10 Steps to Make Your Employees Smile

**Great article we found on Inc.com.**

A common-sense approach to building a company culture of engagement

I normally use a lot of examples, metaphors, and random pop culture references when I talk about company culture. But sometimes you just have to realize that good rules to live by don’t necessarily need a picture or analogy. Here are the 10 things I always do, without fail, to make employees smile:

1. Give them a voice. Listen to them. Implement their ideas.  Give them all the credit.
2. Pay them fairly. To build a great culture, you have to have the basics in place. That means reasonable compensation and benefits. You don’t have to be at the top of the market.  But if you try to create a culture of fun and miss the money part, it will appear disingenuous.
3. Recognize and reward. Don’t just give them more cash.  People just want to feel valued. Ask them how they want to be recognized; you’ll be surprised at some of the answers.
4. Offer opportunities for advancement. Most of your employees want to feel there is room to grow. Do they know the path? Have you written it down for them? Show them the way.
5. Support out-of-the-box semantics. Stop with the fancy titles. All that does is build silos and internal competition.  Our receptionist’s official title is the “director of first impressions” and my assistant is the “director of executive wrangling.”
6. Infiltrate the workplace with fun. Decorate the place, put up photos, host dress-up days, plan fun events, and bring families to the party.

**To read the rest of the article from the original source, click here.**

Thinking inside the box | The Economist

**Check out this article we found in The Economist.**

Should the state allow mothers to abandon their newborn babies?

FOUNDLINGS? In 2012? Yes, mothers still dump unwanted newborns in boxes and steal away. Foundling wheels were an artefact of medieval times; but they reappeared in 2000 in Hamburg, where a lot of abandoned babies were dying. Now Germany has around 200 places where a mother can either leave her baby—heated “baby hatches”, usually with an alarm to summon a carer—or where she can give birth anonymously. They have taken charge of around a thousand babies, many of whom will never know where they came from.

Such refuges are “a last chance to give an opportunity to save a life,” says Gabriele Stangl, chaplain of the Waldfriede hospital in Berlin, which runs one. But there is a problem: abandoning children is illegal. The German constitution gives citizens a right to “knowledge of their origins” and fathers a right to help bring up their children. Both are breached when a mother gives birth anonymously. Baby hatches are tolerated, but operate in a legal grey area.

Ever since the Hamburg hatch opened, there have been arguments over whether to ban or sanction them. The debate intensified in February with the publication of a study by the German Youth Institute, which found that the anonymous services had lost trace of a fifth of all abandoned babies. Foes have long insisted that baby hatches do not save lives (neonatal deaths have not dropped). They compete with services that offer more responsible care, argues Terre des Hommes, a child-care charity. In 2009 the German Ethics Council, an independent body, said baby hatches and other anonymous birth services should be replaced by “confidential child delivery” with a limited anonymity right. Since the Youth Institute findings such demands have grown louder.

**To read the rest of the article from the original source, click here.**

Want to Wow Investors? Bring Your Kids to the Pitch Meeting

**Great article from Entrepreneur.com.**

It’s a great idea for entrepreneurs to take their kids to work. Never too soon to plant that seed and show kids you can be your own boss and shape your own financial destiny.

But would you take your kid to a pitch meeting with investors?

I ask because this seems to be a new mini-trend — or at least it is if you’re watching ABC’s reality-TV show Shark Tank. And if the results are any evidence, other entrepreneurs might want to give some thought to bringing their children along, especially if the business involves children’s products.

First, two weeks ago, inventor Shelly Ehler of Ladera Ranch, Calif., brought her two sons on the show to help demonstrate her product. The ShowNo is a towel/poncho that allows kids to easily change out of bathing suits in a public place while staying covered up.

It made sense in a way, because it gave her a couple of willing subjects to demonstrate the product. But as a mom, I was biting my nails.

Just ask movie producers — kids are a total wild card. They could do anything in front of the cameras. And you know those producers would use it if something crazy or embarrassing happened, too. This could be your chance to get big funding and connect with a super-influential investor, going right down the toilet. If you can’t control little Johnny, why should the investors trust you to control your company?

For Ehler, the risk paid off. The boys were troupers and she walked away with a $50,000 check from “QVC queen” Lori Greiner. Ehlers has already blogged that Greiner is the mentor she dreamed of finding.

Then, last week on Shark Tank, more kids. This time, it made sense to me. The business, M3 Girl Designs, started by Maddie Bradshaw when she was just 10. Her teenage sister Margot is the company’s CEO, with help from their mom. Maddie’s Snap Cap jewelry — interchangeable designs you display inside old bottle caps — had grossed $5 million over the years, including $1.3 million in 2010. Margot recently introduced her own line for older girls.

**To read the rest of the article from the original source, click here.**

The Power of Paulitics

**Great article from Time Magazine.**

Libertarian Ron Paul, once dismissed as an intriguing, entertaining but irrelevant fringe candidate, has emerged from the first two contests with undeniable clout. Barring some unforeseen drama, he will almost certainly end the nomination season with the second highest number of delegates. Paul, 76, no longer can be called fringe. He captured more than 1 in 5 votes in Iowa and New Hampshire.

In those states, Paul was the only candidate other than Romney with the funds to invest in basic campaign nuts and bolts: telephoning and e-mailing voters, recruiting local leaders and flooding the airwaves with TV ads (many of which were poisonous attacks on his rivals).  In a contest that has split the anti-Romney vote into several pieces, Paul has so far won the biggest share. His rallies are a festival of dissonance. The Congressman’s Texas-dry, terse delivery contrasts with the unfailingly rapturous reaction of his supporters.  His crowds don’t seem to care that he speaks in elliptical shorthand, leaping from topic to topic and invoking hallowed Austrian economists at whim. The vast majority of people at Paul events arrive knowing exactly what the candidate believes in and why they love him.  He need only sing the first line of a song, and the full lyric sheet races through their heads.

Many are drawn to his core small-government message, but Paul also offers a grab bag of other libertarian elements:  drug legislation, a limited role for the U.S. around the world, strict adherence to the Constitution and a purist’s take on civil liberties.  His debate performances, flat and self-referential, seem removed from the media spectacle but work as a dog whistle to the faithful.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2104319,00.html#ixzz1l4ovrWAO

Google And The Monopoly Paradox

With the deep inclusion of Google+ into Search, Google is tempting fate. We’ve been over this. A lot. And this story is going to continue for some time to come. It sure looks like Google is almost asking for an inquiry into potentially anti-competitive practices (and it’s coming). Which is insane. So the next logical question is why? Why is Google risking so much to do this?

My colleague Eric had a very interesting theory earlier. Maybe Google’s real motive is to get the government to also look into Facebook’s often-unfair practices with regard to their network ahead of their IPO. If social and not search is indeed the future, call this pre-subversion. And if there’s any shred of truth to this theory, more power to Google — it’s rather genius (though still extremely risky).

But the more likely answer as to why Google is doing Search+ is much simpler. At a high level, they believe social elements are going to be an extremely important part of search going forward. Given that the two biggest players in social, Facebook and Twitter, don’t give them full access to their data (Twitter used to but the relationship ended, Facebook never did), Google is doing the only thing they can in their minds to still get the data they need: bolster Google+.

That makes sense. The problem, again, is how they’re doing it — with Google Search, a property which has a (natural) monopoly.

Google will argue that they have no choice due to the lack of data from Twitter and Facebook. But that’s not good enough.

First of all, they do have enough data to equalize the two most troublesome areas of Search+: the “People and Pages” box (let’s call it the Google+ Juice Box), and the social profiles in Google Search drop-downs.

Second, Facebook and Twitter can likely argue that giving Google access to such data would be a huge detriment to their respective businesses. Again, Twitter used to give access, but then they could not reach an agreement on new terms. It was all about money. Google saying that Twitter “chose” not to renew reads like a public shakedown, in that light.

And this points to something deeper going on behind the scenes here, which is likely the actual crux of this problem. Google believes it’s their right and duty to perfect their search engine at all cost. That’s the only way you can explain some of their actions (not only this, but surfacing some of their other data over competitors as well). But because of their market dominance, Google’s rivals believe the measures the search giant is taking in order to improve their product are unfair.

This makes for a great battle because both sides have a valid point. But ultimately, Google’s point may be rendered invalid. Because Google is so successful, it may actually impede further success that they could otherwise pursue openly.

**Article from TechCrunch.com.  To read the rest from the original source click here.**

5 Essential traits of an Entrepreneur

Check out this article I found on Fraakz.com.

Business students and young entrepreneurs try lending me your ears as you won’t regret exploring the essential traits ingrained in a successful entrepreneur.

Ever wonder what kind of traits help the entrepreneur’s move next step forward in their careers.

Yes, your eyes are hovering over the right article, where I have compiled a list of top 5 essential traits that should bubble out from an entrepreneur.

Wanna grab a delicious bite of success then you should have the following value added essential qualities in addition to dedication, diligence, competence and honesty.

1- An Entrepreneur manages time efficiently

Unless you remain withdrawn most of the time fantasizing about the highly desired luxurious lifestyle, you are definitely gonna be confronted with time constraints. A lot of entrepreneurs describe combating the time constraints a hard nut to crack especially during the early phase of the career.

It is an intrinsic quality of an Entrepreneur to manage his time effectively, successfully accomplishing the assigned tasks meanwhile maintaining a balance between working and personal life.

2- An Entrepreneur has excellent communication skills

Communication no matter oral, written or in any other forms is the most important aspect in a Business Organization. Being an enthusiastic entrepreneur myself I would advise young business students and debuting entrepreneur’s to observe other senior entrepreneur’s and scrutinize their gestures, vocal tone, words, vocabulary and dialogue delivery to know exactly what to speak and when to speak.

3- Entrepreneur handles Multitasking

Gone are days when concentration was supposed to be paid upon a single task at a time. Its the second decade of 21st century and we are constantly evolving in our lifestyles due to rapid advancement in science and technology.

An entrepreneur must be wise enough to handle multitasking without any extra effort, this relates to, like for example, checking an email while speaking on the phone or creating a presentation on the laptop while eagerly listening to the new ideas being pitched about a project.

4- An Entrepreneur is Social

An Entrepreneur loves being social and should have his presence felt both physically and virtually over the internet. Hanging out with friends/clients in the lunch time and during tours is more observed.

An entrepreneur is advised to keep a Twitter Account and remain active so that others may know what’s running in his life. Skype is another very efficient and cost effective method to do a video chat with friends, colleagues and clients who are living abroad.

5- An Entrepreneur has Intelligence Quotient

Well last but not the least it is the inherent quality that circulates within an entrepreneur but we need to nurture our IQ levels to make it into something more productive and substantial. An entrepreneur should be quick-witted enough to read and analyze business ideas/plan/results etc in a short span of time and should be able to take a rapid decision considering various long-term and short-term factors.

I know the above mentioned 5 qualities made you happy as most of us at this stage already have these qualities but I thought why not give you guys some extra knowledge but precisely as nobody wanna deny a free offer.

An entrepreneur thinks out of the box and loves experimenting new ideas. The Entrepreneur should be highly concerned about his physical appearance like a fresh face, lively voice, a modern hairstyle, fashionable yet decent formal clothing etc. An Entrepreneur is like a suitable team member that motivates other peers to work on their optimal capacity.

Well I hope after reading this article you would definitely land back on Fraakz.Com and that too with a pleasant smile on your lips and high hopes for your careers.

7-Up Success Story: Is It The Same With Your Story?

We just went over this story in our office this afternoon.  It’s a great story ab perseverance.  Check it out!

The road to success is never said to be easy.  As the saying goes,

If the road to success was easy, everyone would take it.

This is definitely true that’s why 80% of us stop and turn back just to avoid the hardship.  But how about the 20%, did they take it easily?

While most of us are wondering around not really sure where we are going, there are few who knows what they want and does something about it.  They take the steps then fail countless time, they get back to start all over then struggle some more.  Isn’t pitiful?  I don’t think so. Because oftentimes, these 20% few ends up to be the successful people we all look up to.  These are the few people we call “lucky” to receive so many blessings.  These are the few people we call “the right people”, “the one”, “the great”, “the talented”, “the smart”, and a lot more great phrases.

The reason why we NEVER achieved success is we stop before we start or a few steps after we’ve started.

For my personal experience, I’ve faced failures, struggles and frustrations in my road to success.  And every time I want to stop and go back, I just remind myself of

The 7-UP Success Story:

The story was about A Company that was formulating a product that it envisions to sell to the market.  They know their goal, they have the ingredients, and they know how to do it.  Below here is the story:

1^st Experiment – FAILED

2^nd Experiment – FAILED

3^rd Experiment – FAILED

4^th Experiment – FAILED

5^th Experiment – FAILED

6^th Experiment – FAILED

Okay, if you were A Company, what will you do?  You will continue the experiment, right?  It may have been the right thing or should have been, but the sad news is, A Company didn’t do the same.

A Company loses hope, gave up and sold the formula to B Company.  B Company, on the other hand, still had hopes on the success of the formula, so it continued the experiment.  And below was the result:

7^th Experiment – SUCCESSFUL

The successful formula gave birth to 7-UP.  You probably know the rest of the story.  7-Up became one of the popular beverage drinks from then and up to now.

Is the Reward of Success Worth While?

The answer is based on your own personal opinion and perception.  We all have different views on this topic.  But if you allow me to give my side, I’d tell you that if you’re happy with who you are and what you have now, that’s great. There’s nothing you should change for you probably don’t need the results of further success.

But if it’s the opposite, maybe, just maybe, you have to think and evaluate what more you can do to change it.  And once you say “yes, there’s a need for a change and success”; remember the 7-up Story along your journey.

Facebook Revamps Insights

What’s New This Week?

Facebook Launches Revamped Insights Tool for Business Pages: Facebook page admins now have a new improved Insights tool for better Facebook marketing.

• Admins can find this new Insights tool in the left navigation sidebar once they opt in.
  Check out the new Facebook Insights tool.

 

• A link to the old Insights features is still found in the admin’s right sidebar, butFacebook will begin phasing out this older version of Insights on December 15th.
• Check out Facebook’s tutorial: Learn Page Insights. 
  Follow Facebook’s 20-minute tutorial at http://www.learnpageinsights.com/.

Facebook Mixes Sponsored Stories Ads With Content in the Site-Wide Ticker:  Facebook’s Sponsored Stories (a type of advertising on Facebook) arenow seen in the Facebook Ticker feature which was introduced earlier this year.

 

The types of content shared in Sponsored Stories are page likes, page posts, page post likes, check-ins, app shares, apps used and games played and domain stories.

Facebook Asks Users to Adopt the Facebook Timeline: Many users are seeing the notification below asking them to get the Facebook Timeline.

Are you getting the new Facebook Timeline now?

Here are a few social media tools worth noting:

Quipol: An easy-to-use, easy-to-embed polling tool with comments that can be shared on Facebook and Twitter. Note the handy thumbs up/down function.

http://www.quipol.com/w2tkvL9L?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.socialmediaexaminer.com%2Ffacebook-revamps-insights-this-week-in-social-media%2F

**To read the rest of this article, go to Social Media Examiner for the original content.**

How, When & Where People Share Content

Today being Wednesday, the odds are better than any other day you’ll share this post with someone else. Or so say the stats from social sharing service AddThis, one of several it compiled into an infographic.

Other interesting stats?

• People tend to share the most around 9:30 Eastern Time (so we cunningly timed this post for just before that peak moment),
• 75% of clicks on a share will happen within the first day that the content is shared
• Most users click within 2 minutes of a share
• Copy-and-paste to share can be used up to 10 times more than those social sharing buttons out there

More from the infographic:

Want the infographic for yourself? It was posted last month to the AddThis blog, as part of its five year birthday celebration: Happy Birthday AddThis!

The full-size files were provided through the Clearspring Flickr account here (Clearspring owns AddThis).

Most Shared In 2011

AddThis also told us that among the most shared content in 2011 from its tracking were:

• MoveOn’s campaign to get people to all share a status update pushing against big companies and Wall Street greed
• A photo of a dog lying next to the casket of a US Navy Seal who was killed in Afghanistan

Social Sharing “Half-Life” & More Information

If those stats about how short-term sharing seems to be got you thinking, that’s beginning to be referred to as the “half-life” of a share, and we have some past articles with further information:

• Infographic: Half-Life Of Social Media Shares
• Why “Second Chance” Tweets Matter: After 3 Hours, Few Care About Socially Shared Links

Social sharing will also be a big part of Search Engine Land’s upcoming SMX Social Media Marketing conference next month in Arizona, so be sure to check out the full agenda of our event.

Also consider subscribing to our free column related to social media, Search & Social, and see some of the resources we list on our What Is Social Media Marketing page.

**Content not originated by CXN, Inc. or any of our affiliates.  Article and statistics from SearchEngineLand.com**

A Comparison Between Younger, Older Business Owners

Most owners of small- to mid-sized businesses may be 40 or older, but their younger counterparts will not be ignored.  With a stronger entrepreneurial streak, a greater embrace of social networking, and a taste for hipper brands, business owners 39 and younger are America’s economic future.  Click this link for an interactive chart of results from a survey done by The Business Journals of 2,223 small business owners conducted from November 2010 to January 2011.

http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2011/06/A-Comparison-Between-Younger-Older-Business-Owners