In the wake of the global recession we’re facing and the stress of job uncertainties around us, this is a good time for those who are with a job to stay focused and motivated to performing their tasks well. This not only helps to secure your job in the company, it also helps to give you a sense of purpose and job satisfaction instead of fousing on the gloom of the economic crisis.

This tip comes in the form of a story about how different people view the same task at hand and how they handle them differently through different perceptions. Have a read, and I hope you see the insight of this story and find it useful as a guiding star to motivate you to achieve and reap more success in what you do.

This story is a little long, but it will be worth your time should you see the light at the end of the tunnel from this story.

Employee “A” in a company walked up to his manager and asked what my job is for the day?  The manager took “A” to the bank of a river and asked him to cross the river and reach the other side of the bank.

“A” completed this task successfully and reported back to the manager about the completion of the task assigned. The manager smiled and said “GOOD JOB”.

Next day Employee “B” reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task as above to this person also.

The Employee “B’ before starting the task saw Employee “C” struggling in the river to reach the other side of the bank. He realized “C” has the same task.

Now “B” not only crossed the river but also helped “C” to cross the river.  “B” reported back to the manager and the manager smiled and said “VERY GOOD JOB”.

The following day Employee “Q” reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.

Employee “Q” before starting the work did some home work and realized “A”, “B” & “C” all has done this task before. He met them and understood how they performed. He realized that there is a need for a guide and training for doing this task.

He sat first and wrote down the procedure for crossing the river, he documented the common mistakes people made, and tricks to do the task efficiently and effortlessly. Using the methodology he had written down he crossed the river and reported back to the manager along with documented procedure and training material.

The manger said “Q” you have done an “EXCELLENT JOB”.

The following day Employee “O’ reported to the manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.

“O” studied the procedure written down by “Q” and sat and thought about the whole task. He realized company is spending lot of money in getting this task completed. He decided not to cross the river, but sat and designed and implemented a bridge across the river and went back to his manager and said, “You no longer need to assign this task to any one”.

The manager smiled and said “Outstanding job ‘O’. I am very proud of you.”

What is the difference between A, B, Q & O?

Many a times in life we get tasks to be done at home, at office, at play.  Most of us end up doing what is expected out of us. Do we feel happy? Most probably yes. We would be often disappointed when the recognition is not meeting our expectation .  But evaluate are you a A or someone more than that?

If you notice B, Q and O all have demonstrated “team performance” over an above individual performance; also they have demonstrated a very invaluable characteristic known as “INITIATIVE”.   Now to the outstanding person, “O” made the task irrelevant; he created a Permanent Asset to the team.

Initiative pays of every where whether at work or at personal life. If you put initiative you will succeed. This is because this year’s achievement is next year’s task. You cannot use the same success story every year.

Out-of-Box thinkers are always premium and that is what every one constantly looks out for. Initiative, Out-of-Box thinking and commitment are the stepping stone to success.

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How to do more and think out of the box

This isn’t exactly a tip of any kind, just some information to share. I read recently that Google searches are costly to the environment. Here’s a paragraph taken from the above titled news article:

While millions of people tap into Google without a thought for the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g.

This stems from the belief that Google uses very high energy consumption to keep its servers in a state of high performance at all times. The more we use Google’s search engine, the more Google needs to upkeep its performance to meet our demands.

But then again I believe it’s not just Google that needs high power consumption to run its business effectively. Many other companies do, it’s just that they are probably not as high key and talked about as Google.

So whatever it is, I do think that we should give Google a break.

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Did you know that an online search can affect the environment?

I read an interesting article called 3 Weeks to Startup. It offers some tips to start up a business in just 3 weeks.

It has always been a personal interest to learn how to start up a small or home business in the shortest time possible. So this article, albeit a little general, is a great start for those who have no idea at all how to go about starting a small business on their own.

I have summarised the steps given in this article. If you wish to read the full article, I suggest you visit the website and take in all that has been offered.

• Day 1 – Start with a workable business idea

Do this reality check about the business you want to embark on: Do people need what you’re going to sell? Will they pay for it? Are they already buying something similar now? How will you focus on running the business?

• Day 2 – Determine ownerhip

Are you the sole owner of this business or are you going to start this up with a business partner?

• Day 3 – Agree in writing

This is pure common sense and it works to have everything spelled out in black and white after agreeing on how you will work together as business partners.

• Day 4 – Give your business a name

This is probably an exciting exercise to give your business a suitable name. Check whether the names you have come up with are available before dwelling in too much or you may be wasting your time away working on a name that has already been taken.

• Day 5 – Work on an initial sales forecast

Try to do a 12-month projection of what your sales would be like.  Go down to the nitty-gritty details, day by day, or hour by hour sales if you need to, just to be able to get a sense of what kind of sales will you realistically be looking at.

• Day 6 – Budget your monthly expenses

Every business has an expense budget with it. Work out what your budget is like, which includes everything from rent and electricity bills to salaries to office supplies.

• Day 7 – Budget your starting costs

This is different from yoor monthly expenses of running the business. Starting costs should be the expenses you need to incur to set up the business. It could be legal and stamping fee or purchasing fixed assets for the business.

• Day 8 –  Develop a marketing strategy

You need to know who your target customers are and how you are going to put your marketing message across to them. Thus, you need to have a marketing plan that will address your target audience effectively.

• Day 9 – Develop your image

Your business needs an image. Develop your company logo, tagline, image, etc. Make sure you use your logo and display your image consistently to your customers.

• Day 10 – Develop your website

These days, whether you are doing business offline or online, a website is a must. Web presence is very important as people will tend to check you out and if you have a website for them to refer and read all about you, you stand to be in better light with the customer than one that goes without web presence.

• Day 11 – Payment method

You need to think how your customers will pay you for your products or services. Find the most convenient way for your customers to purchase from you. Even if you need to go through a lot of inconvenience to set up that payment method the first time round, it is worth the effort. So do it right!

• Day 12 – Try selling

You may not be in full-fledged business yet but it doesn’t hurt to start selling and testing the market. This can work well before you launch in a big way if there are processes you discover along the way that needs improvements and tweaking.

• Day 13 – Consider business insurance

You may want to insure your business. Talk to the agents and find out what kind of insurance best suits your nature of business.

• Day 14 – Build your team

You may need to hire some people to help with certain functions of the business. Think about what you and your business partner can hold on your own, and what areas of expertise are best left to others you want to hire.

• Day 15 – Location is key

If you are setting up an office, think of a prime location that works for your business. The key word here is what works for your business. Take note that not all prime locations would work best for your nature of business. For example, your business may thrive in a shoplot at a residential area as compared with a 5-star office building in the city.

• Day 16 – Set up your accounts

Get a good accounting software to run your business. If you need to spend some money to invest in a good software, it may be worth your money. You don’t want to end up doing lots of manual work from a software that is not friendly. Keeping your books easily accountable is good practise, plus it might save you a lot of time to do book-keeping.

• Day 17 – Legalise things with your business partner

If you are working with a business partner, you may want to engage a legal team to write up a simple agreement about where you and your business partner stand.

• Day 18 – Recruit your team

After thinking about the kind of help you need for your business, you can now start your recruitment process and hold interviews.

• Day 19 – Funding

If your business needs any additional funding from what you and your busienss partner have put in, you should look into various options of how you can obtain the funding. You can look at banks, or other investors who might be interested in your business. This will need agreement from you and your business partner, of course.

• Day 20 – Think about the launch of your business

How will you do it? What kind of marketing will you do to let others know that you are in business and that you have great products and services to offer? First impressions are important so try to make it good the first time round!

• Day 21 – Start your business!

You may want to create some kind of marketing gimmick to get people excited about your new business, or simply offer great promotions of your products and services. Try to close some sales on the first official day of business!

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How to get a small business set up in 3 weeks