to business school and why she loves to read business books to keep her knowledge base growing.” Check out the episode HERE
My latest in Forbes: 10 Ways To Stop Overthinking and Recenter
1. Treat It As An Experiment
Sometimes when we're trying to make a big decision, we feel like there is a right or a wrong choice, but unless we test it out, we won't know the answer. If there's a way to break down the big decision into a smaller test, it can help us get enough feedback to decide whether to go for it or not. For example, when hiring you could do a trial period before extending a full-time offer. Another example in the marketing space might be to split test two different ideas and see which one lands better instead of trying to decide on your own which one to spend more energy on. By treating decisions as an experiment, you can try more things and you'll end up with the best of all your options. - Nathalie Lussier, AccessAlly
2. Consider Outcomes And Regrets
Whenever I'm weighing a decision, I make a list weighing the short- and long-term pros and cons of doing it and another list of the short- and long-term pros and cons of not doing it. I complete the list with regrets that might ensue because of taking action or not doing anything. I use this to rationally make a decision and find it super helpful in clarifying my options. - Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
3. Stay Rooted In Your Purpose
It's easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of overthinking a process or decision to death. If I find myself in this vicious cycle, I take a step back, remind myself of the overall goal and then reevaluate the situation from that lens. Does this opportunity help the company? Will it increase sales or make our customer service experience better? Will it benefit our staff? Ask yourself those questions and you'll find it's easier to make a decision than when you're feeling inundated. - Lisa Song Sutton, Sin City Cupcakes
4. Meditate On It
Overthinking is something that many of us have to deal with, but the quicker you turn it off, the better. When this happens and I feel stressed out about a situation, I like to meditate. My surroundings must be quiet and calm so I can feel in tune with that energy. I light a candle, dim the lights, close my eyes and focus on my breathing. Soon enough, the problem seems smaller and it feels easier to tackle. Sometimes our brains hype up a situation so it seems scarier than it truly is. - Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. Focus On What You Can Do Today
When making decisions, whether big or small, it is important to know what you can and can't control. We tend to think about everything (including the fear of the unknown) instead of focusing on the things that matter now. Enjoy and live life one day at a time. You'll be less obsessed with the small things and more able to focus on finishing what can be done today. - Daisy Jing, Banish
6. Wait For The Answers Or Ask For Expert Advice
Overthinking decisions personally gets me obsessed. What's imperative is to think it through rationally. You may be on the verge of making the right decision, but fear of failure brings you back. In such cases, take a break from your regular chores. Nature tends to give signals—the key to our questions—if you're willing to ask and receive it. The answers lie in our own atmosphere and we’ve got to be patient enough to understand. Not everyone has the time and patience to wait, so in these cases, ask for expert advice. Someone more experienced can help you think clearly and sometimes they'll provide you with direct answers. - Kelly Richardson, Infobrandz
7. Analyze The Pros And Cons
On one hand, there's always a risk of not thinking stuff through. On the other hand, doing nothing won't help. In situations where thinking through too much may become obsessive, it's important to step away and analyze the pros and cons of the decision. The one with the lesser risk (and usually the one your gut tells you) is usually the way to go. Rather than obsessing over something, jot down the major points of each decision. This process of simply jotting things down helps you see things as they are rather than coming up with what-ifs in your head. Once it's in black and white on paper, it's easier to make that decision and stop obsessing. - Maria Thimothy, OneIMS
8. Write Out Everything That Might Happen
I have a friend who calls this "running laps." When she finds herself obsessing about some detail or worrying about things she can't account for, she sits down and writes out the things that might happen from end-to-end. For example, if she is running an event, she writes down the items that need to arrive at the building where the event is being held, what kind of equipment she will need to find inside the building and how the rooms need to be arranged. She lists out likely things to occur (like some piece of equipment not showing up or finding a defective microphone) along with a couple of possible remedies (a backup piece of equipment or who to call to get one). - Nicole Smartt Serres, Star Staffing
9. Use Your Internal Parking Lot
I'm a big fan of using meditation and an internal parking lot. An internal parking lot is a place where you can hold all of the thoughts that pass through your head or ideas that colleagues come up with that require more time to think through than the time you can currently allocate. I often write these items down on a sticky note and block out time in my calendar when I plan to come back to them. Knowing that you are storing the decision for later rather than ignoring or obsessing over it allows you to re-focus on present priorities. - Lisa Curtis, Kuli Kuli Foods
10. Take A Break And Come Back
I used to always overthink everything. I had to get in the habit of taking a break and coming back to what I couldn't figure out. I tell myself that I just have to make the decision and if it's wrong, we can change directions quickly. You will never learn without making decisions and making mistakes. Taking a brief break or a day to come back to it usually helps me just come to a decision so I can move on. - Kristy Knichel, Knichel Logistics
I've REALLY Missed You: News and Updates from Rachel
My new baby Noah, One Month Old
Wow, what a crazy time it’s been! I left for maternity leave, had my son Noah in the middle of a global pandemic, and at the same time dealt with some pretty epic changes in my business and in the wellness industry. Things will be different on the other side of this, that’s for sure, and our clients will need our services more than ever. I’m so encouraged to hear from so many of you that you’re taking this time to learn some new skills, work on bigger projects, and clean up the back end of your business so that you’ll re-open stronger than ever before! I’m right there with you. And I get it. This can feel scary and overwhelming. The good news is: this is where I do my best work. Having setbacks and starting over is what I’m GREAT at. We’ve got this!
If you need help with starting your practice, expanding and growing your existing business, or even pivoting what you’re doing - I’m here for you. I will be back seeing clients again in June, and I’ve just opened up my schedule for online bookings. Can’t wait to work together soon!
Warmly,
Rachel Beider
Rachel Beider in Forbes: Our Best Advice on Starting a Business
1. Be Your Own Biggest Critic
Starting a company can be like starting a marriage. Everyone starts out optimistic and starry-eyed, but eventually, you’re left with a reality that is either good or bad depending on the choices you made as you got started. I would really recommend taking your time and challenging your assumptions to be sure this is a rock-solid idea before you are fully committed. - Ashley Merrill, Lunya
2. Learn How To Market Your Business
Starting a small business is tough enough, but if you don't know how to market it, your chances of success are slim. Also, for the most part, you can't just use Facebook and Twitter and think that is enough. You'll have to hone your in-person marketing skills and learn how to talk face-to-face with folks who might want to do business with you. Even if you don't currently possess these skills, it is possible to learn them. - Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
3. Be Ready To Pivot
The startup market is highly competitive. While your business idea may have been perfectly sound at the time of conceptualization, by the time you actually get started, a lot of variables will have changed. To keep up with the changing times and be successful, entrepreneurs must be capable of making a pivot. Collect the feedback from your beta users and incorporate the changes that the market is demanding. Conduct polls and surveys to better understand the challenges your target audience is facing and work on solving those problems. Constant innovation is the key. You may have started the business with a very different vision in mind, but keeping up with market demands and needs is the underlying factor for ensuring that you achieve the much sought-after product-market fit. - Rahul Varshneya, CurveBreak
4. Don't Expect Good Results Overnight
In The Long View, Matthew Kelley says, "Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade." It's not uncommon for people to start working on their business, feel like they're not getting anywhere and then quit. We have to remember that consistent work, even a few hours every night, will get you far even if you don't feel like it will. The most successful companies/brands are not created overnight and normally involve the hard effort of many people and long nights. Many people may reject your idea because it may seem non-profitable or crazy, so determination truly is an important factor. - Chelsea Rivera, Honest Paws
5. Focus On The MVP
Too often businesses focus on the wrong thing to test a theory. Try putting something out there with the MVP (minimum viable product) before investing thousands of hours and dollars. Curious about a concept? Ask your friends and community. Not sure about a brick-and-mortar business? Get a temporary pop-up or mobile concept. Want to open a restaurant? Cook for others in your kitchen or cater events first. Start modest and small when it’s easiest to get feedback and quickly learn and iterate from there. - Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
6. Fail Fast And Often
If you’re a perfectionist, the idea of starting a business and failing can be especially terrifying. Don’t be afraid of failure. Experiencing lots of little failures is simply a part of life and business. In the end, failing fast and often will make you stronger. In fact, some of the most successful business ideas and companies were built on top of something learned from a previous misstep. Approach every failure as a valuable lesson. Embrace it, learn from it, look at the bigger picture, make changes and move on from it. As contradicting as it sounds, allow yourself to fail more and therefore win more. Fail faster, win faster. - Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
7. Focus On Solving One Problem At A Time
For many people who are new to it, entrepreneurship can appear to be a heroic journey. However, the reality is that starting a business and being an entrepreneur is not that filled with glory. It's all about solving one problem at a time and hitting milestones. Many days can be normal and some even stressful or dull, such as when you have to come up with a month's worth of content for your social media. Oftentimes, people don't start or don't finish their product/website because they have superhuman ideas of what it means to be an entrepreneur. It's far more sensible to look at entrepreneurship as a problem-solving career, which will save energy and help you stay in it for the long run. - Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
8. Have A Financial Plan
Many entrepreneurs foray into starting a business without a real understanding of the financial aspects involved. You need to have funds in place to manage day-to-day operations and to manage unexpected expenses. Ensure that you have a solid plan in place and that you know how money is coming in and flowing out. If you don’t keep track of your finances, you're likely to struggle and make rash decisions. One of the keys to business success is to know your numbers and to plan for your business needs and operations. - Blair Williams, MemberPress
9. Work On Your 'One Thing'
When you're starting a new business, it's really easy to get caught up in the minutiae. Coming up with the perfect brand name, finding the right logo, setting up your social media and reading one more business book are not the things that make a business profitable. When I started my second business, one of my main lessons learned was to always work on the "one thing" or the one task that will make a difference and help you hit the next milestone. In the beginning stages, that could be getting your first paying customer. Later on, this may be rolling out a new service or adding a major new feature. Start each day with knowing what your one thing is and put at least two hours of solid work into that before doing anything else. - Karl Kangur, Above House
10. Remember That Everything Happens Eventually
A mentor once told me that if you're passionate about something and work hard, everything will eventually fall into place. Failure usually occurs because people give up when they are not seeing the results they want immediately. You can compare starting a business to going to the gym after an extended break. At first, you're going to feel exhausted, but still proud that you took the first step. If you're persistent, you will see results. If you give up after a month because you only lost two pounds (or only gained 100 social media followers), that's where your story ends. Stay on your path and do the right thing because if you have the willpower, everything happens eventually. - Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
Q. What business or life lesson has stuck with you through the years? What can other business leaders learn from it?
1. Surround yourself with good people
A lot of being successful in business and in life is about who you surround yourself with. Do everything you can to have a tribe around you that is supportive and will be there for you in times of need. If you find people who will work for you and are the perfect fit, do everything you can to keep them around. The same goes for your friends in life. —Zach Binder, Bell + Ivy
2. Remember when you wanted what you currently have
Having an ongoing gratitude practice is important in staying calm and grounded through the ups and downs of business ownership. Gratitude helps you celebrate the journey, rather than mindlessly jumping into the next goal, and can help keep you in a great headspace to make decisions. —Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
3. It’s about the ride
Everything we do, we do because there is something we want. But with business and life, if you only cherish the moments where you are getting that thing you want, you may very well be miserable the rest of the time. Find a way to enjoy the ride. It will make the journey much more enjoyable. —Rana Gujral, Behavioral Signals
4. Fear is the most important emotion
Whenever you start something new, great or risky, the fear and doubt will start to set in. If you can focus on acknowledging those fears, addressing them and moving forward regardless of how scary it is, you will surpass those who get hung up on fear. Most of the things that don’t get done in entrepreneurship are because someone was too afraid to execute. Fear is a mindset one chooses to have. —Jeff Keenan, LeadsRx
5. Collect nos
No one loves failure and rejection, but it’s a part of life and growing as a person and business. Knowing this, I have flipped the script and now try to collect “nos.” I know that the more “nos” I hear, the more likely it is I will soon get a “yes.” It also removes the fear of taking a chance on things. If I know that putting myself out there might get me more “nos,” then I am in! —Colbey Pfund, LFNT Distribution
6. Be good to your talent
Show real appreciation for those who work for you. Having loyal employees is so valuable and it’s something people don’t focus on. It’s a big mistake to take talent for granted or let them know they can be replaced. We can’t treat people like products as part of a throwaway society. That talent will leave and you’ll then realize how important they were to your success. —Peter Daisyme, Hostt
7. Keep your ethics and values no matter what
I’ve learned the importance of sticking to my guns about ethics and values no matter what opportunity presents itself. Nothing is worth compromising your own values to achieve, even if it means more money or success. Always being true to what you believe in should come before business. —Serenity Gibbons, NAACP
8. There are no problems, only challenges
The language you use to tackle tasks can determine how well you actually accomplish the task. Often the very words we use can define who we are. That’s not just in the behavior we are using, but also in the way we think and the way that we approach things. A challenge is something that can be faced in a positive manner; a problem is something that can drag you backwards. —Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.
9. Always have a backup plan
Have a backup plan for everything. This allows you to be flexible and change needs. Try to anticipate what happens if a key employee or client leaves, or a new competitor comes into the market. Plan what you would do in as many scenarios as possible and have a backup plan in case your first option fails. —Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design
10. Stay hungry
As an entrepreneur it can be easy to get comfortable when things are going well. Your traffic is growing month-over-month, the team is taking over more responsibilities, and processes are better than ever. That doesn’t mean you can kick back and relax. Things will change at some point, and if you keep putting in the work when things are trending upwards, you’ll be better prepared for it. —Karl Kangur, Above House
Original Article seen in ALLBUSINESS