So you got your own website now. Exciting isn't it? You're ready to start putting your website to work for you. What will you do first? So many ideas going through your head...you want to make it the best website on the internet. You want to make it unique and different from anyone else's. So many ideas popping in and out of your head you want to do so much. After all besides things in our home, when do we really get to design anything? Before we...more
Mark and Beth, a young married couple in their twenties, established a goal to buy a home within the first three years of their marriage before starting a family. They budgeted and used their money wisely in order to save for the down payment. Whenever they purchased something they always paid cash - no credit cards for them. Why waste money by paying interest to a credit card company ?Within two years they'd reached their savings goal and...more
International businesses are facing new challenges to their internal communication structures due to major reforms brought about through internationalization, downsizing, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Lack of investment in cross cultural training and language tuition often leads to deficient internal cohesion. The loss of clients/customers, poor staff retention, lack of competitive edge, internal conflicts/power struggles, poor working relations, misunderstandings, stress, poor productivity and lack of co-operation are all by-products of poor cross cultural communication. Cross cultural communications consultants work with international companies to minimise the above consequences of poor cross cultural awareness. Through such cooperation, consultancies like Kwintessential have recognised common hurdles to effective cross cultural communication within companies.Here we outline a few examples of these obstacles to cross cultural co-operation:Lack of CommunicationIt may seem obvious to state that non-communication is probably the biggest contributor to poor communication. Yet it continues to prove itself as the major problem within most companies.Lack of communication...more
Whether you are already running your own business, or still thinking about starting your own business, I suspect that deep down you know you have gifts and talents that can really make a difference to others. In an ideal world, you'd spend the majority of time doing the work you love to do, with a steady stream of clients knocking at your door as...more
Before becoming a netpreneaur, I was an entrepreneur. First, I owned a successful child care center which grew to capacity in less than two years. When I sold that, I bought a little flower shop that had less than 300 customers and grew it to what it is today, one of the most successful, award winning companies in South Florida with more than...more
"Quality and service are important, if you want to make a sale. If you want to keep a customer for life, keep your promises." - Heidi RichardsThe buzzword these days is "relationship" marketing. Just what is it? And why is it important? Relationship marketing is so much more than "networking. It's gathering support of your friends, peers, and business contacts. It's developing strong, lasting, unique relationships with your most valuable asset, your customer. It's what keeps people "coming back for more." It's an excellent way to shorten the traditional routes of building trust, create opportunities, increase valuable contacts, to achieve success and excel in business.Every opportunity you have to meet new people is an opportunity to grow your business! If you are willing to invest your time, networking is a process, and the payoffs are almost immeasurable. It's not realistic to expect instant success. It takes time. You can plan your networking opportunities to shorten the time it takes to build those relationships.What do you want and need to accomplish? Do you want to develop lifelong individual customers, land large accounts, or make an impact in your community? You will...more
"Cross promoting with other businesses can give you a significant advantage over the competition, with many benefits and cost savings." -Heidi Richards-More and more competition in the marketplace is making it necessary for companies to find creative...more
Welcome to Monday Morning Mindfulness . . . to my Clients, Colleagues and Friends. Join me every other Monday in getting motivated and inspired to act/think/feel something differently. 1. ON SPECIAL OFFERS AND INVITATIONS Would you like to be paid...more
BOOK REVIEW: Performance of Financial Institutions: Efficiency, Innovation, RegulationIt is rare for a financial text to be written by a Cypriot author yet one of the authors (Stavros A. Zenios) is a Professor at the University of Cyprus.The aim of...more
In my career advising practice, I often find that my clients are not clear about what success means for them. Our society defines success primarily around three elements: power, money and fame. Many of you reading this may be saying, "wait a minute...more
Only the weak ones quit. Is that true? There is a story of a CEO of a multi-national company who decided to withdraw a product from the market when it had consistently failed for nine months and eaten up millions of pounds in advertising, promotions...more
Most people online are very familiar with the Nigerian Email Letter Scams. They've victimized thousands over the years and continue to do so. I am certain you've received many in your inbox over the course of your online experience. They are easy to...more