eBoot Camp Blog Posts

Can an employee be an entrepreneur?

I had a great meeting yesterday with three Directors from the University of Michigan College of Business and our topic of discussion was entrepreneurship. Their passion is helping students learn the necessary skills to becoming a successful entrepreneur in whichever field they choose. They teach courses on business, leadership, accounting, and other skills I wished I would have learned back in college.  Instead, I’m still trying to figure out what Mitochondria means and why General Custer lost the Battle of Little Big Horn.

But that’s neither here nor there. The point of this post is not my college education or lack there of, it’s the question that I asked the group regarding entrepreneurship. I asked them if they believed employees could be entrepreneurs or if you had to own your own business.

The answer I got was it depends. It depends on the type of culture the company has and the type of boss you have.

And that got me thinking back to my employment history and the places where I was allowed to be an entrepreneur and the places where taking risks and thinking beyond your … READ MORE

Is rationalizing the 8th deadly sin?

According to the DSM-IV, rationalization occurs “when the individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by concealing the true motivations for his or her own thoughts, actions, or feelings through the elaboration of reassuring or self serving but incorrect explanations.”

We all do it. Everyday. It lives in us and comes out in all forms.

‘Long day at work today, I deserve a day off from ____________.’

‘She doesn’t have three kids, no wonder she’s able to_________.’

‘I’ve got a million things on my plate, that’s why I didn’t get _________ done.’

Are they true? Maybe. But are there times that we are just rationalizing because we are lazy, unmotivated, scared, or something else?

I have a book to write. It’s long overdue. Now, I can list a thousand reasons why I haven’t got it done and thousand more why it should wait. But I’ve suddenly become attune to my rationalizing. No, lots of people write books with toddlers. No, you do have something to say. No, it hasn’t already been written. Shut up Corey and carve out time to write.

It’s time to be honest with myself.

I’ve … READ MORE

Customer Service comes in all forms – even anti-itch cream.

It’s rare that I spend a beautiful sunday afternoon in front of the computer blogging, but I had to get something off my chest. There’s no doubt that every industry has been greatly impacted by social media in some way, and the restaurant industry is no exception. Business is won or lost by customer feedback and now we have multiple tools at our disposal to give our opinion on the food, service, experience, and whatnot.

During my seminars and workshops, I often encourage businesses to ask for reviews from happy customers. It’s human nature to be a bit more motivated when we feel mistreated or disrespected than when we are pleased with an experience. Take yours truly. I’ve meant to write a good review about Kruse and Muer for sometime because they are really kid-friendly and go out of their way to make our experience enjoyable. But sadly, I’ve always forgotten.

But not today.

It’s a perfect Michigan day. It’s 80 degrees, the sun is shining and we have a million things to do. But nothing is getting in the way of this blog or my review. Not a chance. Because what happened was simply mind-blowing.

And it all started with a simple hug. … READ MORE

Big Change by Google that’s going to impact businesses

As many of you know, there are lots of places to review a business (yelp, urban spoon, yellowpages, tripadvisor etc.) and Google has always syndicated those reviews on their search engine.

Although that’s been the case for many years, it has always been my recommendation to have people go directly to Google to craft their review. That’s because there was always the potential of Google changing their policy and deciding not to show those 3rd party reviews. And that’s exactly what has happened.

This week, Google announced they are removing all 3rd party reviews from Google Local Business Pages. You will still see links to these reviews, but people can’t read the review unless they go to that specific site. I know a business who yesterday had 60 reviews on their Google Places Page and today they have ONE.

On a lighter note, they have made it MUCH easier to leave a review now. You’ll see a big red WRITE A REVIEW button now on your places page (see image attached). So it should be even easier for you to direct your champion customers to your Google Places Page and get them to write a review for you.

READ MORE

Google+: The Next Generation of Social Networking

What is Google+?  Simply put, it’s Google’s answer to facebook and has quickly become the hottest new social network.  In just three weeks, Google+ has accumulated more than 10 million users and over 1 billion bits of content are shared daily via this new kid on the virtual block.  While Google+ is most popular among early technology adopters and “techy” type users, regular Joe’s, marketers and businesses around the world are showing interest.

But you’ve gotta want it.  Unlike its predecessor, Facebook, Google+ is a little trickier to understand and is full of nuances that make mastering this social network much more challenging.  However, many will argue that the juice is worth the squeeze.  Along with the steeper learning curve, comes a plethora of features that make Google+ a standout in the social network space.

Google+ is a collaboration of various social products including Stream (newsfeed), Sparks (recommendations), Hangouts (for video chatting), Huddle (for group texting), Circles (for organizing friends) and Photos.  This collection of products is rumored to be just the beginning of a much larger group of applications which will include Games and much more.

But the … READ MORE