Although entrepreneurial success is occasionally a result of luck, most would agree that it is achieved through a combination of sound business sense, planning, and spirit. An excellent example of the seamless execution of these elements of entrepreneurial success is PMA member Maia Haag of I See Me! in Wayzata, Minnesota. Here are some highlights of my recent interview with her.
Q: My Very Own Name is certainly an innovative book. What was your inspiration?
A: I was looking for a product with which to start my own business. I wanted something in print because my husband has a graphic design firm and printer contacts. I kept thinking about notecards, but nothing seemed unique. Then I received a personalized children's book as a gift for my son, and the light bulb went off. I loved the book because it was about him, but the illustrations weren't very well done and the story line wasn't very interesting. I thought I could write a book that was more educational, with higher quality illustrations. I was on maternity leave at the time. Each day, as I walked my son in the stroller, I thought of ideas for the book. Each evening, I'd share the ideas with my husband, and this one clicked.
Q: Many books published over the years have used the child's name in one way or the other. What did you do to make sure yours would stand out?
A: I thought of the concept before I had looked at all the personalized books on the market, which was probably a blessing because it allowed me to think more out of the box. Then I ordered every personalized book I could find to confirm that there wasn't another book like mine. I researched the industry as I started writing the business plan.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What is your b...
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...o reach upscale grandparents), and it was dismal. I have become very reluctant to pay for any advertising that has upfront fees without any sales guarantee.
Q: What's next for you and your company?
A: I'm working on another book now. This is the most fun part for me. I'm also working on translating My Very Own Name into Spanish. I have several product spinoff ideas as well, but I have to be patient so that the business doesn't become over-extended financially. I plan on running this business for years to come, so I have to remind myself to take things one step at a time.
Past PMA President and publishing consultant Bob Erdmann is a veteran of more than 40 years in book publishing. He created PMA's Trade Distribution Program, which has generated more than $15 million in sales for PMA members' books, and has guided many independent publishers toward successes.
Interviews can be conducted in several different ways. There are positive and negative things an interviewer can do during the interview verbally, as well as non-verbally. In the video “An Overview of Investigative Interviewing” an older lady is interviewed as a victim, pertaining to a crime where she was thrown to the ground and robbed of her purse. This paper will reflect on the verbal and non-verbal usage the interviewer used, the specific interview technique style used, and an evaluation based on the seven steps he took during the interview process.
Ricardo Mendez is a business owner/manager of Family Care Specialist, a health care clinic. Although he only has only been with Family Care Specialist for seven years, he has held a managerial role for approximately thirty years. He operates five clinics across the Rio Grande Valley and roughly 40 employees report to him.
Polycom was founded in December of 1990 and went public in 1996. Its global workforce is comprised of approximately 3200 employees. Revenues for 2010 were posted at $1.2 billion. Polycom prides itself in being
How well a business manages its assets and resources predicates its overall success. Companies that spend financial resources foolishly are apt to find themselves in bankruptcy. Companies that work capital equipment resources beyond the machine’s capabilities or for other than intended purposes are apt to experience downtime and/or lose the equipment to failure. The same premise holds true for a company’s human assets. However, unlike other company assets, which depreciate over time, human assets appreciate over time when managed properly. The article, Importance of Human Resource Investment for Organizations and Economy: A critical Analysis, explains the importance of managing human assets as follows:
I chose to interview Regina Geis, who holds the administrative role as acting supervisor for the County Mental Health adult day program, which provides services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Ms. Geis has held this position for 15 months. This is her first managerial position within a human service agency. Her style of management has changed over this short period of time. She feels that she is now more direct with her direction with staff. She stated, “Maybe now I come across as a little bit cold. But I have learned that I now have to use the least amount of words to get my point across.”
For this assignment, I decided to speak with Connie Chung, my guidance counselor from high school. Today, she continues to work at West Orange High School, providing academic support to select teenagers of the student body. Mrs. Chung received her BA in psychology from Rutgers University and then got her Masters in social work from the University of Maryland. Initially, Ms. Chung was interested in becoming a psychologist but realized that she liked working with kids and ultimately decided to change carer paths in college.
The employment interview has been the key element used for determining a candidates’ worthiness in filling an open position. Organizations rely on employment interviews as a way to predict the future job performance and work-related personality traits of interviewees. Over the years validity of the employment interview has been under scrutiny, so it is no wonder that is has been the topic of many research papers. The definition of the employment interview is “a personally interactive process of one or more people asking questions orally to another person and evaluating the answers for the purpose of determining the qualifications of that person in order to make employment decisions” (Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson, and Campion 2013, p. 243).
To inspire and influence others, a leader must possess many skills and abilities. As motivational speaker Peter Northouse, states, “a leader should be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant” (Northouse, 2013) Moving an entire group of individuals toward a singular goal is a considerable undertaking. Without effective communication skills and a clear vision of what needs to be accomplished, one will feel like they are trying to herd cats rather than leading.
Interviews are very popular among most individuals especially researchers and scholars as they attempt to obtain information and data from an interviewee. However, there are many factors that influence the interview and which determines its success or failure. Often, the interviewer takes charge of the situation, and they have the sole responsibility of asking the questions while the interviewee provides an explanation or an answer to the question asked. As a result, an interview can be defined as a consultation or a discussion in person through which information and data are exchanged regarding a particular phenomenon event with the intention of establishing the interviewee’s position. It is easy to tell the mood and success of the interview
My interview actually went really well. I do like some things that I did for this interview but I also dislike some of the things I did and there are many changes I wish I had done now that the actual interview is now over. I found myself critiquing myself while listening to the recording and transcribing what I said. Overall, yes, I did get the main ideas of her opinions but I didn’t ask very good questions and I also made a couple rookie mistakes when doing this interview. I did the reading before the interview, and I read the interview material once more after the interview and I found myself not doing some of the things that the reading said to do.
It seemed like a normal day when I entered Mrs. A’s AP Language and Composition class, but little did I know that she was going to assign a very important project that was going to take forever. I took my seat and wrote down what was on the board. Then I sat patiently and waited for Mrs. A to come explain what we were doing today. When the tardy bell rang, Mrs. A glided into the room and gave us all a stack of papers. She then proceeded to discuss our upcoming assignment, a memoir. As she explained the very important assignment, I wondered whom I would write about. No one really came to mind to write about and I thought for sure I would never be able to get this thing done on time. I finally decided that I would write in on my mother, Kari Jenson. I knew I would probably put the project off until the very end and do it the weekend before even though it would get on my mom’s nerves. Putting work off was just how I did everything, it worked for me. When I arrived home from school that day, I told mom about the project. I told her I would most likely write it about her and she was overjoyed.
Some people accredit their success to fate, while others accredit it to their own achievements. I personally believe, good happens to people who work persistently for what they hunger. Being a successful entrepreneur is about sacrifice and hard-work. I assume I hold the qualities of a hard-worker. Scoring a twelve for action orientated was a shock. I find myself to be amply action orientated. I know whatever I require done, will not be completed unless I do it. I demand action in everyday challenges I am faced with. One structural characteristic of being an entrepreneur is being action-oriented. Willingness to utilize action and persistence are common traits of entrepreneurs.
The success of a business is greatly dependent on its entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who takes the financial risk of starting and managing a new business venture. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, one must be ready to take a risk and invest one’s own savings into a business. The job requires that the individual be ambitious and committed to working hard in order to achieve the set targets. A successful entrepreneur is able to multi-task and communicates effectively with people, possessing leadership qualities such as confidence and motivation. The individual must play the role of constant motivator and inspire employees to improve their work performance, whilst ensuring a comfortable environment for the employees to work in. According to Schumpeter (1982), an entrepreneur is more of a ‘heroic’ than an ‘economic’ figure; his motivation should not solely be monetary, rather stemming more from inspiration and ambition.
Majalah Niaga(2013); Super Entrepreneur Tip: Do not Ever Stop Trying- edition 26; available from [magazine] pp 30-32. Retrieved on 7 March 2014
It was just an ordinary day. The sun had just set and we were all sitting around the table eating dinner. My mother and father always asked us about our future and what we were hoping to accomplish. My brother and sister always explained how they wanted to go into the air force and be doctor. Of course I would just sit there and think about how I didn’t know what I wanted to be. But this particular night I had an idea of what I wanted to do! So before my mom and dad could get out of their mouth the question, I said “I know what I want to be!”. They all stared and asked what that might be and I replied, “A famous artist!” I said, “I want my paintings and sketchings to be shown worldwide!”. They told me that, that was all good and well but that there was a lot of steps to achieve this goal and that it wasn’t very realistic. But what they didn’t know was that very line pushed me to prove them wrong.