Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Talk to Your Team

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As I’ve mentioned before (and any previous employer can confirm), I’m a terrible employee. Mostly because it’s abundantly clear I’m not a big fan of being managed and if I don’t like something, I just won’t do it. I can also be intimidating when I want to be and have possibly scared off a boss or two…

But here’s the deal, if you’re leading a team don’t wait for their annual review to ask how things are going. Meet with your employees often. Ask them what’s working, what they like doing, where they’re feeling challenged, and what they don’t like. Most of the time your team just wants to feel heard. And you may even realize that a team member enjoys doing something you hate, or wants to take on a new challenge that you didn’t know who was going to manage.

Many of my friends are employed by someone else, and the biggest complaint I hear from friends is that they don’t like a specific piece of their job, but their boss doesn’t seem to care and doesn’t appear available to talk. Don’t just say your door is always open, invite them in and talk. And try not to be intimidating, it won’t win you any points, trust me.

Don’t Doddle Amaryllis

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Hank WaitingIt’s really frustrating to be in a holding pattern. You’re waiting for an answer and can’t move forward (or don’t want to move forward) until you get the answer you want. But once that answer comes, good or bad, there’s a lot of work to be done.

When you are working on any project or towards any goal find ways to continue to keep the momentum going when it’s easy to let the project come to a halt. Yes there are always great excuses for why you shouldn’t keep moving forward, but identify from the beginning ALL the work that needs to be done on the project so that you can continue to work on different pieces of the project while other ones may be waiting for an answer.

We can’t always identify what’s going to hold up a project but we can identify what work will need to be done given either outcome. Instead of sitting around complaining or screwing around, figure out what else is on your to do list for the project that can help keep the momentum going.

Know Your Energy Zappers

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On Wednesday I attended the monthly eWomen Network luncheon. This month we were treated to Tammy Redmon, a Business Growth Strategist. Like me, she jumped ship on “cubical nation” and runs a thriving consulting business. Tammy talked about Knowing your Blind Spots. She gave 7 power tips to keep you moving forward and not getting stuck in the roud about of business and life.

My favorite tip was the first- Know Your Energy Zappers. This has been my biggest challenge since starting Yellow Dog Consulting. Since starting my business everyone wants to grab coffee, meet for a drink, or have lunch. And that’s great. I love to catch up with friends and meet new people who might become a friend or business connection. But I also have a business to run and leaving my house for two hours for a meeting with travel time that gives someone a lot of great tips but leaves me with a bigger pile of work is a challenge.

To combate my Energy Zappers I schedule days at home, and if someone wants to meet (that’s not a client) I try to build those meetings around OTHER meetings, especially if I can do it before or after a client meeting (so I’m at least billing something that day!).

Take a look at your schedule. Where are your Energy Zappers? And what gives you energy? Who and where do you need to spend more of your energy?