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Marketing Tip from Rebecca L. Plankey
Your Personal Board of Directors
It's that time of year when we reflect on the past twelve months and set new goals for the coming year. Often we write New Year's resolutions that we never attain, making us feel unaccomplished early on. I am not a believer in annual resolution writing, rather I believe in a continual process of growth and goal setting. Why not set a new goal in June to accomplish before December? Who said you can't?
If you are like me, it's more about the process and journey with which you accomplish those goals. The people you meet and the new things you learn make success that much sweeter. The key is staying on task; and having a team of mentors to guide you along the way gives you the accountability you need to do so. I recently read a post on Entrepreneur.com that listed the "5 Mentors Every Entrepreneur Should Have." These mentors consist of a couple of friends and a few colleagues:
1. The friend who knew you before you started your business - this person will ground you and remind you, that no matter your success, don't forget to live the life you want to!
2. The peer who has a similar skill set - or several peers...they can provide words of encouragement on those tough days and help you celebrate your victories no matter how big or small.
3. The peer who has an opposite skill set - this person will help you stretch your learning into new areas and make you a well-rounded business person.
4. The colleague you don't enjoy - as an entrepreneur you have to face many uphill battles - whether you are justifying your idea, selling investors or managing staff - learning to accept honest feedback and constructive criticism is a vital part of being successful. Practice this by developing relationships that are not easy at first.
5. The friend who always saw you as an entrepreneur - this friend will always have your back and never make it okay for you to quit. This friend is your personal cheerleader.
If you are not an entrepreneur think about how having a team of mentors could benefit your career or life. I personally like to think of this group of people as my "Personal Board of Directors." So the question to ask is this, "Who would be on your Board?"
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Technology Tip from Summer F. Bell
SME Web Portal
There are many new ways to transfer data from one computer to another. We can email files, copy data to CDs or flash drives or send them through file exchange servers. SME now has a great way to safely transfer data to and from the client, the SME Web Portal. You may have heard us discussing this with you or mentioning it as an option. We find it to be a safer way to send confidential information to you and for you to safely upload and transfer information to us. There are many examples of when this would be a useful tool:
- Sending copies of tax returns
- Uploading large QuickBooks file that you are not able to email. The portal can handle larger files.
- Sending us confidential information needed to prepare your tax return
- Uploading any type of file whether it is Excel, Word documents, PDFs, etc.
Portal access can easily be setup for you by our office. We only need only email address and we will assign you a password. You can change the password after your initial login. Anytime you need us to send you a confidential document, we would simply upload the file to the portal and you would be able to access it from anywhere, at any time. You can them download the document to your own computer and save, print, or email it.
Going forward, you may be asked if you would like us to setup Portal access for you, if you don't already have access. Please consider this as an option. It is a safer and faster way for us to send information to you and for you to send information to us. Even if you only use it once a year, the documents that are on the portal will remain there until they are removed by either you or our office. If later you are not able to remember your password, the Portal also has a "Forgot Your Password" feature.
Please consider this as an option and let us know if you have any questions.
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