As you plan for 2009 in the midst of some uncertainty, you ask “How can I keep a well trained, motivated, engaged staff?” Or if you don’t have a staff, you ask “How do I keep myself well trained, motivated and engaged?” Training is a competitive advantage no matter the size of your company. This is well documented with research indicating that business’s revenues and overall profitability are positively correlated to investments made in training and development. Based on my own experience being in the field for over ten years, training makes a difference in performance, motivation, morale, and retention. Well trained, valued, motivated employees always perform better and feel better about their work and their company. That will translate to coming out ahead during tough times. Your employees will appreciate your investment in their development, and will remember that you demonstrated how much you valued their contributions through good and tough times. As a sole-proprietor I have found the investment in my professional development a significant factor in my business success. Every year I set professional development goals that are in alignment with my business goals and stretch goals that contribute to launching new services and keep my business in a forward motion.

So how can you train to gain a competitive advantage in tough times? Here are some ideas that I call “budget friendly”: (more…)

As soon as the initial steps are taken to get a new business established, the deluge of information will begin. Whether it is in hard copy form or electronically, chances are in your new role as a business owner you will find yourself collecting lots of potentially valuable data on all sorts of topics. From the latest, extremely user friendly software programs to a possible client lead, the information will pile up faster than you could have ever imagined. Needless to say, some of it will need to be acted on immediately, some will be held for future reference and, of course, some will be destined for the trash or shredder.

No matter how environmentally conscious we may be, there is no escaping a certain amount of paper. One decision that needs to be addressed early on is what the preferred method will be for filing information that needs to be retained. While it may be ideal to go paperless, in reality a combination of both a paper and electronic filing system may be the most practical approach.

To begin with, it is important to consider the following points prior to establishing a system for filing and retrieving hard copy documents. (more…)