You’re a problem solver. You take a look at every obstacle that you are facing and find the quickest, most efficient way to tackle it. Everything is a puzzle waiting to be solved, and you like it that way. It’s organized, comfortable and strategic. You rely strongly on your left-brain.
…Or not. Maybe you’re creative! You can visualize the most stunning settings and collaborate in intensely creative ways. You’re able to think outside of the box and get things done in a way that many others could not. You’re the right-brained kind of person.

Many people believe that the business world is for left-brained people, while right-brainers should be left to designing business cards or sandwich boards. More and more often in the business world of today, right-brained people are finding their niche and making their way to success.
Right-brained and left-brained people aren’t generally interested in the same things, but even when they are they tend to approach these things in completely different ways. Typically, one would expect to find a left-brained person in industries such as medicine and law. Right-brained people are more likely to lean towards things in the arts or design, but anything can be creative if you can look at it from a unique perspective. It’s unlikely to find a right-brained accountant, just as it might become hard to nail down a left-brained expert in musical theatre. Depending upon your wiring, your passions will vary, and those variations will carry over into your career choices.

No matter your persuasion; left or right, if you decide to enter into the entrepreneurial world, you can successfully do so as long as you put some tested tactics into place. In business, it is always important to have goals, both lofty and immediate. Set your sights high, but aim for small, achievable goals right out of the gate. This is the best way to feel encouraged, measure your success and also ease yourself into the stress of owning a business. This also works to keep your tasks simplified, which helps you to focus on one thing at a time, no matter your goals. Focus on your immediate goals, and as you achieve them, regroup and move forward. When it comes to creative business ideas, integrate them slowly and responsibly. Don’t jump too far ahead of yourself too quickly, or you’ll find that you overshoot your target. Make note of any of the methods you’ve put in place, define whether or not they have been successful, and then look for more of the ones that are. Whether left or right-brained, there’s room for you in the business world. When you’re in doubt, don’t hesitate to turn around and take a look at the starting line; you’ll easily be able to see how far you’ve come.

You know that business plans are important, but as a business owner, you also know that figures and strategies can often change. You’re probably aware that you should revise your business plan once a year, but there are times when an annual look just isn’t enough. If you’re unsure what constitutes revising your business plan, here are some scenarios where you should take inventory to see what’s working and what isn’t.

Scheduling is All Wrong

When you’re consistently behind schedule, it’s not good for anyone. Clients feel like they’re not important, and you feel like you’re stressed to the max. When you notice that your big projects, or all of your projects are falling behind schedule, your business is in dangerous water. Take some time to re-examine what is happening and make some changes.

Being Outsold by Competitors

Sometimes your business plans are thwarted by new or suddenly aggressive competitors. Often unexpected, this can feel a little personal; remember that it isn’t. Your competitors are out to make money and retain clientele, just like you are. Instead, sit down and really think about what you can do to stay afloat, but don’t wait in this instance. Address it fast!

Sales Figures Drop or Projections Are Off

When your sales and financial projections are off, it’s a definite indication that your business plan needs to be revised. The positive to this is that you should have a better idea of your clientele and sales than you originally did. That means that it will be easier to forecast realistically.

When it comes to your business plan, the main thing to remember is that it’s an imperative part of your success, and that problems will not fix themselves. Pour time into revisions when you come up against problems and get your company on track and where you’d like it to be.

Copycatting. Plagiarism. In our growing technological world, these practices happen more often than we would like. In the business world, copycatting can be our worst nightmare. When someone imitates us, it’s supposed to be flattering, but when someone imitates our body of work it can become angering, fast.
The unfortunate thing about success is that it breeds plenty of copycats. When people like your product, they will sometimes try to revamp or improve it to make money from your idea. When people like your content, they’ll sometimes take it and plug it into their own website. When people see a marketing strategy that works, they’re bound to try their hand at a similar method. It’s unfortunate, but it does happen.

Copycatting is annoying, but it happens. If you’re in business for yourself, the likelihood is that you’ll come up against this issue at one time or another. So, what should you do if you feel that you’re being plagiarized enough to take action?

Start Small

The best way to handle this type of conflict is to address it directly, wherever possible. This works in two ways; it makes you identify whether or not you truly believe you’re being copycatted, and it makes you more real to the perpetrator. Reach out and express your concern; explain the trials and tribulations that you have faced in designing your strategy, and offer some advice for someone just starting out. Ask the copycat respectfully to alter their course, and hope for cooperation.

Going Above The Copycat

When the plagiarism or copycatting is obvious and undeniable, and direct contact has no impact, the time may be upon you to go above their head. The next step with any online copyright infringement is to contact the host. Send a quick note to shed some light on the situation that you’re in and ask for the host’s help in convincing your copycat to cease. The host has far more leverage than you do.

If nothing else works, it may be time to consider talking to a lawyer. Keep in mind that plagiarists are plagiarists through and through and they’ve likely poached the work of others as well. If you can find other victims and form an alliance, you may get further in your journey to have your content pulled. Being plagiarized is extremely frustrating, and for more information on how you can protect yourself, http://www.plagiarismtoday.com is a great resource.

What is creativity? It’s the ability to come at an old problem from a new angle. It’s about being able to entice people to buy your products or services by breaking down perceived barriers. It’s an act of translating ideas into innovation. It’s no wonder, when we look at creativity from this perspective, that the most creative campaigns and companies have now become the most successful.

For a long time, those with creative minds were considered to be subpar entrepreneurs. It was almost as though creative people were destined to a life of being employed by someone else. Today, things have changed. With companies making huge strides in the now viral field of creativity, there is not just a hope for creative folk in the business world, but an expectation of being able to think outside the box in production as well as marketing.

The internet and other new technology have changed the face of business for the better. Highly creative, engaging, customer focused campaigns have become the norm, meaning that there’s a need for creative leadership within companies in the market today. This means that entrepreneurs need to work towards creative campaigns, but also that business-owners would do well to pay attention to the creative ideas of their employees.

Being able to recognize a brilliantly creative idea is the first step to successfully launching a creative platform, but the buck doesn’t stop there. After you’ve caught wind of an innovative idea, you have to find a way to channel that idea and make it a reality. This takes a special kind of creativity of its own, but it can lead to brilliant business results.
There’s an inclination shared by most business owners in the creative world today; they want to become market leaders, but many are afraid to take the risks necessary to do so. It’s scary going out on a limb, but when it comes to translating creativity into profit, trailblazing is a must. Risks need to be taken in order to see rewards from your creative mind, or the ideas of your staff and colleagues. Timing is often the difference between a successful creative campaign and one that falls short.

No matter which line of work you’re in, it’s easier to be successful when you’ve got a support net that you can lean on. For many, finding those with similar interests and experiences makes all the difference in getting through the harder times, and celebrating the great ones. You may have heard business people talk about finding a tribe, and a circle of support falls into the same kind of an idea. When you’re an entrepreneur it becomes especially important to create a core group of people with similar business values that you are able to lean on and learn from. The question is, where do you find them?

A circle of support is a mutually beneficial relationship that allows members to come together and help reach goals. How often you meet is completely up to you, and may be dependent upon your members and your current goals. Circles don’t have to consistently be the same, and can shift as your situations do.

To create your own circle of support, first you must get an idea of who to include. It’s likely that you already have a network of people that you lean on personally, but this group is going to be a little different. You’re going to want to put together a circle of people with expertise in business, or in a particular field. After you’ve decided who you want to gather, you have to pitch the idea. This is important, because you’re representing your idea and making a lasting impression. You have to convince your peers that they want to be involved, and show them the benefits that they stand to see by doing so.

A circle of support is a planned meeting of the minds with the intention of brainstorming and learning. Together, your circle of support will work through business challenges, profit stalls and other common business problems. You will learn from and celebrate one another’s triumphs, while also creating deeper connections within your industry.

Isn’t life all about creating boundaries? You need boundaries with your friends, boundaries with your children and boundaries when it comes to your business. As a business-owner, it’s tempting to hoard opportunity. You want to get experience! You want to get your name out into the marketplace. You want to be seen and cater to people who are clients or have the potential to one day be clients. In some ways, this is a clever approach to business, but if you’re not careful it can quickly slip into a matter of entrepreneurial suicide.
Let’s get this out of the way, shall we? You cannot be everything to everyone. You can’t take on every invitation. You can’t do it all. It’s tempting to try, but this is not the way lasting growth is made. So, now that we understand that, why not take a look at how saying ‘no’ can actually be a blessing in disguise.

Don’t Lose Focus

When we say yes to everything, we become strained. When we’re strained, a few things happen to our business. First of all, we begin to dread getting up

every day because we know how much work there is on our plate. We become discouraged when the work that we’re doing rules our life and doesn’t actually deliver us closer to our goals. We lose our focus, drive and passion, and it happens fast. Saying ‘no’ to things that aren’t directly beneficial will ensure that you have the time and energy for the things that will directly aid you in success.

Identify What Works

Before you know what to decline and what to accept, take a step back and evaluate the events that you’ve seen as successes. Which events led to new clients? Which undertakings produced measurable results? Once you know which things work for your business, you can develop a list of criteria for future acceptance.

Practice Makes Perfect

Saying ‘no’ isn’t easy at first, which is probably why you’re tempted to avoid it. Still, like most things, saying ‘no’ will become easier with practice. Design yourself a quick two sentence decline, thanking the invite for the opportunity and asking them to consider you again in the future when opportunities arise. Becoming a master of this decline is an excellent way to make a good, albeit different impression on other entrepreneurs and marketers. You establish yourself as someone who values their time and who gives great consideration to your business, which is an admirable quality.

By shaking up your approach to your career, you will find new and innovative ways to keep yourself from growing bored, and you’ll also see your business improving in the long run.Keeping momentum and motivation in your small business are often two of the biggest challenges that an entrepreneur faces on a daily basis. When your heart isn’t in your company, your clients know it. Your sales will begin to fall, which leads to an even bigger lack of motivation. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest from the trees when it comes to inspiring growth, but it’s important to take steps towards rejuvenating your love for the craft when your motivation starts to slip. If you’re finding yourself trapped in a place of listlessness or even bordering resentment, there are some important steps that you should take to get active in your business.

Look Backwards

You’re in this to win this; you want to be successful. Yet, losing your motivation hurts those chances for success by dragging you down. Take some times to look back on your past successes. These are the things that will motivate you most, because they will remind you how good you can be. Focusing on these achievements will serve to get you back on track and guide your way into success once again.

Try Something New

A lack of motivation very often comes from a place of becoming stagnant. When you allow yourself to get too set in a daily routine, there’s a possibility that you will lose your passion for your career. Stir things up a bit! Take a new approach to an old problem. See how you can alter your perspective and come at your problems from a new angle.

Challenge Yourself

In the same way that routine can get boring and cause you to become unmotivated, so can a lack of challenging problems in your daily workload. Set goals for yourself, whether small or large, and ensure that you work towards meeting each one. Spend your work hours creating steps of action which get you on track to be successful in your goals.