Regardless of what you have in mind, it is known fact that your life’s strongest pursuit is that of the realization of your dreams. Your focus is to ensure that you land that dream job or get a promotion, or be successful with your startup business, or simply have a happy family, raise equally successful kids, or be a model citizen in the community. Each one of you is beholden to such challenges. The part when you start to work on the achievement of such goals, however, must start somewhere.

While motivation, personal goals and success are directly correlated, it is imperative to draw out your personal goals before everything. These goals will become your focus to motivate yourself to succeed. Setting personal goals is like turning on a car’s ignition. Motivation, on the other hand, is your way of driving continually and to go through every bump and puddle to ultimately arrive at success, your destination. By correlating these three aspects, you can guarantee facing life’s many challenges without flinching or backtracking.

Personal goals can come in many forms.  It could be academic, career, monetary, physical, creative, or ethical. These goals collectively point to your own domestic goals or how you wish to live life in the future. These personal goals come with two important perspectives—motivation and continuing direction.

To be useful however, experts suggested making your goal-setting SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timed. You need to know exactly what you want to be able to find ways to achieve them. To make sure that you can assess your progress, you need to set certain metrics. Of course, it must be realistic, relevant, and attainable—and to be more effective, a timeline must be set for the achievement of such goals.

But just because you create SMART goals then, that should be enough is a totally erroneous mindset. The world is also moving as you trudge in the realization of those goals. With this, you need to assess and re-assess your personal goals every step of the way. You need to check if such goals are still relevant or if you are still on the right track. In some cases, what you felt was of utmost importance before could no longer be as relevant due to sudden shifts in your life, job or business. If there is a need to rehash, improve or completely change them, then do so.

Goals must be solid enough to be able to move you, stimulate you to carry on, excite you. When these three concepts – goals, motivation and success—are properly aligned, you are definitely on the way for greatness.

In all these, it is important to note that keeping your employees well and healthy guarantees more productive results. Employees who are well-protected often deliver more benefits to the company. So whether you offer a group coverage or push for personal healthcare plans with add-on compensation, knowing that your wards are covered definitely means good business.

Customers make the world of business go round. If you are an entrepreneur, much of your focus usually points to that of keeping them happy, contented, and loyal to your products, services, or brand. If they need the moon, you will very much pick it from the sky and deliver it to their doorsteps. Truly, your customers’ happiness and satisfaction come first and foremost.

Today, however, it is wise to accept the truth that customer loyalty is a highly volatile aspect of business. Markets, with the aid of technological and Internet advancements, have become so customer-centric leading to business to be always on their toes to prevent using costly means to keep them satisfied. Be reminded that loyal customers are automatically considered brand advocates. Their “word of mouth” recommendations are often, preferred due to high trust ratings noting the fact that their feedback emanate from actual experience.

This is why many companies, big or small, engage in market research. Such efforts help to point specifically where target markets thrive. Studies are also being done internally via social media interaction to put your own selves in their shoes, that is, to look at your products or services via the customers’ lens. After all, customer behavior is best understood from within.

While market research may seem the best approach, it still has holes that need to be looked at—closely. You need to be in the very position that will help convert customers to make purchase decision and be able to share such decision to others. This is why the need to understand customer behavior at a much closer vantage point helps to strengthen your clout on the future of your product, service, brand or company as a whole.

1. Observe carefully customers behavior on your own website. People rely mostly on the Internet to search for products or services and often, they leave traces behind like where they usually go, the amount of time they usually allot for such, and the keywords and phrases they often use to search for you. Some website analytics also offer insights on how well your website perform in terms of traffic and conversion, and other factors which you may deem pivotal to the purchasing power of your customers. All these will help point strengths of the business and the weaknesses for you to immediately patch up.

2. Social media is another important route to gather salient points on customer behavior. Crowdsourcing, for instance, is some form of behavioral targeting that allows businesses to take a closer glimpse to what the customer deep down wants. Some agencies and consultancy firm also make use of social media to gather behavioral data.

3. Carefully identify customer types and pursue each of them accordingly. This is going to be tedious but, when done appropriately, can mean the world to your business. Focusing your efforts on customer types that appeal more to the business will help point you to the right direction.

4. Make good use of the “mystery shopper” approach. Be a customer yourself and see for yourself how your business truly deals customers on the level. This helps to gain complete knowledge on how the purchasing and feedback process run.

5. You may also try to get into the recordings of customer care and assistance to verify if policies are followed. Sometimes, the problem is not in your product or service offerings but in your customer support.

Customer behavior is everything to a business. No matter how good a product, service or brand, if your efforts are not aligned with that of your customers, everything is for nothing. With these pointers, you can finally analyze customer behavior and craft ways to satisfy their needs.

When going on a job interview, it is important to make employers judge you accurately. You would also want them to lean on your best side. Start on the right foot and ensure that it lasts long before the interview is over with these pointers:

1. Signify your objectives and set your goal clearly. Before going to an interview, it is imperative that you know precisely what you want. This will help ready your system to whatever will be thrown your way. Knowing that you want to be hired will maintain your focus to getting the job leading you to channel all the positive energy within.

2. Consider your overall visual impact. Yes, people rely mostly on their sense of sight for that nanosecond of judgment. Dress appropriately for the occasion. Make-up and hairdo must not be too stiff and not too all-over-the-place. So are your choices of jewelry. Be reminded also that wearing a watch is a must. It gives the impression of being prompt and “dedicated”. Some people seek out the help of a fashion coach in this regard.

3. Your nonverbal cues will take some 40 percent of the overall first impression. The way you carry yourself in a conversation, your mannerisms, hand gestures when you talk, the way you smile or laugh—these are all taken into account. Practice in front of a mirror. Shoot a practice interview with a friend or partner and review the video footage. Or you may also seek out the help of coach to hone your communication skills both verbal and body language.

4. Practice the essence of positivity. Days can easily turn from bad to worst. At some point, you may feel bad mood, anxiety or fear creeping under your clammy skin as you prepare for an interview. Find a corner and do a short meditative technique. It is called optimism. When your mind is free from all the burden of negativity, it will shine brightly into your eyes, your smile and words.

5. Be sincere. No matter how you feign interest or make yourself interesting, if the virtue of sincerity is not there, you are wasting your time. Make your approach genuine. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Clarify points not clear to you. An interviewer or employer always appreciates conversations built upon mutual curiosity.

Building lasting impression during job-seeking can be quite challenging. You need to be at the best of your game. So, try to assess yourself, draw out your strength, and turn your weakness as an advantage. Remember, you only get that one shot—make sure to make it count.

This only means that your online presence speaks volume about your brand. Your website to your social media profiles, status messages, tweets, pictures, articles, and other stuffs posted online is a reflection of what your business represents, and its culture. While the Internet revolutionizes various aspects of business, this makes branding management even more challenging and arduous in this day and age. To give you competitive advantage, here are some ways to manage your brand without fail:

1. Begin brand-building with your profile in mind. Make your company profile—from account name to photo to cover image—deliver the very imagery that represents who you are, what you stand for, and what you wish to achieve. Be straight to the point in the “About” section. Let your brand ambassadors like employees handling customer service or admin of the page mirror the values of your brand.

2. Steer clear of controversial brand ambassadors. Yes, in this day and age when information overload is notoriously easy, the use of questionable entities will cause more harm than good to your business image. Whether employees or endorsers, it is important to ensure that impression given out must be always on the positive.

3. Policies must be in place particularly in the use of apps. This is to protect private and sensitive information of the business. Part of the policy must be proper venue of the download, data protection, and so on. If you may, consider blocking of free apps to prevent leakage of critical information.

4. Gear your digital team against online trolling. Cyber-bullying is also notorious online striking both individual and business pages. One wrong tweet, like political or sensational topic, can easily blow out of proportion leading to heavy trolling or posting of offensive comments. Do make sure appropriate action plan is in place to handle such situations.

5. Set clear social media guidelines for your team. This will help give your employees or brand ambassadors a clear mandate on what photos, posts, links, and messages to post. It will also help create standard form of replying to comments or reacting to negative comments. Make sure to discuss each item at length with your team to prevent double standards.

6. Be relevant and effective. Share content which are not only significant to your brand but also those that are timely. Keep social media profiles up-to-date and in-sync, too.

7. In everything else, be consistent. In the world of brand building and management, consistency is still the key to gaining the respect of online audience. It also helps to draw in more followers when you give up to date information, organize contests, give freebies, beta testers, and so on.

With the rate this whole Internet and tech-gadget dependency is going, your online reputation definitely precedes the overall aspects of your business. Keep your audience enthralled. Poke on their excitement and curiosity. By keeping them engaged, you may also turn them into your own set of brand ambassadors, like reliable word-of-mouth campaigners on the digital level.

What are these habits? What needs to be done? Here are some of the common ones you kept alive without even thinking of their negative implications.

Over-attachment to Gadgets. Oh, with such strong Wi-Fi connection or all the fun on social media, the idea of bringing laptops, smartphones or tablets on their beds or when lounging somewhere to relax is creeping into everyone’s system. But do you know that this harms both productivity and sleep? Tech gadgets emit light that imitates the sun’s rays thereby, confusing your body’s circadian rhythm or body clock. Precisely the reason why bringing your phone to bed will not make you sleepy. Be reminded that lack of sleep will easily curve your creativity level leading to disastrous effects.

Online Hostage. Majority of the nation is guilty of this. The lure of social media, streaming videos of news, movies, and television shows easily robs anyone from their focus on tasks at hand. Be reminded that focus is crucial to ensure a topnotch finish on whatever tasks you are handling. When you kept checking your Facebook private messenger or Twitter or an online news portal, such focus will be derailed leaving you unproductive.

Still on Gadgets. Checking on a phone or laptop while taking with someone is not just counterproductive, it is downright rude. The same goes to multi-tasking on meetings and talks. Imagine yourself presenting a report on company initiatives only to be disturbed by someone who’s clicking on his smartphone or typing something on her laptop. Put yourself in the speaker’s shoes, what will you feel? When you commit to a meeting, a conversation or even with small talks, put all your energy into it.

Notification Horror. Many people think that by using notifications, they can take better control of their productivity. Wrong! Do not be lured by the pings and bells. Instead, choose to create a priorities schedule to handle emails, voicemails, queries, complaints, requests, and other concerns. This will help rein in the impulses and deliver more productive results.

Saying Yes (even when the right thing is to say NO!). Affirming something even when inappropriate is one of the most stressful things to do. This will not only lead to burnout, it also erodes self-control. Emotionally intelligent people know precisely when to say Yes and when to roar “no”. Learn your limits and, in doing so, you can have better grasp of how the future unfolds.

Toxic Love. Many love to think and gossip about toxic people. Some also thrive in talking about other’s misfortunes and mistakes. Do you know that in doing so, you are also coloring your world with negativity that it warps the mind? Bring on the ray of positivity and let go of toxicity. Think of people who matters and who can mentor you to reach greater heights. The idea is to always look forward.

Procrastinating. Perfection is often, the lousiest excuse to procrastination. People tend to dilly-dally because of the thought that they’re not good enough, their ideas are not perfect, or that it is not the perfect time. For argument’s sake, timing indeed can matter to certain endeavors but when you kept waiting and waiting without doing something while doing so, such erodes self-control leading to eventual failure. So, act while you can when you can. The idea is to try and if you fail, at the very least, you learn.

Stereotyping. There is nothing good to come out when you keep comparing your own reflection to that of others or when you put so much hope and satisfaction through labels set forth by others. When something feel good or happy, don’t let anyone rub you off that sensation. Their opinion is no better than your own. Do not let them drag you into their own opinionated ground. You will ultimately lose your self-worth the moment you let them.

Stopping bad habits will not only help develop good ones but will also create a lasting impact on one’s sense of productivity and work ethics. So, flex those self-control muscles and start the ball rolling now. It will take time and painstaking efforts. But with success on the line, all these will definitely be worth the effort.

Millennials are the ultimate go-getters. When they put their head unto something, they will pursue it to the best of their abilities. Which is remarkable but only when you are not within their path. As a business owner, you may find it increasingly difficult to keep this talented lot around. Studies have often indicated that millennials are always on a job-hopping spree in their mindset of progressive growth.

So how does one rein millennials and inspire them to be part of the company growth? How will you immerse them into the business culture you take years to build?

The answer could very well be on how you motivate your own workforce. Virtually all employees, young or old alike, want a sense of accomplishment in what they do. No matter how fantastic or mundane, millennials want to be praised for their efforts. This means positive feedback is one of the driving forces keeping employees happy and motivated—and satisfied to stay.

While focusing on your employees’ strength and giving praise to fully motivate them, the task of delivering such is not a walk in the park. Millennials are not stupid to see pretensions and false praises. These individuals are not as naïve as you think. Amid their inexperience or lack thereof, they look at the world on a different lens. However, there are certain ways to ensure that your positive feedback be heeded.

Of course, as much as sincere praises will keep your millennial workforce happy and satisfied, it is also essential to point out outright irregularities and negativities. Recurring mistakes and blind spots, for instance, must be called out. Not necessarily to disappoint but more on giving them a chance to improve. When you criticize, do it constructively to ensure growth. In all things else, be kind. Often, people stay because they feel cherished and nurtured.

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.

Are you preparing a corporate event? Do you have an employee retreat program lined up before the year ends? Is a banquet being prepared to celebrate a milestone or to simply motivate those who have delivered to the progress of the company? Having a keynote speaker is essential to events as they can cohesively deliver the very concept you wish to impart to an audience in an objective perspective. When chosen correctly, this speaker will even create a paradigm shift essential in driving a more enhanced view of business success.

Keynote speakers are the ones who draw a crowd to an event. They normally give attendance a boost. But beyond that, these gifted individuals can raise awareness to a higher level. Most importantly, they ensure a home run on the message’s overall point. With these in mind, how do you actually choose a speaker?

1. Identify the objective of the event. There are many types of keynote speakers out there and often, each delivers focus on certain aspects. Sales conferences, for instance, require motivational ones while tech conferences rely on expertise. The key is to define clearly the objective of the event and from there, create a shortlisted name of keynote speakers who have adhered to the said purpose.

2. Consider brainstorming with a core team. Getting them involved will help open a lot of avenues to ideas and names in the business. This also helps to clarify the perceived results of the said event. Do a survey, if you may, when an event is centered on your workforce. This is quite important when you want to impart something of astounding relevance to your employees.

3. Invest on a multi-faceted speaking engagement rather than a single event. People easily forget those one-time events. Try crafting a series of speaking commitments. This does not only deliver consistent and lasting impact, it also allows you to slice major themes into specific subtopics for a much better understanding. Do remember to take your company’s resources and needs when choosing what will work best for your mission.

4. Scrutinize the shortlisted keynote speakers. Popularity is not always the best option. These speakers often deliver so-so speaking engagements due to their hectic schedule. Sometimes, they too do not easily conform or align to your own company’s particular needs. Go for someone versatile and with a clear grasp of your intentions. Make sure though that such speaker can communicate effectively with an audience such as yours.

5. Keynote speakers do not come cheap. Do make sure what you are getting and when you negotiate, make sure it’s worth it. Simply write down a proposal of your requirements, send it to your shortlisted speakers then, meet-up to discuss the points in detail. Feel free also to ask connections on speaker fees and rates. Bring such data with you when you negotiate.

6. Don’t just sit there and wait for a miracle to happen. Promote! Unless the event is compulsory for all employees to attend, you need to engage them to participate. Even free events require promotions. You would not want to have the best speaker to be talking to an empty auditorium. To create the impact you want, you need attendees.

7. Make good use of audience feedback. This will gauge the effect of the speaking event as well as the effectiveness of the keynote speaker. If satisfaction is high and the point of the speaking engagement had been reached then, by all means, do it again.

Choosing the right keynote speaker means a great deal to any company-sponsored event. Learn to identify your purpose and objectives as well as your budget resources to support such. Be flexible and creative. Best of all, find one who is aligned with your company’s objectives and willing to go the extra mile to deliver the message across.

In everything else, be sincere and consistent. The moment you sit on an applicant’s chair, the headhunter already has a clear grasp on everything about you. Show a positive attitude. Be cheerful without being too annoying. Be earnest and courteous but make sure to show them your worth.