Signs Your Leadership Doesn't Inspire

Whether you lead a retail sales team that sells HDTV equipment, run a manufacturing line, or just a boring office, there is usually a need to inspire your staff. Times aren't great, but that is no reason to hide in your office.

When you want to learn how to lead better it is always a good idea to take a look at some of the things that you may being doing wrong in the first place. Usually when you detect those inadequacies you already have a big advantage to improving your leadership, and could inspire better just by stopping the annoying things you do that irritate your employees.

If you have a hard time figuring out just what you are doing wrong, take a look at this list of 10 for a bit of a head start.

Finding Funds in this Credit Crunch

Being in business requires that you have some sort of line of credit many times. At least in most businesses you need money either to help you expand, when in a pinch, or whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. Starting a new business, or looking at franchise opportunities right now it is even more important to find credit somewhere.

Right now it isn't easy, but there are some helpful articlwes out there that give some good ideas on how to look for funds during this credit crunch. Take a look at this article from Inc.com for a bit of an idea on some opetions you may have.

Avoiding Burnout at Work

Doesn't matter what kind of job, or business you have, there are times when you just put way too much time in. Eventually it will catch up to you and you will suffer from burnout. Even if you work at home doing online trading, or blogging for that matter. No matter how much you love it you can only do the same thing constantly for so long before you become quite sick of it.

Take a look at some tips to avoid burnout, or actually how to deal with it if you know it is going to set in soon. Especially when running a business your mind and body beign in good shape is going to make you much more productive.

Help Influence Policymakers That Influence Your Business

No...I'm not talking aobut throwing a bunch of money into a campaign like you here about on the national scene where candidates only work for big oil, insurance companies, and banks. I ran a crossed an article today that discusses the policymakers that matter to you. The ones in your district, and your state. The people that will ultimately have a great impact on your own business.

Whether you think you can get a local candidate to come on over and have a helping of your healthy cooking to discuss some issues important to you, there are several ways to make your voice heard to your elected officials. Take a look at some of the ways you can go about influencing their decisions.

Public Speaking Help

It is said that the #1 fear of most people is public speaking. Problem is that sometimes you HAVE to speak in public. There is no way around it. Sure not everyone will ahve to in their lifetimes, but at some point many will be required to speak in front of at least a small group of people. Especially if you are a business owner, or you work in some aspect of business.

Most of the time salesmen are the worst speakers you will ever find. Sales jobs are a dime a dozen, and damn near anyone can get a sales job. That menas there are a TON of terrible salespeople out there giving terrible presentations. The salesperson has gotten the idea that they need to be like the classic used car salesman. At least this is the notion that most people have about a sales professional. That is just not the case at all. The sales pitch is as easy to see, and subsequently ignore as the glasses on your nose. We don't go to demos for Hydroxycut reviews. We go to get entertained. We want to be intersted.

Take a look at 11 Public-Speaking Tips that are sure to help you at least think a bit differently about how you appraoach a speech, address, or even a sales pitch.

Influential Women Tackle Questions on the Future

When two women make it as far as either being the one runnign for president of the United States, and another being nominated as the VP I think it is important to recognize some of the things other important women are talking about. So a bit of a look at the 2008 Women Presidents' Organization Annual Conference is in order.

The WPO, founded by president Marsha Firestone in 1996, is a peer advisory organization for women presidents and CEOs of privately held businesses grossing more than $2 million in annual revenue, or $1 million for service-based companies. The organization boasts a membership of 1,300 women, with an average of $13 million in revenue each. The WPO has 80 chapters across the globe, including locations in Canada, Peru and the United Kingdom.

So...while taking a look at a car insurance online quote why not take a look at some of the things these women are discussing in regards to their discussions on innovation?

75 Green Businesses That Can Make You Money

Sure it is nice to be worrying about green issues right now when some of us are worried about our health insurance, but Green is actually becoming big business.

This short list highlights a much bigger one that was compiled a while back. 75 Green Businesses You Can Start and Make Money On is a much more comprehensive list.

It's no surprise that Going Green has figured out a way to turn into a profitable operation. Just watch any presidential debate this time around and you can see there are more and more people that want alternative fuel options because of gas prices. Those aren't the only ways to make some green while going green, however.

What is the Biggest Employee Motivation Killer?

You can't run a business and not notice there are certain things that suck the life out of your employees. LAck of raiseds, fear of being laid off permanently, etc. One thing I have always found managing other employees in my observations are that managers tend to make the mistake of promising thisng they aren't sure of. Things such as telling employees they are not going to have to work overtime on Friday with a notice on Monday and then telling them Thrusday that they do indeed have to come into work that day. This of course would be for employees that work 4 10-hour shift work weeks. These kinds of things are great when they are actually true. Never, ever take something away from an employee that you promised them they would have. Managing employees is as much about psychology in how you handle them as it is about actually being competent at being their manager.

Did I actually tell you what the biggest motivation killer is already? Not if you go by the reason I started this post. In fact it is something that every employee thinks about subconsciously, and a few actually state blatantly when the observation is made. It's that people are not motivated to help the company. They are motivated to help themselves. This is just common sense to most. I care more about a .50 cent raise that covers my weight loss pills for the next year than I do about some exectutive's stock price going up 1/4 of a point. I work for myself. IF I don't get rewarded for working harder, and only the company does, what is my motivation to actually work harder?

Tha tabove paragraph is lined with thoughts from the movie Office Space. One of the most brilliant movies ever made in my opinion. One quote sums it up to me: "It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. I could work my ass off so that my boss' stock will go up a 1/4 of a point, but I don't see a dime. Where's the motivation?"

Take a look at this subject discussed in depth here as well as some options to help you understand it, and to help bring back motivation to the work place.

10 Cheap Ways to Brand Recognition

I've always felt that some great promotional items were an easy way to cheaply build brand recognition in the small bbusiness area. Things like pins, calender magnets people always have on their fridge, etc.

I'm always interested in checkign out some easy ways to do a bit of marketing/advertising. When I see a list of cheap ways to do it...even better. Not only are there great ways to do things offline, but with the way the internet plays such a great role in business now there are even some great ways to do it online for virtually nothing. All the while increasing your sales. Take a list of 10 ways to build your brand here.

Top 50 Entrepreneurial Colleges

It's funny...I never went to college with the intention of starting a business. To my knowledge not many business owners really did have that idea when they were studying to get a degree. Tehy were more interested in finding employment. going to college in Philly to try and find contacts to get Philadelphia jobs, or any other college to get job contacts in that area.

Until I started reading about small business information I had never heard that there were colleges out there that touted themselves as Entrepreneurial colleges. Although I never attended an "Entrepreneurial college, I find the concept pretty enticing when I see colleges ranked according to this category. It's not my list, so i won't take credit and list 50 posts about each of the colleges to try and steal their thunder. Take a look at the Top 50 Entrepreneurial Colleges on the Entrepreneur.com website. They give you a brief look at each and why they are ranked at the top. You can also get links to all of them if you want to look into each college's entrepreceurial programs.