Wednesday, September 25, 2013

You Definitely Need Business Consultant

Business Consultants

If you are even considering that you might need help from a business consulting company you in all probability will profit by their services. Business advisers like Scott Gelbard can be helpful irrespective where your business is positioned; whether you are barely taking off, or you're a seasoned company that has bumped into some obstacles. Even if your business is doing well a consultant can help you to expand and diversify to reach new or additional profitable clients. If you need help starting your business, have run into problems that necessitate mastering; or just want some fresh ideas helping your successful business grow and prosper you could reap benefits from the ideas of a business consultant.

Most consultants quickly realize their clients are more astute in the day-to-day operations of your company than any consultant will ever hope to be. How to produce your product or supply your service is certainly your forte. However, the outside influences, or staff-type operations, may require fine tuning. For instance, if you set up your website with a web designer who was not attuned to the conundrums of optimization for search engines, or the latest theories of landing page design, these factors may have a negative impact on your overall marketing plans. Oft times clients first, perhaps sole, impression of your company may be through your website. This same skill can be used to address your marketing, printed communications, employee relations, or even bringing your hotel from two to three or four stars.

But which consultant to hire? I would highly recommend Scott Gelbard who provides expertise in every business niche imaginable. It is important to find a consulting company that has experience in the industry in which you operate and have provided other businesses with the services you need. You can always ask friends, colleagues, or other business owners who they have used if the consultant helped their business. You should have a good idea of what you want to accomplish by hiring a consultant, and how much input you want to have; or whether you want the consultant to deliver to you a finished packaged solution. It is always a good idea to interview a few business consulting firms to get a feel of their experience level and how well they will work with you. Probably most importantly you want to deal with someone you are comfortable working beside. Without a good comfort level, the give-and-take necessary to accomplish your goals may be compromised. Be sure to insist you meet the actual person or persons that will be doing the job not just a point person who sells you the consulting firm and then moves on to the next lead.

An investment in business advisory consulting can pay for itself in no time if you have retained the services of a knowledgeable and experienced consulting firm. Many organizations have already realized how much unharnessed potential they have, and with business advisory services, they have been able to develop a healthy and sustainable level of growth and competitiveness. Consulting firms can help create a business environment that addresses the most critical challenges of the company, their industry and the global business market. Most importantly, a qualified advisory consultant can help create a strategy roadmap that addresses these challenges and guides the organization to a bright and promising future.

Friday, September 20, 2013

How Will I Know For Sure That It's Time to Retire?


A newspaper journalist asked me to contribute to an article he was writing on retirement. Since I am a retirement coach I had all kinds of information to offer him, but that is not what he wanted. It came down to answering his one question, "How will I know for sure that it is time to retire?" My response was short and simple, "You won't."

The decision to retire isn't much different from many other important, life-changing decisions we make. For instance, rarely do we know for sure that a specific career choice is the absolute best one to make. Very few parents say they knew for sure when it was time to have children. Important decisions require some risks and being willing to step into the unknown. Instead of knowing for sure, we can look for signs that retirement is on the horizon, and we can prepare ourselves for this decision.

Since knowing for sure was important to people who were considering retirement, I decided to ask people who were retired what they thought of the question. The first person I asked had struggled with the question herself for several years before retiring at 65 years of age. Her decision to retire was based primarily on her elderly mother's failing health, more so than being confident that this was the right time to retire. Knowing the struggle she had faced with the decision to retire, I was very surprised at her answer. She said, "When you start asking the question, then it is time to retire." Looking back she believes she spent too much time trying to feel like it was the right time rather than making a decision.

Another retiree said there were little signs that at first he didn't notice. Primarily beginning to feel obsolete at work. When you start feeling like you don't want to learn the new program or you do not have the interest or enthusiasm to adapt to new changes, then it may be time to move into the next stage of your life.

In all cases, the people I spoke with said once they made the decision to retire, then they felt free. The agony comes from being undecided. If you are struggling with the question of when to retire, realize that you may never know for sure, but once you make the decision you will be feel free to move forward with your life.




To request Patrice's 10 Tips to Creating a Meaningful Retirement send an email to: giftstogoals@aol.com

Patrice Jenkins is a frequent speaker and workshop leader on career and retirement transitions. To learn more about her work go to: http://whatwillidoallday.com or http://barbarasher.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20616

Copyright 2008. Patrice Jenkins. All Rights Reserved.Copyright 2008.