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Humans, the old saying goes, are creatures of habit. Some of our habits our productive, while others are less than ideal. Many times, we are prone to attributing our habitual behaviors to external forces, when they are really the product of our internal selves and instinctive response. Believe me, I’ve experienced this for myself. Personally, I have a habit of expressing too much emotion at times I don’t want to, later regretting the way I’ve handled a situation.
It's often hard at work to be mindful--the state of fully focusing your awareness on the present moment--when faced with distractions like the constant ping of emails and texts and the fact that we constantly push our brains to the point of fatigue. Gloria Mark, Ph.D., who studies digital distraction, has found that the average person only has about 11 minutes of consistent focus before he or she gets interrupted. And once you are distracted, it can take up to 25 minutes before your mind can again refocus on work.
Trying to balance everything in our lives just stresses us out more. The key to happiness is more about creating work-life harmony. We hear a lot about work-life balance. It’s a nice catchall phrase that tries to explain the daily attention we place on both our work and home life. Can you give equal attention to a career and a family all of the time? I don’t think you can realistically.
Start the new year by creating--and reaching--goals that can elevate your business. Many times, a new year can be when we are motivated to set new personal goals. We may want to get in better shape, save more money, or learn a new skill. But what about your business? It deserves the same attention--but unfortunately often gets ignored. In fact, one survey found that more than 80 percent of the 330 business owners surveyed didn't track their business goals.
Founding a startup is likely one of the most challenging things you will do in your professional life. Taking an idea and turning it into a successful business is no easy feat. Taking the time to reflect, set intentions and take care of yourself can help you to be in prime mental condition to be the leader you would like to be. And there is no better time than the beginning of a new year to take the time for reflection and setting intentions.
Turning meditation into a habit is scientifically proven to improve your concentration and creative thinking in business. Billionaire Marc Benioff does it every day. So does Russell Simmons, Jeff Weiner, and even Arianna Huffington. It's meditation, and these successful people (and many other CEOs just like them) swear that spending a few quite moments with their mind makes them better thinkers and leaders.
I have been thinking a lot lately about “influencer” marketing. Partially because, well, it is my job to. From discussing it on the podcast, to question it myself, to engaging with self-proclaimed influencers; I’ve been thinking a lot about the effect that this type of marketing has had on my life & on global business.
There is this thing that happens with my kids when I travel: Once I’m home, they are completely out of sorts for the equivalent amount of days as I was away. Like, if they were away with grandma for three days, it’s going to take at least three days to get back in a regular bedtime routine and not ask for cookies for breakfast. I totally get it. I feel the same exact way after I return from conferences.
I spend a lot of my time thinking about stories. I have been crafting them for as long as I can remember. I only realized this recently, when my mom began purging the contents of the attic in my childhood home and uncovered my childhood treasure trove: boxes and boxes full of notebooks. Words are how I've always made sense of the world. I have always seen myself as first and foremost as a storyteller.
In our work as brand excavators and strategists, we are not working to shoehorn your brand or business into a pre-set market position that we’ve deemed advantageous. That’s Old World branding. What we are ultimately working to do is to inspire you to overcome your fear. Fear is the main dynamic that keeps you from truly becoming a brand.
There is a critical question that every entrepreneur faces when they embark on building their business: What is my company’s brand and how will it stand out in the market? In our age of social media & increased connectivity, there has been a lot of emphasis recently put on the importance of personal branding and promoting yourself and your story online
Every great business begins with an idea. It starts a solution or service to solve for a problem or need, and a story behind what inspired it all. In the hustle and bustle of taking your idea and turning it into an actual business, and ideally the kind that generates meaningful income, you must take time to connect with that story. Because businesses that are remembered for something more than just the things they sell are the ones that take the time to craft that story into something that their customers truly connect with. They become more than just a business; having a story makes them a brand.
There is a topic that seems to keep popping up in the world of accounting. To niche or not to niche? That is, quite literally, the question that countless firms are asking themselves. It’s a quandary that feels somewhat unique to the profession, and it is amplified by the growing concern in the accounting industry that tax & bookkeeping work is going to be gobbled up by “bots” and bigger businesses. While I don’t necessarily believe these shifts are as eminent as the internet has made them seem, I do think there is a lot of compelling reason for firms to explore the idea of focusing their practice on a single industry vertical.
As you continue to create your own unique, client focused content, you begin to notice patterns relating to the content you create. There are key problems faced by your clients over, and over, and over again. And the advice you give them often returns to a few key points around which you base more detailed and specific suggestions.
I have noticed a fairly stark trend unfolding in the advisory space. Even though there is a growing number of female firm owners in the accounting industry, the vast majority of firms making the shift towards advisory are male-owned and operated. I started to wonder why that is, and more importantly, what can we do to change it?
Self-doubt in the workplace. Most of us have suffered from it at some point in our careers. It can crop up as that nagging voice that tells us we are underqualified, that we are frauds, and that we don’t belong. But for some, it cuts even deeper. Impostor syndrome is the isolating belief that you are a professional or intellectual fraud despite evidence of your success. Impostor syndrome is a unique psychological experience that is different from fleeting moments of doubt.
Just a few weeks after opening its doors, The Riveter’s new Denver location jumpstarted its programming and welcomed attendees with a discussion on leadership, featuring Danielle Shoots, CFO of The Colorado Trust and CEO and founder of the Daily Boss Up, a digital startup that provides coaching for leaders at different professional stages.
With all the incredible assets we have in Seattle, I’d like to think the secret sauce of the local startup scene is coffee: not just because we’re so highly caffeinated, but because the city is filled with mentors who will have a cup of coffee with you as you pursue your passion. There’s an art to the coffee meeting — whether it’s a literal or metaphorical latte — and done well, it can be the beginning of a meaningful connection that can truly benefit both people involved.
Diversity, inclusion, and equality aren’t just nice-to-haves. They happen to be fantastic for business: Diverse teams perform better … and not like 2% better. One study has it at 95% better. (Ninety-five percent!) Also: Teams who think their workplace is inclusive are more innovative. Diverse teams make decisions 60% faster, and those decisions are better 87% of the time. (Eighty-seven percent!) Meanwhile, businesses that fail at diversity see higher turnover.
Maybe you haven’t found the opportunities in your industry you thought you would. Or your industry has just changed. Or maybe you feel like you’ve hit a wall in your current role. Or you’re bored with it. Or maybe you really don’t like your job function. Or your industry as a whole. Or maybe you really, really love a different industry, and you want in. No matter the reason, it’s time for a career change. They’re tricky to navigate, but by no means impossible. (Just ask Sallie.) Here are ten steps to help you make the transition.
