Fortunately, there are ways for you to make any crisis situation work to your advantage. You can also practice it to perfection. To get you started, here are some points to consider:

1. Take a pause and do nothing. Do not panic either. While it is noble to immediately act and rectify the problem, some womenpreneurs tend to be taken by their emotions in a roller coaster ride leading to horrendous results. So before you jump into the situation, try to take a step back, compose yourself, and see the problem from the outside looking in. This will help give you a better perspective and respond in a more effective and productive manner.

2. Consider consulting a reliable crisis management team for tough situations. This is even more so in situations that directly impact community or environmental standards. These firms know precisely what buttons to push and when to do it.

3. Confer with your own team particularly on internal issues or crisis situations involving product, service or brand. Do acknowledge that you cannot do everything in your lonesome. At this point, you will need everyone’s cooperation and ideas. As a rule of thumb, playing the blame-game will get your efforts nowhere. So, seek out your team’s help and find solutions instead of adding more to the problem.

4.  After weighing everything, it is time to pursue your planned course of action. Be proactive when managing a game-plan though. Always have contingencies in place. Make sure also to create identifiable measures to help monitor if the executed plan is effective or not.

5. Assess carefully the root cause of the problem, how it got blown out of proportion, and how it was being handled. Look at possible gaps in the measures being done. Through careful evaluation, you can prevent such crisis situation from recurring or device certain policies that could mitigate matters before they get worst.

6. Always maintain a positive mindset. Most womenpreneurs tend to consider a “worst case scenario” which is a good thing but not during a crisis situation. See mistakes and fiasco’s as avenues for improvement. Always believe that in every mistake lies the learning of how to do it right the next time around.

Indeed, there will always come a time for a crisis to crop up in a business. No matter how big or small, it is imperative to craft a robust crisis management system. In doing so, you can simply expect the unexpected and formulate solution to mitigate, if not eliminate, the issue at hand.

There are so many definitions about self-esteem. Sense of worth, confidence, and self-respect are just some of those listed in online dictionaries. It is basically that inner monologue telling you if you are good enough to achieve something or if you can actually do it. It is how one values himself. It is your own assessment on who you are and what you’re capable of. In most cases, however, your thoughts get askew with other people’s perception and treatment.

It is important to note that self-esteem runs parallel with talent or genius or expertise. You can be good in so many things but still have low regard for yourself. On the other spectrum, there are also people who, amid their lack of ability or talent, can project strong self-esteem. With this, it is logical to see that having low regards of oneself will impact directly one’s decision-making capabilities and behavior in general.

There are many ways to boost one’s dwindling self-esteem. But before that, it is essential to recognize some of its likely causes. Do you have issues with your talent and capacity? Have you encountered a life-changing failure or a series of poorly made decision that made you question your capabilities? Do you have acquired habits that continually erode your sense of self-respect? Are there people around you who made you feel inadequate?

Recognizing that you have a self-esteem problem and identifying some of its likely causes will make it easier for you to address them. While everybody is different, there are certain ground rules which anyone can apply:

But while self-help may be effective to others, developing a robust self-esteem can vary from situation to situation and from person to person. Some people can take themselves from a rut and improve their confidence level without seeking out outside help. Others, however, take refuge from the assistance of friends, colleagues, a mentor or a coach. Whichever way it maybe, it is imperative to address low self-esteem to prevent dilemmas from cropping up in business and in life in general.

How many women in business have continued working even while being wheeled into labor rooms? Or have jumped back right to answering business queries a few hours after delivery? While maternity leave may sound next-to-impossible to womenpreneurs, there are actually some options in place to ensure that you do not sacrifice health and well-being while keeping the business afloat. To give you an idea, here are some key points shared by womenpreneurs across industries on how they survived the ordeal of pre- and post- partum challenges while running a business.

Maternity leave to womenpreneurs is a challenging process. Even with all the help a new mom gets, she will always find a way to exercise her entrepreneurial rights. A business is her baby, after all. But every once in a while, it is highly recommended to rest and to think of nothing but your own self. This will not only keep your health in check, it will also help keep your sanity.

Leadership is all about dealing from one situation to another. While the idea is to lead people to get out of the abhorrent ordeal of monotony and mediocrity, it is important to point out certain lapses that tend to push back its effectiveness. When thinking of moving a business forward, it is high time to find certain outmoded or inflexible habits that tend to curtail creativity and productivity.

As a leader, there are certain instances when your own actions rob the very effectiveness you so long to achieve. So what are they and what to do about them?

Egotism. Being a business owner, a CEO, a manager or a team leader does not mean you are the only one with the capacity to lead. It is not necessarily a position but more of a sense of trust. It is your job to enable your workforce or your team to work to the best of their capabilities in the hope that they attain goals set. Make your leadership transferable and repeatable. At best, let it be mimicked by everyone in the company to help nurture a culture of accountability and reliability in the company. Leadership is not being the alpha or the head of the pack. It is not about you per se but rather on how you can mobilize everyone to become who you are or even more.

Change-phobic. Aversion or even reluctance to change is another habit that should hold no room in leadership. There are however, those who want to maintain the status quo, mediocrity’s idiot cousin. They hate to change or verge in another direction even if it means more sound results. It is important to note that dynamism requires constant change. Today’s businesses are caught up in a highly dynamic structure brought by technology and the Internet. Having an open mindset will allow one high degree of creativity and robustness to sustain a business in a frequently-shifting market.

Fixed Methodology. Though a widely practiced concept, best practices is a seemingly fixed methodology reminiscent of the above-mentioned phobia to change. The idea of sameness or uniformity is, indeed, effective as it upholds certain company standards and policies. However, it curtails innovation and flexibility. It allows no room for mistakes and often, put a lot of creative thinkers in a choke-hold. Innovation and creativity are the very essences of smart leadership. To be more effective, it is essential to always find ways to improve such practices. The more your practices evolve with the changing time usually convert into more productive results.

Risk Averse. Many leaders delve into cost-cutting and risk management leading to opportunities lost. Instead of concentrating on the “risks” and “costs”, it is more important to shift concentration on how much ROI will be enjoyed out of such opportunities. Running a business is all about risks and costs. Not that, this will give you an excuse to overspend or risk it all but rather to give more leeway to stretch your capabilities in the industry.

Timing is essential when it comes to posting content on social media. Add to that the type of platform being used, the target audience, type of content, and marketing goals in mind. But while there is no best time to post such contents, there are optimal times to post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, SnapChat, and so on. Here are the recent guidelines on social media posting time for US audiences:

Millions of people nationwide are perpetually logged in to Facebook on their mobile devices than their desktop PCs. Though mostly used for personal networking, Facebook has also started becoming a must-have for businesses. When it comes to posting quality content that earns more clicks and shares, the best time is slated on Wednesdays at 3 PM, 12 PM to 1 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, and between 1 PM to 4 PM on Thursdays and Fridays. These time slots tend to deliver the highest clickthrough rates and traffic spikes. Do remember that Friday posts must either be upbeat or funny to match audience’s mood.

Twitter is another platform embraced by millions. The best times to post, however, are during weekdays between 12 PM to 3 PM and then, at 5 PM. Businesses make good use of Twitter postings from Mondays to Fridays with special engagement on Wednesdays and the weekends. Other tweets coming at 2 AM to 3 AM, 6 AM to 7 AM, and 9 PM to 10 PM are deemed successful. Basically, this platform is as varied as it can get to learn to experiment.

Being a network frequented by professionals, it goes to follow that LinkedIn engagement is always at its peak during workdays and preferably just before and just after working hours. The most optimized posts garner the best clickthroughs during midweek at around 5 PM to 6 PM. Tuesday is the top day-of-the-week contender garnering the most clicks and shares at around 730AM to 830AM and on 10 AM to 11 AM. Other days also enjoy the same time slot with the addition of 12 PM on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Steer clear of Mondays as well as the middle of the night posting though.

A female-dominated social media platform, posting on Pinterest tend to be more active during night time at around 8 PM to 11 PM including Saturdays. Optimize your posts for the rest of the week between 2 AM to 4 AM and 2 PM to 4 PM. On Fridays, go light and bubbly by posting feel-good posts at around 3 PM.

These platforms are largely developed for mobile-savvy social media users, who tend to engage during off-work hours when the fun begins. A favorite among the millennial crowd, it is crucial to get that when building a post concept. The best times to post on these platforms is any time with the exclusion of 3 PM to 4 PM. Other businesses have also seen a huge success in posting during these times—2AM and 5 PM on any day of the week as well as at 7 PM on Wednesdays. Video and photo posts, however, get the most hits between 9 PM till 8 AM, any day.

To conclude, social media platforms are definitely here to stay. These platforms will remain in demand as more and more people become hooked to these communication avenues for information and knowledge. To successfully engage with your audience, proper timing, appropriate content, and consistency must go together to help deliver your message across.

When strengthening your business appeal, here are some noteworthy tips to remember:

1. Prepare the business “spirit of giving” all throughout the year. Yes! The most effective way of creating a culture of purposeful giving is done not just when the situation demands but each day of the year. Do not wait for the Christmas countdown or the beginning of the Yuletide season. Make it a habit to set the mood all the time to make your efforts constant and consistent.

2. Let your company vision include the sense of purposeful giving. Let it be part of your business advocacy to give back to your employees, to company stakeholders, and the community where your business is thriving. These efforts will lead to a mutually inclusive relationship leading to trust essential in building a sound reputation.

3. During the festivities, it is essential to not just focus on your business efforts in delivering a positive appeal for your business or brand. It is also essential to reflect such efforts in your company’s actions. So why not learn to export your Christmas gift-giving efforts to where it matters most—to the people serving round-the-clock. It may be doctors and nurses at a nearby hospital or senior caregiving facility, a subway toll-free collector who works even on Christmas Eve, or your own employees who had to be at the plant to meet store requirements on time.

4. When planning a Christmas lunch or dinner for the company, you may want to integrate your humanitarian efforts as well. Invite seniors from the home for the aged, the homeless, or orphaned children. Loneliness can be brutal to these people during what others call the “happiest time” of the year. Share the joy of your business to them even with a simple meal. This builds strong values for the business and for the people behind its success.

5. Give thanks to the people who have done service to the community all year round. Provide discounts to trash collectors, firemen, police, emergency servicemen, postal workers, and the like. If you are running a restaurant or café, consider offering free meals or free goodies.

6. Promote the essence of volunteerism in your company. Take time off to show care to the orphaned and the elderly by organizing a local visit, bringing fun and free meals with you. This will create a paradigm shift in your employees which will eventually raise a more aware and conscientious workforce.

7. Engage in a “Secret Santa” program. Survey families in need in the area and come up with the necessities, delivered to their doorstep without them knowing where these came from. Let employees do the deed to give them more hands-on experience and make them more aware on such endeavors.

Celebrate the season of giving with a pure vision in mind. Conscientious businesses do not just strengthen their business appeal with superficial action plans. Let it reverberate to your daily endeavors, to your employees psyche, and to the community’s awareness to make Christmas—and everyday of the year—worthwhile.

Millennials who want to break free from long-held obsolescence are encouraged to travel to find fresh, innovative ideas in doing business. It would be such a shame to explore in an encased glass when the whole world is beckoning them to partake, to take the plunge. To give you a clearer perspective, here are some of the reasons why today’s millennial populace should put traveling on top of their priorities list.

Millennials can capitalize on their youthful brazenness to conquer their fear of the unknown. Fear makes many promising entrepreneurs and professionals degenerate into oblivion. Allowing these young go-getters from going after what they want without getting scared of stumbling or failing, they can embrace any situation life will throw at them—and eventually find ways to overcome them. Business, career, and life in general are all about taking risks. Traveling to uncharted territories is already a risk in itself allowing millennials to gain courage in taking the plunge over and over again.

Soaring to New Heights

Many unexposed young people tend to settle in whatever is deemed available, easy or profitable even at the absence of originality, creativity or growth. To travel-savvy millennials, settling is a thing of the past. Their exposure to different lifestyles and cultures allow them to expand their views about themselves. Traveling allows them to build a sense of renewed confidence where the one-size-fits-all doctrine no longer held its charm. It carves a new path for them to unleash their prowess from within.

Many of those who do not commit to traveling are virtually leaving in a bubble. It is such a shame as there are so many opportunities that lay in wait for those willing to chase them. Millennials who commit to traveling are being prepared to perform (or outperform others) in the global market. It’s a riot out there and those who have immersed to such variations and differences have a clean grasp on the many avenues that lead to success. Travel around the world. Look for opportunities. Ask questions and learn from them. It is one thing to be competitive and completely another to do so globally.

Communication is an essential aspect of business and career. Travel-savvy millennials exposure to the melting pot of cultures, languages, and personalities allow them a broader view about various situations in life. This helps them easily adapt to varied situations and being able to survive even in the toughest of them. By exposing themselves to different personalities, this also improves their communication skills and narrative style with different audiences.

Yes, there is more to traveling than what meets most millennials eye. Like a learning laboratory, one has to explore the many avenues in life to fully comprehend their significance later on. Traveling is all about millennials immersing in activities that will enhance their growth and competitiveness mindset. It also gives them the courage to look at business or career in different lenses and find success no matter how hard the challenges.

Style Maven. Think Rachel Johnson with all that oomph and charm. Becoming a fashion consultant is one of the most thriving industries today. You can start out by linking your fashion consultancy firm to an established retail business. Widening your network among friends and work colleagues will also be of great help. Build your brand and reputation in the market to open a huge following from celebrities and big-wig names in the industry where being not in fashion is a crime.

Designer Shop. With all the tools online nowadays, enhancing your penchant for style and inventiveness can be done in more ways than one. Let your creative prowess take center-stage by setting up a designer shop. You can have a brick and mortar shop catering to local fashion enthusiasts yearning for a new taste of glam and charm. Extend it with an online shop that caters to those off your grid.

Fashion Blogging. For those who have just “retired” from mainstream fashion industry but still want to be active in the field, this thriving business is the one for you. Set up a fashion blogging platform then, connect with active friends in fashion and clothing. Be their mouthpiece in the online arena and simply charge for your services.

Fashion School. You may also go the extra mile and open your very own fashion school, virtual or otherwise. Facilitate training on costume and fashion designing, makeup techniques, Cosplay designs, seasonal fashion, and so on. Be reminded though that this is a highly competitive business and will require astounding brand management to build-up your reputation.

Costume Rental Center. Do you have a collection of glamorous outfits, special occasion dresses, accessories, and other fashion items? Make good use of these design pieces by renting them out. This business allows you the opportunity to earn money from things that you no longer use but offers great aesthetic help to others.

Fashion Accessories Shop. Starting a fashion accessories shop is another rewarding opportunity this 2017 for womenpreneurs. You can have both brick-and-mortar store and online shop to cater to varied clienteles.

Beauty Salons. Train in some of the country’s top beauty schools. Learn the magic in creating your own mark in the business of hairstyling, makeup, nail art, and if you may, tattoo art. This has always been a thriving business, one that has no reason or season for abating. Hire certified personnel in the area and market your brand online.

These womenpreneur-focused business ventures will be rocking the New Year. Welcome 2017 with a bang by planning out the details as early as now! Do take note that a business coach can come handy at this time when you want to do it right.

As important as the struggle of getting out the victim mentality, it is essential to first know what such mindset entails. A person who has a victim mentality is someone who puts blames on others for whatever failures or mistakes or errors in judgment that happened in his or her world. It also holds true to individuals who simply put too much confidence on sheer luck or that they are bound to fail due to being unlucky. Like a curse, it allows them to believe that things are beyond their own control. Some people called this the “Pontius Pilate” syndrome wherein to absolve oneself from sins, she must wash her hands off from the responsibilities that go with it.

Victim mentality, however, can be deeply ingrained on other people’s habits and way of life. When things take a downturn or when a business or career does not go as planned, they sometimes resign to the idea that it is their fate to be that way. They sadly become captive to their own limiting beliefs. Many of those who continually use the victim mentality card came from tumultuous childhood. They grow up surrounded by failure, abuse or being discouraged. This somehow leads them to lay blame on other people and the very circumstances they are in, leaving a way out for themselves.

Sadly, such mindset can lead to relationship problems, work issues, and recurring failure in business. The more a person gets too deep into this way of thinking, the more she will cement the thought of not being able to take control of her life. It allows her an easy way out hence, keeping her from living the truth or change her circumstances, and worst, continue living in such a destructive pattern which continually prevents her from reaching for the best opportunities and possibilities.

While it may be hard to correct victim mentality, many professional coaches do not undermine the capabilities of the brain and the heart to grow beyond what’s expected of them. No matter how ingrained into one’s habits, gaining confidence and taking control of your life can be done.

1. Commit to changing your mindset and to cooperate in every way possible to take control of your life. Write down situations and circumstances which you put blame on others. This is the most difficult to do as you will confront your own psyche but when done with great care, you can finally move a few steps further in discovering your true worth.

2. Acknowledge that these situations are done by or in part by you. Without a doubt, there are also enablers out there who will pester on your shortcomings. While pity and compassion are welcoming, they can also hinder your ability to take full responsibility of your actions. Recognize these circumstances. List them down.

3. Consider acknowledging past hurt that continue to weigh you down. The victim mentality sometimes emanates from abuse and accumulated emotional pains. Accept them as part of your past. Learn to forgive and break free from your self-imposed chains. A good coach will help you get through this. For instances of abuse, a therapist’s guidance will make a lot of difference.

4. Start on a clean slate and bask in the essence of gratitude. Rather than focusing on old stories and what you do not have, concentrate on hope that each day brings. Pause and learn to channel positive energy by assessing the positive outcomes of your past hurts. Focus on the positive. Focus on building your confidence.

Breaking into the victim mentality pattern can be a tough nut to break. Take small mincing steps in doing so. Build up your confidence level. Let it reshape your thoughts and actions. With persistence and patience, you can finally break free and enjoy astounding opportunities to your business, career or life in general.

Studies have revealed that recycling has proven time and again to be an excellent practice that needs to be embraced by small-scale enterprises. Apart from the cost saved from recycling, these efforts also help improve public image thereby, attracting a huge following from equally environmentally conscious consumers and advocates. Additionally, such efforts also help to boost employee morale creating a positive domino effect within and outside the organization.

1. Create a checklist to identify the recyclable materials in your office or store. All businesses, big or small, have an enormous basket for recyclable waste like paper, computer ink cartridges, electronics, packaging stuffs, plastic, Styrofoam materials, and many more. This checklist will be your guide in preparing appropriate collection units for storage prior to selling or delivering them to recycling plants.

2. Carefully craft an initial collection strategy. Here, you will need to set-up waste bins and storage in a manner that’s easy and convenient for employees to utilize. Depending on your organizational setup or size, areas of disposal must be carefully designated with waste bins or storage carefully labeled.

3. A disposal method must also be established. You can have it collected or picked by a waste management company or perhaps, sell them to a recycle plant. There are many ways of doing so however, costs must considered when choosing the right one for your own recycling initiatives. You may want to consult a local waste management service or get in touch with a nearby recycling plant, whichever case may apply for your business.

4. Consider collaborating with other local businesses in the area. Your bakery’s margarine or butter container can be another business’ storage solution. Those shredded paper materials can be made paper mache masks or building insulation. The list could go on. What could be your trash is some other business’ treasure.

5. To ensure sustainable success of your recycling initiative, it is also important to raise awareness and educate your employees. You cannot enjoy the fruits of your company’s recycling initiatives without the cooperation of everyone. Train them on the salient points of garbage disposal. Let them commit to the initiative.

Does your company have any unique recycling efforts you wish to share to the rest? Drop us a line HERE. It is high time to do our share in ensuring that environmentally conscious capitalism thrives.