Posts by bb4b_Pam

State’s ‘U Can B’ program expands through Cyber Charter School The “U Can B” program is available for the first time to middle and high school students statewide through a partnership with the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, according to a recent announcement from the school. The program puts middle and high school students in direct contact with Pittsburgh business, community and government leaders. It is operated by Building Bridges for Business, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that launched in 2010. “The ‘U Can B’ program was previously available to school districts in and around Pittsburgh, but this is the first time they’ve offered it through an online school and the first time for it to be available statewide,” Pennsylvania Cyber’s Gifted and Talented Program Director Mike Hissam said. The organization uses methods including one-on-one conversations with experts; its “Coffee With” film series on CBS/KDKA; in-person lectures and “Power Trip” meetings with visits to Google offices; the Energy Innovation Center; and trips to CBS/KDKA studios and Pittsburgh City Hall. Participating Pennsylvania Cyber students have been chosen to participate through the school’s regional offices, from the gifted-talented and related STAR programs, the DECA business club, the School of Engineering and the National Honor Society chapter. The “U Can B” program meets every Thursday from 3-4 p.m. over a 15-week period that began Jan. 15. Sessions also are streamed to Pennsylvania Cyber students participating at home. Hissam added that participation in the program will remain open through the semester to all Pennsylvania Cyber students in grades nine through 12 and to all seventh- and eighth-grade students taking high school...

5  Keys to Staying on Track for Success The road to success can be rocky, filled with bumps, potholes, and dead ends. Knowing yourself and the terrain will increase the chances of your achieving your goals. Let’s review 10 keys that will help you stay focused and on track for success. 1. Passion Having a passion for your work is the most important element in finding success. You have to love it and desire to cultivate it. 2. Confidence Your actions and the way you speak about yourself and your company is the greatest selling point to your target audience. 3. Self-Discipline Disciplining yourself will help you accomplish more than you ever dreamed, not to mention be the catalyst for great happiness in life. 4. Be Open to Failure You have to increase the chance of failure and vulnerability to criticism if you want to mature your business. 5. Persistence Never allow failure to dictate your next step in the journey toward success. Rather, seek out what you can learn from it and follow that direction thoughtfully....

If you haven’t already set your 2015 business goals, here is a quick check list for you. Here are the top 5 you should look at for immediate impact. 1. Set Your Business Goals Set your business goals for the next 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Be specific, and determine what you see as success. Measure results and track everything on a monthly or quarterly basis. 2. Revisit Your Business Plan If it has been a while since you examined your plan, now’s the time to get to it. There are many great free plan sources for online preparation. One to take a look at www.enloop.com to develop one online for free. 3. Consider Your Hiring Needs If your business is getting increasingly too busy for you to run with a small crew, start planning your hiring strategy for 2015. Consider interns, temps, freelancers, virtual assistants, and part-timers as alternatives to full-time employees if your budget is tight. 4. Invest in Technology Take a look at computer or software purchases. Determine a leader in your field and see what technical resources they are using. There are great programs out there. We even found one that uses AI to send emails and do all the follow-up to set appointments saving us tons of time. 5. Reassess Your Online Brand Take a look at online branding and marketing experts. Many offer low cost webinars that may be just the thing for an online re-boot. What worked for you in terms of marketing this year? This is a great time to adjust your online strategy so that you identify the tools that helped your business grow, and cut back on those that...

Once I start getting a #cashflow, how can I continue to grow? Once again, you need a plan. How can you reinvest that cash flow in the best way to get you to next level? It might be in hiring the right people. Every business needs great team to grow. What skills augment yours? Hire someone who brings added value to the biz so U can focus on what you do best. It’s what I call the mytop theory. Mytop stands for multiply yourself through other people. In addition to people need to invest in technology. Technology gives smallbiz a competitive advantage; and it levels the playing field. What are some ways I can get to know my customers better? Customer surveys are an excellent way to understand and connect to your customers to learn what they are thinking. There are survey resources online. Some free, but my favorite is MailChimp. Customer advisory councils also good way to learn what customers think & how you can enhance service even add new products. I think face-to-face contact is important. Lunch, coffee, Make it about building rapport not selling and build a bond. E-newsletters that are informative are a good way to keep connected and once again Social media keeps communication open. Don’t forget customer loyalty programs – reward customers for their...

Do you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? You don’t need to come from any particular socio-economic background, possess a particular set of experiences, or even have a formal education. What will actually make you successful is having the right combination of personality traits. There are many common characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. Some people are born with them, some people learn to grow them, and some people focus on the ones they excel at, while working with partners that have the traits they’re missing. However you do it, these are four of the most important traits you will need as an entrepreneur. 1) Drive: What makes you get out of bed in the morning? What makes you truly excited to face the day ahead? Entrepreneurs know how to tap into that deep-seated source of energy each and every day…especially on the days when they’d rather not. With no one else standing over you telling you what to do with your day, you have to be the one to keep yourself motivated to work those long, hard, business owner’s hours. 2) Perseverance: There’s no such thing as an overnight success. There’s just people you haven’t heard of before they became successful. If you look into any successful entrepreneur’s history, you’re going to find a lot of long hours, failed attempts, returns to the drawing board, and building blocks, all leading to the “overnight” success. Can you keep going no matter how tough it gets? 3) Flexibility: The road to entrepreneurial success is a long and convoluted one, and you’re not always going to get there in the way you planned to. Markets change, technology changes, customers change, employees change, and you need to change too. What earned you success five years ago, a year ago, or sometimes even yesterday, is not going to earn you success now. Failure is a constant companion on this journey, and you have to be prepared to learn from it, adapt, and bounce back quickly. You need to be flexible enough to manage all these changing conditions and continually supply your customers with something they’ve got to have. 4) Vision: Entrepreneurs are noted for their dedication to a personal vision that not only guides the creation of a product or service, but is so exciting and well-communicated that it inspires others to dedicate themselves to it too. Are you the kind of person who can find a vision like this, share it with others, and stay true to it, in the face of hard work and failed efforts? If so, you might not only have what it takes to keep your company on track, but to inspire your customers to take part in your story, and buy. These are just some of the key traits of successful entrepreneurs. Do you recognize them in yourself? Where can you strengthen them? Can you think of other traits entrepreneurs need? We’d love to hear your...