Galleria Marketing, Inc.

9 Qualities That Will Rock Your Career

2011-02-14T10:11:00.002-06:00

Success in life is always relative. Some people are happy with small achievements while there are others who won't be satisfied until mountains are moved.

Regardless of our ambitions, our career spans through a series of jobs and experiences that truly polish our personality and will. While we all have defining moments that will determine our core beliefs around hard work, persistence, determination, etc., these are all simply components of a greater foundation that defines 'you'. A rocking rise through corporate ranks involves a radical understanding and possible change in your attitude and behaviors.

There are millions of brilliant people who pursue aggressive career paths and have their sights set on great achievement. While their ability is nothing short of genius, many lack the soft skills that could put them over the top. These are the traits, qualities and understandings are what make good people great. Practical and time tested, mastering and practicing the following qualities will make if difficult for success to elude you.

1) Out of box thinking
All it requires is thinking of problems through a different set of eyes, or different dimension. Remember the best ideas come from people who are hands-on with their work. When everyone thinks and recommends a lackluster way, lackluster results will follow. Change your surroundings, change your views, change your thought process and come up with a killer idea!

2) Taking Ownership
When no one is willing to own it, be the first to grab the opportunity. Be the person that jumps in and takes on a new project (just don't over-commit). An ability to own and work towards success is a skill which gives long lasting returns.

3) Eagerness to Learn
Always remain eager to learn; you never know what knowledge or capability will push you up in your career. Remember, you need an open mindset and positive attitude to approach work. If you are constantly learning, it will be tough to be or appear to be interested in mediocrity.

4) An Eye for Detail
If you are hands on with your work there is no reason why you won’t know the intricacies involved. Therefore, have the confidence needed to make difficult choices. When you master something and know the minute details, your logic and ideas will be highly regarded. While people love to argue, they get easily impressed by intelligent reasoning too.

5) Willingness to Help
Much of life is give and take. Work is no exception. If you are the person that is constantly stepping out of your comfort zone in order to help others, people (most) will return the favor when you ask. That's the key though, you have to be willing to help someone and not too proud to ask them for help when you need it.

6) Networking
Your network should never be restricted to people in your domain but it should span other departments too. Again, break away from comfort and get engaged with someone from a different department. When you sell yourself in the market, you need people who can vouch for you and the broader the network, the better.

7) Solution seeking mindset
People love to mention and talk about problems. However, when you ask for their solutions to those problems, they aren't willing to go on record with sweeping changes. The majority of employees lack an attitude to solve issues and love to keep them burning for long time, almost to encourage sympathy. It is these times that a positive mindset can send the right vibes across and can really give you a lot of attention. Don't avoid complainers, listen to them just long enough to hear the problem, then try to come up with a solution.

8) Humility
Arrogance has its own advantages but it never attracts more people than the magic done by humility. When you know your work and are humble about it than there is no reason that you would not get the desired appreciation.

9) Being Practical
Human beings are emotional and many fall for popular decisions. A practical decision made at right time with right attitude has the ability to shower you with long lasting fame. Remember, the people who are at the top are nothing but practical.

It is a jungle out there where you not only need to survive but flourish too. Develop the killer attitude for success and no one would ever dare to stop you.

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Be A Part Of Something Bigger Than Yourself - A Thought From Tasha

2011-02-02T18:57:00.010-06:00

Here recently I find myself sitting in my spare time, thinking of how I can make a difference or impact someone else's life. With all the natural disasters that have occurred the past two years and with the economic devastation in the US, I realized that there are a lot of people that are in such need and less fortunate than I am. I am not sure how many of you can relate, but so many times I find myself feeling really sorry for myself and wishing that I had more... whenever really if I stop and look at my life, it's not so bad. So I don't have my dream car or own my home, but I do have a career that I love, work with people that I love, and I have a God that never forsakes me.

In 2010, I really tried to be as selfless and giving as our heavenly father commands. I gave to the homeless, I tithed 10%, I helped buy Christmas gifts and groceries for two families, and my boss and I organized a volunteer division in our company - we volunteered a combined 42 hours of service at The Children's Museum of Houston. Whenever I evaluate all these things, I see the beauty in helping others and it has truly driven me to want to help more. Seeing smiles on children's faces, hearing a homeless person humbly tell you "Thank You", and knowing that my tithes help fund missionary trips truly warms my heart. But I feel that I could do more, that I could inspire others to give, to see the beauty in helping those that are truly in disadvantageous positions in life and need to see hope and love through the body of Christ.

I was told about this organization called the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). I had never heard of the UNHCR so I went to the great google and researched it.... I was so excited about what I found! This organization is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. What a great mission! I was curious how much of a forgotten or known organization the UNHCR is since I had never heard of them or their mission.

The UNHCR is one of many great organizations out there so I encourage and challenge each one of you to evaluate your life and be selfless, practice humility, and find out ways to become involved and commit to being a part of something bigger than yourself in 2011.

-A thought from Tasha

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5 Vital Signs of a Top Sales Company Leader

2011-01-31T10:59:00.012-06:00

A top sales company leader never relies on any asset more than himself to re-command the game at half time. Of course you don’t want to lose that guy that you poured your energy into during training season, but you know that you can replace him if and when you need to. People quit, technology breaks and deals go bad. No matter what challenges your team faced in 2010 (or even in the first week of 2011), you can make 2011 your team’s best year yet.

Your company will be an extension of your personality and discipline. If you are champion-minded, you preserve and enhance your own best asset: you.

Now it's almost a full business week into 2011. Check your vital signs. A champion leader is healthy and growing in these 5 vital areas. You should have tangible, written (yes, WRITTEN) goals in each of these areas.

1. Leadership & Growing Your Business
We cannot separate quality from quantity. Take stock of both.
To enhance the quality of your leadership, attend webinars or conferences. Read leadership books. Follow leadership blogs. Aside from all the sales training you get and give, seek out a business mentor if you dont already have one and commit to mentoring at least one up and coming business superstar in your company. Both mentors and mentees can also point out things in your interactions and leadership style that you can improve on. And when it comes to corporate leadership, especially in sales, improvement is the name of the game.

Set quantitative company growth goals. Something we say around the office over here is “numbers, baby, numbers.” Sure, remarkable leadership is vital to a thriving company, but the proof will be on the scoreboard. In what ways have you projected growth for your company or your team? Identify the bottom rung and top possibilities you can reach this year and set specific numbers that you can be held accountable for. Personal sales numbers? Hire a certain number of people for your company? Help coach a certain number of people to hit higher sales numbers or get promoted? Expand your company? Be specific, use timelines and revise quarterly.

2. Finances (AKA Discipline)
Personal finance gest its own category because it reflects our capacity for discipline and the way we set our priorities. You can tell a lot about a person by what they spend their money on and how they spend it. A recent study by Harris interactive found that 57% of households do not have a budget, which would explain why almost ⅔ of Americans have less than one month’s savings saved for emergencies. This reflects a haphazard attitude towards life in general. Think about what happens when you don’t make it a priority to set priorities.

Solution? Set a budget. Keep it.

Set a goal for how much you will commit to investing into savings this year. I’m less concerned about how much and what account (whether it’s 10% of your paycheck immediately locked into your savings every month or $25,000 into a money market account... you can find entire resources dedicated to the best way to invest your savings). The right numbers for you and your lifestyle are entirely up to you and you can revise as needed. The important thing here is your discipline- you make a commitment to order your priorities. Then you keep that commitment, every single month.

3. Physical. Read: your health (...and longevity)
Resolutions like “I’m going to get it shape” make me laugh. It sounds pretty flimsy to me. Your physical (health!) goals should be very personal and specific; and you should set them in each of the following categories:
a. Adequate sleep
b. Fitness (cardio AND strength-training)
c. Nutrition (including drinking enough water)
d. Self-renewal (learning or getting better at a sport, remembering your vitamins, remembering your pysicals, etc)...

How do you make these specific to you? Pick something attainable and meaningful that you know will enhance your health and therefore ability to prosper at work. Here are some examples: One guy I know is in incredible shape and has a goal to trim another 0.5% body fat and maintain it throughout the year. That’s specific. A girl at our company is a total type A and stays up til 3am working all the time. She’s going to learn how to set personal boundaries and reign in the quantity and quality of her sleep. By mid-February, she plans to be sleeping an average of 7 hours a night. A lofty goal- but specific- and reachable with commitment. What are you tangible goals to enhance your health this year?

4. Relationships & Social-Emotional Maintenance
I can’t even count how many successful CEOs have told me that their top priority is their family. Successful people are successful because they know how to set and keep priorities to maintain the important parts of their lives. It’s easy to get lost in the intensity of our work and neglect important relationships in our lives. There’s a deadline to get our data report in at the end of the day but there’s no deadline to pick up the phone and tell your mom you love her.

I’m sure I don’t need to talk about why it’s so important to maintain social-emotional balance and quality relationships with friends and family... so we’ll briefly cover the how. Evaluate who and what is important to you. Then set a deadline for yourself if you need to, with specific goals and stick to them. Some long-distance but important friendships may require a quarterly email update and check-in while other relationships (like your wife) need a goal that you aim for every day. I call my grandpa once a week; he’s kind of old school so I don’t tell him that I only make time to call him because I schedule it in my blackberry and force myself to do it! But that’s how I operate. And at the end of the day, my grandpa and I have continuing times to connect and we both have enrichment from each other in our lives that will carry on long past this Friday’s sales goal.

5. Spiritual & Character Development
These goals will obviously be largely personal as well but the bottom line is this: private victories always precede public victories. If you want to become and stay a champion in business, you must keep your inner world balanced, and in order.

A commitment to renewing yourself through spiritual and character development will keep you centered and grounded against the daily challenges that come along with a high-intensity industry like ours and the roller coaster of this economy. Some people find this balance through their community or religion. Some people find this in music, nature or literature like biographies of inspiring people. Without some type of reflection built into your life, when the sh*@ hits the fan, you WILL struggle.

So let’s reign it in: Did you lose your own attitude at any time in 2010? Did parts of your company crater? I’m sure you, like all of us, have had your share of frustrations and goals you didn’t hit. So now it’s midweek, the first week of 2011 and it’s a good time to take stock of where you’re at. No matter what challenges you’ve faced last year or even in the last two days, you can make 2011 your team’s best year yet.

***
2010 was the year of the “stealth bankruptcy.” Many people were shocked at the top 20 big name companies, like Blockbuster and Hummer, that finally collapsed. And a lot of job industries are still shrinking. How does this translate to us as leaders in the sales industry? Well, the good news is that we are actually growing. But we need to take ownership of our teams to accelerate them towards our goals in the uncertain economic shifts going on.-Michael Hertz: Chief Knowledge Officer and Head Coach

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What can each of us learn from the Jets’ victory yesterday?

2011-01-25T16:18:00.001-06:00

What can each of us learn from the Jets’ victory yesterday?
If you had a bad month or year, you could turn it around the next month or year. You need belief, passion, intensity, preparation and hard work. You need a mentality that you will do whatever it takes to win and you need to communicate this to your team. You need them to feed off you so that they believe.

The Jets lost to the patriots 45-3, just one month ago. Yet, yesterday, they beat the patriots 28-14. An incredible turnaround. Both teams had the same players, coaches and plays. Nothing changed except the Jets’ mentality, passion, intensity, preparation and hard work.

What can we learn from this? Just because we have struggled at something that we want to achieve, we still have the ability to succeed. We just have to change our mentality. If you are not getting the results you want, what do you have to change?

Gary Polson
Chief Executive Officer, Cydcor

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Top Ten Reasons Why Ants Are Better Goal Setters Than You

2011-01-24T10:54:00.007-06:00

You’re about to learn why ants have a philosophy that makes them unstoppable!

1. Ants follow proven instruction. When scout ants find food, they spray a pheromone and hightail it back to the nest. The pheromone makes a trail that leads back to the food. Worker Ants at the nest don’t argue that there’s a better way back to the food, they just follow the trail.

A human, though, will see a proven path to success and try to change it. They’ll think they see shortcuts and take those instead of the proven path.

I read a report recently the success rate with franchises was higher if the owner didn’t have a high IQ. Why? Because the franchisees who were smart usually veer off the proven path. They change the working formula and in doing so mess up their own success.

If you watch a scout ant, once he finds food he runs back to the nest, sometimes he gets excited and zigzags a little, he might even make a circle. When the other ants follow the trail do they say “hey we’re going in a circle? Let’s take this shortcut?” No! They follow the proven path back to the food. The result? Everyone gets the food.

2. Ants are determined. If you tell an ant there is food over a hill but there are 5 trees down blocking the path, does the ant think twice? No, an ant will climb a house 1000 times its size if it has to make its journey.

This makes a guy feel bad for putting down a research manual because it has too many pages doesn’t it? Just think of the number of people who quit because the path is “too difficult," too hard to follow. I face that a lot with the people I mentor on computer networking.

“Brad, that book is 1800 pages long, you mean I have to know all of that?” They ask.

What would an ant say? Would an ant ever say, “You know, now that you mention it, you’re right. I never thought about it that way. It is too hard. We might as well put that big book away and work at McDonalds.”

3. Ants see defeat as only temporary. Every fall, as most southern dwellers do, I go to battle with ants coming into our house from the cold. And although I love ant attitude, Kim’s arch enemy is the ant. So I must exterminate. We have a service that sprays; I also throw out ant stop powder and use borax bait to kill off the colony.

After a week or two they are all gone. They have been defeated. But not so fast! What happens the next year? They come back in the same numbers!

Isn’t it strange that they would come back? They lost. Why would an ant set 1 foot, let alone 6 tiny ant feet in my house? Because they see defeat as only temporary. They know eventually they’ll win. Truth is, I know it too. One day, I’ll be gone, but generations of ants will still be back – until one day – possibly 2000 years from now, this house will be demolished and the ants will live here freely.

4. Ants Collaborate better than Wall Street Executives. As I touched on before, when ants search for food, they set up markers along the way, letting other ants know where the food is. If the food happens to be an insect or grub, this trail is a call to action, they work together to conquer the bug or insect and then drag it back to the nest.

Humans have the ability to collaborate as well. But most don’t do it very well. We are all out searching for our version of food, be it happiness, be it money, or health. Yet how many people do we actively collaborate with daily? How many other people do you actively work on your goals with? One? Ten?

An ant doesn’t want to hear you are not collaborating with anyone. He’d think you are crazy. He’d say you are doing it the hard way.

Napoleon Hill called collaboration the Mastermind formula. It’s true. Two brains are better than one, 3 brains are better than 2. None of us know it all. Yet, if we sit down together and give perspectives, we can help each other get what we want.

An ant won’t waste any time following the path that says “lots of food here!!!” Of course, he has to trust his comrades. But that’s what collaboration is all about. Learning different perspectives and forming relationships that profit all parties. It can’t be a 1-0 relationship. It has to be a 1 to 1 or 2-2 or 3 to 3 relationship where everyone’s needs are met.

5. Ants defend what they have and expand it. Has anyone out there had the pleasure of stepping on a fire anthill barefooted? If you’ve made this mistake, you’ve seen firsthand how an ant will defend its colony. But not only do they defend it. They are constantly expanding it. Both above and below ground, they build, build, build.

If the wind or a boot knocks over their house, they build it right back and continue expanding it.

Yet, when it comes to humans, defending our homes in the form of insurance, paint and weatherproofing can feel like a major inconvenience. And what about expanding your home? Making it better? What an inconvenience! Who wants to build a deck or add on a sunroom? That’s too much work! Especially when a new season of 24 is getting ready to start.

An ant, however, would care nothing for 24. “Nonsense!” He’d say. I’d rather have that sunroom!

6. Ants never let personalities get in the way. Now granted, Bob the ant may be a raging jerk at home, or perhaps he plays the ant equivalent to video games once the kids are in bed. But when Bob gets to work in the morning he’s all business.

You never see Bob the ant wasting precious time gossiping about Mary the ant or the queen who passed you over for the formica sanguinea promotion. No, ants may well have their own personalities, but they leave that at home.

One ant doesn’t purposefully stab another in the back just to get ahead. Another ant doesn’t steal food from the rest to hoard it all to himself.

Ants adopt at a primal level the old saying “There’s a time for work and a time for play.” They never get the two confused. When they are at work, they work, non-stop till its time for rest, then they rest.

7. Ants never spend their whole paycheck. Ants are acutely aware that a storm is coming, winter is on the horizon or the possibility of a lawn mower in the area. That is not to be negative, in every life a little rain must fall. To think you’ll never have a setback is dumb. We all have setbacks.

Ants, know they’ll have setbacks too. So what do they do? They prepare for them. They don’t simply find enough food for one week and then eat it all until the next week. No, they eat some and save some. Yet, something like 30% of the American population lives paycheck to paycheck
Instead of saving a bit out of each check, people spend it all. You can almost hear them say “If something bad happens, I’ll deal with it then.” Again, not to be negative, but setbacks will happen. Accidents happen, winters come, floods take out houses, businesses downsize. You don’t have to dwell upon these facts, but you need to prepare yourself for them in case they do happen. If they don’t occur, then hey! You’ve got extra in your savings account.

Ants would never think to blow it all in a week’s time. They scrimp and save for the tougher times.

8. Ants expect more from themselves than should be possible. Have you ever seen an ant carrying a leaf or a stick 20 times its size? Sometimes you can catch two or three of them carrying a caterpillar and it looks like the caterpillar is floating on air.

Why would an ant ever believe that it’s possible to carry so much? Well one reason is ants brains are not so big, but the other is they are born without negative limits.

Humans, as a whole, give in to mental limits all the time. We don’t lift 10 times our weight because we either believe we can’t or never made it a focus.

I read in Men’s health last week that some bodybuilders are bench-pressing over 1000 pounds. That’s an incredible feat isn’t it? But one reason these guys can do that is they didn’t limit themselves to 100, 200 or even 500 pounds.

We have examples all around us of people who have severe handicaps, or who come from poor or abusive backgrounds, yet are able to “overcome” and achieve their life dreams.

How is that possible?

One reason is they don’t believe the limits in their physical makeup or background and upbringing. They expect more from themselves than should be possible. They know they are better than to set the ceiling so low.

9. Ants remain focused until they succeed. Have you ever seen an ant who is building its anthill suddenly stop what he’s doing and then buy a lottery ticket? No, of course not! Why? Because ants stay focused on what they are doing until they succeed.

When ants are working, they don’t take sudden detours. They don’t quit halfway through to play World of Warcraft. They pick up one rock, carry it where it needs to go and place it there. He picks up the next rock and does the same, and so on until he finishes his work.

In writing this article, I had to do something similar – so far, it’s taken 2 hours of focused attention. I sat down, wrote up the outline, point by point – until I was finished. Then it was time to write the first draft. I didn’t break off during this time and go to the driving range. I focused until I completed it. Finally, I went through the draft, correcting mistakes and misspellings, adding points where needed. But I had to keep focused the entire time. It’s not all fun, or entertaining. But if I want to finish and have something good to show for my time, the I have to stay focused on progress.

If you can focus like an ant on your progress, brick by brick, stone by stone, you can’t help but be successful.

10. Ants never give up. The typical human is easily discouraged. For some people all it takes is one “No” and that’s the end. If he is working on a goal and you say “no” that is usually the end. He’ll take that as the final word and stop trying. Isn’t that sad? If you said no to an ant, he’d simply find another way. You can step on them, spray poison, burn them with magnifying glasses but still they never give up.

Never give up..

by Brad Isaac

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Overcoming the Fear of Success

2011-01-10T10:54:00.008-06:00

I've got a problem. At least, I used to. Success freaked me out. I thought I wanted to be successful, but I really didn't.

Oh, I'd think a lot about wanting to make more out of my life, to do something that filled me with passion and excitement, but I never bit the bullet and did it. You know why? I was scared I'd fail.

Failure, to me, meant saying I was going to do something publicly, trying to do it, and then not being able to do what I wanted to do. I've always been like this, for as long as I can remember.

As a matter of fact, one of the earliest memories I have is of me playing baseball. I was probably seven years old, maybe even younger than that. I loved baseball (still do), and I was pretty good at the fielding part. I played shortstop, which isn't a position where you can hide someone who's not very good. If you want to hide a seven year old, you send him to the outfield, so he can pick dandelions.

I was terrified of hitting, though. Not because I was scared of the ball; I just didn't want to hit the ball. I thought it would be the most embarrassing thing in the world to make an out in a critical situation. So, every time I went up to bat, I prayed for a walk. I honestly never swung once the entire season.

Naturally, I ended up striking out a lot. Same result as I would have gotten had I swung, without the opportunity to ever get a hit. That thought never crossed my mind, though.

Finally, the last game of the season, my dad finally said something to me. He realized what was going on, I think, and explained to me that I never had a chance to get a hit if I never swung the bat.

So, the last at bat I got in that game, I swung. And you know what
I struck out. Again. And I cried.

But, after the game was over, my dad told me he was really proud of me. And his words started to sink in. I realized I had to be willing to fail in order to succeed. To my young mind, this was a new thought; one I'd never really considered before.

Is this kind of situation playing out in your life?
Here I am now. I'm 32 years old, and I'm still scared of putting myself out there. I think it's natural for pretty much everyone. We think that, if we say the way we'd like things to be in our lives (whether it's professing love to someone, or admitting we're dissatisfied with our jobs, or wanting to go back to school when we're definitely past our college years), people will laugh at us. They'll beat us back into conformity with everyone else, and that won't feel good.

I once heard of an experiment that was done with a group of chimpanzees. These chimps were placed in an enclosure that had a pole in the center. On top of the pole was a platform that had a treat on it (bananas or something). Whenever one of the chimps would try to climb the pole to get at the treat, the researchers would hit the group of chimps on the ground with water from a hose. Eventually, if one would try to climb the pole, the others would grab it, to prevent the group from getting sprayed.

After a while, the researchers quit spraying the chimps. The chimps behavior, however, continued. They still kept anyone from climbing the pole. After a while, none of the chimps tried to climb the pole anymore.

Later, the researchers introduced a new chimp into the group, and removed one of the originals. The new chimp tried to climb the pole, and was instantly pulled back down by the group. After awhile, it quit trying to climb the pole, too.

New chimps were introduced one by one, and original chimps were removed. Eventually, all of the original chimps were gone. None of the chimps currently in the enclosure had ever been sprayed with water. Yet none of them ever tried to climb the pole, because each time they did, the group would pull them back down.

Think about that. None of the chimps even knew why they weren't supposed to climb the pole, yet they all enforced it just out of habit. Because that's the way it's always been.

People behave in the same way. If we try to do something extraordinary with our lives, and we tell people about it, we're worried we'll be ridiculed for it. Mocked and shamed into conformity. People tell us it can't be done, simply because they've never seen anyone do it before.

Well, I think it's time that it stopped. Thumb your nose at the rest of the chimps and climb the pole. Do what you want to do, and don't worry about what other people think.

These are the lessons that I've learned since that day I struck out in Little League:

1.Everyone's scared.
No one has it all together. If you talk to any successful person, you'll find out that, not only were they scared to begin doing something different, they still get scared every time. It gets incrementally easier, but the fear never goes away. Professional athletes still get nervous before the game. Musicians still have butterflies in their stomachs before concerts. Authors freak out the night before their books are released. What you're feeling is no different that anyone else.

2.No one's paying attention to you.
This is a corollary to lesson #1. People are so worried about how things are going for them they don't have time to be concerned about anyone else - especially you. Consequently, people spend time worrying about other people, who really have no time to worry about anyone else because they have problems of their own. See how silly this all is? Oh, sure. There are some people who are paying attention to you. But, they're usually your spouse or family or really close friends. The kinds of people are going to be supportive of you, anyway. That's a good kind of attention.

3.You have to know where you want to go.
What's the old saying? “If you don't know where you're going, any road will do”, I believe is how it goes. You need to figure out what your dreams are for yourself. Once you've figured out what you want to do, you can put a plan together to achieve it.

One of the things that always concerned me about goals was hearing all of these “self-help gurus” saying you have to set huge, aggressive, audacious goals for yourself. The implication was that if you don't dream big, you might as well not bother. That always put me off, because I've never wanted anything really big in my life. No huge mansions or Ferarris, no yacht in the Caribbean.

I came to believe that everyone needs to start somewhere. If you have a lot of credit card debt that you want to get paid off, that's a fine dream. There's nothing wrong with your dream of a debt-free life. You don't have to want to build a multi-million dollar business in order to put the power of dreams to work for you. Just start dreaming, and however big or small they are is good enough for now.

4.Do what makes you happy, and don't worry about others.
Obviously, you have to be smart about this. I'm not saying run out on responsibilities and obligations you have set for yourself. What I'm saying is that there are very few people in this world who's approval you should be after. Your spouse and kids, maybe your extended family's, if they're supportive; that's about it. If a person doesn't have a vested interest in your success, you can confidently disregard what they think about what you're choosing to do. The only way you can count your life as truly successful is if you're doing what you're meant to do, regardless of what society at large thinks of it.

It's taken me over 25 years to fully absorb the lesson my dad tried to pass on to me that day on the baseball diamond. I've finally started to put something out there to the world that's reflective of who I truly am, without shame or apology. And I'm finally happy with who I'm becoming. I'm pressing on to be a better person, and, even though it scares me every time I hit “publish”, I'm learning to enjoy the butterflies. Because I'm starting to be who I'm supposed to be.

Written on 5/26/2009 by Jason Barr. Jason writes for LDCL, a blog about Life Design and forming the habits necessary to reach your goals, whatever they may be.

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How to Turn Up The Heat On Your Hot Button

2010-12-30T11:27:00.003-06:00

Have you ever shaken hands with someone and their handshake resembled the very nature of a cold fish? Lifeless. Powerless. Unimpressive. Well the life at the end of that cold fish handshake is probably cold as well.

But I have great news for you. We weren’t born to be cold. We were born to be molten hot. The frozen food section of life is neither yours nor my destiny.

So let me heat you up, defrost you in fact and even bring you to not only the boiling point nor even the melting point – but in fact to your personal ignition point. Your personal flash will begin by me first lighting the spark within you, and by then igniting your internal dynamite that is set to explode.

Here are 4 ignition points that can take you from a state of coldness, or even lukewarmness and turn you into a blazing fireball that will radiate beyond your immediate sphere to the point that you could find yourself influencing people’s lives to the very reaches of the planet.

Ignition Point 1: Identify Your Hot Button
The trouble with most of us is that we’re so busy living a lukewarm life that we never take time out to really identify what really get us fired up.

It requires concentrated effort to stop and identify what is your hot button. Yes, the thing that really fires you up. The passion. The dream. The talent. The joy. The spark. The blaze.

At one point in my life I set aside three days in the pursuit of that very thing. My life was rolling along – like the rest of my peers – but there was within me a dissatisfaction with the status quo and with the direction my life was heading at that time – and I was actually experiencing quite a bit of success – but I knew that my current activities were not fully aligned with my deep passions. And unless I took time out from my busy schedule to clearly identify my hot button I was destined for one thing – and that was burnout.

Those three days – although I have traveled down many diverse paths since then – have been the defining days that have continued to draw me pack to my passion, my purpose, the reason I breathe, my destiny and of course my hot button.

Right now in my life I feel that I am sizzling because I’m once again being true to myself and true to the original vision that I had birthed within my life during those three days.

Ignition Point 2: Identify Your Cold Button
I have tried many things throughout my life. And no – not every moment has been a moment of defining success. Many valleys have been passed through to reach the mountain tops. But those valleys have confirmed to me time and time again that my success is just as much about identifying my cold buttons as it is to pressing my hot buttons.

No human being can be good at everything. Yes I am sad to inform you – but you and I have weaknesses. There are many things that we can’t do. In fact, there are probably more things that you can’t do than you can do. So why waste a moment pursuing the things you can’t do. Rather concentrate on doing the things that you can do well.

But first you have to identify them.

So how do you identify your cold buttons? By having a go and failing.

That’s why I have never been afraid to try new things. And I have never been afraid to encourage my children to attempt new ventures.

And if we fail – we respond with the one successful question. What did I learn from my failure experience? That way failure has just become part of your academic staff that has guided you towards success.

Ignition Point 3: Delegate Your Cold Button
So once you have identified your cold button, what do you do with it?

This is where you need to surround yourself with a team of people where your cold buttons are actually their hot button. They love doing that stuff that you are not good at – and they do it with a spirit of excellence.

So while you are off pushing your hot button and reaping the rewards associated with being someone who keeps turning up the heat in that area – your team members are pushing your cold buttons – because they are still necessary for your overall success – but man they are hot. They are strong in those areas. They are competent in those areas. And by pressing their hot button that is in alignment with you and supportive of you – they actually make you look darn hot.

Ignition Point 4: Turn Up The Heat On Your Hot Button
The one thing about a hot button is this: If you don’t keep applying heat to your hot button it could end up being transformed into a frozen button.

So yes, it’s time to jump out of the frying pan and straight into the fire.

None of us have ever arrived – so we’re going to have to continue to put pressure on our hot button, maybe even go to hot button school for some more tuition, or even find mentors who are even hotter than us and add their heat to our heat so as to achieve even more increased heat along the way. For this is the vital importance of ongoing education and learning.

Until the day you and I leave this earth we should never stop being the student. We must humbly sit at the feet of the masters – both alive and dead - and learn, for there is always more to learn.

So have you discovered your hot button yet? If not, make this year your year of the hot button. Don’t accept mediocrity as your lot in life. You were born to burn. So draw aside and set yourself on fire – internally – by identifying and then turning up the heat on your hot button.

Why?

So that the rest of us can all benefit from the warmth generated by your life both now and into the future.

What is your hot button, and what are you going to turn up the heat on in the coming year?

Motivational Memo: Pursue and develop the burning desire to live a blazing life – and then declare to the world ‘Watch me burn!’

Written on 12/29/2009 by Peter G. James Sinclair. Peter is in the 'heart to heart' resuscitation business and inspires, motivates and equips others to be all that they’ve been created to become.

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Selling Yourself in the Job Interview

2010-12-20T15:52:00.002-06:00

Every job interview is different--but there are some general principles that can guide you in just about any interview, for any job. When you're talking about yourself and your experience, keep the following six points in mind.

1. Be the Solution
Companies fill or create positions because they have problems they want to solve--for instance, ineffective advertising or long customer-service lines. So prepare for an interview by identifying the problems hinted at in the job ad (if there's no job ad, do some research into the company and industry) and then preparing examples of how you'll solve those problems--and how you've solved similar problems in the past. Practice telling stories about specific results you've achieved.

(And if you're changing careers, keep in mind that many problems are not industry-specific--for example, a lack of effective project management or a breakdown of teamwork. Offering solutions to these problems is a great way to overcome a lack of directly applicable experience.)

2. Be Specific
Avoid empty cliches--be prepared to back up your claims about your skills or characteristics with relevant and specific stories. For example, don't just say you "work well with others"--talk about the types of teams you've worked with, and what you've learned from them. Or if you're going to say that you're "detail-oriented," come to the interview prepared with a story about how your attention to detail saved a former employer money (or otherwise saved the day).

3. Be Positive
Avoid complaining about a former employer or laying blame at a former manager's feet--doing so will likely make you seem difficult to work with (or just disloyal). Even if you quit your last job in a rage because your manager was incompetent, saying something like "I felt I was ready for a more challenging position--like this one seems to be" turns a potentially interview-killing situation into something that makes you look very attractive to a hiring manager.

4. Prepare Sound Bites
Prepare three or four effective sound bites that highlight your past successes and your skills. A sound bite is succinct and direct, so it's catchy and easy to remember--"I've designed logos for three Fortune 500 companies," for example, or "My efficiency plan decreased product-delivery times by 15 percent without costing the company one cent."

When you're coming up with your sound bites, ask yourself, "What were my greatest achievements at my most recent job?" and "What sets me apart from other candidates?"

5. Prepare to Talk About Your Resume
Your resume and cover letter will likely form an outline for at least part of your interview. Because a resume has to be brief, it probably says many things that could be elaborated on or explained in more detail. Often a resume explains the "what" (for instance, "supervised two people"). Use the interview to talk about the "how," as well as skills you gained, praise you received, and so on.

6. Be Aware of Nonverbal Communication
You "say" a lot about yourself with nonverbal cues: your posture and your facial expressions, for instance. Sit up straight--leaning forward can make you seem closed off, as can holding a briefcase or purse in your lap. Maintain eye contact when answering questions, and smile frequently. Also, practice your handshake with a friend: an overly aggressive handshake can be as off-putting as a limp one.

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Scouting For Future Billionaires

2010-12-08T11:46:00.003-06:00

Professors discuss ways they spot the next business all-stars among their students.

Ever since marketing professor David Reibstein began teaching at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1980, he's encountered several standout students that he's gone on to help mint millions. He'll never get involved with current students, but in some cases he's gone as far as investing some of his own cash in former students' fledgling companies.

"There are always students that are very intriguing that you get engaged with and you want to follow them," said Reibstein. "I'm always willing to meet with people and give advice, but I try to resist getting too involved aside from giving advice. A lot of the ideas are OK and not beyond that, but every now and then you hear a really good idea coming from students who need some help."

Professors often get unique insight into how budding entrepreneurs work and strategize and sometimes they'll also get a preliminary glimpse of an idea with great potential. Many business schools have entrepreneurial programs geared to those students, but sometimes a student who makes a mark might get personal attention from the professor outside of school.

In 1996 two students came to Reibstein with a business plan they were developing based on an idea that Reibstein had kicked around during a class lecture. The day after the students graduated he sat down with them and helped them develop a business plan that evolved into Bizrate and Shopzilla.

Students who are visionaries, are passionate about their business idea and have a good pulse in the marketplace have a good chance to succeed, says Reibstein. The two entrepreneurs who approached him had all those traits.
"Another thing is not trying to conquer the world," said Reibstein. "People often think of the million customers they might get--but not of the first one. The first customer is really critical and the first five customers are very important."

Reibstein flew to monthly board meetings from Philadelphia to Los Angeles for eight years and made an initial seed investment of about $30,000. Although his stake was eventually diluted, it was "not a bad venture," he says, laughing--the business sold in 2005 in excess of $500 million.

Kent Smetters, another Wharton professor, says that the ability to execute is key. He recently launched Veritat Advisors with Danielle Qi, a former undergrad student who'd gone on to work at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. It's been five years since Qi left his risk management class, but for the past three years the pair had been talking about starting a new model of financial advisory geared toward the middle class. Eventually Smetters talked Qi into leaving McKinsey and starting the company with him.

"It's not just having a good idea, it's really having someone who's super organized and can actually execute," says Smetters. "That second skill set is actually pretty rare--actually being able to execute and being able to breakdown work flow, being able to prioritize, block people, that's ultimately the best skill set."

Despite their age difference (Smetters is 43, Qi is 26, pictured together above) and the former teacher-student relationship, the pair have been equal partners in the venture, says Smetters. While he is currently president of the company and Qi is its chief operating officer, he says he'll likely be looking for someone to take the reins as president and CEO in the third quarter of 2011 and Qi would be a great contender.

"Danielle and I spend long hours working together," says Smetters. "If I didn't respect Danielle as a peer, then we really shouldn't be doing this together."

Many schools, including Wharton, offer entrepreneurial programs and the potential to provide funds to help current students finance a fledgling business. Murray Low, director of Columbia Business School's The Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, is in a committee that allocates anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 in seed funding to "a viable business plan with good chances of success."

The most promising entrepreneurs are not necessarily the ones with the best academic grades or the ones that stand out immediately, Low says. "But they're the ones who are persistent, the ones that keep on showing up at your door looking for advice--they're also good listeners."

Perhaps one of the most famous cases of a mentor-mentee relationship is one that created three billionaires: Google. When David Cheriton began teaching computer science at Stanford University he couldn't have imagined that two students he would mentor outside of class would become his ticket to billions. But it was partly Cheriton's advice, some seed money and an introduction to investors that helped Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page build a $198 billion market cap company that is among the most influential institutions in the world today. Cheriton, in turn, was rewarded with a chunk of shares and as of our latest estimate has a net worth of $1.6 billion.

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Galleria Marketing's Top Leader, December 2010 - Corporate Trainer, Randy Todd

2010-12-01T15:49:00.006-06:00

Congratulations to Randy Todd for being voted as Top Leader of the month for December 2010!

Inspirational Quote
"Don't follow your dreams... Chase them."

Personal Details
"I was born on July 7th, 1987 and grew up in Groton, NY, a small country town in upstate New York. I grew up on a farm while learning the construction business from my father. After graduating high school, I went straight into the construction business with my father, with hopes of some day moving off to open a company of my own."

Mission Statement
(What do you want to accomplish?)
"My main goal is to own a business that gives opportunity to other individuals who may not know what their potential is. My corporation will strive to give others the same opportunity that I was given when I came into Galleria Marketing. I had no real direction in life and now I have something to work for. I want to provide the same feeling of accomplishment to others that I have worked so hard to achieve."

Short Term Goals
(What do you want to accomplish both professionally and personally over the next 12 months?)
"I would like to open RNT Marketing by March 1st, 2011. My goal is to be running a 30+ man office by May 1st, 2011. I also plan to promote and open two productive, well-trained offices within my first year of operation."

Long Term Goals
(What do you want to accomplish both professionally and personally over the next 2-5 years?)
"I would like to continue to have a successful business and promote out enough offices to become a Senior National Consultant. My plan is to retire by the age of 43 and to live the life that everyone I know and myself have always dreamed of."

Personal Commitment
"Finding that this business is successful, I have devoted myself to helping others find the same opportunity that I have."

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Fail Like A Billionaire

2010-11-18T15:10:00.003-06:00

Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump and other wealthy entrepreneurs prove that failure is actually crucial to success.

Mark Zuckerberg is a freak. At least as success stories go. He created Facebook, now 500 million members strong. He has a net worth of $6.9 billion and can claim to be one of the most powerful people in the planet--No. 40 by Forbes' count. He's only 26 years old.

You're not supposed to be so successful, so young, especially not on your first try. Zuckerberg stands out even among the 272 self-made billionaires on the Forbes 400. For our Secrets of the Self-Made special report, Forbes surveyed some of America's richest about their paths to riches. Several cited one main ingredient for success: Failure.

Asked what one experience a successful entrepreneur should have, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban responded, "Coming home and having the lights turned off because you couldn't afford to pay the bills. It's incredibly motivating and humbling."

Mistakes are the classroom of entrepreneurs. In a column penned for this package, billionaire investor Ken Fisher points out that Sam Walton's first Arkansas store went bust. Walton learned from his first missteps and started a new operation. Today Wal-Mart Stores is the world's largest retailer with 8,600 stores, 2 million employees and more than $405 billion in sales (and six Walton heirs are among the planet's richest people). The Forbes 400 is filled with hundreds of similar experiences.

This trial by fire is a vital experience for companies too. Apple launched its Newton tablet in 1993. It flopped. But in the Newton lies the DNA for the Steve Jobs' iPod, iPhone and the iPad. Those gadgets have changed how the world ingests media, and has helped Apple gain a larger market cap than Microsoft ($290 billion vs. $230 billion).

The world's wealthiest must not only grow from their mistakes, but learn to live with them. In dispensing advice for investors, Fisher says "Don't fuss if they've [your investments] had some bad years. Everyone has had them. Bill Miller. Buffett has had some doozies. Peter Lynch. Everyone. You know who didn't have bad years? Bernard Madoff--until he got caught."

Because all investors--amateur and professional alike--make mistakes, the billionaires we spoke with preach diversification. They largely spread their money around a vast host of investments and ventures. When choosing a financial adviser, they don't pick one to run their money; they hire a dozen. This way a mistake or a bad bet--whether on a stock or a stock broker--won't sink a hard-earned fortune.

Chances are you won't "pull a Zuckerberg" and strike it rich on your first venture. Failure is expected. What separates the world's most successful entrepreneurs from the wreckage is the confidence, tenacity and drive to dust themselves off and make the adjustments needed for success.

Forbes asked real estate and energy mogul John Catsimatidis to name some of his heroes. His answer: "Donald Trump--I'll tell you why--no matter how bad a day he's having, he keeps his head up high and he goes back and fights some more. ... He doesn't go and put his head in the ground and cry."

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Self-Confidence and Success

2010-11-09T06:56:00.005-06:00

Sports stars draw on their past successes to give them confidence in new situations. That's a formula all of us can use

One common characteristic of the great leaders I meet is self-confidence, which of course makes sense. Leaders have to inspire confidence in others. It would be difficult for others to believe in us if we don't even believe in ourselves.

Great leaders have to take risks. While getting to "acceptable" may not involve risk, getting to "one of a kind" does. Self-confidence gives great leaders the courage they need to take their companies—and themselves—to a new level of success.

A huge part of self-confidence comes from our previous success. Successful people tell themselves, "I have succeeded in the past. Therefore, I know I can succeed in the future." That's the good news about successful people's belief in their previous success. The bad news is that it makes it hard for them to hear negative feedback.

Your Highlight Reel
You may not think that this applies to you, because surely someone who can't hear negative feedback is suffering from an ego run amok. But look closely at yourself. How do you have the confidence to wake up in the morning and charge into work, filled with optimism and eagerness to compete? It's not because you are reminding yourself of the screw-ups you have created and the failures you have endured. On the contrary, it's because you edit out failures and choose to run the highlight reel of your successes.

If you're like the successful people I know, you're focused on the positives, calling up mental images when you were the star, when you dazzled everyone and came out on top. It might be those five minutes in the executive meeting when you had the floor and nailed the argument you wanted to make. (Who wouldn't run that highlight reel in their head as if it were the Sports Center Play of the Day?) It might be your skillfully crafted memo that the CEO praised and routed to everyone in the company. (Who wouldn't want to reread that memo in a spare moment?) When our actions lead to a happy ending and make us look good, we love to replay it for ourselves.

My partner, Mark Reiter, discussed this with a baseball star. Every hitter has certain pitchers against whom he historically hits better than he does against others. The star told Mark, "When I face a pitcher whom I've hit well in the past, I always go up to the plate thinking I 'own' this guy. That gives me confidence."

"What about pitchers you don't hit well?" Mark asked. "How do you deal with a pitcher who 'owns' you?"

"Same thing," he said. "I go up to the plate thinking I can hit this guy. I have done it before with pitchers a lot better than he is."

This hitter figured out a way to use his past success and apply it to a situation that wasn't a total fit—using his prowess against certain pitchers to give him confidence when facing all pitchers. Successful people don't drink from a glass that is half empty.

How Much You Contribute
When achievement is the result of a team effort—not just individual performance—we tend to overestimate our contribution to the final victory. I once asked three business partners to estimate their individual contribution to the partnership's profits. Not surprisingly, the sum of their answers amounted to more than 150% of the actual profit. Each of the three partners thought she was contributing more than half.

This overestimation of our past success is true in almost any workplace. If you ask your colleagues (in a confidential survey) to estimate their percentage contribution to your enterprise, the total will always exceed 100%. There is nothing wrong with this. (If the total adds up to less than 100%, you probably need new colleagues.)

This "I have succeeded" belief, positive as it is in most cases, can become a major obstacle when behavioral change is needed.

Delusions of Superiority
Successful people consistently overrate themselves relative to their peers. I have asked more than 80,000 participants in my training programs to rate themselves in terms of their performance relative to their professional peers. We found that 80% to 85% rank themselves in the top 20% of their peer group, and about 70% rank themselves in the top 10%. The numbers get even more ridiculous among professionals with higher perceived social status, such as physicians, pilots, and investment bankers.

(M.D.s may be the most delusional. I once told a group of doctors that my extensive research had conclusively proven that half of all M.D.s had graduated in the bottom half of their medical school class. Two of the doctors insisted that this was impossible.)

Please remember this as you progress in the corporate world. The higher up we go—the more successful we become—the harder it may be for us to hear negative feedback. I ask my CEO clients to complete a simple exercise. Complete this sentence, "I am success because of…," Then complete this sentence, "I am a success in spite of…."

I have never met anyone who was so wonderful that he or she had nothing on the "in spite of" list. (If I did meet such a person, I would suggest that he or she work on "humility.") My readers are generally successful people. Make your own two lists: figure out your "in spite of"—and get to work.

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In the Leader's Circle with Paul Kluger, President and CEO of Galleria Marketing, Inc.

2010-11-04T13:42:00.008-05:00

Paul Kluger, owner of Galleria Marketing, had his first experience in sales at the age of three. He would accompany his father, a sales manager, on sales calls, where they sold everything from advertising to home improvements. His mother, a corporate manager, was another inspiration. Paul remembers watching her organize and run meeting, juggling customers and employees. "I realize now that my success is deeply rooted to my childhood", Paul says. "Qualities like routine schedules, organization, taking control, problem-solving, and self-confidence shaped who I am today."

Paul attended the University of Florida, where he studied chemical engineering. He also earned a degree in finance from Florida Atlantic University. After being laid off by two companies going out of business, he saw an ad titled "Business is Booming!" in Boca Raton, Florida and he knew he had found the right opportunity. He was on pace for a promotion to assistant manager in only three months. "The week I began production, four hurricanes hit south Florida in a row, which caused me to lose my team and forced me to rebuild my crew each time," he says. "I was promoted in a total of 18 weeks, three weeks after the last storm hit by putting on 11 guys in one week, and running back-to-back business trips for two weeks straight!"

In September 2005, Paul got his opportunity on Quill in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He left his promotion and moved to Houston, Texas, where he then promoted out 3 more deals. By the end of 2008, they had all closed up. Instead of quitting, he instead decided to work harder than ever before. That work paid off. In 2009, he promoted four deals with three more that opened this year in the late Spring and early Summer and he currently has 3 assistant managers in his organization.

"My office broke every record on the Quill campaign, doing 400 accounts for $85,000 in sales, with 72 reps in the office," he adds. "I was nominated for the Million Dollar Club and Promoting Owner of the Year and I won Consistency Manager at this year's Keys to Success. I have also piloted the Direct Energy and Dish Network campaigns."

When it comes to his keys to success, Paul believes that his success is based on being systems-oriented and having the ability to overcome obstacles and remain focused on larger goals. "Life is like a rollercoaster at times and I choose to enjoy the ups as well as the downs," he says.

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Exclusive Interview with Galleria Marketing's Human Resources Director, Tasha Dixon

2010-11-04T12:48:00.016-05:00

When did you start with Galleria Marketing and what led you to work for them?
"I started as a field rep in Oklahoma City in January 2007. I had a lot of experience in promotional marketing as a Brand Ambassador and in retail sales and I was looking for a job that I could transition into and use my skills in a corporate environment. I applied for the Management Training Program and the rest is history. The day of my Second Interview I fell in love with the atmosphere, coporate structure, and overall opportunity. In the early Spring of 2007, I moved to Houston and was crossed trained into Human Resources. I have been working alongside Paul Kluger since June 2007, and I've advanced from a Recruiter to now an Organizational Human Resources Director."

What are some of your important achievements?
"In the 3 years of working with Paul I have promoted 10 Assistant Managers and 6 outside deals. I won the 2007 and 2008 Raf Diaz Organization Holiday contests and was awarded 'Most Valuable Player' at the 2008 National Conference for being a top performing recruiter in the Diaz Organization. We broke the record for being the largest office in the nation. I'm frequently chosen to speak at leader's meetings, run conference calls, and train other recruiters within other organizations. I achieved Administrator's Club 2009 as a consistent top performing recruiter and recieved a Tiffany's necklace."

What are some of your key elements for success?
"It's imperative to keep your enthusiasm on high at all times - your attitude is contagious. Building strong relationships with each individual you meet is the key to any successful business. Strive to be the best at what you do! And lastly, don't let people more successful than you discourage you, instead let them coach you and pick their brain for how they got to where they are."

What are a few of your goals for the future?
"To continue to provide opportunity to people that are hungry for success. Each day I think of why I'm here and where I want to be and I use that as my motivation to perform at my best each and every day. I encounter so many young professionals that seem lost in what they want out of a career and how to get there. If I impact and help change just one person's life a week, or even a month, I am happy!"

Do you have any active hobbies and interests?
"When the weather permits, I love going to the pool or down to Galveston to the beach. I am very active in my church and I'm on their missions and volunteer team. I'm an avid Philanthropist and I just started a volunteer division at our firm... very excited about it! Our first mission is at the Children's Museum."

Tell us some fun facts about you.
"I got a concussion during my interview with Paul Kluger! If you've ever met him, you know that he's a really funny guy. Well, Paul said something that made me laugh so hard, I threw my head back and hit in on the wooden back of the chair. To this day, we still laugh about it! Another fun fact about me is that I know almost everything there is to know about Ayurveda and Naturopathology."

What's your motto in life?
"Let go and let God. Humble yourself in everything that you do. Put others before yourself... not only will you get so much gratification from it, but you could change someone else's life. And don't let someone else direct you away from your road to happiness and success."

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How to Work Your Way Up to Management

2010-11-01T16:47:00.011-05:00

You're sharp, you work hard, and you feel ready to assume more responsibility--to be the boss. But how do you get yourself into a management position? What really moves people from cube farms into corner offices?

From dressing the part to being smart about how you broach the topic with your supervisor, here is a list of must-dos and expert tips for aspiring managers.

Be a people person
Experts agree that you need solid people skills to get noticed for a management role. "If people at work don't like you, no matter how skilled you are, you will never get to a management level," says Alexandra Levit, the author of "New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career."

"Be able to understand and monitor how you impact others," says Julie Jansen, the author of "I Don't Know What I Want, but I Know It's Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work."

Dress the part
A major challenge when transitioning into management is getting your current coworkers to imagine you in a new role. One way to change their view of you is to dress for the job you want, not the job you have, according to Nicole Williams, career advisor and the author of "Girl on Top." "If you're someone who dresses fairly casually, wear a suit. Show that you're taking on a larger role," she says.

Show that you're ready
Do you want a bigger leadership role? Before you ask for more responsibility, start demonstrating that you can handle it. "Do your work faster and more completely than the original project description," says Williams. "It's your actions that demonstrate your ability to manage."

Focus on the company's success
When you finally do have a conversation about moving up the chain, don't make it about you and your career. Make it about the long-term success of the company. Williams suggests that you explain how you want the company to succeed and how you'd like to play a role in that success.

Make your promotion a win-win
In this market, opportunities to move into management are sometimes limited by current managers hanging onto their jobs for dear life. Jansen suggests using your next review with your boss to create a six-month plan for expanding your current responsibilities. You'll come off as less threatening this way.

Williams adds that your current manager may also be looking to move up the chain at work--and may be lacking a qualified replacement. Your interest in management could be a win-win for both of you.

Be observant
How do managers at your company behave? How do they communicate? Bob Selden, the author of "What to Do When You Become the Boss: How New Managers Become Successful Managers," recommends that you develop a profile of what a successful manager looks like in your organization.

Selden says to write down the positive qualities of each manager you admire and then look for the qualities that are similar between them.

Network internally
It's time to rub elbows with the right people and get their support for your move to management. "Learn to be politically savvy and nurture stakeholders at your company," says Jansen. She adds that you should network at all levels of your company's hierarchy, not just with people in positions above yours.

Selden also suggests finding a mentor and asking your HR leaders for advice on transitioning into management. "Your network should include people from both inside and outside the organization who can help you with your career development," he says.

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Meet Your Mentor : How to find a trusted advisor to help you jump-start your ambition

2010-10-11T10:54:00.006-05:00

A good mentor is as valuable for a startup as a good coach is for a rookie. They want you to succeed, are quick with advice, honest in their critiques and generous with their networks.

"A mentor that's very experienced can direct the mentee in terms of things they need to think about, who they need to connect with and give them a heads up about questions they wouldn't even think to ask," says Steven Mednick, an assistant professor and graduate coordinator at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, where he teaches MBA and EMBA programs and mentors more than 50 startups.

Here's how to link up with a mentor who's a match for you:
Look far and wide
When looking for a mentor, first go to someone you know and trust, such as a professor, local entrepreneur, industry expert or former employer. Then expand your network. Mine for contacts on LinkedIn, through alumni associations, at trade association meetings and small-business development centers and through the Entrepreneur Mentor Society. These are all great ways to connect to potential mentors.

Listen up
An hour with a good mentor can be more valuable--and much less expensive--than an entire business course. Mentors have real-world experience, understand your needs and want to help you avoid the pitfalls they've already encountered. They also have access to people and resources you don't have.

Maximize the relationship
To make the most of the mentor experience, clearly outline your expectations and schedule regular meetings with your mentor. Don't be afraid to ask questions. And be open-minded, because a good mentor will be critical.

Protect your interests
If you don't feel comfortable with your mentor, find a new one. Otherwise, you'll be hesitant to share information. Regardless of your comfort level, make sure to protect any trade secrets before discussing plans with your mentor.

Give back
When you feel you've achieved a level of experience that will allow you to mentor someone else, connect with trade groups, small-business development centers and universities. These groups may not have mentorship programs, but they will know entrepreneurs looking for mentors. The experience will help you, too.

"Becoming a mentor is a great opportunity to give back and get something back," Mednick says. "It helps you sharpen your own skills and can help you expand your network."

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10 Questions To Ask Before You Quit Your Job by Jenna Goudreau

2010-10-01T14:05:00.014-05:00

The economy may be rebounding, but employee morale levels have not. Many workers are doing more for the same or less compensation–on top of having lost their administrative help, retirement matches or bonuses. They may have survived layoffs–watching friends and leaders walk solemnly out the door–but they aren’t as happy about it as employers might expect. “People are tired,” says Dennis Nason, chief of executive search firm Nason and Nason in Coral Gables, Fla. “The rubber band has been stretched very thin, and there is an inherent frustration felt by most employees today.”

Increasingly, workers want to make a change, Nason says. So much so that many are considering whether to quit their current position without another lined up. Career and financial experts warn that now is a precarious time to “let go of your life boat.” To ensure that you’re prepared for the unknowns of unemployment, ask yourself the following questions before you give notice. You’re not fooling anyone but yourself, so make sure you answer each honestly and with detail.

1. What specifically about my current situation is frustrating me?
Pinpointing the issue is the first step towards solving it. Kimberly Bishop, recruiter and chief of her eponymous career management firm based in New York, advises employees to identify how their job is failing them. Is the problem the people, the environment or the work itself? After you’ve defined the frustration, consider the scope. If you decide you’re creatively stifled, for example, you may not need to quit to fill the void. Seek an outlet outside of work or raise your hand for another department or project. If you decide you’re in the wrong industry or the work pace is making your head spin, however, then it’s probably time to consider leaving.

2. Is my current work environment abusive or unbearable?
Bradford Agry, founding principle of New York-based career management firm CareerTeam Partners, advises that employees be honest about how bad the situation really is. Is your manager being verbally abusive? If so, it’s time to go–or at least make an appointment with HR. If your issue slants toward irritation rather than mistreatment, decide if you can tolerate the job while looking elsewhere or working toward your future goals from within the company.

3. Have I taken every action possible to make my current job workable?
If you realize your situation is not abusive and could be manageable, consider the steps you might take to improve it. Try taking a positive attitude, altering your time management or work habits, and communicating more clearly with your manager. Perhaps a schedule change or clearing an item off your workload will make a big difference.

4. Ultimately, what do I want for my job, career and life?
“A big mistake: When people decide to quit they think they’ll just update their resume and start networking,” says Bishop, who advises being more thoughtful about what you really want and how you’ll get there. Define your priorities. Going to law school may be intellectually stimulating but will not help you achieve the flexible schedule you’ve been craving. Similarly, if you’d like to make a career change, think about all the necessary steps. They may include more school, a pay cut or working your way up from the bottom–again. Once you know exactly what you want, you may want to ask: How much do I want it?

5. Do I have a thoughtful, realistic plan for attaining my next job?
Figure out your strengths and how you can leverage them. Bishop advises, “Think less about the job titles and dream companies and more about your skill set and experience.” If you discover you are lacking in an area, plan out how you will develop your skills. You may need to pursue more education, take a volunteer position or start positioning yourself for the next job while in your current job. Also, think about the industry or company you hope to move to in relation to your timeline. Are your goals realistic, or might your dreams of landing a job at Google, Apple or Microsoft be naive?

6. Do I have enough saved to cover nine to 12 months of expenses?
Susan Hirshman, financial planner and author ofDoes This Make My Assets Look Fat?, says a few years ago she told people to save enough for six months of expenses. Now she tells people they need nine to 12 months. “If you’re quitting, you won’t get unemployment,” she cautions. Hirshman suggests mapping out fixed expenses like mortgage, credit card and loan payments, transportation and food, as well as factoring in the “what if” costs. You may need a little extra to cushion against the unexpected, like car or appliance repairs.

7. Am I willing and able to forego benefits like health insurance and retirement contributions?
Hirshman warns that employees who expect to quit should be particularly thoughtful about losing benefits like health insurance. She suggests doing your research to find out the cost and benefit of participating in COBRA or purchasing a health insurance plan. These costs and those of regular prescriptions need to be calculated into your monthly expenses. Furthermore, without steady income, you likely won’t be able to contribute to a retirement or college savings account. Hirshman advises that workers consider their priorities and remain realistic about whether they can handle their expenses without maxing out their Visa cards.

8. How might I cut expenses or earn income while between jobs?
After completing a detailed budget, you may realize you’re coming up short and need to create some cash. Often, income is easily supplanted with a part-time service job. However, Hirshman warns that even waiter jobs are difficult to come by in the current economy. You only have two options: Cut expenses or bring in more money. Figure out what will work for you and be honest with yourself, Hirshman says. A New Yorker, she once tried to save money by foregoing cabs and only lasted a day. Also, to make extra money, consider working overtime before you leave your current job, taking an interim position after you leave or trying to secure consulting work.

9. Do I have the support of my family and friends?
Quitting your job will affect others in your life, so it’s critical that you have an honest conversation with your family first. Your spouse or children may need to help or at least participate in some of your cost-cutting plans and need to be involved from the beginning. Additionally, executive coach Agry says many people are not prepared for the isolation and lack of structure that comes with unemployment. He suggests having a support system of friends or close colleagues who can help keep you on track while looking for a new job.

10. Have I timed this appropriately?
Agry suggests that employees who’ve decided to quit consider their timing. Firstly, are you in the midst of the busiest season or working on a big project? You may want to honor your commitments so that your team isn’t left in a bind and you’re able to leave on good terms. Secondly, “maximize the money,” he says. If you’d like to get your quarterly bonus or the holiday vacation, it might be smart to wait a few months.

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Galleria Marketing Crew Night - Paul Kluger bowling a strike through his...

2010-08-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

Absolutely hilarious office video. Click here to check it out!!!!!! Paul...

2010-07-10T19:28:00.000-05:00

Galleria Marketing Corporate Office to Houston, Texas

2009-02-22T23:32:00.002-06:00

In an effort to expand to a larger market, the corporate office has relocated to Houston, Texas.

September 15, 2006 – Galleria Marketing, Inc. is currently one of the fastest growing marketing companies in the outsourced sales and marketing industry, boasting a portfolio of various Fortune 500 companies. In an effort to expand to a larger market, the corporate office has relocated to Houston, TX. The company is an affiliate and currently employs more than 300+ people in 20 offices, but is rapidly expanding. In today’s bear market when downsizing is a regular occurrence, Galleria Marketing and its affiliates have grown 400% over the past year, with plans to expand to 50 offices in the next two years.

“At Galleria Marketing, we are in the business of understanding and communicating to each other and our customers. In addition, to being accomplished entrepreneurs, the people at Galleria Marketing bring together a fascinating array of life and work experiences. We come from a variety of backgrounds with one key element in common, "People Fascinate Us." This approach to team building makes our marketing group both dynamic and interesting, with an exceptional group of people to work with. The key at Galleria Marketing is to make sure that we share a common vision which enables us to work towards a common goal. The rest is easy", says President Paul Kluger.

Paul Kluger has been at the head of Galleria Marketing since he was named President in August of 2005. In August of 2002, Paul completed his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

About Galleria Marketing, Inc.
Galleria Marketing, Inc. is a leading provider of outsourced sales and marketing to a diverse client base of companies in a range of industries including telecommunications, office products, and merchant processing. Since opening its doors in August 2005, Galleria Marketing and its affiliates have generated over $15 million in sales for its clients. The privately owned company recently moved to Houston in September of 2006.

For more information about Galleria Marketing,
visit the website at
http://www.galleriamarketing.com/

Contact Information:
Galleria Marketing, Inc.
4801 Woodway Drive, Suite 240E
Houston, TX 77056
(281) 768-5432

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