For the past several years, we’ve all been subjected to the grim economic outlook that most media outlets are focused on. Even when a good report comes out, it’s often followed by more of the bad news thus neutralizing any positive effects. While it makes great news, it would be much better if instead of making it worse by constantly focusing on it, they instead reported on people who have learned to deal with it. Since they won’t do it, I guess we’ll just have to discuss how to stay focused on your goals while the rest of the world is screaming that the sky is falling.  Read more... (590 words, 19 images, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

Mashable, which is one of my favorite web sites, recently posted an article on the top 10 mobile apps for entrepreneurs. Surprisingly, I found their list to not be very helpful for two reasons. The first is that many were iPhone only, and I have an Android phone. But more importantly, I just saw their list of apps to have little value to me as an entrepreneur. The apps sounded cool, but few of them were what I would have considered a “must have” or even something that could benefit entrepreneurs in particular.  Read more... (853 words, 19 images, estimated 3:25 mins reading time)

If you ever want to kill your mood or quickly go into depression, then spend your life seeking approval from others. When you look to others for a way to feel good, you’ll find yourself doing things to impress them in the hopes that they’ll complement you. At the same time, you’re handing the power to control your feelings over to them and taking it away from yourself.

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You can learn a lot from a coach. And I’m not talking about life coaches or others that you pay to help you figure out what you really want in life, but the type that wear a whistle around their necks and make you push yourself to be the best athlete you can be. I recently listened to an old interview with legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, and was reminded of some of the things I learned as a student athlete.

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In my public speaking classes, one of the first things I teach is that you won’t improve your speaking skills unless you get up in front of an audience and speak. I was sharing this story recently at a networking event and a friend said to me “wait a second, don’t you sell CDs and books about speaking?” When I confirmed that I did, he asked then how do I expect anyone to buy them.

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What inspires you? Do you have a place that helps you think more clearly? Do you find a certain book, movie, song, video or sound clip helps you think more clearly? We all have our different sources for inspiration, but often we forget about them.

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Your email address is an extension of your business – especially if you are the business owner. This is why most companies have an email policy discouraging employees from using email for anything that’s not business related. They’re trying to avoid having their business linked to anything that might make them look bad.

It’s always a good idea to be careful about how you use your business email account and what gets associated with it.  Read more... (437 words, 19 images, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)