Dirty Secrets of Small Business

How Do I Respond To The Request “Tell Me About Yourself”?

We were recently involved with some mock interviews with local high school students. The goal is to give these 15 and 16 year olds some practice at interviewing for a job. They are asked to complete an application, dress in nicer clothes, and then sit down for a 10-minute interview with some volunteer adults to “interview” for a job in a retail store.

Posted in: Presenting
Dirty Secrets of Small Business

How Do I Know If I’m Making Any Sense?

Do you ever get people responding to you with smiles and nods? We get this response a lot. Especially from small business owners. They will often smile and nod when different business topics are brought up. We learned years ago that the smile and nod is often code for “I have no idea what you’re talking about and I hope you don’t ask me to explain myself.”

Dirty Secrets of Small Business

How Do I Stay Positive?

Some days it’s easier to stay positive than others. For instance, those days when you land a big new customer or finally bring on board that key new hire. But there are other days when it’s really tough to keep that positive outlook. Simply flip the scenarios mentioned before where instead of landing a big new customer you instead lose a customer that makes up 25% of your business. Or that key employee gives you two weeks notice.

Posted in: Presenting
Dirty Secrets of Small Business

How Do I Tell My Story?

If you’re in the business of meeting a lot of new people during the course of the week, month, or year, one of your keys to success will be to effectively share your story. What do we mean by sharing your story? It’s providing the person you’re speaking with the relevant points about your background that relate to them. You have to decide which parts of your experience you want to share. And how much of your story to share.