How to Boost Your Career and Build Your Business through Public Speaking

After many years of study on different fields I see myself as having two possibilities: either learning something new or teaching something to others every single day. The best scenario? When you can do both at the same time! How do you see yourself?

Having my very own show at VoiceAmerica Business Channel (@voiceAmBusiness) has allowed me to do that, teach and learn and then learn and teach some more. Through my radio shows I have spoken about entrepreneurs and leaders, vision and goals. I have interviewed people on franchising and strategy. And today we learned a little more.

I had the pleasure of interviewing author and speaker Joan Detz (www.joandetz.com and @joandetz) and we had an amazing conversation about the importance of Public Speaking to your Business Success; and, to your personal success as well.

We all need to learn to speak better, communicate our message across, reach more people with our ideas and guide and help as many people we can.  If we can improve how we communicate through public speaking we can all do a much better and bigger job. Joan is the author of the book How to Write and Give a Speech which I do recommend to anyone, expert or amateur, who wants to learn or to improve how to speak in public; Joan teaches us many lessons and gives us many tips on how to create and deliver better speeches.

During our conversation Joan explained her ‘9-step Formula for Successful Presentation’ and you can listen to her on our show http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/86533/how-to-boost-your-career-and-build-your-business-through-public-speaking-with-joan-detz-and-luis  

Start building your Public Speaking career and it will help you grow both personally and professionally.

Continue increasing your performace!

Luis Vicente

Entrepreneurs are today’s Adventurers!

Entrepreneurship has to be seen as a journey, as an adventure. It starts when we have that special idea to do something on our own, to create a business, or to innovate. It follows with our action plan, defining what we want to do and start working on it. We create a strategy, we get team members (friends and relatives at the beginning) and we start developing our idea. This is why for me ‘Entrepreneurship’ is a journey and this is why I see entrepreneurs as today's adventurers.

Entrepreneurship has been defined in many ways. It is the result of a person with very interesting qualities: takes action, combines resources, helps people, takes risks, organizes, discovers, and creates. An entrepreneur, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money.” It then defines an entrepreneur as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” What the entrepreneur really does with the idea or the dream he or she has, is to build a business that will make them grow and be successful, in whichever way you define success.

Entrepreneurship is not easy; however there is very interesting research that points that many more Americans and people around the world are willing to start and run their own business. In a survey made last year by the University of Phoenix, it was pointed out that 63% of the people in the US between the ages of 20 and 30 want to have their own business.

A very important report, issued in May 2013 by Babson and Baruch Colleges, starts by saying that:

 “The year 2012 was marked by entrepreneurial optimism in the United States”[1]. 

This single fact ‘optimism’ points out the importance of entrepreneurship in all growing economies worldwide. With data since 1999, the Report indicated that the percentage of adults involved in startups in 2012 hit 13% – a record high since Babson began tracking entrepreneurship rates in 1999 (you can see a full article on the subject that was reported by Elaine Pofeldt on Forbes magazine here)

We see entrepreneurs in many countries. Latin America on one end is very active in this area, with Chile and Peru leading the way; and the United States ranked at the top of the innovation-driven economies during 2012 followed by Singapore. Can this trend continue? I would have to say yes, as it is the entrepreneur who energizes and grows, generating a more dynamic economy.  

Governments in many parts of the world are continuously looking to entrepreneurs (both new and well established) in order to increase employment and generate new ideas so that their economies grow and the competitiveness of states and countries increases. Our job then, whether in the public or private sector, is to foster and create an atmosphere of growth, development and innovation in which entrepreneurs can grow and prosper. We see it in the small business that opened last week five blocks from our office, or the small shop that opened up around the corner or the new restaurant a couple kids started in the nearby mall. Many articles and reports show that record number of new businesses opened up in 2013 in the UK, India and Hong Kong, for example. And furthermore, the US Small Business Administration reported that “the small business sector is growing rapidly. While corporate America has been ‘downsizing’, the rate of small business ‘start-ups’ has grown, and the rate for small business failures has declined.[2]

There are too many opportunities to succeed in business today that were not available years ago. For starters, you can create your company online; you can outsource many tasks (accounting, legal, tax) so that you can focus on developing your business; you can hire better qualified talent. But you need to get out of your comfort zone or if not your ideas and your business will not grow. You need to get started and learning along the way so that you will not fail. Long working hours will be the norm; cash flow and capital will be required; and you will need to become an expert deciphering what your client will need in this fast-paced environment. And this means that you need to get the necessary experience and guidance in order to succeed.

And entrepreneurs need to learn continuously. With the right attitude and the right mindset they can become better on their daily jobs, managing their teams and companies, and improving their results. There are many tools that will help you to manage your personal and your business performance. But there is a simple fact, that in order to use all of these tools you have to start taking action; you need to take that first step. There is a beautiful quote by Karen Lamb which says “a year from now you may wish you had started today.”  And now the question is, what are you waiting for? What is that idea that does not let you sleep at night? When are you going to start?

Entrepreneurial intentions are rising, which is an excellent sign; and opportunities are present everywhere.  New stores and companies are opened every day; some continue, some change, some close. But the entrepreneur never quits, he follows his dream until it becomes a reality and then dreams some more. This is why entrepreneurship is a journey. You start with your business idea; you present it to family and friends and then to other people who might be interested in your future products or services. You then embark on the learning journey to become an entrepreneur, and better yet, with the goal of becoming a very successful one. And you have been transformed into a never ending adventurer!

Luis Vicente Garcia is a business Consultant, FocalPoint Business Coach, a Best-selling Author and an International Speaker. He helps businesses and business owners reach higher levels of performance. You can follow Luis at @lvgarciag, visit his web site www.luisvicentegarcia.com or contact him at   coachluis@luisvicentegarcia.com 

---

[1] 2012 United States Report, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. ©2012 by Donna J. Kelley, Abdul Ali, Candida Brush, Andrew C. Corbett, Mahdi Majbouri, Edward G. Rogoff, Babson College and Baruch College

[2] http://www.sba.gov/content/small-business-trends

Our Business is entering the second semester of 2015: Are we prepared?

As we enter into the second semester of the year 2015, we need to understand what our business is doing in today’s market, which activities such as having better products, higher quality services and satisfying our customer’s needs we are doing. Also, we need to understand how we are doing them and how we are using our resources. It means understanding the new market trends while getting closer to our goals. Yes, we all have goals right? For those of us who have goals, keep moving forward towards them; for those who don’t, start having your own goals, create them and make them part of your daily routine.

Understanding our own business basics is today of critical importance. Business has been defined as a particular organization which encompasses all activities in the economy (primary, secondary and tertiary or more commonly named mining and agriculture, manufacturing and services). This means we buy certain goods from our suppliers and convert them into the goods and services that we and our companies provide to our customers. It provides a place for us to be creative and innovative and working to reaching our goals; one of them is that sales will be more than expenditures resulting in a profit.

Any enterprise then is that organization which is involved in the trade of goods and services to our consumers. However, regardless of your type and size of business or the industry you work in, you need to understand the basic concepts of Performance and Productivity as they will make the difference in today’s business world. And in doing so, you need to identify and use the measurements; information and metrics that come from your daily operations. Reporting figures and metrics in the right way will allow you, the manager and business owner to take the best steps and take the right decisions for your company’s future.

So are you ready to take on the second half of the year? Here are a few questions you would need to ask yourself and your team about your company’s performance:

-          How is your company in terms of revenue and profit if you compare it to the first half of 2014?

-          How far advanced are you in reaching your 2015 goals?

-          What new skills and knowledge have you developed?

-          How many more people have you met and how many new clients do you have?

-          Are you already thinking of new products or services? Or are you working on improving your current ones?

These are some of the many questions you should start asking yourself and your team and start working on making the second half of 2015 your best ever!!!

Luis Vicente Garcia