Business Consultants

Archive for May, 2010

These myths have cost companies billions of dollars in wasted payroll money.

Myth #1) Structure spoils spontaneity.

I once attended a two-day long disaster that easily cost over $40,000. Thirty people spent the first hour seeking an issue to discuss, then spent the next 15 hours arguing over insolvable problems. When I asked the manager who called the meeting, “Where’s the agenda?” the reply was, “I didn’t want to spoil the spontaneity by imposing a structure.”

Reality: If spontaneity were a universally sound business practice we would build buildings without blueprints. Of course, no smart business leader works without a plan.

The Fix: Set a goal and then prepare an agenda. Ideally, this agenda should be so clear, complete, and specific that someone else could use it to lead the meeting to obtain the accomplish the goal.

Myth #2: Since it’s my meeting I should do all the talking.

Some meetings are run like a medieval court. The chairperson sits on a verbal throne while the subjects sit in respectful silence. The big talker justifies this by thinking: if the other people in the meeting knew anything worthwhile, they’d be leading the meeting.

Reality: If you’re the only one talking, you’re working too hard. In addition, realize that most people protect themselves from extended monologues by sending their thoughts off on a holiday. That is, no one is paying attention to you: they’re busy daydreaming, doodling, or dreaming.

The Fix: Convey large amounts of information by a memo or email. Then call a meeting based on participant driven activities that test or reinforce comprehension.

Myth #3: Meetings are free.

Most meetings are paid for with soft money. That is, it’s money that has already been spent for wages. In addition, no purchase request is necessary. No budget needs to be approved. All someone has to do is call a meeting.

Reality: Meetings are very expensive. They use people’s time, and payroll is the largest part of running a business. When people hold bad meetings, they waste the most important resource in a business – the time people that spend working to earn a profit for the company.

The Fix: Design meetings to earn a profit. After all, a meeting is a business activity, not a company picnic.

Learn more about Effective Meetings at: http://www.squidoo.com/OneGreatMeeting/

Having an Internet marketing business is great, but did you know that doing it with residual income is even better? The best way to be able to get the most returns for your time invested is through getting for yourself residual income that just keeps on coming. Here are some reasons why residual income, with multiple streams of income will work best for you.

Because You Are Not Focused On Individual Sales

Unless you are selling something that is in great demand, and selling for a lot of money, getting individual sales is good, but not the best. Now a lot of people can do quite well through individual sales – but they have to keep on making the sales – or their income stops! If you have one line of income, then you could be instantly out of business. You could also look at it this way. If you are laid off from a regular job, then your sole source of income is gone.

Suppose, however, that you could get a sale that would bring in monthly, for years to come, a small but continual income. That is what is meant by a residual income. An example would be an ISP, and offering services to your customers. In this example, people buy into it – and will pay for the services for years to come. After you get so many people signed up, you could literally put your Internet marketing business into neutral and go on an extended vacation. You would not even need to be there in order to make money. It operates itself.

Because You Are Free To Add Multiple Streams

After your first home business gets established, then you are free to build a second work at home income stream. The first business becomes largely self-perpetuating, only needing a little attention each week for answering customer questions for example. This frees you to develop a second line, and then a third, if you desire to keep going. This makes the most sense and it is just like diversifying your stock portfolio. The more diversified it is, the less risk you have of losing all you have invested.

Those that have become really successful use these means to do so. That way, they do not have to devote a constant 110% in order to keep getting those new sales. By now you should be able to see the advantages of setting up multiple streams of income, with each providing a residual income, too. Ask yourself, which would you rather have, a customer who buys one item for a thousand dollars, one time, or a customer who pays you a fifty dollars a month for years to come?

Research conducted at Davenport University by Murad Ali indicates that Muslims are the least likely out of all other ethnic groups to be hired by employers. Participants were students enrolled in either the MBA program or in business undergraduate courses. The type of full-time work the students engaged in ranged from entry level to senior executive. Many of the MBA students were already managers and had hiring powers within their companies.
Participants ranked their desired applicants for positions based upon their own preconceived notions from 1-5. A ranking of 1 meant that the applicant was most desirable and a ranking of 5 meant that the applicant was least desirable. All of the applicants were considered to be equally qualified and all of them were male. The only difference between the applicants was there name. Robert Schwalbach (White), Tyrone Johnson (Black), Yan Chin (Asian), Pedro Gonzalez (Hispanic) and Ahmed Al-Arabi (Muslim) were used to represent the different races and ethnic groups.
The results of the study indicated that the following order of preference was as follows African American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic and Muslim. African Americans were more likely to be called back for employment while Muslims were the least. The data was split into similar groups with African Americans, Caucasians, and Asians on the far left with Hispanics and Muslims on the far right. Data indicating which background the participants came from wasn’t collected.
It is interesting to note that those people who are considered “main stream” or who have been in the country for some time were all very similar in their rankings. Hispanic and Muslims who are seen as newer immigrants were stratified as the least likely to be hired. In essence this means that immigrants are not considered to have the same desirability to employers as “main stream Americans”. It is therefore possible that poverty, unemployment and lack of healthcare may be something imposed on this group than by personal choice.
Employers should be aware of the results of this study because it has an impact with their compliance to the Civil Rights Act. As Muslims become more aware of their rights in the workplace employers may have more lawsuits to deal with. If the hiring managers allow their personal preferences to determine who they are going to hire, instead of most qualified, the bottom line of the company may be affected.