Five Brand-Building Secrets...
 you can apply to your business        

“You can’t overstate the value of self-confidence and image.” “A big part of success is being able to trumpet your skills unabashedly.” It takes being outrageous to get noticed, be outrageous, but honestly so.  False humility doesn’t cut it.

You need help from whom you can turn for advice; you simply won’t get anywhere if you insist on going it alone. One sign of mature businesspeople is that they know what they’re good at and what they’re not so good at; they then find other people to fill in the weak spots. They tend to forget that the world can, and does, go on without them.

Granted, you may not be a household name, but as a business owner, you have an entire community—all your employees—that look up to you.  It’s entirely your choice whether they worship you or treat you with resentment. Empower them to do the jobs they’re best at.  Guide people.  Don’t dictate or instruct.  The reward of having them be totally dedicated to you and the company is so precious that it cannot be valued.

Accomplish goals in stages.

Your employees want to do their best for you, but it’s frustrating and counterproductive for you to tell them you need ‘more’ results, ‘better’ numbers.  Give them something concrete to shoot for.  Chances are they’ll exceed your goals.

 “If you want to succeed in business, you have to be true to yourself, not compromise your values—and leave the rest alone.”

Too often we see dollar signs and fear that if we stick to our guns about what we really want, we’ll lose everything.  But if you know what we want and refuse to do what you don’t want, people will respect you for it.  You may lose a deal or two, but ultimately your business will be the better for it.

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

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought"
         - Basho

"Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing, that we see too late the one that is opening"
 - Alexander Graham Bell

"Eighty percent of 'Success' is showing up"
- Woody Allen

"The only truly happy people are children and the creative minority"
- Jean Caldwell

"The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, and passion"
- Nadia Boulanger