Is the Party Over for Indian Outsourcing

August 7, 2007 by Chuck | 1 Comment

I mentioned this a few weeks ago. Here's more on the topic from Business Week.

Basically, the aren't as many people available to fill the outsourcing demand, the rupee is rising against the dollar, wages are rising, and there's more competition for existing talent. Visas to the US are running short too.

A confluence of adversities is at play. They include an appreciating rupee that is cutting into earnings, a severe shortage of qualified talent at home, and a cap on H-1B worker visas to the U.S., along with pre-2008 election protectionism threats.

At first, their multinational competitors such as IBM Global Services, Accenture, and Electronic Data Systems were taken by surprise [by outsourcing]. But then they joined in the new game, setting up shop in India and leapfrogging by making local acquisitions, hiring aggressively, and offering similar services to their clients. As of June, the three multinationals alone have 100,000 professionals on their rolls in India. That's about a third of the top three Indian players, and the multinationals only began hiring three years ago.

10 Businesses You Can Start On A Tight Budget

From Start Up Nation

10 Ripe Areas for Starting Your Business

If you're hot to get going with a startup, but your finances aren't, here are some independent businesses – requiring little more than a certificate or license – that you can start today:

1. Tutoring: The last U.S. Census reports more than 76 million school-age children. Federal laws like "No Child Left Behind" and state requirements that students pass tougher standardized tests before moving to the next grade have led to booming demand for tutors.
2. Hair Care/Makeup: Women – and men – spend big money on grooming services. Assisted-living homes, nursing homes and senior centers are great places to get started, and sharpen your skills.

3. Child Care Provider: U.S. Census figures also show that more than 20 million children live in single-parent homes. Many of those working parents need and are looking for childcare – especially outside of regular business hours.

4. Catering: This is a great first step to opening a restaurant. Home-based catering is an inexpensive way to build clientele, test recipes and find out if you're suited for the rigors of food service.

5. Cleaning/Lawn Service: With unemployment low, more people have less time – but more money – to spend on taking care of their homes and lawns.

6. Online Professor: Have an advanced degree or a lot of experience? Selling your services as a virtual instructor can be lucrative. Web-based and traditional colleges and universities offer online courses.

7. Financial Services/Business Consultant: If you know your stuff and have a proven track record, financial planning and/or business consulting can pay big.

8. Party Planning: Kids' birthday, sweet 16 and graduation parties, bat and bar mitzvahs and other celebrations today involve a lot more than just buying a cake and inviting people over. Besides event planning, other niche opportunities include making invitations, decorations and party favors.

9. Computer Services: Whether you fix the machines, develop software or are able to translate technical jargon into everyday language, this growing field needs experts who make house calls. Many new users, especially older people who once avoided computers, now are giving in to lower prices. This new wave needs help with everything from setting up their new box to using the Web.

10. Personal Organizer: If you have a knack for neatness, you can turn it into money by starting a service to organize anything from closets to computer desktops.

Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your won website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor's website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.

Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.

3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.

Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.

www.Affiliate-Marketing-Millionaires.com

9 Ways to Generate More Interest In Your Business

This is from Dane's Blog

Whether you have an Internet business or a store-front, it is often challenging to breathe new life into your business, bring new customers through your door, and find excitement in your daily routine. It's easy to get into the habit of throwing money toward advertising and worrying about what your competition is doing. We lose our focus and our hands-on expertise. What can we do to get back on track, get excited and gain some new exposure?

Try some of these new ideas and make a 90-day plan. It always takes time for a new plan to work, have patience with yourself and track your progress. Most of all, have fun!

1. Leave a paper trail. Print new business cards and leave them wherever you go. On your table at a restaurant, public restrooms, inserted into the bills you pay, leave them on cars in a parking lot, in your grocery cart, tanning salon, barber shop… be creative!
2. Find more places to sell online. If you haven't already done so, sell your product on eBay. Or place an ad on craigslist (free) selling an item that customers come to your store to pick up.
3. Build a larger Internet presence. Check out websites like Freewebs or Wordpress.com that will help you build a blog site for free. Write something about yourself and/or business and have fun with it! Add pictures and music… a personal touch. You can advertise your blog on free classified ad sites like Linkreferral and Internetmosaic.
4. Stay in touch with your customers. Design an e-zine, and email it to your current customers. Or them out and mail it, but this is more expensive. Place advertisements for other local businesses, do it for free for awhile, until the e-zine starts gaining popularity and then you can charge for the advertising spaces! Your e-zine can have short articles about your business, cute stories, jokes and contests!
5. Cross promotion. Make friends with business people who are in a similar, complimentary businesses to yours. (not competitors) Come up with bonus packages that you can co-op with these other businesses. For example if you run a tanning salon, you can offer a free haircut at Supercuts when a customer signs up for one year of tanning. Supercuts will offer something similar, after 4 haircuts the customer gets one free week of tanning. This even works on the Internet. Find another non competing website and see if you can develop a similar relationship. This will take some creativity on your part, and you have to develop relationships with other business people.
6. Tell your story. Write an article about yourself and your business. Add a funny or intriguing story about how you got started in the business, or let the readers know why the business is so important to you. Be sure your article solves a problem. Write at least two paragraphs about a problem, and one or two paragraphs on how your business can solve the problem. If you are not a writer, you can have someone freelance the story for you. There are all kinds of freelancers looking for work on the Internet. Submit your story to article hubs on the Internet, this is completely free! Submit your article to your local newspaper and relevant websites. Sites are always looking for new content. (Even the Business Opportunities Weblog wants for content!)
7. Wear it. Design some T-shirts with your company name and get them printed with CafePress. Wear them everywhere you go. Again, try something really eye-catching, or bright prints on black background. Make people look.
8. Make a conversation piece... Make a button or a hat that says, "I work at home, ask me what I do", or, "Ask me how to lose 10 lbs"… you want people to approach you, so make it intriguing.
9. Be Yourself. Make a short video, telling jokes or doing a bad impersonation, then upload it to YouTube! Make people laugh and they will show it to their friends and watch it over and over!!! Make sure to plug your business in the video, this is a great way to advertise! Send the video to your local television channel along with it's YouTube URL. The local news is always on the lookout for funny stuff, with a local angle — especially if it's a slow news day!

Even if you just try three or four of these avenues of promotion, you should start seeing more hits to your website, or more customers coming through your door. The idea is always to be thought provoking, creative, and approachable. If you spend your day feeling upset and frustrated, people will NOT approach you. Open up and smile, think about money! Think about helping others! Use your body language to tell others that you are OPEN for business! Here's to your next 90 days!

By Lisa Di Clemente for the Business Opportunities Weblog. Photo by CyberGus.

Catching a Thief Red Handed

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Free Consultations

...courtesy of LED Digest: http://www.LED-Digest.com

From: Biana Babinsky
[email]: http://flow-to.com/email/LED.1186729891lre6uyz.mth
Subject: Free Consultations

> I get a lot of people who want a free consultation
> in different forms... Have any LEDers had this type
> of situation in your respective fields? How did you
> handle it more effectively?
       - LED Digest 2465
       - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1876/190/

Hi,

I offer a 30 minute free "Getting To Know You Consult" to service
professionals, who are interested in my online marketing coaching. I
do pre-qualify them before talking to them. My time is valuable, so
doing the pre-qualification work helps me see who is serious about
working with me and who is in it for the consult.

First, I make sure that they know that the goal of the consult is
for them to get to know me and for me to get to know them and see if
there is a fit for us to work together. It is not a free service
session. We spend the time talk about their business and how I can
help them.

Second, I ask them to fill out a pre-consult questionnaire for me to
get to know their business. Doing this also shows a commitment and
interest from their side.

But what helped me even more is creating products - E-books, Home
Study Guides, Members-Only Web Site and Seminars. When I get e-mails
from prospective clients asking about my services, many times I can
tell that the one-on-one service may not be appropriate for them.
However, an e-book or some other product might be very useful.

When I am able to offer my products to people who can't afford my
services, or are on the fence about them, I am able to generate
revenue from the situations that I would not be able to get anything
out of if I only had my services to offer.

If you are a service professional who offers ONLY services, I
strongly recommend to look into creating multiple streams of income
by creating and selling products in addition to services.

Biana Babinsky
Free Report, "How To Get Clients Online"
http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/free_report.html

Comment: mailto:post@led-digest.com?Subject=Free-consultations

Enhance Your Web Site for a More User Friendly Experience (this was written for Commission Junction publishers however anyone with a Web Site will appreciate the quick read)

When designing and maintaining a Web site, user experience is a simple, foundational concept that is often overlooked. The significance of the user experience is great, and can severely affect the success or failure of a publisher's affiliate marketing efforts.

User experience is the concept that an interactive product, in this case a Web site, is tailored to the real needs of its users. Keep in mind that users come to your Web site to fulfill a specific need. By ensuring that your Web site provides a user friendly experience, you ensure that your users achieve their needs easily and feel satisfied with their experience. As a result, they will be inclined to return to your Web site, and ultimately become a loyal, repeat user.

In this article we will look at ten elements that contribute to a user friendly experience including the navigational ease of a Web site as well as the content. As you review the following ten elements, consider how they relate to your Web site and what updates you could incorporate in order to provide a more user friendly experience. While some elements suggested below may require more effort on your part, and others may only require a small tweak, the steps you take to create a more user friendly experience will ultimately be reflected in increased revenue and return users.

1. Navigation Bar – When a Web site contains multiple pages, a navigation bar helps users quickly locate the content that they desire. Typically, a left side navigation bar is more user friendly than a bar across the top of a page. Be sure that each item in your navigation bar is named appropriately and in a way that helps users easily find what they need.
   
   
2. Search Box – Even if the elements in your navigation bar are properly named, and seemingly self explanatory, users often desire a search box to help them find exactly what they are looking for. If your users have a hard time finding what they are looking for on your Web site, there is a good chance they'll leave your Web site and try their search somewhere else.
   
   
3. Organization and Detail – Keeping the content on your Web site well organized allows users to quickly find what they are looking for. For example, if your Web site offers a selection of electronic products, keep your category listings properly organized. Sometimes simply listing 'Electronics' is not enough. Be as detailed as possible by breaking out categories into sub categories, for example 'Electronics' could offer such sub categories as 'Computers, Photography, and Telecommunications.' In addition, a sub category such as Computers could be broken down even further to 'Desktop Systems, Notebooks, Monitors, and Printers.'
   
   
4. Population – Keeping your content well organized is the first step, but ensuring your content is well populated is equally important. For example, are your advertisers listed in all of the appropriate categories? Users may look for Apple in computers, or they may look for Apple in music. Be sure to populate your category listings to ensure your advertisers are listed in all relevant categories.
   
   
5. Links – Dead links are a top complaint for a poor user experience. Weed out your dead links, update links of advertisers who have changed landing pages, and remove links for advertisers who no longer have affiliate programs. To find out if you have any invalid links generating traffic, any deactivated advertisers in your program, or if there are any promotions ending within the next 30 days, log into your CJ Account Manager™, click on the Run Reports tab, select Performance Reports, and at the bottom of the page view the Frequently Run Reports.
   
   
6. Forums – With user generated content being all the rage, forums are increasingly important to the user friendly experience. In addition to receiving information, users enjoy the interactivity that forums allow. Offering this outlet on your Web site provides users a place to share their own opinions and promotions of products, services, coupons or deals, increases the user's loyalty to your Web site, and ultimately drives sales. Forums create a community and enable the users to interact with each other. Blogs are also a good option, however they are more individualistic as the content is derived from one sources. Blogs only become community oriented when comments are enabled.
   
   
7. Coupons – If you offer coupons, it is important to remove offers when they expire and to keep up with current deals. Consider implementing Commission Junction's RSS feed from the Commission Junction Offer Portal. The Offer Portal is a convenient gateway to access current advertiser offers. Visit http://www.cjbeta.com/offerportal/ for additional information on the Offer Portal and to access the RSS feed.
   
   
8. Seasonality – There is always one house in your neighborhood whose owner leaves the Christmas lights up until July, or keeps their Halloween decorations up through the New Year. Just as you may view these neighbors as lazy or behind the times, if your Web site reflects seasonal offers past their prime, your users will view your site less favorably and be less inclined to come back. Keep up to date on seasonal trends and display advertisers and offers that are relevant to the current season on your home page. To help users navigate your site based on seasonality, consider including the option to sort or search for products and/or services based on season.
   
   
9. Product Search – One of the most valuable resources in the CJ Marketplace is the product catalog. The network contains millions of product links spread across a wide variety of categories, and for a one time fee you can get access to the product catalogs for all advertisers who provide one. To access product catalogs, log into your CJ Account Manager, click on Contact Us in the upper right hand corner, and then Ask a Question. Then simply request access to product catalogs.
   
   
10. Featured Products – Knowing what items are top sellers helps you determine which items or links to feature on the 'prime real estate' of your Web site. Advertisers often include 'top seller' lists in their newsletters to help you determine which items to feature. Additionally, you can utilize Product Performance reporting in the CJ Account Manager to determine top selling items. Under the Run Reports tab, Performance Reports, you can view the associated item details (Item ID link). Click the Items link to view performance statistics including the SKU or item ID, item name and product category.
    
    
    Dealcatcher is a great example of a Web site that is user friendly. They incorporate many of the elements mentioned above:
    
    
    • The navigation bars on the left side point out both categories as well as top stores
      
      
    • There is a search box for shoppers to find the exact product they are looking to purchase
      
      
    • The site offers a forum where shoppers can share hot deals they've discovered
      
      
    • Dealcatcher provides special pages for coupons and even breaks them out by "New" and "Expiring" to keep deals fresh
      
      
    • They've featured a product as their 'Catch of the Day' which points out a particularly popular item

Next time you are trolling around online, be sure to pay close attention to the elements you appreciate on your favorite sites, as well as elements that frustrate you, and apply your findings to your Web site. Providing a user friendly experience is important in creating a loyal user base and vital for driving sales. Offering users convenient and easy navigation of your site, as well as organized, relevant and up to date content will help users easily fulfill their needs and feel satisfied with their experience on your Web site.

Levi' s Targets Gay Community with Equal-Opportunity Ad Production

Advertising Age drew some attention to an effort by Levi's to strengthen its clout in the gay community by producing an ad twice - once for the straight community, and once for the gay one. The gay one ran exclusively on MTV's Logo network (which, unless it branches out, sounds like it's probably getting less play than the hetero version).

As always with Levi's the production is clean but the concept is wrongfully credited for being the first to do the gay/straight coin toss with human beings.

Orbitz, noted by Ad Age for having done this with marionettes, also produced a set of thematically gay and straight ads with human beings.

Oops.

Quick 7 Point Checklist for Tuning & Tweaking An Aging Website

July 25th, 2007 · 2 Comments ·

Every now and then I like to sit down and analyze stats, track details from individual marketing campaigns and make some minor tweaks and updates across the board.

There are a lot of little things running behind the scenes that keep our Online Business performing its best.

Over time links and information can become outdated, auto responder sequences can run out, and while you are busy working on other projects… your once well-oiled automated machine shows signs of needing a serious tune-up.

7 Places to Check for Leaks:

• Auto Responders
  Check messages in the sequence for broken links, or places you might want to add new information. You may also need to add new messages to the sequence to keep your list from growing cold.
• Email Confirmations for Mailing Lists
  If you manage a double opt-in email list, check to see what the confirmation email looks like. Is it personalized and does it compel your brand new subscriber to confirm their subscription?
• Confirmation Pages for New Sign-ups
  Analyze the page that your subscribers are taken to after they submit their email address. Consider any changes you might want to make. If you are using a stock message, sit down and create a custom page for visitors to see when they subscribe and when they confirm.
• Follow-up/Welcome Messages to New Subscribers
  Whether you manage a newsletter, notification list or an auto responder you should have at least one follow-up auto response that goes out to each subscriber as a welcome message. If you don't have one, create one. If you do, go over it again to see if you can make any changes/additions to this first point of personal contact.
• Error Pages (404 File Not Found, etc)
  Customize your error pages so that you can apologize and then redirect your 'lost' visitors (example). If you did this when you designed your website originally, double check to see if it needs a quick update.
• Profile/About Pages
  Are your profiles up to date? Make sure they include the correct details and information, a solid call-to-action, and links to current points of interest. Don't forget profiles on networking groups, social networking sites, etc - in addition to your own websites.
• Forum Signatures
  Go through the list of forums that you visit and update your signatures. Add new links, change your photo, or just spice it up a little.

While you are in tune-up mode, consider any elements of your online business that you can automate or even outsource. Start with the tasks that take up the majority of your time, or those that you dread the most. Automating & outsourcing can free up valuable hours that you can spend working on even more profitable ventures.

Best,

Getting Paid Online To Review Real Products Offline

July 19th, 2007 · 6 Comments ·

I received a small package in the mail late last week from PayPerPost. This is a company that I have done paid reviews for online, and made quite a bit of easy money with (over $1500) in my spare time.

I opened the package right away of course, as past experience has always proven really cool stuff comes in the mail from PPP. This time it was something completely different though: a product sample…

I will tell you upfront that I am not being paid for this blog post - well, not directly anyway, I always make money when I blog - but I did want to share this concept with you and tell you about the latest from PayPerPost.

The company is barely over a year old and is one of the most innovative and creative online companies I have ever worked with. The CEO, Ted Murphy, is outrageous - someone I have deemed "The King of Buzz Marketing" in the short time I have been following him.

What they offer is a service between merchants and bloggers, as the middle man in the huge market of online advertising. Anyone (me, your mother, my neighbor) can set up a blog and review products and websites for pay. The top 4 bloggers for PPP have already earned well over $10,000 each. Of course, those are earnings from PayPerPost alone. As you well know, most bloggers have multiple income sources (contextual advertising, ad sales, affiliate marketing, etc).

The way it works is that you sign up to be a "Postie" (a blogger for PayPerPost) and then you review all of the opportunities when you log in to their website. You choose the 'opps' that are a good match for your blog, and you write reviews for those companies. Some of them are site reviews, some are product or service reviews, some of them just want mention of some sort (they are buying text links).

Back to the small package I received - this is part of a new service from PPP where they send you products or samples and give you a chance to TRY it and then review it.

What I got was a sample of Freeze It from www.freezeitgel.com. I had to laugh at the irony of this showing up in my mailbox, because I had just wenched my back last week down my right shoulder blade.

This is not the first time this year either. You might remember my recent post about Repetitive Stress Syndrome. There was a reason that topic was on my mind . It can be especially painful to sit in a computer chair and work any length of time in that condition. I know I'm not alone on that - in fact, I was just reading a few days ago that Bonnie (fellow reader) was suffering from a similar injury. Ouch!

Anyway, you can imagine how funny it was to me that I received this particular product sample at such a perfect time. I mean, they could have sent me dog food samples (I don't have a dog) or anti-aging cream ( ) or anything really.

They actually sent me a lot of it too. I think I got 4 sample packs - and you get at least 2 or 3 uses out of one sample (using it generously). This stuff ROCKS. If you've ever heard of Bio freeze or had hot/cold massage therapy… you know what I'm talking about. And I doubt I would have sat down here to tell you all of this if I hadn't used their product first… because the pain in my right shoulder blade is directly related to my mouse hand

Well, and funny thing - I had decided not to take the "opp" simply because I was busy with other things this week, but I've managed to tell you how much I love their product anyway. But the true point of all this rambling was to tell you about this new option or opportunity that PayPerPost is testing - to let their reviewers test products hands-on and then pay them for their reviews of those products.

I like it

Best,

5 Ways To Balance Home & Business, Under The Same Roof…

July 18th, 2007 · 9 Comments ·

I was tagged by Rob and specifically asked to write "5 ways you can balance being a successful mom / homeworker." This is part of an interesting Meme where the person who 'tags' you gets to request a specific topic from you.

I'm flattered at the topic that Rob chose for me. He obviously thinks I have a good handle on the balancing act it takes to be a Work at Home Mom (WAHM). After 10+ years at it, hopefully I've picked up a few good tips I could pass along, right? LOL

Of course …

1. Work With The Natural Flow
Don't try to break the schedule or routine in your home so that you can work there. Go with what works instead. For example, work during the hours you are most productive. Do housework or other tasks when your home is most distracting. Make the most of your time and space!

2. Be Self-Motivated
It doesn't come natural to be in a highly motivated and productive state of mind when you are at home in your favorite pajamas. It comes more natural to be relaxed and to escape the rest of the world.

Study Think and Grow Rich, learn to keep yourself on your toes and beat the clock, and basically figure out what it takes - for you personally - to stay on top of your game.

3. Set Ground Rules
Once you get an idea what works best for you, and where you need improvement, set some rules and expectations about your work time and your work space. Turn off phone ringers, be firm with friends and family about your work hours, etc. Having a flexible schedule is great, but some structure ensures that you get your work done and you have free time with the kids/family as well.

4. Create a Productive Work Space
Organize and arrange your Home Office so that you can work efficiently. Since this is not going to be the same for everyone, its important to pay attention to your habits and change things accordingly.

5. Know Your Priorities
There will be times when 1, 2, 3 & 4 fail you and you find yourself frustrated. Its not easy to balance a career and a family under the same roof - no matter how well you plan it. Always keep your priorities in mind, instead of the tasks and details. Work towards the greater goal. This kind of focus will alleviate much of the stress that is common with a Home Office situation.

—

The interesting twist to this Meme (a fun writing game) is that I now get to choose 5 other people and give a unique (and fitting) "5 ways you can…" topic for each. How much fun is that?! Here are the 5 bloggers that I hand-pick to write about topics I would love to read from them:

• Paul Short 5 Ways You Can Spice Up Boring Sales Copy
• Teli Adlam 5 Ways You Can Monetize Your Niche Blog
• Bonnie Lowe 5 Ways You Can Make Money Online From Scratch
• Rae Hoffman 5 Ways You Can Become A Kick-Ass Super Affiliate
• Chrissie 5 Ways You Can Use PLR (Private Label Rights) Articles

Have fun with it

If you didn't get tagged and you would like to participate, you can find the original Meme here.

Best,

Reliable, Respected, Revered or Feared

What is most the most important attribute to developing your reputation? Would you prefer to be known as reliable, respected, revered or feared? Is it possible to be all of these things over time? Constructing your reputation is like solving a Rubik's Cube puzzle. It takes time, several steps and the right combination of twists and turns. It is also important to know what it should look like when you are done. When you have the goal in your mind, then you can go about solving the puzzle.

The GOAL

The goal of developing your reputation is to be true to yourself. Be consistent with your principals and your personal values. Your actions, your decisions and your interaction with others should be a reflection of the way that you live your life. If you attempt to disguise your intentions or beguile your associates, you will not be able to maintain trust or confidence. If your intentions are to help your customers, look for other individuals with similar intentions. If you are content with your own situation, then enjoy the camaraderie of your peers and help them to achieve their goals. If your intention is personal advancement or promotions, be open about searching for people who will support your efforts.

If you define and share your goals, you will either find supporters or other individuals with similar goals. At the same time, be cognizant and supportive of the goals of those around you. Be prepared to listen intently and understand the aspirations of coworkers and customers. You person who listens the most is heard loudest.

RELIABLE

First, establish a reputation for being reliable. Regardless of your position, title or tenure, the foundation of your reputation should be reliability. If you are the leader, manager, director, clerk, associate or representative, maintain a dedicated focus on being consistently reliable. It is equally important to be a reliable customer as it is to be a reliable vendor or supplier. No matter how powerful or seemingly unimportant you may perceive your responsibilities, there are other people who rely on you. Be consistently reliable for the people you report to, to the people who look up to you, the people that you support and to the people who support you.

Even if some people respect you, revere you or fear you, you will have no value to anyone if you are not reliable. Do not forget this basic foundation in the search for power or prestige. You may be respected for your capability, but what good is it if you can not be counted on as a reliable individual? This is based on your ability to perform consistently and to be supportive of others.

RESPECTED

You do not have to be the president or a brain surgeon to be respected. Take a look at the positions and the people that you respect most in your life. Then look to see what these people have in common. School teachers and police officers are respected for their individual sacrifice and dedication to their profession in the service of others. Respect can be earned by great achievements through consistent effort, self-sacrifice and being someone that other people can count on, being reliable. A leader or a coach does not earn respect for the position, but rather by what they do with the authority and responsibility of the position. A coworker may earn respect by diligence, effort or self-sacrifice. Winning the lottery may achieve instant wealth, but it does not earn instant respect.

What can you do to earn respect? You might be respected for your talent, for your character or for your perseverance. Respect may be earned by the way that you use your experience, knowledge or previous achievements. If you want to be respected and do not know how to begin, start by being reliable.

REVERED or FEARED

For centuries there has been a debate regarding the benefits of being revered or being feared. One dimensional leaders often choose one of these attributes for their reputation and dedicate their ambitions toward a single goal, to be revered or to be feared. Machiavelli described the importance of being feared, and many dictators who embraced this approach were eventually rewarded with revolution. On the other hand, individuals who take extreme measures to be liked or revered may run the risk of being taken advantage of, and thereby losing much more than respect.

In the balance of leadership, individuals are more likely to make perform or make sacrifice for something and somebody that they believe in. When performance and sacrifice is demanded through fear, the output is reluctant and can not be sustained. From a personal perspective, are you more likely to repeat a task and improve your personal performance when doing something that you enjoy, or for someone that you want to please? Are you more or less likely to expend extra effort consistently for a job or a person that you resent?

Good decisions are made when clear purpose and goals are established and shared. The predominance of fear impairs good decisions, or even worse, may precipitate a culture that lacks any decisions for fear of being ostracized. Avoiding a decision is the same as making a decision to allow unmanaged consequences.

It is possible to be both revered and feared. By virtue of being respected as a reliable individual, you will become both revered and feared. Some individuals will appreciate consistency, predictability, direction and reliability. By the same token, if you are consistent with your own personal goals and values, you may be feared by other individuals. If your values are self-serving, you will be revered by a small group of like-minded individuals and feared by many. If your values are self-sacrificing toward the greater good, then you will find yourself revered by many and feared by the self-serving. In any case, consistency of purpose and character will create circumstances that cultivate opportunities to be revered, feared or both. This depth of character is far superior to a hollow one dimensional approach of choosing to be only revered or feared.

What does all this mean? Stop worrying about your reputation and concentrate on doing those things that reputations are built on. Listen intently to others. Be willing to make sacrifices for others. Be consistently reliable, and be true to yourself. Do your job with the same principles and passions that you live your life, and your reputation will take care of itself. By coincidence, if you can achieve this dedicated diligence to your values, you will discover an inverse relationship that your reputation will grow as your care less about it.

Words of Wisdom

"Conscience and reputation are two things. Conscience is due to yourself, reputation to your neighbor." - Saint Augustine

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." - Henry Ford

"Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear." - Socrates

"There are two modes of establishing our reputation: to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues. It is best, however, to secure the former, because it will invariably be accompanied by the latter." - Charles Caleb Colton

John Mehrmann is an author, speaker and industry expert with Executive Blueprints Inc. http://www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com