Category: Business

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11 Traits Of A Great Manager And Top Tips To Develop Them

There are good managers. And then, there are great ones. According to The Predictive Index, nearly 30% of employees believe their managers fail at team-building skills, and a portion of them suck at handling feedback, delegation, and time management. Managers who are successful in their respective fields leading large teams need to bounce between daily activities with various team members and then to the global responsibilities of the organization. Having consulted over 400 companies as a business advisor, I've worked with any combination of management and leadership teams - veteran and new ones, external and trained bottom up, brought in… Continue Reading
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20 Actionable Ways to Retain Top Talent

How do you retain top talent? Employee retention rates are going down for most companies around the globe, especially with COVID-19 negatively affecting the workforce and with remote work opportunities.  It has now become more challenging to retain top talent.  The Information Technology (IT) industry itself and the digital world is making it look more competitive because people can work remotely and take advantage of great compensation packages. Most great hires out there are already employed for an obvious reason. Now, companies are the ones chasing after top talent and the sooner you adapt to the new hiring paradigms, the… Continue Reading
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Ten Leadership Skills to Develop in 2024

The past few years been a great learning opportunity for us. The COVID-19 situation has changed a lot of our working habits and the entire concept of onsite work has transitioned to remote across most of the universe.  This has also led to more opportunities and new ways of living; however, it's not necessarily permanent either—meaning that people have bounced between back and forth, between lockdowns and going to work, between remote and onsite.  This has changed the perception and expectations in any form of long-term planning for the vast majority of people, especially those with kids, and having to… Continue Reading
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32 Techniques for Stress Management

Excessive levels of stress—and the inability to deal with it—have been leading to major personal and professional outbursts, impacting the global economy. Stress.org's research indicates that 77% of people experience physical signs due to stress.One in three individuals feels they live with intense stress, and 73% believe it impacts their mental health. Forbes Magazine reports that the U.S. incurs nearly $190 billion yearly in stress-related healthcare costs. 55% of Americans report feeling stressed daily, exceeding the global average of 35%. Let's dive together in this overview of stress management techniques suitable for busy professionals, students, and individuals in all walks… Continue Reading
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Will AI Kill IT/Marketing Jobs?

In recent times, the question of whether Artificial Intelligence will replace human jobs, particularly in Information Technology and Marketing, has been a hot topic of discussion. This discourse has been fueled by the advent of powerful AI models such as ChatGPT, which have stirred up a myriad of debates and concerns. While these concerns are understandable given the potential of AI, it is important to delve into the matter more deeply and objectively. Is this fear of job loss justified? Or is AI, despite its power and potential, still a long way from being the job-killing monster it's sometimes depicted… Continue Reading
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Leadership Development: How to Promote and Grow Your Management Team

According to several independent studies, 80% of leadership positions have no formal training at all. If you run a mid-sized business and promote your management team internally (as the majority of the organizations out there), you likely fall into the majority of the businesses that grow organically. Management, along with leadership, is often taught “on the job”—without an MBA degree or background in economics to help you move forward. Leadership team development can help people. Your staff will go through an established and proven process evaluating strengths and weaknesses in an objective and non-harmful manner. Communication skills—along with other critical… Continue Reading
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Acquiring Digital Properties: Why, What, and Where to Buy

Today, we are discussing how to acquire digital properties: WHY, WHAT, and WHERE to buy.  I have been buying digital real estate such as agency websites, SaaS platforms, e-commerce applications, content publishing websites over the past 11 years. Some sites are well-established and successful while others are starter apps I integrate into my portfolio or bundle into existing solutions. Buying digital properties has definitely been one of the endeavors that I have been enjoying quite a lot. My Experience Buying Digital Businesses Some of the acquisition deals have turned into great business opportunities or just tangible investments that have led… Continue Reading
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5 Powerful Sales Prospecting Strategies for SMEs

I remember landing my first consulting clients by sales prospecting through the following channels: Referral LinkedIn Cold outreach The first one came from a friend providing consulting in a different field. He did reach out to me and asked if I was interested - so that worked out pretty well (a warm reference plus a vetted client). #2 was through LinkedIn. I signed up in 2007, joined a few groups, added the folks in my circle. I met some local peers who were building a community of a sort - similar to what “LinkedIn Local” is nowadays. #3 was a… Continue Reading
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Social Power and Blogging

One of my Bulgarian friends just posted a presentation for her university students and friends here about blogging. One of her slides includes a powerful rephrasing of a famous quote that I love. Blogging and sharing your own thoughts and ideas via social media networks is a powerful way to build your network, reach out to people and aggregate the type of content that you need in a quick and efficient way, without having to browse thousands of sources. This communication method enhances your visibility and helps establish your expertise and authority in your field. Ultimately, leveraging these platforms for sharing and… Continue Reading
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Persistence Is The Way Forward

During WordCamp San Francisco a few years ago, I had the chance to do pair programming with Rodrigo Primo on #15459. He's an incredible and passionate WordPress developer, and he approached me before the Contributor Day to do some hacking on performance for hierarchical post types after I sent my patch with some ideas related to that change. The Unit Test Challenge When we reached the unit tests, none of us knew how to build that specific bit. The function was printing some code without returning an array of data to assert. And we couldn't find a Core example of unit tests doing that validation. I suggested… Continue Reading