It’s nearly June, a time of the year when many people stop to reflect on the New Year’s Resolutions they set for themselves six months ago. What promises did you make yourself? What improvements or changes have you made along the way? Are you positioned to reach your goals by the time the year ends?

If becoming an entrepreneur or starting a small business was on your list of goals and you haven’t yet taken those steps toward small business ownership, you might not want to wait much longer. This year has already showed many signs of improvement in the economy, and with many available resources to help you navigate early challenges, it’s looking more and more like 2012 is the year to take the bull by the horns and get started on realizing your dreams. Here are four reasons to do it now.

Reason #1: The Small Business Economy in 2012

In 2012, small business owners are generally optimistic. A recent Bank of America study was conducted in major metropolises throughout the country, and found that small business owners are excited and confident about the growth and opportunity in their local economies. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that, while consumer spending remains a concern for small businesses, small business owners have plans to increase hiring and expect to make more money this year than previously.

Reason #2: Small Business Lending in 2012

Small business lending is increasing as the economy continues to improve. Carole Smith, senior vice president and loan officer at Delta Trust Investments, recently told a Little Rock news station that the commercial loan sector is steadily improving as business customers feel more confident to make big purchases for their business. Trends like building property vs. renting, and upgrading technology equipment have been happening more and more over the last six months.

Reason #3: The Presidential Election in 2012

It being an election year, it’s important to understand where the candidates stand on small business issues such as taxes and federal contracts.

According to the National Small Business Association:

“…Romney’s proposed cut in marginal tax rates “will, in fact, help a number of small businesses, the overwhelming majority of which (83 percent) are structured as pass-through entities.”

Looking at Obama’s proposal, the NSBA … noted positive points such as: the increase in the deduction for equipment purchases; the doubling of the $5,000 deduction for startup costs and a provision allowing cash accounting for some businesses.”

Reason #4: Small Business Tax Credits in 2012

There are a handful of small business tax breaks in place that help small business owners invest in their business with new equipment and staff. Among others, these include:

• Small businesses can write-off a large portion of the cost of new equipment purchases in 2012 rather than depreciating the cost over time, which provides an immediate tax benefit. Look into Section 179 for more information.
• Federal law gives a tax credit to eligible small employers who provide health care coverage to their employees.
• Business books, including those that help you do without legal and tax professionals, are fully deductible as a cost of doing business. Fees that you pay to lawyers, tax professionals, or consultants generally can be deducted in the year incurred.

Additionally, President Obama recently proposed an additional credit, in which “a company would get credit against income taxes worth up to 10 percent of the increase in total wages in 2012, which could come either in the form of salaries for new hires or raises. A company that increased its payroll by $4 million would see a $400,000 income tax credit.”

So what are you waiting for? Start your business now. Who knows what 2013 will bring?

Photo source: caskeyone.com

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Anyone that knows how to open a restaurant will tell you – starting a business in food service is hard work. In fact, just Google “open a restaurant,” and you’ll notice that nearly every story that pops up begins with a warning that the time and energy put into this kind of endeavor doesn’t always pays off.

The reality is that most restaurants fail during their first year, frequently due to a lack of planning. But that doesn’t mean your restaurant needs to be a complex set of operational procedures that prohibit you from ever making progress.

Opening and running a restaurant can be incredibly rewarding and profitable when you combine dedication with good food, supreme service, and business smarts. Here are the basics of how to open a restaurant:

Set the Stage

As with any business idea, particularly a restaurant, it’s important that you communicate your vision in a business plan. This business plan should spell out your entire restaurant concept, as well as an analysis of the market and understanding of your competition, a description of your target customer, a marketing plan and/or sales strategy, a description of your management, organization, and operations, and financial projections.

Don’t forget that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. No restaurant has universal appeal. You’ll set yourself up for success when you streamline your efforts and try to make the experience perfect for the smaller, targeted market that you can capture.

During the initial phase of researching and planning you’ll also need to look into the regulatory requirements, both locally in the city you plan to open your restaurant in, and at the state level. You’ll need to be familiar with building codes, liquor licenses, health codes, and other regulations that regulate the way your restaurant will operate.

Figuring Out Your Concept

Deciding what type of restaurant you plan to open depends on a number of things. It’s likely that you want to serve the type of food you enjoy cooking and want the feel of your restaurant to reflect a dining experience you’d enjoy personally. If you’re more interested and skilled in the front of the house operations, you may want to open a restaurant that fills a need in a particular location or that might grab hold of a new emerging food trend.

Your concept should be easy to communicate; this is what gives patrons an idea of the food they can expect and the experience they’ll have before they even walk in your door. Your concept will also dictate the structure of your restaurant, and when mapping out your operations and costs, you’ll know where to start.

Find a Location

The success of many new restaurants hinges on the establishment’s location. When looking for the perfect neighborhood and real estate, be sure to consider the area’s population, both in numbers and in style. Consider accessibility of your location and do your research to see if your concept is something that will have success and low competition in the area you’re targeting.

Once you’ve settled on a location within a certain city or town, you’ll need to consider your real estate options. Work with an experienced commercial real estate broker to negotiate the best possible lease for your restaurant. Or, you might feel that buying the property is more suitable for your goals. Don’t forget that in addition to dining and kitchen space, you’ll need areas for food storage, administrative tasks, restrooms and dishwashing.

When looking for the right location, consider the design of your dining room. Lighting, décor, furniture, and layout all play an important role in how you want a diner to feel as they’re eating at your restaurant.

Designing the Menu

It’s likely you’ve already started planning your menu at this point, but now is the time to detail out your full list of food choices. Seasonality and restaurant theme will certainly influence your options, and you’ll need to stay current with food trends and popular choices in order to keep customers coming back.

Knowing how to price the menu is another important factor around choosing your menu items while increasing your profit margins. Food cost and portion control are two of the major considerations in making sure you price your menu correctly. You’ll also want to have a predictable balance of both expensive and inexpensive food items available to those dining in your restaurant.

Getting the Right Equipment

Your menu items will also dictate your purchases of equipment, supplies, and perishable food items. Outfitting your restaurant’s kitchen and dining room can eat up a large part of your budget. You should be able to find deals on both used equipment and leased equipment — available either online, or through equipment wholesalers. You may look into buying equipment from other restaurants that are going out of business or who may be looking to upgrade their wares.

Connect with Food Vendors

As with any business partnership, it’s best to work with a food vendor with whom you work well and feel comfortable. Your food vendor will be responsible for delivering food and supplies at a set price within your budget. As we’ve warned before, the quality of the food will be reflected in the price, so you don’t want to make a decision that’s based solely on numbers. To make a decision about the best food vendor for your needs, talk to them about product specifications, delivery dates, and terms of payment. You’ll also want to work with someone who is flexible and consistent.

Hiring for Success

Finding the right combination of staff is critical for your new restaurant. You’ll want to have a good handle on what your own strengths and weaknesses are, and figure out how to hire to fill in the gaps. If you’re a chef, it’s essential that your incredible food be complemented by incredible service. Hire a full-time general manager to organize the front-of-the-house needs, from both a supplies perspective and an operations and staffing perspective. Hiring experienced workers in the areas of cooking, bartending, and dining room staff is essential to getting your restaurant off on the right foot.

Photo source: e-restaurantbroker.com

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A 2011 survey by the Division of Health Interview Statistics, part of the National Center for Health Statistics, found that over 30% of American households have taken out their landline telephones and rely exclusively on cell phones. And in houses that have landlines, around 16% do most of their phoning with cell phones anyway. Demographic groups least likely to have landlines include:

• Young adults aged 25 to 29
• Roommate households of unrelated adult roommates
• Renters
• Men
• Low-income households

Some communications industry experts believe that Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP systems, are the final nail in the landline’s coffin. Trefor Davies, the chief technology officer of Timico, believes that once mobile providers realize the great possibilities with VoIP, landlines will be done with. The latest generation of mobile phone users increasingly uses downloadable VoIP apps that mesh well with social networking apps, which are wildly popular, particularly among younger users.

Does the strong emergence of VoIP mean that it’s time to declare the landline dead? There are arguments both ways.

Arguments that VoIP Will Do Away with Landlines

Businesses that have switched to VoIP telephony for their business phone systems have found VoIP to be great for complex communications, like advanced data transmission and video conferencing. Furthermore, VoIP systems result in significant cost savings over traditional phone systems, and phone system management is far easier, with companies being able to add or remove extensions instantly without rewiring.

Many traditional business phone systems make use of VoIP telephony already through session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking equipment.

Finally, VoIP enables phones anywhere to be called on the same tariff basis regardless of geographical location. Translation: “long distance” is a thing of the past.

Arguments that Landlines Will Be Around for a While Longer

In some rural parts of the country, high speed internet and cell coverage are not available, so landlines will be around until that changes. Even in some urban areas, due to architecture and spots of poor cell coverage, people retain their landlines.

Landlines automatically tell 911 dispatchers the address from which an emergency call is originating, and many older and disabled people want that dependability. Though wireless providers have upgraded phones with features to pinpoint a phone’s location, 911 systems have to make expensive upgrades to complete the connection with these mobile phones.

Finally, some customers like the fact that even during power outages, landlines usually work. Of course cell phones do too, but they have to be charged.

Does the End of Landlines Mean the End of Telephone Poles?

Even if landlines all went away tomorrow, telephone poles would not. These poles are used to carry electric lines and cable wires. Where electricity is carried on poles, electric companies usually own the poles; and where it is not, telephone companies own the poles. Phone companies that offer DSL use poles to carry those lines as well. Cable companies use them, but generally don’t own them. What’s more, cell towers are connected to what are known as T1 lines, which are run over the wired telephone network, and providers like FiOS and Uverse use the poles to bring fiber optic cable to homes.

While landline use is declining, VoIP has not killed landlines (or telephone poles) altogether, nor is it likely to in the immediate future. Businesses rely increasingly on VoIP technology due to cost savings, flexibility, and features, but landlines still have a place in some residential and business applications.

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“We’ve always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it. Take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.” –Mitt Romney

Political preferences aside, Mitt Romney’s encouragement to young entrepreneurs is something that some of you may have contemplated. When you’re ready to start a small business, but need funding to get it off the ground, should you borrow the money from your parents?

Surely, they’re likely to be flexible with you on payment terms, and will give you all the emotional support you need when starting a new endeavor, but borrowing money from your parents can be both a blessing and a curse.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons:

Benefits:

• They may give you more lenient terms for payback, including lower interest rates and waived penalties. This is one of the more significant reasons to borrow money from your parents vs. obtaining an inflexible bank loan. Even if this is the case, you’ll want to approach the agreement with a signed promissory note (that’s been looked over by a lawyer), and will need to establish a payback schedule that you can adhere to. Just because you don’t have late fees does not mean you should take advantage of your parents’ generous loan.
• Your parents, whether they’ve invested or not, want to see you succeed. When you borrow from them, their money is on the line, and they’ll likely do everything within their means to help you reach your goals – making introductions to their network, acting as your extended sales force, or being beta testers for your product.
• Since your parents already know and trust you, they’re likely to have more faith in your business idea and may not put you through the business plan wringer when deciding whether or not to lend to you. This doesn’t mean you should forego this important step when planning to start a business, but it may make it easier on you to know that you’re supported and your idea has merit.

Drawbacks:

• We’re still crawling out of an economic recession, and they likely don’t have much money to part with, if any. Through the last few years, many older generations lost a ton of money, and have had to rebuild their wealth while postponing retirement.  If your parents are in this position, saving for retirement should be their priority over helping you. Remember that, as they age, they should also have reserves for health care and possibly extended home care, neither of which are inexpensive.
• Borrowing money from Mom and Dad could change your relationship with them. It’s one thing to accept a monetary gift, but quite another to explicitly ask for a large sum of money to start a business. When you borrow money, they’ll likely have questions about their involvement in your business, including what they will or won’t have a say in when it comes to how you spend the money. Working with your parents on a personal, familial level is quite different from working with them professionally. You risk having heated disagreements and ongoing tension if there’s money between you.
• If you are unsuccessful, you’ve just wasted your parents’ hard-earned money. Banks hedge their bets with small businesses, and can help you to determine how much money you truly need for start-up costs. It’s likely your parents have neither the insight nor the resources to compare your likelihood of success with other small businesses like yours. They may also feel obligated to make an investment based on your personal relationship, even if they can’t afford to lose it.

Regardless of where your funding comes from, it’s important that you make smart business decisions, like these recommended on WiseBread.com. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter where your money came from … parents or otherwise.

Are you a believer that money and family don’t mix? Or have you successfully borrowed money from your parents to start your business?

Photo source: merchantcircle.com

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What are VoIP Apps?

Our smartphones do just about everything these days, but sometimes you still have to make a plain old phone call on them. And added on top of texting and data plans, voice minutes can get expensive. That’s where VoIP apps come in.

Because of today’s higher data speeds, VoIP is a legitimate calling option when you want to save money on calls from your Android, iPhone, or iPad. These apps work best with 3G connections or better, and many of them act as a great backup option for your business phone system.

A word of warning, however: if you frequently have dropped calls, you may have problems with VoIP too. When this is the case, you can still use your VoIP apps with WiFi to do away with that problem. Here are 10 of today’s coolest VoIP apps, listed alphabetically.

1. Beejive. Beejive is a top mobile chat application that not only supports VoIP calls and multiple chat clients, but plenty of other useful tools. This iPhone app uses transparent overlay text so you can see your conversation and not lose track of your message. It also has push notification for up to seven days.

2. Fring. Fring is a straightforward competitor to Skype, but instead of offering unlimited call plans, it charges on a per-minute basis at very low rates. Fring can also be used as a SIP client, which can be used for initiating, modifying, or terminating two-party or multi-party sessions. Fring is a solid choice in today’s VoIP apps.

3. iCall. iCall is a favorite app for making VoIP calls, allowing free VoIP calling in the United States and Canada. With iCall you get push notifications when you receive a call. This app also offers inexpensive international calls, and users have the choice of using a paid service that skips a 30-second ad at the beginning of a call.

4. JaJah. JaJah is a simple download that gives you access to services that integrate easily with your phone book. If you want to make a call, you log in and select who you’re calling. You can call JaJah users as well as Facebook users for free. Other calls are billed at low rates regardless of location.

5. Line2. The Line2 app has unlimited SMS and offers a free 30-day trial (and bills at $9.95 per month afterward). Line2 adds a second number to your iPhone, which is great if you want a dedicated number for work. You can cancel without penalty and the service is billed to your credit card rather than your iTunes account.

6. Nimbuzz. Nimbuzz is yet another all-inclusive app. It supports several chat clients and VoIP options. You can use free calling, file sharing, and messaging on your smart phone, browser, or desktop, and you can import your friends from Facebook, Windows Live, Yahoo, and GoogleTalk.

7. Skype. Skype is basically synonymous with VoIP. The quality is great, it’s easy to use, and it’s cheap. Skype’s iOS app does everything that Skype on your laptop or desktop does, such as making calls over WiFi or 3G. It also offers instant messaging and video chat. Calls to other Skype users are free, but you can add the inexpensive SkypeOut plan for flat-rate calls to anyone in your country who doesn’t use Skype.

8. Talkatone. Talkatone uses Gmail VoIP to let you place free calls on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch as long as you have a Google Voice account. Users find it easy to set up. You simply enter your Google Voice information, set your Google Voice line to forward to Google Chat, and you’re done.

9. Truphone. Truphone offers both a pay-as-you-go plan and an unlimited plan. If you make lots of international calls from the U.S., the unlimited plan includes calls to 35 destinations at no charge. You also get low-cost text messages, free calling to Skype and GoogleTalk, free IM, and free Voicemail.

10. Viber. Viber is a popular app that does not require you to create an account, hand over your credit card information, or even create a username. However, to call someone free, they also need to have Viber. Your Viber minutes are only used if you call someone who doesn’t have Viber. Viber is ad-free, and you can call anyone in the world who has the same app.

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Michael Kors. L.A.M.B. Marc Jacobs. Victoria Beckham. You? Your friends have always admired your style. You always thought there was a need in the market for a new type of design or aesthetic. You are entrepreneurial and want to start a business. Have you always dreamed of starting a clothing line?

How do you go from creative idea to actual sales of your clothing? Whether you’re designing apparel for children, babies, men, teenage girls, or puppies, here’s how to start a clothing line and get your business up and running:

Set the Foundation

A lot of your initial heavy lifting happens during this phase. When you’re setting the foundation for your business, you’re doing a lot of planning and research. This means obtaining the licenses you need to conduct business and developing the business plan that you will use as an outline for your company’s goals.

You’ll need to do a lot of market research in order to develop a comprehensive business plan. Take a look at your target market and research your competition. What has worked for them, and what hasn’t? You’ll need to be able to describe in detail who your key customer might be and what they might look like. What other brands do they prefer and where do they shop? It’s highly recommended that you get a retail job at a store that caters to your desired customer. This will help you understand what they are buying, what they look for in clothing, and the prices they expect to spend.

This is also the time where you brainstorm your branding and logo – it’s the way many consumers will identify your designs as they become familiar with your clothing line.

What will it cost?

There are a lot of pricing and financial variables to consider when you start a clothing line business. Some people can self-fund a few thousand dollars in order to open their clothing line, but other experts might believe you need hundreds of thousands to make an impact. If you can’t fund the line yourself, your best bet for funding is likely a small business loan. Your business plan should define how much up-front costs you’ll need and for what purposes. When it comes to building a successful clothing line, you’ll have to spend a fair amount of money to make a dent:

• Supplies: How much money will you need for up-front fabrics and materials?
• Production: Will you need to pay a manufacturer or independent seamstresses to make your collection a reality?
• Marketing: What will marketing and advertising cost you?

You also need to consider how to price your garments. Once you start selling, at what point will you start making money that you can put back into the business? You should expect to spend a significant portion of your money on supplies and production. It’s better to have more inventory to sell or give away to establish your brand than it is to spend all your money on ads.

Fabrics & Supplies

For people who want to start a clothing line, the fun part is designing and dreaming up the clothes and aesthetic. But, when it comes to running a business, this is only a small portion of the process. To understand how much fabric you’ll need, make sketches for 10-20 pieces that you can realistically go to market with. Make sure to choose pieces that show off your design chops. Get feedback from friends, family, and if possible, professionals in the fashion industry so that you can get a good idea of which garments should be part of your first collection.

From here, you can estimate how much fabric you’ll need, and don’t forget buttons, zippers, trim, and other materials. If you haven’t already, it’s important for you to understand production terminology so you can properly identify the fabric you wish to use, and communicate it’s construction and content.

Manufacturing

To keep costs low, you might consider sewing all of the pieces yourself. But be honest with yourself about how long you can sustain doing that. You can certainly make the samples, but you may want to research sewing contractors to help build the collection in a reasonable amount of time.

If you want to go straight to a manufacturer, look into the National Register of Apparel Manufacturers to find the right manufacturer for your line. Bring them sketches of your clothing and, if possible, a sample or prototype of each garment. As you interview manufacturers, be sure to ask about minimum quantities, turnaround time, their policies on design changes, etc. Get everything in writing, and be sure to get samples of your designs from them before you sign off on any mass-quantity production.

Selling Tools

In fashion, selling isn’t all about exchanging one garment for money. You have to look the part, which means learning the lingo and having all the necessary tools to process orders. A line sheet shows pictorial illustrations of your entire line, and includes important information on fabric, wholesale/retail prices, contact information, and order deadlines. This is a document that you would provide a buyer to give them a full run-down of what your collection includes. Your line sheet should be accompanied with a swatch card and order form. It’s important to have your line organized with this information so that when you approach a buyer, you look organized and professional.

Also remember that collections are designed by season. Most department stores buy at least two seasons in advance, while smaller stores buy 1-2 seasons ahead. You’ll need to time your design, production, and delivery accordingly.

Sales

Once you have your selling tools situated, you need to know where and how to approach a buyer. You can start your efforts off at the grassroots level, and sell at festivals, markets, and to friends and family. You can also sell your garments online, using various online marketing efforts to spread the word and take orders. If you’re less than web-savvy, sites like Etsy can help you set up an online storefront without having to create your own website from scratch.

From there, try to get appointments with local boutique stores by introducing yourself in person or e-mailing the store owner. These stores are small enough that they won’t require large quantities of your product, so you can likely satisfy their orders quickly with a manufacturer or with a network of independent seamstresses. If you have your eyes set for the stars, and dream of your name plastered all over Neiman Marcus, you’ll need a different approach.

Kathleen Fasanella at Fashion Incubator gives some tough love when it comes to selling to department stores. While it’s not impossible to get your line delivered to these large retailers, it will require a lot of money:

Selling to big box stores requires a whole other level in both operational and computing complexity. Both require commitments towards increased internal operational efficiencies and considerable financial investment in the necessary tracking and monitoring systems.

Getting in touch with a department store buyer can be a challenge. You might consider partnering with an individual sales rep who has established relationships with buyers at the department stores or large retailers you want to target.

Photo source: fashionkings.net, hideyourarms.com

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What Are Call Centers?

Call centers are centralized offices that send and receive a large volume of calls. They are used for dispatching technicians, receiving customer support calls, or fielding calls asking for technical help. Some call centers primarily place outgoing calls. Examples of this type of call center include debt collection companies and telemarketing agencies. Typically a call center has a large, open or partially-cubicled workspace for call center workers, who are each provided with a computer and a telephone headset.

What Industries Use Call Centers Most?

When most people think of call centers, they think of the places they call when their computer malfunctions or when they find a problem on their bank statement. Industries with the heaviest reliance on call centers include:

• E-commerce
• Computer hardware and software
• Transportation and travel booking
• Finance, banking, and credit
• Medical and pharmaceuticals

With call center technology firmly in place and an expected part of the customer experience, today’s trends in call center technology are starting to focus more on efficiency. In other words, call centers want to reduce the cost per contact for each customer contact. That’s where VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology comes in.

How VoIP Is Transforming Call Centers

VoIP allows the creation and expansion of virtual call centers, which are more flexible than traditional PBX-based call centers. The traditional call center is constrained by location and floor space, but VoIP helps enable distributed call centers and remote agents. This helps cut down — or even eliminate — physical floor space requirements, as well as back-up power, break rooms, and infrastructure associated with traditional call centers. But one of the main breakthroughs that VoIP-based call centers provide is greater flexibility in hourly staffing, which can cut down drastically on the costs associated with idle labor.

VoIP’s Effect on Call Center Infrastructure

VoIP call center solutions reduce infrastructure complexity by allowing more virtualization. This means that businesses can get a full PBX-style call center solution with as little as one server. Businesses can use VoIP to let call agents work at home, or they can add smaller call centers in dispersed locations. At-home agents and dispersed call centers save on real estate costs and are “greener” because they cut down on worker transportation needs.

VoIP and Device Flexibility

Many VoIP systems support a nearly-unlimited number of devices. Just about any accessory with a speaker and microphone can be used as a phone, and many VoIP systems allow administrators to add and configure smart phones and cell phones using simple smart phone apps that can be used anywhere. What’s more, many VoIP systems are interoperable with existing PBX systems, and this makes it easy for businesses to test drive VoIP systems under a trial license before committing.

Freedom from Local Constraints

Because VoIP can connect to dial-up networks and make phone calls from just about anywhere on the globe, they allow processes that are difficult or impossible for traditional call centers. For example, if a company has three call centers in three different time zones, a VoIP system allows creation of a routing plan that follows local time zones and makes use of employee time more efficient. And extending an existing call center network no longer requires the addition of PBX infrastructure, just adding VoIP to agents in a new location.

Integration with Data Systems

Since VoIP calls are digital, they can be easily hooked up to the call center’s data handling system. It’s easy to annotate, store, and route calls with VoIP, and VoIP systems can help coordinate calls with existing data. For example, an inbound call can trigger a pop-out screen with information on the caller and options for recording or even transcribing calls through speech-to-text software. Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, is being widely adopted by VoIP vendors because it makes it so easy to develop new services. SIP lets call centers offer novel technologies like the ability to stream a troubleshooting video directly into a user’s handset.

Tomorrow’s Call Centers Today

The concept of VoIP replacing call centers is more like a rapid evolution than a complete razing and redoing of traditional call centers. Today’s business phone systems rely increasingly on VoIP technology. But VoIP is rapidly being integrated into many of today’s existing call centers and is becoming the technology of choice for call center expansion and for outfitting new call centers.

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Anyone who has ever received an employee evaluation knows that no one likes to get negative feedback, but a lot of managers don’t realize they give bad reviews often, even to their superstars.

I’ll show you some examples, as well as paths you can take on your way to writing a great review, whether it’s a positive or negative one. We’ll discuss the signs of a terribly written review, how to set clear goals for the coming year, how to document employee behavior, and, finally, how to lead up to a review and how to follow up on that review.

The Signs of a Terribly Written Review

Experience is the best teacher, and often, the best way to learn is from the most difficult or challenging experiences and setbacks. These setbacks can be “teachable moments” whereby a leader uses the time just after the event to discuss it with the employee and use this discussion to foster employee growth.

Too often, review systems are annual or biannual, and the opportunity to find the good in the difficult times can be interpreted as finding fault or listing mistakes an employee has made at points throughout the year. The more terribly written reviews focus on the negative and condition an employee to play not to lose, as opposed to playing to win. They should use the review as a tool for learning, growing, developing, and avoiding making the same mistakes twice. Remember, start and end with positives.

Create Clear and Measurable Goals for Your Employees

All of us want a sense of freedom and autonomy in our jobs; we value the feeling that we get to make choices that help the company attain its objectives.

The best way to set goals so the employee buys in is to have the employee write his own review of the last year. He knows what he’s done well and what he’s struggled with; this insight is invaluable in developing measurable priorities for the coming year.

Leaders should collaborate with their employees, providing input that helps shape the final version of the targets and performance criteria. When you work out these goals together, your employee will get the sense that you’re both invested. They will feel more like people and less like numbers. The goals should be clear, measurable, and leverage the strengths of the employee.

Further, an employee should be given a chance to add objective goals when they show improvement in a growth area.

Finally, encourage periodic self-reviews where the employee evaluates himself and gives the leader a chance to work on further employee development.

Document Behavior

For any of us to know how the score is kept, we first need to know the rules of the game.

Tangible examples of behaviors illustrate the rules and reduce the likelihood of misinterpreting both exemplary and problematic behaviors. The documentation of issues should reflect event dates, the correlation to the business, the impact of the event on the business, and then emphasize why a certain behavior was problematic.

Remember when we spoke earlier about teachable moments? Every misstep is a chance to teach and to learn. This is also important to do when the employee displays exemplary behavior, going above and beyond for the business and for you. Reinforce the positives.

Lead Up to the Review, and Follow Through

There is an inherent problem with the annual review process, and the concept is a hindrance to companies and employees around the world.

Actually, in my opinion, the annual review is a silly approach to a feedback system. Everyone wants to know how they are doing on a daily basis. The coaching staff around Roger Federer wouldn’t wait six months before giving him feedback on his performance in a Grand Slam event. He would know within hours of the final serve, and he could use that feedback at the next morning’s practice. Think of ways to keep people informed on a daily basis.

One way to do this is “speed dating.” Set frequent dates, weekly or biweekly, for a 10-minute interaction. Cover what is going well, what needs work, and what your employees need from you, and then see if there anything else on the employee’s mind. Then, break at 10 minutes. If there must be an annual review, it’s simply a formal document that reinforces what has been covered all year long.

If you use these four steps, I can assure you all of your yearly reviews from here forward will be positive learning experiences for you and your employees.

Remember that the annual review is far less important than what you tell your employees on a daily basis.

Focus on the smaller interactions, and the big one will write itself at the end of the year.

James K. McPartland is the principal and chief inspiration officer of theJMacPerformanceGroup, a specialized management consulting firm focused on realizing the importance of the human potential in business. He is an entrepreneur, author, international speaker, and TV/radio host with an upcoming novel, Unopened Gifts: A Journey to Gratitude. For more information, contact James here.

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Some studies indicate an entrepreneur’s social skills play a huge role in his success, but few skill sets are directly correlated with success.

Knowing how to make someone comfortable, being able to engage socially, creating a favorable reputation, and developing relevant experience all provide an entrepreneur with tremendous access in social/networking settings.

At an entrepreneurship conference where I represented the Entrepreneurial Alliance of the University of Missouri, I saw a group of students raising money by selling T-shirts that said, “We’re not partying, we’re networking.” In general, more successful entrepreneurs are very outgoing – if they want to understand their customers and market, they have to get out and interact with people. But social skills are only one part of the equation.

Social interaction is key to entrepreneurs’ success, but good interactions are dependent upon intelligent insights, imaginative ideas, and passionate, confident communication.

Here are the five key traits an entrepreneur should develop for any situation:

1. Think critically. Successful entrepreneurs are critical thinkers, more often than not. By processing the information and details you have, you’ll prevent yourself from jumping into a venture without analysis, which is detrimental to success. With so many start-ups failing, you have to ask yourself about your tolerance for risk. Good feasibility studies and a sound business plan can drastically reduce the risk involved because they force entrepreneurs to investigate the market, the product, their management, their finances, and their prospective cash flow. The key to risk-taking is to minimize the unknowns.

2. Be confident. Without confidence in your actions, there will be little to no reward. You have to believe that you will accomplish your goals, even if they seem lofty or unmanageable. Risk management is both an art and a science. It involves thinking about the unknowns. What could go wrong? What could be done to mitigate those risks? Additionally, you need to put risk in perspective in order to analyze the benefits against the pitfalls.

3. Have a keen sense of imagination. When faced with a problem, oftentimes the solution that seems the most reasonable just isn’t enough. By being able to come up with creative ways to solve problems, you’re more likely to come up with a solution that benefits everyone, while also showcasing your ingenuity.

4. Communicate successfully. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to sell something to someone – whether it’s your product, name, or ideas. You have to understand your customers and how to communicate with them. You will also need to communicate with investors and suppliers. Having confidence in your product/service and yourself goes a long way toward being able to communicate effectively.

5. Be passionate. Above all, you have to believe in what you’re doing. If you don’t have passion for your own idea, nobody else will. It takes a lot of time and effort to successfully start and operate a venture. Don’t become discouraged if all aspects of your endeavor don’t work out perfectly at first; your driving passion should be enough to realize what will make you successful.

Of course, these five traits play important roles in helping entrepreneurs make solid decisions. Making good decisions is vital to success in entrepreneurial ventures. The choices present may not always be optimal, but at least satisfying solutions to problems are easier to come by with a developed skill set.

Remember that not making a decision is making a decision, too – and it’s usually the worst option available. Adopting a decision-making process like the one below will not only help you make decisions that are good at the time, but are also flexible and long-lasting.

• Define and clarify the issue/problem.
• Gather data and facts – and understand them.
• Brainstorm possible alternatives.
• Evaluate the alternatives based on the pros and cons presented by the data.
• Select the best option.
• Follow up to see how your decision played out.

Interestingly enough, your customer base goes through an eerily similar decision-making process when deciding whether they should buy your product/service or your competitor’s.

• They identify a need.
• They gather facts.
• They look for products/services that meet their need.
• They evaluate the different products/services.
• They make a purchase.
• They determine if it was the best choice and apply that conclusion to their next purchase.

That’s why it’s important to ensure that you’re providing your customers with the data to ensure they understand how your product/service is better than the competition’s. You’ve got to make their decision-making process as easy as possible; it’s one (necessary) way of being a good communicator. They’ll go through the steps – you just have to simplify it for them.

Entrepreneurs, more than corporate businessmen, need to be adept at reading others accurately, making a great first impression, and being passionate and persuasive about their ventures.

Tackling these skills will make every other obstacle that much easier to deal with – and, as an entrepreneur, there’s no doubt you’ll have your fair share of them.

Photo credit: lincolncountyedc.org

Dr. Greg Bier is a Professor of Management at the University of Missouri. He leads the newly formed Entrepreneurship Alliance in the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business. He is also a partner with Entrepreneur MO.

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The most crucial task in building any new business start up, while often the most overlooked, is constructing a detailed business plan. Without a plan in place detailing your approach, your finances and your goals, any business venture is bound to end in financial ruin.

Thankfully, creating a business has never been easier than it is with all of the modern technology available to us; even your Apple iPhone can prove to be a valuable business partner.

If you’re planning to launch a new business venture, here are four business plan builder apps for your iPhone:

1. Business Plan for Entrepreneurs

Launching any business scheme is a complicated process and business plans tend to be, by association, complicated themselves.

The Business Plan for Entrepreneurs iPhone app assists you immensely by breaking down the process into nine critical steps, helping you to be sure that you cover all of your bases when designing your business plan and envisioning the future.

Featuring not only business plan templates but a wealth of information as well, this app aims to educate would-be business owners with a companion iBook covering all of the basics. Once this information has been reviewed, you have access to examples of completed plans in order to better understand the look and feel of the details necessary to your business plan.

When you feel ready, willing and able to start integrating specific numbers and goals, blank templates covering marketing plans, budget planning and an overall business plan await.

2. Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite

Given the passion with which most people approach the launch of any new business venture, it is important to many future business owners to construct their business plan from scratch. When taking this approach, there are two types of files that you are absolutely certain to need: text documents and spreadsheets.

The Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite for iPhone allows you to view and edit these types of documents, whether they were created in Microsoft Office, Google Docs or any other base program.

With the full power of an office suite, this app can prove to be the most powerful business plan maker for the iPhone available, especially if you enjoy working with raw spreadsheets..

3. EverNote for iPhone

If the main goal of creating a business plan is to combine your resources, ideas and goals in order to come up with a viable, workable framework then being sure that you have constant access to your best and brightest ideas is of absolute importance.

Before diving into your official business plan, consider taking the time to brainstorm first, using the EverNote app to quickly record and review text notes, voice memos and photos while also syncing them directly to your PC for future reference.

During quieter times, use these golden “eureka” moments to help shape a detailed business plan based on your own individual wants and needs, embracing both the gritty numbers and the joy of turning your fleeting ideas into concrete results.

4. iPhone Analytics App

If your website is an integral part of the business you’re planning, knowing and understanding your traffic and visitors is crucial. In the interest of keeping your business planning limited to your iPhone, consider the iPhone Analytics app to fill this need.

Giving you access to all of your Google Analytics data and presenting it in an attractive format on the small iPhone screen, this app offers 47 different types of traffic reports, allowing you to better wrap your head around where your business is on the web – and where you want it to be.

About the Author: Tom Chu is the SEO manager at PsPrint, a printing company that has a department in Chicago. PsPrint specializes in business card and poster printing among other popular services. Find me in Google+

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