Why the Overnight Success We Wish For May Not Be So Great After All

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

Why the Overnight Success We Wish For May Not

Be So Great After All

“Success” is a goal most of us have for our lives. In today’s social media culture, we see images of people who seem to have figured it out overnight. There are people everywhere you turn who ‘guarantee’ to show you how to become an overnight success! Please don’t believe the hype! Success doesn’t happen overnight and here are a couple of reasons it probably wouldn’t be a good idea anyway:

1.) Don’t believe the hype – Overnight success is very rare! Even the stories we seem to think about as overnight successes are not really so. Facebook seemed to become part of popular culture over night, but a little research into its history tells a very different story. Facebook today looks nothing like it did when it first started by a Harvard College student. It has taken time to evolve into what it is today.

2.) Too much success and attention before you’re ready can actually be detrimental, especially if you are not prepared. We see way too many young actors and actresses get cast into the limelight before they are really ready for all the fame, attention and criticism. Many of them don’t handle this “overnight success” well and end up with substance abuse issue, run-ins with the law, troublesome family relationships, etc. Part of the hardships that are encountered along the road to success is humbling and offers a more realistic perspective on what success really is. This leads me to the 3rd point………

3.) It’s the small things that matter – The small things you learn on your journey to achieving that personal level of success, however you choose to define it, will probably help you appreciate the success more once you’ve achieved the goal(s). You don’t acquire critical skill sets overnight. This comes through a process of trying new things, testing, failing, succeeding, then trying again.

4.) Anything worth having is worth working for. Not many people are simply handed everything they want on a silver platter. Dedication to your goals and hard work is admirable. It is in this preparation that you really learn how to be a master of your craft and deliver what your customers, clients and teams need and want!

5.) Wisdom develops with time. Just as it takes time to bake a cake from simple ingredients to a finished product, it takes time to produce a great finished project in your career! Think about what happened the last time you tried to skip over some steps when baking your grandma’s famous chocolate chip cookie recipe. When you leave out ingredients and steps in the process, the end product turns out to be a mess! Part of what makes Grandma’s famous cookies famous, is the attention to detail and care she puts into creating the finished product!

Remember – there is really no such thing as Overnight Success. It’s ok to look to others for inspiration, but Never Compare Your Beginning to Someone Else’s Middle!

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

Dr. Carmen April is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Entrepreneurship for College Students and Young Professionals.

12Jun2014

5 Ways to Be A Great Mentor

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Networking, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

5 Ways To Be A Great Mentor

Serving as a mentor is a great honor because obviously someone else sees achievement in you that they admire and would like to learn from. I’ve had many mentoring relationships, some that did not carry the titles of Mentor/Mentee and some that were more official and did carry those titles. In the case of the later, more structured arrangement, here are some helpful tips for being a great mentor:

1.) Set desired outcomes early – In any type of relationship, disappointment can occur if expectations and goals aren’t clearly articulated from the very beginning of the relationship. In a mentoring relationship, it’s important for both parties involved to express what they desire from the mentoring process. As the mentor, it may be helpful for you to ask the mentee what they would like to get out of the process. You should clearly communicate how you would like to be of assistance to that person. You may even use examples of a previous mentoring relationship that worked out well for you, either as the mentor or the mentee.

2.) Have a plan – Set up a meeting schedule. This can be in person over coffee/ lunch or in the office. In can also take place over the phone, Skype, Google hangouts, etc. Setting up a schedule months in advance also sets the tone for the mentoring relationship and shows professionalism and dedication to the process on both ends.

3.) Be honest about your career journey. What I’ve always wanted to know from mentors are the ups AND downs of their career journey. It great to hear the good stories because they excite us and make us thrilled about the possibilities of our own successes. However, many mentees want to know about some of the struggles along the way. Be as honest as you feel comfortable being. It’s through the setbacks of life and career journey’s that we learn many of our greatest lessons!

4.) Encourage “projects” and homework – Do you recommend a book that has helped you in your career development? If so, share that with the mentee and encourage them to take notes and share them with you during your next meeting. Give them “homework” that involves various forms of goal setting, strategic planning within their profession, etc

5.) Follow up – Being asked by someone to mentor them is an honor. If you are going to start the process, make sure to be consistent and follow-up. Make arrangements to meet for coffee, phone calls etc, every couple of months or at a frequency that works with both schedules. One of the worst things that can happen in this type of professionals development relationship is for either the mentor or mentee to reach out to the other and repeatedly get no response. Remember, mentoring only works if you do!

Do you mentor others? If not, what are you waiting for?!? Make it known in your company that you are available for mentoring. If you don’t work in a large company, be willing to mentor others through your volunteer efforts and other community involvement. Offer opportunities for mentees to come shadow you in your office. Don’t be afraid to Pay it forward!

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

11Jun2014

Mastering the Feel, Felt, Found Method for Conflict Resolution

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

Mastering The Feel, Felt, Found Method for Conflict

Resolution

The Feel, Felt, Found Method is a popular sales technique of converting sales objections, but I’ve found it to be helpful when addressing conflict as well!

Here’s how it looks:

FEEL – Acknowledge that you understand how a person feels – This creates empathy and immediately de-escalates a situation by acknowledging the concerns of the other person

FELT – Share a quick example of someone else who has experienced a similar situation or felt a similar way. This reduces isolation and takes the issue from being purely subjective to more objective.

FOUND – Share how a person who felt something similar found the situation to have a positive outcome

Example: “Hi Mark, I understand you feel Susie did not give you a chance to voice your opinion at the meeting this morning. I know others have felt the same way during some of our high intensity meetings in the past. What I’ve found is that Susie has a specific format she likes to follow during those type of meetings so we can cover everything in 30 minutes or less. She will probably be interested in your suggestions if you present them to her one on one.”

It may be helpful to memorize this technique and use it the next time you are working through a conflict with your team. This technique also works really well with conflict in any relationship including those with family and friends!

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

10Jun2014

What a Recent Food Trend Teaches Us About Leadership

Posted in Branding, Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

What a Recent Food Trend Teaches us About

Leadership

If you cater to everyone, essentially you cater to no one!

There’s a recent food trend around the country that can be examined to illustrate how important it is to define (ie Brand) your Leadership style. I came across this post on Mashable that discusses small businesses carving out a niche for themselves. If you own a small business, are the face of your small business” as a solopreneur or if you hold a leadership role in a larger company, it’s important to understand how finding and establishing what you are really good at, your niche, works to your advantage.

If you cater to everyone, essentially, you cater to No one! – As a leader you must be consistent in those things that make you the best leader you know how to be. While every team you lead will have its own flavor, it’s the direction of the leader that sets the tone for the rest of the group. That’s why it’s important for leaders to Understand their own individual leadership style and Deliver it really well! In this Mashable article, each of these New York City restaurants focuses on one item and becomes really creative with that one item! Who knew you could make grilled cheese so many different ways? What about Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches? These aren’t your 3rd grade lunch box PB&J Sandwiches we’re talking about! Some of these PB&J sandwiches are going for more than $9 each!! Guess what? Customers are paying that price because they know what to expect from the restaurant. They count on the restaurant to be really, really good at PB&J because, essentially, that is what they specialize in!

What does your Leadership brand say about you. Does your team know what to expect from you? Are you consistent in how you deliver visions and measure results? You can’t be everything to everybody. You must narrow in on a a specific leadership style that is true to you and work to become the best reflection of that individual style you can!

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

9Jun2014

The Art of Saying ‘No’ in Business

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

The Art of Saying ‘No’ In Business

Last year one of my Op-Ed pieces, The Art of Saying ‘No’ in Business, was featured in YFS Magazine. Because it’s such an important Leadership concept, I am sharing it here as well!

Follow this link to see my article over at YFS!

What are some things you need to say “NO” to, in order to be more productive with your schedule?

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

4Jun2014

Channeling My Creativity with Coffitivity

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

Channeling my Creativity with Coffitivity

Raise your virtual hand if you are anything like me in the fact that you need ambient noise to study, work and/or be creative! I have NEVER been able to study, read or really concentrate in work/study environments without some sort of background noise. I have an attention span of about 5 minutes then I’m off in la-la land if I don’t have some sort of noise around me.

Even when I am performing surgery, I always have to have music playing in the Operating Room because it helps me concentrate and improves my focus! So, imagine my delight when I came across a website that plays ambient coffee shop noise straight from my laptop ( Que my Happy Dance)! In med school, I studied in coffee shops so much that my family told me I should buy stock in them LOL! Coffee Shops are where I get my best blogging done as well. I can go into one of my favorite coffee shops at 1pm and Literally be the last person they are kicking out at 9pm….yeah, I get down like that!

Coffitivity was launched in March 2013 by four friends and recent college graduates in Virginia. Within just a few short months they have been named one of the 50 TOP Websites of 2013 by TIME Magazine!!!!!After just one afternoon of blogging from home using the Coffitivity website to provide ambient coffee shop noise, I was Officially a fan! I was in my coffee shop element and my work was extremely productive that afternoon.

Here’s my interview with Ace Callwood, one of the creators of Coffitivity:

Dr. Carmen April: Start off by giving me the names of the founders of Coffitivity……

Ace Callwood: My name is Ace Callwood and I’m one of the Co-Founders. Our Graphic Designer Co-Founder is Nicole Horton. The man with the plan and the brains behind the whole thing is Justin Kauszler. Then our heavy lifting web developer is Tommy Nicholas

Dr. Carmen April: Tell me a little bit about your educational background and then about your college major.

Ace Callwood: Justin, Nicole, and myself graduated last year from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. We did four years each and we all graduated in 2012. Justin and I both majored in entrepreneurship, which is where we actually met. I actually run the entrepreneurship program at the university now. It’s my day job. Justin and I majored in entrepreneurship at the Business School at VCU. Nicole is actually an interior designer by trade. She was in the School of the Arts at VCU and majored in interior design. Tommy Nicholas went to VCU his freshman year and transferred to the University of Virginia (UVA). He graduated in 2011 and he majored in business and African American Studies.

Dr. Carmen April: Are all of you guys from Virginia?

Ace Callwood: Yes, Nicole and Tommy are both Richmond born and bred. Justin and I are military brats so I’ve been up and down the east coast but did high school in the Hampton Roads area. Justin is actually from Hampton Roads as well.

Dr. Carmen April: This is the first time that I had ever heard of a university having entrepreneurship as an actual major versus Business, Marketing, or Human Resource Management. When did they put that program in place?

Ace Callwood: Let me clarify that entrepreneurship is a subset of Business Administration and Management. It’s a concentration of learning how to be a manager. The core of our curriculum is focused on entrepreneurship and small business management. There’s actually quite a few schools throughout the country with this major. More and more people are getting excited about this, I’ll put it that way. Here at the university, we teach disruption which occasionally gets people fired from a couple of jobs because they think too freely. But at one point, they’ll settle into a good fit if they go out and get the job. As the prime candidate for the job, they can go and shake things up to do some revolutionary innovations. That’s what we push for with our students.

Dr. Carmen April: So that’s what you do full-time. What’s your official title with the university?

Ace Callwood: I’m the Coordinator for Entrepreneurship at the School of Business.

Dr. Carmen April: Tell me where the idea for Coffitivity came from. Were you sitting around in a coffee shop one day and the idea came to you? How did it come about?

Ace Callwood: Yes. As I mentioned, Justin and I (I may refer to him as Jay here and there) work together on several projects now. Our first start-up actually conceptualized a self-working bike rack called CycleStay. That was a huge project for us to work on for a year and a half. Part of our curriculum is a business plan competition that is the majority of our grade. We hired Justin for this project in our senior year. After his graduation, we continued the project and ran it. We were getting a lot of work done in coffee shops. We brought Nicole on board to look at some of the designs that we were doing for CycleStay. We were in and out of coffee shops over the course of two or 3 months, looking at the brand, how that would fit, and what it would look like. We went through a sprint of four or 5 days in some of our favorite coffee shops. Justin went back to the day job the next Monday or Tuesday and according to him, it was dead quiet in the office. He was banging his head against the keyboard. He asked his boss, who is the mentor for both of us, if he could work in a coffee shop. She looked at him like he was crazy. Justin was in this environment where he couldn’t get the creative juices that he needed going and he realized, “hey, I can do some awesome work in coffee shops. If I can’t get into a coffee shop, I can bring it to me.” That was his inspiration for Coffitivity and coincidentally, because Justin and I both work in academia- we read a lot of research and white papers. I had just finished reading a white paper that indicates that playing a moderate level of ambient noise can produce creative cognition. Like with everything we read, we pass that information on to each other. Three or four weeks prior to Justin having his revelation, I told him about the research and thought nothing of it. Fast forward a couple of weeks, he’s in this environment where everything’s a shock to him and then realize that “hey, this is what I want to do. This sounds like a good idea at the time, there’s research to back it up, and we just need to run with it.”

Dr. Carmen April: How did you come up with the name Coffitivity?

Ace Callwood: The research actually cites creativity being boosted with ambient noise. It was coffee, and creativity. We did spend a day or two mulling over the spelling. Coffee, c-o-f-f-e-e or coffie with an “i”. We thought that Coffitivity would be a little bit easier to say, to look at, and understand phonetically. That’s a pretty simple ten second story there.

Dr. Carmen April: How do you plan to increase revenue from Coffitivity?

Ace Callwood: An IOS app is coming out as well as our Mac app. We’re super excited to have those in the Apple store. We’re looking at a couple of merchandise options as well so people can have Coffitivity stickers to throw on their laptop, maybe a mug or two, or a thermos. It’s not quite up and ready yet, but those are in the pipeline.
Dr. Carmen April: What has been the response to the website?

ACe Callwood: We officially launched on March 4, 2013. It’s just over three months old and it absolutely exploded. Our first day live, on the 4th, we had one hundred and twenty-ish views. I think 124, something like that. I joked that our moms looked at it 120 times a piece and that was it LOL! We told our friends and family, “Hey this is the thing that we built. We built it for us and we’re going to use it. If it works for you, that’s awesome!” The second day, we had 47,000 views and 49,000 views the third day. So yeah, it absolutely blew up! We got a call from our server saying, “Hey you crashed our server. You need to pay us more money to put the website online.” It was just a hectic day, that second and third day. At that time we didn’t even have a Twitter account yet. We got that geared up the second day. It was wild!

Dr. Carmen April: How did the word spread that fast? Because I was assuming that social media and Twitter may have been what spread the word, but you guys didn’t even have the Twitter account up yet.

Ace Callwood: Tommy Nicholas is our Growth Hacker. We call him that because he does the majority of web development now. He is awesome at connecting, at the right place and right time, and making posts count. We posted some information at the right time and it got picked up by the tech community. The Hacker News bumped it up to the front page for a day and a half, maybe two days. From there, I think Life Hacker picked it up first. Within the first week, we had Life Hacker, Popular Science, Mashable, The Net’s Web, and I think Gizmodo. We just had the big tech players pick this up. That drove a huge amount of our traffic. Our viral mechanics were built into the site. They were very calculated. That has been huge.

Dr. Carmen April: I also read that Time magazine recently ranked you guys among the 50 best websites of 2013!!!

Ace Callwood: They did! We had no idea. They never told us, nobody gave us a heads up. We were stuck in traffic and Reggie, who does our analytics stuff asked, “What is techland.time.com ?” We ended up following the link to Time magazine’s top 50 websites. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least!

Dr. Carmen April: You mentioned a little while ago about a smart phone app that will be coming out. When is that set to launch?

Ace Callwood: No set date yet. We’re still working on playing the Apple review game right now so we could get it bounced back for any number of reasons. Fingers crossed that it’ll get out in the next two weeks and that’ll be for Mac and IOS. It’s all pending review, submission, and how fast we can get it hooked up.

Dr. Carmen April: Lastly, tell me what is next for you guys? You certainly shouldn’t reveal everything, but what else can you reveal that you guys have in the pipeline?

Ace Callwood: Somebody asked that the other day and I told them we were going to start a boy band. That’s actually not going to happen, but it makes for a great story LOL! Justin and I have cleared the dance moves. Right now, we’re going to sprint for the app. Getting that out is huge! Very soon and hopefully within the next week or when the app launches- we’ll be doing cool redesigns for the site. You’ll see more audio tracks.

Dr. Carmen April: Do you know where most of the traffic is coming from?

ACe Callwood: Yes. Our top listening city is actually Seoul, Korea. They’re number one on the list, followed by New York City. We have the usual suspects- DC, London, and Richmond, VA. We’ve got San Fran as a top city, I believe, so a bunch of awesome cities. Right now, the top listening country is the U.S. Number two is Great Britain and then Japan is number 3. But yeah, the list goes on. Korea, China, Canada, Great Britain, France, Russia. I think that we’ve been on every continent but Antarctica!Dr. Carmen April:How do you balance, since this is not a full-time gig for you guys yet, your full time career at the university with this venture?

ACe Callwood: Balance, that’s an interesting word. I can’t say balance because according to my life, there’s a lot of not sleeping. We’ll put it that way. Justin and I actually got our first vacation since we graduated last week. So it’s the first time we’ve been out on absolute leisure, but other than that it’s goes in circles all the time. Justin works in the entrepreneurial space at the university as well, so we work together in our day jobs very frequently. For me, being in the classroom once or twice a week- I got to use Coffitivity as a case study for my students. The fact that we’ve done so much with our start-up is actually beneficial to our jobs which is awesome, in the form of experience, in the form of publicity, and just a lot of things. It’s a great working relationship to be in the space we are in our day jobs and our site gig. Everything kind of balances itself out.

Dr. Carmen April: As a young entrepreneur myself, I know what you mean about balance and vacations. I’ve had to take my mini-vacations, which may be an extended weekend or something. But as far as the big 7-10 day trips to France, I can’t swing that because I’m not at the point where I can leave my business for that long.

Ace Callwood: Exactly, we didn’t even have Wi-Fi at the beach! The team was still back here working on the app releases and other stuff, so we ended up paying the next door neighbor at the beach for Wi-Fi. We had to be on one side of the house to be able to connect, so we made it work and it was good to almost be forced to unplug. Justin and I are type A’s who don’t unplug if we don’t have to, but we should. It was a good R and R for us to get our heads straight and have some time to think about where we’re going with the project and what the next projects will look like, whether it’s over the next couple months or the next few years.

——————————

Need to channel your creativity today? Visit www.coffitivity.com and let your creative juices start flowing!

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

3Jun2014

5 Leadership Lessons Learned From The Early Failures of R.H. Macy

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

5 Leadership Lessons Learned From The Early

Failures of R.H. Macy

I was in Macy’s Department Store recently shopping for a new ensemble to wear for an upcoming speaking engagement. Since I’m constantly thinking about all things Leadership, I thought about the story of how Macy’s got started. Macy’s was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy, who between 1843 and 1855, opened four retail dry goods stores, including the original Macy’s store in downtown Haverhill, MA to serve the mill industry employees of the area. Each one of Macy’s original stores FAILED! Macy did not let those failures stop him and instead learned from them. Here are 5 Leadership lessons learned from the early failures of R. H. Macy:

1.) Failure is only permanent if you don’t learn from it.

We all fail. Period. Show me a person who has not failed and I will show you a person who has never tried anything new. R.H. Macy had 4 stores to fail when he started out. Most people would have thrown in the towel after just 1 store failure! He refused to let those business failures be the end of his story and he tried again. Failure is an opportunity to start again with more insight. The smartest leaders and business people will most likely agree that they have learned more from their failures than they have from their successes.

2.) Learn how to Re-strategize

After the failure of the first 4 stores, he decided to move to New York City from Haverhill, MA. He staked out a niche for himself in a brand new environment. When you encounter failure, as you most certainly will if you ever expect to make progress in anything, you must master the art of the “Pivot”. Continuing to do the same things that have not been working is insanity, but learning how to pivot away from what is not working and develop a new strategy is sometimes exactly what is needed to finally experience the expected result.

3.) Every Expert was once a novice – We must all start somewhere!

After the failure of Macy’s first 4 stores, he moved to New York City in 1958 and established a new store named R.H. Macy & Co. on Sixth Avenue, much further north than where similar stores were located. On the first day of business in October 28, 1858, his sales totaled $11.08, equal to about $301.47 today. I would venture to guess that now Macy’s probably makes that amount in sales just about every second of the day!

4.) Establish your BRAND early on

Ever wonder where that iconic Macy’s Logo originated? As a teenager working on a Nantucket whaling ship, R.H. Macy got a tattoo of a star. That star became the logo that continues to serve as the identification of the Macy’s brand throughout the world. Some leaders have a hard time thinking of themselves as a “brand” or understanding the importance of it. However, if you think of it this way, BRAND = REPUTATION, that makes it a lot easier to understand. We all have a reputation. What is your Leadership reputation? Realize that you have the power to craft your Brand Reputation in a manner that represents your authentic Leadership Style!

5.) Be so good at what you do that your name becomes synonymous with quality, class and trustworthiness

There’s no doubt that the Macy’s brand is well-respected throughout the world for quality service and products. In order to be a respected leader you must gain the trust of your team and build a reputation that others respect. Your team should be confident in knowing they can look up to you to lead the team in a shared vision.

The next time you are shopping at Macy’s, think about the fact that had R.H Macy given up on is endeavor to have a successful department store, there would be no Macy’s Department stores for you to frequent in almost every mall in America. There would be no Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, no beautiful Christmas Day Display in the window at the Macy’s in New York City. This company is where it is today because Mr. Macy did not let a temporary setback stop him from trying again!

Is there a Leadership vision, goal, or endeavor you gave up on because of a one time failure? If its success is important enough to you, declare to yourself Today that you will try again!

– Dr. April

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

2Jun2014

How Your Dominating Thoughts Control Who You Are

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

How Your Dominating Thoughts Control Who You

Are

I’ve been reading a lot from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich lately and can’t express enough how it’s one of the BEST books I’ve ever read! I could write a million blog posts inspired by the information Hill shares in this book – it’s just that good! One of the concepts in the book is stated this way, “Each of us is what we are because of the dominating thoughts we permit to occupy our minds”.

Let’s look at examples of this from both sides of the coin. In cases of verbal and emotional child abuse, children who are told they are stupid, ugly and worthless have a hard time healing emotionally from that abuse as they get older. They internalize that abuse and it can become reality.

In Napoleon Hill’s book, he highlights that a common thread among the world’s wealthiest, most successful people is that they are persistent in their ideas of acquiring personal success and wealth. The concept of persistence is important here. These individuals think positively on ways to get what they want and don’t give up at the slightest of setbacks.

It’s almost intuitive that we express what we think about most, but seeing it written in this manner in “Think And Grow Rich” was really an Aha Moment for me! Not too long ago, I experienced some entrepreneurial struggles that I just couldn’t seem to find the right solution for – that is, until I changed my mindset! Instead of thinking, “How in the heck am I going to figure this one out?”, I started believing that the solution to the problem was already out there, I just had to open my mind to receive it. Every time I began to get upset about the situation, I started the practice of shutting the negative thoughts down and replacing them with positive affirmations of receiving the solution. Had I continued to let toxic ideas manifest in my psyche, garbage would have begun to flow out! By thinking on positive outcomes, I began to explore more positive solutions to the problem. In the end, I found a solution to the problem, in large part, because of my outlook and the thoughts I let occupy my mind!

Identify a negative thought you have been allowing to dominate your mind. What single thought can you use to think positively, instead.

— Dr. April

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

Dr. Carmen April is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

You can follow her daily #Leadership insights on Twitter @DrCarmenApril

30May2014

5 Tips to Make Networking Work Better for You

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Networking, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

5 Tips to Make Networking Work Better for You

2013 Nashville Emerging Leader Award Finalist Reception

(Photo Credit: Nashville Chamber of Commerce)

I love Networking! I frequently attend Networking events because it’s awesome to walk into a room with other business-minded individuals and make mutually beneficial business connections. When I first moved to Nashville 3 years ago (almost 4 years ago now), I knew only 2 people – My sister, who was in Dental School at the time, and a college friend/sorority sister. That’s it! So, when I took the leap of faith to start my own medical practice after living here for only 2 months, my lack of connections in Nashville was a HUGE obstacle for me. However, I networked the pure HECK out of Nashville and have made so many connections that, as I look back on it now, astonishes me!

I’m was honored to be a 2013 Nashville Emerging Leader Award Finalist! Here I am networking with some of the attendees at the Finalist Reception in June 2013

(Photo Credit: Nashville Chamber of Commerce)

I believe that being able to effectively network is an art form. For me, networking did not come second nature. Even though I love to sit down and talk for hours with people that I know and am familiar with, walking up to random people and saying “Hi, I’m Carmen April. How are you? Tell me what you do for a living” was not always as easy for me as it is now. Just like anything you want to become good at, it requires repetition and practice. Making meaningful business connections is essential to both my medical practice and my blog so being comfortable in large networking environments is a MUST!

(Photo Credit: Nashville Chamber of Commerce)

Here are 5 Tips to help you make the most out of Networking:

1.) Attend Events that are specifically structured for Networking. When you attend events that are designed specifically for networking, everyone shows up with the same intention. You are not left wondering if the people you meet have ulterior motives for chatting with you. Everyone is there, or should be there, to make meaningful business connections. I have taken my enthusiasm for networking to some laid-back social gatherings and, unfortunately, have had people look at me like I have 3 eyes on my forehead when I walk up and introduce myself the way I do at networking events. This is not to say that networking does not take place at social gatherings; in fact, it should!

2.) Dress Professionally. We form opinions about others in the first 7-9 seconds of meeting them. Don’t you want the lasting impression someone makes of you to be a positive one, especially when business is involved?

3.) Have your Elevator Speech Prepared and Practiced. An Elevator Speech is your 30-45 second description of who you are, what you do and how you and your business can be of benefit to others. You should be able to clearly articulate this description in the time that it takes you to ride in an elevator with someone from the bottom to the top floor in 30-45 seconds or less. You risk loosing someones attention when you ramble. Because the most common question asked of you during networking will be, “So, tell me what you do for a living?”, you should practice your response (Elevator Speech) because you know it will be asked. It should roll off your tongue like butter!

4.) Have Business Cards on Hand. Your business card should be clean with your name, business logo, phone number, business email address and business website listed. I can not tell you how annoying it is to receive an old, crinkled business card that has probably been sitting in someones pocket or wallet for who knows how long. Your business card is a tangible piece of your professional brand and it can speak for you in your absence. I keep business cards that I receive during networking by scanning it into one of my favorite apps – Evernote, and also placing it in a business card holding folder that I keep in my office. Additionally, I write down where I met the person, the date and the year, directly on the card.

5.) Follow-up. What is the point of networking if you are not going to make use of the meaningful connections? Networking is for making the initial connections, but it should not stop there. If you meet someone at an event and identify that you can be of benefit to their business, they can be of benefit to your business, or vice versa, you should set up a time to grab coffee, lunch or a cocktail. Send an email to those connections after the event saying that you enjoyed meeting them and would like to meet them again for coffee, etc and discuss ideas. The follow-up is usually where the real connections come about.

I hope these tips help you on your next Networking excursion!

–Dr. April

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

29May2014

Leadership the Starbucks Way: The 5 Ways of Being

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

Leadership The Starbucks Way: The 5 Ways of Being

Starbucks is one of the great American companies I really admire. Not only am I obsessed with their Carmel Apple Spice drink (give me a Venti please!), but I simply love the experience of walking into a Starbucks store! Most of my friends and family know of my obsession and give me Starbucks gift cards for my birthday, Christmas, etc. I love the experience so much that I usually stay for hours. You can call Starbucks one of my “satellite offices”. I love to blog, read, and people-watch in Starbucks.

Everything about the Starbucks experience is intentionally crafted by Starbucks Leadership. The friendliness of the partners (Starbucks employees), detailed attention to your order, cleanliness of the store and cozy atmosphere don’t just happen by chance. Starbucks Leadership has created a structure called “The 5 Ways of Being” that provides a framework for the partners to express their own individuality while still upholding the core principles of the company. The 5 Ways of Being are as follows:

1.) Be Welcoming

I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a Starbucks and not been greeted with a welcoming remark that can be as simple as “Good morning”, “Good afternoon”, How are you today?”, “How can I help you.”. People like to be recognized and feel welcomed when they come into a new space. If I’m not personally recognized and welcomed within a minute of walking into an establishment, ie. restaurant, store, etc, I usually don’s stick around too long. Starbucks partners do a great job of welcoming each and every customer who walks through their doors. If you are a regular, you will probably be greeted by name. In Dale Carnegie’s Book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, he discusses how a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” acknowledging your colleagues and team members by name is important in establishing good report.

2.) Be genuine

Starbucks identifies 3 key components to being genuine and calls partners to connect, discover and respond. Most of us can tell if someone is being genuine or not. When I walk into Starbucks I want to know that the employees are genuinely interested in providing great customer service. Genuine interest can come in the form of the Starbucks partner asking about how my day is going, asking about what I do for a living, talking about the weather, etc. Asking these questions forms connections, and initiates discovery of what’s important to the customer. Any Leader can show a genuine interest in their team by asking questions and initiating conversations that establish good working relationships.

3.) Be Considerate

Being considerate should be a no-brainer. However, I’m sure I’m not the only person who has ever walked into a cafe, restaurant, store, etc and encountered an employee who was in their own world, talking on the phone, talking with other co-workers and ignoring customers. The customers who come to Starbucks for a great cup of coffee and a pleasant experience want to know that the employees are being considerate to them. Starbucks deals with “being considerate” on a corporate level as well. The Leadership wants the directors, managers, and partners to know that they are concerned about their well-being as part of the Starbucks team. Speaking and interacting with people in a professional manner is important in Leadership. Learning how to handle difficult team member situations and Crucial Conversations by praising in public and reprimanding in private is a good example of being considerate as a Leader.

4.) Be Knowledgeable

Knowledge is Power and the more you know about your company, industry and what your customers want and expect, the better. It’s difficult to have confidence in a leader who doesn’t know the ends and outs of not only WHAT they do, but WHY they do it. Equipped with that knowledge, a great Leader can know how to best serve their team(s) and add value to their customers. Starbucks invests heavily in training their partners. A great example of ongoing learning is that Starbucks gives its partners a free pound of coffee every week so they are continually becoming more knowledgeable about the company and the taste of its products.

5.) Be Involved

At Starbucks, being involved means active participation “in the store, in the company, and in the community.” Partners are encouraged to be active in the store, addressing the needs of the customers on a daily basis and making the experience special for each person. Leadership at Starbucks makes it a point to actively respond to concerns, ideas and suggestions from partners. Leaders at any level should be accessible to their team members to foster communication and execution of vision and goals. Consistent involvement from all levels of Leadership is important to making the partners and customers feel valued. Community involvement is a way in which Starbucks provides opportunity for their partners to give to others and make a difference in individual communities. No matter what industry or business you are in, corporate structure or entrepreneur, being involved in what matters to the community is a perfect way to stay connected to it.

How can you use Starbucks’ 5 Ways of Being to better organize your Leadership strategy?

– Dr. April

Dr. Carmen April’s Speaker Series

This post is part of a series on Leadership presented by Dr. Carmen April. She is a young entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is currently a 2014 New Leaders Council Fellow – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Entrepreneurship for college students and young professionals.