Mar 27 2011 Own Your Greatness: Market What Makes You as an Individual Unique
by Lisa Cherney
To stand out in today's busy marketplace, you need to capitalize on what makes you as an individual unique. In other words, you don't need to focus on the product or service, but on YOU, the owner, the CEO, the practitioner.
1. Review the margins and bleeds, folds - One of the essential things to check, review or prepare for in newsletter printing are the margins, bleeds and folds of your draft. The alignments of these margins, the length of the bleeds and the preciseness of the folds will shape the overall look and accuracy of your of your custom newsletters. The best way to make sure everything is set properly is to download a newsletter template.
Many websites host newsletter templates for download with absolutely no cost. The best places would be printing companies that offer newsletter printing online. Just go to those websites and then download those templates.
See if your own documents comply with the alignments of the templates, or use the templates themselves to make your newsletters comply at the start to the standards of newsletter printing. Either way, as long as all the bleeds, margins and folds are indicated and set right, your draft should be well ready for newsletter printing.
2. Check dimensions - Next, you might want also to review the actual size of your color newsletters. The best size for a newsletter would be a tabloid size. Many newsletter printers already accept draft documents in the tabloid size easily. Usually, the tabloid size for newsletter printing is set at 11 by 17 inches, but smaller sizes have known to be used by others effectively. However, if it gets small below 8.5 by 11 inches, then it might not be a good newsletter draft anymore.
3. Scan all text for errors - of course, you should also always scan all the text in your newsletters for errors. Check for grammar, spelling, style and even formatting errors of the text. It is best to remove all bad types of text in this step to make sure that none of it gets mass produced one the printing process starts.
4. Check images for quality and appropriateness - It is also a must to check images for their quality and appropriateness. When newsletters are printed, sometimes those images may look too fuzzy due to the use of low resolution images. So try to check if those images are at least 300 dpi or higher in terms of resolution. Make sure that all your images are like this for newsletter printing, otherwise you'll probably need to replace those with better ones.
5. Save draft in the appropriate format - Finally, you should save your newsletter printing draft in the appropriate format. You should ask your newsletter printing company the most ideal format that they take for printing. It is best as well to use image (JPG or BMP) backups as well as zipped archives to have a backup of your designs. By doing this you can be sure that the document you send will turn out the way you want to in newsletter printing.
Now you know the proper way to prepare your newsletters drafts for printing. Just remember all the lessons above and you will have a good time in printing those newsletters.
No. of Times this article has been viewed : 3851. Check the background for the appropriate bleeds - The first thing that you should do to prep your rack card draft is to check the background. For the rack card printing to proceed properly, the draft background must have the appropriate bleeds so that any errors or inaccuracies in printing are compensated for. So the background should extend at least 1/8th of an inch beyond the main borders of the color rack cards. This should help minimize those bad type rack card prints that have backgrounds that are obviously cut badly.
2. Review, proofread and cut down rack card content - Once the background check is complete; you should also always consider prepping the text content of the rack card for rack card printing. You will want to review and proofread all the content, which includes the text and the images. Are they the most appropriate for your color rack cards? Are they big enough/small enough for your purposes? Are there no spelling errors, grammar errors and design errors? Make sure that everything is perfect, and do all the checks three times just to be sure.
3. Picture resolution checking - You might also want to take a closer look at those pictures and try to be sure that they are in high resolution. If you used images from the Internet for your rack card images, then definitely you will need to replace those. In printing higher resolution images are more appropriate as web images tend to get distorted or have bad pixels. So make sure that you are inserting high resolution images from digital scans, designs or photographs. They must be at 300 dpi or higher to work well.
4. Check margins and formatting - You should also see if the margins and the formatting of text are good for your rack cards. Sometimes, text and other content might actually have a little issue in misalignment that can make the color rack cards look a little awkward and amateurish. That is you should always review the printing margins and manage the text formatting of your rack card content.
5. Test printing - Finally, as a last preparation step, you should test your rack card draft by printing out a sample on your own. By doing some test printings, you can see how large your color rack cards will be and of course, you should be able to spot any more errors that people might have missed looking at the screen. Use this as an opportunity to clean out any remaining errors in your color rack card designs.
Great! After all those steps, your custom rack cards should already be prepared for full scale rack card printing. Remember to try to do all the steps detailed above to make sure that nothing gets missed in your design and printing options. Good luck with your new color rack cards.
No. of Times this article has been viewed : 4131. What are the different kinds of labels I can use for business? - The basic color labels that you can use for business are promotional or advertising labels, product labels, as well as those basic name labels used for cataloging and naming. There are minute variations of color labels along those uses, but those are the main ones. Almost all professional businesses use a combination of those three main types, and you should consider it for your own business or projects as well.
2. Who prints color labels? - Almost everyone needing to add an indicator to something can of course print custom color labels. Most of the big businesses in the retail industry, and many more types of companies that need to keep track of a lot of items do print their own custom labels for great effect. So if you have anything that really needs some naming, organizing or branding, then you probably will want to do your own label printing.
3. Where can I print my custom labels? - You can easily print color labels via a color printer and some label or sticker paper. However, if you want your color labels to be professionally printed, then it is best to hire a professional online label printing company. You can find one easily by using a search engine and of course searching for “label printing company”. Just make sure that you choose wisely from the hundreds of results that you no doubt will get.
4. How can I design a good color label? - A good color label can be done, even by amateurs if it has a good foundation. That good foundation can typically spring for the use of the proper label template. Most label printing companies can offer you the use of a label template for free so that you have most of the important design structures and guidelines to help you develop a decent and effective color label. From there, all you need is your own innate creativity and determination.
5. Is label printing going to cost me a lot? - Label printing won't become expensive if you just know the right choices in the process. Typically you can easily afford printing color labels if you choose label printers that are closer to home and of course if you use the most basic materials for those labels. Do not get hyped up with those fancy materials and inks. Just use the standard high quality coated label paper, along with the typical four color inks. This should give you a standard and affordable price for your color labels, even if you do not use those fancy options
6. Is printing labels worth it? - Definitely, printing labels is worth it for any business or project. They have plenty of functionality which makes them pretty useful for most people. From organization, layouts to direct sales, those labels can be a part of the whole process. That is why it is well worth it to invest in label printing.
Now you know the important updated information about label printing. Hopefully, you can use this knowledge effectively to help your color labels.
No. of Times this article has been viewed : 333Ron Ashkenas uses his blog on HBR.org to state the case for taking risks in tough times.
He observes that the first instinct in times of stress and confusion is to stop taking risks and revert to the safest possible behaviour.
He explains: "I was reminded of this dynamic recently when I interviewed managers and key contributors in a hi-tech firm to find out what it would take to accelerate growth. I discovered that while executives genuinely wanted innovation, they simultaneously wanted to control costs and report consistent earnings.
"So while a few people had been recognised and rewarded for innovation, many others had been laid off. As a result, the strongest and most consistent message from the interviewees was that people in the company, at all levels, were risk-averse."
However, this kind of behaviour, explains the author, creates a "self-defeating pattern". If a company doesn't create an environment where people can take risks and fail, it runs the risk of stifling innovation, resulting in lack of growth and cost-cutting.
"Such an environment will create more anxiety and trigger a continuation of the cycle," explains Ashkenas, adding that "eventually, the firm will shrink itself out of existence".
The author suggests three steps that managers can take to "break the vicious cycle" and help companies grow rapidly while allowing their employees to feel comfortable about taking risks:
First, evaluate. Ashkenas says: "Take an honest look at your own company or business unit and assess the extent to which people are avoiding risks... and get it out in the open."
Second, facilitate safe idea-sharing. Establish a "safe space" forum where managers and employees can share their concerns, feedback, and ideas without fear of retribution.
Finally, experiment. Ashkenas explains: "If you have specific areas of the business that you want to grow or improve, ask a team to conduct rapid-cycle 100-day experiments to test new ways of working. Most important, make it explicit that failure is acceptable as long as something is learned."
Source
Taking Risks in Tough Times
Ron Ashkenas
HBR.org
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On HBR.org's 'Best Practices' blog, Amy Gallo looks at ways of making sure your employees succeed in achieving their goals.
The author observes: "It's common knowledge that helping employees set and reach goals is a critical part of every manager's job. Employees want to see how their work contributes to larger corporate objectives, and setting the right targets makes this connection explicit for them, and for you, as their manager."
She adds: "Goal-setting is particularly important as a mechanism for providing ongoing and year-end feedback. By establishing and monitoring targets, you can give your employees real-time input on their performance while motivating them to achieve more."
Because there are serious consequences for all parties if the employee fails to meet their goals, you need to be sufficiently involved to provide support while allowing individuals room to succeed on their own.
Gallo provides some principles to follow as you balance your hands-on role:
• Connect employee goals to larger company goals. Employees are more likely to become disengaged if they are not aware of the role they are playing in the success of the company. They should understand how their efforts contribute to the broader corporate strategy.
• Make sure goals are attainable but challenging. You could destroy morale if goals are too challenging to be accomplished, but aiming too low will create missed opportunities and mediocrity.
• Create a plan for success. Gallo says: "Once a goal is set, ask your employee to explain how he plans to meet it. Have him break goals down into tasks and set interim objectives, especially if it's a large or long- term project."
• Monitor progress. Don't wait until deadlines to review accomplishments. Offer regular feedback and coaching and encourage communication.
• When things go wrong. Your employees should feel comfortable in approaching you if problems arise. Ask them to find a potential solution and then offer guidance and advice.
• What about personal goals? "Some managers neglect to think about what an employee is personally trying to accomplish in the context of work," says Gallo.
She adds: "For example, if your employee has expressed an interest in teaching but that is not part of his job responsibilities, you may be able to find ways to sculpt his job to include opportunities to train peers or less experienced colleagues."
• When goals aren't met. When employees fail to meet their targets, hold them to account and discuss what happened. Offer your opinion of what went wrong and listen to theirs. Consider how you might have contributed to the failure and also discuss that openly.
Source
Making Sure Your Employees Succeed
Amy Gallo
Best Practice, HBR.org
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Business management has always been considered a ‘hard’ discipline. The higher a manager rises, the greater his (or her) powers of command and the larger the number of people who jump to obey the orders. Hard actions, moreover, are required of the hard managers. They have the authority and the duty to discipline their subordinates, close redundant activities, dispose of whole businesses, move people from job to job, and soon. And the existence and exercise of all this authority can easily create an aura of fear and trembling.
But the true hardness, that of the unquestioned army-style commander, began to soften some time ago, and the change in management styles is accelerating. It’s quickened to the point where the Harvard Business Review, in one of its On Point collections, can declare that ‘It’s Hard Being Soft’. Rubbing in the point, the first article describes ‘the hard work of being a soft manager, and the second asks roundly, ‘Why should anyone be led by you?’
MAJOR SHIFT
Plainly a major shift in attitudes is taking place, and not just in the HBR editorial offices. How far have you succumbed to the soft infection? Do you agree or disagree with these propositions?
• 'Soft' leadership is more effective than armour-plated command-and-controlling
• The qualities needed to be a strong leader are led by
(a) sensitivity
(b) vulnerability
(c) honesty about your weaknesses
• People start wanting to work with you when you stop pretending to be perfect
• Employees will eventually respect and support you when you reveal that you’re flesh and blood
• When you’ve established empathy, you can give people what they need in order to excel - which may not be what they want
• You encourage others to share responsibility by relinquishing the idea that the fate of the firm rests entirely on you
If you do agree with all or any of these notions or nostrums, then you face a hard question: are you putting this preaching into practice? If not, the reason is probably very simple. You are unlikely to work for an organisation which lives by such ideas. The above propositions are a Feelgood Formula, enshrining the familiar belief that the better you treat people, the better they will work. The good means automatically justify and accomplish the ends.
The difficulty for most organisations is that the ends outrank the means. I was once called in, at desperately short notice, to rescue a floundering but vital project. I accepted the possibly poisoned chalice on one condition. My word had to be law. There was no time for argument. I found this brief spell of dictatorship distasteful, but it worked: the hard regime won the hard results on which we all depended. In the end, managers - like all workers - are paid for the hard outcomes that they deliver; and their jobs are lost when the delivery falls short.
The soft ways of the Feelgood Formula are just good behaviour: you manage in human and humane ways because that’s the right way to treat your people. The fact that it’s also more effective is a bonus, maybe a highly valuable one. But effectiveness results, not from the degree of loving-kindness brought to bear, but on the competitive quality of the decisions taken, the processes installed, the methods applied, the technologies developed -and so on.
THE HARDEST AREAS
These are the ‘hardest’ areas of business management - in both senses of the word. Take a false step in any of these matters today, and it may take years rather than months to recover. Recently even Intel, the microprocessor champion, has been leapfrogged technologically by the far smaller Advanced Micro Devices, and is now running behind in the highly sensitive market for top-end chips in PCs and servers.
Too many such missteps, and even giants can get humbled, even humiliated. That possibility is built into today’s topsy-turvy world, whose markets are fragmenting on top of seismic changes in trends. Geopolitical and economic relationships are being turned upside down.
Did you know, for example, that ‘the global economy couldn’t function’ without Taiwan (to quote Business Week), because that island has taken over from Silicon Valley in key electronic sectors, one after another?
The Taiwanese lead the world in eight out of 12 markets highlighted by BW - that’s from chip foundry services (with 70%) and notebook PCs (72%) to LCDs (68%) and PDAs (79%).
The manufacture is mostly in mainland China and the label may well bear a Western, mostly US name. But once tiny Taiwanese firms have become global masters by deploying frankly superior skills of the intellect.
The traditional R and D department was detached from the mainstream business, a ‘soft’ area separated from the hard men who made the money. Today’s scientists and engineers form the core of the business, which springs and grows from innovation. Do you want to generate the exact measurements of a clothing customer without their having to undress? Or watch your favourite sports team anywhere in the world on a portable? Or power a portable music player from a single integrated chip? Or use a pack for pills that reminds you electronically when to take them?
All these and 21 other wonders come from what BW calls ‘cool’ companies. They are among those setting the pace. And among those bringing up the rear are some gigantic conglomerates which, not so long ago, were the overlords of the world economy. These Goliaths have one thing in common with the scandalous fallen companies like Enron and WorldCom. The latter had top managements which distorted their reported results for one simple reason: the true results were terrible.
The underlying disease of underperformance has persisted - and spread. Consider the case of General Motors which, according to the front cover of BW, has a corporate plan that won’t work and an ‘ugly road lying ahead’ – so ugly that a smaller company would have been bought and cut up long ago. In an age of accelerating change, those who rely on even the greatest past strengths risk creating ineluctable present weaknesses and insoluble future crises.
Yet GM, more than any other company, once epitomized the triumph of the professionally managed corporation. Is it now the epitome of the stranded corporate whale?
PROACTIVE WINNERS
The future is already being won by proactive companies, which can include giants; their failure is not ordained. Merely compare GM’s losses with Toyota’s profits, which exceed those of all its global auto rivals put together. The challenges are certainly great, but so are the prizes. The pressures are so powerful that the experts polled in the latest survey under-taken by the Global Future Forum envisage some radical changes in management philosophy - and these tend towards a ‘soft-hard’ future.
Many larger companies will become networks of outsourced resources, partnerships, alliances and contractors in order to become (soft) more responsive to market demands. Understanding the customer (soft) and superior retailing skills will prevail over (hard) straight manufacturing capabilities as the main drivers of success. And organisational adaptability and flexibility (soft) are becoming more important to success than operational performance and other traditional (hard) metrics.
Note that these are not blue-sky forecasts. The respondents are telling it like it is. As with all good futurology, sound projections can only spring from a clear understanding of actual events in the real world. All the same, the corporate pacemakers are certainly not in the majority. If giants like GM are stumbling, worse must be happening to great numbers of the lesser companies whose managements often hesitate before desired, desirable but problematical change.
The new supremacy of the customer, for example, is easy to talk about, but desperately hard to build into the business model. To put it mildly, call centres established in Bangladesh are not a customer strategy for the new age. They are a valuable, relatively simple adjunct to the complex tasks of creating and delivering customer expectations on a global scale with enhanced speed all round, increased efficiency, higher quality and superior specifications.
Companies like Dell are establishing new and very hard paradigms. A fascinating passage by author Thomas Friedman (who calls himself a ‘presentist’, nota futurist) followed his new laptop from placing the order to receiving the machine, tailored to his personal specifications, 13 days later. Each major component, it turned out, was made by a different supplier located in a different country (but none in the US). The physical supply and assembly of Dell’s components are held together in the iron grip of some highly sophisticated worldwide logistics which operate to meet complex requirements with automatic infallibility.
PERFORMANCE GAP
The performance gap between Dell and its competitors looms as large as that between Toyota and its also-rans –and is just as threatening. The sale of IBM’s PC business to China is clear evidence of the inexorable pressure that the genuine 21st Century company is exerting on formerly dominant laggards. True, the pressures could lessen if flexible networked companies become the norm, as forecast. This will surely have major impact, but the here and now is where some key battles are already being won and lost.
The struggle for supremacy certainly embraces the impact of products that are both highly personalised and dynamically priced. Throw in the role of customer service as a key differentiator with great impact, and you can see that the ambitiously athletic management will have to raise its game simply to stay in the competition. Yet the traditional corporate structure is designed for stability rather than adventure – and there’s the real rub.
Will boards of directors be looking at the wrong things? At stability rather than agility? To judge by the GFF survey, this is a backward world whose organisations, according to 77% of the highly informed sample, will be unable to effectively manage and deploy new technology ‘due to rapid change and constant innovation’. That inability is really soft - soft in the head.
The impact of this current and future management incapability is indeed certain to be great. The new ‘hard soft’ technology of management is the decisive factor in mastering change and innovation.
The key battleground is the intellect. Companies depend more than ever before on the mental powers of their people, especially the innovators. These brains need the greatest possible space to deploy and share their thinking. Here soft management holds the reins. You want freedom of thought to flourish. You need self-managed bands of brothers and sisters who set their own targets. Your model is the university, not the military camp. But in this soft habitat, paradoxically, you require a focus of the hardest military intensity.
GE is celebrated for its hard bottom-line focus: Jack Welch used to insist on his people cutting costs and raising revenues simultaneously, a double whammy which works mathematical magic. No doubt this wisdom was imparted at GE’s celebrated business school at Crotonville. GE stands out among global leaders, in fact, for its emphasis on human resources management (soft) as a prime means of manufacturing the high-class leaders that GE requires for its own (very hard) purposes.
GREAT HR PEOPLE
Welch talked to Fortune magazine about his former business’s ‘absolute belief that great people build great companies’ and his insistence on ‘getting great human resources people and making them part of the game’: an approach obviously analogous to the treatment of Rand D people recommended earlier by Thinking Managers. As also stressed, the new soft technology of management, which centres round that of people, holds the key to the effective, brilliant exploitation of all the other hard technologies on which the future depends.
In some cases, this exploitation will require intellectual activity at the highest level. In many cases, however, winning brains do no more than recognise the obvious and act on that recognition. For example, Fortune says that ‘if Welch had one key device, it was giving GE a simple roadmap and repeating it incessantly’. Can you, like one ex-GE CEO, place the company’s goals on a single sheet of people, distribute that message all over the outfit, and ram it home at every opportunity? Try it - for that is the kind of soft approach that creates the hard mastery of the GEs, Toyotas and Dells, both in the winning present and the golden future.
