Avoiding Gullibility

Gullibility is a fact of life. As a baby you heard about gullibility in your nursery tales. Remember the wolf that was masquerading as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother? Gullibility pervades our heroic epics. Remember how the citizens of Troy thought that the big wooden horse was a magnificent present? Gullibility is infused in our holiday traditions—or did you never believe in Santa? PT Barnum, who coined the phrase, "There's a sucker born every minute," entertained millions with his circus. Even academic institutions that ought to know better were conned for years by the Piltdown man, a paleontological "missing link" in evolution that turned out to be, not a mistake, but an intentional hoax.

Gullibility may offer you a secret satisfaction when you see it in an enemy—they call that schadenfreude, if you believe me—but otherwise, being gullible is a trait to be avoided. It is to be especially avoided in business decisions where money changes hands and deals are built on trust.

You know that con men and back-stabbing schemers are out there. Many are very good at duping chumps. How do you avoid becoming their next victim?

At the top of the list is "Don't make impulsive decisions." Give yourself a little time to think things through. The old sleep-on-it advice is good because it gives you the opportunity to view a situation from a fresh perspective.

Next, do some fact checking. The Internet and modern business tools make this easier than ever. Entire websites like snopes.com, factcheck.org, and TruthOrFiction.com, and the popular TV show Myth Busters have all emphasized the importance of doing a little research.

Know Thyself. Socrates said it and it stands as some of the best advice ever given. The best hedges against gullibility grow atop the realization of your own weaknesses.

Paired with knowing your limitations is planning the defensive strategies to deal with and counteract them. In Stephen Greenspan's book, Annals of Gullibility, he calls this working up a "repertoire of disengagement tactics."

Practice social intelligence. A few people are naturally gifted, for others, social intelligence can be learned. A series of books is available that helps teach social cues even to autistic children; if a kid with a learning challenge can do it, you really have no excuse.

Be cautious in your networking. Build a special network of people who have proven themselves trustworthy and who will look out for your best interests.

Character: The Key to Making Your Business Stand Out

In the classrooms across America, we call it character education. In the business world, it is more likely to be labeled ethics. Either way, one of the hallmarks of a civilized society is its values system.

Stories from the dawn of civilization are almost always morality tales. Ancient Greece, a pinnacle of culture, produced Aesop's Fables where every story had a moral teaching. Beowulf, the earliest tome of Anglo-Saxon culture, emphasizes loyalty and honor. Stories of the Incas taught that those who obeyed their moral codes—do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy—would earn reward.

An old tale from Asia tells of a man whose one good deed was to spare a spider's life. Later, after the man died and was being tortured in hell, the spider spun a silver thread to return the favor and help him escape. As the man was climbing the thread to safety, he noticed that others were climbing up after him. Fearful that this added weight might break the thread, he began kicking them off, but as he did this, he lost his balance and fell back into the pit of hell.

The point is that on every continent, across different cultures and spans of time, ethics count. Good and evil have just rewards. Having identified such a universal truth, it just makes sense that applying the concept to business would be a way to lead your company to success as well.

Indeed, beyond the folklore, hard modern statistics bear that out. Trickery and chicanery are a flash-in-the pan sensation and the key to longevity in business is to steadily work on improving ethical customer relations and good service.

Character Traits and Values that will build trust and make your business stand out from the rest:

• Loyalty. Using the difficult times to demonstrate commitment to the customers you serve will build trust.

• Reliability. Being reliable in providing the good or service your customers are paying for will gain their trust.

• Truthfulness. A good definition of truthfulness is earning future trust by accurately reporting past facts. This foundation of integrity creates trust.

• Sincerity. Sincerity starts with telling the truth and takes it the next step by showing an eagerness to do the right thing. Trust is built when clients and customers see your transparent motive and your sincere desire to do the right thing.

• Courtesy. Courtesy is more than simply being polite. It's also being attentive to your customers and gaining their respect by respecting them.

• Diligence. Seeing each task through all the way to the end is that way to accomplish goals.

• Accessibility. Knowing that you will "be there" builds trust.

• Persuasiveness with Truth. Being able to guide your clients and customers with truth and wisdom will build relationships.

• Enthusiasm. In a world of woes and criticism, customers will seek out the hope they see in your enthusiasm.

There is an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness. – George Washington

Could You Benefit by Using a PEO?

To fully answer that question, you'll first need to know exactly what a PEO is and what it does. The PEO acronym stands for Professional Employer Organization. It serves as a Human Resources department for small and mid-size businesses, but it won't do your staffing for you. It goes beyond being a payroll service by assuming many of the liabilities for government compliance. PEOs can make it possible for small and mid-size businesses to offer retirement and medical benefits similar to the big corporations.

Many growing businesses start considering the benefits of a PEO when they realize that they need relief from all the administrative details of keeping the company going. Using a PEO to help with administrative functions is a lot like being able to purchase efficiency for the nuts and bolts of your company because the HR functions are outsourced.

One benefit of using a PEO is that you don't have to worry about keeping up with changing government rules. You pay the PEO to do that, and because they serve other businesses as well, it is more efficient than having to reinvent your own wheel. This can extend to work-related laws, unemployment claims, safety procedures, and even anti-drug use policies.

Another benefit of using a PEO is that they offer comprehensive payroll services. Beyond the basic bookkeeping and issuing of checks, they can also cover such things as payroll taxes and paperwork, garnishments, W2 and 1099 filing, and verification of an employee's work status.

A full-service PEO can offer your business additional services as needed. They can assist with pre-employment background checks, drug testing, applicant reviews, termination assistance, help in preparing job descriptions and employee performance appraisals, and needs analysis. An all-inclusive contract with a PEO will include access to training and other business resources and support.

The benefits offered by a PEO are clear. It frees that average company to become more productive in the use of time and resources. The companiy's primary focus can be centered on producing goods, delivering services and generating income. For a small business owner or the management team of a mid-size business, this means that the HR paperwork and compliance issues are far less of a distraction and you can get down to work.

Choosing the Most Painless Method for Filing W2 and 1099 Forms

One of the biggest headaches that anyone is likely to suffer is the headache that's generated by government required paperwork. For a small businessman, this can be the filing of the W2 forms for employees and 1099 forms for the work that was contracted out.

The relief for these kinds of headaches won't come from the aspirin bottle. It comes from being organized, planning for the deadlines, and choosing the filing options that are right for your business. These options are filing by paper yourself, filing electronically, purchasing software to assist your filing, paying your bookkeeper to do it for you, subscribing to an online filing service, or contracting with a professional employer organization (PEO) with the experience to handle it.

Filing paper forms might be a good option if you are a hands-on owner and your business is very small in the personnel department. Schedule ample time for working on them and be sure the form that you use meets the specifications required. Filing electronically has the additional benefit of a later due date, no federal form requirements to worry about, and confirmation of your submission status, e.g. Received, Not Yet Processed, Complete.

Purchasing software to assist your filing can help contain costs; some formats are available for less than $50. Choose a program that is designed especially for your size of business, that is easy to install and use, and that is capable of generating 2-sided forms that meet the current specifications.

Paying your own in-house clerk may not be an alternative that is available to every small business, but if you already have a bookkeeper skilled in papyrocracy, ruling by paperwork, that is a good option.

Subscribing to an online filing service may cost a little more than DIY filing, but they will also have a help desk, off-site back-up of your filing for up to three years, and they will be up-to-date on changes and current regulations.

If none of these seem right for you, you probably need a PEO company that can relieve the headache by filing all your W-2 and 1099 forms for you.

Physical Exercise Is Good for Business

Reading stories of high achievers can be inspiring. Motivation can be contagious and you begin thinking, "Yeah, I can do that too!" At other times, the high achievers set the bar so high that it has the opposite effect. It's demoralizing.

The demoralizing effect nearly happened to me. I had watched the Olympics. I'd had my vicarious bobsled run. Now it was time to focus on work. I really wasn't in the mood to hear someone tell me that the way to get my business out of the doldrums was by training for a triathlon. It would be hard enough to train for one sport, and now I was being told that entrepreneurial success would come if I trained for three!

I'd have thrown in the towel then and there, but he was making good points about setting goals, strategic planning, measuring performance, planning for contingencies, and sizing up the competition. It was easy to see the parallels between being a triathlete and managing a company. His big selling points were stress reduction and enhanced concentration. What businessman couldn't benefit from a form of stress reduction that leaves him alert? Most pharmaceutical approaches can dull that winning edge, if not leave one downright comatose. I figured it was worth investigating further.

It turns out that exercise is a great stress reducer, and fortunately it doesn't necessitate mountain biking after an already vigorous swim. The basic principles for stress management can be adapted to nearly every personality type, work situation, and variety of exercise. For instance, if your job keeps you at a computer screen, strength building exercises will help reduce stress, but if you are on your feet and lifting all day long, you'll find greater benefits from stretching exercises. The brain starts releasing stress reducing endorphins after only 20 minutes of exercise, so even multitasking by taking Fido on a brisk dog walk can go a long way, literally and figuratively.

Other Advantages of De-stressing with Exercise

• Stress usually makes the heart speed up and the digestive system slow down. Exercise helps bring these back into balance.

• Repetitive movements and controlled breathing techniques have physiological effects that produce a sense of calm.

• Regular times of physical activity allow your muscles to work. Exercise releases built-up muscle tension and results in less muscle pain, fewer tension headaches, and reduction in joint pain.

• If you choose a performance-based sport as your exercise of choice, as the triathlete mentioned earlier did, then as your performance improves, your body adjusts to better handle higher levels of stress.

• Best of all, stress management through exercise has highly favorable side effects like improving sleep patterns and increasing general awareness.

Six Advantages of Hiring Now

In an economy that's so unpredictable that even Nostradamus might consider scuttling into retirement, there are still several indications that now is the time for a small business owner to hire new employees.

Rhonda Abrams, small business columnist for USA Today, takes the point of view that to experience meaningful growth, you'll have to hire. Surprisingly, at least at first thought, she writes, "more than half of the Fortune 500 companies actually started in a recession or depression." When that statement is analyzed more closely, some of the logic becomes more apparent.

• Competition is weaker. As other struggling businesses start dropping out and cutting back, their loss can be your advantage if you can seize the opportunities that open up in the wake of less competition.

• Customers are looking for less expensive alternatives. Many folks who were locked in to buying brand names from the big guys a few years ago are looking for cost-effective substitutes. If small businesses can supply that, they have a built-in edge that was spawned as a direct result of the recession.

• Labor costs are lower. In some cases, they are substantially lower. Potential hires that might have turned up their nose at a lowered pay rate a couple of years ago are often happy to accept that wage in today's business climate.

• A recession produces a growing talent pool. With more people are looking for work, you have a wider selection of candidates for the job and this fact leads to two reasons to hire now.
1. With more talent available, you can select an employee that more precisely meets your current need instead of settling for hiring someone that is 'close, but trainable.' You will be able to realize some savings in training costs almost immediately.
2. You can afford to be pickier and choose an employee that best meets your own business philosophy. This will render greater benefits over time because better compatibility results in a less stressful and more efficient workplace.

• You will be better prepared to take advantage of a future growth spurt. Even if you can't justify hiring a full-time employee now, hiring part-time or contracting out some of your work will position you in a good place when the recovery cycle does come.

One final thought from Ms. Abrams: "Creating a good job is one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do."

A Social Media Bill of Rights—and Wrongs

"Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," so says our Bill of Rights. But what about employers? Should a boss be able to regulate an employee's blog or his posts on a social networking site? How can a company balance the importance of sharing ideas through open exchange with the dangers of having an employee saying something stupid? Maybe it is time for your company to have a Social Media Bill of Rights and Wrongs.

A survey of how several companies have chosen to handle their employees' use of social media indicated that the policies that are most effective are the ones that combine having trust in and putting responsibly on the employees. This strategy works because no good employee is going to want to see their company tank and leave them without a job. Good employees are discerning enough to not intentionally bad-mouth their employer, so a social media strategy needs to focus on things that can help prevent inadvertent harmful posts.

Here is a compendium of ideas your company may wish to consider when outlining a social media policy:

• Employees ought to follow existing laws. This would include respect for copyrights, no plagiarized posts, no obscene language, slander, or libelous statements.

• Employees should put a disclaimer in their profiles that clearly states that the opinions expressed are their own views and not necessarily those of the company.

• Time spent on social media should not interfere with other job-related tasks and commitments.

• Employees should post as if their boss will read it—and bosses ought to be encouraged to spot check their employees' posts. This will cut two ways—obviously it will reduce insulting and disparaging statements, but it should also help keep excessive flattery and sycophantic remarks in check.

• Employees should respect the privacy of clients and customers. Do not discuss them in posts without their permission.

• The employer needs clear communication with the employees about what constitutes confidential and proprietary information. Employees who have not been privy to managerial meetings may not have the big picture or know where the boundaries lie unless their bosses have taken the time to teach this.

• Encourage the Golden Rule of treating others the way you want to be treated.