An MBA certifies you as a master in business administration and is one of the most prestigious business degrees that you can have. Having an MBA gives you the opportunity to advance your career and increase your salary.

In 2006, MBA graduates expected an average base salary of $92,360 with an average signing bonus of $17,511. Their undergraduate counterparts who earned a bachelor’s in business administration expected to an average of $40,976 per year, according to College Journal. In terms of salary expectations, an MBA is certainly an asset.

Although the statistics don’t differentiate between starting salaries for those attending traditional brick-and-mortar college and online schools, an MBA is an MBA. If you earn an MBA online at a reputable school, it’s likely that your starting salary will be comparable to that of other MBA graduates. (more…)

Motivation is one of the primary concerns and challenges facing today’s supervisors and managers. This article will introduce you to techniques for creating a proper motivational climate. You will also learn how to apply the techniques for motivating employees, prepare individual action plans to solve on-the-job problems, and identify causes of low morale and strategies for improving overall employee behaviors.

Your staff members are the key to your success, and motivation affects employee performance that ultimately affects the departmental, divisional and organizational objectives. Only satisfied employees lead to satisfied customer.

• Motivated Employees Make Your Job Easier

To be a successful manager/supervisor, you must first understand that you cannot motivate anyone; you can only create an environment that encourages and promotes the employees’ self-motivation. Motivation is getting people to do what you want them to do because THEY WANT to do it. The challenge is to give them a reason to want to do it because doing it will satisfy a need they have. You have to tune in to their needs, motives and reasons, not yours.

Secondly, you must also know what kind of behavior you want the staff to demonstrate. In other words, what do you want the employee to do differently ? For example: Do you want your staff to be punctual, more committed to work; co-ordinate with others in a friendly manner; meet deadlines; assume more responsibilities etc. You must first be clear about your objectives and expectations before you can communicate them to your staff.

• You Are the Motivator

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are the most critical component in the motivation process. Your actions set the tone, trend and tempo of the process. Many managers / supervisors embrace a ‘carrot-and-the-stick’ approach to motivate their staff. These practices take the form of incentive programs, promises of promotions, rewards and bonuses. Some others employ the symbolic ‘whip or club’ by emphasizing the negative results of their behavior. For example, a manager might say: If you do not start coming to work on time, you’ll be fired ‘ or ‘You will never get ahead if you continue to make these kinds of mistakes’. All these methods are just short-term and create no permanent behavior change. (more…)

Entrepreneurs are self-made success stories of hard work and perseverance. Ironically, many colleges and programs now offer courses to help budding entrepreneurs get off on the right foot. These courses range from basic business principles to complex courses on government legislation regarding business specifics. A businessman can use the courses to his advantage, and should – there is a lot to learn about successfully running a small business.

Formal Education
The first step in running a successful business is to gain as much formal education as possible. College courses and a full degree prove to be tremendous assets to most entrepreneurs. There are always those who greatly succeed without completing a university degree, but many others benefit from even basic courses in accounting, finance, management and marketing.

Of course more specific technical courses can also make the difference in a fledging business and a success. To run a business, you must have a skill or product. Knowing how to create that product or serve your clientele is essential. College or university level courses can give you that knowledge. If you’re impatient to begin living your dream, there is no reason to not start a business while still in school. In fact, it may be easier to secure financing and assistance if you are a still a student. (more…)

According to research conducted by management experts of all school of thoughts, 15% of the reason you get and keep a job is determined by your technical knowledge, skills and expertise.

What about the other 85% ?

85% of the reason you move ahead in your job is related to your people knowledge and people skills.

It goes without any shadow of doubt that, as a manager/supervisor, you must become aware of the critical need for a specialised knowledge on how you can manager yourself and your subordinates for peak performance. If you study professional supervisors / managers in various industries, you will notice a common problem in many (if not all) of the different situations men and women are facing ……. and the common denominator in all problems is always the same: PEOPLE.

Managing people starts with self-management, and it is one of your top-most priorities if you really want to be successful in your supervisory/managerial role. According to Tom Peter, author of the best-selling book ‘A Passion for Excellence’, the real challenge is retraining managers, not retraining workers. With this in mind, the sole objective of this article is to develop excellence in you, and to provide you with fundamentals and motivation to professionally develop and utilise your team mates.
The foundation for developing yourself and others is wrapped up in the very word M.A.N.A.G.E.R: Motivator, Activator, Negotiator, Achiever, Goal-setter, Educator or Evaluator, Risk Taker (that is, Courageous). (more…)

The key that opens your mind and heart to better job performance, an enriching career and life is your attitude. All of us want success; we want good results in all walks of life, in our homes, in work and in all our relations. The most important single factor that guarantees positive results is the Positive Mental Attitude !

A positive mental attitude helps you:

- Consider your neglected and misunderstood fact
- Summary: Job as a part of the larger pattern of your organisation
- Utilise your potential when dealing with other employees and customers
- Understand how your own attitude affects other people’s attitudes and performance

The noted American trainer and motivator, Zig Ziglar, remarks: Positive attitude is the result of new thinking …… believing in yourself, focussing on successes, learning from failures and surrounding yourself with people who share your values, principles and thinking. Positive attitude won’t let you do anything but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking. It will let you use your abilities and capabilities. (more…)

The startup of a telemarketing program, no matter how big or small, represents a major milestone in any sales-oriented organization. It signals the organisation’s decision to leap into the future. A well thought-out telemarketing plan results in a successful program and improved sales.

• What is Telemarketing?

The very first step, a starting point, is to make sure that you fully understand what telemarketing is and what its limitations are in respect to your organization. An accepted definition of telemarketing is ‘ the planned use of the telephone to assist in the sales of your products or services.’ Another definition is ‘ using the telephone for marketing purposes, especially to make appointments with potential buyers to discuss with them new business situations and opportunities.’ It should be viewed as an important part of your overall sales and marketing strategies.

There is a difference between telephone selling and telemarketing. Telephone sales can be summed up as only one part of telemarketing having as a sole purpose to sell over the telephone. Telemarketing is a process, and it is distinguished by three key characteristics.

- It is planned
- It is continuous
- It is integral to an overall marketing programme

• Know Your Telemarketing Plan

In thinking about your telemarketing plan you will have to recognize two important elements that are necessary for the program to be successful.

A. The market in which you intend to sell. It is necessary to identify and fully understand and target your market. According to Thomas Prizio, President of the Global Telemarketing, California, there are four product / market combinations. They are: (more…)

Opening a food franchise is an opportunity to go into business for yourself using a food service restaurant that has already been established. When they’re in a hurry, people tend to flock to food chains they recognize. Your food franchise could very well be the place that people go to when they’re in a hungry and in a hurry. Before you open the franchise, you’ll need to apply for a food franchise license.

Licensing Requirements

The licensing requirements for a food franchise vary by state, county, and even by the city and local level. To get your food franchise license you must check with your local health department. The health department let you know the requirements for opening a food franchise in your area, along with any licensing fees that need to be paid.

Actions Steps To Prepare The Restaurant

The health department will likely be interested in knowing several factors about the equipment that you’ll be installing in the restaurant. Identify the suppliers, contractors, and installers of the equipment. Find out if your local health department has certain standards that your equipment must meet. (more…)

The internet makes it easy to do just about anything – including applying for loans. Before banks began operating online, loan shopping was a cumbersome process. You had to visit each bank to inquire about their loan offerings and eligibility requirements. No more of that.

The first thing you need to do is figure out the type of loan you need. Since many banks only offer loans for certain purposes, knowing the type of loan you need might limit the banks to which you can apply. Some common types of loans include auto loans, student loans, and personal loans.

Requirements

Online loan requirements will vary depending on the bank offering the loan and the type of loan you are requesting. Generally, lenders have minimum income and credit score requirements. You might also be asked to secure the loan with a piece of collateral.

Most online lenders will not extend a loan to you if you have outstanding debts. It’s a good idea to get caught up on any charged-off accounts or accounts that have been sent to collections.

If you do not meet the minimum requirements you may be required to have a co-signer guarantee the loan. (more…)

The foreign exchange market, Forex, is the most liquid market in the entire world. Trading happens 24-hours a day, five days a week in the major financial centers in the world across nearly every time zone. The Forex market trades in international currencies frequently throughout the day. It can be tough for individual traders to make profits and even to trade on the Forex market.

Timing

You already know the Forex is an international market that includes financial centers all over the world. You can trade any time of day during the business week. So, timing is everything. How often are you going to trade on Forex? Daily, weekly, monthly? That’s up to you to decide. The important thing with choosing your timing is that you identify profitable trends as early as possible and that you can withstand whiplashes in the trends. Pay attention to the market trends for awhile to get a feel for how things change on the market. This will help you choose your timing. (more…)

Most people know that listening to music helps some people study, while hindering others. What many don’t realize is the type of music can make a huge difference for certain types of learners, making some types of music an option as a study help for people who think it does them no good.

That isn’t to say that music helps everyone. It doesn’t. How helpful it can be often varies from topic to topic, too, for people. But it can certainly help more people than realize it. (Some people consider this a separate learning style element, called aural.)

First figure out if words distract you with music—and I don’t mean if you’re distracted when one of your favorite songs comes on the radio that you don’t hear often and want to sing along with. Do words distract you as a rule? If so, you’ll have to bear that in mind while seeking a form of music, always finding an instrumental version of the style you’re testing. Are you more distracted by music you know well or intriguing new songs? Make sure you pick and stick to the one that will cause the least distraction.

Secondly, pick something to study. Make sure you stick to that specific type of studying (i.e., memorization, concept learning, mathematics) for the entire time you’re trying to isolate the best form of music for it.

Now run a few base tests with styles to try to narrow it down a bit. Try a few styles you like or can at least tolerate, like easy listening, Celtic, classical, and rock. If you’re familiar with the concept of “minor key” (it’s what makes most Celtic, Gothic, and New Age music depressing to some people and relaxing to others), try to notice if you study better with minor or major key.

If you prefer major key, next test a few music genres of that style. Gospel music, classical, pop, and rock are usually in the major key. Admittedly, some of these will be difficult to find instrumental versions for if that’s what you need, but it may be worth the study results. Artists often have samples online you can use to test, and you can always ask friends to borrow their CDs if they can trust you to return them. (more…)