Archives for November 2014
Tips for Staying Productive While Working From Home
Many new entrepreneurs just getting started with their first business will do so from the comfort of their own home. However, working from home can be a serious adjustment, especially if you’ve spent years working in a much more structured office environment.
Here are some tips that can help you to stay productive while working from home:
- Designate a work space. Even if it’s just a desk and a chair, having a specified work place where you can sit down and only do work is a great way to get in the productive mindset. Your
work space should be as free of distractions as possible so that it’s easier to stay focused. - Find out when you’re most productive. When you’re working from home, you have the luxury of setting your own hours. This means you should attempt to work when you know you’re going to be most productive. Maybe you’re a morning person, and you work best early in the day. Maybe you need a little extra sleep and would like to start later in the morning and work into the afternoon. Whatever works, schedule your work sessions when you’re most productive.
- Make sure others respect your work hours. You’ll likely soon find out that people will know you’re working from home, so they’ll ask you to run an errand or help them with something during the day because you’re “free.” Politely remind them that you’re not free just because you’re at home; you’re still working. Even if it’s a task that just takes a half hour to an hour, it’s keeping you from getting important work done.
- Stay organized. When working from home, you might not be as inclined to regularly clear off your work space and stay organized. However, keeping your work area clear of clutter can really help you to stay focused and in a productive mindset.
- Resist the urge to open multiple tabs. The more tabs you open in your browser, the more likely you’ll get off track by browsing Facebook, checking the news, reading about your favorite sports team and any other kind of distractions. You might even consider putting temporary blocks on certain websites that act as distractions during your work time.
These are merely a few suggestions to help you stay on the ball while working from home. For more tips, speak to us today at Viral Solutions.
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.
4 Steps to Share Gratitude at Work
Do you identify yourself as a person of gratitude? It is easy to say you’re grateful over the holidays, however, it is quite generic to only be grateful when everyone and their brother are posting what they are grateful for during the holiday season. What about the other 11 months? What about professional gratitude? Yea, how would you rank your professional gratitude at work? Do you share and showcase gratitude at work? Do you think your clients, peers, and employees would describe you as gratitude rockstar? If you’re sitting on the fence with these simple questions, consider the following four steps to share gratitude at work:
- Â Â Just Be. Take a moment to reflect on the current moment. How do you feel? Why do you feel that way? What do you notice? Breathe. Think of all of the people that had to do something to help
you experience this moment. Empathize with the perspectives involved in the present moment. It is easy to rush through moments, meetings, projects, emails, and calls, it takes skill, focus, and respect to truly just be in the moment. Being in the moment is one of the most essential aspects of practicing gratitude because it is the foundation seeing, feeling, and experiencing oneness within every situation. It helps you to see how your action impacts others, and how others’ actions have come to impact you in the present. The ability to see the macro and micro view of a situation will provide you with perspective. - Listen.  Most don’t listen. I mean truly listen. Listening plays a huge role in practicing gratitude as it is the key skill to be engaged within an organization, team, client, and well, really any situation. To increase your listening skills, be in the moment. This means to omit or at the very least, minimize distractions that would take away from listening. Practice active listening that aids in truly understanding, engaging, and recapping what is discussed. Showing such respect will not only provide you with a greater perspective, but will illustrate respect to the sender. I can’t tell you how many times, I have been thanked by clients, colleagues, leadership, and well, strangers, for listening. The interesting thing, is that this should already be common sense and regular practice for people, but you would be surprised how distracted people are when they try to lead, engage, or even build relationships with people. Ultimately, such distractions take aways of the nectar that is created through listening. The wealth that emerges from listening provides an abundance of gratitude opportunities.
- Recognize & Thank. Â Take the time to genuinely give thanks. Be specific about the actions, why those actions make a difference, and praise the contribution by recognizing how such actions
align with objectives. Doing so provides perspective to you, the receiver, and those around hearing such sincere words. Such specific and genuine communication makes people feel respected, valued, and appreciated. Furthermore, it shows confidence and strength by the receiver that creates an example of meaningful feedback, contribution, and care not only for the individual to whom the messaged is expressed, but to the organization, client, or whomever is impacted by such actions. - Inspire. Meaningful illustrations of gratitude inspires others. An office, team, and organization that shares gratitude will inspire more gratitude. Gratitude will aid in employee engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. Such awareness, perspective, and respect of identifying, empathizing, and communicating gratitude will inspire others to act in gratitude.
For many, gratitude doesn’t come naturally, rather like a garden, it must be cultivated, cared for, and the fruits of the harvest shared. Creating and nurturing an attitude of gratitude can go a long way personally and professionally. Rather than nonchalantly practicing gratitude over the holidays, proactively engage in the behaviors, attitudes, and actions that build gratitude. You may just encounter a greater level of humility, peace, and confidence. Furthermore, such a lifestyle may inspire others around you to gain a deeper perspective, potential, and productivity within the workplace.
Cheers to practicing gratitude daily with purpose!
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 MBA | 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.
A Personal Reflection: The Power of Gratitude – Fill Everyday with Gratitude.
This blog post is different than others. This one is quite close to my heart, as it is a personal reflection about the power of gratitude and how gratitude has changed my life, provides a daily source of abundance, and enlighten others within my life. This reflection serves to share a story of the power gratitude.
The Gratitude Sensei – My Mother.
Not everyone is born a grateful person. Gratitude is a choice, attitude, and blessing to move through every aspect of life. Since I was a child, I lived in a state of gratitude. Much of which I learned from my mother. I grew up in an environment in which society would label us “poor”.  However, the label “poor” was never a feeling or emotion felt in our home. My mother showered my little sister and I with so much love and joy. I was loved, clothed, fed, and happy. Certainly, we experienced tough times, such as coming home to no electricity.  Even within that situation we made due with what we had and were grateful for those resources. We said  “thank you” to the Divine source for providing us with those resources and one another.  When the lights were on the next day, we said “thank you” again with the same level of praise.
By society’s standards, we were “poor”, but within I felt “rich” because of  the abundance of love, gratitude, and joy toward what we had as a family, not on what we lacked (which is interesting to think about, because this where many people fall short, is that they look at what isn't there instead of what is present.). As an adult, I sit back and count my blessings every single day. Blessings are all around, and within all circumstances. The choice lies within each of us to see those blessings. Where one may see blessings, another may not. That is a choice. Gratitude isn’t about being in denial of a situation and only see good, rather it is seeing the entire situation and being a peace with what it is, not for what it is not. Having this perspective has helped me to stay connected with myself, people, and experiences.
Thankfully, gratitude is a light within me that has traveled many years, places, and experiences as the child I was, to the adult I am today. The same level of enthusiasm toward life back then is experienced today. For example, as a child I would say “thank you” to everything and everyone – I would thank the birds that chirped in the morning that I heard on my way to the bus stop. I would stop and smile at the birds and feel the warmth of my jacket and mittens while I waited for the  bus. I thanked the bus lady for picking me up and dropping me off and that I appreciated that she was nice and funny. Gratitude comes in all sizes within every situation you experience. For example, as an adult I continue to count my blessings and the blessing of others through acts of kindness, communication, and mindfulness.To me, gratitude is a way of life. It is a way of seeing perfection in imperfection. It is living a life so full of love, joy, and humility that in any circumstance one is still connected to herself. Even in times of pain, loss, or destruction, gratitude is still present – if you look, listen, or feel for it. The coolest thing about gratitude is that it’s always there, it’s within you. The attitude of gratitude shouldn’t limited to only expressing it around the holidays. Heavens no! A true attitude of gratitude is experienced daily through our thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and live a life full of gratitude daily. Namaste (The Light in Me, Honors the Light in You).
Copyright Viral Solutions llc © 2014. All Rights Reserved
by Katie Doseck, MBA, Ph.D.
Chief Visionary and Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve | Viral Solutions LLC
Katie Doseck, PhD MBA | 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.
What’s Keeping You from Being an Entrepreneur?
Over the years we've seen so many people who are fed up with their jobs and have aspirations of stepping out and starting their own business. However, as humans, we are so good at thinking up excuses to not do something, even the things that we have dreamed about!
Here are some of the most common excuses people have that keep them from becoming entrepreneurs:
- The life of an entrepreneur is unstable. It’s understandable to be nervous about leaving a stable, structured job for a career path that has a lot more uncertainty to it. However, over the last few years
there have been more and more people becoming entrepreneurs because the Great Recession has led to those previously stable jobs no longer being anywhere near as stable as they once were. It’s a scary step to leave your job and focus solely on a new business, but it’s a necessary step if you want investors to take you seriously. - You don’t have enough startup capital. Nobody has enough startup capital at the outset of their business to make it viable, and only a lucky few will get funds from angel investors. Therefore, you just need to save as much as you possibly can to ensure that you have backup funds. Operate out of your home to start with, and make sure your budget doesn’t have any fat in it. Get creative with crowdfunding or loans. If you’re committed and creative, you’ll find the money you need.
- You’re waiting for ______. Maybe you’re waiting for the kids to go to college. Maybe you’re waiting for your husband or wife to get promoted. However, these “waiting for” excuses tend to just be convenient excuses to stall. The longer you wait, the fewer years you have to build your business into a success. There are ways that you can fit a new business into your life rather than trying to work around it.
- You don’t want to fail. The vast majority of startups fail. It’s an unavoidable fact. If you believe you have what it takes to face failure and overcome it, then you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, even if it means trying out several different ventures and falling back on backup plans along the way.
Talk with us today if there is anything holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur. You may discover that you truly are ready to take the next step.
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 100’s 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.
Why Does it Matter That Readers Trust You?
You’ve likely heard of the idea that sharing industry-related articles and putting together regular blog posts will help you to build trust in your brand among your regular readers and increase their loyalty to your company. But what exactly makes this so important?
First, consider some of the following statistics from Outbrain:
- 94% of all readers agree that the trustworthiness is a company when they decide whether or not to visit that company’s websiteÂ
- 87% of all readers agree that their general level of satisfaction with a website depends on how much they trust the company
- 90% of readers indicate that whether or not they will recommend a website to others depends on how much they trust that company
- 66% of readers say that the trustworthiness of a news source or blog is the most important factor in their choice of reading that source
Obviously, the kind of customer service and product quality that you provide goes a long way toward building trust in your customers. But for people who learn about you through your content marketing strategies online, the kinds of content that you are sharing and posting could make or break your ability to build trust in potential new customers.
All of these statistics show that the vast majority of people only choose to read and engage with content from companies that they trust. If your content marketing strategy is designed to ultimately lead to more sales conversions, then you can also form a correlation between trust and online sales.
The point about recommendations is also extremely important. Especially in their early phases, small businesses thrive on word-of-mouth recommendations from their customers. A recommendation from a friend or relative is the most powerful kind of advertisement a business can hope to get, because people trust the opinions of their friends and family. Creating content that builds reader trust will increase these recommendations that you can get, which will get more eyes on your web content and your products and services.
It’s time to start building greater trust in your readers. Speak to us at Viral Solutions about putting together a content marketing strategy to add a powerful new element to your company.
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.