Eight Things Your Support Team Should Never Say to Your Customers

There are things that we’re all taught not to say. Don’t mention an old flame in front of a new spouse. Never ask an older woman her age, or a younger one if she’s pregnant. Don’t ask about someone’s salary, shoe size, or anything to do with their sex life. Even support agents, who earn their living by speaking to customers, sometimes, need to be reminded what they should and should not say. At Desk.com we talk to a lot of customer service professionals. Ranging from merely cringe-worthy to enraging, here are eight things they recommend your team should never say to customers:

"You did that wrong."

Customers frequently do things the wrong way and it can be incredibly frustrating to agents. (What do you mean you can’t see the red button? It’s right in front of your face!) It’s good to remind your team that what seems obvious to them is not as apparent to people who aren’t thinking about your product all day long. Especially where technology’s concerned. Rather than telling customers that they did something wrong, encourage your team to walk them through what they're trying to do, slowly, step-­by-­step.

"That's not something I can help you with."

Sure there are lot things like lowering the price of your product or changing shipping schedules that are outside of the scope of your support team, but there are better ways for them to tell customers they can't help. If a customer is asking for something that’s out of your agent’s control, the agent can explain that they aren’t an expert in that area but promise to connect them with the person that is. And then make sure to deliver on that promise.

That they know the answer if they don’t.

Nobody likes a know­-it­-all, and especially a know-­it-­all that doesn’t really know it all. This is especially true for customer service agents. If your agents aren't sure whether a problem is actually a bug or how to troubleshoot it, it's okay for them to let the customer know that they’ll get in touch with the right person to investigate and circle back when they have an answer. Customers appreciate the honesty and certainly don’t want to phone back again if they get an answer that’s wrong from someone that thinks they know it all, but doesn’t.

“I promise we’re adding this new feature....”

Although it may be well­-intentioned, if your agents make promises about new features it can burn you. Yes, it’s important to let customers know that they’re listening, but when agents make promises about things that are not in their control it can lead to more unhappiness. Instead, have your team explain how your company takes feature suggestions and prioritizes them based on demand so customers can understand why their specific request may not be worked on immediately.

"Sorry" (or sorry-not-sorry)

This may surprise a lot of people. Don’t you want your support people to apologize? But let's be honest, most support people aren't sorry for things. Whatever the issue is it's usually someone else's fault; a user did something wrong, there’s a problem with the product, broken code, etc. Customers can tell when an apology is fake, and it can frustrate them even more. Encourage your support team to avoid the inauthentic apologies and to focus on offering fast, effective solutions. And make sure that they never ever offer a sarcastic sorry-not-sorry one.

"I'll have so­-and-­so call you back in 5 minutes."

This goes into the “don’t make promises you can’t keep” category. Unless that person's absolutely, positively, swear­-on-­a-­stack-­of­-bibles going to pick up the phone and call in 5 minutes, agents should never offer a specific time. Nothing will make customers more unhappy than waiting by the phone for a call that doesn’t come.

"Thank you for your feedback."

One of the functions of a great customer support team is that it collects customer opinions and passes them along. So why wouldn’t you want your team to thank customers for sharing their feedback? In this case, it’s just a choice of words. “Thank you for your feedback” sounds robotic and insincere. Encourage your agents to thank customers but to do it in their own words, in an authentic way.

Nothing.

Sometimes agents need to pull up account information or research a bug, but leaving a customer on the line with dead air makes for a terrible experience. Encourage your team to either put the customer on hold or — even better — to talk to them. Tell them to ask how the weather is, whether they're excited about the holidays, who they want to win the Super Bowl. Basically anything that helps to build a relationship and show a friendly, more personal face to the customer.

It’s a new year and a great time to take a hard look at how your team is doing and reevaluate how you are motivating and training them. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll need to remind agents not to ask customers about their salaries or sex lives, it’s important that you place a high value helpful, friendly ways of dealing with customers and that your agents do not fall into robotic, know-­it-­all, inauthentic communication styles.

https://goo.gl/gDgm8K

Five Ways To Grow Your Small Business FAST In 2015

We are now well into 2015 and my inbox is exploding with ► strategy sessions from small business owners, entrepreneurs that are willing to make 2015 a year of growth and profit.

Interestingly enough, I notice patterns in the questions they ask me. Based on these I decided to share 5 easy ways to grow your small business without overwhelming yourself.

Hopefully this will help ALL who read.

HOW DO I GET TO GROW MY BUSINESS?

First thing first, growing a business does not always mean MORE PROFIT, as a matter of fact, often times, growth induces more spendings and overhead costs.

For growth to make sense, it needs to outpace the overheads so that it doesn't cripple the margin of profit.

The worst spot I find many businesses, is during the growing pains stages. They grow, not fast enough to hire quality help, but fast enough to have everyone stressed and overwhelmed!

PRO TIP: Have a strategic growth and plan for it. Start by improving your systems, make better use of your team and be more productive. Very much like a spring that contracts before releasing the energy to leap forward.

Every business is different, yet all have common grounds. So look into how to make better use of your time and your team's time.

• Create a daily plan and share it with the team
• Use a calendar that you can access on mobile and desktop and SYNC it.
• Know your deadlines but make them reasonable before having them set.
• Learn to say “No” -I brought that up in previous articles already-
• Prioritize your day in blocks 1 "TOP 3 MUST GET DONE STUFF"
• Use task-management and collaboration apps and platforms such as Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Doodle and Appointlet.
• Eliminate your time wasters but learn to take meaningful BREAKS!

NEVER EVER do yourself what you can get others to do for you faster better and cheaper!

Get focused on your RIGHT target market.

A lot of businesses, small or big as a matter of fact, waste ridiculous amounts of money and time chasing all the "potential clients" and the "awesome opportunities"

Well, it NEVER FAILS if a business owner decides to drill a vertical, go after the same clients, patients, customers, in the same category and offer the same products, the growth is always greater, the profit margins greater and satisfaction greater as well.

Why? Because all the processes involved in acquiring new clients, nurturing them and delivering the goods are refined. Everyone gets better at it. 

Once that is flowing smoothly, THEN it's time to pick another target audience, new vertical and start drilling again, while the previously acquired customer base can be put into the "up selling mode"

Too many businesses neglect the clients that already brought and focus mostly on NEW prospects and leads. Change THAT and your business WILL GROW.

Think in Quarters:

The big NYE boys are doing it, the IRS encourages all to it... So should you! Instead of nebulous and evasive resolutions and goals for your business in 2015, divide the year into four. Eat your elephant, one bite at a time! -one quarter at a time-

This simple way of looking at your year, will make it easier to set realistic goals and therefore reach them, BUT if you were to NOT meet your expectations, no big deal, you can assess, learn and readjust for the next quarter.

Strengthen YOUR Online Reputation

This is no secret, we ALL go online, on our smartphones to check the reviews of businesses we are about to deal with. A dealership, a pizzeria, a plumber, whoever, and whatever, all are scrutinized by consumers before commitments are done.

If you do it, your kids do it, your grandkids do it, I guarantee you, your prospects do it too!

We ALL WANT THE SAME THING: the most amount of stuff for the least amount of money for the best quality...

Whatever you provide, others offer it too and your prospects will do business with the ones with the best online reputation. I am SHOCKED at how many business owners have NEVER considered investing in building, protecting and marketing their reputation, yet they invest hundreds of thousands in equipment, education, staff, marketing and insurance. Yet a single bad review can obliterate your hopes for growth as 80% of consumers will change their mind based on a negative item posted online...

Get on LinkedIn and Network!

View LinkedIn as a huge trade show, everyone is here... The big caveat of a trade show is to not be able to find all those that you could really mutually benefit from. Build a strong strategic alliance, talk merger, talk lead generation, talk products and services, at those shows, its often like a three ring circus. Distractions often times derail the best efforts.

On linkedIn you can easily find the right folks using the advanced search features, send a few enamels and you're good go... I may have it hyper simplified, but you get the gist of it. Here, on LinkedIn, it's easy to cut through the clutter and focus on your ideal clients, partners or suppliers, just do your research and reach out! etc

SAVE MONEY!

Bottom dollars ALWAYS beat top dollars, so, adding new business on the top and not maximizing the bottom dollars is... not wise or even stupid.

Stuff you'd never think about can add up quick in nice savings:
Laptop computers consume approximately 90 percent less energy than standard desktop computers! 
This example is just to illustrate that savings are EVERYWHERE, you just need to pay attention.

Find ways to save money, every penny saved is a penny earned and READY TO BE REINVESTED.

Join "purchasing groups" this seem to be the easiest way to save money the fastest and therefore allow for growth.

Companies like CorpMatch save their 4000+ members 15% to 75% corporate discounts on products and services these small businesses were ALREADY using!

These purchasing groups leverage the buying power of their numerous members to offer AMAZING savings, some sound too good to be true, and yet are true...

• Corpmatch.com is 4000+ members strong
• UPG.org is another solid group to look into.

I sincerely hope these articles are helping you make the most of of 2015 leveraging LinkedIn and strategic marketing.
Best regards

Jerome Knyszewski

The 15 Most Profitable Industries

Financial information company Sageworks has released its ranking of the most profitable industries. By analyzing the financial statements of privately held companies and scaling net profit margin over the last 12 months, Sageworks found seven of the top 15 industries are related to health care or real estate. The list also includes many service-based businesses that can keep costs low while charging premiums, noted Sageworks analyst Jenna Weaver.  While the top three industries remain the same as last year, there are some shifts and newcomers. For some perspective, the average profit for privately held companies is 7.2%, according to Sageworks data. Net profit margins exclude taxes and include owner compensation in excess of their market-rate salaries.

No. 1 Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services

Net Profit Margin: 19.8%

A consistent demand of services and low overhead costs have pushed accounting and tax preparation to the top of this year’s list, increasing from a revised 16.3% profit margin to 19.8%. This industry sector also appeared as #20 in Sageworks' list of fastest-growing industries over the last year.

No. 2 Legal Services

Net Profit Margin: 17.8%

Legal services topped last year’s list with a profit margin of 18.3% but falls down to second this year with a 17.8% margin. Despite the small dip, the industry’s overhead costs remain low. There’s little need for heavy investment costs, other than salaries, and demand is constant.

No. 3 Oil and Gas Extraction

Net Profit Margin: 16.4%

Oil and gas extraction maintains its third place spot as America’s domestic production of oil and shale gas continues to increase and energy imports decline. The profit margin increased from 15.1% to 16.4%.

No. 4 Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Rental and Leasing

Net Profit Margin: 16.4%

The machinery and equipment rental industry returns to the list in a tie for third, jumping from 13.4% to 16.4%. The industry was also listed as No. 16 in Sageworks' list of fastest-growing industries. With several of the top 15 related to real estate, the industry may be growing due to more home construction.

No. 5 Offices of Dentists

Net Profit Margin: 14.9%

A service that everyone is encouraged to take part in twice a year, dentistry returns to this year’s list. Profitability increased from 12.7% to 14.9%, perhaps due to more demand as the Affordable Care Act supports more insured citizens.

No. 6 Lessors of Real Estate

Net Profit Margin: 14.1%

Rounding out last year’s list with 10.4% growth, real estate leasing jumps to a three-way tie for the sixth spot with 14.1%. The return of the housing market supports a decline in vacancy and, therefore, more business for landlords, who can begin to increase rental rates.

No. 7 Offices of Physicians

Net Profit Margin: 14.1%

Physicians win out over other health practitioners this year, with a profit margin up to 14.1% from 12.2%. Similar to the consistency behind dentistry, physicians are in constant demand, supported by an even better-insured population.

No. 8 Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers

Net Profit Margin: 14.1%

Real estate agents and brokers were No. 1 in Sageworks' report of the fastest-growing industries with a sales percent change of 23% over the last year. They return to this year’s list of the most profitable to 14.1% profit from 11.6%, a clear indication of the housing market’s return.

No. 9 Offices of Other Health Practitioners

Net Profit Margin: 12.6%

Health practitioners add to the list’s dominant health care sector. Profit margins remained steady, 12.6% from 12.5% last year, but that’s enough for a valuable profit and a tie on this year’s most profitable list.

No. 10 Management of Companies and Enterprises

Net Profit Margin: 12.6%

A newcomer to the list, privately-held management companies have pushed to a 12.6% profit margin. Sageworks analyst Jenna Weaver noted that cost cutting was the big driver with a decrease in direct costs of goods sold and overhead costs.

No. 11 Outpatient Care Centers

Net Profit Margin: 11.7%

Outpatient care centers joins as the list’s fourth industry related to health care and the only one that experienced a decline in profit, from 13.8% to 11.7%.  While outpatient visits may be on the rise, providing cheaper options than hospital stays, costs may have risen that affect the industry’s bottom line.

No. 12 Other Schools and Instruction

Net Profit Margin: 11.3%

This industry sector includes fine arts schools, sports instruction, language schools, exam prep, automobile driving and other more specialized schools than last year’s inclusion of colleges, universities and professional schools. A decline in overhead costs appears to be one of the main forces bringing it to the list.

No. 13 Activities Related to Real Estate

Net Profit Margin: 10.8%

We’ve seen landlords and real estate agents take top spots in this year’s list, so it should be no surprise other activities supporting the market have increased in profitability. This sector includes property managers and appraisers.

No. 14 Death Care Services

Net Profit Margin: 10.7%

Another newcomer, death care services, including undertakers and funeral homes, added to this year’s list with a profit margin of 10.7%. This industry is another with consistent and increasing demand and low overhead.

No. 15 Support Activities for Mining

Net Profit Margin: 10.5%

Profit did dip for mining services, from 12.0% to 10.5%, but it still managed to round out this year’s list. Sageworks analyst Jenna Weaver identified a slight increase in overhead costs, but the demand for domestic exploration  for minerals and oil and gas extraction (this year’s No. 3) supports a continued profit.

https://bit.ly/3zqZJv1

Самомотивация или как мотивировать себя. 6 конкретных приемов

Нет желания работать или приступить к выполнению важной задачи?
Ниже вы познакомитесь с несколькими приемами преодоления низкой мотивации. Выполните данные рекомендации последовательно. Это важно.

ШАГ 1: Опишите желаемый результат

Опишите несколькими словами, что нужно сделать. Совершить продажу, научится говорить на английском, познакомится с нужным человеком.
Это должно быть завершенное действие с конкретным результатом. Мозг человека не воспринимает абстрактных, размытых желаний. Это важный шаг, если хотите понять как мотивировать себя.
Время выполнения: 1 минута.

ШАГ 2: Представьте будущий результат

Закройте глаза и представьте себя достигающим результата. Прокрутите в своей воображении короткометражный фильм. Вы в главной роли. Смотрите на все происходящее глазами очевидца. И в быстром темпе прокрутите все события, начиная с этого момента до момента достижения желаемого результата. Именно того результата сформулированного в нескольких словах на первом шаге.
Это позволит увидеть цепочку действий нужных для получения результата.
Время выполнения: 5 минут.

ШАГ 3: Представьте, с чего все началось

Закройте глаза и представьте, с чего начинался ваш путь. Прокрутите в своей воображении такой же короткометражный фильм. Вы в главной роли. Смотрите на все происходящее глазами очевидца. И в быстром темпе прокрутите все события, начиная с детства и до этого момента. Увидев как много вы уже успели совершить, признайте свои успехи сказав «Какой я молодец, я столько уже достиг.»
Это позволит вам увидеть, как много вы достигли за свою жизнь именно в этом деле. Это упражнение похоже на предыдущее, только теперь вы представляете не будущее, а свои прошлые успехи.
Время выполнения: 5 минут.

ШАГ 4: Напишите список всех шагов

Возьмите лист бумаги и напишите список всех шагов нужных для достижения результата. После этого на новом листе бумаге разбейте каждый шаг еще на несколько шагов. Вам нужно делить шаги настолько чтобы каждый из пунктов списка соответствовал простому действию на 1 – 2 часа непрерывного действия.
Обычно для получения результата нам требуется сделать не один шаг, а несколько. Поэтому лучше записать все шаги в один список. Также запомните, главная причина низкой мотивации – в абстрактных и неясных задачах. Как уже было сказано, мозг человека воспринимает только конкретные задачи. Абстракция – выучить английский язык, настолько общая и неясная что пропадает всякое желание действовать. А вот когда у вас перед глазами четкий список дел и каждое дело требует не более 2 часов на завершение – все что остается, взять и сделать.
Время выполнения: от 10 минут до 1 часа.

ШАГ 5: Установите сроки

Установите даты для каждого пункта из списка, которые необходимо завершить. Золотое правило расчета времени: после установления крайней даты или часа завершения дела – умножьте его на 2.
Мы всегда склоны преувеличивать свои возможности, и не умеем четко рассчитать время на занятие, которое выполняем впервые. Поэтому придерживайтесь простого правила и умножайте время на 2.
Сроки обязательны. Без сроков мы просто будем откладывать выполнение дела.
Время выполнения: 5 минут.

ШАГ 6: Приступите к выполнению

Приступите к последовательному выполнению плана. Выберите первый шаг из списка, определите время выполнения (допустим 1 час), приступите к выполнению. Не останавливайтесь и доведите дело до конца. После этого наградите себя, чем ни будь. Вычеркните дело из списка и приступайте к следующему пункту.
Ключевым моментом на этом шаге является – доведение дела до конца. Любое прерывание, откладывание дела, является ничем иным как отдалением получения желаемого результата. Более быстрого способа получить желаемое просто не существует.

4 ways you're ruining your chances for a promotion

MAGE: GARY WATERS/GETTY CREATIVE

LILY ZHANG for The Muse

It’s been a few years, and you’ve been exceptionally diligent. Ever since you realized it was a possibility, that promotion has been your goal, and you’ve been gunning for it with everything you’ve got.

But, wait. Before you keep charging blindly ahead, make sure your grand plans aren’t derailed by any of these easy-to-make mistakes.

1. Winning over your boss but not your co-workers

Your direct supervisor will have a big say in whether or not you get to move up, so it makes perfect sense to curry his or her favor. But before you keep nodding yes to everything your manager says, consider the impression you’re making on your colleagues. It might be completely obvious to everyone but you that you’re “running for office” and ready to sacrifice anyone standing in your way.

To prevent any resentment from building up, you’ll want to be a bit more mindful of the way your actions to please your boss make you look in front of your co-workers. After all, it’s not like these people just go away when you get promoted. In fact, you will still have to work with them—and possibly even manage them.

2. Focusing on new responsibilities but neglecting your current ones

It’s great to be eager, but obsessing over your next career move instead of focusing on your present role isn’t going to get you anywhere. It’s easy to get carried away with newer, possibly more exciting responsibilities, but neglecting your core duties will get you in trouble. You won’t make a very compelling case for yourself to take on a greater role in the team if you can’t even manage your current assignments.

In other words, before you get too preoccupied with revamping the internship training schedule or planning the regional conference, make sure your main responsibilities are completed in a timely and consistent manner.

3. Going above and beyond but not letting anyone know

So, you’re knocking out old and new responsibilities, helping out colleagues, and mentoring interns. If anyone is paying attention, that promotion should be yours. Problem is, you can’t rely on other people to pay attention. If you’re not fully promoting yourself and your achievements, it almost doesn’t matter that you’re killing it at your job.

So, how does one actually do this? It’s all about setting aside time to talk about and celebrate team successes with your manager. Check out this handy guide on how to brag at work (without sounding like a jerk) for a more step-by-step guide.

4. Not creating a plan for when you actually do get promoted

This one might be the least obvious one. What is your team or company going to do if you’re not longer in your current role? If you don’t have a plan in place, that can be a serious deterrent for promoting you.

Plan for your succession, or if you’re in a more entry-level role, document processes you oversee, training you’ve completed, and your general responsibilities so that it’ll be easy to train someone to take your place. It might feel a bit presumptuous to be getting ready to move on to a new role that you may or may not get, but when it does happen, you’ll look completely prepared and ready to take on that promotion.

The moral of this story is that getting promoted shouldn’t just be about you. If you’re able to make it about what’s best for the team or the company, you’ll be not only be making a better impression on everyone involved, you’ll also be more likely to get that coveted promotion. Good luck!

The Biggest Business Fails of 2014

DECEMBER 23, 2014

For as many days as there are in the year, it seems like there were twice as many business mistakes and blunders, from Tinder's legal battles and Uber's public relations woes to Lululemon's ecommerce foul-up and Clinkle's less than stellar product roll out. Most recently, the fallout from the Sony hack has been top of mind. Here are some of the most talked about business "fails" of 2014.

Walmart's Halloween faux-pas. Social media lit up and lit into the big box retailer when a screen shot of a section for "Fat Girl Costumes" on Walmart's website circulated around the internet. The page was expunged, countless Twitter apologies were sent out and the costumes were subsequently organized under the term "Women's Plus Size Halloween Costumes," but the damage was done.

The mistaken iTunes chart topper. Pop superstar Taylor Swift's latest album was so highly anticipated by fans, that a week before its full release, eight seconds of white noise that was accidentally labeled as a track from 1989, shot straight to number one on the Canadian iTunes chart.

Comcast's not-so-helpful customer service. The telecom company had a rough go of it this year when it came down to customer service. In one of the most talked about examples, this summer, a tech reporter named Ryan Block found himself on the receiving end of a relentless call with a customer service rep who didn't seem to understand why he wanted to disconnect from the service.

Airbnb's questionable logo. The vacation apartment-renting startup has had its fair share of flack this year, and the rollout of the company's new logo was hardly immune to scrutiny, especially when the unflattering aesthetic comparisons about its similarity to another company's and certain parts of the anatomy started rolling in.

French for "oops" is just spelled 'oups.' Talk about surreal. Frances national railway company, The SNCF, accidentally ordered 2,000 regional trains that were too big for the existing train station platforms. Construction to widen the stations has cost the French government millions of dollars on top the $21 billion dollar shipment of trains.

Who are you calling an armpit? A proposed New Jersey billboard promoting Dove’s new deodorant line read "Dear New Jersey, when people call you 'the Armpit of America,' take it as a compliment. Sincerely, Dove."  Thanks to an impassioned response, the ad was pulled before it even went up.

Target's photo shop fail.  The retailer was criticized when images of a youthful model wearing a juniors’ Xhilaration bikini were clearly photo shopped to give the already slim girl a "thigh gap," but ended up nearly slicing her photo in half.

Snapchat's fratty hack attack. Evan Spiegel, Snapchat’s 20-something CEO, saw his frat past came back to haunt him as e-mails surfaced from his college days that some found off-putting and even misogynistic.

Amazon's Fire Phone fanfare that didn't quite pan out. Two months after the Amazon Fire phone's introduction into the market, the tech giant dropped the price of its $199 32 GB phone to 99 cents and its $299 64 GB model to $99.

Network, network, network. Cleveland's chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators got a rude awakening when it came to light that the recipient of its 2014 Communicator of the Year award, a JobBank newsletter manager named Kelly Blazek, had a penchant for sending some seriously harsh replies to young job seekers.

by 

NINA ZIPKIN

ENTREPRENEUR STAFF

Don't Make These 5 Mistakes in the New Year

JANUARY 06, 2015

Yes, it’s that time of year and indeed this is a resolutions post. But January is a natural time for an entrepreneur to look back, evaluate what he or she did right and wrong in the year past and make decisions about how to move forward. 

Over the holiday season, I had some time to reflect about how things went last year and what I want to change going forward. Here are some of the mistakes I made this year that I’m going to do my best to not repeat.

1. Taking business too personally.

As a business owner, it’s easy to sync your emotions to business metrics as I did last year. There is, however, a real mental and physical cost to tying yourself emotionally to something that you don’t absolutely control.

Also, as a business gets larger, the stakes get higher. Although the fluctuations in business tend to stabilize on a relative basis, on an absolute basis, the numbers seem to grow by an order of magnitude.

If you tie your emotions to these changes, it’s easy to turn a tough quarter at work into a personal disaster. I’ll never remove myself from personal investment in the success of my business, but this year I’m going to try to keep things in perspective.

2. Putting off management.

Toward the end of last year, I started planning for my company's reincorporation and raising of seed capital.

I became focused on big projects, so it was easier to let my staff try to take care of things on their own. They did a great job, but I left daily and weekly management conversations by the wayside. 

When entrepreneurs become involved in big things, they can lose track of day-to-day management. This year, I’m staying on top of management tasks and not letting anyone feel left out or unsure about work that needs to be done.

3. Complicating things.

Last year my company planned and executed a content strategy that took five months. It involved creating a taxonomy of relevant ideas, mapping pages to a complex hierarchy of themes and creating an encyclopaedic volume of content.

It would have been a fine project for IBM. But for Recruiter.com? That five months came at a massive opportunity cost.

It’s good to plan for future growth and have a map by which to steer your business.

But balance the level of project with the current state of your business. This year, I'll align the size of my organization's initiatives with its current capacities. I'll first evaluate projects by how fast the firm can successfully complete them.

4. Letting personal health slide.

Probably like many entrepreneurs, I can’t wait to arrive at work in the morning. This is one of the most productive, energetic periods of the day and it’s hard to take time off for anything else but important work.

The afternoon grows busy with meetings and pressing issues. The night is reserved for family and catching up on emails and other small business items. So there goes the day! Forget about exercise.

With competing priorities, entrepreneurs might find it hard to put exercise on the must-do list. During the busiest six months of last year, I almost purposefully let go of even trying to exercise.

The problem, however, is that when a business grows, always more work and even more responsibilities arise. You can’t wait for a quiet time to take care of your health because it won’t ever come. So this year, like tens of millions of others, I suppose, I’m resolving to prioritize my personal health.

5. Not getting out there.

Running a growing business is a huge amount of work, even if you’ve delegated day-to-day operations to others.

You still have to develop partnerships, strategy, planning and forecasting. Although networking continues to be crucial as a business grows, an entrepreneur might view personal interactions as a luxury. There's the temptation to substitute a quick Skype call for an out-of-state conference or business lunches. It’s efficient in terms of time but not in terms of value. 

Last year I chose efficiency over value in terms of networking. This wasn't the right choice. 

This year I’m promising to get out there more often. It means “wasting” a lot of time on trains, planes and automobiles, paying for conference tickets that sometimes won’t be worth the admissions price and being away from the office and all that entails. But I’m counting on realizing a big long-term reward from taking a more personal approach to business.

by 

MILES JENNINGS

CONTRIBUTOR

Founder and CEO of Recruiter.com