Passive Social Media growth is exciting

June 29, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Many of us are very active on social media. It has been my obsession because my SEO power depends on it. Maybe one day if I get a little smarter, people will hire me to be a consultant. I have read many blogs where the “experts” tell us to focus on one social media account and really grow it big. This makes sense. If you have ten little social media accounts, you will publish your article ten times and get hardly any clicks for your labor. But, with one big account, you can publish one post, and get a landslide of activity. This is the reality of my Facebook account. Our best post got us 1000+ clicks, and we get tons of new customers from this network! Lucky me.

I work hard on my Twitter campaign, but it has little to show. However, I just started a Google+ group for my notary directory. We are getting people coming out of the woodwork who already know us, who want to join my network. I don’t have to do much other than to just have a presence with a few posts and I get hundreds of followers.

I’m using the wisdom of Aikido which is a Japanese martial art where you use the force of your opponent against him. It is sort of a Zen principle of sorts. The same can be applied to social media. If you are unique in your industry, just be being present on a particular social channel, people will come looking for you. Let them do the work instead of you.

We started a Linked In campaign a few years ago. We didn’t promote it at all. We just added a link from our home page and we got almost 2000 followers (many are very active too) in a few years. But, we did almost nothing. Now, we are publishing really interesting articles and discussion topics and growing even more.

I’m not encouraging anyone to be lazy, but there are ways to benefit from social media while doing the minimum. These ways should not be overlooked!

Your next amazing business idea might come to you in a dream

June 28, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Innovation | Leave a comment

Do you dream much? Do you have a journal to write your dreams down? It’s hard to remember all of your dreams. But, I have a secret. If you regularly write down your dreams and try to reflect on their meaning, you will remember more of your dreams as time goes by. Your brain will develop new channels that pay attention to dreams and their interpretation and you might remember a lot more details the more attention you spend on this art.

Also See: Does your downtime make you a better business person?

The Art of Dream Interpretation
Some people go to experts to interpret dreams. There are dream dictionaries to help you as well. The thing you need to understand about dreams is that their meaning is based on symbol interpretation. A dream about a basement is not really about your basement, but it is likely to be about something in your subconscious. A dream about falling might be about some fear, anxiety or insecurity you are having. Learning a few dozen of the most common dream symbols can help you understand a lot about many of your dreams. Parts of the house, your car, animals, vehicles, foods, and parts of the body are the most common symbols. Many dream symbols can also be interpreted in more than one way, so there is no “correct” interpretation of any particular dream, although some interpretations might make more sense if you compare them to what is going on in your life, or what is going to happen!

Premonitions Come in Dreams
I have many dreams which are premonitions. I generally do not interpret them correctly. But, since I write my dreams down, I see what they meant a few days or weeks afterwards which is very interesting since dream interpretation is a meaningful past time. I once had a dream about an earthquake in China and Greece. In my dreams, China represents technology as many Asians are strong in programming and technical issues. Greece represented the boss of the programming company as he is very philosophical and great at dialogue. A week after I had this dream, my programmer quit. Incidentally, he happened to be Chinese, but that was more of a coincidence. I also have dreams about people from India, and those dreams are more about my spiritual life as spirituality is more centered around India, Tibet and Nepal in today’s world.

Business Ideas Can Also Come in Dreams
I had a dream many years ago where I was given a wonderful business idea. A Rabbi came to me in a dream and told me to meditate on business after midnight every Tuesday night. I started doing this and came up with amazing ideas. Of course the dream didn’t have any specific business ideas, but it gave me a wonderful key to unlocking amazing thoughts from within. I believe that Rabbi was a spirit who knew some of my relatives in a past life and I am very thankful that he came to me out of the blue. I had another dream where my guru appeared next to the home page of my website. The meaning of the dream was that he was helping me on a spiritual level deal with the problems in my business. He has been a great help, and I am slowly solving my worst business problems which have to do with unreliable help!

What About Your Next Business Idea?
The best business ideas often do not happen in the office. They happen when you are driving, daydreaming, swimming, talking with friends, traveling, or even sleeping. So, what is my advice to you? Work less; Sleep more! You’ll be more successful and have better business ideas as a result! And in the mean time, my best suggestion is to go and buy a journal that you use to write down your dreams and deeper thoughts. If you look back on it years later, it will be a meaningful trip down the memory lane of your most philosophical moments!

You might also like:

Think big, but start small in business!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/10/14/think-big-but-start-small-in-business/

Having a Thai side of your personality helps keep calm in business
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/11/03/having-a-thai-side-of-your-personality-helps-keep-calm-in-business/

The best thing I did as a child was my small business
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/12/03/the-best-thing-i-did-as-a-child-was-my-small-business/

What is an hour of your time worth?

June 28, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

If you knew what an hour of your time was worth, you probably wouldn’t be wasting it reading this stupid article. Or maybe you would spend an hour per day reading my brilliant articles. Hmm.

Many of us work for an hourly wage, and others work for their own business where they can calculate their income and divide it by the number of hours they have invested in their income. However, the real value of an hour of your work is more complicated than the immediate result. There are several factors you must consider when making this valuation.

Learning
If you are doing some type of work, are you learning from it? Are you learning skills that will affect the long term success and growth of your career? Or, are you just doing mindless tasks over and over the entire hour? If you are paid $15 per hour, but are learning, then the value of your time would be in excess of $15 per hour. Although it is hard to evaluate the exact long term value of the educational benefit, consider how much extra money you will be making twenty years ago if you continue learning and rise in the ranks vs. if you don’t. You might find that the value of your time might be worth more like $40 per hour when learning is factored in. Although the benefit from the learning might roll in slowly over time, the benefit could be worth hundreds of thousands if you continue learning. You can compare that value to what your money would do in the stock market if you took a higher paying job that didn’t include any learning.

Stress
I feel that my work time is worth $70 per hour based on what I am making now. Of course if I can learn to be a little more sophisticated, my time might become worth $400 per hour very quickly. I keep telling myself that in order to feel better along with multiple pats on the back. However, if I am doing something that involves stress, it really drains me and affects my mood for days to come. For stressful work, I would not want to do it unless it was worth more like $200 or more per hour as it is so distressing!

Long Term Benefits
If you are building a business and cementing ties with mentors, customers, or building a good system, you might not get paid big bucks right away. But, if you pour your love into that business, and keep it going, eventually your hard work might pay off. It is analogous to planting a tree. You might work for years growing the tree before the fruit comes, but when the fruit comes, your revenue will be generous. Base your hourly value on the harvest which might not come right away. Making this type of valuation has to be adjusted for opportunity costs, risks, and other factors. It is not easy to make long term assessments. However, the mark of a capable business person is exactly his ability to do exactly this!

Multiple Tasks Multiple Values
I do all types of things every day. I try to calculate the value of each task. I learned that each task I do has a vastly different value which is why I cut down on doing certain tasks and increased my time investments in the more valuable tasks. Of course, since I run a business, sometimes the payoff doesn’t come right away, but when it comes, it can be a landslide (which is a good thing unless you live in Malibu.)

The on hold message

June 27, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Leave a comment

What’s your on hold message? How is it helping you?
Don’t let your on hold messages be friendlier than you are.
It’s difficult when you’re competing against an artificial version of you.

(1a) If you make your on hold messages evil, then by the time you pick up the phone they’ll want to marry you compared to what they’ve been enduring on hold.

“Your call isn’t very important to us. We know your time isn’t valuable, so rest assured that someone will be with you with we fricken get around to it.”

We realize that being on hold may be boring. But, I assure you that you’re having a better time than I am. After all, I’m just a dumb machine. Would you like some on hold music, or would you prefer to listen to this rant. Enjoy this on hold message until it repeats endlessly and makes a wormhole in your head.

I know you’re on hold. So, I’m going to talk about the same things I would if I thought I had hung up, but hadn’t.
Hmmm. Is that website still down? Why’s my internet? Oh, that last customer was such an idiot. Oh, and her voice was like fingernails on a blackboard. She sounded eighty years old, and fat. Her husband must have divorced her the minute he married her. I could practically smell her breath over the phone. I really have to pee. (customer’s voice) “So go to the restroom.” Oh, are you still there? Did you hear all that? Oh my God I can’t believe I didn’t hang up? (customer’s voice) “I only heard the part about your homosexual tendencies.” (rep’s voice) “Oh my God, you heard what I was thinking too?” (customer’s voice) “I read minds. But, in your case, I just browsed.” We here at XYZ Outsourcing believe that talking about our personal lives is entertaining for customers. Please don’t let this detract from your perception of our professionalism — or our sexuality.

The world’s longest drum solo would be the worst possible way to torture your clients.

Are you patient with yourself?

June 26, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many of us go through life either slacking off, or being impatient with ourselves. I know people who are supreme slackers half the time and the other half of the time are beating themselves up. There are people who yell in traffic, and scream at their computer. They are never satisfied with how they are doing either. If you run a business, you need a clear head. Sure, you should aim for the sky, but being impatient all the time will just make you a nervous wreck.

The practice of meditation is a great way to become more patient. The results of meditation do not come overnight, so you will have to be patient. Thoughts come into your mind during meditation. Be patient with those thoughts. If you are impatient with yourself, perhaps you are impatient in general. But, it is odd that some people are super patient with some people and extremely impatient with others? Why is this? Ask them and find out!

Being reflective and introspective is another way to get a clear picture of what is going on within yourself. Additionally, you need to take time off regularly to get a mental break. Your brain cannot be on full drive twenty-four hours a day. You will come back with a new perspective if you take breaks of varying lengths. You might need a day off sometimes, or a weekend at the beach to recharge. From time to time a two week break far away will be in order to keep your perspective three dimensional!

To do well in business you need to be patient, calm and calculating. Hard work and skills will help a lot too!

What’s the relationship between workers and their boss?

June 25, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Every work relationship is different. But, certain ways of managing relationships work better than others.

I noticed that people in business go out to dinner with each other frequently. This actually improves their business relationship and productivity. It is a proven fact that people who are chummy with each other will treat each other much better in a business relationship.

Office Distance
However, employees tend to be more distant, especially the ones I have dealt with. They rarely want to go out to dinner, especially not with you. They want your money, not your dinner! They don’t want to be your friend. So, how do you handle them?

If you are too distant, they will not do good work for you. They will know you are not watching, and know their work doesn’t matter. If you are overbearing the employees will resent you. If you show favoritism for one person the others will get jealous. So, what do you do?

Office Friendships
If you are friends with your employees, that can turn against you as they will be more able to manipulate you. You will be tempted to talk about private personal things with them that you probably shouldn’t as that can get turned on you as well. The worst situation you can create at work is a romance between people of different levels. Those relationships are usually a powerful older man with a younger beautiful woman. Don’t do this! It can lead to a lot of complications and trouble.

Being in a position to fire someone
You need to always be in a position to fire someone on the spot. People tend to not do very good work these days. If you lack replacements for someone, you are stuck with them long after their work has gone down hill. If you are emotionally attached to someone, if their work goes down hill, you won’t want to fire them which is another handicap. The boss always needs to keep the upper hand, so don’t put any bindings on your hand that will inhibit your power!

Mentoring
As a boss, you need to be there to answer questions, mentor, and encourage. You need to set limits, and be an authority too. Being a nice authority who is caring, but firm seems to me to be the ideal characteristic of a boss if you want to be liked and also get things done. Too nice and the work will suffer, and too mean and you drive people away emotionally. Instead of spending time socializing, spend time mentoring, and teaching people new skills that will give them a future. Many people want a work future, and if they think you can give it to them, they will be more loyal to you which in turn gives you more power! You gain power from helping others and keeping efficiency, not by being people’s friends or being too mean!

Remember
The way you keep your relationships with those you do business with is different. If you are on the same level as a supplier, or contractor, you can be friends. In real life, that can work. Just remember that your assessment of their work is business, and friendship is friendship. Don’t let the friendship interfere with your standards for their work. But, you shouldn’t be friends with those in a lower position in your company or in other people’s companies as that tends not to work well. They resent the fact that you are above them, and workers by nature tend to be unfriendly towards management. It is a sad rule of life. But, remember, that life is like a National Geographic documentary. There are rules to the jungle, and you need to obey those rules. By the way, I have to go because a lion is chasing me. I need to remember not to run as that would identify me as prey. Hmmm. I’ll let her sniff my finger instead of running. Bye!

You lose 90% of your blog traffic by requiring membership

June 24, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I’ve seen many of my favorite blogs do this. They restrict the quantity of their blog articles you can read without getting a membership. For my absolute favorite marketing blog by Marketingprofs I stooped to the level of letting them have my email address. Yes, this way I can be on their mailing list and yes, Marketingprofs and I have both independently come to the conclusion that an email list is your most potent form of clicks to your blog.

But, how many clicks to your blog do you lose by restricting non-members from reading? You might lose 90% of your repeat traffic and perhaps a lot of retweets on Twitter by making such a restriction. Yes, a serious reader will sign up for your membership. Yes, you will get them on your newsletter which could lead to a long term relationship. But, you also lose many serious readers too. Here’s why. If you have several favorite business blogs, are you really going to sign up for ten different memberships? Most people will choose a handful of memberships for their favorite publications and skip the rest. So, if they like you but don’t love you they might never come to your blog again since you locked them out.

In the long run, I’m not sure how much more you gain by gaining a few emails at the expense of locking many people out. On the other hand, maybe the equation should be more about when you lock people out. If you let people read twenty articles per month instead of five and let them know they can come back next month, you still might be able to get a few emails, but you wouldn’t lose quite so many readers! The goal of catching emails is to have more readers, yet you lose your readers by forcing them to sign up. It is a double edged cyber-sword!

Most likely to succeed; What does that mean?

June 23, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Success | Leave a comment

Were you voted most likely to succeed in high school? Or did your friends think you were most likely to fail? The truth is that school is not at all like life. In many ways school doesn’t prepare you for life. The types of things that are important in life are relationships, marriage, being a good parent, work skills, and getting along with those at work, health, spirituality, and enjoying yourself. How many schools teach the principles of child-rearing or how to pick a good spouse? Sex-ed maybe, but not the other useful skills. I always joke that the only useful classes I took in Junior High that gave me information I actually was able to use were typing, and sexual education (scared me more than it taught me, especially when we got to the part about AIDS — yikes.)

I had a friend who did really well at school. He even studied at Harvard extension. But, in life, he couldn’t hold a job. His inability to relate to people and commit to developing a career got in his way. I did particularly poorly at school, but had the passion to start a business and succeed. So, although in high school I was not someone who others thought would succeed, I did anyway!

I think that we need to lead ourselves in many ways as school doesn’t know what we really need. Try to challenge yourself daily to deal with your weak points. What are you worst at that will limit you in your future? Do you think you should work at that? I think you should make a list of things you are bad at or don’t like to do that limit your success and work at those. Are you bad at relating to people? Maybe it is time to start meeting more people. Are you bad at organizing your time? Start working at that — at a time that is convenient for you of course. Are you timid around authorities? Start hanging around with professors, police officers, and others in high places (even if they don’t want you around.) It is hard to know what we need to succeed, but I can guarantee you that school will not furnish you with what you need other than some boring math and history classes. Good luck!

Expand your reading base & your social network

June 22, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged | Leave a comment

If you visit the same accounts on social media over and over again and retweet only from those sources, your social media profile will get stale. Your followers want to see new content from new sources. Sure, your old and steady might offer generally interesting and relevant articles, but you need to spice it up a bit. Additionally, if you only read from the same sources, your frame of reference will become very limited.

Challenges to social media diversity
I use many social media channels and have done well on several of my handles. However, the battle has not been easy. My favorite social media channel is Twitter because it offers immediate results and can be grown very quickly if you have the right skills. To get a huge following, you have to follow and unfollow several thousand accounts per week. The problem with this is that your inbox will get filled with junk. There is no way to screen all of the people you follow except by scanning over their profile wording to see if they have any relevant keywords such as “marketing” or a business name (both of which create desirable followers for my main account on Twitter.)

Filtering my inbox
Every day, I spend a minute or two in my Twitter inbox unfollowing people who tweet boring content. I want to see content that I might want to read or retweet, otherwise you get canned! This process doesn’t take that long if you do it daily, but the result is excellent. I am now able to find a high percentage of quality articles and great photos in my inbox, and I get over a hundred new ones every minute! You snooze you lose! I normally retweet business and marketing articles from Inc., MarketingProfs, Entrepreneur, and other well known names. But, sometimes I get some very unusual and interesting content in my inbox which I have shared and gotten many favorites on. To get this type of successful diversity takes work, but the work pays off!

Other ways to diversify your reading
Many of the blogs with a smaller audience have weak materials. But, sometimes you can get some unusual point of view by browsing around. Additionally, by looking up keywords on Twitter, you can find accounts you don’t normally read, or unheard of people with viral content in your interest range. That is the perfect opportunity to read some content from new sources which might not only be new, but might be popular as well.

Your social network
Forget about social media and lets focus on live socializing. Most of us tend to talk to the same people over and over again. Ideas are stale and conversations can be like a broken record player. If we branch out, we normally talk to the same types of people we are comfortable. But, to grow as a person, you need to talk to people you don’t normally talk to. So, why not talk to some strangers at a comedy club, a bar, or on the bus? Why not exchange ideas with them? Normally they will be very boring (if they live in Los Angeles) but, you will eventually meet someone with some wacky ideas that will help you be a more broadminded person. If you meet a lot of people and exchange a lot of ideas that will help you be a blog writer or innovator. But, the two are really the same as a blog writer has to innovate ideas and strategies for making their blog popular!

What can you do?
Use the keyword search on Twitter and other social media platforms. Filter your inbox and read what the “smaller” bloggers are saying. Try some new and related keywords that you researched too. That way you can expand your interest. And if all else fails, try allsup.com and see what Guy Kawasaki recommends!

What advantage does a new entrepreneur have over someone with 10 years experience?

June 21, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Startups | Leave a comment

I remember when I was just starting out. I was so enthusiastic, and so hard working. I remember working seventy hours a week. I worked until it hurt. I slowed down a few years later as I couldn’t take it anymore. I watched each aspect of my business very carefully as I was concerned with everything. Although I lacked skill, I was so adament about everything I did, that my endeavors went well. I remember having trouble getting others to get things done, but I bugged the hell out of them until they accomplished their tasks. I remember financial risks I took, but I managed those risks so carefully, that I never lost big.

These days I am a lot smarter, and have a lot more experience. However, I make tons of mistakes just because I am too busy to watch everything I am doing with the same level of carefulness as before. When I was just starting out, I was so careful to make sure nothing went wrong. Just a week ago, I had a failed data migration that cost me a few hundred in lost labor. Sure, the cost won’t kill me, but the fact that I didn’t oversee the project with the carefulness that it deserved showed me something. I need to be a lot more on top of things, and that means managing my time better. I need to make priorities more as I am so busy.

Another thing that bothers me about my level of experience is that I have had so many different social media helpers, that I have become more complacent when their work doesn’t measure up. When I was first starting out, I wanted to make sure I got my money’s worth from everyone I hired. As I got more used to particular companies, and individuals, I let them have a lot of slack. I feel I am paying for that slack. Sometimes it is good to hire lots of new people, because people often behave better when they are new, and then start slacking off four to twelve months later. This is a very realistic and unpleasant fact about hiring people!

Looking back, I think it is definitely better to have the spirit of a brand new inexperienced entrepreneur and mix it with the experience and knowledge you have as an older person. If you have lost that new entrepreneur spirit. Try to gain it back. Try to relive your earlier moments if you can remember them. Try to rethink some of those thoughts you had as you were very short on money. Remember, when you first started your business, everything was new to you. As someone more experienced, most of what you are working on is old, and you only hire new people from time to time. When you were just starting, everyone was new and everything was new. Get that new feeling back into you!

Do you hire for social, technical or organizational skills.

June 20, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Hiring & Firing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

After assessing my new helpers’ skills, I see that hiring is not so simple. To be a good worker, you need to be strong in many types of skills. I hire people to do phone work which involves a lot of interaction skills. Americans tend to be best at interaction although many back offices tend to attract those who aren’t. However, the other skills such as showing up on time, knowing how to keep information straight, or understanding technical terms can get in the way.

Keeping it Straight
The types of jobs I hire for do not have a pool of ready-trained people. I rely on people who know nothing, but learn fast. I am more interested in tracking your learning curve and attitude that seeing what you already know. For the last year and a half I have been training a lady who learns fast. After three coaching sessions she can master any of the tasks that I have her do even better than I can do them. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the time to put in the hours I require, but at least she can get the job done. I hired another person who gets very upset whenever she has to learn anything new that she doesn’t understand. Any time there is a small confusion, she blows her top. Working with me involves a lot of changes in pace, and there are always new things to learn. I am not an expert at training people as I only train one new person every 18 months. I am good at what I do daily, but not good at what I do year-and-half-ly. Can’t my trainees just understand that I can’t possibly foresee every possible situation that they might be in or every possible word a client might use with them that might be hard to understand? Just write down your questions and ask. When in doubt, have the client email me. Solutions to unforeseen problems are easy, so why get upset?

Technical Understanding
But, some people can learn technical terms well, and understand technical situations well while others remain confused for the rest of their lives. I had to teach many people about loan documents. Most people cannot keep track of the various attributes of the various documents. They always get the documents confused. Unfortunately, if you are giving tests on loan document knowledge, you need to know the basics, otherwise you can’t give the test!

Organization
Then there are others who can’t display their data in an organized fashion. The commas are never where they are supposed to be. Nothing lines up. Unnecessary information is always added, and critical information is systematically omitted. If I am reading a report, you will be wasting my time if the information is not orderly, and complete.

Assessment
If you hire new people, you might be very smart to test them on organizational skills before you officially hire them. Have them do some small projects. See if they actually finish the project without whining about if they are going to get paid. See if the data is arranged properly in a data output assignment. See if they can handle snags during customer service phone calls. Train them on technical terms and see if they can get them straight after an hour or two of training without getting upset. Most people cannot handle a task that is technical and that involves organizational and social skills. Some people might be good in one department or the other, but to line up all three in a row is hard to find. One solution is to simplify the types of jobs you give to others so that anybody can do it. That simplifies the hiring process and makes it easier to outsource work too. Idiot-proofing is one of the best strategies a business can have if you have trouble finding people who can be as smart as you!

A good organization has people who take charge without being overbearing

June 19, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

There are different management styles out there. Some managers are very pushy. Others are more moderate. While some are slackers and aren’t really paying attention. There are manager who pretend to be paying attention, and others who make their rounds to show people they are being watched. There are really many aspects to being a manager. Figuring out how to allocate scarce resources, time, space, and deciding who will do what, and when. Figuring out marketing strategies, and financial strategies are part of the deal as well.

Be a friend
What managers need to know is that managing people involves many components. You have to be their friend, but not be too friendly. If you are too friendly, and you develop too many ties that make it complicated to control them. If you are not friendly enough you have distance, and people will not do their best work if they don’t feel close to them. If you are too close, you might talk about personal things which could develop later on into conflicts or complications in your relationship not to mention office politics, jealousy, and other trouble.

Be a mentor
You need to help people at work too. If you are always helping people, especially the new people, you will be appreciated and valued. People might look up to you for your skills as well. When you are helpful, but not too critical, that is wonderful. People will feel more comfortable working for you if they know that support is around every corner.

Be appreciative
Remember that a good manager needs to criticize from time to time. But, criticism is not normally well received unless there is a relationship of support, trust and appreciation. If an employee is so horrible that you can’t appreciate them, fire them. But, for the others, there needs to be at least five meaningful good things you say to them for every criticism. If an employee feels appreciation, they will do better work for you, take criticism better, and stick with your company longer too.

Be watchful
Employees tend to do more when they are being regularly watched. I like to call people who work remotely once a week to let them know I am watching. When I call it is very casual and we just do reviews about what they have been doing, or I ask them a few quick questions. If your employees work in the same building, make your rounds and pay attention to what they are doing. If they know that you know what they are up to, their efforts will be more genuine! The minute someone doesn’t want to be in communciation with you or evades you in any way, that is a sign that you should end that work relationship. The work will go downhill the minute they start evading you. I have seen this happen around ten times in my career. The problem is that you need a replacement before they start evading you so that you can fire them on the spot.

Be allocative (allocate work)
Figure out who is going to do what. See how well everyone does each task and have lots of people trained on each task you need done. Whomever does a particular task best is someone you should consider giving the most of a particular task. But, you always need backups in case that star employee is needed on some other more pressing work, or in case they quit!

Be authoritative
People need to know that you have deadlines in writing and enforce those deadlines. People need to know you have standards too. The minute you cut people slack, 90% of them will take advantage. If you work with people who possess a solid work ethic, you will be okay being lax, but for the rest of the human population, you need to show some authority! You can’t just fire someone for missing a deadline, or making a few small mistakes. But, they should get points every time they do something wrong. If you get too many points in a particular quarter, then it is time to get demoted or fired!

Be underbearing
Bosses who are overbearing might think they are taking control and gaining respect. This is not how it works. Respect is gained through many means. People might respect you because you are nice, rich, or have it all together. They might respect you because you dress impeccably, or take charge. But, you can be very in charge without raising your voice. Many bosses with smooth ships are always very polite and nice. They make it clear that you do what they say, but they are nice how they say it. There might be times in your career when you need to be overbearing. And there might be particular individuals who are stubborn who only respond to this type of behavior. Personally, I don’t like it and many others feel the same way. On the other hand, my attitude is cultural, and in other countries like India, bosses yell at their employees, treat them like servants — and the employees respond well to this. In India, adapting to more gentle ways of management might be difficult, and might not even work well. It is hard to say. But, as a manager in India, you can at least try to do more in the departments of being watchful without over doing it, being appreciative without being fake, being friendly, and being a good mentor.