Posts in Tips

Are people wasting your time?

Business Coaching Business Consulting Life Meandering Genius Performance Measurement Speaking Take A Leap Wednesday Tips

What do you do if a speaker goes over their allotted time? ⏲

How valuable is your time? What do you think about people that abuse it? What if they’re a speaker/presenter?

In my mind, one sign of a professional speaker is that they stick to their time window, even if that window changes at the last minute.

Those that can’t, in my mind, are unprofessional.

Last night, I attended a monthly meeting with a professional association. Every meeting has a keynote speaker and this one was no different. Normally, the speakers keep to their time — last night was different.

The meeting ends at 8 pm, which means the speaker should finish by 7:45 or so for questions and close out.

At 7:58, the speaker looked at his watch (was about halfway through his presentation), and said, “I’ll hurry up and finish up, since I’m out of time.” He finished and asked for questions at 8:30 pm!

For me, I lost interest in his subject at about 7:50 pm and I stopped listening altogether when he realized he was taking too long and refused to care. The way I look at it, he felt his material was more important than the time of the 60 or so people in the audience.

What are your thoughts?

Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

Steps to Writing & Publishing a Book

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Interested in writing & publishing a book? Don’t know where or how to get started?

Successfully writing & publishing is much like starting a new business. The steps are essentially the same and having a plan & a coach really helps.

Many people think that publishing is expensive and difficult, but you can publish for very little money. It does require a lot if work to do it right. Here are my suggested 13 high-level steps to get you there:

1. Define your Purpose for writing.
2. Assess if you are ready to write & what you can write about.
3. Define the Audience.
4. Determine how you plan on writing your book (ways to get it written).
5. Ideation, research, brainstorming, and testing.
6. Outline.
7. Draft – edit – draft – edit – draft – edit – final draft.
8. Publishing determinations.
9. Cover design (and illustrations if required).
10. Draft reviewers and Foreword.
11. Pre-release marketing.
12. Format, Publish, and Release.
13. Post-release marketing.

If you are interested in writing & would like help, let me know.
Crosscutter Enterprises

Training Symposium for Veterans

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Attention Military Small Business Entrepreneurs!

The National Veteran Small Business Coalition (NVSBC) created the Veteran Entrepreneur Training Symposium (VETS) to help you accomplish your small business goals. The conference will provide you with the information you need to navigate the Federal acquisition process – from the government perspective as well as from successful veteran small business owners.

May 29 – 31, 2019 in San Antonio, TX, is a Business Development Conference created by Veterans for Veterans.

Ten Exhibitor Slots still open! Already over 400 attendees signed up!

Register today at:
https://www.veterantrainingsymposium.com

Networking With Your Chamber

Business Coaching Business Consulting Meandering Genius Take A Leap Wednesday Tips

On this Take A Leap Hump Day, let’s talk about getting out and #networking with your local #chamber.

If you have a #business and you don’t belong to at least one #chamberofcommerce in your area.. shame! The #benefits from a chamber greatly outweigh the costs…if you use them.

Over the last two years, I’ve (as Crosscutter Enterprises) supported my local chamber’s #strategic #planning. One of the things we uncovered is that #businesses that belong and are active in the chamber #stayinbusiness.

#Active, meaning you attend events and #engage with other businesses in your area. Every chamber holds events, like breakfasts, lunches, or evening #mixers, annual events, #ribboncuttings for new businesses, and #educational activities. These provide you the opportunity to #network with other businesses.

Running our #equestrian #business (Fine Print Farms), we joined and got involved with the chamber. Our ribbon cutting/open house was attended by about 150 people! I attend nearly every monthly #membermixer and have gone to several ribbon cutting events. Our business has become a recognized location in the city.

If you want to be #successfulinbusiness, join your local chamber and attend their #networkingevents.

#success #incubator #coach #consultant

Blogging Success Ideas

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Are you a #blogger or interested in social media #blogging? Let’s take this Sunday to discuss some Blogging #Success Ideas…please add your own ideas in the comments below 👇

#1 Always load a #video or #picture first. That way, if you use a link, like www.johnknotts-author.com in your post, it won’t automatically create an image link. Posts with videos and pictures get more #visibility with #socialmedia #algorithms.

#2 #Connect #engaging people to your #blog with the @ sign. When posting on your personal profile, your can connect people you respect, like @Matt Scherer, @Pat Whitty, @Joseph Toomer, and @Steve Taubman, this post pops up in their notifications. If they’re engaging in social media, they’ll chime in. You can also #connect business pages like Crosscutter Enterprises and Microsoft to drive people to a page. If posting on your Business Page, it is harder to take people.

#3 #Hashtag strategies work well–really well on #LinkedIn. You put them at the bottom, but you can also tag them right in the #post. They create search links that can connect like material. Use them wisely.

#4 Provide a #calltoaction in your post. Ask #readers to do something, like add their ideas, #like and #share, click the link, etc.

#5 LinkedIn only gives you 1,300 characters … use them wisely. Facebook, however, give you tons of room. However, make sure you make the post enagaging at the start of it’s long so people will click the #readmore link.

Your turn, go…

#incubators #business #mentoring #coaching

Time to feed your brain!

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Happy Monday!

There are four positive chemicals that improve your mood and health. They are Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, and Endorphins. Here are eight simple daily habits to feed your brain — start them today!!!

🥛 Switch out one caffeine drink a day with a glass or bottle of water.

🚶‍♂️ Park far away from entrances and walk into work or the store.

🕤 Go to bed 30 minutes earlier than you currently do and get a little more sleep.

🎶 Listen to music at least once every day.

💨 Take five minutes every day to do deep breathing — clear the mind, slowly inhale, hold it, slowly exhale … repeat.

🤗 Hug someone once a day…a partner, a family member, a friend, even (possibly) a stranger. Just hug at least one person every day.

🐴 Pet an animal once a day. Personally, we have horses, donkeys, dogs, and cats, so I have no problem with this. But try to pet an animal once a day.

🤣 Read something that makes you smile or laugh every day…consider getting a joke-a-day app or something.

Do these very simple things every day and your mood and health will improve. No need for drugs or expensive programs. Just take little steps to feed your brain!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Business Consulting Meandering Genius Start-up Saturday Strategic Planning Tips

Recently, I was talking to a Branding Coach at a networking mixer. She said, her most difficult challenge in working with new business clients is that they don’t even know what business they want to be in.

Many people dream of starting their own business … striking out on their own as an entrepreneur. However, they don’t really know what they want to be when they grow up.

There are so many challenging questions that start-ups face, but this one is daunting.

Here are a few ideas … I would love to hear yours:

▶️ Take what you do today, and turn it into your own business. You know you’re already good at it. You can create a side-hustle or create your own company.

▶️ Turn a hobby into a job. I love golf, and about 15 years ago, I came up with a pretty neat business model around the sport.

▶️ Buy into an existing business. There are many franchise opportunities that exist. Also, businesses are always being sold by others for various reasons. If you don’t know what you want, take a look at what already works that you can buy.

Consider four things when starting out on your own. 1. You love what you do. 2. You are good at it. 3. People need it. 4. People will pay for it. At the center of these four, is PURPOSE.