HR Development for Small Business OwnersBy Daryl Des Marais

There are 5 things that are important to Human Resource Development for Small Businesses. They are leadership development, transitional support, role modeling, systems process and tool necessities.

1. Leadership Development

In order to expand in an organization you have to develop successful leaders. Easier said than done. There are three things that are very important in making this come to fruition. Most importantly, the leader must have the appropriate level of experience in creating new leaders. Secondly, he must have been successful with developing leaders to the results that are necessary. Third, the leader must develop a process for the new leader to follow and emulate. But how do you create a process as a small business owner, there are so many books and authors, styles, industry differences. A good basic structure to start with as a new business owner is with a 1 page sheet of objectives with a timeline(daily,weekly, monthly and annually). What types of consistent behaviors are important in this role to achieve each of the milestones set for the business. Pick 3-5 core goals for each timeline on each sheet and prioritize them for your business and desired achievement timeline.

2. Transitional Support

When you are beginning to train the new leader it is important to give communication on a regular basis; may be daily, or monthly, or otherwise, depending on the level of skill and the level of experience. However, ensure that you have a specific outline of the outcomes desired after the process, whether it be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or a year. If you have core objectives for that role and fill in the information that they are missing with a regimented process it will become more natural for them. It is important to do this in a manner that is beneficial to the new leader and the company. There are many books available on this topic under "leadership development".

3. Role Modeling

In order to have someone become successful it is usually helpful to model the behaviour so they can understand the process and see it in action. This may not be ideal if you are in another city, however there are web technologies that make this possible. I.E. Podcasts, net meeting and online training systems. If the leader cannot be there to role model for the new leader there are other options. Checking in on a regular basis is also helpful and teleconferencing systems are good for small businesses and owners with multiple locations to send a clear consistent message to leaders in each location.

4. System Process

Every small business and every industry has different systems. However you must design your own process on a page. Reading on other industry systems and successful models may assist you in this process. On a page create a flow chart with squares or circles describing each system with a heading and one sentence. For instance begin with the initial sourcing for your product and complete delivery to the home of your happy customer. This will assist you in advance as different situations may arise and you will log how best to deal with them for your business.

5. Tool Necessities

Every business has it's own unique tools. Look at other successful businesses in your industry and see what tools are most important and absolutely necessary for getting the job done. As your business grows and so does your capital you may be able to keep up to speed on new systems, that are faster, more efficient or assist saving the business and your customer time and money.

Continued success in your business in 2008, and take some time to "surf the web for the information you need that best suits your business". Then go out locally, city or state, and find other people who have been there, done that to assist you. It's a good start and you will get more comfortable as you go along. Like the famous astronaut Mr. Armstrong said when landing on the moon "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." So how about that's one small step for you, but one giant leap for starting your business. All the best!

Drawing Up A Successful Small Business Marketing PlanBy James Copper

Every small business owner dreams of drawing up a good marketing plan, implementing it and seeing revenue increase. It is worth taking a look at the elements of a strategically relevant plan that is detailed enough for the business person to assess the suitability of a large number of available marketing tactics appropriate to the business concerned. There are seven key areas involved when it comes to creating a strong and efficient marketing plan for your business.

1. Vision. There has to be a marketing vision that mirrors the overall business vision. So for instance if you marketing vision is to expand your market into previously untapped markets but your business vision is to carry on doing the same old thing, the two are not matched. This will weaken your marketing efforts and produce negligible results.

2. Awareness. For your marketing efforts be effective you have to comprehend and accept the particular needs, concerns and assumptions of your target audience. If you neglect to do so the result will be poor communications and reduced return on investment.

3. Competition. It is vital to analyze your competitors in the marketplace whether direct, indirect or variable. Your direct competitors are self explanatory e.g. shoe shops compete directly with other shoe shops. Your indirect competitors compete for the same budget in the same general area e.g. movie theatres compete with restaurant for family entertainment spending. Variable competition refers to external factors that could disrupt your business e.g. a bridge is washed away in a flood preventing customers from reaching your offices.

4. Message. It is important to work out the communications element, i.e. the basic message, you want to get across to your audience. An inappropriate message could do your marketing campaign more harm than good. It could even benefit your competitors.

5. Media. Once you have clarity about your marketing message it is time to decide how precisely the target market is to be reached. Try to eliminate personal preferences from the mix. Just because you like SMS campaigns does not necessarily mean it is appropriate for your business or your target audience. Endeavour to use a wide selection of media.

6. Analysis. Determine how you are going to test, measure and tweak your marketing efforts in the short and long term. Build these methods into your marketing plan. This is very important. I would go so far as to say that you should eliminate any media where your efforts cannot be measured precisely. If your intention is to gain new markets then you must make sure that the success of this plan is measurable. This is the only way you will be evaluate and adjust your marketing campaign as required.

7. Funnels. These are marketing systems whereby you should define the process whereby your target audience is addressed, your prospects garnered, how they will be informed and how they will eventually become customers. By designing your funnel you will be able to streamline the process and instill continuity for staff and customers alike.

In dealing methodically with these aspects in your marketing plan you will be able to build a solid foundation for your campaign on which to base all your marketing efforts.

Finding the Hottie in Your Mirror By Julianne Bentley

If you've ever wondered what the real difference is between that incredibly hot, well-dressed, popular woman with the big nose that everyone wants to go to bed with and the far-more-beautiful girl hiding in the corner, I have the answer: body image.

What we perceive as attractiveness is often less about the aesthetics of beauty and more about an aura of confidence. This goes for men and women alike. One of the most basic parts of having a good sex life is having a healthy and happy relationship with your body. I don't mean merely understanding how everything works; I mean liking what you see in the mirror. Whether you've got a curvy body and want to be more slender, or a soft body you want to be hard, or a thin body you want to be more voluptuous, one thing that most of us (sadly) have in common is a poor body image. We rarely see how beautiful we are.

This is the time of year when a lot of us make resolutions about exercise and diet. Sometimes, however, we lose track of the purpose, of the actual goal. The goal isn't to have the scale read out a number you like or to be able to run fifty miles - usually the goal is to see something you like when you look in the mirror. There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve how you look, but as your mama might have said, it comes from the inside out.

I've been struggling with my own body image for many years. Sometimes it waxes, sometimes it wanes. There are several things that help, though, and none of them stem directly from my scale or pedometer readings. A lot of feeling attractive comes from being happy - and one of the easiest ways to change your mindset from negative to positive, to reach for happiness, is the Art of Appreciation. Play the "Five Good Things Right Now" game.

For me, Right Now, five good things are: a nice smelling candle burning on my desk, Mozart playing while I type, my office being fairly tidy, a chat window that just opened up with a friend saying "hi", and it the sun shining outside after several days of rain. And now I'm feeling a lot more content than I was sixty seconds ago, and I could even list a few more things now that I'm focusing on the positives.

Also important to your body image: clothes that fit well. If you're an adult and you have a credit card, there's an easy way to solve the problem of too many clothes that make you feel dowdy or which you suspect are unflattering. Ask a friend or lover to help you sort through your clothes and take everything that's too baggy, too loose, too BORING, and give it all to a donation center. Then gift yourself a small allowance and go buy four tops, two pairs of pants, and two or three attractive pairs of underwear - and for Aphrodite's sake, pick some clothes in a color other than black! Vibrant colors, even just small hints of them, will raise your spirits and make you smile. Seriously, it seems shallow, but new clothes will give you an instant lift - and this isn't just a trick for chicks.

Also, get a new look. Try a different hairstyle. Choose a new shade of lipstick. Part your hair on the other side than usual. Use a new-to-you scent of perfume or lotion or aftershave or shaving foam. Change something, ANYTHING about your appearance. It won't fix all of your problems, but hopefully every time you look in the mirror, you'll smile at yourself and think "Damn, I look good."

Finally, try this exercise: look into a mirror for two minutes. Set your timer or look at a clock or just slowly count to 120, while you stand there and look at your face. Don't look at the flaws; look at the things you like, specifically. If you're drawing a blank, recall compliments people have given you in the past. This can be difficult at first, as our eyes are trained to focus on our perceived imperfections. Look at your face as if you were an outsider looking at you. Other people ALWAYS think we are more attractive than we think we are - even supermodels. Do you know why? Because strangers don't fixate on that pimple on your chin or that tiny wrinkle developing on your forehead or the mole on your cheek. They look at your unusually-colored eyes, your smooth skin, and your welcoming smile. Go on, smile at yourself. Laugh. I double dog dare you.

See how gorgeous you are?

It's ok if you feel silly or embarrassed. Look at that charming blush as you struggle with it, in the mirror. It's a difficult exercise, focusing on the positives, but it only take two tiny little minutes and it really pays off if you repeat it daily.

If you are truly struggling with the exercise and need to bring in some outside help to focus on the positives, do that. Ask a friend or your lover to help you with this project and name two or three things they think are attractive about you. Return the favor and do the same for them - remember, you're not asking for an Ode To Your Cobalt-Blue Orbs here, just a simple "the flecks of gold in your eyes are pretty."

The next step is, of course, to do the same exercise with your naked body in front of a full-length mirror. Bring along a friend if this is scary territory. I know you can do it though. And don't be stingy with the self-compliments any time you pass a reflective surface, either - for every "Damn, my bra strap is showing," I want you to add in a mental, "But this color top sure is flattering to my skin." Be nice to yourself. Lavish yourself with praise. Love yourself.

And then get out there and strut into that room at the crowded party with your head held high and know that everyone who is looking your way thinks you're hot.

Because you are.

Honestly.

Would the Wanton Hussy lie?

Julianne Bentley, the original Wanton Hussy, works with individuals (and couples) who want to bring the passion and joy back into their bedrooms.

Drawing on over fifteen years of experience discussing the ins and outs of sexuality, in all its forms, Julianne brings compassion and energy to the process of supporting you in making the changes you need in order to have the sex life you want and deserve.

Online Education - A Step to Improving User Support ServicesBy Mathew Simond

Developing a world-class online education program requires more than just a good delivery system. All too frequently, newcomers to online education consider only the technical aspects of what they need to offer such courses. They neglect the human infrastructure necessary to maintain and support online programs.

For example, a recent survey conducted by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications found that nearly 40 percent of institutions that offered distance learning via technology reported they relied on faculty to provide technical support to students. This is definitely not advisable, and obviously a poor use of faculty resources.

Ideally, within the online environment, a student's time is spent learning and faculty time is spent developing instruction and teaching courses. Both groups should have convenient access to support services. However, even with the easiest-to-use interfaces, users will continue to experience both technological and human barriers - knowledge and skills, for example that require ongoing attention, especially as the functionality of online education delivery systems continues to increase at such a rapid rate.

Additionally, even with online materials that address common questions, a percentage of users will bypass this avenue and opt for a human response to questions, either by phone or by e-mail. There also are instances where users have more sophisticated questions that simply cannot be answered by a standard set of FAQ's. As a result, "real life" user support services are part and parcel of any effective online education strategy.

Moreover, the flexibility and convenience of online learning, teaching and learning independent of place and time has given rise to increased expectations about user support services. Users are expecting support to be available during the times they are teaching or learning, which is now 24 hours a day and seven days a week. As such, the quality of user support services in online education is far more complex than simply answering user questions.

Borrowing from the service quality literature of Schneider & Bowen's 1995 "Winning the Service Game," the quality of user support can be viewed within the following four general categories:

Reliability: How dependable and accurate are the support services provided?

Responsiveness: How convenient, available and prompt are the support services?

Assurance: How knowledgeable and professional are support staff?

Empathy: How well do support staff understand the needs of users?

Real Education has made it a point to develop a service climate that is sensitive to users' expectations in these four service areas. For example, these aspects of service quality have been integrated into the performance management systems used for user support staff in our organization. In addition, both students and faculty can access professional support personnel 24 hours a day.

Users have Web, e-mail and telephone options to receive support. We also offer face-to-face workshops for both students and instructors. Ultimately, however, it is up to the users to let us know the quality of our support services. As such, we ask users how well we are doing. We regularly gather feedback from users to see how well the services stack up to expectations through a service quality research plan. The results of this research then fuel our ongoing service improvement.

If this sounds like a lot of work and resources, you are right. So, how can an institution cost effectively provide high-quality support services to faculty and students?

Quite honestly, institutions will be hard pressed to provide on-campus cost-effective alternatives to what an outsourced partner can provide. That is why we are seeing more and more of these partnerships formed. In general, maintaining a highly skilled user support infrastructure both technological and human is expensive. However, this expense can be lessened by outsourcing to an organization that can defray the costs over a larger client base.

Outsourced organizations also can better "afford" to have a constant supply of full-time trained staff always available to faculty and students, whereas it may be difficult for an institution to maintain the same staffing given the peaks and valleys in demand. Work is usually on a project basis and not constant; demand levels may vary with turnover in faculty and academic terms.

Making service quality a part of how user support is provided can benefit institutions, organizations, students and instructors. Whether an institution can develop the human infrastructure necessary to maintain and support online programs, or it decides to outsource this component, quality user support services should be part of an institution's overall online education plan.

Earning an Online Degree

Education is an important part of people's lives; it will either make them or break them in the future depending on the careers they choose. Education is greatly diverse today in comparison to the 1950s because of advancements in teaching and other great inventions that provide easier techniques of teaching. One major issue that has been raised is distant learning courses and online education.

Distant learning could be any format from VHS videos, DVDs, or internet courses online. Online education has been legal since 1993 and is a new way of teaching students of all ages. Online education has been gaining popularity through out the years because of the ease of the internet. The internet has made it easier for people to stay connected and has provided people with unlimited resources on the World Wide Web. Many educators have mixed feelings about online educating because there are so many pros and cons to the issue.

To stimulate the experience there are many classes offered online by city and university colleges. Long Beach City College has a few to offer such as Psychology and Sociology which are equal to or even better then face to face classes. One example of a class that is better online rather than face to face is Sociology because they let the students observe human communication at public spaces without the teacher being there.

The work that is done in the classes is also expected from someone who signs up for an online class. The online class materials are the same as the normal classes themselves, but the books used can be ordered from book stores online. Discussion on issues is done in chat rooms and forums where everybody writes their views on the issue. This is an advantage for foreigners who can not speak proper English correctly. Live video and sound can also be done with special equipment for a real time conversation with instructors and peers.

Other features on the online courses are the learning aides that can be used while taking the course. Certain programs can be made such as flash cards and games which can increase the learning experience of the student. These learning aides can be done on the student's time and does not require the teacher to be there.

Time for a face to face class is very difficult if a person works 40 hours a week but an online course can put an ease on the time restriction because the person does the work at their own pace and time. It is also easier to sign up for an online class than a class at a college. Message boards are in use if the students need to leave a question or a comment about the subject their on. They also save time by not traveling to the college and trying to find a parking space.

Rural areas where students have to travel a great distance to get to class can save time and money by doing online classes. For example, a child of a farmer can help the family out in the morning with the farming chores then go to an online class later on. Rural kids may also take additional educational classes online that their school does not provide. Children in the movie industry may also take online courses to keep up with their studies while on the road filming movies. Hillary Duff takes online course while she films.

As the price of education continues to rise, the rate of students applying for online educational classes will continue to get greater. The price for a unit at Long Beach City College is $26 and the price per unit will continue to rise as long as there is a deficit in California's budget. Online courses provide a cheaper alternative for schools that have a problem with their budget and actual classroom space. Teachers can also record themselves and the student can download the film if they miss the session. This gives a student the chance to catch up on a class session if he missed out on that day.

In 2002, 12 of the 55 National Geographic Bees were home-schoolers meaning that courses than at home can provide a great teaching environment. Students do not have to put up with bad influences from regular schooling and help build their own identity without social pressures that traditional schooling may have. Some students may also earn their high school degree faster then their peers.

While the pros are stated some cons are also involved with online classes such as the there is no real person to person interaction with an instructor. No face to face communication means there is no personal attention from an instructor. Some may also feel the accreditation from an online school is not the same as a real university classroom. Students do not get to feel the real situations of a traditional classroom or university causing them to be isolated or anti-social.

There is no support from an instructor like a real class and everything is usually done by the student. Everything depends on his or her ability to understand the material and be ready for term papers and test. Some knowledge of computers is necessary if the student wants to be able to stay in the class as being computer illiterate is a big issue determining if the person will pass or fail because most of the work is done online. Many low-income students might be affected by the computer issue because desktops and laptops are expensive and many may not be able to afford such luxuries. Another problem is if a person always needs an extra push or reminder that a up coming report or test is coming because there is no instructor there to provide the push and it is all up to the student remind themselves.

However, the cons stated above can also work to help the student become more responsive. The person to person interaction is not really needed because when they graduate some individuals will become office workers and they usually work in a cubical providing the same atmosphere that the online class provides. Also by the students doing everything by themselves in an online class they become more independent, teaching them that there is not always a person there to guide them in a problem, just like in life.

As for the issue of the computer cost that some students can not afford they can use public resources to access the internet such as the library and so on. There are also loans, grants, and other forms of financial help they can get to provide them with the tools they need to get started in an online class and with the computer training they must learn in an online class it can provide a leg up in the competitive job market.

Online education could be the tool of the future to provide the young and the old with schooling and instruction. It provides a cheaper way of teaching while still giving the student the material necessary for the class. Students learn responsibility through online education and will give them a reason to work hard during the class. All in all online classes will help provide many students with the education they require.

Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring Their Next Sales Superstar

When faced with declining sales and missed targets, many companies opt to hire a "sales superstar", one whom will do the wonders and rev up sales single-handedly. Unfortunately, most companies almost always end up with mediocre results at best, and sheer disappointment in most cases.

In fact, the notion of trying to hire a "sales superstar" is a mistake itself. Here's why:

The Elusive Sales Superstar

Usually, the term "sales superstar" refers to an ultra-aggressive sales person who simply doesn't take "no" for an answer, and is just fantastic in generating great sales results real quick. This kind of sales person represents only about 1-2% of the entire sales population.

As such they are very difficult to find. But finding them is just the beginning of more challenges. You will face issues such as:

Sales superstars are highly paid individuals, and to entice them to work for you will mean you will have to pay even more, for both fixed and variable pays;

As most sales superstars are currently happily making money with their current employers, and hence that means you will have to proactively reach out to them. The usual employment ads won't work, and even most headhunters don't go around poaching candidates. In worse scenarios, you get candidates who claim to be sales superstars, but are far from it;

The sales superstar you hire may or may not fit into the way you sell, or into your company culture. If that happens, and it quite frequently does, you simply end up with a very expensive dud!
Even when you hire THE sales superstar who's producing good results for you, you'll still face 2 possibilities:

Despite your sales superstar's Herculean effort, you still are not able to stem the tide of declining sales;

Due to your sales superstar's good efforts, you have now seen sales increasing as a result.
Most companies who have hired a sales superstar will eventually find that to increase sales and profits on more sustained basis, you will need a lot more than an individual's effort, and thus diminishing the sales superstar's impact on the bottom line.

However, it is the 2nd consequence that poses the most danger to the company. If you have one sales person who can single-handedly turn the tide for you, then you may have a situation where a significant amount of sales are held in the hands of just one person. If that is the case, your company may be taken hostage by this individual easily, i.e. whatever he/ she demands, you'll have to oblige, or else he/ she will just bring all your major customers to the competitor.

Why Not Build a High-Performing Sales Team Instead

Rather than hoping to find an saviour in the form of a sales superstar, what companies can do is to make sure that all sales persons hired are first equipped and then train in the skills that make them good sales people in your unique sales culture.

While you are highly unlikely to groom sales superstars in your own company, you may actually build a team that collectively produces much more than a superstar ever will. Here's how it works:

Compare the best performing sales person(s) with the rest (the middle and worst performing) in your company. Find out what are the qualities or behaviours that are ONLY present in the best people, which the rest are not doing;

Structure the interview processes where you look for past performance whereby the candidate has demonstrated such ideal qualities or behaviours;

If the qualities or behaviours can be learnt, structure your sales training such that everyone on your team can learn and internalise them.
In doing so, while you may not have sales superstars eventually, but you will get a team of sales people who are performing well above average.

Now, what if you are unhappy with the performance of the entire sales team, and in your view, there really isn't any quality or behaviour that you want your staff to emulate from your best sales person, there's still hope.

The HR Chally Group is a leader in the field of sales staff research, and they have identified the ideal qualities and behaviours that are needed for each of the separate pre-determined 14 sales and 8 management position categories.

The Sales Superstar Isn't Going to be Your Next Sales Manager

Some companies may now be thinking that if they haven't got any good sales people that they want to emulate, then perhaps they can hire a sales superstar and get that superstar to be their sales manager so that all can learn from him/ her.

Unfortunately, the sad story is that only 15% of sales superstars will be competent managers. Here are the reasons why:

Selling is about getting things done through the customer, while sales management is about getting things done through the sales team;

The sales superstar is a highly skilled specialist in the former, but not in the latter;

When the sales team faces difficulties in getting better results, the sales superstar tends to fall back on what she does best, i.e. to take over the sale. In the long run, you'll end up with a sales team of one, the superstar herself;

Sales superstars know that they are good, but they usually don't know why they are good. hence, they will find it difficult to reflect and analyse what makes them successful, and how to make others be as successful as well.

Indeed, sales superstars can be trained to become good managers. However, in doing so you are depriving the superstars to do what they do best, which is closing those deals!

Interestingly, the best candidates to be the sales managers that are required to coach the sales team to better performance tends to sales people who had shown drastic improvements over the course of her career. These people are usually not "naturals" when it comes to selling, but have improved their performances by analysing, learning and applying the skills that make other sales people successful.

As a result, they are more likely to understand the dynamics behind what made them more successful as compared to their past performance, and are likely to flesh out the learning points of others once they settle into a coaching role.

In any case, if you would like to build winning sales teams where each team member is an above-average performer, simply e-mail info@psycheselling.com or call +86-13671902505 or Skype: cydj001 and arrange to buy me a mocha. All information shall be kept in confidence

c.j. is an Affiliate with HR Chally Group in China. Founded in 1973 through a grant from the U.S. Justice Department, the HR Chally Group provides predictive and compliant assessment system for management, sales, technical, customer care, and administrative talents. Unlike other assessment tools that just conducts personality profiles, Chally profiles what is exactly required by specific job descriptions and responsibilities and predict if these talents can succeed in these roles. The resulting effect is you'll get:

* Up to 40% reduction in turnover

* Up to 30% increase in employee productivity

* 85%+ accuracy in identifying effective performers

Prior to this, c.j. was Asia Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 logistics company, as well as Corporate Training Manager for Ringier AG, Switzerland's largest media group, in China, where he was responsible for sales team development, and helped increase the % of new hires to close their 1st sales within 2 months by 30%, as well as increase overall sales targets by more than 50%. Visit http://www.psycheselling.com for more info.