Jennifer Mills Kerr

12 Solutions for Being a Better Leader

Posted by jennifermillskerr on December 2, 2008

This fabulous article is by Mark Tewart, whose websites include: www.marktewartlive.com, www.marktewart.com and www.howtobeasalessuperstar.info

He’s on a virtual tour for his book, How To Be a Sales Superstar.

1. Manage things and lead people

Processes should be defined and managed daily. People should be lead by example daily. Management by strict control inhibits star performers and eliminates creativity of intelligent people. Feelings of manipulation are caused by strict control. Control, manipulation, and disrespect keep many dealerships from moving to another level of performance.

2. Speed of the boss = speed of the team

If the boss has a sense of urgency, the team will, too. The leader sets the tone. Great leaders create an attitude and atmosphere of winning. The leader sets the stage for the proper belief systems necessary to succeed.

3. Coach people more than you manage deals

If you spend your time coaching people through training, one-on-ones and positive feedback, your people will become less addicted to you. Spend 80% of your day with your team and your customers. The rest can wait.

4. Create a Stop Doing List

To find out what to do, you must also define what not to do. What are you doing everyday that you should either, stop doing, delegate, or do less of, or at a different time?

5. Practice the 4 D.s of action management

Dump it, Defer it, Delegate it, or Do it. With proper action management, you will spend less time in crisis and emergency mode.

6. Recruiting is an ongoing process

Determine an ongoing action plan for recruiting. What channels will you use to recruit and how much time each week to do it. What automated systems can you set up through web sites, job boards, college placement centers, military posts, etc. can you set up to increase potential candidates? Don’t wait until you need people to dig through the drawer to find the help wanted ad that everyone else uses.

7. Set clear expectations

People need and desire clear expectations of their job functions, behavior, and performance. The days of hiring people and showing them the inventory, their desk, and telling them to get busy are over. For a greater chance of success, people cannot succeed without written and communicated expectations.

8. People don’t change that much, so stop trying

Do not try to put in what God left out. When a person has reached adulthood, they primarily tend to repeat the patterns either they have created or that are based upon their nature. Grow a person’s strengths, and stop trying to fix their weaknesses.

9. Educate and motivate daily

Good people want continuing education. Educate and motivate every day. Educating daily creates results; periodical training never does. If you have people rejecting education, then you must reject them. Would a great coach allow certain players to not practice because they didn’t want to?

10. Listen, listen, listen

Nothing inspires people more than when they feel a manager will actually listen. People need to be respected and heard. A manager’s best customers are the people they coach.

11. Get out from behind the desk

Lead the team. People want to know that their leader is one of them. Desks can become huge barriers to communicating.

12. Don’t forget emotions

Behind all goals, dreams, achievements, and failures are emotions. Learn to tap into each team member’s pleasure and pain motivators to better guide them. Coach each team member with this in mind – thoughts become words, words become actions, actions create habits, habits create results, and they are all seeking emotions.

Great leadership is essential in creating great teams. Expect more of yourself and your team will follow. The leader is the final reason for success or failure.

To read the first chapter of How to be a Sales Superstar and to receive several FREE bonuses from Mark Tewart, visit www.marktewartlive.com.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Top Five Mistakes Made by Women in Business

Posted by jennifermillskerr on November 16, 2008

This article, written by Susan L Reid, DMA, of Alkamae is fantastic for women entrepreneurs. I have reprinted it from her inspiring LAUNCH YOU newsletter.

Top Five Mistakes Made by Women in Business

1. Letting them see you sweat.

Too many times I’ve seen women, when they aren’t feeling confident about themselves or their abilities, disclose their lack of confidence. They do this by peppering their clients and colleagues with lots of questions before they delve into a project, hedging when it comes to making a commitment, as well as breaking eye contact and fidgeting.

Showing lack of confidence, either by word or action, is a self-defeating behavior. Never let them see you sweat! Say yes. Then figure out how to deliver.

2. Displaying negative emotions.

Displaying anger, bitterness, or spite is never attractive. Turning into the victim or martyr when things don’t go your way by whining, complaining, or blaming is counterproductive. Don’t defend yourself, argue, or yell at your clients or colleagues. And, for heaven’s sake, don’t cry!

You can deal with every challenge in business without being negative. Instead, take action. Offer a solution.

3. Making excuses.

Women seem to think that, if they explain why they didn’t return a call, answer an email, show up on time, or meet a deadline, everyone will understand and it will be okay. Not so.

Excuses say that what you were doing was more important than what someone else wanted you to do. An explanation means you are asking permission to be excused for what you did not do.

Instead, be impeccable with your word. Do as you say.

4. Being bitchy.

Take your cue from Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer: Stay calm and assertive. You do not have to be tough or come across aggressively in business. Instead, stay calm, be assertive, and develop a cooperative model when dealing with others.

5. Making decisions from a “lack mentality.”

Too many women have a mindset of scarcity when it comes to their businesses. They believe they lack time, money is scarce, and there aren’t enough customers. They don’t understand that near-term lack infects long-term prosperity. Therefore, make decisions for your business based on the far-term vision of expansion and growth.

Both women and men can and do succeed as business owners. Many of the things that men have been doing right for years can easily be adopted and put into practice by women. However, as a woman entrepreneur, it is also important for you to do two additional things. First, cultivate the instinctive qualities and skills that are specifically characteristic of women in business.

Next, start to eliminate the five top mistakes women make in business. If you implement these key steps, you’re bound to excel as a woman entrepreneur.

Alkamae^(TM) is the place where entrepreneurial women come to transform their lives and make a difference in the world by starting up successful small businesses. Specializing in intuitive small business solutions, Alkamae offers strategic consulting including One Page Business Plans, niche clarity programs, and attraction-based marketing tools.

Susan L. Reid, DMA, is the founder and owner of Alkamae. As the author of “Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Journey to Business Success,” Susan has helped hundreds of women create a vision for themselves that connects their passion to sustainable profit and combines their inner wisdom with savvy business skills.

Posted in Business is personal, Challenges, Entrepreneurship | 1 Comment »

Grace Underpressure Has Got the Most Clients in Town

Posted by jennifermillskerr on November 14, 2008

Entrepreneurs are busy people. Heading into the holiday stretch, we’re even busier. I’ve noticed that a lot of us have hit a pitch of hysteria. Do, do, do. Rush, rush, rush. We need that project done today. We want the invoice now. We have to get to that meeting, that phone call, that client. Everything’s ASAP. We’re not letting ourselves breathe.

The problem is, when we’re out of breath, our clients and prospective clients are out of breath too. One woman responded to me recently through e-mail; she couldn’t fulfill my minor request right away because of this and this and this… (pant, pant, pant!). Her message was freaked out, unsettling. I’d never given her a deadline. Why had she assigned one? And one that was immediate? She came across as unprofessional, tattered at the seams. Would I ever hire her? Afraid not. She would have done better if she took a deep breath and responded to me from a centered place of clarity and peace.

I do have to thank her though. Because now, when I find myself running at breakneck speed, cell phone in one hand, thermos of Yerba Mate in another, I realize that it’s time to stop, check myself. Take a moment. Breathe. Call in a little bit of Grace. She’s got the most clients in town.

Posted in Business is personal, Challenges, Entrepreneurship | No Comments »

A Good Business Tells a Story

Posted by jennifermillskerr on November 5, 2008

All successful entrepreneurs are visionaries. They possess imagination. They think outside the box. So it’s not a stretch for many entrepreneurs to understand that a good business tells a story. Instead of beginning with, Once upon a time, a good business begins with the words, We offer… That’s its opening.

As an entrepreneur, think of your business as an enticing novel. You want it to be a page turner. You want it to be interesting.

First, you must know your business’s expression. What is its character? If your business were a person, how would you describe it? (This exercise is for your eyes only, so go wild with this.) Is your business a spiritual guru wearing a sari? A fashionista who drinks lattes all day? An exuberant Italian chef who’s pink in the cheeks? Get into the details of your business’s expression and personality. Nothing is beneath your notice.

Examine not only what your business looks like, but what your business likes to do. Is he a scholarly type who enjoys cigars and libraries? Or is she a crowd pleaser found in nightclubs at the wee hours of the morning? From there, you can figure out who your business’s friends are. Its target market. Its location. Its web site design. And why you want to be its creator.

Too often when starting a business, people play it safe. It’s tempting for entrepreneurs to stick with the conventional mode of expression, i.e., the girl/boy-next-door. If you discover, after doing this exercise, that your business looks like a forty-something, bespectacled man, nice looking, intelligent, but a bit mediocre, you have some work to do. Remember: a good business tells a story. Make it engaging.

I wrote fiction for a number of years, and whenever I began telling a story, I asked myself: Why should anyone care about this character? This is a perfect question to ask yourself as an entrepreneur. Why should people care about your business? How does your business contribute? What does it bring to the table?

Look at your business’s character, and you’ll find the answer. For instance, if she’s the crowd pleaser dancing on tables at the hottest nightclub in town, then she definitely exudes enthusiasm, freedom, a sense of vibrant, reckless fun. If your business offers itself as a spiritual guru, then it promises inspiration, spiritual connection, a sense of peace.

Once you get to know your business, you can ensure your central message stays consistent. You don’t want its character to be boring, but you don’t want it to be schizophrenic either. The chick dancing on tables isn’t going to love the library. She won’t be part of that scene.

Posted in Business storytelling | 1 Comment »

Women Entrepreneurs, Hold That Vision

Posted by jennifermillskerr on October 31, 2008

After I give an intuitive reading, my clients are fired up. They know what’s at the heart of their business, what they want to achieve, where they want to go. They feel invigorated, inspired, alive.

But some of them get off track. Life happens. Time passes. They lose focus, feel uninspired. This is deadly.

The first part of succeeding in your business is to know your business’s mission. The second, crucial part is to hold that vision in your mind. Every day. Here are five ways you can keep your company’s mission alive, even on the bad days.

Visualize. I can’t emphasize this enough. Have a concrete picture of what you want to achieve that day, that month, that year. Visualize your goals being achieved whenever you can. On the treadmill. While sitting in a traffic jam. Even take ten minutes before going to bed. (Sweet dreams!)

Vision board. Find all the photographs you can that elucidate your dreams realized. Whether it’s an image of a beach in Hawaii or a SheEO in a board meeting, no matter. Pick whatever images speak to you and tape them in a prominent area in your office. You’ll smile every time you look at them.

Inspirational passages. Whether it’s a poem, a quotation, song lyrics, these sweet reminders keep us motivated and energized. My favorite is Mother Teresa’s Do It Anyway. But you know which ones resonate. You probably have a few already. Tuck them in a desk drawer. They’ll surprise you.

Intentions. Write down your intentions for the week, the month, the year, and reread them every day. Without fail! I can’t emphasize how powerful this is. In Christine Comaford Lynch’s book, Rules for Renegades, she gives goal areas for every aspect of life: Financial/Wealth, Career/Business, Health/Appearance, Relationships, Personal Development/Learning, Community/Charity, Free time/Fun. These will help you get specific.

Peer Group. It’s so important to have a group of like-minded individuals who encourage and support you. Find a local mastermind group. Join Linked In. Discover all the ways you can connect with other women entrepreneurs. Reach out in your community. Comment on blogs (hint, hint). All entrepreneurs should feel motivated and inspired, and they do this through spending regular time with others who offer advice, understanding, and friendship.

Posted in Entrepreneurship, How-to, intuitive exercise | No Comments »

Women Entrepreneurs, Are Your Friendships Worth It?

Posted by jennifermillskerr on October 28, 2008

Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend. Actually, that’s not right. I was on the receiving end of a one-sided conversation. This woman chatted for almost forty minutes about herself and she could have gone further, but I stopped her. I realized that the conversation wasn’t worth my time. And I mean that literally. As her voice droned on, I thought, “I get paid $100 an hour. Listening to this woman isn’t worth that.”

As entrepreneurs, we keep track of our time, our finances, our energy, and especially our clients. We offer a good service, a good product, and we care about doing well. We set priorities, some of them quite difficult, in order to make our businesses successful. I realized inside this moment that I didn’t want to waste my time in a one-sided conversation because I valued my time much more than that. Being an entrepreneur has enabled me to prioritize this way. Now my tolerance for bitching, complaining, or sweating the small stuff (in myself and others) has dropped more than a few notches. I’m glad.

Like all entrepreneurs, I set my own salary based on what I offer. It’s a great practice, to look at my financial worth square in the eye. But I didn’t realize that doing so would shift my self worth in other areas too, like relationships, business partnerships, what I wear, where I live, what I buy. It’s all one pie.

In terms of time, it suddenly became quite clear that the conversation wasn’t worth it. I didn’t jump to the conclusion that the friendship wasn’t. But I knew that I would have to be more clear with friends as to what I expected—or didn’t expect—from them. And I hoped to learn what they expected from me.

I consider myself lucky. Many of my friends offer conversation that’s worth much more than one hundred dollars an hour.

How about yours?

Posted in Business is personal, Entrepreneurship, Money, Priorities | Tagged: entrepreneurs, Priorities | No Comments »

Tap into Your Intuitive Power in Four Easy Steps

Posted by jennifermillskerr on October 24, 2008

Do you want to attract greater success to your business? Are you interested in drawing more clients? Would you like to be more effective in managing employees? All entrepreneurs have these questions, and all entrepreneurs can tap into the power of their intuition in order to receive answers. It’s amazing how quickly and easily you can move ahead with these four easy steps.

1.) Get quiet and ask a specific question.

If you ask for answers when you’re crazed, busy, or distracted, they won’t come through. So you need to get quiet first. Create a ten minute time commitment—that’s all the time you’ll need. Schedule the same time every day, or even every week. Right after the shower in the morning, for instance, or before reading the newspaper at night. Just ensure it’s a time when you won’t get interrupted. This time is yours. Take a few deep breaths to get settled.

The more specific your question, the more specific your answer. In other words, if your business isn’t as successful as you’d like, and you ask, “What’s happening with my business?” your intuition will answer every part of that question. That’s way too much; you’ll be bombarded with images. Instead, ask, “What can I do to improve my business?”

2.) Listen and receive whatever comes to you.

There are several ways to receive information—but in this article, I’m only including the method of clairvoyance. That is “clear seeing.” Translated, that means you’ll see images, colors, even words. The important part is to accept whatever comes into your vision.

For instance, if I see a giraffe, I may think, “That’s crazy,” and drop the exercise. But remember that the intuition isn’t logical. That’s why it’s so powerful. It forces you to think outside the box. Thinking within the box isn’t giving you the answers you need, so it’s time to stretch yourself and consider all possibilities. You’ll be amazed by your quickened success. Eliminate any judgement until you have completed step three.

3.) Ponder the nature of the symbol

So if I ask, “What can I do to improve my business?” and I see a giraffe, the first thing that I must also ask: What is the most striking characteristic of this animal?

The long neck, right? Then I free associate. It goes something like this: Okay a giraffe has its sights higher than the other guy. The giraffe sees the big picture. The giraffe’s a visionary.

Whatever you associate with the animal is fine. There’s no test here, no right or wrong. Your own answers are always correct. Go with your gut response.

4.) Tie the symbol into the question

So if I’m asking what I can do to improve my business, and I see a giraffe, I know I’m being asked to see the big picture. It’s time to release the extraneous details; it’s time to re-read and perhaps rewrite my business plan. I should create a vision board. My aim, thanks to my intuition, is to have a fresh perspective, a new outlook.

This is just the beginning to increased success. As I continue to tap into my intuitive power, I will continue to realize what I need to do for my business to succeed at a greater level. And it only takes ten minutes.

Posted in How-to, Success, intuitive exercise | Tagged: intuitive exercise, intuitive power | No Comments »

Women Entrepreneurs, Take Off That Salary Cap!

Posted by jennifermillskerr on October 21, 2008

I met a women entrepreneur the other day, and she mentioned how her husband was stalling on expanding their business. They’d achieved substantial success, supporting their family through the company. But she was ready to take the business to the next level. She had very good suggestions on how they could expand and increase their income. Trouble was, her husband wasn’t going there. He’d say okay, then make up an excuse. Stall. Change his mind. Dance around her input. Stall some more.

She had no idea what was going on.

I took an intuitive glance, and saw it. He was wearing his father’s salary cap. In other words, this entrepreneur had succeeded only as far as his father had. Many entrepreneurs do this. They allow themselves to make a certain amount of money. But when they exceed the income of their mothers or their fathers (we favor one or another), something within goes, Yikes! Who am I to do this? It’s completely unconscious, but has very strong, and usually negative, results.

Simply being aware of this unspoken rule removes the cap.

If you’re hitting some unknown obstacle in money, look at your mother’s salary. Look at your father’s. Have you inherited a salary cap?

Take that sucker off.

Posted in Challenges, Money, intuitive reading | Tagged: intutive reading, Money, women entrepreneurs | No Comments »

Women Entrepreneurs Own It

Posted by jennifermillskerr on October 17, 2008

Think Buddy Holly. See those nerdly glasses right away, don’t you? Here was a guy who skewed traditional cool, inverting the image of the hot Elvis rock star. With a pair of eyeglasses, Buddy Holly changed our expectations. He became a nerd who’d broken free, finally classed “cool”.

I mention this because recently I gave an intuitive reading to a woman entrepreneur, and a pair of eyeglasses told me the whole story. This entrepreneur was in computer consulting. To make a long story short, her business wasn’t working… not enough clients, not “hitting the mark” she said. Who were her clients? I asked. She gave me a vague answer, like, Everyone.

Uh-oh.

So I put on my intuitive hat, and I immediately saw this techie nerd—wearing Armani glasses. His hair was slicked back, Euro style. Beneath those Khaki’s and Oxford shirt, I could make out a yoga-sleek body. He was smooth, but low key; stylish, but quiet. Within his brain, I saw dozens of numbers and a passion for problem solving. He was thinking computers, he was breathing computers, but he was looking good doing it.

This woman entrepreneur knew that smart computers meant smart business. But she hadn’t realized that smart efficiency meant smart people—not just on the inside but on the outside. In other words, she wasn’t catering to a hip market. She was missing out on all those savvy people who have iPhones and Blackberries. These people were her business niche, but she hadn’t recognized it. Why couldn’t computer consulting be chic?

We talked about a lot of other things, but I have to tell you—and I can because you’ll never know this woman—she hadn’t thought of appealing to this group of people because she hadn’t claimed her own ability to be gorgeous, savvy, and smart. She had rejected that part of herself. For whatever reason, she didn’t think that she could be stylish, hadn’t given herself permission to buy her own Armani shades.

Clearly, it was time for this woman entrepreneur to own that part of herself. In the meantime, she was learning to own her business.

“I didn’t think computer consultants could be chic!” she said. Instead, she’d envisioned corporate navy and pinstripes. She’d been bored, she told me, but hadn’t thought there was any other way to be.

Who is your business? Do an intuitive reading. Don’t wait. Don’t make excuses. Find out what your business—and you—are meant to be. Know your business, and own it.

Posted in Business is personal, Entrepreneurship, Target market, intuitive reading | Tagged: Entrepreneurship, intuitive reading, Target market | No Comments »

Women Entrepreneurs Wear Rubber Boots

Posted by jennifermillskerr on October 16, 2008

Are you experiencing financial freak out? I gave this intuitive reading to a woman entrepreneur who contacted me recently. I think it applies to a lot of us.

First, I see a large, bright sun. Intense, fiery, golden-orange, powerful. Meanwhile, you’re standing in a rain storm without an umbrella. It’s gray, bleak, wet; you feel depleted, terribly un-sunshiney.

Such is the dynamic with prosperity. There are certainly financially gray days (like now) when life is overcast. We ache. We bitch. We feel betrayed. We do this even though the rain is destined to stop, and the sun will inevitably break through. Will the stock market continue to plummet? Hardly. Will you attract clients again? Of course.

Here is the most important question. During a torrential downpour, do you have the skills necessary to make your business succeed? Now is the time to take inventory. Now is the time to dig deep, tap the inner well. (Not that you’re in search of water at the present moment…)

Take someone who lives in Portland. They’re accustomed to overcast, gray days. They make do. After all, it’s pointless to complain. Rain happens. And it happens a lot in the Northwest.

So when I say dig deep, I’m saying that you need to find the parts of yourself that enjoy this challenge. When things aren’t radiant, do you quit? Why not? What keeps you going?

Right now, you’re being asked to become the seasoned faithful who operates as if she lives in Portland. The earth may be chilly and dark, but no one ever doubts the sun is still there. They simply wear rubber boots, dug out from the attic or the basement or some other hidden place They equip themselves so that they can withstand the rain as best as possible.

What are your tools? What do you need to stay dry? Find those, and when the sun comes out again, you will be even more successful—not because you have increased your number of clients—but because you now recognize the sunlight as a gift, warm on your face. You can now appreciate the cloudless days.

Postscript: Since all of the images I received were associated with the outside, it reveals that you and your business are affected by outside influences… not from any inner lack within you. There’s certainly a difference.

Posted in Challenges, Entrepreneurship, Money | Tagged: Challenges, intuitive reading, Money, women entrepreneurs | No Comments »

Jennifer Mills Kerr

Intuitive Readings for Successful Women Entrepreneurs

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