1. Assess the situation
2. Set financial goals
3. Decide what is essential, optional, and just plain waste
4. Create structure
5. Build an Emergency fund
6. Inform & Negotiate
7. Become Accountable

Here's to a prosperous 2012 and beyond.

~Will

So let's focus on the latter today. While there are numerous ways in which you can increase your income, I'll only touch on 3 here.

#1 Ask for Overtime - The first place you should look for increasing your income is your own place of work. I believe a good business is always slightly understaffed. The reason is that employees are fixed costs (salaries) while the work available for them to do may be seaonal or variable. If companies hire staff based on peak times, the work may eventually decrease but the company will still have to pay the extra salaries which they've taken on to cover the work. Instead of risking overstaffing, companies can instead hire enough staff to handle most of the work volume and pay overtime as necessary to cover peak times. When the peak work volume stops, the overtime can stop. Your employer may or may not disclose to you when extra manpower is needed, but why not ask and see if they could use some extra help (for pay of course)? Your employer gets the extra manpower they need, and you've just gotten the increase in income that you need. Don't be shy, ask!

#2 Get paid for your talents - If Lebron can get paid for taking his talents to South Beach, why can't you (the getting paid part, not taking them to South Beach)? Everyone has at least one innate or acquired talent, whether it be cooking, writing, designing, or what have you. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay for good work, you just have to put yourself out there as someone whose talents are available. Let your friends and family know about your skills so that they can keep you in mind for their future needs. Also check out sites such as freelance.com, elance.com, and Odesk.com which help match those looking to offer their talents and services with those who need and are willing to pay for them.

#3 Turn your belongings into cash - Most of us don't realize how much extra stuff we have lying around. Do you have any extra clothes, shoes (ladies?), old phones, used books, or seldom used furniture which you could dispose of? Why not begin a "recycling" program in which you sell the old whenever you bring in something new to replace it? This may not drastically increase your income, but every little bit helps when you need it.

Do you have any other ways to earn extra income? Share them in the comments.

~Willie

You open the door for more knowledge - Managers who see that their employees are teachable will have a greater desire to pour out even more of their knowledge to them. Most managers are more than willing and ready to share what they've learned over the years. However, they will only pour out the true treasures of what they've learned to those who have willing and ready ears.

You gain the trust of your manager/employer - When your manager sees that you put the advice and feedback they give you into action, they'll trust that you have their best interest, and the company's best interest, in mind. They'll also trust that they have an employee who is willing to be shaped into the leader the company needs.

You accelerate the growth of your business acumen - Business acumen can be defined as the ability to judge well and make insightful decisions within a business context. As you allow yourself to be taught through mentorship and experiences, you will gain the ability to discern between a good business decision and bad business decision. The ability to correctly judge which decision is the wisest within the workplace is key to furthering your career. Companies are not only looking for good workers, but also good decision makers.

You'll be that much safer in the workplace - Good decisions lead to good outcomes. As you remain teachable, you'll begin to make decisions which further the mission of your company and goals of your manager, which will reflect favorably upon you. Managers want to keep around those employees who make them look good, which will equal job security for you.

Being teachable in the workplace is indeed humbling. However, the rewards of allowing yourself to be shaped and molded into a better worker and leader far outweigh being stuck in the same old mindset and career level for years, all because of a lack of respect for the opportunity to be taught through your own mistakes and the knowledge and insightful experiences of your manager.

First, what do I mean by being teachable? My wordy take on it is the following:

Having an awareness of your own shortcomings and lack of knowledge, and the willingness to allow those in charge of you, as well as your experiences, to help strengthen those areas in which you are lacking.

Let me clean that up a bit by simply stating it as follows: Being teachable means that you know you don't have it all together, and because of this you are willing to receive help and learn from your experiences and mistakes. And herein lies the reason why we don't hear more about being teachable. First, you're admitting that you're not perfect. Who wants to admit that? Second, you're humbling yourself in order to receive criticism and face your mistakes. This can be painful.

So what does it look like to be a teachable person in the workplace? Like the following:

• You do not become defensive or make excuses when receiving correction or necessary guidance from your boss. Rather, you take in the correction and honestly assess how you need to change in order to become stronger in that particular area.
• You actively seek out feedback on how you are doing from your boss, with the purpose of seeing where you need to grow and taking steps towards that growth.
• You actively seek to learn more than you already know so that you can become even better at what you do than you are right now.

And how does an unteachable person behave in the workplace? Like the following:

• Constantly makes excuses regarding their performance, even when given clear evidence contrary to their excuses.
• Does not take action to correct bad habits leading to their shortcomings or mistakes, even after clearly being shown how to.
• Does not proactively attempt to increase their knowledge in order to do a better job, but rather is satisfied with what they already know.

Which do you want to be? Before you decide, we'll take a look at the benefits of being teachable in regards to furthering your career in Part II. Stay tuned.

~Will

• Become an expert within your job function or industry. Questions within the workplace are routine throughout any given work day, and those with answers - the correct answers - are deemed as credible. The only way to provide correct answers to your colleagues, and show management that you are a credible source for information and solutions, is to beef up your job function or industry knowledge. The more consistently you provide the correct answers, the more credible of a source you will be deemed.

• Do what you say you are going to do. If you say you will complete a project by such and such a time, then meet that deadline. If you say that you will offer help to someone at an agreed upon time, then offer it at that time. Whatever you commit to, stick to it. Else, do not commit to it. Your colleagues and manager will see you as a credible person when you do what you said you were going to do...and when you don't make unreasonable promises.

• Admit when you don't know the correct answer.... In other words, do not fake it to make it. You may get away with faking knowledge a few times, but eventually you will be caught in your white lies. When you're caught trying to answer something, provide insight to something, or assist in an area in which you have no knowledge, you will be seen as inept. Faking the funk erodes your credibility.

• ...but when possible, seek to find the right answer. If you don't know the right answer to a given question or situation, it's okay to admit it. However, don't always stop there. Instead, offer to find out the right answer or solution. This will show that you're willing to go the extra mile, and will add to your credibility as a hard worker who goes above and beyond.

• Take ownership... If you drop the ball on a project or assignment, don't scoot around taking responsibility. Instead, own up to your mistake and state it plainly, without excuses. This shows integrity and a willingness to be honest, which adds to your credibility.

• ...then be sure not to make the same mistake again. Taking ownership not only means that you own up to your mistakes, but that you take steps to make sure that mistake does not happen again. Making the same mistake over and over again depletes your creditibility, even if you own up to it each time. Learning from your mistakes and showing that you have done so adds to your credibility.

These are just a few ways to build your credibility. Can you name additional ways to build your "cred"? Would love to hear them.

~Will

3 Steps to Make Your Vision Work for You

Inc.com

HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Your Business Facebook Page

Mashable.com

Doing Business in the Inner City

Businessweek.com

9 Ways to Prepare for Growth and Success

Entrepreneur.com

Enjoy!

The Inc. 500 & 5000 - 2010

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What's the worst that could happen? It's simple - you could fail miserably. That's really it. And if you do, you still gain experience that could help you in your next business quest, which is typically called...growth. The risk in this is the hit taken to your own ego. In order to move past the fear of failure and into a state of action, you must remove your personal reputation from consideration and focus on how your business idea could benefit others (how your product will benefit your target market). Whether for profit, social reasons, or charitable reasons, all businesses exist to serve the needs or desires of others. Focusing on how your idea could positively impact your target market will help motivate you past avoiding the risk of failure.

What's the best that could happen?

You could succeed, that's what. Not only that, but it may be a tremendous success. Plus, you still gain the experience of having tried, learned what works, and learned what doesn't - growth. As there are those who fear failure to the detriment of all action, there are also those who actually fear success. Why? Because success is life altering. If this is your hang up, then the question becomes "Is the potential impact of this business worth the sacrifice of my current state of life?" The answer will again depend on whether you're more concerned about benefiting others through your entrepreneurial efforts than about your own well-being.

What's the most realistic result of you taking that leap of faith?

If you don't fail miserably, or succeed outrageously, you may "just" end up gaining experience from your efforts, feeling a sense of satisfaction from some measure of accomplishment, and being rewarded with the opportunity to daily work towards making your dream a full reality. This is called...life. Life is meant to be lived, not procrastinated. If you have an entrepreneurial idea that's worth the effort and is beneficial, go ahead and get to work.

In all of these scenarios, experience and growth are gained. As an entrepreneur, experience will be one of your greatest assests as you progress towards bringing your ideas to a launching point, but it all starts with that first step of turning your "Maybe I'll try this" into "I'm definitely going to give this my best shot!"

Those familiar with Acting techniques know that finding a character’s motivation is key to an actor delivering an authentic performance. Without knowing their character’s motivation for behaving in a certain fashion, the end result of an actor’s performance is unlikely to truly convey the feelings originally intended.

As we discussed in an earlier blog post titled Build the Vision: Don’t Curb your Enthusiasm, motivation is also a key force in getting your business up and running. To quote:

“..motivation plays as important a part in building an idea, concept, or dream as a person's skill, industry knowledge, business savvy, or any other desirable entrepreneurial trait. Without the drive or motivation to build - or as we will term it, enthusiasm - there will be nothing to push the use of your business skills.”

We know that motivation itself is an important factor in the startup phase, but what type of motivation? Let’s take a look at two prevailing types of motivation inherit in entrepreneurs’ efforts and discuss each.

Money

By all means, the basic objective of a for-profit business is to make money. Not only is it the tangible reward for your hard work, but it also pays the bills and keeps the lights on. As an entrepreneur, you need to be realistic and know that no matter how much you enjoy what you’re doing and, if push came to shove, would do it for free, you must be mindful of and intentional about making a profit. Generating revenues from your entrepreneurial activities is a fair trade off for your endeavors, will allow you to continue doing what you love, and will allow you to expand your business in order to provide your products or services to an even greater audience.

However, be careful not to confuse the necessity of making a profit as being the motivation instead of only a motivation. THE motivation of your efforts should be seen as the “End” goal of your business - the ultimate outcome you want to accomplish through your efforts. Money is important, yes. However, focus on it above all else and you’re setting yourself up to form your strategies, plans, and goals around the sole goal of making money, possibly at any cost. In this case, the End Goal of making a profit could be used to justify any means by which you reach this goal.

But what if your End Goal was something other than money? Would it affect the means by which you reached your goal? This brings us to our second motivation:

Value

We believe that the ultimate motivation a startup should have is creating something of value for its customers – a product or service that sufficiently meets the needs or desires of your target market. When you’re focused on creating something of value, you inevitably keep your business’s vision and mission, your customers’ desires, and how you can meet those desires in mind. The focus is not initially on making a profit, but rather on delivering the best product or service possible, thereby pleasing your customer base which will ultimately be rewarded through revenue.

That last part is key. When you create something which your customers deem valuable, you can place a justifiable price tag on it above the costs of creating that value. And since your End Goal is creating something of value, the means by which you go about creating your products or service will no doubt include such good practices as careful planning, due diligence, and innovation. Though these practices take time and effort, the End Goal of creating value justifies these means.

In short, money should be a motivation, but not the motivation for building your business. Let delivering a product or service of value be the motivation of your business efforts, and the money will follow.  Doing so will help you to deliver something much more valuable than money can buy – Authenticity.