It doesn’t matter what type of business you run, creating an informational product is a good way to share your business with others. They give you the ability to share a specific part of your business such as a product or service. You’ll be able to go into as much detail as you want and charge the appropriate fee based on that information. The best thing to do is consider your market and create a product that meets their needs. You’ll want to put these informational products into a format that’s something they’ll use. An example of this would be if your market uses audio a lot. You’ll want to consider creating an MP3 file and saving it to so you can send it to others as.

Informational products include ebooks, teleseminars, and webinars to name a few. They can contain any type of information that you can share and not have to do anything more with. You can share as much or as little information as you want. You also have the ability to create one with a small amount of information and then create one with more information. The one with the smaller amount of information can encourage our buyers to purchase the full blown product. It can be a challenge to remember to send these out and when you have a large number of people making purchases you may not be able to keep up with everything. With that said, it’s a good idea to use a shopping cart so you can automate the payment and delivery process, but it’s not necessary if you can’t make that happen at the present time.

The most important thing to remember when you’re creating informational products is your market. You should always keep your topics close to your market. When you veer off track and try to create products for other markets you may not reach success. You know your main market which means you know where they are online and you know how to market to them in a way that will get them to make a purchase. When you don’t know your market you can’t do that which means you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Informational products are a great way to grow your income with very little work. They give you the ability to earn money while doing other things within your business to help you to see even more growth. When you use them to your advantage you’ll see how well they work and how you can make them work in your business.

An intern is someone that wants to learn the business, but can’t get a job because of the lack of experience. They need the experience in order to get the job of their dreams. While businesses want people with their degree and knowledge, the experience is a must. It’s almost impossible for them to get the experience which is why they consider an internship even though they don’t get paid. The experience they gain is priceless because they can get a job once the internship is over.

As the business owner, you must create a plan that you can follow no matter who your intern is or how many you have. You need to write out the tasks you want your intern to do and you need to make sure they are in line with their degree and what they need the outcome to be. When you have this plan in place you’ll be able to hire the right person and you’ll be able to get the work done and you’ll be able to help this person gain the experience they need to get the perfect job. It’s a win-win for both you as the business owner and them as the employee looking to gain more experience.

It’s important you have your intern do the right tasks so you don’t want them doing email management and data entry if they’re trying to gain experience in welding or being an electrician. You don’t want to teach your intern how to do bookkeeping tasks when they really need to learn how to do article marketing and blog submissions. This is why you need to be clear on the type of person you’re looking for and it’s also important you know what this person needs to gain the experience they’re looking for.

When you find the right person and you create a list of tasks for your business that this person needs to handle, you’ll see success with your business and your intern will have the same success. When you don’t do this it’ll be too late and you’ll run the risk of your intern not learning what is necessary for them to gain the experience they desire.

1. Sporting Events

If your community has a sports team they sell tickets too or if you have youth sporting events you may have the ability to sponsor them. You’ll need to have a banner made up or they may have one made up for you depending on their needs and desires. You can sponsor high school teams, their gym, a baseball team, or a football team. When sporting events are big in your community they often times look for businesses to sponsor them so they have the ability to get what they need for the new season or during the current year.

2. Score Boards

If you need score boards for your sporting events you can help make the purchase and the program in charge will give you the ability to add a sign to the bottom portion of the sign. While this may work with high school events, it works really well if you have a pro or semi pro team and could include an indoor football team, a minor league baseball team.

3. Local Meetings

Depending on the type of business you run, you may have the ability to sponsor some sort of meeting and get the publicity you’re looking for easily and quickly. These meetings could be a way for teenagers to stay out of trouble or for business owners to find employees. Some communities do chili cook-offs, woman only fairs, or baseball camps to name a few. Each may require a different way for your business to be noticed, but the end result is all the same.

4. Sports Fields

Depending on the types of sports programs you have and the type of community you live in, you may be able to sponsor a field and have it named after you. This may not be easy to do with high school fields, but it may be possible to do this with midget football fields or baseball fields. The best thing to do is contact someone within the organization and see if this is an option for your business to do.

Finding unique ways to market your business is a great way to stand out in the community. When people within the community continually see your business name they’ll remember you and see what you do whenever they see it. After a few times of seeing your business and checking out what you do they’ll remember this and they’ll use you when they need what you offer.

Every task that goes on in your business needs to have step by step instructions written out and every policy you have in place needs to be typed out and posted in a common place for everyone to see. It’s important to remember it doesn’t matter how small the task is or how important the policy is you need to have it written down for your employees to see and have access to at all times.

There are several ways to create these instructions and policies. Here are some suggestions to help you.

1. Operating Procedures & Instructions

When you have step by step instructions for every task you’ll feel comfortable when your employees ask you if they can take time off or if you lose that employee for a short amount or they move on to a different job you’re going to be in trouble with the tasks this employee does, so it’s best to protect yourself from the beginning. The first thing you need to do is explain to your employees why you’re having them write out these instructions. You don’t want them to feel like you’re trying to replace them, but rather protect yourself.

You can create a binder or file that contains all instructions for each position or you can create one for each task. You’ll want to make sure you save them with titles you’ll understand so you don’t have to go file by file looking for the task you need to accomplish. If you’re going to save these online you’ll want to make sure you have a backup of them just in case the computer they’re on crashes.

2. Policies

Every company has policies for their employees to follow. These policies include how and when you’ll get paid, pay raises, vacation policies, time off with and without pay, disciplinary action steps, training, and safety items. Each of these items needs to have a policy so everyone is informed of the way things will be and how things will be handled. These policies need to be readily available for your employees to see and should be reviewed often.

It’s a good idea to review these policies each time you make a change. Changes may need to be made when something new happens or when you see the need to make a change to better your company or to help your employees. It’s also a good idea to have a sit down meeting with all of your employees and review these policies once a year near the beginning of the year. This will remind your employees of the policies and you need to remind them they’re there to help them and protect them.

When you write out instructions and policies for your employees, not only will you be protected, but they will be as well. It’s important to have these in a place where every employee can have access to them easily and anytime they feel the need to read through them. While these may take time to create, you’ll be glad you did when you need to use them for one reason or another.

Our weekly leadership favorites are an eclectic collection of articles, blog posts, quotes, pod casts, books and whatever else engages our interest. Some items are recent, others aren’t. Some are mainstream, others are off the beaten path. Enjoy! Be inspired! Lead BIG!

Leadership Friday Favs 5.11.12

What is Unconscious Bias? (Unconscious Bias)

Unconscious bias is gaining social science traction (and some controversy) as yet another reason why discrimination, albeit covert, still exists in the workplace. The concept “offers the idea that discrimination and bias are social, rather than individual issues, and that we can thus all participate in promoting equality.”

• Companion piece: the Implicit Association Test (IAT) developed by Doctors Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, designed to help us better understand the conscious-unconscious divergences that go on in our mind. We’re still talking about our results.

Ladies! Will an interest in men’s sports advance your career? (Dorothy Dalton on Dorothy Dalton); Wanted: Senior Executive: Must Play Golf ~ Really? (Gwyn Teatro on You’re Not the Boss of Me)

I’m (Jane writing here) married to a sports addict whose wedding gift to me was golf clubs. I’ve done my share of playing really bad golf at business meetings, networking events and vendor/client outings. So two posts in a week about the relationship between sports and business was fascinating…as are some of the comments to these posts.

Do Your Team Members Throw One Another Under The Bus? (Chris Young, Human Capital Strategy Blog)

If your employees pointing fingers at one another instead of supporting/encouraging each other, Chris offers some investigative answers to help leaders get to core of the issue.

Are You Building a Leadership Culture? (Doug Dickerson on Leader’s Beacon)

Using the results of the recent Hay Group study on best leadership practices as a springboard, Doug poses questions for reflection to determine if your organization will ever show up on that list.

Book reviews to check out: What Matters Now by Gary Hamel onLeadershipNow, Judgment Calls: Twelve Stories of Big Decisions and the Teams that Got Them Right by Thomas H. Davenport and Brook Manville onLeadBIG, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg on WhitneyJohnson.

Thoughts on getting your personal big on. “Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.” ~Jim Rohn

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It doesn’t matter if you have a storefront or if your business is run completely online, taking a vacation is something you must do on occasion. If you don’t you’ll find you won’t have the energy to do what you need, you won’t have the desire, and you may take things out on your employees or customers. It’s not worth it in the end, so it’s important to find a way to take the time off.

You may feel like you’re the only one that cares about your business and you’re the only want that wants to see success, but that’s not true. Your employees care too, because if you’re not successful, then you close the business down or you let people go and that means they don’t have money coming in to support their family. It’s a chain reaction, so it’s vital you find the right employees to work with and if you don’t currently have them, you need to take time to find them.

If you don’t have the right employees you’ll never feel like you can take a vacation or if you do take one you’ll continually be on the phone with them or working on the Internet to make sure things are done. That defeats the purpose of a vacation, so you might as well not take one if that’s what you’re going to do while you’re gone.

When you have the right employees or if you outsource tasks and you find the right Virtual Assistant you’ll fee comfortable taking time off because you’ll know they’ll handle your business as if it was their own. To make this task easier on these people you need to make sure they know everything there is to know about the tasks that need to be done to keep the business going. You need to create a to-do list for them to work from while you’re gone and you need to inform them of any deadlines or if deadlines need to be set, how to do them so everything can be done on time.

Taking a vacation from your business is possible when you have the right employees working for you. When you prepare ahead of time everything will be done and you’ll feel comfortable truly stepping away from the business because you’ll know it will be ok and running smoothly when you return.

The first thing you need to do is look at the big picture with your business and decide if you have the ability to hire someone that’ll be temporary only and nothing more. It would depend on the type of company you run and the reason you feel you’d benefit from it. If you’re so busy during the summer that you can’t get everything done, then it’s important to find someone to help. If you have employees that take time off during the summer and you can’t get the work done without them, you’ll want to consider this option.

Once you’ve decided a temporary or seasonal employee is what you need, you must write out the job description and then begin your search. These types of jobs are somewhat hard to feel because they’re only temporary and not too many people are looking for this type of work, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have success.

It may take a bit more marketing of your job description before you find someone interested, but don’t give up. Keep trying and posting it in different places. Depending on the type of position you have open, you may want to consider hiring a high school or college student to complete your work. These types of people don’t have the ability to work full time, so part time meets their needs.

There are websites you can use, make a post at your local job service office, post a flyer at the high school or college, and then in any other place they might visit. Also, make sure your current employees are aware of it just in case they know someone who should apply.

When you find the right person it’s important they completely understand it’s only temporary and more than likely won’t apply to much more than that. It’s also important you make sure they are aware of the benefits they’ll receive if they do receive any and you need to explain to them when the job will end and how it will be handled.

Temporary and seasonal employees can help you reach success during a very busy time of year in your business. It’s possible without these types of people your business will fall behind or you may fail. That’s not an option so the best thing to do is find the right temporary or seasonal employee to help you make it happen.

The best thing to do is take the time to decide what is mandatory of the job and document it all. Write down the important things your potential employee must have knowledge of and the ability to do. If you require a degree, it’s important to list it properly so you have the right people apply for your job.

A detailed description of the job is also important so you have the right people apply. There is no point in having the wrong people apply for the job because that’s a waste of your time and theirs. When you list your job include all of the crucial tasks and things that are done regularly. It’s not necessary to list the minor things that are done occasionally or the things that might be necessary at some point.

Here are some tips to help you write up the best job description.

1. List the job title

2. Detailed job description

3. Knowledge and education requirements

4. Experience

5. Job location

6. Income range

When you list each of these items you’ll find the applications and resume’s you receive will be more organized and you won’t become overwhelmed looking through each of them and searching for the right people to interview.

When you set appointments for interviews it’s important to let each of your applicants know what they need to bring with them. The only thing might be the transcripts from the college they attended, but you may have other requirements, so make sure they’re aware of it so they’re prepared.

When you’re ready to do your interviews, make sure you’re prepared as well. If you have questions for each person, make sure you have enough of the papers for each person. While you expect each person to be prepared for the interview, you need to be prepared as well.

It’s important to hire the right person for the job and that won’t happen if you don’t list the job properly and if you don’t ask the right things. You’ll need to answer questions that come up from people and make sure the personalities aren’t a conflict. When you do you’ll have the ability to explain yourself and you’ll be able to explain why you’re the exact person for the job.

Press releases can be sent to places online and you can email, fax, mail, or hand deliver them to local radio stations, television stations, and newspapers with hopes they’ll post or read them for you. You’ll find the success you have with them will be well worth the time it took to write them out and submit them. It might even surpass your goals and expectations. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your press release.

1. Use the basic format for a press release. If you try to make up your own format you may find websites and your local contacts may refuse to use them. These types of offers need to be uniform and take very little work on the part of the publisher.

2. Include contact information within your press release. Make sure you include all ways for them to contact you, whether you include a phone number, email address, or website form, it’s important to include it all and make sure it’s typed in properly and working when you send it out.

3. Make sure your content is accurate and true. It’s not good to write information that isn’t true or that’s old just to drive traffic to your site. Lying to your market will get you nowhere fast and it’s not worth it.

4. Include deadlines in your press release. If the content you’re discussing is time sensitive, it’s a good idea to include the deadline multiple times throughout your press release so it’s known. Reminders are never a mad thing, so deadlines are important.

5. It’s important to make sure your press releases are submitted to places that deal with your market. It’s a waste of your time and the publisher’s time if you try to submit them to places that don’t offer your category. It’s best to check out the site before you make the submission.

If you don’t know how to write press releases you can outsource this task to a ghostwriter or Virtual Assistant that offers this specific task. They aren’t easy to write, but worth the time and money to have them completed. If you’ve never used a press release before, consider using one for your next product or service announcement or when you offer a customer appreciation day.

Our weekly leadership favorites are an eclectic collection of articles, blog posts, quotes, pod casts and whatever else engages our interest. Some items are recent, others aren’t. Some are mainstream, others are off the beaten path. Enjoy! Be inspired! Lead BIG!

Leadership Friday Favs 5.4.12

Lead by Listening and Championing New Leaders & New Ideas (Melissa Laughon, Catch Your Limit)

The BIG team loves Melissa’s self-awareness! On a recent flight, she recognized it was time to be a listener and hear stories about leadership and the power of negative role models.

Leadership and Love (Paul J. Zak, Big Questions Online)

Another fav topic with the BIG team – bring more compassion and caring into the workplace. “Especially in tough economic times, some managers may believe that love in the workplace is a luxury they can’t afford. They may find that the cost of hard-hearted or indifferent management can be counted in dollars and cents.”

Office Politics – Five Steps to Make It Joyful (Henna Inam, The Glass Hammer)

Office politics is frequently a work sport many people choose not to play. Bad move. Henna offers up good advice on how to turn those sticky situations into positive advantage.

Escaping the Asylum (Samuel B. Bacharach, The Bacharach Blog)

Goodness, what an idea:  comparing corporate life to being in an asylum, where, “after a while everyone…begins to submit to the definition of self the organization imposes on them, begins speaking the language of the organization, parroting the aspirations of the organization, and accepting the authority and rules of the organization.” Lots to noodle after reading this one!

3 Ways to Silence Your Inner Critic (Scott Eblin, Eblin Group)

Scott serves up three methods for silencing the itty, bitty committee in your head “so you can show up with the kind of confidence that compels people to follow your lead.”

How Women Can Advance as Business Leaders (Anne Deeter Gallaher, CrowdShifter)

It’s always good to hear success stories, especially ones from women in business. Anne shares tips and pointers that helped her with career advancement, from finding her voice to building her own sandbox.

Workplace Diet: Was Blind But Now I See (Because I Asked for Input) (David Grossman, Leader Communicator Blog)

As David writes, “We all have them. Blind spots. Things that are unknown to us yet obvious to others; an area of our leadership vision we’re not able to see.” He offers examples of the most common blind spots as well as 11 ways to figure them out.

Thoughts on dealing with the paradox of kindness. “Kindness is the currency of our hearts, the only currency that can never be subtracted and never be balanced in anyone’s ledgers. We choose to be kind because it is the way we want to live our lives, not because we will be rewarded in some way. When we start to keep score, we become closed-hearted: I’m not doing anything nice until someone does something good for me. Our acts of kindness are whole unto themselves. They require no acknowledgment and no reward, for the act itself returns us once again to the heart of our own humanity.” ~Will Glennon

Here’s wishing you and your team success this coming week in using your head to manage and your heart to lead!

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