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A self-employed consultant I worked with some years ago once told me: " Being self-employed, I work 12 hours a day, and worry the other 12 ." This is the lot of both self-employed professionals and small businesses owners.  You awake each morning only to stare your boss straight in the eye as you shave or put on makeup.  You're it.  You're the one with the weight of your business squarely on your back. The question becomes, how do you manage yourself so you don't burn yourself out?  Even if you absolutely love what you're doing, the never ending grind of running your enterprise can and will take a toll on your home life and your health.  Unless you learn to manage yourself. This paper from the University of Central Florida points out two simple ways of not taking home your work stress. Walking daily. Getting adequate sleep. Additional benefits based on other vetted research clearly shows that daily walks and adequate sleep are also key to keeping your creativi...

It's a given: how a business owner treats his or her employees is how the employees treat the customer. It goes further.  how a business owner talks about his or her business effects how the employee views the business and their job. What do you say about your business?  Are you upbeat with  positive view of your goals and what you are trying to accomplish?  Does a negative attitude toward your customers and employees color your speech?  Or worse, are you vague and nonspecific about what is in your enterprise for customers and employees. It's part of the discipline of running a business to keep any negative emotions and opinions to yourself, and to present a positive, confident persona. *  *  *  *  *  Picture this: How the language of leaders drives performance The language of leaders has a profound effect on the performance of their employees, new research shows. The research shows that how a company presents its vision and values is de...

Source:  themajors.net What should you do when an employee leaves. . . and later asks to return? It may be an emotional instinct to react by rejecting their request to return. But why?  If you take it as a personal rejection when an employee leaves, you may be cutting off your own nose to spite your own face. As these studies from the University of Illinois point out employees leaving then asking to return may just be offering you a big compliment to the way you do things.  Perhaps they thought they'd be better off elsewhere only to find they were well off where they started.  Not a bad message for other employees to hear if nothing else. Boomerang Employees   Organizations of all types are beginning to recognize and embrace the value of recruiting and welcoming back former or boomerang employees. From infantry soldiers to chief executives, accountants and professional basketball players, many organizations proactively recruit and rehire former employees as a wa...

  Source:   DESIGN SNIP | DESIGN, MARKETING AND INNOVATION As has been pointed out  many times, too much knowledge is a bad thing. Why? Research by John-Erik Mathisen & Jan Ketil Arnulf of the BI Norwegian Business School from among other studies shows that graduates with a Masters in Business Administration demonstrate LESS creativity than non-MBA graduates. The reason is simple: our educational system focuses on training students in logically linear thought processes, while creativity and innovation involves lateral thinking, seeing connections between seemingly unconnected ideas. For example, before Einstein linked them, physicists from the time of Newton saw little if no relationship between energy, E, and mass, M.  In his 1905 paper on optics Einstein showed the specific relationship in his equation E=MC2, the relationship being the speed of light squared.  Big idea, perhaps the biggest of the twentieth century. Had Einstein relied on his knowledge of e...

Non-work orientations are related to higher career  and life satisfaction The study shows that the salaries of people who have strong non-work orientations are not negatively affected. In addition, they are happier with their career and with life in general. When planning a career, many people take non-work orientations into account, such as family, personal interests and civic engagement. Psychologists from the University of Bern (Switzerland) have found out that people who strongly consider the role of the family in career planning report more satisfaction with their career and their lives in general. Surprisingly, non-work orientations also showed no negative effects on earnings. People differ greatly in terms of how much they consider nonwork roles, such as family, personal interests and civic engagement when making career decisions and planning their career. Up until now, it was unclear how the consideration of nonwork roles affect career success and satisfaction with life in ...

www.lipstickalley.com Single women with personal wealth more  likely to become entrepreneurs than men ". . . from 2009 to 2014, the proportion of men in self-employment increased by 6 per cent. Over the same period, the proportion  of self-employed females jumped by a remarkable 22 per cent ." A new economic study by the University of Stirling and Royal Holloway, University of London has found evidence that there is a big difference in cash flow problems faced by men and women in the UK. They found single women face more severe constraints to their incomings and outgoings, but that those single women whose personal wealth increases unexpectedly through an inheritance are more likely to start a new business than their male counterparts. It is difficult for an aspiring entrepreneur, or current business owner, to obtain the funds necessary to start a business or expand an existing one. Labour Force Surveys show that from 2009 to 2014, the proportion of men in self-employment inc...

Marketers used more masculine fonts and colors in packaging and hired very masculine spokesmen, explicitly stating that the  product was for men only. It worked. Marketers changed their phrasing to 'zero-calorie' drinks. Pepsi Max stated that it was the 'first diet cola for men'.  Going green is for girls,  but branding can make men eco-friendly " Shoppers who engage in green behaviors are stereotyped by others  as more feminine and also see themselves as more feminine ." Studies show that men are not as environmentally friendly as women. But could men be persuaded to go green? New research indicates the answer is yes — and it’s all about branding. The study "Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption," forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research by James Wilkie, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, provides evidence that shoppers ...

Marketing study shows lenient return policy may increase sales " The study shows that lenient return policies do in fact encourage product purchase ." A meta-analysis of retail return policies led by a University of Texas at Arlington College of Business professor may lead businesses to modify their policies to increase sales and reduce returns.  The study found that return policies that offer consumers more monetary rewards are likely to increase their consumer purchases. Narayanan Janakiraman, an assistant professor of marketing who specializes in consumer behavior, UTA doctoral candidate Holly Syrdal and University of Texas at Dallas doctoral candidate Ryan Freling recently published their conclusions in The Journal of Retailing. "The Effect of Return Policy Leniency on Consumer Purchase and Return Decisions: A Meta-analytic Review" analyzed 22 academic papers concerning return policies. The analysis reviewed five different dimensions: time, money, effort, scope ...

Businesses who put customers and employees first flourish Volumes have been written about successful business, political and historical leaders.  Angelo Mastrangelo, adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship and leadership at Binghamton University, dives deeper than any other into the characteristics, behaviors, values and attitudes that make great leaders in his new book " Entrepreneurial Leadership ." "The art of generating new business is selfless, and not selfish … good entrepreneurial leaders focus on the needs and wants of the consumer, knowing that by satisfying the consumer first, the company will benefit later," Mastrangelo said. The book offers a practical guide to being the kind of leader that creates a new business, instead of rehashing an old one. "My model provides the fundamentals of leadership and entrepreneurship. If you're looking for a new business opportunity, ultimately, you need to be looking for a problem that needs to be solved...

Whether a small employer offers health care insurance, research out of the Mayo Clinic shows that offering your employees discounted memberships in wellness centers can cut both your and your employees health care costs with an added benefit of weight loss.  According to a new Mayo Clinic study, starting a employee well center or partnering with a health club is an effective and relatively low cost way to help control the costs of health care by encouraging a healthy lifestyle among your workforce. Boost Employee Health and Wellness : Getting to the Heart of the Matter by Carol A. Vance, Ph.D. Click on image for more information Significant weight loss and health care savings Research published this month in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that members of Mayo Clinic's employee wellness center, the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC), who regularly participated in wellness activities, experienced significant wei...

Looking for happiness in all the wrong places? Everyone knows that money can’t buy happiness – yet some men and women invest a lifetime of effort trying to buy their way into a satisfying life despite research and experience clearly showing that people who are materialistic are less satisfied with their standards of living, their relationships and their lives as a whole. You might ask why pursue a goal that won't make you happy in either the short or the long term?  With that being the case, James A. Roberts of Baylor University and two colleagues set out to explore the relationship between materialism -- making acquisition of material possessions a central focus of one's life -- and life satisfaction. They wondered if anything could make materialistic people more satisfied with their lot. Grateful individuals are more satisfied with their lives They chose to test how gratitude, a positive emotion experiences when someone feels another...

Is there any worse time to be interrupted than right now? Regardless of what we're doing or the nature of the interruption, we often feel as if we have no time to spare at the moment. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers feel busier when they are close to finishing a task or reaching a goal. "We often decline or delay opportunities because we are just so close to finishing what we are doing right now. Consumers often postpone a visit to a financial planner, skip going to the gym, or put off having a drink with a friend just because they are so close to completing what they are doing at the moment," write authors Ji Hoon Jhang (Oklahoma State University) and John G. Lynch Jr. (University of Colorado). Across three studies, the authors showed that consumers tolerate interruptions less the closer they are to completing a task or achieving a goal. Just start your first business? This book could help. Click on image to order. In one study, co...

The bad news? Research out of Washington University in St. Louis shows you'll only stay in the top 1% of earners for a year or so. According to new research, there's a 1 in 9 chance that the typical American (you) will hit the jackpot and join the wealthiest 1 percent for at least one year in her or his working life. Only an elite few get to stay in that economic stratosphere -- and  nonwhite workers remain among those who face far longer odds. Click on image to order your copy. This, according to Mark Rank, PhD, the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at the Brown School and co-author of the influential book 'Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes.' According to the authors, "Education, marriage and race are among the strongest predictors of top-level income, and in particular the race effect suggests persistent patterns of social inequality." Relying on data collected regularly since 1968 as part of the University of Mic...

An interesting post by Srini Pillay on a blog at the Harvard Business Review that I recommend you read and think about.  As the author points out: People often prepare for failure, but rarely prepare for what they will do when they succeed.  And this can cause you unexpected problems. Here is the gist of the article, with a link to the original. "Don’t do victory laps. "Focus on the value you bring, not on winning per se. "Stay in the “here and now”. "Reach higher. "People often prepare for failure, but rarely prepare for what they will do when they succeed. Even when we consciously want to be successful, enjoying that success can be a challenge. By following the suggestions above, you can create a framework for managing success so that you can more reliably sustain your success when it occurs. If you are conscious about these factors, you will create far more opportunities to sustain your success over time." Click here to read the full HBR article: The Un...

next-invest.ru One facet of the mythology about today's entrepreneurs is that they are major risk takers.  But are they?  This study goes against this stereotype, pointing out that many entrepreneurs take very reasonable risks after considering the costs to their lives. Over the years I've read studies that point out that many true entrepreneurs are cautious about their decisions to go into business, often working full and part time jobs for the first year or two of their enterprise. Here's the report on the study: Entrepreneurs Are Not Overconfident Gamblers L eaving one's job to become an entrepreneur is inarguably risky. But it may not be the fear of risk that makes entrepreneurs more determined to succeed. A new study finds entrepreneurs are also concerned about what they might lose in the transition from steady employment to startup. Suggested reading click on image In "Entrepreneurship and Loss-Aversion in a Winner-Take-All Society," Professor John Morga...

Source: mpiweb.org T hose business owners or managers who are more critical of their own leadership style than their employees have the greatest success.  Why?  Leaders with self-insight, who are humble and act as credible role models, are rewarded with committed and service-minded employees. This is the conclusion in a study conducted among 1500 leaders and their employees. The leaders were asked to assess their own leadership style, while their employees were asked to assess the same style. The eye of the beholder is in fact important for a leader's ability to create job commitment and a good service climate. The organisation researchers compared the employees' assessments and the leader's assessments of his or her leadership style, and found that the responses were by no means identical -- rather the opposite. Suggested reading click on image The employees decide Leaders can think whatever they like about their own leadership style. The study shows that leaders' asse...

  " Customers are more likely to forgive firms when service failures are associated with religion, no matter what religion was used in the scenarios: Christianity, Judaism or Islam." W hile companies like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A are at the forefront of debate over the religious rights of employers, a new study by a Grand Valley State University researcher shows religious affiliation can safeguard companies against negative reactions to store policies.  Kelly Cowart , Assistant professor of marketing at Grand Valley State University The research, led by Kelly Cowart, assistant professor of marketing at Grand Valley State University, examines the effect of a firm's religious association on customer perceptions of the firm, especially when a service failure occurs. A service failure is defined as limited hours of operation or a temporary store closing.   Cowart said the current findings indicate that religious affiliations may buffer against some of the negative fallou...

Credit: © diego cervo / Fotolia New research shows that many people seen by others as under- assertive or over-assertive think they're appropriately assertive .   N ew research shows that many people seen by others as under-assertive or over-assertive think they're appropriately assertive. The study also reveals that people seen as getting assertiveness right often mistakenly think they've gotten it wrong.   Jill Abramson was recently ousted from her position as the executive editor of The New York Times for being, among other things, too "pushy." But did Abramson -- who has also been described by the media as "polarizing" and "brusque" -- know during the course of her tenure that others viewed her as being overly assertive? A new study from the Columbia Business School suggests that there's a great chance she didn't. "Finding the middle ground between being pushy and being a pushover is a basic challenge in social life and the wor...

Photo: BodyLanguageProjectCom Approach Avoidance: She subtly moves away from him as he leans  toward her; she is following her natural instinct to move away.     W e probably all had the experience of having a sales person get right into our face as they try to pressure us into buying.  It's not comfortable, and now we know why.  It's called "Approach Avoidance."  This is something I learned long ago during on-the-job sales training from a wily old sales dog - and now I now what it's called, and why it works. We, the human animal, learned over our millions of year of existence to fear something that was approaching.  As Chicago Booth School of Business professor Christopher K. Hsee, explains in his recent paper, "In our long struggle for survival, we humans learned that something approaching us is far more of a threat than something that is moving away. This makes sense, since a tiger bounding toward a person is certainly more of a threat than one that...

Source: becauseirocklikehell.tumblr.com R unning a small business is time consuming.  There's so much to do and often so little time in which to do it.  Consider the possibility of your business experiencing computer fraud.  Suppose an employee either deliberately or accidently misusing the information on your computer system.  How much time would it take you to clean up the mess?  Could it even put you out of business? Fortunately, Shalini Kesar, a computer scientist at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, has devised an anti-fraud strategy for business that is straight forward and effective. Suggested reading click on image "Computer fraud can result from incompetence, ignorance, negligence in the use of Information Technology or deliberate misappropriation by individuals," says Kesar. This results in the destruction of not only the main information systems but also backup systems, causing damages up to hundreds and thousands of dollars. Kesar points o...