Business Relationship Strategies for new Entreprenuers

Just because you are an entrepreneur, or work in a startup, you can’t ignore the rules of building and maintaining relationships. Many despise these experiences in corporate environments, and leave for a startup, only to find that they have to be able to navigate a similar minefield there of workplace and business relationships to be successful.

Jan Yager, Ph.D., an author and speaker on this and related subjects, outlines in her latest book “Productive Relationships: 57 Strategies for Building Stronger Business Connections.” From my experience and hers, here are ten top relationship strategies for people in startups:

1. Create a favorable first impression. You only get one chance for a first impression. Don’t miss an opportunity for face-to-face communication, where you can use body language that welcomes relating, estimated at over 50% of all communication. Limit the use of e-mail and texting for early interactions, where you miss the body language.
2. Avoid negative personality types. By recognizing negative personality types, like the control freak, the blameless type, the idea thief, and the entitled, you will have a better chance of not taking his or her behavior personally. Avoid associating with them.
3. Proactively form relationships with positive types. These are the people who will help you to thrive and prosper. They include real mentors, facilitators, visionaries, motivators, and negotiators. Of course, it still pays to keep your eyes open and carry your own weight.
4. Find a way to motivate others to want to get along with you. Understand your own agenda, and figure out the agenda of others, hidden or obvious, to make it a win-win relationship. How can you appeal to others on an emotional level to work together?
5. Reexamine your attitude toward conflict. Some conflict is inevitable. The key is how to deal effectively with it. Recognize points of view, respond to what happened, resolve what needs to be resolved, and reflect on the lessons learned. Then move on.
6. Deal with the “back-off” before it turns antagonistic. Rather than have a confrontation, someone backs off. You can’t make someone want to deal with you, but you can try to increase their motivation to deal with you – like getting together for lunch, or trying to communicate in another way.
7. Benefit from harsh feedback about your work. Receiving criticism is never easy. Try some recovery techniques, like taking a deep breath, give yourself time, and look at the issue from their perspective. Keep your initial response short and sweet and in control.
8. Cope with the “lonely at the top” syndrome. One of the prices that you pay for being a CEO is giving up a lot of the social relationships within the company. There is a line beyond which you cannot go. You cannot compromise what is right for the company just to be liked. Join associations, or rely on your family for support and feedback.
9. Say goodbye, if leaving is the best option. Sometimes it’s better to just move on, rather than endure extended pain. Even if you cannot quit this instant, you can at least start looking for a new job. Be proactive in planning for your next position.
10. Use social networking to improve your work relationships. Savvy workers at all levels are using these sites to develop and strengthen their business relationships as well as to reconnect with previous business connections. Make your own luck by giving and seeking referrals.

Compounding these strategies in today’s startup environment are two divergent concepts: a heightened degree of competitiveness, and a greater emphasis on teamwork. This means you need even more emphasis on effectively engaging others, and learning to deal effectively with potentially negative work relationships.
The startup world of the past, run by a couple of autocrats, no longer works. To succeed in today’s collaborative, customer-driven, networked economy, requires real business relationship efforts by everyone involved. No matter where you are in the spectrum, there is no time like the present to kick it up a notch.

POLISHED PEBBLES FUNDRAISER HIGHLIGHTS GREAT WORKS OF WOMEN AND BUSINESSES THAT MAKE CHICAGO A BRIGHTER PLACE FOR YOUTH

CHICAGO, IL - June 27, 2013 - On June 20th, Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring program "partied with a purpose" at the organization's annual fundraiser at The Wild Hare. Established to provide girls (7 -17 yrs. old) with the opportunity of learning the vital life skill of effective communication, the Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Group is changing the lives of girls throughout the Chicagoland area through the power of mentor-ship. The event this year not only generated funding to finance the efforts of Polished Pebbles, but also encouraged event patrons to devote their time, skills, and talents to the development of youth throughout the city of Chicago.

CBS Chicago's Derrick Young hosted the event and gave a rousing introduction of Polished Pebbles founder, Kelly Fair.


 Kelly, who holds degrees in speech pathology from both Howard University and the University of Iowa, started Polished Pebbles in 2009. "Polished Pebbles is my dream come true. I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with young women everyday and I have been able to watch them evolve into polished leaders in their schools and communities. As they have grown, I have grown as well. We empower each  other as we grow together.
 

Keena Gilliam of Bloomingdale’s makes remarks before accepting the Tony Shaw Business of the Year Award from Founder Kelly Fair

Chicago Blues the Father of American Rock and Roll

Maxwell Street is significant to the history of blues not just because music was performed there, but because music was created there. Beginning in the 1920s, Maxwell Street was the first stopping place for thousands of African-Americans newly arrived from the Mississippi Delta. There, the newcomers could hear established city musicians, and vice-versa. This continuous interaction over the course of several decades produced, in the period immediately following the Second World War, what is usually called Chicago Blues, but which could just as easily be called "The Maxwell Street Blues." Where in previous decades, recorded Delta Blues had been modified to fit the popular song styles of the day, on Maxwell Street it was left raw and simply amplified, both in volume and dramatic intensity. Musicians introduced amplification intensity at unheard of volumes too stand out above others. When recorded, the result became not only the dominant form of blues, but radically changed the emerging sound of rock and roll. The sound of bands like the Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin and many others came about when English teenagers tried to duplicate the music of Maxwell Street Bluesmen.

Black man as founder of the city of Chicago!

Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable (1745-1818) Here is an artist's recreation of the house of at the junction of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan which was the home of Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable.

He was the first person to permanently settle and irrigate Chicago, then a land called Eschikago or 'land of wild onions' by the semi-nomadic Potawatomi tribe. Du Sable was born on the Island of Haiti. His Father was a French Sea Captain and his mother an ex-slave. Du Sable was educated in France before settling in America with his Native American bride, Catherine. Du Sable went on to be a successful pioneer and entrepreneur establishing the first permanent trading post on the Chicago River in 1779. He was officially recognized in 1968 by the State of Illinois for having been the Founder of Chicago

KIDS IDOL GOSPEL SHOW

#GOSPEL #CHICAGO

BRIJ Fund, NFP is a startup organization dedicated to capturing the stories and work of individuals, organizations, and businesses doing extraordinary work to advance disenfranchised American communities of color #BRIJFUND #COMMUNITY #BLACKCHICAGO

Real Estate REHAB and RENOVATION Heros