Startup Websites That Work
I am continually amazed by the lack of attention many startup founders and management teams give to their startup websites. Too often, it's treated as a necessary evil (they’ll spend some time on it initially and then forget about it).Disclaimer: For my latest startup venture I’m working on a web software platform to make it easier for very small businesses (less than 25 employees) to do meaningful things on the web. So, I have a bit of a bias here – but I’m not trying to sell you anything (yet), other than my opinions.If you are delivering web-based software then you should already know that your website is critical (it's your business!). But, even if you’re selling non-web software your website is very important and worthy of you spending some time thinking it through.The following are my tips for creating a website that will actually work for you. Think of your website as a relatively important employee (like a sales person). You need to spend some money, get them trained and keep them engaged. Your website is no different – and will likely be cheaper and more productive.Tips For Startup Websites That Work1. What will you do for me? What does the product do? Why should I care? Answering this is much more important than sharing with me your philosophy of the world and how you’re all about “connecting individuals on the Internet through an intelligent and collaborative engine that is scalable, AJAX-powered and cool”. Honestly, I don’t care. Tell me how my life is going to be at least marginally better if I use your product.Example: Our MailMinder product will make sure that you don’t forget to respond to imp

6 Tips for Managing Subordinates
Not everyone has the leadership abilities of Jack Welch or Steve Jobs, but there are some things everyone in a leadership position can do to improve their relationship with their team. Mutual respect is vital to a leader’s ultimate success so it is important that these six tips are followed by all leaders.Coach Behind Closed Doors; Praise in PublicGood leaders realize a lot of their success is achieved through the help of others. Instinctively, they seem to understand that their accomplishments are due to their support group so they are careful not to publicly humiliate their valued contributors. Praising in public goes a long way toward instilling confidence in subordinates while coaching behind closed doors maintains the two-way respect built in the relationship. Mistakes are bound to be made but if a leader handles them professionally and appropriately, subordinates will continue to grow and prosper under the leader’s leadership. Remember the phrase “it may be a bad dog, but it’s my dog.”Remember You Don’t Know it AllLeaders by nature have an undying belief they know more than others or those within their peer group. While this reality may be true in many instances, it’s not true across the board. Each person, regardless of their position within an organization, has something unique to add and has expertise in areas others do not, or they wouldn’t be a member of the team. You’ll win more people over by encouraging others to contribute to your team’s success than you will assuming you know it all and making every decision autonomously. Seek others’ input and consider multiple points of view prior

How To Make Your Business Stand Out From The Crowd
No matter how small or how big your business is, many other people are in the same or similar business as you with few exceptions.And it is a sure bet that some of those businesses will fail and others will succeed.So what will make your business one of those that succeed? It is all in the way you present and run your business.What makes your business different from the rest and why should people do business with you rather than your competition?Make a list of the reasons you think makes your business stand out from the competition and what it is that makes your business unique. Then look through the yellow pages and local directories and look at the advertisements for businesses which are similar to yours.Again make a list of what selling points they are focusing on in the advertisements and compare those points with your own list. By reading and comparing those points, you will probably pick up on a few they have left out. You will also probably find that most will offer the same or similar selling points so that few of them stand out from the rest.How do you find out what would make anyone choose your business in preference to someone else's? It is a good idea to ask a few of your friends, family and your clients what they think to find out why people choose to buy from certain businesses. You need to talk to people who you know will give you a valid reason why they choose particular businesses. And, while you are doing this, it is also a good idea to ask them what they think about your business.Outline what you do and the service they can expect from you. Tell them what you think makes you better t

Knowing versus Doing - Execution In The Workplace
Have you ever worked with someone who always seemed to have the answers; who always seemed to know what should be done; who could always quote the experts view on a certain situation, but for some reason, just couldn't perform as expected?Working with a client last month I was struck by the fact that my client was already very knowledgeable about the issue that we were discussing. As we talked through the situation it was clear to me that my client was well read on this subject. He also recounted for me several situations where his peers had similar issues and exactly how they were handled.While many of my clients are either new in management, or have recently been promoted to a new, more challenging position, that was not the case with this individual. This was a seasoned leader; an experienced executive who had been in his current role for several years.He knew what to do.He knew why he had to do it.He knew what would happen if he did not act.Yet here we were discussing a fairly routine issue that he should have handled without a second thought. He was not struggling with what he needed to do. Rather he was struggling with actually doing it.He had a fear of the results of his actions.He had a fear of confrontation.He had a fear of action and struggled to do what he knew he needed to do.Even more surprising was that he did not immediately recognize the struggle.During our first discussion of this issue, we talked about what the situation was and how it should best be handled. We agreed on the action steps and the timeframes for action. Several weeks later the same topic cam

So You Want To Be a Nurse When You Grow Up?
You're interested in becoming a nurse. How do you get into the field? First of all, you need to assess your basic interest. Why do you want to get into nursing? Are you getting ready to graduate from high school and always wanted to be a nurse? Do you want to go into nursing, because a relative is in the profession or your family has a tradition of graduating nurses, and it seems like the right thing to do? Nursing seems like a nice secure profession-the pay attracts you? You've always liked helping others and you care a lot?Have you worked in another career field and want a change for various reasons? Does the "nursing shortage" make you feel like you need to be a part of the "gold rush," because you have read and heard about all of the wonderful sign on bonuses? Thorough research still needs to be done, before the decision is made to embark upon a nursing career.There are many resources which provide information on getting into nursing school, studying for and passing boards, getting into new graduate employment programs, summer exploratory programs, etc. But for traditional nursing work (bedside nursing) in a hospital or long term care facility (traditionally known as a nursing home), it really would do some good if you had a reality TV type experience. Reading books and articles exclusively, won't prepare you for what the profession is like.During my first nursing clinical rotation, I knew instantly that I didn't like hospital nursing. However, I loved research, collecting data, writing papers, and so forth. Since I had a science background and had worked in various laboratory settings (e.g., a dairy plant testing milk to bio

Develop Your Small Business - Five Tasks A Day
Set goals for your small business, write them down on paper and commit yourself to them! If you do, you will come out as a successful small business entrepreneur!The everyday small business operations such as : keeping up with email, maintain your web site, checking traffic statistics, surf the web for new ideas etc, may consume the time you need to use for necessary actions developing your small business. If you don't watch it, it might have a very negative impact on your ability to achieve your goals.Now, how do you take your business all the way? How can you avoid to be distracted from what you have to do? Create a Five Tasks a day schedule! Do five small tasks every day that help take your small business one step at the time closer to your goals.Create An Action PlanWhen you define what you want to achieve with your small business, spend some extra time to write down the steps you need to take. Make a blueprint which states exactly what you want to achieve, and what you have to do to reach your goals. Make it clear what is most important. In what order should it be done? What needs extra time or resources?Instead of just having one definite deadline for your main goal, you need to create stop over goals. Make a schedule and set stop over goals at each state of progress. Write down an estimated arrival date at each stop over goal. By doing this ,you'll break down your main goal into manageable easy to maintain steps.Create Your Five A Day Plan Aheadset aside 5-10 minutes at the end of each day. Have a look at your plan and decide what needs to be done to move you to the next stop over goal. What can