Managers and Entrepreneurs Need Training Too

In today's economy more and more people are turning to entrepreneurship as job replacement. This is true for two instances:

• People who can not get jobs and need to start their own business to earn money.
• People who are under-employed and need to start part-time businesses to supplement their income.

In both cases, these individuals, who are not necessarily entrepreneurship-inclined and trained; need to take steps to enure their businesses succeed and that they do not take a bad situation and make it worse; and that they do achieve what they set out to do – earn enough money to pay the bills and live a comfortable (at worst) life.

Before starting a business keep in mind that:

• 50% fail in the first year
• 10% to 33% are left standing after five years (depends upon the study you read)

And that the main reasons business fail are:

• No business plan
• Poor management

Interestingly, research I have done shows:

• 80% of all entrepreneurs indicate a business plan is important
• 20% of all entrepreneurs have a business plan

Looking at the last stat, along with many people starting businesses with no management training; it is no wonder the vast majority of new businesses fail.

This is why I implore people starting businesses to generate a business plan (worst case in bullet point format) and, at minimum, know what management tools are needed to run a business successfully.

A business plan is needed for many reasons, not just to obtain financing. A business plan is a feasibility study to ensure your business can earn enough money to cover your personal and business expenses. A business plan helps set strategies so you can measure if you are on the path to success or need to re-look what you are doing (and to do so quickly before you get swallowed up by debt). Researching and writing a business plan also helps define your management strengths and weaknesses. If you cannot develop a good marketing promotion while generating your plan, you better improve your skills or leave room in the budget to hire someone to develop one for you.

As far as management tools go; you need to implement a strategic plan, with specific objectives, strategies, tactics and goals from day one and monitor your progress quarterly. You also need to understand marketing. This includes advertising and promotion, pricing strategies, your competition, perfecting your sales skills and elevator pitch, and understanding branding. Other areas you will need to perfect include: customer service, cash flow management, project management, market research, and more.

I teach a course, “How to Start, Grow and Manage a Business.” The course covers business plans and management tools. I wrote a book to support the course. It contains much of the lecture content (in bullet form so you do not have to read four paragraphs to get the key piece of information) and has lots and lots of worksheets that entrepreneurs can use in their business and to outline a business plan.

You can check out the book's table of contents on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Building-Successful-Business-entrepreneurs-instruction/dp/1470000636/ref=sr_1_29?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328713612&sr=1-29). If you cannot find a better deal on line, go to my book's web site, https://www.createspace.com/3785695 and use coupon code ADF28U4Q for $5 off.

The book is perfect for entrepreneurs, whether new or seasoned, and for managers employed by a business who want to learn new to implement improvements to their departments.

Job Talk with Jill and Jay, Part Radio Talk Show, Part On-line Training

Hello. For those of you have been following my blog entries, which started in June of 2008, you can hear the voice behind the writer by clicking on the Blog Talk Radio Player in the right hand column of this page.

My entries here have ranged from:

• Advice for the job seeker, the employee looking to grow in his or her job, and current or future managers;
  
• to my views regarding the proper way to teach work readiness skills, the future of training, and the effectiveness of different training methods;
  
• to some (hopefully not too much) self-promotion for my book How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job and my consulting business, DTR Inc.;
  
• to much more.

The online radio show, in which I team up with fellow Outskirts Press author Jill DeSena-Shook (Just Tell Me How to Get Hired!) follows a similar format. We give advice. We provide exercises listeners can perform at home to improve their skills. We talk about our views, philosophies and experiences. We do a little promotion for ourselves and our books. We answer questions from our audience. And hopefully we entertain while we do all this.

For example, in our pilot episode I discuss the difference between normal conversation and active listening. I also provide exercises that people can do at home to develop or improve their active listening skills, a skill that will make them a more valuable employee, and a skill that will help them immensely during an interview. On the same show Jill talks about the accountability ladder, and how interviewers view perspective employees based on where they place them on the ladder, which is valuable information for anyone looking for a job.

In Episode 1, I talk about ethics, while Jill discusses the pluses and minuses of using a recruiter in your job search.

Episode 2 is scheduled for Super Bowl Sunday, February 7th at 9:00 AM EST. This is the first show where we will answer questions from our listeners so go to the show’s web site to submit a question (www.jobtalkwithjillandjay.com) or join the show live at (www.blogtalkradio.com/jobtalk) and call in. Our topics for this show are deep thinking versus surface thinking, and what you’re appearance reveals about you. Please note that all shows are around 30 minutes. We now set the timer for the show at 45 minutes in case we are in a good discussion and want to run over a bit.

AN ONLINE MARKETING LESSON for BUSINESSES

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but my football website (www.900footballinks.net) gets very busy around the draft and that, along with my new walk-on ad product has been keeping me very busy.

The Internet is an ever-evolving medium that can offer businesses, even businesses that concentrate on local markets, excellent opportunities for expanding sales, building brand, cementing customer loyalty and showing their staff’s expertise.

First, if your business sells products, it is very easy and inexpensive to sell those same products online. Whether making it convenient to sell to your existing customers, selling to people who knew your store but have moved away, or expanding your customer base outside of your local market, there are low-cost, low-tech, on-line solutions to help you. One place to start is at www.PayPal.com where you can get a merchant credit card account and a shopping cart for free (except for the payment processing charges incurred when you make a sale). PayPal is fairly easy to use so you can set up your on-line store yourself. Of course if you do not have the time, you can hire a company to consult with you and set up your online storefront. When you build your storefront, be sure to include an online customer service function (to deal with customer inquiries) and email notification process (inform customers of new products/services, a monthly newsletter, etc.). These help build customer confidence and customer loyalty.

From a marketing standpoint there are a number of tools you can use to help increase sales. The first is the use of online press releases. Many of the sites that provide press release distribution are free. One good one is www.prlog.org. This site has a very effective free service as well as enhanced services that cost money.

The key to an effective press release is to make an information announcement, and then go on to explain the benefits to your customers. End the press release with a link to your web site.

For example, use a press release to announce a new product, a new relationship with vendor, a special sale, an event the business is sponsoring, a promotion for a key staff member, a new credential for a key staff member, new-found benefits of a product, etc. After informing the readers of the information (e.g. Company ABC is now carrying a new product that helps reduce cholesterol), explain how your customers benefit from the information in the announcement (e.g. facts about product testing showing the significant cholesterol reduction, sample taste-testing at store location during the month of May, product on sale at 25% off during the month of May) and then be sure to have a link to your web site where the reader can get directions to your location, read the taste-test results from the customers that tried your samples, and can purchase the new product on-line.

Another way to market your business is through the use of blogs, feeds and widgets. Blogs are opinion/information write-ups. If you write a blog you can become known as an expert in a specific subject matter, and that could help you retain your customers and bring you more customers. Using the example in the prior paragraph, you could write a series of blogs regarding how to manage health issues (such as reducing cholesterol). The blog would include, but not be limited to products and services sold by your company. Your blog then generates clicks to your web site, and questions from individuals (either via email or posted at your blog site). You then have the opportunity to turn these clicks and contacts into sales.

After writing your blogs, be sure to have them turned into feeds. When blogs are turned into feeds your write-up can be viewed at sites other than your own (many sites carry blog feeds), and people can subscribe to your feed bringing your write-up to them. This extends the reach of your blog beyond the visitors who come to your blog site.

The last topic regarding blogs is widgets. A widget is a box containing the titles of your blogs and the first couple of sentences of each of your blog postings. Webmasters that like your information can place your widget on their web site. Why? Because it is a way for a site to get free, fresh content thus attracting traffic to their site. However, anyone can click on an article in the widget to read the full article, which of course, contains links to your site. Oh, and the best thing about widgets is that anyone reading a widget can capture it and place it on their web site. So widgets are a great marketing tool, but you need a blog with interesting information for your widgets to spread.

For a free blog, you can sign up at www.google.com/accounts. Google also provides a free feed burning service, so sign up for that as well. For a free widget (after establishing a blog and burning a feed), go to www.widgetbox.com.

Blogs and press releases are applicable to every business, and should be used by every business. If you need help coming up with topics or setting up and writing your press releases and blogs, contact me at JayGoldberg@DTRConsulting.BIZ or call and leave a message at 561-842-9942. You can also go to my web site www.dtrconsulting.biz/dtrms.htm.

Now, we get down to the nitty-gritty.

Advertising on the World Wide Web is a major business. In 2008 about $30,000,000,000 was spent advertising online (with a little under $50,000,000 coming from the West Palm Beach area).

The Internet has become the main focus for entertainment. And not just for watching movies and tv shows, and listening to live radio. Many people play games, look for people to date and visit sites and blogs to read about football, politics, television shows, movies, books, celebrities, the news, pets, recipes, science fiction, investments, the environment, health, the weather and more. Advertisers need to reach people on the Internet to have an effective advertising campaign.

While most people think of banner ads, pop-up ads and spam email when they think of Internet advertising, it is the pre-roll ads on video (e.g. the commercials that play before watching a television show online) and audio (e.g. commercials that play prior to listening to radio stations online) that represent the most effective and growing segment of online advertising.

Now, however, advertisers can use “walk-on ads” on web sites creating a tv-like, pre-roll ad that site visitors must watch as they enter a web site. These ads are great for generating traffic (there is a click through to your site) and for establishing and building your brand. The ads are relatively inexpensive to make and to run, and in many ways are more effective than the current pre-roll ads. For example, if you have a pet product, you can target an age/demographic group with a pre-roll ad for online television/radio shows; but using web sites, you can target a site dealing with pet health or pet-friendly hotels for your walk-on ad. Walk-on ads can also be used on your own site to inform and direct your visitors to new products and special sales.

If you would like to see a sample ad, I made a demo at www.DTRConsulting.BIZ. I am far from a professional model, but I made the ad to understand the process and demonstrate its ease. If you are interested in using a walk-on ad for your business, or if you have a web site and would like to offer walk-on ads to generate revenue, be sure to click on the ad to find out more information and send in the contact form. The direct link to that page (will skip the ad) is www.DTRConsulting.BIZ/dtrwalkon.htm.

And now, finally, I am looking for a few good men and women who would like to sell walk-on advertising. Do you know someone? This is independent contractor status; there is no salary, and no benefits. I am your back office support which includes coming up with a script for your client. You earn commissions for your sales, including residuals when your customers order additional ads. This is not an MLM, there are no fees to join, and you manage your own time. You can do this part time, or full time. In fact, if you are looking for a job this is not a bad interim gig. After all you will be interacting with businesses, so you can network while selling the walk-on ads. If this interests you, there is a box you can check on the contact form referred to in the prior paragraph. You can also call and leave me a message at 561-842-9942.

That’s it (and certainly enough) for now. Catch you in my next post.

Free Live Work Readiness Training Webinar

To introduce its live webinar training series, DTR Inc. is having a free preview on Friday, November 28th at 11:00 AM. The live webinar will last about one hour, and the specific topic will be “Ethics in the Workplace”. To find out more information about the webinars, and to request a free ticket to the preview, go to www.workready.org/dtr.htm or send an email to jay@workready.org. After requesting a free ticket, you will be sent an email with the web address for the webinar, login instructions, a user name and a password.

The topics of the webinars will range from work readiness to customer service to sales skills to supervisor skills to entrepreneurship. DTR Inc.’s CEO, Jay Goldberg created a work readiness training program called the best in the country by the National Skills Standard Board, is the author of the book, “How to Get Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job”, is a former Service Director for Citibank, and, in conjunction with staff at the Palm Beach County Resource Center, developed what has been called a “revolutionary” entrepreneurship training program.

The intended audience for the free preview is human resource, training and management personnel who would like to sample DTR Inc.’s product offering to determine if they want to sign up their employees for future events. Business owners are also welcomed since entrepreneurship courses will be available in December.

With training budgets and staff being cut, it may be up to individuals to improve their value to their employers on their own. Therefore, individuals can also request a ticket to the free preview since the pay-per-view webinars are priced so that individuals looking to improve their value to their employer by taking work readiness or supervisor development courses can afford to attend them.

In my previous blog I wrote why live events are much more effective than pre-recorded events. If you have not done so yet, please read that blog.

The success of my training webinars will be based on the positive impact seen in the workplace. Therefore, the webinars are designed with that goal in mind. The vast majority of other workplace training programs measure success by how well the participants do on assessment tests, and are structured accordingly. However, doing well on an assessment test does not mean that workplace attitudes and behaviors were changed. In fact, many workers will answer the assessment questions by thinking, “What would my boss want”, not, “What do I think is the correct answer”.

That’s all for now, hope to see you in the free preview.

Interview Tips: The First Date

This posting includes excerpts from my book, HOW TO GET, KEEP AND BE WELL PAID IN A JOB (click here to go to the book’s web site) and some original, new, fresh content; like this intro sentence.

The initial chapter in my book is “The First Date” and is about the interview process.

“When you finally get a date with the woman or man who you have had your eye on for awhile, you know two things about your initial date. First, you are going to be on your best behavior. Second, you are going to be, at least, a little nervous.

Your date is going to listen to what you say (and what you do not say), observe your behavior, and make a decision on whether or not he/she will be going on a second date with you. The job interview process is no different. Your potential employer is going to do the same things, only money is waiting for you, not a second date.”

While I will not post the full content, I will briefly list three of the tips from this chapter of my book.

1. Know all you can about the Company before going on the interview

“Think first date. If all you know about the person you have been waiting to date is that he/she looks fine, your first date has a better chance of being a disaster than if you know that person’s interests. While there is a mutual attraction, you may have nothing in common and may have a lot of awkward silence. In the same vein, if all you know about the job for which you are interviewing is the pay scale, the same thing can occur. You may not be able to successfully inform the interviewer how your skills, knowledge, and background fit into that particular job and company. Therefore, before going on your interview know everything you can about your potential employer.”

One way to find out about the company you are interviewing with is to go online and find the company’s website. Look at the site to become familiar with the products and services the company sells. Also look for a page that informs visitors about the company and, possibly, a page listing recent company press releases.

2. Rehearse your answers to interview questions

“Before asking the person you want to date out, many of us practice what we are going to say before picking up the phone or talking to that individual in person. Some are even “George Costanza-esque” and have a pre-determined list of topics to talk about prior to picking up the phone. Likewise, when people have to perform in public, they practice before the big event. Whether it’s a play, a political speech, testimony in a trial, a business presentation, etc.; the presenter practices before the big event to ensure success. A job interview is no different.”

I will go a step further here than I do in my initial chapter. While practicing questions and answers is helpful, it is most useful on the setup or initial question (in Zig Zigler’s sales process these are called “open door” questions). To hit a home run on the follow up questions (or Zig Zigler’s “closed door” questions), you need to understand the job functions for the position you are interviewing for, and you need to understand what behaviors and skills employers’ value. That is why I recommend that job prospectors read my whole book (or any book on work readiness skills and behaviors) before going on an interview, not just my initial chapter on interviewing. This provides the background to do well on both the initial questions and follow-up questions.

Let’s say (or in this case, let’s write) that you are interviewing for a job as a Help Desk Phone Rep and are asked, “What are your strengths?” You have practiced an answer to this specific question, have a great answer and deliver it like a pro. Then you are asked, the all annoying, sometimes unpredictable “closed door” follow-up question, “Wow, you certainly have a lot of strengths (sarcasm implied to throw you off guard), give me an example where your strengths came into play in your last job.” Here is where knowing what is important to employers and what is important to the specific job for which you are interviewing comes into play. Showing up to work on time, all the time is very important to employers, and vital to Help Desks (and Customer Service Centers) so that Help Desks can meet their service standards (customer service will be a topic in a later blog). A practiced answer to this question would be, “An example of my reliability was that I was never late for work.” An informed answer would be, “An example of my reliability was that I was never late for work. While I know this is important in any job, I understand its special importance in regard to a Help Desk. Our job is to provide superior service to our customers and that means having the stations manned to minimize callers’ time on hold. If someone is late, that leads to longer wait times for our customers and that is unacceptable.” This answer can only come by understanding the workplace. Based on these two answers, which person would you hire? The first could be viewed as “just words”, while the second person “gets it.”

3. Bring all questions back to the job, even ones that appear to have nothing to do with the job.

Beware of “the interviewer who tries to bond with you by uncovering interests he/she has in common with you, and moving the interview away from the traditional question and answer towards a more conversational approach. By making the interview more informal, the interviewer is hoping that you, the interviewee, will provide a more in-depth and personal window into who you are. Be very careful. There is a good chance that the interviewer really isn’t into slasher movies, heavy metal music, and shoot-em-up video games. The interviewer just indicates that he/she has that in common with you so you will reveal more about yourself than you would otherwise. When you come back from an interview thinking that you and the interviewer really clicked (in areas other than the job), more often than not you opened up too much and you will not be getting the job. The interviewer is looking for an employee, not a best friend.”

For example, if I’m asked, “What is your favorite book?” I would not say one of the many Stephen King books I love because it has nothing to do with the job and the interviewer could be concerned that I read horror novels. Instead I would say, Dune by Frank Herbert because among other things, Dune is a novel about economics and I found that subplot in the book very interesting.

That’s all for now, catch you in my next post.

Who is Jay Goldberg and why is he blogging?

Hi, my name is Jay Goldberg and I will be posting a couple of blogs a month, so in my first blog I thought I would introduce myself and let you know what I will be covering in my blogs.

I am a former Vice President for Citibank where I was a Service Director. At Citibank, I hired, trained and managed numerous employees. For the last 14 years I have been CEO of DTR Inc., a Business Consulting Firm in South Florida. At DTR, I developed the strategy, curriculum, lesson plans, competency statements and teacher training procedures for a work readiness training program called the best work readiness certification program in the country by the National Skills Standard Board in 2003. More information about my company can be found at www.dtrconsulting.biz.

In April of this year (2008), my book, How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job was published by Outskirts Press. This book was written to be an enjoyable, enlightening, attitude-changing read. In addition to stating the behaviors and skills valued by employers, the book explains why those skills and behaviors are important to employers and uses real-life analogies to help illustrate key points.

This book is ideal for parents to purchase for their kids as they are first entering the workforce; for employers to purchase as a training guide to communicate to their employees what they need to do to become valuable employees and grow within their company; for individuals who find themselves continually passed over for promotions or who continually move from job to job without significant increases in pay; for schools that want to teach work readiness (also is being used in ESOL programs); for Job Centers to have as a reference book that their clients can read; and for anybody who wants to truly understand why specific behaviors and skills are valuable to employers so they can manage a career rather than just get paid to perform a job.

More information about my book can be found at www.outskirtspress.com/Goldberg.

I also work part time with the Palm Beach County Resource Center (PBCRC), an economic development 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation. At the PBCRC, I was instrumental in developing a revolutionary entrepreneurship training program with a structure unlike any other entrepreneurship training program in the country. More information about the PBCRC's entrepreneurship training program can be found at www.SEEKexcellence.BIZ.

My future blogs will cover the following topics:

• What makes effective training programs
• The difference between education and training
• Tips for individuals looking for jobs
• Tips for individuals to keep and grow in their jobs
• Tips for supervisors
• Tips for business owners
• Tips for individuals looking to start new businesses
  

FYI, the Table of Content for my book follows:

BOOK CHAPTERS

The First Date
(Interview Process)
Includes: Know all you can about the company before going on the interview; rehearse your answers to interview questions; stay focused (bring all questions back to the job/company), interview tips; nonverbal communication; know yourself (strengths, weaknesses, life/career goals); the job application; resume

They Like Me, They Really Like Me
(Preparing for First Day of Work)
Includes: When do I report; where do I report; to whom do I report; what should I wear; is there anything I can do to prepare

Am I Really in the NFL?
(Business Profits)
Includes: Why employees need the company they work for to be profitable

Now That I’m On the Team, What Are the Team Rules?
(Employee Handbook)
Includes: Benefits; company policies, compensation, workplace rules

Take a Stand, Is It Abigail or Flagg?
(Ethics)
Includes: The case of Don Imus; music downloads; work scenario #1; work scenario #2; work scenario #3; stealing from an employer is not only stealing money

Mr. Rogers Was Right! Be a Good Neighbor
(Workplace Behaviors)
Includes: Absenteeism; use of sick days; tardiness; grooming; be responsible; safety; mannerisms and habits; positive attitude; positive self-image

What Are the Special Codes for This Game Called Work
(Workplace Skills)
Includes: Active listening; following instructions/directions; managing your time wisely; completing tasks accurately and efficiently; creative thinking/problem-solving skills; telephone technique; communication skills

Be Nice to These People; They Helped You Buy Your Car!
(Customer Service)
Includes: Customer focus; service delivery; service measurements; phone center; barriers to communication; service attitude; customer service skills;; choosing words; classifying customer statements; overcoming objections; managing customers

Check Your Baggage at the Door
(Personal Life vs. Work Life)
Includes: Reason for working; objectionable behaviors; harassment; discrimination; drug/alcohol abuse; violence; a plan of action

To Date or Not to Date, That is the Question
(Social Life at Work)
Includes: Dating in the workplace; your employment relationship; lifestyle compromises; lifestyle choices; take control of your life

These People Are Nuts!
(How to Get Along With Co-workers)
Includes: Blueprint for getting along with co-workers; importance of teamwork; working with the Team Leader; how to be a good team member; value of diversity in the workplace

Congruent Theory of Work: Good For Boss = Good For Me
(Working With Supervisors)
Includes: Supervisor responsibilities; meeting supervisor’s expectations; communicating with supervisors; understanding expectations; performance appraisals; raises and promotions; role reversal

I Am a Stock
(Improve Your Skills)
Includes: Learning strategies

What I Learned in School Is Wrong For My Job, Huh?
(Reading, Writing and Arithmetic)
Includes: Reading; writing; arithmetic

Avoiding the Messy Divorce
(How to Leave a Job)
Includes: Proper way to leave a job, why it is important to leave on good terms

I already have some ideas for my next post. I hope I peaked your interest so that you'll give it a read.

I have an alternative version of this blog at jobing.com