(c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Visit the Star-Telegram on theWorld Wide Web: www.star-telegram.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Source:Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), Mar 04, 2004 Item:2W71561445819Works Cited
"Right recipe for business success - 2009 TELSTRA BUSINESS AWARDS." Daily Telegraph, The (Sydney) (02 Mar. 2009): 44-44. Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [ELCO], [Myerstown], [Pa]. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=200903021044392463&site=ehost-live>.
Right recipe for business success - 2009 TELSTRA BUSINESS AWARDS Daily Telegraph, The (Sydney), 03/02/2009Database:Newspaper Source
HTML Full Text
Right recipe forbusinesssuccess- 2009 TELSTRABUSINESSAWARDS
Section: Features Edition: 1 - State
Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Business Awards Ambassador Deena Shiff shares her thoughts on success.
H ow passionate are you about your business? Tasmanian small business of the year owner Rob Pennicott reckons passion is the most important ingredient for a successful business.
Over the past decade Rob and his loyal staff have built up a small charter business running off Bruny Island south of Hobart into one of Australia's most successful and awarded eco-tourism enterprises.
But Rob says the day he loses his passion for the job is the day he knows he has to move on and find a new enterprise.
Passion is important in any business, certainly in one like Rob's where you get out and entertain a boat load of tourists each day.
At Telstra we also know that making the right technology choices also plays a big part inthesuccess of businesses.
Our contact with the country's leading businesses during the 17 years of the Telstra Business Awards has shown that the most successful long-term survivors are making the best use of new technology.
High speed broadband in particular is making a huge difference in helping make businesses more efficient and reach new global markets to sell products and services.
Over the past year Telstra has worked with Austrade to help put our former award winners in touch with its specialists who help Aussie businesses develop export opportunities.
We get a real buzz from seeing our 'alumni' go on to bigger and better things, long after they've enjoyed their first moment inthe national spotlight on the stage at theTelstra Business Awards.
One thing they often tell us is that their ongoing success had a lot to do with entering the awards, with the actual entry process effectively being the start of abusiness plan that helped catapult them to the next level.
Combining passion with a sound business plan seems to be an unbeatable recipe for businesssuccess.
Title:Learn to network to increase business, find a job By: Stockberger, Brook, Las Cruces Sun-News (NM), Mar 20, 2006Database:Newspaper Source
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Learn to network to increasebusiness, find a job
- ec12tgunden Mar 5, 2009- ec12tgunden Mar 5, 2009
Brook Stockberger
Mar. 20--Do you want a job? Well, it is important to get out and press the flesh.
Do you want to improve your business? You need to pass out business cards.
Do you want to improve your visibility inthe community? Then you have to become a good conversationalist.
Are you shy? Tough luck.
From Fortune 500 firms down to mom-and-pop stores, the skills of networking are essential to successinthebusinessworld. From college students to CEOs, theability to heighten your profile is important to improvement, advancement or just plain old employment.
Author Debra Fine has written "The Fine Art of Small Talk: How to Start a Conversation, Keep it Going, Build Networking Skills -- And Leave a Positive Impression!" While humans are social animals, acting social is not always easy, she said from her home in Denver.
"The Bill Clintons of theworld seem to be built with that gift of gab," she said. "They thrive on it. Most of us would rather hang out at home, put our feet up and have a beer."
So, whether it comes naturally to you or not, you need to get out and meet people -- and meet people inthe proper way.
Jim Silar is a retired businessman who is active inthe Las Cruces chapter of SCORE, an organization that gives small businesses free advice and guidance. He said networking sets the groundwork for future interaction.
"It's nice to meet people and shake hands, see them on the street and say, 'Hi, I met you at so and so,'" he said. "I think it is important if you have a commonality of interest."
Fine said it is good to have a first meeting with someone in a social setting to grease the tracks if you later need to contact that person.
"You might call someone you met and say, 'I know you're in mining, who do you know that ...,' and then whatever you need to ask," she said. "Knowing people is important. If you were going to chose between two realtors to list your home, you might never know who the best is, they both have all the qualifications. But I guarantee that you'll pick the realtor that makes you feel comfortable. Often that means it is someone you know."
Dr. Janice Black teaches management at New Mexico State University. She said that getting to know people is invaluable to getting hired.
"People are still social; it's very important when people are looking to hire that they are comfortable, so they usually hire someone they have a connection with," she said. "That being said, you still have to have the right qualifications. But you need to put a name and a face to match up with the right qualifications."
Fine said that when someone asks what you do for a living, do not say, "I help people realize their dreams."
She said such an answer immediately tells people they are not going to have an authentic conversation with you.
"If you're just schmoozing, people can tell," she said. "You have to show some sincere interest."
Networking has to be a two-way street. You are looking out for yourself, but you also have to let others know you will reciprocate and look out for them as well.
Said Black, "People can tell whether or not you share interests. If you're just out (for selfish reasons), it's going to come through and it will hurt as oppose to help you."
Fine said that if you pepper people with questions, they will be turned off or intimidated.
"If you ask someone, 'What do you do?' And they say, 'I'm an attorney.' Then you ask, 'So, where are you from?' And it goes from there," she said. "You become like an FBI agent interrogating someone.
"These kind of conversations is where networking falls apart," Fine said. "It's like a batting cage where the ball keeps coming at us. Instead, it should be like a tennis ball going back and forth."
She said if someone tells you that he or she is an attorney, you could follow that bit of information up with a statement like, "Tell me about your practice." Or a question like, "So what is your expertise?"
Fine said that if you are going to be in a situation where you are sitting at a table with a group of people, it is a good idea to have several conversation topics planned ahead of time.
"I used to hope that, if I was at a table for eight, someone else would come up with something to talk about," she said. "It never occurred to me it was my burden to make the people at my table feel comfortable."
She said to think of three topics before you even walk into the room. Also, ending a conversation well is just as important as all the other components.
"You can say, 'I just saw my girlfriend and I want to touch base with her,' or something like that," she said. "To be a good networker, you have to be a good conversationalist."
Black said it is important to be able to speak well. She suggested groups like Toastmaster, which help people learn to conduct public speaking, as a resource.
"Be able to talk; it does not have to be always in great depth or anything, but talk intelligibly," she said. "Simply going out and being involved with people can help."
Even if you are not at a networking event, you can still reach out to people.
"If we're both at the same event at the same time, I call that free information," Fine said. "If we're in line for the same movie or concert you can strike up a conversation. If you're at wedding you can say, 'So how are you connected to the bride?' These are ways to start a conversation."
Looking for a job NMSU student David Greary plans to graduate in December with a degree in management.
"I'm trying to get all the information I can," he said.
"I've had a lot of meetings with my teachers and I e-mail or call them."
He has also joined an honor organization on campus.
"We try to do community-service related events," he said. "We want to help people and this is also a great way to meet people."
Black said that internships and similar programs are important.
"Not just for-profit organizations, but also governmental agencies offer internships," she said.
"In many instances, organizations view internships as a recruiting tool."
Networking -- To interact or engage in informal communication with others for mutual assistance or support.
Source: dictionary.com
Mompreneurs gaining success in the business world. By: Coburn, Jennifer, San Diego Business Journal, 87506890, 06/28/99, Vol. 20, Issue 26Database:MasterFILE Premier
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MOMPRENEURS GAININGSUCCESSINTHEBUSINESSWORLD
Section:Entrepreneurs
They've got Muppets in their briefcases. Power lunch is with Chef Boyardee. And before 9 inthe morning, they've read thebusiness page of the newspaper and "Green Eggs and Ham." They're "mompreneurs" and they're one of the fastest-growing groups of business owners inthe United States today.
When Tina Egge ran the Carlsbad-based Association of Enterprising Mothers, she says she received "thousands of inquiries from women who are looking for ways to leave the full-time work force and start home businesses."
Nancy Meisenhelder, program coordinator of the Association of Home-Based Businesses in Encinitas, also says mompreneurship is a trend on the rise.
Though they are culturally diverse and offer a wide variety of services and products, mompreneurs all share the same motivation for starting their businesses. "I wanted to spend time with my baby," says Joy Krickett a San Diego public relations consultant. "But I also wanted to keep my career on track and earn money."
Krickett says she actually generates greater income now than she did two years ago as an employee. "I don't think I'll ever go back to an office. I started thebusinessfor my baby, but I'll keep it going for myself."
Meisenheider, who was a teacher before launching her business teaching parents and day-care providers about brain development in young children, says she doesn't make quite as much money on her own.
"But I get to keep my professional persona."
Ten years ago women who raised kids and cash under one roof were limited to Tupperware parties and Mary Kay cosmetics. Today, there are dozens of lucrative businesses for women who choose to stay home with children.
Kathi Menard transferred her secretarial skills to her home-based business after she became a mother. Carlsbad-based Kathi's Secretarial offers typing, desktop publishing and professional organizing. Her business serves small companies that do not have full-time support services, and established businesses which are temporarily overloaded with administrative work.
San Diego mompreneurs also repair cars or appliances, bake wedding cakes, sew clothing and costumes, design Web pages, frame pictures, write and practice law.
Laura Seaman, a Clairemont business attorney, left a law firm two years ago when she was pregnant with her first son. Seaman says she earns less, but there are other economic advantages to working from home.
Because she operates from her home she is able to offer services at a lesser rate than her firm-based competitors -- a benefit many mompreneurs say give them a competitive edge. The attorney says her new arrangement has also given her time to develop new lines of business.
"Instead of bring a single-minded litigation attorney, I now teach lawyers how to use improvisational acting skills to better communicate with juries."
Most mompreneurs work part time when their children are younger and increase their workload as their children and businesses grow.
"During Molly's first year, I worked 10 hours," says Krickett. "Now, I'm up to 20 and will increase to 25 when she starts preschool this fall." The publicist says she projects that her business will net close to $40,000 this year.
Another Golden Hill mother who knits custom hats and sweaters says she didn't see a profit for her first two years inbusiness. She says it's worth it, though, because she loves the creative outlet.
On average, a mompreneur can expect to match her pre-baby salary (hour for hour) within the first three years.
"Our culture is ready for mompreneurs because it finally accepts that a woman can be a skilled professional even if she's home-based," says Krickett. "If you keep promises, deliver a quality product and charge a fair price, there's no reason you can't be competitive inthe marketplace."
Political career hasn't come easy: BRUCE LUNSFORD'S WEALTH YET TO ADD UP TO PUBLIC OFFICE By: Vos, Sarah, Lexington Herald-Leader (KY), May 08, 2008Database:Newspaper Source
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Political career hasn't come easy: BRUCE LUNSFORD'S WEALTH YET TO ADD UP TO PUBLIC OFFICE
- ec12tgunden Mar 10, 2009- ec12tgunden Mar 10, 2009
Sarah Vos
May 8--Bruce Lunsford has lived the quintessential American dream. As a child, he went five years without indoor plumbing and set tobacco in his family's fields.
He worked his way through college and law school and found success in the business world. He's now a multimillionaire, with enough cash flow to dabble in Hollywood flicks, Thoroughbreds and politics.
It's the last that has proven most elusive for Lunsford, who has evolved from an outsider politician to establishment choice.
He has spent almost $14 million of his own money trying to capture Kentucky's governorship but never garnered more than 21 percent of Democratic primary votes.
In 2003, he pitched himself as an outsider, running television ads that portrayed Frankfort legislators as monkeys. He pulled out just before the primary, and then endorsed Republican Ernie Fletcher in the general election.
Lunsford spent much of the 2007 race trying to atone for that endorsement.
Now he's running for U.S. Senate, and, this time, he's the establishment choice, recruited by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and, Lunsford says, "very important people" in the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has all but endorsed him. Unions who fought him before have lined up behind him.
The reason they give is simple: Lunsford has name recognition and enough money to fund a credible race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"We took a pragmatic view of the situation," said Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO.
Lunsford, 60, says he'll make a good senator for the same reasons that he's been a good business executive: He hires the right people, and he's persuasive.
But the argument has its dangers. It's also the venue where Lunsford has faced the most criticism.
In 1985, Lunsford started a health care business that focused on small hospitals. Vencor grew over the next 10 years into a Wall Street darling, a multimillion-dollar corporation with 60,000 employees in 46 states.
But in 1998, the company made headlines when it evicted Medicaid patients from nursing homes to make way for private-pay ones.
Lunsford, who has said he didn't know what staff were doing, apologized and flew to Florida, where the most publicized evictions were taking place. Eventually, the patients were invited to return, and the company paid a $270,000 fine.
A year later the company was forced to file for bankruptcy reorganization.
The campaign says that the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which changed Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, contributed to the troubles.
Vencor reorganized as two companies: Vencor, which took care of the patients, and Ventas, which owned the buildings. Vencor stock plummeted. Shareholders sued.
Lunsford's campaign is concerned enough about how this record is portrayed that staffers require reporters profiling the candidate to sit down for an hourlong primer on Lunsford's business history.
The campaign argues that Vencor, now Kindred Healthcare, is a success story. Four other health care companies filed for bankruptcy around the same time and never emerged from the process.
Vencor shareholders were given equal shares of Ventas, and, if they still owned them today, they would be rich. Ventas and Kindred stock have since recovered, and Ventas makes up much of Lunsford's personal fortune.
Lunsford won't say how much he's worth, but, according to his financial disclosure report, it's $33 million to $150 million.
He owns condos in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Williams Island, Fla., Palm Springs, Phoenix, Chicago and two in Louisville. Three are investments, he said. The rest he uses personally.
Hart-Lunsford Pictures, the movie-production company Lunsford owns with Ed Hart, his business partner and campaign manager, sold its first two films at the Sundance Film Festival. This year, they had two films at Tribeca Film Festival, and they sold two others to distributors, Hart said.
Hart, who has known Lunsford since 1989, says they went into movies wanting a challenge.
That desire also pushed Lunsford into politics, Hart said. Lunsford first considered running for office more than 20 years ago.
At the time, he had just finished working for Gov. John Y. Brown, first as a legislative liaison and then as commerce secretary.
There was an open Congressional seat in Northern Kentucky, and Lunsford wanted to run.
But Lunsford said Brown and W.T. Young, a Lexington businessman, advised him to wait, to make his fortune before venturing into politics.
Hart says that Lunsford has learned a lot since he first ran for office in 2003.
"He's made that transition from the CEO, who is impatient, to the candidate, who listens and wants to learn from the people you're talking to," Hart said.
Greg Stumbo, the former attorney general who was Lunsford's running mate in 2007, said Lunsford has gotten better at retail politics.
In the 2007 race, Lunsford would go to an event and talk to the people he felt comfortable with. But he soon learned how to work a room, talking to everyone, Stumbo said.
Lunsford also has a better political sense, Stumbo said. "He's more in charge of the campaign now," he said.
But to be successful, Lunsford's campaign will need money.
McConnell is known as strong fund-raiser and an even better campaigner. Since he was re-elected in 2002, he's raised more than $12 million. He has approximately $7.7 million to spend.
According to his most recent finance report, Lunsford has raised $262,000. He's contributed more than $1 million of his own money, according to his campaign.
For him, winning the primary is just a step toward defeating McConnell.
"I don't need a primary victory," he said. "I don't need it for my personal ego or gratification. I'm in the race to win in November."
the race to face Mcconnell
Reach Sarah Vos at (859)231-3309 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3309.
To see more of the Lexington Herald-Leader, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kentucky.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright of Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) is the property of Lexington Herald-Leader (KY). The copyright in an individual article may be maintained by the author in certain cases. Content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. Source:Lexington Herald-Leader (KY), May 08, 2008 Item:2W62W61539174410
Title:Lessons learned on the basketball court can bring success in the business world Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), Mar 04, 2004Database:Newspaper Source
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Lessons learned onthebasketball court can bringsuccessinthebusinessworld
``The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching,'' by Dean Smith and Gerald D. Bell with John Kilgo (The Penguin Press, 337 pages, $24.95)
A very famous coach supposedly said: "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing."
That coach was not Dean Smith, the former coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team and one of the most successful coaches inthe history of college basketball.
"Our North Carolina players seldom heard me or any of my assistants talk about winning. Winning would be the byproduct of the process. There could be no shortcuts," Smith writes in ``The Carolina Way.''
That process has three elements: Play hard, play smart, and play together.
Smith called that the program's mission statement and strategy.
"Hard meant with effort, determination, and courage; together meant unselfishly, trusting your teammates, and doing everything possible not to let them down; smart meant with good execution and poise, treating each possession as if it were the only one inthe game," Smith writes.
Smith wrote the book with University of North Carolina business professor and leadership-training expert Gerald D. Bell and newspaper columnist John Kilgo.
Smith supplies the coaching philosophy, underscored with anecdotes from his time at the Air Force Academy and as an assistant basketball coach at North Carolina, and his 36 years as UNC's head basketball coach.
Bell provides a business perspective, weaving in poignant, real-life examples to show how companies can translate Smith's coaching principles into philosophies, strategies, practices and procedures that lead to winning intheworld of business.
Applying Smith's thinking on winning, Bell writes: "Managers who focus entirely on winning neglect the processes for performing well and run over their people, thus usually end up losing. Companies that declare `Winning is all that counts,' often ruin their businesses."
Kilgo appears to have been responsible for pulling together Smith's and Bell's reflections and the reminiscences of former North Carolina basketball players and arranging them into a reader-friendly format. The book is divided into five parts: The Foundations, Playing Hard, Playing Together, Playing Smart and Lessons Learned-each broken down into chapters or subdivisions that offer both coaching and business perspectives.
Playing Hard, for example, is subdivided into caring, practicing, recruiting the players, honesty, breaking bad habits and coping with fatigue. Inthe chapter about practicing, Smith stresses the importance of good, structured preparation that emphasized the mental as well as the physical aspects of thegame.
"We graded carefully at practice. Players earned points that could be used to get out of running. Points could be earned for good defense, diving for loose balls, setting good screens, deflections, drawing charges and other useful skills-winning acts," he writes. "You'll notice I didn't mention points scored. There's more to basketball than scoring, and we constantly stressed that with our players."
Bell stresses the need for companies to allow time for education, training and rehearsals for sales presentations and negotiations. He laments that too many companies today are downsizing and not making provision for sufficient practice time.
"Most of the companies that downsized or merged cut staff. They didn't eliminate the workload; they eliminated the people. More work is dumped on fewer people, so practice time is eliminated. How can one practice when there are so many active fires to put out? The result of such thinking is often sloppy work, ineffective communications, lower morale, employee turnover, and lost sales and profits," Bell writes.
One of the small things that made a significant difference for Smith's team was the "tired signal." Though players had to be in top condition, they were allowed to raise their hands during games to indicate that they were tired and needed a short break.
Players who didn't use the signal and whose performance suffered were pulled out of the game for much longer.
"We played at a very fast pace, with pressured defense, and no matter how well conditioned a player was, he couldn't play our style for forty minutes without getting tired," Smith writes. "Tired players end up hurting the team, mostly on defense, where they might be more inclined to grab some rest."
Bell picks up on that theme to explore the effects of burnout from overwork.
Taking the position that "to overwork is to underperform," Bell maintains that business leaders and employees should be allowed to give the tired signal and take time off to sustain peak performance.
"Accounting firms have been known to adopt the policy of churn and burn. They hire talented young recruits, work them sixty-plus hours a week, select a few to be partners, then ask the workhorses to leave, at which time they start over with a new class of ambitious chargers," Bell writes. "The productivity and profitability they think they gain by working their people sixty hours a week are almost always lost because of major mistakes, turnover, and loss of legitimacy of the firm."
---
(c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Visit the Star-Telegram on the World Wide Web: www.star-telegram.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), Mar 04, 2004
Item: 2W71561445819Works Cited
"Right recipe for business success - 2009 TELSTRA BUSINESS AWARDS." Daily Telegraph, The (Sydney) (02 Mar. 2009): 44-44. Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [ELCO], [Myerstown], [Pa]. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=200903021044392463&site=ehost-live>.
Right recipe for business success - 2009 TELSTRA BUSINESS AWARDS Daily Telegraph, The (Sydney), 03/02/2009Database:Newspaper Source
HTML Full Text
Right recipe for business success - 2009 TELSTRA BUSINESS AWARDS
Section: Features Edition: 1 - StateTelstra Business Group Managing Director and Business Awards Ambassador Deena Shiff shares her thoughts on success.
H ow passionate are you about your business? Tasmanian small business of the year owner Rob Pennicott reckons passion is the most important ingredient for a successful business.
Over the past decade Rob and his loyal staff have built up a small charter business running off Bruny Island south of Hobart into one of Australia's most successful and awarded eco-tourism enterprises.
But Rob says the day he loses his passion for the job is the day he knows he has to move on and find a new enterprise.
Passion is important in any business, certainly in one like Rob's where you get out and entertain a boat load of tourists each day.
At Telstra we also know that making the right technology choices also plays a big part in the success of businesses.
Our contact with the country's leading businesses during the 17 years of the Telstra Business Awards has shown that the most successful long-term survivors are making the best use of new technology.
High speed broadband in particular is making a huge difference in helping make businesses more efficient and reach new global markets to sell products and services.
Over the past year Telstra has worked with Austrade to help put our former award winners in touch with its specialists who help Aussie businesses develop export opportunities.
We get a real buzz from seeing our 'alumni' go on to bigger and better things, long after they've enjoyed their first moment in the national spotlight on the stage at theTelstra Business Awards.
One thing they often tell us is that their ongoing success had a lot to do with entering the awards, with the actual entry process effectively being the start of abusiness plan that helped catapult them to the next level.
Combining passion with a sound business plan seems to be an unbeatable recipe for business success.
Works Cited
Stockberger, Brook. "Learn to network to increase business, find a job." Las Cruces Sun-News (NM) (20 Mar. 2006).Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [ELCO], [Myerstown], [Pa]. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W62W62668979087&site=ehost-live>.
Title:Learn to network to increase business, find a job By: Stockberger, Brook, Las Cruces Sun-News (NM), Mar 20, 2006Database:Newspaper Source
HTML Full Text
Learn to network to increase business, find a job
-Brook Stockberger
Mar. 20--Do you want a job? Well, it is important to get out and press the flesh.
Do you want to improve your business? You need to pass out business cards.
Do you want to improve your visibility in the community? Then you have to become a good conversationalist.
Are you shy? Tough luck.
From Fortune 500 firms down to mom-and-pop stores, the skills of networking are essential to success in the business world. From college students to CEOs, theability to heighten your profile is important to improvement, advancement or just plain old employment.
Author Debra Fine has written "The Fine Art of Small Talk: How to Start a Conversation, Keep it Going, Build Networking Skills -- And Leave a Positive Impression!" While humans are social animals, acting social is not always easy, she said from her home in Denver.
"The Bill Clintons of the world seem to be built with that gift of gab," she said. "They thrive on it. Most of us would rather hang out at home, put our feet up and have a beer."
So, whether it comes naturally to you or not, you need to get out and meet people -- and meet people in the proper way.
Jim Silar is a retired businessman who is active in the Las Cruces chapter of SCORE, an organization that gives small businesses free advice and guidance. He said networking sets the groundwork for future interaction.
"It's nice to meet people and shake hands, see them on the street and say, 'Hi, I met you at so and so,'" he said. "I think it is important if you have a commonality of interest."
Fine said it is good to have a first meeting with someone in a social setting to grease the tracks if you later need to contact that person.
"You might call someone you met and say, 'I know you're in mining, who do you know that ...,' and then whatever you need to ask," she said. "Knowing people is important. If you were going to chose between two realtors to list your home, you might never know who the best is, they both have all the qualifications. But I guarantee that you'll pick the realtor that makes you feel comfortable. Often that means it is someone you know."
Dr. Janice Black teaches management at New Mexico State University. She said that getting to know people is invaluable to getting hired.
"People are still social; it's very important when people are looking to hire that they are comfortable, so they usually hire someone they have a connection with," she said. "That being said, you still have to have the right qualifications. But you need to put a name and a face to match up with the right qualifications."
Fine said that when someone asks what you do for a living, do not say, "I help people realize their dreams."
She said such an answer immediately tells people they are not going to have an authentic conversation with you.
"If you're just schmoozing, people can tell," she said. "You have to show some sincere interest."
Networking has to be a two-way street. You are looking out for yourself, but you also have to let others know you will reciprocate and look out for them as well.
Said Black, "People can tell whether or not you share interests. If you're just out (for selfish reasons), it's going to come through and it will hurt as oppose to help you."
Fine said that if you pepper people with questions, they will be turned off or intimidated.
"If you ask someone, 'What do you do?' And they say, 'I'm an attorney.' Then you ask, 'So, where are you from?' And it goes from there," she said. "You become like an FBI agent interrogating someone.
"These kind of conversations is where networking falls apart," Fine said. "It's like a batting cage where the ball keeps coming at us. Instead, it should be like a tennis ball going back and forth."
She said if someone tells you that he or she is an attorney, you could follow that bit of information up with a statement like, "Tell me about your practice." Or a question like, "So what is your expertise?"
Fine said that if you are going to be in a situation where you are sitting at a table with a group of people, it is a good idea to have several conversation topics planned ahead of time.
"I used to hope that, if I was at a table for eight, someone else would come up with something to talk about," she said. "It never occurred to me it was my burden to make the people at my table feel comfortable."
She said to think of three topics before you even walk into the room. Also, ending a conversation well is just as important as all the other components.
"You can say, 'I just saw my girlfriend and I want to touch base with her,' or something like that," she said. "To be a good networker, you have to be a good conversationalist."
Black said it is important to be able to speak well. She suggested groups like Toastmaster, which help people learn to conduct public speaking, as a resource.
"Be able to talk; it does not have to be always in great depth or anything, but talk intelligibly," she said. "Simply going out and being involved with people can help."
Even if you are not at a networking event, you can still reach out to people.
"If we're both at the same event at the same time, I call that free information," Fine said. "If we're in line for the same movie or concert you can strike up a conversation. If you're at wedding you can say, 'So how are you connected to the bride?' These are ways to start a conversation."
Looking for a job NMSU student David Greary plans to graduate in December with a degree in management.
"I'm trying to get all the information I can," he said.
"I've had a lot of meetings with my teachers and I e-mail or call them."
He has also joined an honor organization on campus.
"We try to do community-service related events," he said. "We want to help people and this is also a great way to meet people."
Black said that internships and similar programs are important.
"Not just for-profit organizations, but also governmental agencies offer internships," she said.
"In many instances, organizations view internships as a recruiting tool."
Networking -- To interact or engage in informal communication with others for mutual assistance or support.
Source: dictionary.com
Works Cited
Coburn, Jennifer. "Mompreneurs gaining success in the business world." San Diego Business Journal 20.26 (28 June 1999): 18. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. [ELCO], [Myerstown], [Pa]. 5 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=2012984&site=ehost-live>.
Mompreneurs gaining success in the business world. By: Coburn, Jennifer, San Diego Business Journal, 87506890, 06/28/99, Vol. 20, Issue 26Database:MasterFILE Premier
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MOMPRENEURS GAINING SUCCESS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD
Section: EntrepreneursThey've got Muppets in their briefcases. Power lunch is with Chef Boyardee. And before 9 in the morning, they've read the business page of the newspaper and "Green Eggs and Ham." They're "mompreneurs" and they're one of the fastest-growing groups of business owners in the United States today.
When Tina Egge ran the Carlsbad-based Association of Enterprising Mothers, she says she received "thousands of inquiries from women who are looking for ways to leave the full-time work force and start home businesses."
Nancy Meisenhelder, program coordinator of the Association of Home-Based Businesses in Encinitas, also says mompreneurship is a trend on the rise.
Though they are culturally diverse and offer a wide variety of services and products, mompreneurs all share the same motivation for starting their businesses. "I wanted to spend time with my baby," says Joy Krickett a San Diego public relations consultant. "But I also wanted to keep my career on track and earn money."
Krickett says she actually generates greater income now than she did two years ago as an employee. "I don't think I'll ever go back to an office. I started the businessfor my baby, but I'll keep it going for myself."
Meisenheider, who was a teacher before launching her business teaching parents and day-care providers about brain development in young children, says she doesn't make quite as much money on her own.
"But I get to keep my professional persona."
Ten years ago women who raised kids and cash under one roof were limited to Tupperware parties and Mary Kay cosmetics. Today, there are dozens of lucrative businesses for women who choose to stay home with children.
Kathi Menard transferred her secretarial skills to her home-based business after she became a mother. Carlsbad-based Kathi's Secretarial offers typing, desktop publishing and professional organizing. Her business serves small companies that do not have full-time support services, and established businesses which are temporarily overloaded with administrative work.
San Diego mompreneurs also repair cars or appliances, bake wedding cakes, sew clothing and costumes, design Web pages, frame pictures, write and practice law.
Laura Seaman, a Clairemont business attorney, left a law firm two years ago when she was pregnant with her first son. Seaman says she earns less, but there are other economic advantages to working from home.
Because she operates from her home she is able to offer services at a lesser rate than her firm-based competitors -- a benefit many mompreneurs say give them a competitive edge. The attorney says her new arrangement has also given her time to develop new lines of business.
"Instead of bring a single-minded litigation attorney, I now teach lawyers how to use improvisational acting skills to better communicate with juries."
Most mompreneurs work part time when their children are younger and increase their workload as their children and businesses grow.
"During Molly's first year, I worked 10 hours," says Krickett. "Now, I'm up to 20 and will increase to 25 when she starts preschool this fall." The publicist says she projects that her business will net close to $40,000 this year.
Another Golden Hill mother who knits custom hats and sweaters says she didn't see a profit for her first two years in business. She says it's worth it, though, because she loves the creative outlet.
On average, a mompreneur can expect to match her pre-baby salary (hour for hour) within the first three years.
"Our culture is ready for mompreneurs because it finally accepts that a woman can be a skilled professional even if she's home-based," says Krickett. "If you keep promises, deliver a quality product and charge a fair price, there's no reason you can't be competitive in the marketplace."
Works Cited
Vos, Sarah. "Political career hasn't come easy: BRUCE LUNSFORD'S WEALTH YET TO ADD UP TO PUBLIC OFFICE." Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) (08 May 2008). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [ELCO], [Myerstown], [Pa]. 10 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W62W61539174410&site=ehost-live>.
Political career hasn't come easy: BRUCE LUNSFORD'S WEALTH YET TO ADD UP TO PUBLIC OFFICE By: Vos, Sarah, Lexington Herald-Leader (KY), May 08, 2008Database:Newspaper Source
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Political career hasn't come easy: BRUCE LUNSFORD'S WEALTH YET TO ADD UP TO PUBLIC OFFICE
-Sarah Vos
May 8--Bruce Lunsford has lived the quintessential American dream. As a child, he went five years without indoor plumbing and set tobacco in his family's fields.
He worked his way through college and law school and found success in the business world. He's now a multimillionaire, with enough cash flow to dabble in Hollywood flicks, Thoroughbreds and politics.
It's the last that has proven most elusive for Lunsford, who has evolved from an outsider politician to establishment choice.
He has spent almost $14 million of his own money trying to capture Kentucky's governorship but never garnered more than 21 percent of Democratic primary votes.
In 2003, he pitched himself as an outsider, running television ads that portrayed Frankfort legislators as monkeys. He pulled out just before the primary, and then endorsed Republican Ernie Fletcher in the general election.
Lunsford spent much of the 2007 race trying to atone for that endorsement.
Now he's running for U.S. Senate, and, this time, he's the establishment choice, recruited by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and, Lunsford says, "very important people" in the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has all but endorsed him. Unions who fought him before have lined up behind him.
The reason they give is simple: Lunsford has name recognition and enough money to fund a credible race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"We took a pragmatic view of the situation," said Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO.
Lunsford, 60, says he'll make a good senator for the same reasons that he's been a good business executive: He hires the right people, and he's persuasive.
But the argument has its dangers. It's also the venue where Lunsford has faced the most criticism.
In 1985, Lunsford started a health care business that focused on small hospitals. Vencor grew over the next 10 years into a Wall Street darling, a multimillion-dollar corporation with 60,000 employees in 46 states.
But in 1998, the company made headlines when it evicted Medicaid patients from nursing homes to make way for private-pay ones.
Lunsford, who has said he didn't know what staff were doing, apologized and flew to Florida, where the most publicized evictions were taking place. Eventually, the patients were invited to return, and the company paid a $270,000 fine.
A year later the company was forced to file for bankruptcy reorganization.
The campaign says that the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which changed Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, contributed to the troubles.
Vencor reorganized as two companies: Vencor, which took care of the patients, and Ventas, which owned the buildings. Vencor stock plummeted. Shareholders sued.
Lunsford's campaign is concerned enough about how this record is portrayed that staffers require reporters profiling the candidate to sit down for an hourlong primer on Lunsford's business history.
The campaign argues that Vencor, now Kindred Healthcare, is a success story. Four other health care companies filed for bankruptcy around the same time and never emerged from the process.
Vencor shareholders were given equal shares of Ventas, and, if they still owned them today, they would be rich. Ventas and Kindred stock have since recovered, and Ventas makes up much of Lunsford's personal fortune.
Lunsford won't say how much he's worth, but, according to his financial disclosure report, it's $33 million to $150 million.
He owns condos in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Williams Island, Fla., Palm Springs, Phoenix, Chicago and two in Louisville. Three are investments, he said. The rest he uses personally.
Hart-Lunsford Pictures, the movie-production company Lunsford owns with Ed Hart, his business partner and campaign manager, sold its first two films at the Sundance Film Festival. This year, they had two films at Tribeca Film Festival, and they sold two others to distributors, Hart said.
Hart, who has known Lunsford since 1989, says they went into movies wanting a challenge.
That desire also pushed Lunsford into politics, Hart said. Lunsford first considered running for office more than 20 years ago.
At the time, he had just finished working for Gov. John Y. Brown, first as a legislative liaison and then as commerce secretary.
There was an open Congressional seat in Northern Kentucky, and Lunsford wanted to run.
But Lunsford said Brown and W.T. Young, a Lexington businessman, advised him to wait, to make his fortune before venturing into politics.
Hart says that Lunsford has learned a lot since he first ran for office in 2003.
"He's made that transition from the CEO, who is impatient, to the candidate, who listens and wants to learn from the people you're talking to," Hart said.
Greg Stumbo, the former attorney general who was Lunsford's running mate in 2007, said Lunsford has gotten better at retail politics.
In the 2007 race, Lunsford would go to an event and talk to the people he felt comfortable with. But he soon learned how to work a room, talking to everyone, Stumbo said.
Lunsford also has a better political sense, Stumbo said. "He's more in charge of the campaign now," he said.
But to be successful, Lunsford's campaign will need money.
McConnell is known as strong fund-raiser and an even better campaigner. Since he was re-elected in 2002, he's raised more than $12 million. He has approximately $7.7 million to spend.
According to his most recent finance report, Lunsford has raised $262,000. He's contributed more than $1 million of his own money, according to his campaign.
For him, winning the primary is just a step toward defeating McConnell.
"I don't need a primary victory," he said. "I don't need it for my personal ego or gratification. I'm in the race to win in November."
the race to face Mcconnell
Reach Sarah Vos at (859)231-3309 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3309.
To see more of the Lexington Herald-Leader, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kentucky.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY), May 08, 2008
Item: 2W62W61539174410
Works Cited
Cecil Johnson. "Lessons learned on the basketball court can bring success in the business world." Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) (n.d.). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 10 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W71561445819&site=ehost-live>.
Title:Lessons learned on the basketball court can bring success in the business world Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), Mar 04, 2004Database:Newspaper Source
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Lessons learned on the basketball court can bring success in the business world
``The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching,'' by Dean Smith and Gerald D. Bell with John Kilgo (The Penguin Press, 337 pages, $24.95)A very famous coach supposedly said: "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing."
That coach was not Dean Smith, the former coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team and one of the most successful coaches in the history of college basketball.
"Our North Carolina players seldom heard me or any of my assistants talk about winning. Winning would be the byproduct of the process. There could be no shortcuts," Smith writes in ``The Carolina Way.''
That process has three elements: Play hard, play smart, and play together.
Smith called that the program's mission statement and strategy.
"Hard meant with effort, determination, and courage; together meant unselfishly, trusting your teammates, and doing everything possible not to let them down; smart meant with good execution and poise, treating each possession as if it were the only one in the game," Smith writes.
Smith wrote the book with University of North Carolina business professor and leadership-training expert Gerald D. Bell and newspaper columnist John Kilgo.
Smith supplies the coaching philosophy, underscored with anecdotes from his time at the Air Force Academy and as an assistant basketball coach at North Carolina, and his 36 years as UNC's head basketball coach.
Bell provides a business perspective, weaving in poignant, real-life examples to show how companies can translate Smith's coaching principles into philosophies, strategies, practices and procedures that lead to winning in the world of business.
Applying Smith's thinking on winning, Bell writes: "Managers who focus entirely on winning neglect the processes for performing well and run over their people, thus usually end up losing. Companies that declare `Winning is all that counts,' often ruin their businesses."
Kilgo appears to have been responsible for pulling together Smith's and Bell's reflections and the reminiscences of former North Carolina basketball players and arranging them into a reader-friendly format.
The book is divided into five parts: The Foundations, Playing Hard, Playing Together, Playing Smart and Lessons Learned-each broken down into chapters or subdivisions that offer both coaching and business perspectives.
Playing Hard, for example, is subdivided into caring, practicing, recruiting the players, honesty, breaking bad habits and coping with fatigue.
In the chapter about practicing, Smith stresses the importance of good, structured preparation that emphasized the mental as well as the physical aspects of thegame.
"We graded carefully at practice. Players earned points that could be used to get out of running. Points could be earned for good defense, diving for loose balls, setting good screens, deflections, drawing charges and other useful skills-winning acts," he writes. "You'll notice I didn't mention points scored. There's more to basketball than scoring, and we constantly stressed that with our players."
Bell stresses the need for companies to allow time for education, training and rehearsals for sales presentations and negotiations. He laments that too many companies today are downsizing and not making provision for sufficient practice time.
"Most of the companies that downsized or merged cut staff. They didn't eliminate the workload; they eliminated the people. More work is dumped on fewer people, so practice time is eliminated. How can one practice when there are so many active fires to put out? The result of such thinking is often sloppy work, ineffective communications, lower morale, employee turnover, and lost sales and profits," Bell writes.
One of the small things that made a significant difference for Smith's team was the "tired signal." Though players had to be in top condition, they were allowed to raise their hands during games to indicate that they were tired and needed a short break.
Players who didn't use the signal and whose performance suffered were pulled out of the game for much longer.
"We played at a very fast pace, with pressured defense, and no matter how well conditioned a player was, he couldn't play our style for forty minutes without getting tired," Smith writes. "Tired players end up hurting the team, mostly on defense, where they might be more inclined to grab some rest."
Bell picks up on that theme to explore the effects of burnout from overwork.
Taking the position that "to overwork is to underperform," Bell maintains that business leaders and employees should be allowed to give the tired signal and take time off to sustain peak performance.
"Accounting firms have been known to adopt the policy of churn and burn. They hire talented young recruits, work them sixty-plus hours a week, select a few to be partners, then ask the workhorses to leave, at which time they start over with a new class of ambitious chargers," Bell writes. "The productivity and profitability they think they gain by working their people sixty hours a week are almost always lost because of major mistakes, turnover, and loss of legitimacy of the firm."
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