We’ve seen it in sci-fi movies, television series, and the music and entertainment world. Now, you’re going to see it on the lecture circuit and more!
We’ve seen it in sci-fi movies, television series, and the music and entertainment world. Now, you’re going to see it on the lecture circuit and more!
With the help of holographic telepresence pioneer ARHT Media, I now offer the opportunity for organizations worldwide to have a life-size 3D hologram of myself beamed in anywhere in the world to deliver a live presentation, interacting with the audience via monitor as if I were physically there while being in an ARHT Media studio.
In the audience location, an ARHT Media tech will set up and run the equipment conveniently for the meeting or convention planners, and given that there are many ARHT Media locations globally, travel costs are very reasonable regardless of where the meeting is located.
We can also pre-record a customized presentation for the client using the special ARHT Media equipment and send it with the technician and holographic projection equipment to the audience location, eliminating both the need for a high bandwidth connection and any logistical conflicts on my end.
My goal is to greatly exceed clients’ meeting expectations while maintaining the integrity of my in-person presentations by being interactive and customized to the specific audience and industry. Before I delve into the benefits this technology has to offer, let’s first discuss ARHT Media.
CEO Larry O’Reilly is a successful global business development executive who transformed the IMAX brand from a museum theater experience to a billion-dollar global commercial distribution channel for IMAX and Hollywood films. O’Reilly and ARHT are also impacting service industry professionals in the medical field, the government, and more. While the bar is raised every day in the world of technology, let’s think for a second about how this could impact other industries.
It’s safe to say that holographic telepresence represents an increasing Hard Trend shaping the future of the presentation and performance industries, but how does it disrupt other industries?
A Positive Disruption
Take the education field, for example. Currently, at universities, professors teach three courses a semester, with additional courses taken on by adjuncts. Holographic telepresence makes it entirely possible for a professor to teach the same course multiple times over simultaneously with a life-size hologram beamed into an overflow lecture hall, and the disrupted adjunct could go into business for themselves, beaming themselves into college classrooms around the world as needed.
Consider an industry that is always disrupted: music. As of today, streaming services offer infinite residual income per listen, with the new issue being the microscopic amount the artist receives. Therefore, artists live on the road, selling merchandise and performing constantly. How could a band or entertainer be more anticipatory in their thinking on how to deal with the struggles of today’s music industry?
Imagine a world where they could mix live performance with holographic telepresence, performing live for select dates and as a hologram for others. Some may prefer all holograms due to illness, age, or other factors, performing live from their own studio to anywhere in the world while interacting directly with the audience in real time.
Aside from alleviating the travel woes, consider the cost savings. It costs a lot to put on a performance. The artist could capitalize on this technology financially by way of making ticket sales to hologram shows less expensive, depending on the setup; merchandise could come down in cost, and they could keep more of what they deserve for writing music we all love.
Of course, much like any innovative technology, the question remains: Will it be as good?
The Experience
Being a public speaker myself, I understand that many people reading this right now may be skeptical of how this technology would be received, or think their presentation would be less visceral if it wasn’t in person. Believe me, nothing is more powerful than being somewhere in person; however, the reality is it is an impossibility to be everywhere at once, and with the growing demand for instant gratification in the world today, how does an entrepreneur offering an in-person experience stretch themselves thinner than they already are?
The answer is holographic telepresence coupled with human performance, and this is the perfect example of the facilitation of capitalizing on being human in a more time-conscious way. When a client wants me to deliver a keynote speech at an event, I now offer several options, as I mentioned above, including my regular live presentation. Being known as a technology futurist and disruptive innovation expert, I demonstrate said expertise in my actual delivery of the presentation via holographic telepresence technology.
The world is always evolving, and technological disruption has always occurred; we are just noticing it now more than ever. However, if you pay attention to the hard trends that are shaping your industry, both inside and out, you’ll start to anticipate what’s to come and capitalize on new, game-changing opportunities.
Learn More
A Life-Size Hologram is an impressive way for Daniel Burrus to deliver his keynote presentation. Please contact our office to bring Daniel’s Hologram Keynote to your next event.
We want to thank all of the people who contributed to this blog and to all of our readers. We have decided to close our blog by December 2019. We are not getting enough traction for our blog.
We are moving onto another project and need to focus on our next product.
Again, we want to thank all of the contributors and readers. Please, back up all of your content that you posted on our site. We are no longer accepting any more content submissions. Once the site is closed in December, then we will no longer have access to any existing content on our site.
This week we suggest you play with naming your why. Write it down and live with it a while to see if it helps you make decisions that are more in alignment with what matters to you.
At the end of that post we asked that you consider your why. We received a number of questions about how to figure out your why, so this week and next week we’re sharing some things to consider to help you articulate it.
Many people struggle with articulating their why because they believe it has to be big and grand. Remember, it’s your why—why you do what you do in your life, why you get up in the morning, why you make the choices you do.
We’d like to help you name your why and own it!
This week, we encourage you to explore your why by using a series of questions as you survey your world. We created a PDF for you to easily fill in your answers. Click here to download.
Survey Your World
As you think about your why, start with the following questions. Do a quick survey of your world and what it has to teach you. Ask yourself:
When I’m the happiest at work:
What have I done?
What impact have I had?
What does my work contribute to?
Then consider, why do I do this work?
When I’m most content with my home life:
What have I been doing?
Who have I been with?
What impact have I had on my surroundings and the people in my world?
Then consider, why do I feel best under these circumstances?
When I am out in the world:
When do I feel engaged and involved?
Who do I most enjoy being around?
What am I doing when I’m most satisfied?
Then consider, why do I gravitate to these experiences?
Once you’ve answered questions about work, home, and world, see if you feel more confident in describing your why.
This week we suggest you play with naming your why. Write it down and live with it a while to see if it helps you make decisions that are more in alignment with what matters to you.
If you’d like support in exploring your why, contact us today about our Executive Coaching.
Memorial Day is the one day when we reflect as a nation on the sacrifices of the men and women who died while serving our country.
Today we’d like to share with you a post that we first wrote in 2014. As we were thinking about the meaning of this holiday, we found it helpful to remember its roots.
In the United States, today is Memorial Day. Over the years this has come to mean many different things—the beginning of summer, the running of the Indianapolis 500, and a day of countless sales—everything from makeup to lawn furniture. It can be hard to remember why we have this holiday at all.
Memorial Day is the one day when we reflect as a nation on the sacrifices of the men and women who died while serving our country.
In 1862, it was established as Decoration Day, and was an apolitical event to commemorate the thousands of both Union and Confederate soldiers who died during the Civil War. Following World War II, Decoration Day was expanded to commemorate all of the men and women who died while serving the USA in the military.
In the 1970s it was renamed Memorial Day and moved to the last Monday in May, a decision that probably helped to dilute the meaning of the day by creating the coveted 3-day weekend it has become.
This year we hope you are enjoying the long weekend and we would like to encourage you to take a moment to remember the men and women who have given their lives protecting our country. The families of the fallen service men and women would deeply appreciate a moment of our time to remember their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.
Whether or not you agree with the policies of the United States military, there is no denying that military individuals and families have given much to our country. For their sacrifice, we say thank you.
The more you motivate your team to challenge ideas the greater the likelihood that you will acquire innovative and creative ideas from your team.
Conflict is an important part of fostering innovation, yet many teams are unable to take advantage of this creative endeavor because they lack the skills to disagree respectfully while engaging in a spirited discussion.
Using conflict and difference to foster innovation
is an important skill that every leader, manager,
and director should know how to facilitate.
As we’ve discussed in the last two posts, when left unmanaged, conflict is a deterrent to creativity. People shouldn’t be allowed to be disrespectful or mean to one another. Yet, often due to their own anxiety, leaders don’t interrupt negative conflict. When that happens it’s not safe to have constructive conflict.
With constructive conflict you can:
Explore interests and perspectives
Consider outcomes that are great for the organization
Develop options to consider, create criteria for deciding, or decide to decide later
Use objective criteria and a strategic vision to go beyond limitations set by “group think”
We worked with a director once who had heard that conflict was good for innovation. So, not being fully aware of the concept, he decided to incite arguments between his marketing team and sales team.
He thought if they really hated one another they would be creative. Unfortunately, this was disastrous for him and for the teams he was supposed to be leading. He needed to create opportunities for constructive conflict, not just create negative conflict.
So, let’s talk about how to create opportunities for constructive conflict:
Ask that people take the opposite view of what’s been shared. Say something like, “Now let’s play the devil’s advocate” or “Let’s find the weak seams in what’s just been said.”
Encourage questions that “poke holes” in ideas.
Insist that every good idea also has a reason why it’s a bad idea. An easy way to do this is to explore the benefits of an idea and then explore the concerns that people have about the idea. You can see the full framework here: Benefits, Concerns, Suggestions.
Remember, when someone says something that others react to negatively, don’t shut the conversation down. Instead, coach them through the moment by saying something like, “Interesting idea, it’s unconventional and that’s what I’m looking for. What other ideas do you have?”
Always interrupt negative conflict. Don’t tolerate snide comments or outbursts.
Always remind people to attack the problem, not the person speaking.
This takes practice, but the more you motivate your team to challenge ideas the greater the likelihood that you will acquire innovative and creative ideas from your team.
This week, look for opportunities to increase creativity and innovation through constructive conflict.
If you’d like to create more opportunities
for creative conflict and would like some
support in getting started, contact us today
about our Executive Coaching.
You, your team, and your organization are not dysfunctional because you have conflict. Conflict is a part of being human!
Last week, in our post, Managing Workplace Conflicts: Shifts in Focus, we started with “Let’s be honest, if an organization has more than one person, it’s likely there will be conflict and tension.”
A number of you reached out to us to say that just that one sentence had been powerful as it reminded you that you, your team, and your organization are not dysfunctional because you have conflict. Conflict is a part of being human!
It’s so helpful to normalize just how messy all of us are. As we said, “As humans, we’re navigating the organizational agenda, our professional agenda, others’ professional agendas, our personal agenda, others’ personal agendas, etc.”
The shifts in focus we discussed last week can help people make the shift from conflict to problem solving.
This week, we’re sharing some shifts in behaviors that will help you individually, or you as a manager help others become more effective when tensions rise.
Don’t take it personally. Yes, this is easier said than done!
It’s important to remember that most of the time you’re experiencing tension with someone else, it’s because they’re wrapped up in their own head about what’s going on. They’re afraid or worried about looking bad, and so you get caught up in that fear.
It’s important to take a moment and Pause.
Pause, and ask yourself, “Is what I am about to say or do in alignment with my goals?” Reacting is not helpful.
Pausing lets you respond with thoughtfulness and professionalism.
Pausing to get clear is critical in today’s fast-moving business world. We need time to collect our thoughts and ensure that we’re moving forward responsibly and not with reactivity.
To do that you need to Listen.
Listen deeply, stay curious, and ask for clarification. Your job is to try and understand what others are experiencing so that you can respond appropriately to them.
After you’ve listened fully and understand the perspective of the other person you can then share your experience.
Name and deal with feelings. It’s fine to describe your experience of anger and frustration, but acting that anger out by being mean, insulting or disrespectful is not.
Use I statements.
People feel what they feel, but in the workplace the expectation is that they learn from their feelings (and the data those feeling provide) and then move professionally forward together.
Be attentive and respectful in your non-verbal communication.
People believe non-verbal cues more than verbal ones.
If your words are collaborative, but your arms are crossed and you’re scowling, you’re going to undo all you have done to defuse the conversation.
Focus on the future. Most people are conflict avoidant; so, like you, they want to move to a more comfortable and collaborative place.
Focusing on the future allows you to shift from current tension and think about what you can do together going forward.
We recently worked with a mid-level manager who was stressed out due to the amount of conflict in her team. Her stance (until now) had been to ignore it, which was only making it worse.
By tolerating the behaviors, she was inadvertently supporting them. So, we coached her to be more comfortable with intervening in the conflict.
She needed to distance herself from it so that she wasn’t taking it so personally, and then she needed to listen deeply to what was going on within her team.
By teaching her behaviors that she could utilize when she felt stuck in her own fear and anger, she was able to interrupt the cycle of unproductive conflict that was distracting her team from the real work at hand.
This week, take some time to familiarize yourself with the behaviors listed above and see if you can find opportunities to practice some of them so that they’re not foreign to you when you need them in a real conflict situation.
Stay tuned for next week’s post where we’ll talk about how you can use conflict to increase innovation.
If you’d like support in putting these principles into action to manage conflict at work, contact us today about our Executive Coaching.
You lost this job and that sucks. Now you have the opportunity to get more of what you want out of your next job!
We heard from many of you after our Surviving A Layoff post last week. Some of you mentioned that you were feeling stuck and unable to come up with a list of your top skills and strengths because you’re so drained from the experience of the layoff.
We get it. We’ve been there and we know it’s hard to think about the positive stuff when you’re in the midst of questioning whether you ever added value. And forget about possibility thinking, right?
So, we’d like to offer you a couple of small steps you can take this week to help you think about the skills you want to offer and the environment in which you’ll thrive.
We’ve seen that it can be easier to voice what you want by thinking about what you don’t want.
First, start with what you didn’t like about your job. Think about things like:
Skills used
Level of responsibility
Level of visibility
Level of stress
Pace of the work
Team dynamics
Projects
Processes
Commute
Now, if you’re able, think about what you did like, using the above list as a prompt.
Finally, it can be powerfully helpful to reach out to colleagues, family (even young kids), and friends, and ask them, “What do I do well?”
This can feel awkward to do, so blame your coaches here at CSC . . . that can make it easier to ask.
You’ll likely start to see themes in the answers that people are giving you.
If you’ve sped through those steps and are wanting more, don’t forget about our recent Dream Job posts where we walk you through some additional ways to get clear about setting yourself up for success.
Remember, it’s important to be gentle with yourself if you’re struggling to move on. If you were talking to a dear friend, you wouldn’t say, “Just get over it!” You’d likely say, “I believe in you.” or “You can do this!”
Perhaps this experience will help to point you in the direction of where you’re supposed to go next. You lost this job and that sucks. Now you have the opportunity to get more of what you want out of your next job.
We believe in you!
Just a few sessions of Career Strategy Coaching can help you get traction on identifying what’s next and moving forward to make it happen. Let us know if we can be helpful.
Keep moving forward – even if it’s just one small step.
Last week, we spent some time talking about how to prepare if you believe you may be laid off. This week, we want to speak to you about the normal response to a layoff and ways you can take care of yourself or support a friend or loved one who has been laid off.
If you’ve been laid off, you may find yourself wanting the feeling of trauma and disorientation to go away. It’s painful, uncomfortable, and demoralizing. And, it takes time and intentional focus to heal and move on.
After being laid off, you’ll likely experience many of the feelings and thoughts you’d associate with a death: feelings of grief, loss, helplessness, anger, rage, disorientation, depression, and anxiety. While unpleasant, these are all sane emotional responses to a layoff.
Because many of us get a sense of our identify and value from our jobs, we may feel that the world isn’t safe and then our confidence in ourselves becomes diminished.
Research about people who have been laid off show us that the pain in a layoff is also manifested physically. Research shows increased health issues after a layoff, from high blood pressure, insomnia, and cardiovascular problems, to nausea, stomach problems, and headaches.
If you or someone you care about has been laid off, this is the time to focus on self-care – all those things we know we need to do but don’t. Eating healthfully as often as you can, moving regularly, sleeping, and reaching out for support are all good self-care steps.
And, remember, you’re not alone!
We’d encourage you to reach out to some trusted friends and colleagues and talk about your experience. You may be surprised to find that there are people in your world who have also gone through (or are going through) a layoff.
It can help to lean on each other and keep each other motivated as you think about what’s next for you in your career.
If you’ve been laid off, here are some things that can help you move forward.
PAUSE. Take a moment to breathe and honor that this has been rocking.
Allow yourself to have your emotions AND don’t let them overwhelm you. Consider talking with a trusted friend or family member, clergy member, therapist, or coach as you grieve and find your way to what is next.
Find a person who can be a mirror to you to remind you that you’re a capable and successful person. Understanding your worth through other people’s eyes is truly inspiring.
Keep moving forward – even if it’s just one small step.
Use this time to reconnect with your life priorities and what brings you meaning and purpose.
Name the skills you love to offer to the world and the environment in which you thrive.
Then tell everyone you know, “I’m looking for an opportunity to bring these skills to an organization.” vs. “I’m looking for this job.”
If you name the job, that can stop the conversation with “I don’t know of any openings in that job.”
If, instead, you ask for help finding opportunities to bring your gifts and talents to an organization, they’ll often join you in considering who you might talk with about your interests.
You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can work on how you respond.
Treat yourself like you matter… because you do!
Been laid off? If you’d like to work together on your career strategy, contact us today. We’re here to support you in finding work you love in an environment where you’ll thrive.
We have incredible respect for people who are dealing with the possibility of a layoff. Facing the loss of a role that provides a great deal of your identity as well as the means for living, can be very challenging.
THERE ARE SEVERAL THINGS YOU CAN DO
IN THE FACE OF A POSSIBLE LAYOFF
Get support for the fear so you can pivot to taking action.
It’s important that you’re able to acknowledge how stressful a potential layoff is and how anxious it can make you.
Be sure to reach out to people who will honor your feelings while also supporting you in the pivot to action.
Do a quick inventory about what you love about your job and what you would change if you had the opportunity.
Create a resume that represents you well and then tailor it for the specific opportunities you discover.
Being clear about what you love and want to continue to do and what you aren’t as satisfied with can help you as you look around for other opportunities within and outside the company.
Within the company:
Explore what opportunities are available should you need to look.
Sometimes the opportunities aren’t very appealing, but if they let you stay in a company that you want to work for, they can be a stepping stone until you find a better fit.
Knowing the skills you love to offer and the environment in which you thrive can help you find a role that’s more in keeping with your current interests and skills and the threat of layoff may be a gift.
Outside the Company:
Generally, it’s still easier to get a job when you have a job, so consider the threat of a layoff as an opportunity to take action before you’re unemployed.
In addition to looking at job boards, start to meet with people you know throughout your community and industry.
Let them know that you’re considering what’s next and that you’d love their thoughts about who you should talk with.
You’ll need to share, in about 3 minutes, what you’ve been doing, the skills you want to offer, the kind of environment that’s great for you, and a few different ideas you have had for ways you could use those skills so that you prime your contact on ways to look on your behalf.
Consider a frank conversation with your boss.
You know your organization and whether or not this is ok to do.
If you have a good relationship with your boss or with someone in HR, consider having a conversation about your sense that there are layoffs in the works and that you’re starting to look around to protect yourself should that happen.
In some cases, you may be able to negotiate a separation package that lets you leave with benefits that you might not have received if you were laid off.
In others, the organization may be clear and direct about your value and fight for you to stay.
Reflect on whether there are things you can do on the side that bring in income and could create a bridge if you’re laid off.
Anything that gives you confidence that you will be ok supports you having greater confidence through this difficult time.
The threat of being laid off can be extremely challenging and you may find yourself frozen for a bit. But if you can start to take action on your own behalf, you’ll be much more prepared no matter what happens.
Waiting and hoping, while tempting, is not in your best interest!
If you’re fearing a layoff at your company
and would like to work together
on your career strategy, contact us today.
We’ve witnessed the power that great questions have to create opportunities for innovation, problem solving, and higher levels of thinking.
Last week in Powerful Questions for Powerful Leadership, we offered you a series of questions that can help you invite higher levels of input and expand critical thinking.
We reminded you that, at Carpenter Smith Consulting, we define leadership as the willingness to influence your world and the willingness to be influenced by your world, which often means that you’ll need to invite influence.
One powerful way to create the dynamic where you’re influencing people and they’re influencing you, is to ask powerful questions. The tricky part is that questioning people without attention to the nuance of the situation can feel more like an interrogation than an invitation.
Asking questions to invite higher level thinking requires that you consider what’s right for the person(s), situation, and goals in that moment, and that you communicate verbally and non-verbally that you’re genuinely curious and want their thinking to influence your thinking.
The following questions can invite your teams and colleagues to explore what they can do to get the best out of their people and their teams.
QUESTIONS TO FOSTER ENGAGEMENT
Communication:
Do your people / teams know that they matter to you–that you care about them personally and that you value their contributions to the organization?
How will you know your team is aligned behind this vision? What would team success look like?
How can this team work together more effectively? How will we handle difference, conflict, and crises together?
What can I do to support you? What can I do that will support you without diminishing your credibility to our stakeholders?
What are you doing to increase your ability to have the impact that matters to you?
What needs to be said that you find yourself not saying?
Infrastructure:
Do we have the right people, with the right skills, and the right commitment at the right tables?
Why would great talent join or remain on your team?
Who are your high potential employees and what are you doing to grow them?
Who needs to take the lead on this and why?
Is the infrastructure in place to support the team? What needs our attention and resources?
We’ve witnessed the power that great questions have to create opportunities for innovation, problem solving, and higher levels of thinking.
We created a printable pdf so that you can access all of the powerful questions. Click here to download.
This week consider ways you can move from talking at people to engaging them in deeper conversations. Talking at people can seem efficient, and at times it may be, but asking questions brings people to greater ownership of success and engagement in the solutions.
If you’d like support in having
deeper engagement with your team, contact us todayabout Executive Coaching.
As you’ll recall, the book summarized the key motivators for most adults as Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
In our consulting, we work with leaders to consider these three motivators but in reverse order: Purpose, Mastery, and Autonomy.
As we’ve worked with leaders on how to lead using this helpful perspective, we’ve started to coach them on using this exact same framework to increase the chances of hiring their dream employee.
There are very few people who find the task of hiring an easy one, and the research suggests that somewhere between 40 – 50% of hires fail. Poor hires have significant costs, so it makes sense that it’s stressful!
We’ve found that using the framework of purpose, mastery, and autonomy in your hiring process can increase the odds of success. Consider this as you’re creating a role description, advertising for a position, and interviewing candidates.
PURPOSE:
Is this candidate aligned with the organization’s and the leader’s purpose?
Often when we suggest this to retailers or organizations that are for-profit, the leaders will say that there is not really a purpose to be aligned with.
All organizations have a sense of purpose whether named or not and you’ll be more successful in hiring if you name it and hire for it. If your organization doesn’t have a named purpose, ask yourselves these questions:
What do we actually value? For example:
Serving people
Making money
Growing territory
Supporting the community with jobs
Exposing people to wonderful design at a reasonable price point
What do the people who have been most successful in the organization value and get excited by?
What do you, as the hiring manager, care about? For example, one hiring manager we spoke with said he wanted to work with people who:
Leaned toward action
Loved working within a team setting to create success
Loved helping the organization stand out in their industry
MASTERY:
Assess if the person has the mastery needed to do the job now or the potential and passion to develop the mastery needed.
Ask yourself these questions:
What’s the candidate’s skillset and in what situations have they been most successful?
Do they seem to love to do the work that’s needed, or do they seem like they’re doing it because ‘it’s a job’?
If they don’t yet have mastery, what data do you have that indicates that they learn quickly and well without high demands on the team, who are already working hard?
AUTONOMY:
When an employee is both aligned with the purpose of the organization and has demonstrated consistent mastery of the skills critical to their work then it’s time to continue to motivate them by allowing them increasing levels of autonomy.
Giving strong employees autonomy recognizes their success and takes some of the work off your shoulders—a double win.
Ask yourself these questions:
Have I been clear with the candidate that this is the way we do things?
Hire
Orient
Train
Assess alignment with purpose and demonstration of mastery before we give them autonomy
Continue to give them greater levels of autonomy as they demonstrate growth in mastery and continued alignment with purpose
Does this candidate seem to genuinely understand your rationale for this approach and get excited to demonstrate how they can contribute to organizational success?
Is the candidate curious about what will make them invaluable to your team?
This week, consider how you can use this simple and powerful framework to hire your dream employee! It will make your life, your work, and your organization more successful.
If you’re finding that you’re stressed out about the hiring process and would like support, contact us today about Executive Coaching.
Let’s face it, launching your own business isn’t exactly a walk in the park. But once all the hard work pays off, it’s an exciting and deeply rewarding time for any business owner. Having the ability to be your own boss and build upon something you’re truly passionate about is the driving force behind many successful businesses, but even the biggest ventures have to start small. And this doesn’t always come cheap.
For those just starting out, a business loan can provide the financial leg up required to set the wheels in motion. You can put the loan towards new property for a shopfront, towards marketing or advertising costs, or towards new machinery or equipment. If you’re thinking about applying for financing, make sure to follow the eligibility checklist below:
Check your credit score
Your credit score is one of the first things banks and lenders will assess when considering your loan application. It’s a number linked to your name that lenders use to determine your level of risk when borrowing. The score is calculated based on your credit and payment history and ranges from 0-1,000 or 0-1,200, depending on the bureau you go through. Your credit score will also reflect any past defaults or outstanding debts.
A “good” credit score ranges between 622 and 725, while an “excellent” score is between 833 and 1,200. Bad financial behaviour will reduce your score, and anything sitting below 600 is considered “poor”, which can limit your ability to get a business loan.
Although your previous spending habits may be personal rather than business related, they’re interpreted as a direct reflection of your financial capability, especially when it comes to meeting your repayments. Therefore, it’s important to check your credit score before applying since any rejected applications can also lower your score.
Consider your minimum revenue
Lenders will almost always take your earnings into account when you are applying for a business loan. Banks and lenders require a minimum revenue amount in order to secure financing, but just how much will depend on the amount you’re requesting to borrow. A larger line-of-credit loan may require a minimum revenue of $150,000 – $200,000 in order to qualify, whereas a smaller equipment loan may not take your earnings into account at all.
Make sure to familiarise yourself with your lender’s minimum requirements before lodging your loan application. This will prevent you from being automatically rejected for not being within the minimum threshold.
Have a business plan prepared
Put simply, a business plan outlines how you’ll generate enough cash flow to cover ongoing expenses while keeping on top of future loan repayments. It should also show the lender exactly what you need the money for and how you plan on spending it.
You should include a description of the company and its product or service, an outline of the managerial structure, a SWOT analysis, an industry analysis and a marketing or sales strategy.
Having a solid business plan is essential for any loan application. It demonstrates to the lender that your business has a clear roadmap towards future growth, which is supported by research, product strategy and financial data. If a bank or lender feels confident in your business, they’ll be much more likely to approve your request for finance. Although it may be time consuming to put together, a business plan is invaluable.
Offer collateral if possible
Collateral is an asset or assets you pledge as security for the repayment of a loan, such as a property or vehicle. Secured loans are borrowed against collateral and can be offered at lower interest rates, saving you money over time.
However, in the event of a default, you will forfeit your assets to the bank or lender to cover your outstanding debt. Lenders tend to look more favourably on borrowers who are able to offer up some form of collateral. Collateral preferences may vary across lenders depending on their own business interests, so be sure to take this into account before offering up your assets.
You also have the option to take out an unsecured loan. This type of loan enables you to borrow without collateral; however, it will usually have stricter lending criteria and a higher interest rate.
When it comes to getting a business up and running, everyone is different. Some businesses may require a little more effort to get off the ground due to the scale of operations or the nature of the products and services being sold. When you’re just starting out, financing can be a good way of getting ahead and focusing on what matters most: making your business dreams a reality. But a business loan is also a big responsibility. Always make sure to borrow within your means, and do your research before applying.
The skincare industry is the most flourishing industry globally due to the growing needs of consumers towards beauty regimes and skincare treatments. Beauty drinks are one such effort that is used for retaining natural beauty during the battle against ageing. This drink contains all sorts of ingredients that help in taking care of skin such as amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. The growing need of consumer towards anti-aging products and healthy drinks has increased the demand of global beauty drinks significantly.
The primary factor aiding towards the growth of the global beauty drinks market include increase in the number of health conscious people, busy lifestyle, and no side effects associated with this drink.
The beauty drinks are expected to have no side effects on the health of the consumers are driving the demand for beauty drinks market and increasing adoption of these drinks. The users not only in early adopter’s stage but even the consumers in the early majority stage in the adoption process are using these drinks without hesitation as it is not harmful for the health of the user.
The elderly population in established economies such as Europe and some parts of Asia-Pacific is acting as a facilitator for enhancing the growth of the beauty drinks market. The disposable income of people are increasing worldwide along with people becoming more health conscious they are ready to invest in such drinks and as a result, it is creating new opportunities for this market to grow globally. Moreover, high growth of functional drinks and beauty drink products for skin, anti-aging and slimming and the benefits such as existing brand image of key players is providing new expansion opportunities for food processing companies in coming years.
Globally, Europe held the largest share of the beauty drinks market in 2018. The youth of this region are highly conscious towards their fitness and appearance, and the same trend is also being witnessed in the aging population is driving the growth of the European beauty drinks market. However, during the forecast period, the North American market is expected to witness the highest incremental growth followed by the Asia-Pacific region.
Some of the major players operating in the global beauty drinks industry are Asterism Healthcare plus, Inc., Beatific – Beauty lab, Hangzhou Nutrition, Juice Generation, Vemma Nutrition, AMC, The Coca-Cola Company, Zoppas Industries Group, Sappe Public Company Limited, DyDo DRINCO, INC., Big Quark LLC, and Nestlé S.A.
Global GDPR service market is predicted to grow significantly the forecast period (2018 – 2024) due to the increasing adoption of GDPR compliances that helps in enhancing security services of the business organizations ensuring encrypted, secure and improved data to its users. Among all these segments, data management solution generates larger revenue in comparison to that accumulated by API management solution, globally. Data management solutions are extensively crucial for complying with GDPR systems as it enables the user’s in storing, deleting, accessing, monitoring and encrypting private data.
The major factor that is driving the growth of the GDPR service market include rapid increase in large amount of data, increasing need for privacy and data security protection and excessive demand towards data handling and transparency. Moreover, increasing adoption of Privacy by Design (PbD) for enhancement of data safety and privacy among the various business organizations is another factor pertaining towards the growth of the market. PbD is an approach and belief of enabling privacy into various technologies of an enterprise.
Geographically, Europe contribute largest revenue to the global market and is also predicted to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of GDPR service market in this region is attributed towards increasing acceptance of this service among the nations in the European Union. Moreover, it has been observed that GDPR signifies glorifying business prospects for the organizations existing in this region that helps them in gaining competitive advantage. Furthermore, the influence of European Union in large scale business enterprises is further expected to stimulate rigorous proceedings of data security across the globe. These factors are thereby exaggerating the growth of the market in this region.
How many
times have you heard someone say, “I wanted to do something but something else
got in my way?” A lot, I would imagine. I know I have.
You see the
most pernicious lie that people tell themselves is that they have no control
over their lives. They are passive bystanders to whom life happens.
This is a
limiting belief and the enormity of it is frightening. If you truly believe you
have no control over life, that it is nothing but a fairground ride for which
you have a ticket, then you will have no control (or very little control) over
what happens to you.
Breaking This Mindset
This
mindset needs breaking. Outside of the unfortunates trapped in modern slavery
or incredible poverty, we are in the most fortunate period in history.
You have
endless choices. You have the ability to be anything or do anything. This is
because of the incredible abundance of the technological era. While there is still
disease, it is by and large controlled and remote for most of our lives.
There is
unlimited education available and much of it for free (or at a very low cost)
and the Internet has meant that even the most financially challenged of souls
can start their own business and become their own boss and, as importantly,
develop their financial freedom.
So, the
only thing standing in your way is you.
It’s Not As Hard As You
Might Think
The easiest
way to stop believing a lie is to confront that lie. To keep repeating the
truth until it takes the place of the lie that has developed its own pathways
in the brain.
We know, in
our hearts, that we make our own choices. You don’t have to sit in watching TV
tonight, you could be starting a business.
You don’t
have to go to college to study medicine to please your parents, if you want to
– you can study fashion just like you always wanted.
So, we need
a mantra.
You can
choose your own but the essence is this: “I am in control of my life. I will
make decisions that benefit me. I will not apologize for this but will continue
to act with caring, compassion and kindness to others even if they do not
support my decisions.”
By
repeating your mantra (rephrase the one above or create your own) on a regular
basis, it will become a “script” in your brain. The next time you find yourself
making a decision to please someone else, rather than to please yourself –
review your mantra, then and there on the spot.
Then,
accept the blessing you have been given in life. Make your choice. Accept that
choice in your soul as the one that you want. Then own the responsibility for
your choice. The good and the bad. There is no perfect decision in life, but
you can live life on your terms. In my experience that makes people happier and
more successful in all walks of life.
Global hospital lighting market is expected to be valued at USD 9.1 billion by 2024, is expected to witness CAGR of 10.7% during the forecast period (2018 – 2024). Lighting is observed to play significant role in the infrastructure of healthcare domain as it is widely implemented in ICU, wards, operation theaters and other settings in the hospital. The manufacturers of lighting are rapidly innovating products that enables efficiency and low cost. The extensive growth of the market is attributed towards increasing demand for suitable lighting in the hospital to relax the patients at the time of treatment and enable improved vision and enhancing the productivity of hospital staff.
The establishment of large number of hospitals in developing nations along with increasing acceptance for LED based fixtures of lighting are the major factors driving the growth of global hospital lighting market. The infrastructural development in hospitality sector specifically multispecialty hospitals have attributed towards the growth of these solutions. The acceptance of wide varieties of lighting systems in several applications of hospital domain is exaggerating the utilization of advanced lighting system.
Geographically, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness fastest growth 8.6% CAGR in the hospital lighting market due to extensive diffusion of innovative lighting solutions for implementation in healthcare domain. There are several hospitals in Asia-Pacific that are seeking for the solutions of lighting that helps in reduction of energy to conserve it and thus reducing the operating costs of the medical amenities. Europe is another key market for these solutions, as there are several major players operating in the hospital lighting industry in this region.
Some of the major companies operating in the hospital lighting industry include Acuity Brands Lighting Inc., Eaton Corporation PLC, Cree Inc., General Electric Company, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Herbert Waldmann GmbH & Co. Kg, KLS Martin Group, Trilux Lighting Ltd., Hubbell Incorporation and Zumtobel Group AG.
About VynZ Research :
VynZ Research is a global market intelligence company providing research reports, industry intelligence and business advisory services to companies and institutions across the globe. We have a recognized trajectory record and our research database is used by many renowned companies and institutions in the world to strategize and revolutionize business opportunities. The company focuses on providing valuable insights on various technology verticals such as chemical and materials, automotive and transportation, energy and power, consumer goods, healthcare, ICT and other emerging technologies.
Software defined networking (SDN) technology is an approach that helps the providers to avail network management to its customers. In order to improve performance and monitoring of network SDN enables efficient and effective configuration to the users. Furthermore, this technology provides ease and control for maintenance of complex networks. It also the users to decrease the obstacles provided by the traditional network infrastructure and further help them in contributing towards the growth of SDN market across the globe. SDN is the most effective way to manage big data, which generates large amount of highly distributed data related to marketing, business operations, productions which are analyzed to enable better decision-making. Moreover, it has been observed that extensive deployment of data centers are further strengthening the growth of SDN market across the globe.
The increasing demand for better technologies and the increasing deployment of data centers are the key factors that attribute towards the growth of the SDN market across the globe. Due to rapid advancements in the technology, SDN is gaining huge popularity owing to more efficient and effective working environment. Furthermore, with the increasing adoption of internet of things there is a very huge demand and growth for the data centers and cloud networking technologies in both emerged as well as emerging economies which eventually strengthen the growth of the market across the globe.
Geographic Overview
Geographically, North America is the largest SDN market due to earlier advancements in the technology of this segment. Furthermore, increasing adoption of SDN technology by various large enterprises for enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of its business operations is the key factor pertaining towards the growth of the SDN market in this region.
Moreover, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to witness fastest growth during the forecast period due to the increasing deployment of data centers and increasing demand from various small and medium enterprises related to adoption of cloud computing technology is bolstering the growth of the SDN market across the globe.
Competitive Insight
Key players in SDN market are evolving latest technologies and performing mergers and acquisitions that are further helping the key players to attain competitive advantage. However, it has been observed that local players are depending upon new technology to develop cost efficiencies, thus increasing the rivalry in the market to some extent. The prominent players in the SDN market include Ericsson AB, Nokia Corporation, Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Dell Inc., PICA8, Inc. Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation and Big Switch Networks, Inc.
Mobile payments are the transactions that are enabled with mobile telecommunications network that is done with a monetary value with diverse mobile user’s devices, such as mobile terminals, cellular telephones and smartphones. Mobile payment enables transferring of funds in return for goods or services that requires mobile device for confirming and executing payment. Furthermore, mobile payment systems enable consumers to make an immediate payment by using a smartphone. Moreover, increasing number of smartphone users across the globe that is pertaining towards the growth of the mobile payment technologies market.
Insight by Industry
On the basis of industry, the mobile payment technologies market is segmented into IT & telecommunications, government services, travel and hospitality, BFSI, healthcare, retail, media & entertainment, transportation and logistics and others. Among all these segments, retail segment is anticipated to generate largest revenue by 2024 since providers are constantly searching for alternatives that help them in engaging more customers and enhancing their satisfaction level.
Moreover, apart from paying with card or cash there are several mobile payment options that are availed to the customers by the retail service providers such as Samsung Pay and Apple Pay. These applications enable customers to make quicker payments via an NFC equipped platform. Furthermore, increasing domain of mobile payment in retail domain is thereby bolstering the growth of mobile payment technologies market worldwide.
Growth Drivers
Increase in adoption of cashless transactions, increasing demand for easy and hassle-free purchase of goods and services, improved communication networks, increasing adoption of smartphone technology and increasing acknowledgment for the need of clean transactions are some of the key factors that are driving the growth of mobile payment technologies market exponentially. With the acknowledgment of the significance of cashless transactions among people, mobile payment technology has widened its reach in almost every segment of the business. May it be consumer to business or business-to-business transaction, mobile payment technology is available for all kinds of transactions, which can further makes the technology more popular.
Geographically, Asia-Pacific dominates the mobile payment technologies market followed by North America. The increasing revenue of mobile payment technology in Asia-Pacific is attributed towards large population in the region. Furthermore, Asia-Pacific has the highest numbers in the adoption rate of smartphones due to the large population of young generation. Furthermore, increasing initiatives undertaken by the government authorities in China and India towards promotion of cashless transactions has expounded the demand for the mobile payment technologies market in this region.
Competitive Insight
Key players in the mobile payment technologies market are taking major steps to improve the security for the online payment platforms. These steps include the companies to collaborate with security providers to form a different department to focus specifically on the security issue. Such steps taken by the prominent players give them a competitive edge in the global market. The key players in the mobile payment technologies market are Alipay.com, General Motors Company, MasterCard Incorporated, Samsung Group, Amazon.com, Inc., Apple Inc., Starbucks Corporation, PayPal holdings, Inc., Paytm and Square, Inc.
Unidirectional tapes are used for selective reinforcement to improve tensile strength and stiffness in one direction. These tapes are composite material which is based on unidirectional carbon fibers. These tapes can be manufactured using different thermoplastics. The global unidirectional tapes market is anticipated to witness a significant growth during the forecast period. The growth is generally driven by the increasing use of these tapes in the various end-user industries such as aerospace and defense, automotive, and others, as these tapes provides exceptional chemical resistance.
Unidirectional tapes are used for selective reinforcement to improve tensile strength and stiffness in one direction. These tapes are composite material which is based on unidirectional carbon fibers. These tapes can be manufactured using different thermoplastics. The global unidirectional tapes market is anticipated to witness a significant growth during the forecast period. The growth is generally driven by the increasing use of these tapes in the various end-user industries such as aerospace and defense, automotive, and others, as these tapes provides exceptional chemical resistance.
Sports and leisure category is also expected to register a good growth in the coming years, owing to the increasing demand of high strength equipment to maximize the performance of sportsman. The superior properties of these tapes such as high impact strength, good chemical resistance, and others are also making it a preferred choice in the market, driving the unidirectional tapes market growth.
The demand of these tapes is significantly increasing in the developed countries such as U.S. and Canada, due to their increasing use in commercial passenger aircraft. For example, they are used in manufacturing of Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 aircraft. According to Boeing, almost 7,290 airplanes will be delivered between 2014 and 2033 in North America. Hence, the increase in demand of aircrafts will eventually drive the market of these tapes.
During the forecast period, North America is anticipated to account for the largest share in the market. The unidirectional tape market of the region is derived by the high economic growth and significantly increasing investment in the aerospace and defense industry. Along with that, the increasing demand for lightweight, technologically advanced and fuel efficient aircrafts is projected to drive the market growth.
Performance Composites Inc., Composites Evolution Ltd., SGL Group, Evonik Industries, Hexcel Corporation, SGL Group, Celanese Corporation, SABIC, PRF Composite Materials, and BASF SE are some of the major players operating in unidirectional tapes industry.
Pressure sensitive adhesive tapes are the continuous flexible strip of cloth, metal, paper, or plastic coated on both sides with a permanent adhesive at room temperature that will adhere to the variety of surfaces with finger pressure without changing the phase. They are generally available in roll form. The global pressure sensitive adhesive tapes market is experiencing a good growth in the market and expected to witness the same in the coming years, which can be attributed to its increasing use in the end-user industries, due to the advantages it offers such as high heat resistance, good adhesion to metals, and others.
This is attributed to its wide industrial application which includes heavy machinery, solar and wind energy, and others. Also, they are used in the aerospace industry, they are used in the form of process tapes, masking tapes, high performance insulation laminates, and others, where organic tapes are not able to fulfill the requirement.
Electrical and electronics end-user category is the largest consumer of these tapes, owing to the increasing demand of these tapes in the manufacturing of consumer electronics such as camera and mobile phones. Also, these tapes are useful for attaching surface-mount components at points on printed circuit boards.
The major factors driving the pressure sensitive adhesive tapes market are the increasing adoption due to easy applicability, increasing demand from end-user industries, and high demand from developing countries. The demand of these tapes is increasing in various end-user industries such as medical, automotive, electronics, and others. This is due to the various advantages these tapes offers such as reduce assembly line, lightweight material, eliminates the need of surface refinishing, eliminate visible mechanical fasteners, provide uniform thickness, and various others.
Asia-Pacific is expected to register the highest CAGR in the pressure sensitive adhesive tapes market during the forecast period, which can easily be attributed to the increasing demand and use of these tapes in the end-user industries. Also, the demand is significantly increasing from the countries such as India, South Korea, China, and others to fulfill the need of rapidly expanding industries in the region.
Data protection as a service (DPaaS) helps the user in viewing safe and secure data for their business enterprise by delivering cloud assisted and web-delivered services. Business organizations are utilizing this service in order to enhance network security and to form improved security services for organizational data in transit and data at pause. Furthermore, increasing dependence on internet of things and the increasing deployment of data centers and cloud-based technologies have made DPaaS an essential service to be adopted to keep the data secure. Moreover, increasing acceptance of Internet of Things has paved a way for more cybercrimes to take place, thus the adoption of data protection as a service is crucial that is further enhancing the growth of DPaaS market across the globe.
The data protection as a service is majorly being adopted by both large and small and medium business enterprises. This is due to increasing adoption of internet of things that the requirement of data protection has become a must in every segment of the business model. These are the key trends observed in the DPaaS market across the globe. Furthermore, with different requirements of business enterprises in the present scenario, there are different kinds of service that is being offered by the vendors of data protection as a service. Furthermore, the vendors of VPN technology are collaborating with the companies, which are already into this service, and some of them have started to shift their resources towards this segment of service.
Rising demand for better technologies, increased deployment of data centers, increasing wants of cloud services and increasing threats of cyber-crime are the key factors that are pertaining towards the growth of the DPaaS market globally. It has been observed that evolving technological trends there has been a growing demand for security requirements according to the improvised technology. Furthermore, with the increasing adoption of internet of things there is a very huge demand and growth for the DPaaS technologies that eventually makes the data centers and cloud services more effective for various business organizations.
Geographically, DPaaS market in North America is anticipated to generate the largest revenue throughout the estimated period due to the increasing advances made in the aspect of internet of things compared to other technologies. The increasing development in the I.T domain and cloud-based computing are the other important factors that attribute towards the growth of DPaaS market in this region. Moreover, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period due to increasing expenditure of government authorities towards cloud services in this region. Furthermore, increasing adoption of cloud-based computing and the increases in the deployments of data centers are other factors pertaining towards the growth of the DPaaS market in this region.
Key players in the DPaaS market are investing in improving the quality of services in order to provide users with a platform that enables them to share secure and safe transmission of data. Developing latest technologies that are strengthening their position in the market. Also, it has been observed that local players are doing mergers and acquisitions in order to enhance their portfolio that further helps in tapping and satisfying demand of large consumer base. Some of the key players in DPaaS market include Commvault Systems, Inc., Acronis International GmbH, Carbonite, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Veritas Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, and Quantum Corporation.
No, I am not the owner of this line, but isn’t this truly meaningful in this seemingly meaningless world? You are glancing at the above line reading it again on your phone or computer to find deeper meaning. And now you wonder, who the hell is this guy and what is he even talking? And you don’t realize that you don’t want to read this whole post that literally talks about nothing yet almost everything but you can’t resist it, can you? At least, I can’t while I type this.
So, to answer the above question, the line is from a song called Saturn from Sleeping At Last. It has beautiful music, amazing lyrics, and breathtaking visuals. Be sure to check it out. But why does it matter? It matters because we are here and we exist. But then something strikes me like lightening does, do we really exist? That’s what I intend to find out by the end of this post.
I have been on a train of uncertainty my whole life traveling to the destinations I could be certain of. But finally, I have realized the basic understanding of uncertainty or even life. At this point of my life, if I am certain of anything, then it is uncertainty of life. Read it again. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Let me put this in Mark Manson’s quote in ‘The Subtle Art Of Not Giving AF*ck’, “The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.” But this is not just about me. It’s about us. So, let’s talk about us.
What do you think light is? Such a silly question, immature me! No, literally what is light? Ask yourselves first. Now, light is absence of darkness. Correct. So it means light can exist when darkness doesn’t exist. But, wait! Then, it means light is dependent on darkness. And even if only one of them can exist at a time, it can’t exist if there is no existence of another. Shit, mystery solved. Not really. Knowing this phenomenon is of no use if I don’t know how to apply this shit in real life. But, how can this help me in real life? It can’t right? Or maybe it can. Back to the point.
I was recently watching Former President of USA, Barack Obama’s eulogy of Late John McCain where he re-quoted Ernest Hemingway,“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.” And I wondered, it’s all about this day, this hour and this moment. Everything depends on right now. And there is no such thing is right time. In fact, there is no such thing as time (let’s save this crap for later). Everything that you do will, directly or indirectly, affect your life. You don’t know it yet, but it’s going to come back to you. I can promise you that. Then, why do we waste our “right now” moment in grieving about the past or worrying about the future?
Now, we are talking. Because, more than anything, my friend, life is all about the Game of Regrets. Regretting about the thing you did or thinking about regretting things you might do. But we don’t realize that regretting about yesterday is going to make us regret tomorrow about today you wasted in regretting. Wait, WTF? Yup, read it again. So, it means we don’t have to regret about anything. Maybe not. I don’t have any regrets. I have been called selfish, greedy, careless and whatnot. And I have also been called a best friend, best person and best son. It’s not me, who is different. The perceptions are. I don’t regret anything because everything that I knowingly or unknowingly did have helped me reach here, to right now. And right now is beautiful. I am happy. So, there is no place regrets.
So, accepting what you have done yesterday, what you are right now and what you will do tomorrow is the only way forward.
We need to understand why beautiful is really beautiful – because there is ugly. Without existence of ugliness, there is no such thing as beauty. Without day, there is no night. Without night, there is no light. Without light, there is no darkness. And the list goes on, but you get the point. We need to learn how to accept both happiness and sadness. We need to accept both light and darkness. We need to accept both beauty as well as ugliness. We need to accept for the things that they are. Let me tell you that you are beautiful. You are strong. You are fierce. And there will always be a storm coming at your way, one after the other. There will always be something to run after beyond that horizon. The race to the horizon and beyond will continue for ages and more. But you will make it beyond that horizon and the horizon beyond that. You will, trust me. Only, if you believe in right now. Only if you think right now is only thing you have and you have to make it through this moment, and repeat again and again and again. And always remember to tell yourself Hemingway’s line whenever you lose the sight of horizon – Today is the only day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.
And right now is rare and beautiful. It truly is. You ask me, why? Because, we exist!
The Pop Quiz, Monday is a fun little exam that we love to give to savvy business owners. The examination is not a surprise after all since the interviewee already knew about the questions in advance. However, we can always pretend and have fun with the scenario of a young entrepreneur sitting in class nervously biting on their pencil. They are ready to take a pop quiz on a chapter that they were supposed to read the night before. Instead, they played Metroid all night on their SNES (Oops, this was me in high school). The real purpose of the pop quiz is that this is a fun way to introduce business tips from real-world experiences that you can not learn in a classroom. We want to thank our entrepreneur for being a good sport and volunteering their time to answer a few questions to help our community grow from their knowledge.
I want to introduce you to our guest today who will be taking our Pop Quiz Monday.
Can you please tell everyone your name? Candi Obrentz
Photo credit: Candi Obrentz
What is your job role? I am the owner of CEO Enterprises, LLC under which I run two businesses.
Tell us about your company? I formed my LLC when I was in the early stages of creating my patented product invention: RestoPresto and I launched my customized advisory services business soon after that.
What do you love most about your job? I love that a product that I created from scratch makes the lives of busy people a bit easier and that my advice and guidance adds value to fellow innovators.
What motivates you to get up every day and go to work? Knowing that each day holds unlimited opportunities to make an impact motivates me to get up and GO!
How do your co-workers inspire you? As a solopreneur, I am inspired by the experts and professionals who authentically assist me in achieving my business goals.
How do you have fun at work (team building, pranks, etc..)? As the boss, I make the rules so “work hard & play hard” is my motto, mainly when there are early mornings and late nights. Taking meaningful breaks ranging from a mid-day dance class to a power walk for fresh air to cocktail hour in the office is essential for balance…and fun!
What are some of the challenges of your job? Developing the best growth strategy for RestoPresto while balancing the essential day-to-day tasks are huge challenges of my job.
What are some lessons learned from a past project that you can share with us? I have learned that going with my instincts, relying on my small group of trusted advisors and having the ability to pause, reevaluate and pivot is critical to success.
What advice would you give to someone who is starting in your industry? Search engines are helpful however personalized guidance from an experienced and trustworthy advisor is priceless. Pay for expertise.
Thank you for taking our pop quiz today. You get an A+ for effort. You can learn more about our interviewee and their business by visiting them on the web:
The value that earned media brings to an organization is critical to getting the word out about your products and services. When you have a startup which is getting an angel investment or venture capital, then you must allocate some money towards growth. Having a well-designed and functioning product is not enough if you do not have any customers. This is why the function of public relations is essential in building value for your brand.
Outreaching to the media is not rocket science but does require a bit of intelligence in dealing with people. You need to understand how to work with editors, journalists, and know the guidelines for the publication. You want to make sure that you are contacting someone on their preferred method of receiving pitches. For example, some journalists love receiving pitches from Twitter and others through email. Everyone is different, so learn about them on social media. Also, make sure that you pitch to a journalist who is covering your industry. You do not want to pitch a tech product to someone covering sports.
There are so many different tactics that you can use to get placements with media. We invited several professionals in the public relations industry to provide their thoughts on getting earned media. We want to thank our experts for participating in this discussion and encourage you to visit their website to learn more about them.
Expert: Shineade Andric
Please, make sure to visit their website to learn more about their work:
As Head of Media Communications at Neue Media, I work with brands and companies of varying scale to better achieve their publicity goals. I would say the key ways to gain traction in this area are:
Familiarise yourself with the publications you want to appear in and get to know the journalists who are covering topics relevant to your business
Tailor your content and pivot your story accordingly, make it relevant for the individual journalist and publication
Customised/personalised pitches outperform generic press releases and blanket send outs every time
Expert: Judy Sahay
Please, make sure to visit their website to learn more about their work:
We get asked this question at least three times a week. I am the founder and managing director of Crowd Media Group, a digital/PR agency.
Here are my top 3 tips.
ride the wave – get media publicity based on current contentious issues. If there is an event or breaking news about a particular topic, use your brand/personal brand to comment.
Have an opinion – you need to have an opinion on something if you want to be seen/heard. Most people play it “safe” and talk about the things that people want to hear. I think it’s important to shake it up a bit, stand out from the crowd.
Understand the publication and the journalist well. It’s essential you know the audience/readership of the publications you’re after. Make sure you do your research and see how your story can be relevant to them.
Expert: Nicole Ashby
Please, make sure to visit their website to learn more about their work:
I’ve been interviewed by the media hundreds of times with my first business, FIFO Families. I’ve had no official media training yet quickly learned how to navigate the world of the media, how to pitch a great story, how to maintain relationships and what to do with the media interviews once you’ve got them.
I have many, many tips on how to successfully get placements with the media and here are a few:
Know your story
Where possible, have a great human angle within your story (pretty easy to do if you’re human)
Know when the best time is to contact the media
Always show gratitude for your interviews
Keep feeding the media great stories
Ensure you have a great hook to entice the press
Know and learn how to write a well-crafted media release as it’s your best bet to media success if the media have no idea who you are
Expert: Marie O’Riordan, MPRCA MAM
Please, make sure to visit their website to learn more about their work:
Thought Leadership is what every business leader needs to aspire to. Press quotes form a valuable part of carefully nurturing and developing a highly credible thought leader profile. Universally, journalists are curious and intrigued to speak with experts who can predict what is going to happen next in their industry. What I term, Futurism and the crystal ball effect, are powerful catalysts for authoritative mentions. The broader the scope of the predictions, the better. Take Noel Moran, CEO of FinTech PFS. He left school at 17 with no qualifications. This month, he will be showcased at Davos 2019 in Switzerland by European CEO as the current European Entrepreneur of the Year.
Expert: Laurie Monteforte
Please, make sure to visit their website to learn more about their work:
Business owners should first take an honest look at what they want to pitch and make sure they have a newsworthy angle. That means they should focus on something that will be interesting to an outlet’s readers or viewers, not just to themselves.
I’m a big fan of personal outreach. Insincere, mass pitching can turn reporters off. Get to know your local reporters so you can reach out to them one-on-one when you have a good story.
Expert: Hannah O’Donnell
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Know who you are contacting: pull together your wish list of media publications where you would like to appear, find the editors contact details and reach out and ask them if they would like to grab a tea (or coffee – whatever your drink of choice is). It’s important to get to know the media you want to work with and create rapport.
Know the publication you are pitching to: it pays to buy and read a copy of the publication you want to appear in, or make sure you’ve checked out the TV show, website, and listened to the radio show or podcast you would like to be on. Then when you pitch your story, understand who the audience is that will be consuming your news (so who you are talking to) ensuring that it’s highly relevant for them and your pitch is targeted – no one wants to receive a generic pitch that’s been forwarded to the world.
Don’t limit yourself to just traditional media: consider influencers on social media who would be relevant and able to share your message and news. If you have a product, then gift it to your top tier influencers who you would like to work with. Just make sure you reach out to them directly and find out first if it’s of interest before sending them a product. These people get a lot of goods, but the authentic influencers will only post if they feel like the product reflects their values and they are genuinely interested in it. Some will also request to be paid for a post – so keep this in mind and allow budget for this.
Expert: Amy Teutenberg
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With publishing houses closing their doors by the minute and mergers announced left right and centre – the Nine/Fairfax merger late last year being a prime example, it’s more important than ever that companies see media relations as a long term, strategic program – not something that can be switched off and on when budget allows.
Understanding the best ways to increase your media presence takes time, and one of the biggest reasons companies fail is because they assume it’s as simple as writing a release and clicking ‘send’ to a thousand journalists in BCC.
Think about it like this: how often do you respond positively to a cold caller salesperson? The answer is, almost never, and the same can be said for media relations.
Here are my top tips for gaining traction in the media:
Relationships are everything. It’s true what they say – it’s not always what you know, but who you know. Make sure you develop a genuine relationship with journalists by continually providing them with quality, newsworthy, and timely content. This will ensure you become their go-to person for that particular area of expertise. Getting to know how they prefer to be pitched to (do they prefer email over phone pitches?) and understanding the topics, they’re personally passionate about will open up new lines of communication and make you stand out from the crowd. Also, taking them for coffee never goes astray. Putting a face to the name will likely increase the chances of them being willing to lend a hand to get a story across the line.
Give them an article, not a paragraph. Journalists are increasingly time poor and are looking to PR professionals to present them with the bigger picture. This means it’s important to think of the broader story your news fits into. Rather than simply pitching news from a recent funding round, think about why this might be of interest to their reader. For example, what does it say about the broader industry you operate in? Can you pull in new research that backs up industry growth and proves the market appetite for your product or service?
Be prepared to workshop. Don’t get stuck on one angle for your story. Instead, be prepared to workshop ideas with the journalist and be flexible. To set yourself up for success, always look into what the journalist has previously written about and use this as a starting point to pique their interest. Make sure you have multiple angles and sets of talking points ready (if pitching an interview), so you can easily pivot based on their feedback.
Do your research. It’s not enough to know what your company wants to say or be known for in the media. To successfully pitch media, you need to know what your competitors are talking about. This will help you determine how you can talk about the same thing in a way that is more interesting, more topical or takes a stronger stance. This means workshopping the angles your business and spokespeople are experts in and crafting something unique before you start talking to media.
Don’t act like a salesperson. Don’t pitch something for the sake of pitching it if you don’t believe it or think it will be of interest to simply tick a box. If you’re genuinely passionate about it, this will come through in your pitch. It will also mean you’re less likely to sound ‘scripted’ if pitching on the phone.
Expert: Bill McCue
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I get placements with the media by doing my homework and knowing which reporters are specifically writing about industries and topics that are a match with my clients’ news and expertise.
Expert: Marisa Vallbona, APR, Fellow PRSA
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My team and I work hard to maintain good relationships with reporters, editors, and producers, checking in with them frequently to find out what they’re working on and how we can help them, even if the news and sources they need are not our clients. By always being available and helpful, especially on last-minute stories when they’re in a bind, the media remembers and are more open to client pitches. If we don’t already have a relationship with the editor, reporter or producer, we research the types of stories they cover and how they cover them so that we can deliver what works best for them, and then make sure we provide the story in a package that gives them the least amount of work possible.
Expert: Gail Fitzer
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By writing news releases and pitches like news stories as only a former journalist could. And through persistent media outreach and smart media strategy.
Expert: Stu Campbell-Carran
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It’s a combination of having well-written compelling content that generates a reaction and working with editorial teams in partnership to secure placements that resonate with their audiences.
Expert: Courtney Lukitsch
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There is a trick to the trade of media relations. We find the most effective way to secure media, is to understand the media outlet and reporter you are targeting truly. You can’t fake it. Understanding the publications focus and editorial mission as well as the reporter’s style and coverage area will allow you to craft a pitch that is strategic, well thought out and in-line with what they may be looking for.
Expert: John McLeod
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To get placements with the media, you must ensure there is something newsworthy that you are trying to share and then tailor it to the outlet you are trying to get coverage in. If you are launching a new product, you should be able to answer how it changes the industry you are in, how it benefits consumers differently than products already out in the market, and how this story appeals to a specific media outlet and their audience. If you can’t answer these questions, it’s in your best interest to hold the story until you can flesh it out and make it more appealing.
Expert: Lisa Hagendorf
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Generating media coverage for my clients, nearly all of which are tech startups, is achieved in three main ways: (1) Pitching breaking news, such as product launches, conference appearances, senior-level hires, and office expansions; (2) Newsjacking current events and strategically tying in my client’s offerings to demonstrate their timely relevance; (3) Securing bylined content opportunities, positioning them as industry thought leaders and enabling them to share their unique points of view.
Expert: Sarah Storelli
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I secure stories based on relationships – not transactions – I build with reporters and by truly understanding their areas of not only interest but passion.
