In the eyes of many, self-employed work often appears like the best possible position in the world. Although it is true that being a self-employed worker probably offers more upsides than downsides, there nonetheless are numerous inherent challenges to deal with. While being able to build our own schedule is a great benefit, working efficiently when you don’t have to punch the clock and when you can work from home wearing your bathrobe, is easier said than done. Here are three tips that will help you be an efficient, home-based self-employed worker.

Avoid playing it by ear

Having absolutely no schedule is and will always remain your worst enemy. There is no doubt about this. As self-employed workers, we often have to juggle numerous projects with different clients. Trying to manage such an important load of work without having a precise idea of when, how and by which date things should be done will inevitably lead to problems, such as having to tackle some tasks at the very last minute. As a self-employed worker, the quality of your work and your ability to respect deadlines are your trademarks, and thereby represent your keys to obtaining more business in the future.

The best way to constantly reinforce your trademark and foster the spreading of your name by word of mouth is to build a schedule for yourself. Have a calendar on which the due dates of the projects you are working on are noted. Every week you ought to build a general outline of the tasks you must carry out, and you should divide them in your schedule while leaving yourself some leeway here and there to take the unexpected into account. It doesn’t matter whether you are an early bird or a night owl; what matters is that you have a solid plan with regards to when and how you are going to tackle your workload. Adapting that schedule to your own preferences is absolutely fine, but you nonetheless need such a schedule to avoid wasting time or being tempted to do activities other than your job!

Make your workspace lively

Working from home can be hard on your mood, especially if you live alone. Human beings are a sociable species and repeated loneliness can rapidly become depressing. Therefore, self-employed workers must find a way to make their home office a pleasant place to be. Although there probably are as many ways to do that as there are people, some guidelines are worth noting.

One of them certainly is to avoid dead silence. In effect, working in an environment that is too quiet can bring more boredom and fatigue than anything else. Putting on classical or jazz music (which stimulate your brain without necessarily having it focusing on lyrics and a beat) is a good way to mimic some of the background noises that usually transform a collective workplace into a real hive of activity. Ensuring that the lighting is good, that air circulates appropriately, and that the décor is stimulating can also enhance your productivity. Adding a few plants and/or a fish tank can also help augment the lively character of your workspace.

Allow yourself some breaks

As I mentioned, building a schedule is essential. But allowing yourself some breaks throughout your schedule is just as important! In effect, being a self-employed worker often means that you do not have those little two-minute breaks here and there to have a short talk with your colleagues, and that you do not have a pre-determined lunch hour. This means that work at home can often become invasive, overwhelming and omnipresent. If you do not give yourself some moments to recharge your mental batteries away from the computer, whether it is during lunchtime or at some point in the morning and in the afternoon, your productivity curve will bend downwards.

It is indeed almost impossible to maintain high levels of energy and concentration throughout the day without taking short breaks. One of the many advantages of including breaks in your self-made work schedule is that you will force yourself to take them! In effect, without a schedule, some people tend to work in an uninterrupted manner, but at a lower pace. Not only does this way of working ultimately diminish your overall productivity, but it also increases your fatigue as you get the feeling that you never stop. Therefore, taking one short break in the morning, a one-hour lunch period and another short break in the afternoon, for example, increases your chances of being productive all day long. And this, in turn, augments the likelihood that you will spend less time working in the long run just because you do everything more efficiently!

Photo Credits

Image from the Microsoft Clip Art Collection

Guest Author Bio

Alexandre Duval
Alexandre Duval is a blogger for Traduction Boomerang, a Montreal-based company that offers professional edition and translation services. He is also currently completing his master’s degree in political science at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Working Efficiently From Home is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Where the Housing Market Is Now – And Where It’s Going

After the calamity that was the housing market crash of 2007, residential real estate in the U.S. has been on life support.

A historic wave of foreclosures began in 2007 and ravaged the market for four years, peaking in 2011 with a record 3.92 million foreclosures and 1.15 million home repossessions. Prices also plummeted, with the national median home price falling by over 35% from 2006 to 2012.

New home starts fell, causing even more damage to the nation’s GDP, and rental rates – buoyed by increased demand and a lack of qualified homebuyers – skyrocketed.

Where does the market stand now, and where is it going in the near future? While no one has a crystal ball, and while so much depends on the overall health of the economy, an objective analysis of trends and data can paint a projection of the near-term future of the market.

The Market as of First Quarter 2013

The first quarter of 2013 has passed, leaving us with a better picture of the real estate market and its progress since the dark days of two years ago.

Foreclosures Are Falling

Foreclosures pull down the value of nearby homes and also cause a supply glut with discounted homes that causes ripple effects. The fewer foreclosures there are, the better the economy will perform.

From February to January, foreclosures across the country actually increased by 2%. That number, however, is 25% lower than it was a year ago. Banks repossessed 11% fewer homes in February than January and 29% fewer than February, 2012.

The second statistic suggests a growing backlog of foreclosures in certain states with longer foreclosure processes, like California, New York, Florida, and Nevada. Many of these homes will be lost; it is only a question of when.

Home Prices Are Rising

Housing prices – to many, the key metric in regards to market health – are up so far in 2013. They have not decreased on a monthly basis since January, 2012, and are up 6.5% so far this year, according to the FHFA.

Some parts of the country are experiencing better growth than others; the region with the highest yearly increase (14.1%) includes Arizona, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico. California, Washington, and Oregon as a whole grew by 13.7%.

Housing Starts Are Up

Another key metric – new housing starts – is also positive so far. A new housing start is the official beginning of construction for a new home, which delivers a larger boost to the economy than buying or selling an existing home. According to the Census Bureau, housing starts rose by a staggering 28% from February, 2012 to February, 2013.

That doesn’t mean the market has arrived, of course; the number of housing starts projected for this year is nearly a third of the pace at the market’s peak, in January, 2006.

Where the Real Estate Market Is Going

From all objective metrics, the nation’s housing market is improving, especially when compared to the lows of 2010-2012. Foreclosures are down; housing prices are up; more homes are being sold and built; and borrowing is cheaper than it has ever been.

The market is not out of the woods, however, and it is likely that things will worsen before they improve further.

Foreclosures play a pivotal role in prognosticating the market’s future. A serious backlog of foreclosures and repossessions still exists in many parts of the country. Florida is approving a measure that should speed up its foreclosure process – at one point the slowest in the country – mainly because they have a heavy backlog of homes that need to go to through the system. Many other states are in the same position.

Foreclosure rates for 2013 will probably still be lower than in 2012, but not by much – and there is a chance they could exceed last year’s pace.

Housing prices may be up so far, but the number of underwater homeowners is still far too high for a healthy market. Roughly 20% of homeowners owe more on their loan than the home is worth, stifling home buying.

Plus, economic conditions are still shaky. Unemployment is falling slowly but is still at 7.7%. Wages are stagnant. Consumer and industry sentiment is falling. Additionally, the federal government is cutting spending, which could impact developments further.

The market, as a whole, will likely continue to improve through 2013, and all metrics should be in better shape at the end of this year than they were at the beginning. With that being said, we will experience more foreclosures and lower prices than many anticipate right now. There is still a large amount of discounted homes out there for purchase; until they are gone – and until the economy as a whole gains serious traction – the market’s recovery will be uncertain.

Photo Credit

Photo Courtesy Of  Simon Campbell

Guest Author Bio

Simon Campbell
Simon Campbell has spent over 15 years in all the various facets having to do with real estate including sales, purchases, investment and research. His experience also includes commercial and residential property management and even real estate appraisal. He is recognized among his peers as an expert in the real estate field. Now after gaining such a wealth of personal experience, Simon has changed directions and is now sharing his knowledge and experience with others through writing, mentoring and consultation. Check out Simon’s profile on Simon Google+  and also his blog. 

Where the Housing Market Is Now – And Where It’s Going is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Many consumers these days are technologically savvy, so it is important that businesses embrace the new frontier of social media and online marketing. Many consumers are time poor and rely on the Internet to get quotes, do their shopping and organise their social lives at any time of day. Businesses need to be online to capture this market group. Social media is a low-cost form of advertising and a way to constantly remind your Facebook or Twitter fans of your existence and to alert them to the latest specials, new products and upcoming events. Your customers are literally just a click of a button away.

The Basics of Marketing
1. Presentation, Presentation, Presentation – people buy with their eyes, so your business must be inviting and eye-catching – with colour and brightness. If your business is drab and your staff look glum, the customer will hesitate to enter. A fruit shop is a great example of a retail outlet where presentation is critical. Fruits and vegetables need to be arranged in such a way that colours do not clash but complement each other and lighting brings out the lush colours of the fruit and vegetables, making them look freshly picked and of high quality. The longer a costumer lingers the more they are likely to buy, so the environment (including the music) must be inviting.

There is a saying in the retail business: “Stack them high, watch them fly. Stack them low, they won’t go.” Have you ever walked into a convenience store and the shelves were sparse like old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard? It gives the impression that the business has cash flow problems, low turnover, old stock , exorbitant prices and an unhygienic environment. Shelves must be well stocked and there are tricks of the trade to bulk up displays so they create the appearance that there are more products on display than there actually are. Let me emphasize this point with an illustration of how the human psyche works. If you go to a friend’s BBQ and there is an abundance of food, the guests will eat contentedly and happily. If there doesn’t appear to be enough for everyone, people will only take small amounts to ensure that all of their friends have something. People will go home unhappy and hungry. Likewise, if there is not enough on the shelf people will buy less, leaving some for the next customer.

Social media, websites and advertising need to be eye-catching, grabbing people’s attention immediately, especially as attention spans tend be short with these media. The customer needs to be given a reason to continue to peruse a site and to ”Like” it. Online business must ensure that they have good supplies of items in their catalogues as customers want to receive their purchases within a few days, not wait weeks for products on backlog.

2. The WOW Factor
a. Once you’ve managed to get the customer through the door or onto your site you want to keep them there and get them to return. Excellent, friendly and prompt customer service is vital. Bubbly staff = happy customers. Good training, high staff morale and good grooming are important as staff are at the front line in the battle to win and keep clients. For online products, delivery must be prompt and the goods must arrive intact; and there must be the promise of exchange for unsatisfactory goods. Facebook pages need to entice, amuse, inform and give the participant a reason to “Share.”

b. Quality and variety of product are a must. In a fruit shop an educated customer immediately knows whether the produce is of high quality. They will use the senses of touch, smell and, later, taste to examine the produce. The customer also wants variety. They want to come into a store/website and get what they want when they want it and not have to go elsewhere – the one-stop shop for convenience. Do you ever get annoyed when an item is on special and is out of stock on the second day? When this happens frequently the customer will not return. Procedures have to be put in place so customers can order in what’s not available, get rainchecks and exchange or get a refund for anything not up to scratch.

c. What does your client want? Get to know your client and determine how you can better meet their needs. Social media is a great tool for surveying your target group.

3. Price. The bottom line of any decision to buy is price. So if you can provide a quality product at a reasonable price you’re a winner. Use social media to promote online specials.

4. Image -“Coolness.” To increase the consumer base the proprietor needs to appeal to all demographics, including teenagers. Teens consume goods and services they see as “cool.” So branding is important. Social media is vital to creating an image.

5. “Have an awesome day and see you next time”- It’s not easy getting new customers so once you’ve got a customer you want to keep them and this means that all of the above needs to be maintained. Social media must remain relevant, interesting, interactive and enticing – as must the products and services they are promoting – so the participant won’t “Unfriend” or unsubscribe.

6. Word of Mouth – You want your loyal customers to tell their friends and family what a great business you have. Social media is a quick and easy tool for customers to notify and share with others a social event or to tell them what a great experience they’ve had. For example, they may upload a picture of their child enjoying something they’ve just purchased from you. No better advertising than that!

Image Credit

“Facebook Strategy Snakes and Ladders” by Intersection Consulting. Creative Commons Flickr. Some rights reserved

Marketing in the Online Age is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

I’m home today because my eight-year-old son has the flu.

At eight o’clock this morning my wife and I concurred and it was decided she would go to work. We are self-employed and one of us had to sacrifice a day’s pay. My sudden free (well not really free) time prompted me to create these questions:

• What if you received a phone call on Sunday saying that your work for the next two weeks had been cancelled. As a result, you’ll have to scramble to fill that time to possibly make a quarter of your expected pay?
• What if you had to visit your place of work one night each week to give an estimate on how much your employment would cost for the following week?
• What if you had to estimate the cost of supplies needed for your employment?
• What if you had to buy those supplies on your way to work on Monday and be reimbursed on your pay cheque?
• What if your boss asked if he could pay you in installments over the month – after the job is finished – and this includes supplies you purchased?
• What if your manager asked you to work for four or five dollars less per hour for the next few weeks? They offer to pay you cash for this, and you think about the $1,200 in supplies. How do I explain that at tax time?
• What if you always give receipts because you are honest and the price you quote is the best you can do to buy groceries?
• What if your employer informed you that they went ahead and completed your work themselves and are sorry they forgot to let you know until the day before?
• What if you are sick?
• What if your work contract is a simple statement…’Work and get paid, don’t work and don’t get paid.’
• What if you had a grievance and the mirror was where you would file your complaint?
• What if you volunteer to help with your child’s school trip and cannot call it a sick day?
• What if you sprained your ankle? Broke your arm?
• What if purchasing disability insurance was too expensive after all the other bills?
• What if you went to the dentist and paid full price?
• What if you had to buy medication at full price?
• What if it is a ‘snow day’ and your kids are home and you can’t get to your job? Another day without pay?
• What if it’s raining and your job is outdoors and you are using electrical equipment? Another day off without pay?
• What if everyone thought you had loads of free time because you are self-employed?
• What if your boss understood that you needed to work five days each week to make ends meet?
• What if you agree that you made the choice to run a small contracting business but would like people to understand that they all will eventually use yours, or another contractor’s services?

Photo Credit

Image from The Microsoft Office Clipart Collection

Guest Author Bio

Jeffrey Griffiths
Jeffrey Griffiths lives in Hamilton Ontario with his wife and two amazing children.
Jeffrey’s short fiction has appeared in The Nashwaak Review, Qwerty, Front and Centre, Hammered Out, The Danforth Review and The Puritan. He received the Arts Hamilton short fiction award in 2007 and 2008. He instructs Creative Writing 1 & 2 and Dynamics of Prose for Mohawk College’s Writing for Publication program.

Click here to see Jeffrey’s previous essays at Life as a Human.

Blog / Website: TVAFFECTS

Being Self-Employed is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Failure should be thought of as one of your greatest teachers. At one point or another, all of us will experience failure. Companies, individuals and teams all have losing seasons. Getting back on track has a lot to do with what you learn and even more to do with your attitude moving forward.

I have met many business people who in the midst of a slump are focusing totally on what they are doing wrong. They walk around with a dialog in their heads that says things like …

What am I doing wrong? Or maybe I have lost my edge? Or, I suck!

I am not immune to this by the way. I have done it myself in the past. These are very negative thoughts and they approach the challenge from a negative standpoint.

A much better way to think is to say..

What can I do better? Or what did my competition or my peers do to meet that challenge successfully?

Thinking about your successes and applying what you know is empowering. Speaking to other positive people in your circle of friends and associates is also very helpful. Analyzing what your competition is doing can shed light onto what you might do differently next time.

Recently, I was reading the recap of an NHL (hockey) game. These recaps always have quotations from the players and coaches. Often, the losing coach harps on and on about how some of his players had not given their best effort, or blaming his goalie, or whining about penalties. In this particular recap, I read something that really caught my eye. The head coach said this. “Our opposition tonight played a great game. We also played a good game but they did some things extremely well and if we choose to, we can learn from them.”

Consider that for a minute. There is nothing negative in the statement at all. Rather, he is challenging his players and his coaching staff in a positive way while recognizing the achievement of his competition. He is also stating that choice is a key ingredient. This is called taking ownership.

Remember this, you only lose a fight if you don’t learn something from it.

Gichin Funakoshi, who is attributed as being the “father of modern karate” had this to say about victory and defeat.

“The ultimate aim of the art of karate lies not in victory or defeat,
but in the perfection of the characters of its participants.”

Now there’s some words worth considering for a while, don’t you think?

Photo Credits

Image from the Microsoft Clip Art Collection

First Posted At synaptici

Learning From Failure is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Thanks to the incredible number of free zones available, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a great place for a small, foreign-owned company to do business in. And if location is one of the key ingredients in running a successful business, which it surely is, then expanding out of the UAE and into adjacent Middle East markets is more than achievable, especially given the levels of corporate finance and expertise available from many of the major, multinational banks in the region.

If you have a little spare time, check out the corporate accounts from HSBC, or Barclays, or Egypt’s Banque du Caire to see what’s what. There are many banks in Egypt and other nearby countries ready and willing to assist with any future expansion plans you might be thinking about implementing. With such an extensive range of corporate finance packages available, they can certainly help turn all of your ideas into reality.

Banque du Caire’s offerings are particularly noteworthy, its corporate credit portfolio reckoned by observers to be one of its major strengths. With well over 200 branches and over 300 ATMs spread throughout Egypt, not to mention its nearly 2 million customers, the 60-year-old bank also has a strong presence in the UAE.

Over the years, Banque du Caire, by providing finance and business banking for investors, has played a vital role in supporting the growth of exports and industrial development in Egypt. This has created more opportunities and jobs for Egyptians, thus fulfilling one of the government’s major directives. It sure sounds like a bank well worth talking to, especially if your expansion plans are likely to create some jobs for the locals at the same time!

So what should you be looking out for when searching about for corporate banking services – from any bank, that is? What should be at the top of any would-be ‘shopping list’? It’s very hard to give any definitive answers because that will very much be dependent on individual priorities and circumstances.

Certainly, expert advice, both geographical and specific to the business, available as and when you need it, should be high up on any agenda. That way, any and all risks are kept to an absolute minimum.

You’ll need a bank that not only understands your business, but also understands your particular business cycle – the bottlenecks, for example, which may cause cash flow difficulties. This can be a particular problem when trading across international borders, so the setting up of documentary credits and the like will probably be vital.

At some point you may need to be able to access extra financing, whether in the short-term or over a much longer period of time. Perhaps your business is taking-off faster than expected and you now need to expand. Or maybe trading conditions have proved tougher than expected.

Likely you’ll have some kind of overdraft facility already in place. Sometimes, however, that’s simply not enough, especially when unexpected difficulties or problems arise. A strong working relationship between you and the bank of your choice, able to quickly process requests for extra funding, should see you through. Maybe that’s all you’ll ever really need, fingers crossed!

Click here for more information on Middle East banks.

Photo Credit

Microsoft Office Clip Art Collection

Guest Author Bio
Helen Major
Helen Major has a keen interest in business finance and has been writing for blogs and newspapers on the subject for a number of years. Recently, she has been consulting small and start-up businesses on building successful internet marketing campaigns.

Business Banking: The Key To Successful Expansion? is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Internal control of a company’s procedures is an essential part of business. It helps to keep track of productivity and holds the company workers to account. While internal monitoring procedures are part of the daily routine of most established companies and successful start-ups alike, there are other levels of monitoring which are vital to the efficiency of business.

First of all, looking away from your company and focusing on the surrounding market is vital for the creation and maintenance of a successful business model: this was recognised by Michael Porter’s influential theory, a reference model for business over the last three decades.

Laid out in 1979 at Harvard Business School, Porter’s five forces model recognizes the importance of the external environment surrounding a company and shows how a corporate strategy should be based upon careful analysis of the forces determining intensity of competition. More specifically, Porter pointed at how the analysis of competition can help businesses influence or exploit the characteristics of their industry.

The key areas of industry analysis are suppliers, competitors, buyers and substitutes. Within them, the difficulty for new business to start competing, the difficulty to substitute a product or service with cheaper ones, the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers and the existing competition are the main factors to be taken into account when conducting market research.

In 1979, however, market research was a laborious process that made the possibility to apply Porter’s theory carefully an expensive task for start-ups.

But things have changed greatly over the last three decades. In today’s internet era, most answers can be found online for free. Conveniently enough, you can now search for companies at Duedil as well as from other online services such as Company House WebCheck. This will help you answer many questions raised by Porter’s model, such as the strength of rivals, the position of sellers and the buyers’ role too.

The quantity and quality of company information available through these online services is staggering. Their databases include more than 8 million registered UK companies, making for a huge catalogue of the country’s businesses. With resources this wide, some may be dubious of the immediacy of the process. In fact, web-based company check services are all about making business quicker.

For a start, you will just need to register on the website – this can be done also via Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter, which will spare you filling in forms. Once registered, you’ll just need to type a company’s name into the search bar and all the vital data you need will show up in front of you. From the turnover, to profit figures, litigations and eventual fraud, relevant company information is at your fingertips, leaving nothing hidden.

We’re talking about reliable data, coming from authoritative sources such as Companies House, London Gazette, the FSA, the SFO, the Intellectual Property Office, the Office of Government Commerce and Ordinance Survey.  With additional features giving you the chance to download documents, contact information, full corporate structures and director timelines, transparency is the name of the game for Duedil. If you want to move your business towards a more conscious approach to competitors and suppliers alike, this is the place to start from.

Photo Credit

Microsoft Office Clip Art Collection

Guest Author Bio
Helen Major
Helen Major has a keen interest in business finance and has been writing for blogs and newspapers on the subject for a number of years. Recently, she has been consulting small and start-up businesses on building successful internet marketing campaigns.

How The Internet Made Market Research Simple is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

At least three times in my career, I have been asked to make “cold calls”. I did them once and that was more than enough for me! The other times I just simply refused. I have some very strong feelings about this subject but I will try my best to be objective as I write this article. I know there will be some people who disagree with my point of view. It is not my intention to offend anyone. Rather, I am presenting my thoughts such as they are. It’s up to you to draw your own conclusions.

Let’s start off by defining what a cold call is.

Cold calling is a method used to approach prospective customers. It can be done over the phone or it can be done “door to door”. Cold calling scripts can be designed to deliver a marketing message or can have the intent of closing a sale right there and then. It’s called a cold call because the person or organization being called did not ask to be called, is not expecting a call, and usually does not have the time or inclination to take that call. Consequently, a cold shoulder is often all one gets for their efforts.

So why use cold calls? It’s all about numbers. If you make 100 calls, SOMEONE will bite. The more calls you make, the more bites you have. The more bites you have, the more sales you make.

I have many philosophical issues with this methodology. Here’s a few of them:

The math is weird.

Companies that use cold calling as their main selling strategy have interesting metrics to measure your activity level, calculate your success or close ratio and how much you will earn. At one job in my early twenties, it was described to me this way.

Gil, we expect you to call 10 prospects a day. This should generate 3 suspects which should lead to 1 closed sale. They explained to me that the success ratio was 33% (3 suspects = 1 closed sale). I saw it as a 10% success ratio (10 calls = 1 sale). So that meant that I should make 50 calls a week and close 5 sales. I asked them this question. “If I make 5 calls a week and close 5 sales, is that ok for you?” They said no because that means my activity level is far too low and that 20% of my compensation is based on my activity level. This is a strange way of thinking I thought to myself. Same amount of sales, but I will get paid 20% less. I translated this to mean that I was going to be penalized for working smart. Also, I just have a hard time thinking of a potential client as a suspect!

It’s a shotgun approach that is anything but efficient.

Suppose you moved to a new location in the country next to a huge lake. You decide to go fishing so off you go in your canoe with your trusty rod and bait. You pick a spot and drop your line. No bites. You move to another spot. No bites. You try different bait. Still no bites! Would it not have been smarter to speak with some locals and ask: Where are the fish? What bait do you suggest? How deep should my bait or lure be and what time of day is best to fish in this lake? Of course, you could go back out with your canoe and drop 100 lines because the laws of probability dictate that with that many hooks out there, you are bound to catch something!

I contend that if you leverage your contacts by networking with people who already know and trust you and do some local market research preferably in the form of a needs analysis, you will be well positioned to provide solutions to potential customers to whom you can make “warm calls”. By the way, most life insurance companies totally get this. That’s why if you ever apply for a sales job with a life insurance company, a huge criteria is, how many people do you know? It’s all about networking. It’s been years since a life insurance sales person has cold called me.

It’s annoying.

Having owned 5 businesses, I have had many a cold caller knock on my door. At one business, an endless stream of copier sales folks would come uninvited. When they walked in, sitting right there in plain view was a brand new, high end copier. Still, they would come in and ask me if I had a copier. Or they would tell me I need a better one. I always tried to be polite as I sent them on their way but it was very annoying, interrupted my day and the day of our receptionist / office administrator.

As all of us know, cold calls are very popular with non-profit organizations, charities, telcos and credit card companies these days. We all get those annoying calls far too often and at inappropriate times. I will go so far as to say it’s rude. These companies have to know by now that we don’t appreciate the calls. They need to find better ways of getting our attention. I have lots of ideas on how they could do this and am happy to provide them with consulting services if they care to engage me

Poor balance between proactive and reactive activity.

While I am a firm believer that to succeed in anything, one needs to be proactive, I also believe that a good salesperson leaves sufficient time to be reactive to their clients needs. If you close 10 sales, you have 10 new customers. You need to promptly and professionally follow up and address any and all issues or additional needs they may have. If you do these things and build strong relationships, your clients will gladly refer you. Making a ton of unnecessary calls leaves very little time to be reactive which in turn leads to unhappy customers and missed opportunities. I understand that many companies have post sales support staff but I believe that the salesperson is ultimately responsible for the overall relationship with the client.

Is there a place for cold calling? Perhaps in an emerging market that is not already saturated with competition where there is a well defined value proposition and a need for the product or service. The problem is, as stated above, this methodology has annoyed a great many people. I suspect that even if you were promoting the next great thing, it would be, as they say, tough sledding. There are many other far more efficient strategies to choose from. Having said all of that, I would totally welcome the cold caller who comes offering to demonstrate the new teleporter!

Be sure to read my next post “Sowing Seeds and Planting Flags” in which I will describe a very effective alternative strategy.

Photo Credits

Photo From Microsoft Office Collection

First Published at synaptici

Is ‘Cold Calling’ For You? is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

It’s a comfortable life in Victoria–nice climate, amazing scenery, good universities, lots of golf courses and a varied outdoor life hard to find elsewhere. But a few restless business people have heard the siren call of far-off lands, and these Victorians have pulled up stakes, most of them for good.

Pat Dean

If you are in Bangkok and looking for a little exercise, a spa experience or a first class restaurant, call Pat Dean to see if there is space in at the Cascade Club and Spa or the Green Leaf Spa or Aldo’s Mediterranean Bistro and Bar. They’re all owned by the ex-Victorian as part of his mini-empire in Asia.

“The best part of living here is that it suits my lifestyle. I love sports and on any day I can sail, golf, play tennis or go scuba diving. In fact, I just bought a golf membership at a club in Bangkok and green fees are about $10 a round. You can’t beat that,” laughs Dean.

His ex-pat life started in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1981, he was a brand-new University of Victoria grad in human performance and sport management. Another student from the same program working in Singapore told him about a job in Malaysia, getting the doors open at a new sports and fitness club in the Malaysian capital.

“The opportunity came out of the blue and I could not pass it up,” Dean said. After that initial success under his belt, he was approached in 1985 by Club Corp. of America, the largest sports and recreation company in the world (they own among other properties the Pinehurst Golf and Country Club in the U.S.) to be their Director, Sports and Recreation – Asia, a position he held until 1988 when the spirit of entrepreneurship hit him and he started his own company, Sports Engineering and Recreation Asia Ltd. or SEARA. The first job his new company landed was a US$38million contract to redevelop the American Club in Singapore. Fast forward a few decades and SEARA is the core company of the six he owns today.

In 1991 Dean approached Life Fitness and Cybex, two of the world’s largest manufacturers of fitness and sports equipment to be their representative in Singapore. Unfortunately they already had a representative covering the Island State, but they told him he was welcome to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia if he was interested. Was he! Ever the opportunity seeker, he packed up and moved to Thailand and has not looked back since. Along with SEARA he has started a construction company and developed a high-end spa in the seaside resort Pattaya. With a little over US$15million in sales annually, he and his business partner (an expatriate American) see nothing but opportunity on the horizon. “Two places that have been great for our business are Vietnam and the Maldives. Last year we did about $2million in sales in the Maldives. It’s just resorts there and the people are wonderful,” Dean states. “Working and living in Asia is amazing in the diversity of people and cultures that I am involved with. My role in the company is to be the people guy and nothing makes me happier than getting on an airplane and heading off to another country,” he adds enthusiastically.

”It’s been quite a ride,” recalls Dean. With offices in six Asian countries he is always on the move. “One week I will be in China, the next in the Maldives and the week after that, Vietnam. In fact, our next big project is the development of a major sports and social club in Ho Chi Min City. The experience, food, culture, and people I get to work and be friends with are something you cannot measure in dollars. It’s always different and interesting, In Asia business is about relationships,” he continues. An example is the work we are currently involved with in the Maldives. When the resort owners are in Bangkok, part of my role is to host them while they are here and that builds strong business and personal bonds, leading to more business,” Dean explains. “But it’s not all fun and games. The bureaucracy in the region can drive you crazy. Bids for projects can have up to fifty documents which all need to be reviewed and signed.

“The tsunami a couple of years ago was terrible. I lost some friends in that and Thailand is still recovering,” Dean said. When asked about the recent political upheaval, he sighed.

“It would be really nice if CNN and the western press portrayed the situation as it really is. On television it was made to look like the entire city of Bangkok was under siege but in fact the city was operating normally.

Dean does get back to Victoria to visit his mother and twin brother twice a year but finds after about two weeks; it’s time to get back to the action. “Victoria and Vancouver are sleepy little towns where everything closes up by 8pm. Bangkok goes 24 hours a day, every day,” he says with a big grin. “My mother always lets me know there is a room waiting for me if I want to return but I don’t think I will take her up on the offer.”

Now 54, Dean does think about retirement but not in Victoria. He has just purchased two acres of land in Pattaya which is about an hour and half south of Bangkok. He is building his dream house which will include a tennis court and swimming pool. “It has views of the valley and the ocean and its warm all year round which for me as a sports enthusiast is perfect. The best part is my neighbours on each side of my house are the number one and two ranked tennis players in Thailand and while I don’t often win matches, they are good friends and it’s great fun”.

~

Cara Hogan

Cara Hogan went to the University of Victoria to get a degree in business but came away from her academic experience with a new husband and a new life about as far away from Duncan where she grew up as you can get. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is right, the world is flat and Cara is living proof. While attending University, she met a young German fellow studying business as an exchange student at UVIC, fell in love and, well, the rest is history.

With an international business degree in hand but no job prospects nor a work visa, Hogan, and her new husband, Martin, headed to Frankfurt, Germany. For the past eight years it has been a whirlwind of new countries, cultures and friends.

Her first job was with Deutsche Bank. Her colleagues were from Asia, Europe and India. “You would never be exposed to that or be able to get that sort of work experience in Victoria” she says.

“But my first interview was a real eye opener. Through networking, I got an interview for the position as Personal Assistant for the Head of Income and Corporate Actions Processing Department at Deutsche Bank. The person interviewing me was an expatriate from the United Kingdom. In my interview he asked me two things; “Do you mind if I f***ing swear?” and “I smoke in my office; will this bother you?”  I didn’t get the job as his Personal Assistant. He said that I was over-qualified. That was probably my oddest and easiest interview to date,” laughs Hogan.

“Settling in to a European lifestyle was not too difficult,” Hogan notes. “It helped that I worked really hard at learning German from television, newspapers and talking to anyone I could.” Knowing the language allowed her to experience the culture in a way that speaking only English would never have allowed. “It also helped with the unbelievable bureaucracy in Germany. Obtaining a residence permit here is a bit like a catch 22 process,” Hogan recalls. “The permit office is only open a couple of hours a day and always has long line-ups of people applying for the permits. They give you a number and tell you to come back after you have obtained a police check from your own country which you then take back to the permit office and wait for hours to be called. Then they tell you that you don’t need the police report, stamp the permit and you are on your way”.

After a stint in Germany, Hogan and her husband headed off to the London for a year so he could pursue graduate studies in finance at the London School of Economics. Once that was completed it was then back to Europe and Horgen, Switzerland, which is about fifteen minutes by train to Zurich, where she landed a job with the U.S. based State Street Bank as an investment compliance manager.

While Hogan admittedly misses Vancouver Island and her family, she confirms, “I wouldn’t change what we have here for anything. Our friends come from around the world, we get to travel all over Eastern and Western Europe and all of the work I do is internationally focused. What’s not to enjoy?” she says with enthusiasm. “However, it’s not always easy being an expatriate. People in Switzerland have their own circle of friends and many here are reluctant to strike up friendships with expats believing they will be heading home soon.”

Hogan’s life has changed once again as she is now, at 33, the happy mother of beautiful five and half month old Louise. “With the new baby it does make us think of returning to Canada, but we would both have to change our career paths. There are not very many opportunities for the work we do in Victoria so it looks like we will be here for quite awhile,” she notes with a smile.

 ~

Cheryl Thomas

If serendipity has ever played a role in your life, you will appreciate the circumstances of Cheryl Thomas.

Next time you are in Dubai you might want to look up Thomas. The best place to find her is at the Iran visa office haggling with officials for her next visa to Iran. Four years later and she is still fighting for visas but enjoying every minute of it.

Although her residence is in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, Thomas spends most of her time in Tehran where she heads up the Radman Consulting Group, or on Kish Island where she is the Co- Director of the International MBA program for Sharif University of Technology.

Thomas’s journey to Dubai and Iran started with a phone call from Eric West at Royal Roads University. Royal Roads had just partnered with Sharif University to deliver the Royal Roads MBA program in Tehran and West wanted to know if Thomas would like to be part of the teaching team. She doesn’t consider herself a world traveller but jumped at the opportunity to teach in Iran, and fell in love with the people and the country. The Royal Roads partnership with Sharif University abruptly ended, but as the proverb has it, another door opened. She saw an opportunity to develop and administer a western-style MBA program, and Sharif University liked her idea. Now four years later, she is still fighting for visas but enjoying every minute in the Middle East.

The-RRU-trained MBA students provided another opening. Some of them wanted to set up as consultants “and approached me about working with them on developing a new firm that would be unique in Iran.” “So with nine original partners, we started the Radman Consulting Group and while it has taken a bit of time getting established the work is flowing in the door,” she says. “With their local cultural knowledge, western management education and my drive to get things done it has worked quite well.” After 18 months, the consulting firm was profitable.

“The cultures of the Middle East are so different from Canada and from each other,” Thomas says. “Iranians are different from Saudi Arabians and they are different from those that come from the United Arab Emirates. Much of the society of the Middle East is changing,” she muses. “In many ways it is much like Canada was in the 1970’s, particularly with respect to women. The biggest change has been the increased role of women in business. Historically they have been doctors or lawyers, but more and more women are entering the senior ranks of management. While they still have to wear the hijab, they are demanding more equality and getting it,” she says with pride. “The most frustrating part is the image the West keeps presenting of women in this part of the world,” she laments. It is just wrong. Under the hijab they are strong and independent.”

Similar to the experiences of Pat Dean and Cara Hogan, Thomas admits that working in the UAE and Iran can be wearisome. “The bureaucracy is overwhelming, yes does not mean yes, and no one works during the afternoon. On the other hand, the warmth and generosity of the people is something you almost never get in Canada and that more than makes up for all the little frustrations.”

“I decided to live here to try and make a difference, particularly in Iran, through education and improving the consulting process,” says Thomas. “While it has been trying at times, the window of opportunity that presented itself has worked.

“Moving back to Victoria is an option and in a couple of years I will likely to do that. On the other hand, I don’t miss the snow or the Pat Bay Highway,” laughs Thomas, “and I would certainly miss the people and the flavour of the region,”

~

Barry Larson

Barry Larson lives in the quintessential British town of Toddington Bedfordshire a large village of 4,000 people about 60 kilometres northwest of London. It’s a place where the church was built in 1132 and the houses are half the size and twice the price of those in Victoria.

Armed with a UVic business degree from the University of Victoria, his first job was with one of the best known Victoria technology firms, IVL. While managing an international portfolio of patent and trademark registrations, Larson became interested in international opportunities. Feeling a need to augment his education and his experience after four years with IVL, he packed up and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland to undertake his MBA degree. Soon after graduating, he was hired by Data Discoveries Ltd., a small but successful software company in Edinburgh and the die was cast, almost. After three years with Data Discoveries he seriously thought about moving back to Victoria until The Royal Mail Group came calling with a job opportunity in London. To sweeten the deal, they brought along a five figure signing bonus. Larson is currently the Head of Strategy-Media and his job is to grow and protect the $10 billion of media revenue within Royal Mail’s retail mail business.

He still has ties with Edinburgh though. “I own a small software company called Arbutus Ridge, a systems software company that provides an integrated marketing and IT system for the restaurant industry. “What’s really interesting.” he adds, “is that the company is headquartered in Edinburgh, the chief technology developer lives in New Zealand, I run it from London, and my sales people live in London.”

Why London? “Who wouldn’t want to work in London?” Larson exclaims. “It’s one of the great cities of the world where a multitude of cultures abound, Europe is on the doorstep and the work opportunities are endless. Not only that, but the perks of the job are first rate,” he suggests with a smile. “In large organizations like the Royal Mail Group for example we get six weeks holiday and the expatriate pay does not hurt, particularly when the pound was really strong against the Canadian dollar.” Another reason for remaining an ex-pat has nothing to do with the job. “One of my great joys of being here is the history and architecture, both strong interests of mine. It’s like being a tourist in your own town all the time. When I get blasé about five hundred year old buildings I know it will be time to leave, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

“There is a work culture and vitality about London that is hard to replicate that makes it so interesting. The British,” says Larson, “are incredibly competitive and results oriented.” “It’s as though they are all afraid of failing so they work that much harder.” It is very difficult to figure out at first but once you do it’s like being accepted into the club and once into the club, the possibilities abound.”

He admits to some pressure from family to return to Vancouver Island, but he’s resisting so far, “The laissez faire attitude towards business in Victoria, the tax regime and the small scale of business all keep me in London. But with two small daughters I am sure a time will come in the not too distant future that I will have to think about returning.”

~

Eric West

Eric West’s wandering the world started in 1959 in Victoria where he was a cadet at Royal Roads Military College. He went on to get a PhD from Iowa State University in statistics and computer science in 1970. West was the dean of the faculty of business at the University of Windsor for 15 years, then came back to Victoria to be dean of Management at Royal Roads. Then came the post of vice-president of RRU’s Centre for Global and Executive Development, where he and colleague Deborah Wickens developed the Royal Roads MBA program in Iran, which changed the life of Cheryl Thomas.

After “retirement” in 2006 when he turned 65, he moved to a small town in southern Sweden where he is affectionately known as the itinerant professor. Most times when you call, he is in an airport heading off to teach or consult in Asia, the Middle East and points in Europe. Retired he isn’t.

Earlier this year, and a bit at loose ends, he got in contact with an old friend and colleague that he had met at a conference in 1992 but had not seen in many years. Their friendship was rekindled and that turned into romance. Eric is now in the process of moving to Santiago, Chile. You have to love Google.

But what about Victoria, he is asked. Don’t you miss it? “Of course, but the opportunity to live in Europe and now Chile can’t be missed,” says West. “A small example” he notes, “is a University I teach at in a dumpy little town in Finland where the teaching group are all visiting professors. During my last course there were professors from the United States, Latvia, Iceland and Malaysia. You just don’t get that international flavour in Victoria.”

“I can’t wait to get established in Santiago. It is a huge cosmopolitan city of five million people, with a Spanish flavour,” West enthuses. “I am working on learning Spanish which is a real challenge but it will certainly go a long way in blending into both the social and business community.”

“Social and business relationships are much more formal in Chile than in Canada and developing relationships is crucial,” West observes. “Chile considers itself the elite of South American countries and with that comes a level of snobbism and a class structure that is clearly defined. Family is most important and business is built upon close networks so the business structure is much like an extended family. Trust, respect and honesty are key to making business work.”

He admits Victoria would be nice to return to “but it so expensive compared to Santiago.” “For example a three bedroom upscale condo on the ocean is about US$90 thousand and restaurant meals are about half the cost but that is largely because the wine is so inexpensive, less than $5 a litre.”

His travels have taken him around the world and that of course begs the question what is the most interesting place he has been? “Without a doubt it is Kish Island in Iran,” he confirms. “It has a different feel about it compared to the rest of Iran. Much more western and relaxed but with same sense of warmth and hospitality you find throughout Iran.”

West’s future plans do include Canada. “I will spend about ten months of the year in Chile and two months in Canada but my heart is in Santiago so my roots will settle there,” West notes with a smile.

~

So much for the comfortable and sheltered life of Victoria for these intrepid travelers. The siren call of new opportunities, exotic cultures and fascinating people have driven them all to take the road less traveled. I have been down that road at different stages in my life with time in California, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Singapore and each place brought knowledge, awareness and sensitivity that I doubt I would have learned staying home. Perhaps it’s your turn?

Photo Credits

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok – Wikipedia Creative Commons
Horgen – Wikipedia Creative Commons
WTC At Night In Dubai – Wikipedia Creative Commons
Toddington Parish Church of St. George – Wikipedia Creative Commons
Santiago – Wikipedia Creative Commons
Thumbnail  and Feature Image – London Bridge – Wikipedia Creative Commons

First Published In Douglas Magazine

The Road Less Traveled is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Shortly after we launched Life As A Human, I wrote an article called ‘Tweet, Stumble and Ping: Driving Traffic with Social Media‘. 

In that article, I spoke about referrals from StumbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter.

In fact, here are some numbers that will surprise a great many of you. Since launching on February 1, we have had many tens of thousands of referrals. Of those referrals …

StumbleUpon represents – 73%

Facebook represents – 6%

Twitter represents – 4.50%

Many things have changed since then. Life As A Human was only 19 days old when I wrote this and was getting very few referrals from search engines. Our traffic was a small fraction of what it is today and since then, we have learned a great many things about SEO and Social Media.

I have had numerous requests for an update on these number over the last few months and so I thought it was time to give you a snapshot of where things are today. To that end, I have compiled some stats based on our last 3 months of traffic which will give you an excellent snapshot of where our traffic is coming from. I’ve expressed these numbers as a percentage of total referral traffic which does not include direct traffic to our site.

I think you will find these numbers instructive, interesting, and in some cases, a bit surprising.

Referral Traffic Breakdown

Rank Of Top 10	Source	PCT
1	Search Engines	66.36%
2	StumbleUpon	23.41%
3	Facebook	7.64%
6	Twitter	0.35%
9	Reddit	0.16%

 

Search Engine Break Down
( A break down of the 66.36% mentioned above)

Rank Of Top 10	Source	PCT
1	Google Image Search	48.27%
2	Google Search	36.85%
3	Bing	6.77%
4	Yahoo Image Search	4.53%
5	Yahoo Search	1.78%

 

Breakdown of StumbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter
(percentage of referrals based on total referrals from the 3 of them)

StumbleUpon	74.56%
Facebook	24.33%
Twitter	1.11%

 

There is a lot to be learned from these numbers and we are continually monitoring them to try to leverage these sources to our best advantage.

Note the percentage of Search Engine traffic from image search and the conspicuous absence of Pinterest and some other notable Social Media mechanisms.

I hope that studying these numbers will be helpful to bloggers who are looking to increase traffic to their sites.

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments. I’ll answer as best I can … but I won’t give away any of our secrets recipes

Photo Credits

Thumb Up Thumbnail -richkidsunite- Creative Commons

Tweet, Stumble and Ping: A Follow Up is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN