Note from Stephen: This is a guest article from Bill Post. His information is at the end of the article.

I think I’m a pretty sensitive guy. But if you showed up to a first ever business meeting in a T-shirt and shorts, would my feelings be hurt? Would I feel that you were not respecting me or my position? Absolutely not — not even if it were a job interview. But then, I’m not the kind of guy who sits around thinking, “I wonder if the person I’m about to meet has figured out how he (or she) is going to impress me!”

Ironically, if you are trying to make a good first impression on me, letting me get the idea that you are actively trying to impress me is almost the worst thing you could do (well, short of being genuinely disrespectful or abusive, anyway!). Because then I become suspicious.

Why am I telling you this? Am I saying that first impressions don’t matter? Absolutely not — I’m explaining why they DO matter, even to someone like me. Maybe especially to someone like me.

I can’t imagine myself wanting to hire or work with someone who is in the business of selling himself or herself — or even someone whose very first priority is selling a product, any product, even if that product is my own work or the services that I offer. Who DO I want to work with? People who are genuine, authentic, who can be truly present — people who can connect with me without trying to impress me. You’re not going to meet that standard simply by dressing up and making sure to use my first name several times in the course of our conversation (which are two of the most commonly given pieces of advice to people who are trying to make a good first impression).

Moreover, it’s not just me. I have found that even people who say they want to be impressed — people who WOULD be offended if you showed up to a business meeting in shorts — still want to meet someone who can authentically connect with them. With those people, dressing the right way just gets you in the door — a real, honest connection is still the ultimate test.

So how can you pass that test? As a consultant, I have to pass that test all the time. Here are the tips and strategies that I’ve gathered over the years:

1. At the risk of sounding trite, always be yourself — even if you are not a people person. If you are an introvert trying to act like an extrovert to make a good impression, all that will happen is that you’ll set off your new acquaintance’s internal lie detector — and everyone has one. People will wonder what else you are lying about. If you’re shy, a better strategy is to come right out and admit it. If you do, people will tend to fall over themselves trying to make you comfortable.
2. Likewise, wear what makes YOU feel the most comfortable. Obviously, don’t show up for a job interview in pajamas — or, in most cases, even in the T-shirt and shorts I mentioned in my example. But within the bounds of what is appropriate for the setting, wear something that you feel like yourself in. If you have to wear a suit and you hate suits, find some small way to modify what you’re wearing to make it more you. Otherwise you won’t feel free to be yourself — and again, you’ll set off those internal lie detectors.
3. Prepare for meetings in advance so you can focus. I don’t mean prepare by making sure that you know your facts — I am assuming you already do that. What I mean is, take time to center yourself before meeting someone. Take a few deep breaths. If possible, meditate. Do whatever you need to do ahead of time to get yourself into the best mindset for your meeting. Find a way to bring yourself into the present moment so that you can truly pay attention to the person you are about to meet. For the duration of the meeting, be present in the meeting, not thinking about the million other things on your to do list.
4. Point out your own flaws — don’t try to hide them. If you have obstacles to overcome, if you face your own unique set of challenges in a work environment, point them out. Explain what you’re up against and what your strategies are for overcoming these challenges. This way you’ve set the stage for honest communication, you’ve showed that you are being truthful and authentic, and you’ve let the person you are meeting know that you’re human — just as he or she is. That makes for a powerful connection. You don’t really want the people you meet to think that you are flawless and superhuman — no one can really connect with that, because none of us meet that standard.
5. Be aware that you get more than one chance to make a first impression. The fact is that while you may make a good impression on someone you meet in a social situation (which is essentially what a job interview is, for example), that’s a very different matter from having your work make a good impression. The first work that you do on a new job will make its own first impression. Your place of business makes its own first impression on everyone who walks through the door. Your business card makes a small first impression on everyone into whose hands it falls. Your web site makes a first impression. You get the idea. Make the most of each chance you get to make a new first impression.
6. Contrary to popular opinion, you CAN reverse a bad first impression. See point 5, above. Consider when your next opportunity to make a better impression will arise — and make the most of it. My experience tells me that if you give people a chance to reevaluate you, they will. Likewise, if you make a good first impression and later screw up, the good first impression may soften the impact, but it won’t delete it. Keep trying to make a good impression in all your interactions. Each of us is transformed by our continuing life experiences — again, not to sound trite, but you are a new person every day, and so are the people you meet and those you already know. Keep making new first impressions on the people around you — make your continuing impressions good ones.

Bill Post, Small Business Research Analyst, has been providing research on issues of concern to small businesses for 123Print.com Business Cards for three years. Prior to his involvement with 123Print, Bill was a small business owner himself, providing marketing and branding services to other small businesses in the Washington, DC metro area. Before working with 123Print on Business Card Templates, Bill spent several years after receiving his degree in the fast-paced corporate world. It was there that Bill not only honed the skills he uses to help small businesses get ahead, but it is also where he realized that he’d rather help the little guy prosper than make huge corporations money.

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Note from Stephen:  This is a guest article from Lloyd Burrell.  You can read more about him at the end of the article.

Whether you have a 9 to 5 office job or you are lucky to have a job where you can dictate your own hours and maybe even work at home from time to time, we all go through periods of stagnation. Sometimes its just so hard to get a new perspective on a problem and it seems the harder you work the more you dig yourself in. So what’s the solution? Well here are 8 tips to finding that solution, integrate them into your brain’s hard drive. If you put these easy tips into practice, then fellow workers will truly believe you’re an Einstein, crossed with Bill Gates.

1. Why Mistakes Are Good

Release the hounds and open the floodgates and try and make a few mistakes occasionally. When you strive for perfectionism, open and flowing creativity goes right out the window and it can be a long way down, as well as a long way to recovery. Creative people need to make mistakes. This is how they learn to do something even better. Grab your flood of new ideas, winnow out the bad ones and chaff, and you’ll get a core of strong concepts to have a go at. Set aside five minutes for a free flow of concepts session. Take your challenge for the day, week, or month, and think of as many possible solutions as you can. Do not censor, and afterwards, circle 5 of the best ideas. Pick one, then expand for 10 minutes or so.

2. Practice Alchemy

Be an alchemist and turn lead into gold, or Pb into Au. Do not be bound by any false assumptions or common ideas on any subject. Many explorers never took a chance and sailed into the new world, because they thought they’d fall off a flat earth. A professor gave the future founder of FedEx a C on his paper — which described the concept of a quick package delivery service. Just try and transform limiting assumptions and turn your assumed lead of an idea, into a sparkling gold one. List your largest business challenge assumptions and have a co-worker add a few more things to that list. Put “How can I…” at the start of each sentence. Pick the most intriguing and have a brainstorming session.

3 Its All About Questions

Make sure that the question truly identifies your business challenge. Focus on the real core challenge and not a lot of “splash”. Take that question you are brainstorming and rewrite it 5 different ways. See if you detect a problem behind the problem which has become imbedded in it. Show the newly-worded question to a co-worker and get their feedback. New eyes will see the freshly-worded question in a novel way.

4 Fascination

Become fascinated with the question and then the challenge of solving it will inspire you. In fact, being fascinated is often a sign of genius, so follow your enchantment and dig in. Try and maintain this attitude your entire life. This is similar to many adults enjoying something like Disney, even though friends pooh-pooh it and say that’s just for kids. If you are enamored of something, then enjoy it and go with it. If you suspend judgment on something like a problem or challenge, then you’ll be able to proceed. Make three parallel lists: What Makes Me Fascinated; Folks I Admire; and If I Had More Time — What Would I Do? Fill them out and then compare for any connections. Inspired ideas should be circled then brainstormed.

5 Time To Brainstorm

There are plenty of bad ideas and terrible concepts in the world. But, in a brainstorming session — bad ideas can be extrapolated into something better, then the best ones. First book drafts for literature classics may have been just terrible, but the authors worked on them and rewrote and brainstormed until we have our standouts. Occasionally, there are geniuses who can whip off a perfect music score or piece of literature or scientific concept the first time. Mozart comes to mind in the music area. Diamonds began as coal, so think of that pairing as the basic or bad idea and a diamond as the apex of it, after it’s been polished and honed and cut to brilliance and sparkle. Write down the worst thing about your edgy new idea. Then, write down all that’s good about it. Use the most redeemable to spawn 5 new ideas about it.

6 The Power Of Your Imagination

Try a new Halloween costume on for size — not literally, but mentally, so you can become a new persona with a different perspective. See challenges through different eyes. Feel things differently. Think things differently. You may have a creative breakthrough. Pick a celebrity or someone you admire, close your eyes, then think about your business challenge as if you were that person. Jot down anything you think up.

7 Storming The Brain

A lot of people at a brainstorming session will be negative. Use something called reversal technique on them. Get them to find even more ways to trash your idea or ideas. For instance, if the idea was how to increase sales in a certain region, then ask how the group can make sure that sales stay flat. This will shock them a bit. Write down all responses, then reverse the concept to positive, and brainstorm the best of the lot.

8 The Power Of Nature

Mix as many different types of individuals as you can so they can interact, think freely and bounce concepts off each other. Take everyone on a field trip or a walk in the park, that has nothing to do with your business. Ask everyone to take notes. Debrief when you return to the office. From time to time we all get caught up in the humdrum of office life and work, we get stale. But your mind is your number one asset. You don’t have to feel trapped, use these tips to set yourself free.

This is a guest post from Lloyd Burrell. Lloyd enjoys blogging on and around the office theme. He writes detailed reviews on wooden office desk furniture. He reviews both contemporary and modern office desk styles from Bush Office Desk Furniture, Sauder Office Desks, Techni Mobili and other leading brands.

This is a question that I think few people consider seriously and yet I think in today’s world it is a very important question.  I will  celebrate (or mourn) my 50th birthday  this year.  I think I’ve lived about one half of my adult life and this question is something I have been thinking about.  I will attempt an answer in this article.

In today’s hyper-specialized world I think the “well-rounded” person person is disappearing.  By default we are becoming specialists.  I graduated college with a computer science degree and went into the IT profession.  I am profoundly ignorant of most of the field.  The amount of knowledge or skill in most fields is so vast and increasing so rapidly that you can likely only be a narrowly focused specialist if you want to achieve anything significant.

To take one example, the medical general practitioner is becoming almost uselessly behind in every area; the field is so vast nobody can begin to hope to be much of a generalist and be of as much use as the internet. You don’t go to a criminal lawyer to do your taxes.  I follow several scientific fields and the well-known scientists are usually very narrowly focused in a sub-specialty of their field.  The same thing is true with athletes and artists.  Yo-Yo Ma is a cellist and audiences don’t pay to hear him play the trumpet.  Bobby Fischer focused on chess so much from a very young age he never learned to be a competent human being and he ended up a raving lunatic.  The Olympic decathlon champion probably couldn’t win a college level (or maybe high-school) competition in any particular event, and despite Michael Jordon’s undeniably rare athletic skills he couldn’t play baseball at the professional level.  As a blogger, one of the most consistent pieces of advice I hear is to find and focus on a narrow niche (which I ignore).  In other words, be a super specialist.

Of course there are exceptions but we are talking about relatively normal people – you and me.  A few centuries ago you could probably learn a lot about a lot of different subjects and be considered to have a reasonably well-rounded intellect.  Many educated people achieved this universal knowledge and some remarkably talented people actually became true polymaths or Renaissance Men (e.g. Leonardo Da Vinci).   I don’t think this is realistic anymore (there may be a few exceptions) and the embarrassing result is that many world-class experts in one area try to throw their weight around on things they are unqualified to speak about (artistic people who think they are political or economic experts come to mind).

In times past many people out of necessity were multi-skilled in a variety of activities and if they couldn’t do it themselves it didn’t get done.  Even in the western world, at the practical skill level, this persisted well into the 20th century in rural areas on farms and ranches.  My father is a do-it-yourself handy man in many different areas.  I can barely hammer a nail.

We love and are captivated by human excellence and in all fields we benefit from the single-minded focus of the experts.  I wouldn’t want to live in a world without them. Specialization is undoubtedly productive and has produced great wealth.  While this hyper-specialization seems necessary for significant achievement and economic progress, the question still remains should you try to be an expert or a more well-rounded generalist?

And The Answer Is?

I don’t know, but I’ll take a shot.  Given the hyper-specialized world we live in the obvious answer seems to be that you should become a narrowly-focused expert.  No matter what you choose to be doing at any particular time, there are going to be any number of other people who are specialized in that area and doing almost nothing else.  If you aren’t focusing most of your time on it, they will be much better at it than you.  Since the world is so connected, people who want their services will be able to find them.  You are never going to be able to out compete the specialist in a specialty.  If you don’t want to spend a lot of time at your chosen field, there will be others who easily surpass you.

I think if you want to achieve at very high levels this is the answer.  If you want to excel in your career, achieve recognition, money, or status I don’t think you have much of a choice.  While there may be exceptions, you probably aren’t one of the genetic freaks who will be one of them.  I’m certainly not.

But I Hate That Answer

My heart’s desire is to have a number of pursuits and areas of interest and do them all well.  I don’t think just dabbling in a bunch of different things gives one much satisfaction.  You need to achieve some level of competence to feel some accomplishment.  I have been fairly specialized most of my life and it seems like I constantly need to be more specialized to keep up and be good.  I absolutely hate it.  I’ve been too focused and many things I want to pursue have been left by the wayside.  I’m determined to change that.

The High Cost of Expertise

To achieve high-level expertise you have to devote enormous amounts of effort.  In others we see the results, but not the painful effort that went into those achievements.  Most skills have a fairly steep initial learning curve and it takes quite a bit of effort to achieve any competence.  However, once you achieve a certain basic competence in something, improvement is very rapid; you are initially getting a lot of results for your effort.  These are the boom times.  As you continue to rise in expertise, the improvements come more slowly; the returns diminish  At the highest levels it may take enormous effort to achieve even tiny incremental improvements.

So once you achieve a certain level of competence the question to ask yourself is it worth the continued effort to gain even higher levels?  It all depends upon what you want.  If you want the recognition, money, achievement, or simply the satisfaction that comes from expertise then go for it.

The Alternative

Here are some things I have zero competence in that I would like to become reasonably competent doing.  Speaking multiple languages, a martial art, a sketch artist, playing chess, being a published writer, and some other things.  I barely know a few words in any other language than my native English.  But I would like to learn another language.  Since I live in the Southern Texas, Spanish is the obvious choice.  It would have a lot of practical advantages.  I could spend a tremendous amount of effort to become remarkably fluent in Spanish or I could spend the same amount of effort to become reasonably fluent in both Spanish and French and maybe even a third language.

Maybe instead of learning three languages, I could become reasonably fluent in Spanish and also learn to be a decent pencil artist and achieve a middle level belt in a martial art.  To me this kind of thinking clearly lays out the consequences of expertise – the opportunities you give up.

My gut instinct and personal experience says that to achieve the best life satisfaction, maybe being an expert isn’t the right choice.  This is something everyone has to decide for themselves, but societal pressure seems to be on becoming an expert; being the best you can be and all that.  I’m pretty sure that’s the way to high achievement in anything.

I’m just not sure that’s the way to high happiness with your life.  To give up on expertise, you will have to give up some other things, but I think for many if not most people it’s worth it.  Don’t get caught in the trap unless you are really sure that’s what you want.  Consider earning a living four or five hours a day and spending the rest of your precious time on other pursuits.  After a career of 30 years, those 12 to 14 hour days may just not have been worth it.

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Note from Stephen:  This is a guest post by Dragos at eDragonu – the choice of a personal path.  He has an excellent blog and I suggest you check it out.

This article is part of a series about the 7 ages of a business, an entrepreneur perspective, initially published at eDragonu.ro. The remaining 6 articles are published as guest posts on other 6 fine personal development and business blogs. You will find links to them at the end of this article.

Bigger Is Better

The success you experienced in the maturity age of your business is a little bit deceptive. It witness only the fact that your initial idea was worth doing and your implementation was correct. But there is so much more in front of you. Now that you know how to do business, it’s time to prove it on a larger scale. Your idea it was great, but now you’re a full grown business and it’s time to prove it. Whether you like it, or not. That’s the bad news, you’ll have to expand whether you want it or not.

Once you reached a certain level of functionality, your business will be part of a larger mechanism, a market. And that market will try to get your clients. So, you will be forced to react. You will be involved in something called competition. That means you will fight with other businesses in order to get more clients. But the good news is that you have the same tools as they have to get access to their clients. This whole process is called growing.

Expansion is very much like the enthusiasm age. It’s fueled with a lot of energy and you’ll be doing a lot of fantastic steps. But is also a very risky period. This time you’ll not compete only with yourself but with others as well. Some of your competitors are skilled, experienced entrepreneurs. You will be exposed to some big risks. Although you came from a solid ground, you will be forced to walk on moving sands. One thing you won’t miss during this stage is excitement, that’s for sure.

What To Avoid

Among all 7 stages, expansion is one of the riskier episodes. A wrong move or a hasty decision is highly amplified, so here are some suggestions on what to avoid.

Limiting Yourself

During the expansion stage your conservation instinct will be invoked big time. You will be facing some very strong decisions, some of the involving significant potential loss. The intention to get back will be always there. Well, don’t listen to it. Don’t limit yourself out of fear. Don’t let your negativity affect you, especially now. It’s time to grow, it’s time to risk and it’s time do it big time. There will always be a chance to lose everything, now more than ever, but that is part of the thrill. The game is as joyful as you allow it to be. Don’t make it boring.

Getting Bored

Speaking of boredom, there is another tendency to avoid, but this time at the other end of the scale. After a series of successful moves, after a certain period of sustained growth and big partnerships you might get a sense of dullness. Surprisingly enough, an easier expansion is as dangerous as a difficult one. Getting a sense of “too easy” might push you into boredom. The only pitfall here is to get bored before you reach the leader position. That would be a shame. So, don’t allow yourself to get bored before your reach the number one position in your market.

Getting Afraid

Not everything you’ll do in an expansion period will be successful. You might get burned, You might make mistakes. You might lose employees, clients, market share or money. It’s still part of the game. As I already told you, expansion is one of the most dangerous stages in your business, so expect some losses here and now. Don’t be afraid. You did well. You lost something but you still have you and can start over. Speaking of losses, I think failing in the expansion period of your business is the most honorable way to fail in business. At least you died trying.

What To Do

With a little bit of courage, determination and, why not saying it, luck, you can do great during your expansion period. Here are some hints on what you could do to really hit it big.

Think Big

If you’re going to expand your business then you’re going to really expand your business. Think big. Nothing is impossible at this stage. Remember, you’ve already made it through enthusiasm, naivety, attention and maturity. Why think small? Why not expand beyond any conceivable limit? At this stage any idea, plan or goal will be appropriate. The bigger, the better. Setting a growing mindset is the root of all this. Work with you. Trust yourself. Imagine yourself being the leader of your market, whatever that means in terms of money or market coverage.

Be Fast

This is not a thinking time, it’s an acting time. You had your share of thinking in the attention stage. Now it’s time to act. It’s time to initiate and force. If you react, instead of acting, you’re making the game of the competition. Be proactive, be inventive and do. And, above all, be fast. If you spot an opportunity, act on it. Before everyone else will even think something like that would be possible you’ll be already on top of it. This ability of being fast is often one of the most visible qualities of the entrepreneurs in the expansion stage and will often give them the name of “sharks”. Be like a shark, and take your prey. The other option is to be the prey.

Trust Your Intuition

Many of the successful entrepreneurs I met and done business with were highly intuitive persons. They were acting out of the gut naturally. Acting out of the gut means they were able to take shortcuts of the logical thinking, not to act against logical thinking. Intuition is knowledge hidden in your subconscious mind. It’s usually the result of a dense expertise, an expertise so deep that you’re applying it out of reflex. In this age you’ll be facing pressuring situations, in which thinking fast will not always be an option. You’ll just have to act. Trust your intuition, all you need to know is already inside of you and it will manifest.

From Expansion To Leadership

The next logical phase of your business, once out of the expansion stage, would be the leadership phase. For me, the expansion stage took around one year. During this year I had to make sure I’m not only covering my niche, but I’m also dominating the market. I had to acknowledge and assess the presence of the competition. I had to predict – as much as we human can predict stuff – some employees movement and take appropriate measures.

During this stage I made some of my most interesting partnerships. They weren’t giving me a lot of money but they were very important as establishing my presence there. My approach was not to buy other companies during my expansion, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. On the contrary, buying other companies is one of the most used approach in the expanding stage, I just chose no to.

You can find the remaining 6 ages of your business on these fine personal development and business blogs:

The Enthusiasm Business Age
The Naivety Business Age
The Attention Business Age
The Maturity Business Age
The Leadership Business Age
The Exhaustion Business Age

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