When we are faced with redundancy, we often feel as though we are out of control. Something is happening to us that we don’t want and we feel hurt, sad, anxious and resistant to that change.No matter what our thoughts about it are, we have to deal with it.

I often speak to people who are faced with this issue .What makes it much worse is when people feel that they have given their work and I quote “their all” ,”the best years of their lives”. There are those amongst us who focus too much on work related aspects and neglect personal areas of their life .In these situations, the void that redundancy creates will be so much greater.

Tips

1.Ensure that there is balance between your work and personal life.

2.It can be useful even when you are employed to periodically check out what other employment is available. Send off for job specifications as this may indicate to you what prospective employees are looking for. You will also become clearer about how marketable you are.

3.Have some contingency plan.

4.After the shock has worn off, try to look at your situation as an opportunity for positive change rather than as a problem.

5.Take control by taking action, rather than ruminating and worrying which tends to exacerbate situations.

6.Do some brainstorming exercises to generate ideas about what else you may be able to do.

7.Explore whether your skills and experience to date are transferable to other areas.

8.If you can afford to, it can sometimes be helpful to go away for a few days where you are removed from the situation and may be able to see things more clearly.

9.Sometimes sharing your concerns with others is useful as they may have had similar experiences and will be able to empathise with you and perhaps share ideas about how to manage this change.

10.Optimise your ability to cope with this change by paying attention to your general health .Ensure you eat properly, take regular exercise and have adequate sleep.

10 Hot Tips On How To Cope With The Prospect Of Redundancy. is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

Your business brochure is a ferociously powerful advertising and marketing tool. It pays to produce it tastefully. The biggest is not always the best and use it wisely if you wish to see your business grow. However, the best-produced brochure on the planet is going to be useless unless it is distributed effectively. So what is the key to effective distribution?

The first step often is direct mailing. You post out the leaflet to a mass of people usually using a mailing list you have purchased. Mass mailings are very inefficient and if you get more than 1% response you are doing well. This can be an expensive way of doing business.

Second, you could hire people to distribute the brochures in shopping mall parking lots. This can be even more wasteful than a mailing, with many of the leaflets tossed aside. The ensuing mess will probably irritate more people than it attracts.

Third, you could get your publication out to the masses by using a local newspaper whereby your brochures are placed in the journal and delivered to subscribers. This has a similar effect to advertising and probably has a comparable response rate.

Fourth, place the pamphlets in plastic holders and have them readily available to those who visit your site of work. Shame on you if you have not done this already.

Fifth, have the printed matter at hand in places where people have to wait in line for a service such as in the post office. Those waiting have nothing better to do than read your message and this could be useful publicity. The Post Office has already thought of this and will charge you accordingly.

Sixth, dentists’ and doctors’ waiting rooms have a similar trapped audience who might take the time to read what you have to say. Generally, the medical profession will probably only allow material that is somehow pertinent to their line of work. However, this one is worth a try.

Number seven – distribute your promotion material widely at trade shows and exhibitions. Assuming the show is relevant to your line of business, there is a good likelihood that this would be a great source for prospects.

Eighth. Place your brochure on your website so that prospects can instantly download it after supplying their contact information. This is a great way too of building up a valuable prospect list so that you can market to them over and over.

Ninth. Use the brochure in place of a business card. True a brochure is a lot bigger than a card and might get thrown away, but here is a challenge. Why not design something that contains your principal message in a smaller format?

Tenth: Surely you have a database of all your clients past and present? This is the seam of gold for your enterprise, so mail out a current brochure to all of them. If you have done a good job in the past you may be agreeably surprised by the response.

10 Ways to Distribute Your Brochures is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

There really isn’t any guidelines for when the term small business is used, however it is simply defined as a business which has a small number of employees. How few employees is debatable, and the definition of when a business changes from a small business to a larger corporation varies both by country and industry. This number is generally less then 100 employees.

As mentioned before small businesses due to their nature, are in most times sole proprietorships, partnerships, or privately owned. Common in may countries, small businesses, are most oftenly related to: accountants, restaurants, guest houses, photographers, small shops, hairdressers, tradesmen, solicitors, lawyers, small-scale manufacturing etc.

Small businesses in often cases are located in private homes, for two main reasons. The first is because it is economical and in most cases convenient. The second reason is that there are several benifits with tax,etc for having your business in your home.

Running a small business is an exciting venture, and a great way to introduce yourself into the business world, and to gain business sense. If you are interested in starting your own small business, I would recommend having a talk with a local lawyer or accountant, who will be able to answer questions that are specific to your local area. Good luck with your new venture!

A small Small Business summary is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

2) How did you earn your first paycheck, how old were you, and what did you do with the money? With this question you are probing to check their work ethic.

3) What are the top three leadership traits that you look for in a manager? With this question you are attempting to gauge their expectation and ascertain their preferred management style.

4) Have you ever failed at something and if so, why did you fail and what did you learn from the experience? This question lends itself to a discussion on resiliency, personal responsibility and tendencies under pressure.

5) Everyone has strengths and weaknesses as employees. What are your strong points for this position? This question gives them the opportunity to tell you what assets they bring to the table and how they see themselves fitting into your organization.

6) What is the one thing you would improve about yourself? This question gives you an indication of his or her self- assessment capability.

7) Other than family members, who has been the greatest influence in your life and why?

If you were to fail in this business, what do you think the reason would be?

Use these questions as a guide and add to them as you wish. by having a set list of questions it helps you move the interview process through efficiently and effectively. Based on the candidates’ answers to these and other questions you may provide, you’ll have a good idea if you’re ready to take the next step with this person.

Good luck

8 Great Interview questions to help you find the right Candidate is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

Try To Attain Cdl Training Florida Right Now is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

Throughout the entire professional career of Yul Whitney, his involvement in Psychology and Sociology was combined with his other finished Master’s degree, the Educational Administration. Whitney has already worked in a number of educational institutions in the state of California including his time with the Mococ County Office of Education. He worked there as both a Program Specialist and as a School Psychologist. Majority of the work of Whitney there involved dealing with their special education service as well as the general education. In his time there, Whitney, with the help of the teachers, was able to develop different strategies or techniques that helped their students understand better different kinds of information.

After Mococ County Office of Education, Whitney’s next stop was the Coalinga-Huron Unified School District. He served there as the Director of Special Education where he had a direct responsibility in the special education program. Among those under Whitney’s management are the teaching staff, clerical staff as well as speech pathologists. Yul Whitney also helped the students of their special education program to get the best interests in the school. Whitney also worked for the Palm Springs Unified School District as its Program Specialist. In there, he monitored as well as made coordination for the special education program in the 14 elementary schools under the school district. Whitney also handled the running of the summer schools in the district and made some hiring of needed principals and teachers.

In line with his careers in the field of Psychology and Sociology, Yul Whitney also became a member of an organization of counselors. Whitney was part of the Chi Sigma Iota or CSI for several years, which is an international honor society for behavioral sciences. This organization was established in 1985, with a goal of recognizing the achievements as well as services rendered by professional counselors. CSI caters counselors-in-training and counselor educators whose commitment are in research and service.

Over the course of his career, Whitney was able to do things he both love all at the same time. He was able to deal with human behaviors and continue his passion for education.

Yul Whitney: Doing Two Things He Love All At The Same Time is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

Embossed Notes – can be utilized as actual invitations because of their large fold over size and uniquely adorned with embossed initials in the front. They can be hand written in different font sizes, colors and styles or have the message printed inside for making the invite more personalized.

Letter Sheets – are an interesting part of personalized stationery as they can be used as beautiful pastel hued save-the-date letters or in a more formal manner separate save-the-date postcards are ordered and specifically designed for close relatives as a reminder of keeping important engagements or appointments for other days. Various formal and informal types are designed including save-the-date photo cards.

Envelops & Post Cards – specialty envelops are available for giving out wedding invitations in vibrant and sophisticates colors, of various sizes and interesting shapes, in textures of linen, grained, translucent, metallic and custom printed. Personalized stationery cart also offers wedding postcards used in place of traditional invitations and highly affordable can be found in customized designs and styles such as adding an image, choosing patterns or labels to make it interesting yet compact.

Various Types of Personalized Stationery is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

The audience is composed of ninety men, all prisoners in a federal maximum security prison.
One more thing – you’re a woman.

For three years, Alicia volunteered every Thursday at FCI (Federal Correctional Institute) in Bastrop, Texas-
“I used my skills as a corporate trainer to help these men learn to shift their perspective on themselves and the world.”
“Along the way the prisoners taught me as much, perhaps more, than I taught them.”
“In my training business, I use games as a way to break down barriers and shift perceptions. What I came to realize is that your behavior in a game is an exaggerated reflection of your behavior in real life.”

Games are an opening to behave true to our natures, to react immediately rather than with a careful response. Depending on the other players, we may monitor our behavior less in a game than in the real world, but we aren’t acting differently. In a game there are no emotional holds barred.

In a game, we are allowed to be more right brained than logical. After all, “It’s only a game.”

Saying something is only a game tends to trivialize its importance. Precisely because we view it as trivial, and of no importance, we can give ourselves permission to let our true natures out.

When we floated this idea before a number of colleagues, several of them told us stories of self-discovery. One woman, a very sweet and kind person in “real life”, was known as “the enforcer” when she played hockey in school. Another shared that, when she plays a game against total strangers she becomes “brutal” and highly competitive.

So if our true nature comes out in a game, what can we do with that information?

Can we transform situations so that we can be true to our nature? Can we make a game out of real world situations to allow our true nature to flourish? The obvious example is to view business as a game to be won. This implies competition and a winner take all attitude.

Yet Covey and others have told us about creating win-win situations. Is there such a thing as a win-win game – a game where everyone wins, where no one loses? Can you devise a game where you can put your competitive streak toward a larger goal? Can the proverbial pie be made larger? As someone said to me, to transform from “me winning” to “we winning”.

What’s the name of the game? Win as much as you can!

Who’s responsible for your score? I am!

The game Alicia played with the inmates was called “the handshake game”. She had them pair up by size, height and weight and explained the rules. “We’ll play the game for 45 seconds. You get one point when your hand taps his hip; he gets one point when his hand taps your hip.”

The vast majority of the pairs had a combined score of 0 points. A few pairs scored in the 10 – 20 point range.

But one pair scored 260 points.

The high scorers had realized that the name of the game and scoring responsibility did not define a win-lose (or “zero-sum”) game. That is, one person did not win at the expense of the other.

Of course, the entire thing was a set-up. Alicia paired them up by size, height and weight to set the expectation that it was an evenly matched contest. She got them chanting to get their excitement up.

And she neglected to tell them that the pair was a team and the team members’ scores would be combined.

“Deliberately I didn’t tell them they were supposed to cooperate with their partner. I also never told them who the competitors were.”

We all know that a “formal” team must cooperate to win. The revelation here was that by cooperating they could maximize their individual scores.

What’s the name of the game? Win as much as you can!

Who’s responsible for your score? I am!

The rules say nothing about preventing the other person from getting a high score. The pair who “got it” quickly settled into a rhythm of “one for you and one for me”. And they could have kept that up for as long as the game ran. Meanwhile, the other teams were struggling and would have exhausted themselves long before the winners did. And, when the few teams who did spot the pair who “got it” there were charges of “cheating” leveled at them. “We saw what they were doing but thought they were cheating or didn’t understand the rules.”

The cooperation – competition confusion is nicely summed up in the concept called “the prisoners’ dilemma”. Two people are arrested for a crime and there is enough evidence to put them both in jail for 1 year.

The police keep them isolated from each other and offer each the same deal: “If one of you talks and the other does not, the snitch goes free and the other one gets 3 years. If you both talk, you both get 2 years.”

The partners can work together (by staying silent) and both get only a year in jail. By both defecting from the partnership to work with the police they will both get 2 years.

A single defector will go free while the one who cooperated gets 3 years.

The dilemma is formed by pitting trust against greed. The temptation of greed combined with a habit of competition blinds us to a different perspective.

But don’t think that only prisoners are subject to this. When Alicia has had groups of corporate executives play this game, they fall into the same behavior pattern as the prisoners. In fact, in some corporate sessions nobody “gets it”.

There seems to be a dichotomy between competing and winning. The idea of cooperating to win seems odd. In fact, we see other players complain that the ones who “get it” are cheating!

What you do depends on your view of the game. If the game is seen as a one-time event, why not be brutal – there will be no consequences. But if this event is one in a series, then cooperation is clearly the better long-term strategy, if only because there will be a chance for the other to get even.

In studies of prisoners’ dilemma style games (played for points and not reduced jail time) the players eventually settle into a strategy dubbed “tit for tat”. Their actions are saying, “If you cooperate last time, I’ll cooperate next time. If you defected last time, I’ll defect next time.”

Using the word “defect” helps us see the shift – the opposite of cooperating (working on the same side) is defecting to the other side.

The desire to compete and the desire to win are not the same.

Game terminology (strategies, tactics, moves, etc.) is often applied to “serious” parts of life. Because the word game has a connotation of triviality, we sometimes bristle at its use to describe the things that mean the most to us.

What if we kept in mind that ‘it’s all a game’ – would we behave differently?

Philosopher James P. Carse writes in the first chapter of Finite and Infinite Games, “There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, and infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.”

The book’s subtitle is “A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility.” His premise is that a game is about the relationship between the player.

In the book he characterizes two types of players. Finite players play within the rules, infinite players play with the rules. Finite players play to end the game (with their victory), infinite players play to continue the game (by whatever means they see fit). Finite players play to win, infinite players play to keep playing.

The players who “get it” are playing with the rules looking to transform a finite game into an infinite one.

If this article has intrigued you we encourage you to look at the various “games” that you are “playing” and with whom. Who are your “teammates” and what kind of game are you playing? With increased awareness of our behavior, and the behavior of others, we are able to create a “win as much as WE can” mentality.

© Copyright 2004 Alicia Smith Consulting & Training. All Rights Reserved.

Games are a Reflection of Behavior as Told by John Satta is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

A lot!! – I know that because people so often tell me that is so at seminars.

Well what if I could show you simple way to encourage people who are interested in your products to want to buy, whilst making sure that people who are not interested don’t feel sold to. Would that be of interest to you?

OK – but please do not be deceived by the simplicity of this idea. I guarantee it will totally transform your networking skills and increase your sales.However whilst the idea is simple it does require a complete shift in your thinking and that may be much harder to achieve.

When you meet someone for the first time they will usually get round to asking “What do you do?”But how do you answer?

Most people in my experience answer with a job description – “I’m an accountant, a lawyer, sell furniture, design web sites, run a beauty salon” etc. And often that’s the end of that conversation.

Yet every time you meet someone there is a possibility that they may be a potential customer or they may know a potential customer.Unfortunately we often fail to discover that because we don’t talk about business, because we feel uncomfortable about “selling.”

Of course there is another response I sometimes receive – It’s called an “Elevator Pitch,” and I am not a fan.If you have ever attended a speed networking session you will be familiar with this approach. Essentially an elevator pitch is a sixty second sales pitch, so called because screen writers used to jump into an elevator with a producer and pitch their idea before the doors opened at the next floor.

If I ask “what do you do” and get a sixty second sales pitch, I spend the last thirty seconds looking for an escape route. I don’t like being sold to! And nor do most people in my experience

However it is possible to invite people to talk about our business in such a way that they do not feel we are trying to sell them something. Instead of talking about your product or service – which means selling, tell them how you help people.

I have different responses depending on who I am speaking to – for example “I specialise in helping small business owners to attract more customers” or “I specialise in helping women in business to become outstanding public speakers”. And I finish with “do you know anyone that would be of interest to?”

Now if you are a small business owner or a woman in business would you want to know more if I said that?Of course you would. Often people respond immediately asking for more information indicating that they would like my help. If they don’t respond, then they are not a prospective customer right now, but at least they now know what I do and that means they are more likely to mention me to a friend.

If they are interested then I can arrange a follow up – “Let me have your card and I’ll call you in the week to arrange a meeting” or “take my card, go and have a look at my web site at www.speakingandmarketingtips.com – there’s a free ebook (in exchange for signing up for my newsletter) that might help.”

Create and practice your own pre-prepared responses as follows:

I specialise in helping ………………………………(describe your target customers, who do you most want to be doing business with, or describe a category that includes the person you are speaking to.)

to ………………….(how do you help them, what problem do you solve.)

How do you tailor your response so it is most applicable to the person you are speaking to?

Easy – get into the habit of asking people what they do first and don’t let a conversation die when they give you a job description.Encourage them to talk about what they do and prompt for the problems they face in doing it – especially the problems that you can solve.

People love to talk about themselves and they love people who are prepared to listen. Then they almost always ask, “What do you do?”

Me… Oh! I specialise in helping……..

If you have just spent five or ten minutes showing interest in them and what they do and you then tell them that you specialise in solving some of the problems they face – do you think they are going to want to know more?

Copyright 2006 Richelle (Rikki) Arundel, UK

Don’t Sell. Tell Your Network Contacts How You Help People is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News

We all know that two is better than one. The dramatic end results will be an effective and cost-cutting advertising venture the nets both of you a nice profit.

I once dealt with a veterinarian who promoted a local dog groomer… who in turn promoted the local veterinarian. Yeah, it’s kind of a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” set up, but hey it works for both parties. Think about it… customers are going to feel that the dog groomer is in the know about who the best vet in town is, as well as trust the vet to know who is the best dog groomer in the area. Sure, it’s a win, win situation for both the groomer and the vet.

2. Dig Out New Niche Markets
Niche markets are everywhere, right under your nose! Within the customer audience that you serve right now are groups of people who share common traits. Think about it… maybe you have a goup who speaks Spanish, a group of teens, and a group of middle class family men and women.

Evaluate these classes of people, and discover the unique needs and desires they share. That will set you up to customize your advertising campaign directly to them. It’s not hard to take your current ads, and make a few changes to adjust to the niches. They’ll be impressed that you understand THEM, and the increase in your profits will be the best thanks you can get.

3. Hop On The Latest Trends
Get in on the first floor of the latest trend… before your competition becomes aware of it. Be a leader in the industry! Hey, Internet marketing is still profitable all around, but businesses who jumped on the band wagon early in the game got the best proceeds for their insight.

We’re not talking about dropping everything and making a mad dash! Wise marketers add to their already profitable businesses when they see the “new and coming” techniques. Keep the customers you already have on board, and add to your existing products and services.

You can quickly and easily strengthen you business and push out the competition by adding new layers to your existing business, teaming up for joint promotions, and discovering new markets to reach.

3 Must-See Keys For Expanding Your Business is a post from: Dariako Valko Business News