10 minute read, Share-A-Post

BOLDNESS: A Key Benefit for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

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“Often, in the real world, it’s not the smart that get ahead but the bold.” – Robert Kiyosaki

In the ever-evolving world of entrepreneurship, a bold leadership attitude is a priceless asset for startup companies. It sets the stage for transformative journeys and remarkable achievements. In this guide, we’ll explore why adopting a bold leadership attitude is crucial for aspiring entrepreneurs and how it can benefit their endeavors.

Embracing Risk with Confidence

Entrepreneurship is synonymous with risk-taking. Entrepreneurs often find themselves in uncharted territory, making decisions that shape their businesses’ future. A bold leadership attitude allows you to approach risk with confidence, acknowledging uncertainty but believing in your ability to navigate it.

Bold leaders are not reckless; they take calculated risks. They assess potential rewards and consequences and fearlessly seize opportunities, fostering innovation and growth.

Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride with ups and downs. Resilience is a testament to a bold leadership attitude. Bold leaders don’t crumble in adversity; they view challenges as opportunities for growth.

Sara Blakely’s journey with Spanx exemplifies this. She invested her life savings, faced rejections, and lacked prior fashion experience, yet her unwavering confidence turned Spanx into a billion-dollar brand.

Resilience comes from confidence and determination. When you believe in your vision and pursue it, you develop the tenacity to overcome obstacles.

Inspiring and Mobilizing Others

Building a team and inspiring them is pivotal in entrepreneurship. A bold leadership attitude is infectious, inspiring and mobilizing others to join your mission.

Leading with boldness sets an example for your team. Your unwavering belief and willingness to take risks encourage others, fostering a culture of innovation and ambition.

Seizing Opportunities with Speed

In business, opportunities come and go quickly. Bold leaders recognize and seize them swiftly. They don’t suffer from analysis paralysis but trust their instincts and act fast.

Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is a prime example. Starting as an online bookstore, he expanded fearlessly, making bold decisions like Amazon Prime and AWS, transforming the company into an e-commerce and cloud computing giant.

Bold leaders understand that perfection can hinder progress. While planning is crucial, it shouldn’t paralyze action. Proactive opportunity-seeking offers a competitive edge.

Navigating Uncertainty with Adaptability

Business is marked by constant change and unpredictability. Bold leaders are adaptable and agile in uncertainty. They embrace change as a chance to evolve and innovate.

Adaptability is essential. Bold leaders pivot when needed, embracing new ideas, technologies, and market shifts. This flexibility can be the difference between success and obsolescence.

Building Respected and Trustworthy Brands

Trust is invaluable in entrepreneurship. A bold leadership attitude helps build a trustworthy brand. When stakeholders see a confident, honest leader willing to take responsibility, trust grows.

Bold leaders communicate transparently, even in tough times. This builds trust and credibility, essential for long-term success.

Practical Tips for Cultivating a Bold Leadership Attitude

Here are practical tips for cultivating a bold leadership attitude:

  1. Embrace Continuous Learning and Self-Improvement:
    • Cultivate a growth mindset through ongoing learning.
    • Read books, attend workshops, and seek feedback.
    • Surround yourself with mentors.
  2. Take Calculated Risks:
    • Assess risks and rewards.
    • Avoid overthinking and start with smaller risks.
    • Build confidence and gradually tackle larger risks.
  3. Develop Resilience and Perseverance:
    • View setbacks as learning experiences.
    • Foster resilience with a positive outlook.
    • Keep a long-term perspective.

In entrepreneurship, a bold leadership attitude differentiates mediocrity from greatness. It empowers you to embrace risk, navigate uncertainty, inspire others, and seize opportunities. It builds trust and resilience, essential for success. Cultivate this attitude and let it propel you towards entrepreneurial achievements in the ever-evolving business landscape.

“Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more.”

-Investopedia
10 minute read, Share-A-Post

Elevate Your Leadership in a Complex Remote World

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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” -Aristotle

Reflecting on my years as an airline customer service agent, I can’t help but think about the outstanding group of individuals I worked with daily. The airline industry thrives on teamwork, and working in one of the largest airports, I came across a diverse mix of personalities and work habits. Each day was like a complex puzzle, and assembling those intricate pieces in my head to connect with the team was both a challenge and my pleasure.

As I consider the crucial steps required to effectively lead a remote customer service team, I find myself drawing parallels between my experiences and the growing trend of remote work. While remote work offers flexibility, many agents have reported feelings of isolation and disconnect from colleagues due to lack of communication.

This week, we’ll delve into five essential steps for effectively guiding a remote customer service team amidst complexity while also exploring leadership traits and their alignment with the Maxwell DISC personality assessment, all with the overarching goal of creating positive change in your team’s dynamics and performance.

Step 1: Embrace an Agile Mindset, emphasizing adaptability as a core leadership trait. This trait resonates with the Maxwell DISC assessment, which identifies adaptable and quick-thinking qualities. Embracing an agile mindset equips leaders to confidently lead in unpredictable situations.

Step 2: Foster Clear Communication, a crucial skill for leaders working with remote agents. Effective communication lies at the heart of leadership. By utilizing the communication preferences identified by DISC, leaders can effectively convey their message, ensuring unity and understanding among remote agents and the team as a whole.

Step 3: Empower Decision-Making at All Levels, recognizing each remote agent’s decision-making tendencies allows leaders to delegate responsibilities that resonate with their strengths, ultimately contributing to collective success.

Step 4: Leverage Diverse Perspectives, emphasizing the value of diversity in thought and approach. By acknowledging the diverse perspectives within a remote team and fostering an inclusive environment, leaders can tap into the power of collaborative problem-solving.

Step 5: Prioritize Learning and Adaptation, recognizing the learning preferences of team members and encouraging ongoing growth equips leaders to address complexity with informed decision-making.

Navigating complexity while leading a remote customer service team requires a harmonious integration of leadership traits and tailored strategies. By incorporating leadership insights and leveraging the Maxwell DISC personality assessment, leaders can elevate their remote leadership capabilities. Embracing an agile mindset, fostering clear communication, empowering decentralized decision-making, leveraging diverse perspectives, and prioritizing continuous learning allow leaders to effectively guide their teams through complexity.

Building a strong connection amongst your remote team members is vital for moral. Here are some tips to help address the concerns of remote agents feeling isolated:

  • Regular Video Meetings: Schedule regular video meetings to facilitate face-to-face interactions, even in a virtual environment. Seeing each other’s expressions and body language can help team members feel more connected.
  • Virtual Coffee Breaks: Set up informal virtual coffee breaks or team-building sessions. Use this time for casual conversations and bonding, just like you would in the office.
  • Recognition and Appreciation: Acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of remote team members. Publicly recognize their achievements and contributions during team meetings or through virtual channels.
  • Encourage Open Communication: Create an open and inclusive communication culture. Encourage team members to share their ideas, concerns, and feedback openly.

As we look ahead to next week, our focus will shift to the benefits of making bold moves in the Top 10 Personality Traits of Exceptional Leads.

“79% of employees will quit due to a lack of appreciation.“

-ZIPPIZ Research
3 minute read, Self DISCovery, Share-A-Post

Unveiling the Top 10 Personality Traits of Exceptional Leaders

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“Exceptional leaders …work hard to develop their charisma, knowing that it is a powerful tool in building relationships and achieving success,” – Simon Sinek

A Comprehensive Guide to Leadership Success

Embarking on the path of greatness as a leader is no simple task. The journey demands a distinct blend of skills and personality traits that define exceptional leadership. While only a select few may possess innate leadership qualities from birth, the potential to cultivate and optimize these attributes resides within each of us.

Let’s take a deep dive into the essence of exceptional leadership and uncover the10 key personality traits that pave the way for true greatness. DISCcover how you, too, can harness and maximize your leadership potential, setting forth on a transformative quest to become an extraordinary leader.

There are many great books on leadership skills, but the effectiveness of skills is limited without the proper personality to execute those skills.

Develop these personality traits and become the leader within:

1. Boldness. Excelling as a remarkable leader demands courage and resilience. As you embrace this role, you willingly take the responsibility for both the triumphs and challenges that arise. You’ll get most of the credit when things go well, but you must be strong enough to take the impact of the negative attention for poor outcomes.
2. Assertiveness. You can’t be timid and be a great leader. You have to assertively share your ideas and opinions. You have to be able to tell people “no” and to give bad news. If you tend to be passive, your ability to lead is compromised.
3. Confidence. Confidence is intoxicating. People are willing to follow you if you’re confident. If you show that you don’t trust yourself or your decisions, they won’t trust you either. Being confident fosters confidence in others.Everyone is always watching you.
4. Emotional Stability. When you lead others, there are many ups and downs. You don’t have the luxury of feeling depressed, frustrated, or disgruntled. It’s your responsibility to keep your emotions under control and lead the way.
5. Tenacity. You can never give up. Persistence is one of the most important qualities a great leader can have. This trait goes along with emotional stability. Are you able to stick with your plan when things are going wrong? Do you double your efforts when faced with an obstacle, or does your will falter?
6. Inspirational. Leaders lead. If you can’t inspire others to follow you, intimidation is the only alternative. Learn how to inspire others to do their best and to demonstrate loyalty to you.
7. Humility. It can be challenging to be a confident leader and be humble at the same time. While arrogant people often rise to leadership positions, few of them thrive in those roles. Arrogance leads to poor decisions and causes your followers to both distrust and dislike you.
8. Dealing with complexity. When you’re leading a large group of people, things are complex. Every decision seems to affect everything else. Circumstances are constantly changing, and it’s challenging to deal with the complexity that arises.
9. Charisma. Charisma is a little hard to define, but everyone knows it when they see it. It’s form of charm that inspires others to like and follow you. The most charismatic people are confident, make others feel good about themselves, and are dominant in a subtle way. Charisma can take you far.
10. Integrity. Without integrity, no one will trust you. You can’t expect your followers to be honest with you if you don’t do the same for them. It’s about remaining true to your values regardless of the situation. Leaders that lack integrity don’t last long and often jump from one company to another.

How do your own personality traits stack up? What can you improve to become a more effective leader? Not everyone is born with natural leadership skills and attributes; instead. it is a skill that can be developed over time

For the next 10 weeks, we invite you to join us in exploring a series that delves into the essence of exceptional leadership. Each blog will be dedicated to unraveling one of the 10 key traits that pave the way to becoming the best leader you can be. From courage and resilience to vision and accountability, we’ll uncover the secrets that empower and uplift leaders like you. So, get ready for an inspiring journey ahead and follow this engaging series as we embark on a transformative journey together. Get ready to equip yourself with invaluable insights and practical wisdom that will shape you into an extraordinary leader. The countdown begins now!

3 minute read, Self DISCovery, Share-A-Post

Unleashing Your Online Networking Superpowers

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“Confidence comes with taking action!”

Embrace Confidence and Crush It!

Are you ready to conquer the virtual world and leave a lasting impression in the online networking realm? Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a career-driven professional, or simply a woman looking to expand her horizons, we’ve got your back. In this blog, we’ll show you how to unleash your inner superhero and feel comfortable in your own skin while networking online. So, put on your virtual cape, because it’s time to soar!

Dress to Empower: Who says you can’t slay the online networking game in your cozy pajamas? Well, maybe not the pajamas, but the point is to wear something that makes you feel confident and empowered. Whether it’s your favorite power blazer, a stylish top, or a statement accessory, choose an outfit that reflects your personality and makes you feel like the superhero you truly are. Remember, when you look good, you feel good!

Craft Your Online Presence: Your online presence is your digital calling card, so let’s make it shine! Start by curating a professional yet approachable social media profile. Highlight your achievements, passions, and interests to show your authentic self. Embrace your quirks and let your personality shine through. Remember, networking is all about connecting with people, so be yourself and let your uniqueness captivate others.

Supercharge Your Elevator Pitch: An elevator pitch is your superpower in the networking world. It’s a concise and compelling introduction that tells people who you are and what you do. But here’s the fun part: give it your personal touch! Inject humor, tell a relatable anecdote, or use your creative storytelling skills to make it memorable. Don’t be afraid to let your personality sparkle through your pitch. You’ll leave a lasting impression and make networking more engaging and enjoyable.

Find Your Online Tribe: In the vast realm of cyberspace, finding your online tribe is like discovering your own league of extraordinary superheroes. Seek out communities, groups, and forums that align with your interests and goals. Surrounding yourself with like-minded women will provide support, inspiration, and invaluable connections. Together, you’ll lift each other up and navigate the online networking world with ease.

Embrace the Power of Authenticity: Authenticity is your secret weapon when it comes to online networking. Embrace your true self, quirks and all! Share your passions, expertise, and experiences openly. Be genuine, engage in meaningful conversations, and listen actively. When you let your authentic self shine, you’ll attract connections who resonate with you on a deeper level. Remember, confidence comes from embracing who you are, so let your authenticity be your superpower.

Superhero Networking Tips and Tricks

Here are a few lightning-fast tips to boost your online networking game:

  • Perfect your digital etiquette: Be polite, responsive, and respectful in your interactions.
  • Engage in active listening: Show genuine interest in others and ask thoughtful questions.
  • Leverage the power of video calls: A smile and eye contact go a long way in building connections.
  • Be a networking hero: Share valuable resources, offer support, and champion others in their endeavors. “To add value to others, one must first value others,” -John Maxwell, Author of Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.
  • Celebrate your victories: Acknowledge and embrace your achievements along the way. You’re a networking superstar!

You are now ready to conquer the online networking universe! By embracing your authentic self, exuding confidence, and unleashing your unique superpowers, you’ll navigate the virtual world with style, grace, and a whole lot of fun. Remember, networking is about building meaningful connections and fostering relationships. So, get ready to soar in the digital realm and be the VERB you are meant to be!

Wishing you a wonderful day filled with joy, love, and laughter.

5 minute read, Self DISCovery, Share-A-Post

The Power of Self-Belief

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Tips & Strategies for Building Confidence

For some people, confidence can be a difficult thing to achieve. While some have an unshakable sense of self-belief, others struggle with low self-esteem.. 

Psychotherapist Amy Morin believes that the way we view ourselves is often a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If we believe that we are not valuable and destined to never achieve greatness, our actions and behaviors throughout our lives are likely to reflex the same.

However, if we believe in ourselves more, the way we live our life is more likely to lead us to happiness and success. Here are 5 Tips and strategies to follow for building confidence:

1) Acknowledge Your Negative Self-Image

When we are lacking in confidence it is often because we think we are weak, unintelligent, unattractive, or deficient in some other way. So, if we are seeking to improve our self-belief, we must first come face to face with our perceived shortcomings. Sit down and write out your strengths and weaknesses. Put these down on paper so you have a visual representation. It is important to search your soul and be as honest as you can.

If you are lacking in self belief there will likely be more weaknesses on your list than strengths. This does not mean you are weak, this is merely a representation of your feelings. Use this list to examine what you perceive as weaknesses. 

Are they actually important to your life and success? If they are, what can you do to improve on them or change your own view? You may find that you will be able to cross some of those weaknesses out or even make them into strengths.

2) Embrace Your Positives

Psychiatrist Neel Burton M.D. suggests that by embracing our positive qualities and achievements, we can shift our overall outlook in a more positive direction. It’s important to remember that we are all unique individuals and should not compare ourselves to others. Instead, we should focus on our own accomplishments and potential, and strive to achieve our goals through hard work and perseverance.

3) Work on Your Physical Health

When we don’t eat well and neglect exercise, it can be detrimental to our self-confidence as we feel unwell and weak. This not only leads to weight gain but also limits our belief in ourselves. However, if we make a conscious effort to improve our diet, exercise routine and get in shape, we can regain our self-confidence in no time. 

4) Set Yourself Goals

According to Psychology Today when people have goals to guide them, they are happier and more likely to achieve success. When we achieve goals, we get a feeling of having succeeded which actually boosts our mood and self-belief.

It is important to remember when it comes to goals that we must make them achievable. This is not to say we do not try something monumental but rather we should break that goal into smaller steps. A key to motivation is continued success so small goals toward an ultimate achievement will help grow your confidence.

5) Speak Well of Yourself

Who likes a bragger? Not many people really. They often see people who constantly speak well of themselves as arrogant and egotistical. It is different, however, if you talk positively about yourself to you. There is no shame in being proud of yourself. 

Say positive things to yourself, affirm how well you are progressing and where you can go from here. There’s no need to brag to others, the person whose opinion of you that matters most is yourself.

It’s important to remember that confidence and self-belief are not fixed traits and can be improved with effort and practice.

“To grow yourself, you must know yourself.” -John Maxwell

Live Your Authentic Self 🦋

3 minute read

How Are You Investing In You?

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“Ultimately, there’s one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself. Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself, and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet.” -Warren Buffet

New clothes, new shoes, new hairstyle, or even a new car may make you feel good, but if you are not investing in personal development, you may be limiting your true potential. Personal development affects your entire life, well beyond your superficial appearances. It’s amazing how many people do not invest in abiding self-improvement.

Investing in yourself should include purchasing self-improvement books, attending events or online training & workshops, and connecting with people who can help you succeed. 

Here are some actionable steps to get started:

Clarify And Image the Life You Want

Without a clarity, you won’t be able to determine what kind of life you want to live. You need to balance what kinds of changes you want professionally as well as personally. The two will ultimately overlap. If you imagine yourself being more helpful to others, this trait will become part of both. There may be certain aspects of your personal development that you believe are specific only to your personal life but may eventually carry over to your professional career. For example, you may have wanted to increase your skills as a community leader, this could easily be incorporated into professional leadership at your place of employment. The key is to clarify and imagine what this new leadership skill is going to look like.

Assess Your Current Situation

Before you make any changes in your life, determine where you stand with your life as it currently exists. Determine strengths and weaknesses to help you formulate a plan to make the necessary changes. This might be a good time to invest in the Maxwell DISC Personality Assessment to discover your strengths and ideal situation for success.

Set Realistic Goals

Once you know what your strengths and ideal situations, create some S.M.A.R.T. Goals to strive to complete. These should include high level goals as well as actionable steps. Most important, set milestones with firm completion dates.

Consider Alternatives

There can be valid reasons why certain actions or goals cannot be met. Instead of abandoning the entire personal development plan, come up with alternatives steps. Be careful not to simply fall back on these steps because they are easier than the main goals.

Evaluate How You Are Doing

When you reach a milestone, compare how you did against the plan of action. This is a crucial step. It’s important to be realistic and truthful. The best way to handle this is to have a mentor available to perform this for you. It may not be easy to hear, but the benefits of being critiqued will be well worth it.

Keep it Simple

If you overwhelm yourself with a bunch of unobtainable goals, you are likely setting yourself up for failure. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in an audacious action plan to push yourself. It’s just means be realistic about your time, money, and capabilities.

Live, Love & Prosper