Archives for October 2014
What is Preventing You from Being an Innovator?
Entrepreneurs and small businesses are under more pressure than ever these days to be innovators with their product offerings. And yet, youâd be amazed at how many of these businesses donât understand how to be an innovator.
The idea of innovation is easy, right? All it really is is the idea of doing something that hasnât been done before, or introducing some new element to an old idea. Innovation has become something of a buzzword in the business world. Itâs on the lips of every professional out there right now, and yet only a fraction of them are actually equipped to engage in it.
From what Iâve seen, there are two main factors that are preventing most people from getting out there and being the innovators they need to be to find true success with their businesses. 
The first factor is their own level of personal comfort. To be an innovator, you need to have the courage to take some risks and abandon the status quo. Itâs very easy to grow comfortable with particular ways of doing things, but that comfort can be dangerous in that it could prevent you from achieving the growth youâre looking for.
How many risks do you take on a daily basis? When was the last time that you went out on a limb with your company and tried something with a high risk of failure? Heck, when was the last time that you failed at all? Protecting yourself from failure only serves to hold you back from true success.
The second factor that prevents people from being innovators is the idea of âthe system.â Weâre brought up from the time weâre children with the idea that we should dream big and shoot for the stars, but inevitably, most of us wind up in âthe system,â a place that has its own set of norms, patterns and rules that hold us back and stifle creativity.
If youâre going to really find success as an innovator, you must be willing to break free of âthe system.â Change company policy, take chances on unproven ideas, you name it. The rules of your industry only have as much power as you give to them. Try setting your own rules for a change, and then break those too.
Viral Solutions can help you to become an innovator with your business. Contact us today for more information.
Copyright 2014 Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
6 Key Questions to Unlock Your Barriers and Move Forward.
Take a moment and reflect on where you are today in your life. Are you happy, dissatisfied, or fearful to even really reflect on where you are today? In order to truly move forward within oneâs personal and professional life, one must understand his or her attitude toward where he or she is today and the beliefs to where one wants to go in the future. Oneâs reflection of his or her life either positive or negative, shapes oneâs future. So, today, letâs take some time to truly direct oneâs attention, attitudes, and beliefs toward six essential questions that one should ask, answer, and use to shape his or her strategy of unlocking personal and professional barriers, and using that information to implement his or her strategy toward unlocking unlimited potential.
(1) What are your attitudes and beliefs regarding where youâve come to where youâre today (personally, professionally, financially, and/or spirituality)? This could be a simple question for some, or incredibly deep and dense for others. Take a moment to truly reflect on your attitudes and beliefs associated with this question. Jot down your thoughts. Be honest with yourself. This is for you. The only way that you truly can move forward is to be honest with yourself. The only person judging you at this moment is you.
(2) How do rate your attitudes and beliefs as high, low, and/or both level energies? Identify if there repetitive feelings and emotions that are associated with a specific instance, timeframe, or point in your life that is embedde
d to you. Every, thought or attitude is connected to high or low energy frequency. Simply put, your attitudes impact your mindset.
      High Energy: Happiness, Joy, Love, Peace, Acceptance, and Kindness.
      Low Energy:  Fear, Shame, Guilt, Disgust, Pain, Hurt, and Resent.
Connect your feelings and emotions to either high, low, or perhaps, both energies. You could
abbreviate with a  +  for high, – for low, and + & – for both. These emotions tie into whatever âstoryâ that youâve created about yourself. Now, take a look at your abbreviations or indicators of your high, low, and/or combined energies, do you have more high or low level energies? How does this analysis make you feel? Why do you think you feel that way about you? Are those perceptions reasonable or not? Jot down your thoughts.
(3) Do your attitude and beliefs support your current and future goals? Here, reflect on your high, low, and combination of energies. Are these the energies that will support, stagnate, or decline your current and future goals? Why? Write this down. If they stagnate or decline your current or future goals, ask yourself why you continue to carry such energies with you? Write that down.
(4) Are you willing to look deeper to why you carry your energy baggage? Carrying high, low, and/or a combination of energies happens. Understanding why you continue to carry low level or mixed energies is essential to unlocking your emotional and energy barriers. Here, you need to be even more open and honest with yourself and ask, why you continue to hold on to unhealthy, low level energies? What event, person, or thing is it that is causing such a magnetic pull to continue attaching such low level energy? Write this down
(5) Ask yourself, if this current energy aligns or not with your personal objectives?
If the high level energy supports your objectives it is the right kind of mindset needed to move forward with your objectives. If you notice the energy is more low level it is not the traits that that support your objectives. Meaning, keeping this low level energy mindset will continue to be baggage and will delay, or perhaps, derail the fruitions of achieving your personal objectives. In order to breakthrough this internal barrier, you will need to clear or at the very least, work towards clearing the low level energies associated with your mindset.
(6) Are you ready to clear low level energies and embrace high level energies to unlock your barriers and move forward?
Youâve identified your low and high level energies. Now, you need to ask yourself if youâre ready to clear the low level energies and embrace your high level energies. If one continues to hold onto low level energies, one is purposefully allowing that barrier to continue. If one recognizes, understands why, embraces the emotions, and can release such low level energies to move on, Â then one is on the road to a mindset breakthrough. Essentially this simple act of removing such low level energies allows oneself to embrace high level energies that aid in strengthening the mindset to overcome barriers and move forward.
Self-awareness is essential to moving forward. This includes embracing oneâs residual low and high level energies is a starting point to breaking mental barriers. Understanding why such barriers exist and letting go over energies that do not align with personal objectives is paramount to moving forward. Letting go, means accepting the what, why, how, and when aspects of such low level energies and then removing those energies completely. This can be done by affirming one deletes such energies, and affirming maintaining and growing the positive energies. Doing so, expands oneâs personal mindset, which aids in the removal of emotional barriers and enables the essential high level supported mindset needed to move forward.
Great Resources for Breaking Through Barriers…
Adyashanti (2014). Adyashanti Shares a Simple Yet Powerful Exercise to Release Negative Energy (Video). The Huffington Post. Retrieved: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/adyashanti_n_5162630.html.
Excelsias, G. (N.A.). The Simple Secret to Overcome Depression, Burn-Out, Stress & Lack of Happiness in 40 Days or Less. Mindvalley Academy. Retrieved: http://mindvalleyacademy.com/store/100-percent-power/ .
Goers, A. (2014). Overcome the Fear of Success: 6 Ways to Start Thriving. Tiny Buddah. Retrieved: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/overcome-fear-of-success-6-ways-to-start-thriving/.
Gordon, G. (2013). 4 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Failure. The Huffington Post. Retrieved:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gracie-gordon/4-ways-to-overcome-the-fear-of-failure_b_3354314.html.
Sheldon, M. (N.A). Unlimited Abundance. Mindvalley Academy. Retrieved: http://www.unlimitedabundance.com/products/academy.
Tardanico, S. (2012). Five Ways to Make Peace with Failure. Forbes. Retrieved: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/09/27/five-ways-to-make-peace-with-failure.
Copyright Viral Solutions llc © 2014. All Rights Reserved
by Katie Doseck, Ph.D.
Chief Visionary and Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve | Viral Solutions LLC
Katie Doseck, PhD | Chief Visionary & Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve. I catapulted my experience with extensive education, trainings, and personal coaching; earning a PhD in Organizational Management with a specialization in Human Resource Management, MBA in Organizational Leadership, and BA in Law & Liberal Arts. Subject Matter Expert (SME) areas: Human Resource Management, Employment Law, Organizational Change, Change Management, Resource Planning, Strategic Planning, Talent Management, Selling & Sales Management, Training & Development, Decision Making Models, Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Motivation. Dr. Doseck is based out of Logan, Utah.
Finding Success as an Entrepreneur without Supporters or Believers
The founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, recently made headlines when he basically said: âIf youâre poor at 35, you deserve it.â
Thatâs a pretty inflammatory statement, but beneath that statement he actually had a lot of good advice and relatable stories for young entrepreneurs. He talked about how family and friends tried to convince him that his idea wouldnât work, and that he was more likely to fail in his endeavors than create something sustainable. And what young entrepreneur hasnât been there before?
Thatâs not to say that you should just jump into starting your own business if youâre young. But according to Ma and many other majorly successful entrepreneurs, there are several steps that you can take to 
become successful by a fairly young age (say, 35).
The first step: make sure that you really have a special, innovative, valuable idea. Your job should constantly be to deliver outstanding value to your customers, and you need to be willing to put in the time to test this idea to ensure its long-term viability. This will likely mean many failures along the way. It also means no hedging your bets with âfinding a hole in the market.â Your idea needs to be dynamic, and it needs to be special for you to have the motivation to pursue it. Your goal should be to be the best you possibly can at something that you care deeply about, not to be successful in a niche that you donât necessarily care for at all.
Second, you need to have conviction if you want to have any hope of becoming successful. People are going to tell you over and over again that youâre not going to make it, and you may not even find support from your family or close friends. Understand that this isnât a personal attack against you â not everyone has the entrepreneurial spirit. You need to realize that not only do you have to be innovative and fully bought in to your idea, but you need to be willing to stick with it even if the naysayers begin to pile up in your life.
Finally, you need to back up your ideas with action. Itâs great to have ideas and plans, but you need to act on them sooner or later. This is the scariest part of being an entrepreneur â itâs one thing to talk about 
taking the plunge, but another thing altogether to actually do it. When you implement your ideas, do it systematically, thoroughly and passionately.
Regardless of what other people have told you, you can find success as an entrepreneur, and you can even do it at a young age. All it takes is commitment to an idea, personal conviction and a willingness to take all necessary action.
Let Viral Solutions work with you as you get started with your small business to give you the tools you need to find success.
Copyright 2014 Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
What Are the Keys to Outstanding Small Business Marketing?
So what are the key components of a great marketing strategy?
- You should be able to specifically define your target customer. This might mean that you need to turn down other potential customers or clients that are a bad fit for your company. It takes time to learn how to specifically define your customer and to get the discipline needed to turn others down, but itâs necessary when youâre in the early stages of a business.
- What is the category of your small business? In other words, whatâs your niche? What are a few words someone would use to describe the category of your business? A lot of b
Viral Solutions | We bring to the table, over 30 years of business ownership, c-level executive leadership, the experience of managing 100âs of people at once from a remote location, the challenges of balancing family with your entrepreneurship and the objectivity that fuels our insight and oversight of your business.
usiness owners get overly complicated with how their business is categorized, but itâs best to start off with a simple, narrow definition to start off with.
- What unique benefits does your business provide to its customers or clients? The benefits you provide deliver on things that your target customer actually wants. Remember: benefits are different from features. A benefit is a real, tangible use for your product. Features are nifty aspects of your product that may or may not provide real benefits.
- Who is your competition? While you canât spend all of your time worrying about your competition when youâre in the startup phase, itâs at least important to familiarize yourself with your competition and their marketing strategies so that you can focus on your differentiating factors.
- Why are you better than your competition? The differentiating factors that you discover should be a key focus in your own marketing strategy so that people know how youâre different from your competitors and how that could benefit them. List all the ways that you are different from your competition and prioritize these ways by how important they are to your target customer. Those are the differences you should focus on.
Copyright Viral Solutions llc © 2014. All Rights Reserved
by Christine Kelly
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
The Biggest Traps for Entrepreneurs Everywhere
Entrepreneurs, especially new entrepreneurs, have a variety of pitfalls that theyâre likely to experience at some point. Small mistakes aren't inherently badâin fact, they can be great learning experiences.
But there are certain traps that entrepreneurs fall into that could cause some pretty significant troubles within their business down the road.
Here are some of the biggest traps for entrepreneurs:
- Choosing the wrong business partner. The idea of running a business with a family member or your best friend is a fun, romantic idea, right? However, you need to be absolutely sure that your
potential business partner is a good fit for what you hope to accomplish, regardless of their relationship to you. A shared passion isnât enoughâthey need to be responsible, willing to work and invest in your business, and prepared to learn everything they need to become successful.
- Skipping the budget. Hey, itâs understandable. Budgeting is boring. But your budget needs to be one of the first items of business on your list when youâre creating a startup. Itâs extremely easy to want to throw money around right off the bat, but you need to be sure that youâre spending in an appropriate method for a business of your size.
- Losing focus on your market. Remember that you need to be able to fill a specific niche if you want to have any reasonable expectations of success early on. You canât try to please everybody all the time. Know your customer and what they want rather than trying to market to the general public right off the bat.
- Not interacting with customers. Itâs always important to stay in touch with customers, but especially right at the beginning. Your customers are your life blood. Once youâve found one, you canât let
him or her go. Keep gathering feedback and interacting with your customers and build a reputation for outstanding customer service.
- Making decisions based on emotions. Itâs one thing to let your passion for an idea be the driving force behind your business. But you canât get too attached to particular aspects of your business, otherwise you risk blinding yourself to certain actions that need to be taken to find success.
Let Viral Solutions be your guide as you work to get your small business off the ground. Contact us today to get started.
Copyright 2014 Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.