Understanding When You Are The Problem

You have bad luck.  You keep getting fired, you never get the good projects, or you have really warped coworkers; or maybe, just maybe; (it’s not them, it’s you)? Here are 5 ways to tell if you’re the problem.

You have had multiple micro-managing bosses.

We all know that micro-managing bosses exist.  But, if you’ve had two or three in a row, there’s a real possibility that they aren’t so much micro-managers as they are managers who recognize that you need to be micro-managed.  Some employees don’t know how to get from step A to Step E without a manager spelling how exactly how to do B, C, and D.

Some employees are sloppy with their work.  Formatting is unprofessional.  Typos.  Important questions are left unanswered.

Take a close look at what kind of things your manager is saying to you.  Instead of bristling under the “micro-managing” make an effort to fix those problems before your manager appears.  You may find that as you are more careful and thorough in your work, your manager backs off.

You Get Punished For Behavior Your Coworkers Get Away With

If you show up for work 15 minutes late, the boss reams you out, but if your coworker gets in 20 minutes later than you do, no one says anything to her.  Sometimes that’s an example of managers playing favorites, but sometimes it’s an example that the employee is clueless as to the effects of her actions.

If your job is to answer phones, or you play a critical role in a group project, it matters when you show up at the office.  If, on the other hand, you work independently, have few meetings, and consistently get your work done before the deadline, your manager is less likely to care when you show up.

If your manager is punishing you for behavior that your coworkers do as well, it’s highly likely that he’s attacking this behavior because you’re doing something else wrong, like missing deadlines, holding up other people’s work, or ignoring customers.  Check and see what problems are caused by your mistakes.

Your Coworkers Never Want to Eat Lunch with You

Yes, the office can sometimes have “mean girls” who will pick on people and purposely exclude them.  But, if it’s not just the “cool” people that are not inviting you, but that no one is, and furthermore, when you invite people to go with you, there is hesitance or the just flat out no, then you might be the problem.

Do you have a bad sense of timing?  When everyone else is heads down on a major project, are you the “hey let’s go to lunch”? Person.

Are you a restaurant complainer? If you’re the type that sends your meal back three times because something is wrong with it, other people don’t want to go out with you.

Do you “order expensive” and then split the check evenly? Do you order steak, wine and dessert while your coworkers order sandwiches and soda and then you say, “Hey, let’s just divide the bill evenly.  It’s easier.” Yes, it’s easier to exclude you for your tacky behavior.

Are you a whiner? Yes, misery loves company and coworkers frequently complain to each other at work, but the topics are generally limited to topics of shared misery–the bad boss, the crazy deadlines, etc.  If you’re talking about your loser boyfriend/girlfriend (dump him/her, or get over it, sweetheart), your crushing debt in the same breath as you brag about your new motorcycle, or tell your gruesome childbirth stories to your not similarly enthralled coworkers, then you’re the problem here.

Are you a bit gross? Do you chew with your mouth open?  Forget to use your napkin?  Pack lunches that are excessively smelly?

You Had Multiple Run Ins With Different Racists/Sexists/Ageists

We all know that these people exist, but it’s not ever-present.  If you’re constantly encountering people who are treating you poorly because of your race, gender, age, or other characteristic, it may well be that you’re perceiving something that isn’t there.

Sometimes people are jerks.  Sometimes you’re getting “picked on” because you’re a low performer.  Sometimes people mean no offense when they say things.

It’s a better idea to assume that people aren’t being racist/sexist/whatever, but are rather acting in good faith.  Try to assume this going into your relationships with other people.  If your manager corrects you, honestly evaluate if you need correcting before jumping to the conclusion that you’re being singled out because you’re not 24 and beautiful.

If someone says something that you find offensive, gently correct him or her.  Don’t assume that because you think the statement is racist that the speaker thinks it’s racist.

If your boss or coworker truly is an “…” giving them the benefit of the doubt won’t cause you any harm and it will become obvious later on that they are the true problem.

Everyone You Work With Is Really Stupid

Your boss is an idiot.  His boss is an idiot.  Your coworkers are dumb as rocks.  And, we won’t even talk about the completely incompetent HR department.

Now, there’s a really good chance that you’ll work with one or two people who are dumber than a box of hair.  But, if everyone is, you may need to rethink your definition of stupid.  Are you defining these people as incompetent because they disagree with you?  It may well be that they just disagree with you.

Are you defining them as not so bright because they don’t understand what you are saying?  Is it possible that you are not a good communicator?  Is it possible that you don’t understand what they are saying, and not the other way around?

Whenever there is a problem at work, you need to look at the possibility that the world isn’t out to get you–that you just may be the person who needs to change!

The Right Marketing Plan

A marketing plan should be a written document, not scratching on a cocktail napkin or recalled from memory. To take your business to the next level requires preparing a written marketing action plan every quarter.

Without a 90-day marketing GPS to guide you to your destination, treacherous roadblocks and time-consuming detours can keep you from reaching your goals. Even if you are a one-person sales department, you should know where your leads are coming from.

Try not to look at planning as an obligatory to-do, but as a way to solve tangible problems like generating awareness and improving credibility. Think of it as a way to solve lead generation problems before they arise. Here are some checklist steps to guide you:

1. Attack strategy quarterly. Begin developing a strategy-driven marketing action plan every 90 days. Marketing plays a vital role in successful business ventures, yet many sales people often overlook its systematic implementation. Put down on paper how you are going to do three things:

-- Generate leads for the sales team

-- Build awareness of what your company sells

-- Enhance the credibility of the organization

2. Think strategic first. Too many individuals believe that the tactical plan -- the newsletters, press kits, trade shows, banners, 800-numbers, display advertisements, logos and giveaways -- comes before the strategic plan. Those promotional, publicity and advertising tactics (and there are hundreds to choose from) should be contained within a well-orchestrated marketing action plan. But first create your strategic messages that will generate leads, build awareness and enhance credibility.

3. Update what's happening now. The situation analysis introduces the company and includes:

-- A brief overview of the product or service

-- A brief overview of the personnel involved

-- A past history of the company

-- Its present performance

-- Financial information, if appropriate

4. Profile away. Profiling is a bad word these days, but it works here. The product or service profile provides information regarding the specific items you intend to market. By addressing the following categories, a profile emerges. They include:

-- Position Statement: The niche the product or service is intended to occupy

-- Description: The product or service described in detail

-- Pricing: The methods used to establish pricing. Questions such as, "Will discounts be offered?" are asked

-- Market maturity: The overall market maturity is addressed

-- Quality/Reliability: What level of quality is being portrayed? What's the relation to price?

-- New market potential: The potential size of the market is assessed

-- Delivery of service: An explanation of the service delivery mechanism is given

-- Packaging: Includes overall presentation of the product or service and its delivery

-- Image: The impression customers receive from employees, facility, furnishings, stationary, etc.

5. Make the first the last. The executive summary consists of a one-page, top-level summary of the entire plan. It's placed at the front of the document, but it's the last thing you'll write. Its purpose is to convey the gist of the plan to stakeholders, investors and anyone else who needs to know these facts in a hurry:

-- The scope of the plan in an outlined paragraph

-- The product or service being marketed

-- For whom the plan is being prepared

-- The time period the plan covers

-- The geographic area where the implementation occurs

-- The strategic messages and the tactics to get them to the target markets

If you manage to write two or three paragraphs for each of the topics, you'll end up with plenty. But no more than 10 pages, please. From there, you can refine your tactics. More important, you've taken a big step forward because you've written your strategy down on paper.

Exposing the Reality in Business

I never cease to be amazed at our penchant for self-deception–especially when it clouds our view of reality in regards to our leadership. A leader I once worked for often told me. “Don’t ever believe your own press–good or bad. When you accomplish a few things a crowd may gather & start patting you on the back. If we’re not careful you can soon lose focus and start believing that you are indispensable or entitled to special favors–don’t ever believe it! It’s never really about you; it’s usually about them.

Leaders today, if they are to be truly trustworthy, should be both honest and accountable. The successful leader often is able to surround with persons who learn to help accomplish his/her mission and insulate the leader from distractions. Sometimes the leader loses touch with reality or for various reasons may begin to lose his/her way. He needs those around him to help him stay on course and not lose his bearings. He desperately needs someone to give him honest and accurate feedback in regards to his actions and their impact upon his team and those he would try to lead. The problem is that few people save perhaps those who have a negative motive, would be honest or courageous enough to overcome the discomfort and even danger that could be needed to confront the leader…especially if the leader was in their direct chain of command. In some organizations to tell the leader the truth could be misunderstood.  Unfortunately, the higher a leader raises in an organization the more he is in need of someone to ‘speak the truth in respect’ and the less likely someone will give him honest and immediate feedback regarding his words and his actions. This kind of open two-way communication is desperately needed in order to ensure the leader gets honest feedback and does not yield to the temptation to become careless with the truth.

So who will be the leaders accountability team? How can we, if the need arises’ tell the emperor he has no clothes.  How should a leader recognize this pitfall and break the yoke of insulation surrounding him or her?

The stock price was falling; the business environment was turbulent. Analysts were critical. Yesterday's rising star had become today's football. If you've ever worked in a company going through a rocky time, you will know that the first thing to vanish is trust. The workforce no longer believes that management knows what it is doing, that the business plan still makes sense, that their investment of time will be rewarded. And as trust disintegrates, the company becomes dysfunctional and failure accelerates.

If you are a manger under these circumstances, what should you do?

Doug McCallum led eBay's European business in 2008 after the stock price fell from a high of $56 to around $10, analysts claimed the company had lost its ability to innovate and CEO Meg Whitman had stepped down. Earlier this month speaking to a leadership forum sponsored by Purple Beach, McCallum talked about how the management team got through the crisis.

It wasn't, he said, rocket science, but simple things worked. What he and his team did was this:

-- Weekly videoconference with every employee across the business. It was important that they had to come together physically for this event. Just being in the same room helped to build a sense of solidarity.

-- Reiterating the plan and progress. That this was often repetitive was fine: it signaled that things weren't changing, which also implied they weren't getting worse.

-- Unscripted Q&A. This was the most important thing the leadership team. By being willing to take and address unscripted questions while everyone was watching, the leaders signaled that they were open; that they were hiding nothing and that they were confident enough to be challenged. Devoid of script, props, rules, they stood exposed before their employees and rebuilt their trust.

I was struck that what McCallum said was pretty obvious and straightforward -- but needed to be said. That it was not rocket science, of course, why it worked.

I wonder how many leaders dare emulate their example?

All too often leadership becomes insulated to what is most important.  They become trapped in a bubble, surrounded by a few that manage what they “should know” and what filter the input of what is actually going on.  Being informed is critical.  You are in control of the information you consume.  When you pass that onto others, you eventually lose!

It is true, the larger the organization the more difficult it is to be honestly informed.  You must be subjected to focus with a critical eye.  To solve any problem, or stand up to any challenge, honest information is critical to making the next decision.

The question to you, how honestly informed are you?  And; How honest are you in your information?

Starting Your Own Business?

With U.S. employers still reluctant to hire, more folks are considering starting a small business. But what's better, forming a corporation or a trust? Neither actually. For individuals looking to start small and grow big, I typically suggest forming a limited liability company, or LLC.

Every state allows single-member LLCs. To create one, you will need to file the proper documents with the appropriate state agency and pay filing fees. For example, in New York you will need to file so-called articles of organization and obtain a "department of state filing receipt." You'll also need to advertise the existence of the LLC in a few local business journals and obtain an affidavit of publication.

But before you make a decision on a corporate structure, you first need to understand the legal and tax implications. LLCs shield your personal assets from the liabilities of the business. This means that if your company sinks into debt, banks and other lenders cannot seize your personal property. The only exception is if you signed a personal guarantee on a loan to your business. So a LLC provides legal protection of your assets in much the same way as a corporation. But a LLC has more flexibility when it comes to management and taxes.

When it comes to taxes and tax reporting, LLCs are simpler than corporations. LLCs are "conduit entities," which means that they pass through the taxable income to the owner or members (the individuals who own the LLC). This means that the LLC itself does not pay taxes. Income from the business is instead passed down to the company's members. The members report the profits or losses from the LLC on their personal income tax returns.

For purposes of tax reporting, a single-member LLC is considered a sole proprietorship. The tax reporting for individuals who own a single-member LLC is straightforward. They report the income, expenses and net profit from the LLC on Schedule C of the Form1040 that they file with the Internal Revenue Service.

When there is more than one member of a LLC, it is referred to as a partnership LLC. These businesses must file partnership tax returns using Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income. Since a LLC does not pay income taxes on its own, it avoids the double taxation that is a problem with corporations. Corporations pay taxes on their income, and shareholders also pay taxes when the company's profits are distributed to them in the form of dividends.

Most states have a registry where you can search to see if the business name you are considering is available and not in use by another registered company. One piece of advice: Do not use your surname as a part of the company's name. If something goes wrong down the road or you want to discontinue the business, you'll be glad your name isn't on the front door. 

Entrepreneur? (How to gain support for your idea.)

Words used in different ways seem to have a different response, though they have the same definition.  Here is the published definition:

Entrepreneur: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

It is interesting to mention that the synonym for entrepreneur is capitalist.  But, that is for another discussion.

Whether you are a start-up entrepreneur launching a new company or a corporate entrepreneur tasked with creating a new business unit, you can use these practical tips to obtain greater support and resources. These ideas capture the best practices that have helped entrepreneurs for start-ups and corporate ventures around the world, including most high tech innovators since the mid-‘80s, convince resource providers such as investors, board members, customers and suppliers.

1. Don’t just talk about your exciting business idea – explain why you’re launching it.

It’s normal: you want resource providers to support you, so you are eager to tell them what a great business opportunity you’re working on. But remember: they are actually evaluating whether to support YOU, not just the new business. Tell them honestly about the real reasons that lead you to take this potentially risky path in your career.

2. Highlight the commitment and sacrifices you’re making for the new business

A major red flag, especially for investors in new start-up ventures, is to find out that the entrepreneur is not risking any personal wealth to launch the business. In the corporate venturing context, a similar concern arises when the “Intrapreneur” (the leader of a new business unit) demands a generous salary increase and corporate perks before obtaining any results. These situations reflect unrealistic expectations regarding an entrepreneur’s commitment and willingness to take professional and personal risks.

3. Create a “virtuous cycle” of supporters.

When outsiders evaluate your new business proposal, they are eager to see that others have decided to support you, even if it’s just your family and friends. For example, if a friend has decided to invest in your new venture, be proud and feel free to mention it to others (with the friend’s permission, of course). It’s easier to convince people when they see that you’re not lonely in trying to get a new business started.

4. Prepare your venture pitch in two versions: one for industry experts, another for everyone else.

You must have heard about the importance of crafting a good venture pitch (or an “elevator pitch”) that will help to rapidly generate excitement about your venture proposal (typically, in 2 minutes). One of the difficulties in creating a good pitch is that industry experts expect to hear very specific aspects that differentiate your business from others in the same field, while others may not be aware of some basic facts related to the industry (especially if you’re in a specific technical field). Create different versions of your venture pitch for each of these audiences in order to maintain their interest throughout your conversation.

5. Before doing a formal presentation figure out how to neutralize the skeptics in the audience.

After pitching your venture several times, it’s likely that a resource provider will invite you to make a formal presentation about your new business. This is a good sign, and you must prepare carefully. Many entrepreneurs forget to prepare for a crucial aspect of the presentation, which is: who in your audience will be likely to raise many concerns about your project? In some situations, this is relatively easy to identify in advance. For example, when presenting a new corporate venture in industrial companies, the financial officers need a lot of convincing before they’ll authorize any funding. In banks, the risk departments tend to be the skeptic ones. When presenting a new start-up, investors with the greatest industry-specific expertise in your field require special attention. Know your audience and prepare for ways to address their concerns.