In a lot of ways, owning and operating an online business isn’t much different from owning and operating a traditional, brick-and-mortar business. You still have laws and rules to follow, you still have customers whose trust you have to earn, and you still have to establish and maintain an ethical standard.

Unfortunately, many feel the Internet allows them to bend those rules and shirk those ethical responsibilities. In reality, ethics are just as important with an online business, if not more so.

While there’s no need here to get into a philosophical debate about what “ethics” are and where they come from, ethics are the standards of behavior that govern society. While some standards are set by companies and individuals, some ethics are generally accepted as “true” or “right” in certain societies. And while there are ethical people who struggle to get by and unethical people who seem to be ridiculously successful, maintaining an ethical business and having ethical interactions with customers is a good indicator of the success of a business.

So how do you maintain an ethical standard online? Not much different than how you would do it offline.

When it comes to customers, you have a responsibility – first and foremost – to treat them and their information with respect. This means not using their private information for anything other than what was intended, and not trying to deceive them with offers that end up being too good to be true or scamming them into your business.

It’s also important to be upfront and honest about your products and services; don’t hide anything in the fine print or give false claims about what a product is capable of.  You won’t be able to build up the trust of your customers you have low-quality products or sub-par service.

And while you may think, “Oh, it’s just one customer; how much harm could they do?” in the online world, they can do a lot of harm. If they’ve been wronged and can prove there was any illegal behavior, they can have your website shut down. They can also post about your business and their experience on various complaints websites.

Running an unethical business will also put strain on your ability to build trust with other businesses you may work with – distributors, clients, etc. If you’re unable to establish a positive, ethical relationship with them, they will likely not have any desire to maintain the relationship.

Running an ethical business takes more than establishing a set of business rules and hanging them on the wall; I’m sure Enron had a handbook of ethics on file. You also have to live and encourage those rules, and build a culture that supports an ethical business. Avoid the tendency to find loopholes or gray area, because it will only come back to hurt you.

But there is one thing that can hold you back that you have complete power to overcome. In many cases, a negative attitude can make you your own worst enemy. Getting rid of negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones will do wonders to help you succeed.

But how can you cultivate a winning positive attitude? It can be difficult to see the good in stressful situations, and it’s important to be realistic about the way things are. Here are a few things you can do to improve your overall positivity while maintaining a healthy level of realism.

(Learn to) Love What You Do.
If you’re happy with your job overall, maintaining a positive attitude at work will come more naturally. However, if you’re less than satisfied with your current job, it will come as more of a challenge. Too many people think keeping a positive attitude means pretending things are going well when they’re not, but pretending has very little to do with it. Find things you like about your job, even if it’s difficult. Find one reason for looking forward to going to work, then build on that. You can learn to love your job even if it isn’t where you’d ultimately like to end up, and improving your attitude is the first step to doing so.

Deal with Problems Early to Avoid Stress.
Often, a negative attitude is simply caused by stress and can be prevented by keeping calm. Take initiative to anticipate possible challenges and resolve them ahead of time. Taking care of difficulties before they become crises will reduce stress in the long run and help you keep a more positive outlook on life.

Cut the Complaining.
It’s easy to think of things that are wrong with your company, but positivity fosters solutions. If other people report to you, consider instigating a rule that employees are invited to discuss problems with you only if they have a proposed solution. If you aren’t in a managerial position, make this rule for yourself. Coming up with solutions to problems will help you and others cut down on complaining and will make your business more solutions-driven.

Be Grateful.
This is perhaps one of the simplest tips for becoming more positive but also one of the most effective. By definition, negative people are those who look for reasons to be dissatisfied with things. Positive people notice the good. Show appreciation to your co-workers, your boss, those who report to you, your customers and your family. Pay attention to the things they do and praise them for a job well done. This simple habit will do a lot to help you be more positive at home and in the workplace, and as a result, you will likely find more success.

Breanna Olaveson is a professional writer and editor and has been featured in various magazines, including Utah Valley BusinessQ, Utah Valley Magazine, Liahona, Ensign and MainStreet. She has a B.S. in communications and continues to write about business, entrepreneurship, marketing, success, lifestyle and more. Breanna is currently working with Professional Marketing International helping entrepreneurs reach their goals.

Here are a few tips to follow when collecting and posting testimonials:

• Ask your supplier for testimonials. Many times they will have a list of testimonials that their customers have sent to them about their products. If your supplier allows it, you could post a few of these testimonials on your website until you can gather your own.
• Gather product-specific testimonials from your supplier or manufacturer. These work great on product category pages.
• Make sure you have permission before posting someone’s testimonial.
• Consider adding a comments section, such as forum, to your website to encourage positive feedback. Make sure you can review the posts before publishing them on your site so you can weed out negative or abusive posts.
• When a customer orders a product from your website, make sure to send them an email requesting a testimonial. Try to include this in an email you already intend to send. For example, if you send out a tracking information email, mention that you would appreciate any feedback regarding their experience ordering from your website.
• You might provide an incentive, such as a coupon, for a customer’s time spent in providing feedback.
• Always have a note on the bottom of the email that says something like, “By responding to this email, you authorize (yourdomain.com) to use your comments on our website.”

In addition to building customer trust and loyalty, testimonials are also helpful when it comes to your SEO efforts. By regularly adding to and updating the testimonials on your site, you are creating fresh content. Also, the testimonials will be relevant to your site content. In this way, testimonials meet two of the biggest things search engines are looking for: freshness and relevancy.

Breanna Olaveson is a professional writer and editor and has been featured in various magazines, including Utah Valley BusinessQ, Utah Valley Magazine, Liahona, Ensign and MainStreet. She has a B.S. in communications and continues to write about business, entrepreneurship, marketing, success, lifestyle and more. Breanna is currently working with Professional Marketing International helping entrepreneurs reach their goals.

Many people start a business in hopes of making a lot of money, wanting to “strike it rich.” That’s a very good reason to start a business, as it is the most time tested and proven method of achieving wealth. In fact, it would be tough to be successful in business if that was not one of the driving factors behind the endeavor. However, if it is the only motivation you have and the only way you measure whether or not your business is a success you are missing out on a lot.

Self confidence. Trying something new and taking a risk can be powerful confidence boosters, whether or not the effort succeeds. This is a valuable result of building a business that should not be disregarded or taken lightly, as it can translate into success in all areas of your life.

Tax benefits. Unless you have money to throw away, the tax advantages available to you if you own your own business can be a nice benefit. While you cannot “get back” everything you put into your business, your business can sometime result in tax savings, particularly if you work with a seasoned tax professional.

Acquiring new skills. Did you start out with minimal computer skills and eventually build your own website? Did you learn the basics of accounting? Step out of your comfort zone to begin networking? All of those skills enrich your life and your future earning potential, whether or not you continue to work for yourself.

Taking pressure off of stretched finances. Even if your business never provides enough income to live on, if it relieves some of the financial pressures your family feels each month or provides for a few luxuries you should consider it a success. Not every business “hits it out of the park” most exist to support or partially support families.

Following through on a lifelong dream. Is it something that you always said that you would do? Have you felt some guilt over breaking that promise to yourself? Unfinished business can be a drain on the human spirit. By taking the action that you’ve always talked about or dreamed about you boost your psychological energy.

Valuable information and experience for your next venture. You know what? Even if your business fails you end up with priceless data. We learn from what does not work. That is the way scientific breakthroughs are made. It is the way we learn everything from tying our shoes and riding a bike to algebra. Business is no different from the rest of life, we learn by doing and sometimes by failing. Failing is only final if we give up.

While you should never lose site of the financial rewards of owning a business, don’t only stop with counting the money. Taking time to appreciate everything you gain from your business will pay off in additional motivation and energy that you can use to keep going.

J. F. Crook is an experienced business consultant working both online and offline. Work with PMI Coaching to grow your busienss to its highest potential.

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One of the big advantages to owning your own business is that it can be a great way to help your children learn. Parenting is one of life’s most rewarding challenges, and therefore one of the most difficult. Because of this, you should definitely leverage your business as a means to teach your children some of the important lessons you want them to learn.

The ability to work smart and hard. You can help your children get ahead in life if you can help them learn both of those skills. Working hard at any job they have will set them apart from many of their coworkers. Working smart will set them apart even more.

The value of money earned. If your children can see that the money that supports the family is tied directly to the work done in the business they can gain a different perspective on spending. Children who see the effort required to obtain money are less likely to request frivolous expenditures or every new thing that comes along.

How to get along with others. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we only had to work with people we liked? As adults, we all know that sometimes it just isn’t possible to genuinely like all of the people we work with. But the work needs to get done whether or not everyone in the company likes one another. The sooner your children learn how to work with people that they don’t like the better.

Customer service skills. Guess what? Almost every business and job requires interacting with those who actually pay the bills- the customer. If your child can learn to provide good service in a pleasant manner right at the beginning of their work life it is a skill they can carry to every subsequent job they have.

Seeing you as a person, not just a parent. Children who have the opportunity to work alongside their parents in a business setting are able to see how people outside of the family interact with them and can begin to view their parents as individuals not just as an extension of themselves. This is an important part of growing up and becoming independent.

While almost all of these skills can be learned through any employment your child has, whether inside your own business or for someone else, the real value is that if your child is working with you the opportunity is there for you to guide that learning. Being able to give your child feedback while they are learning these important life lessons and shaping that education with your values is a benefit provided by your business that just might be more valuable than any money the business brings in.

J. F. Crook is an experienced business consultant working with PMI Education helping individuals learn how to accomplish their goals.

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One of the frustrating things for new online merchants, particularly those who are used to doing business in a brick and mortar world, is that of website conversions. This actually can be frustrating even for online veterans.

Here is a list of things that may seem obvious, but that a surprising number of website owners overlook.

First- Do you have complete product descriptions? Guess what folks; the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” only applies to selling products if the words are there in addition to the picture. Online, a product with little to no description is like a sales person in a brick and mortar store trying to sell without talking. And although we’ve all had times when we wished sales people would just not talk, the fact of the matter is that we do like them to answer questions when we have them. Otherwise we won’t have enough information to make our buying decision. The same thing goes on a website; our questions need to be answered in order for us to buy.

Second- Do you provide solid contact information? Nothing makes a website visitor think “fraud” like the lack of contact information. If you are only providing an email address for contact you leave potential buyers wondering if you are legitimate. Addresses and phone numbers help a shopper feel more like they are dealing with real people, not just someone trying to obtain their credit card information.

Third- Do you answer all of their questions? Potential buyers like to know what your return policies are and what courier you use for shipping. They like to know how long it will take for their purchase to arrive. They like to know about warranties and how to care for their item. Provide this information up front, not just after the order. Most shoppers hate to wait until check out to know how much shipping is going to be, or whether an item can be returned. And make sure they know that your shopping cart is secure, that their sensitive information is protected and you respect their privacy. Things like security logos and a privacy policy will go a long way in making them feel secure in doing business with you.

Online shoppers have too many options for making their purchase; you don’t want to give them an excuse for choosing another site. Review you site and make sure you answer every question or objection a potential buyer would have about your products, your business and your service. That should increase your website’s conversion rate.

J.F. Crook has been working in the online marketing industry for over 10 years, and offline marketing for over 35. You can learn more about online marketing from PMI Coaching.

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Managers may come up with dozens of reasons as to why they shouldn’t delegate a specific project – or at all – to their team members. Here are the eight myths about delegation:

- I don’t delegate because my team can’t handle the task. In reality, the reason your team may not be able to handle the task is because you haven’t delegated it to them. Assume they will succeed and they probably will. It may be rough at first, but the more involved your employees are, the more experience they will gain and the more competent they will be.

- I don’t delegate because training takes too long. Sure, it may take some extra time in the beginning, but in the long run you’ll save countless hours of time by appropriately delegating. As your team becomes accustomed to the tasks, they’ll be able to accomplish them more efficiently than you would on your own.

- I don’t delegate because they don’t do it right. This myth is twofold. One, just because they do something different doesn’t mean they aren’t doing it right. Maybe they have a valuable insight. Or two, if they’re not doing it right, it may be because they weren’t properly trained to do so.

- I don’t delegate because I don’t want to be fired. Some people worry that if everyone else is doing the work, then they’ll be considered dispensable and lose their job. In reality, being able to properly manage a team – take a more administrative role – is a valuable asset to a company and may get you a promotion.

- I don’t delegate because I like to be in control. If you have to be in absolute, full control then you probably aren’t suited for a management position (and you probably need to lighten up a bit). It’s important to trust your team and their abilities, and then train them to produce in a way that gets the job done.

- I don’t delegate because employees don’t like responsibility. This simply isn’t true (most of the time). Employees want to succeed, want to prove themselves, and want to move up in the company. Giving them a chance – and being forgiving if they mess up – will help everyone.

- I don’t delegate because everyone already has too much on their plates. The reason they have too much is because of improper management. And the reason they’re being improperly managed is likely because you’re too busy trying to do your own work. Delegating is all about efficiency and synergy. With proper delegation, you’ll be able to get more done as a team than you each would individually.

- I don’t delegate because if they mess up, I’m still responsible. While this may technically be true, there are two issues with this statement. One, you likely won’t be as responsible as you would be if you did it by yourself. And two, this is more of an indication of your inability to properly delegate and train than it is a reflection on the employee’s ability to complete the task.

So learn to delegate properly and everyone involved – you, your team, and your company – will all see the benefits.

Scott Spjut is a writer and editor who has been featured in various magazines, newspapers and websites, including Newsweek, the Washington Post, CBS News and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. With a B.A. in Communications, he continues to write on a wealth of topics – politics, health and fitness, business, marketing and more. Scott currently works with PMI helping entrepreneurs

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The Habit of Creativity
By Scott Spjut

Sometimes creativity is a lightning strike; it happens at an instant and seemingly from out of nowhere. Unfortunately, that kind of creativity is often what leads to one-hit wonders and failed movie sequels. Continued success requires habitual creativity.

This may seem counterintuitive to some. Creativity isn’t something you can force, so how can you possibly be creative every day? Keep in mind, a habit of creativity doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good outcome each and every day. It may turn out, especially at first, most days result in creations that aren’t that great, inspiring, creative, or useful. But simply going through to process of creativity can help you become more creative.

Good writers write every day. Good mathematicians do math every day. Good entrepreneurs undertake new projects every day. It’s not necessarily about the result or end product – although ending the day with something significant is nice – but it’s about the process. Getting into the habit of creativity will make you more creative.

So how do you create each day? While creativity cannot, in fact, be forced, creating a proper environment for creativity will lend itself to productivity. Here are some steps to take:

1. Set aside some time each day for creative pursuits. It can be about art, business, relationships, or anything you see fit. But be sure you stick to your schedule.

2. Once you set aside a specific time, set the minimum amount of time you’ll spend in this creative session. Going longer is always okay – especially if your creativity really happens to flourish that day – but giving yourself enough time helps solidify the process

3. Have a specific place for your creativity. Try to find a quiet, calm place. Over time, our bodies will learn to associate that certain room with creativity. This will prime your brain and make your sessions more effective.

4. Come prepared with any items you may need. You may only need a pen and paper, maybe a glass of water, but be sure you have everything you need when you sit down so you do not have to get up in the middle of your creativity.

5. Create. Just try. Go through the process. Some days will seem more successful than others, but every day you do it will be a success if only for the fact that you’re putting yourself through the process.

Spending time each day doing this will get you in the habit of creativity. You may be surprised at what you’re able to accomplish. Of course, still be aware of those lightning strikes; you can be hit with creativity at any moment (which is why you may want to consider carrying a digital recorder or pen and paper with you wherever you go). But a habit of creation will help you in all your endeavors.

Scott Spjut is a writer and editor who has been featured in various magazines, newspapers and websites, including Newsweek, the Washington Post, CBS News and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. With a B.A. in Communications, he continues to write on a wealth of topics – politics, health and fitness, business, marketing and more. He currently works with PMI Coaching helping people reach their goals.

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Do you hold off on marketing because you don’t think you have the money for it? Do you not invest the time needed to learn new skills? Do you put off hiring another person to help ease some of the work load so that you can spend more time with your family?

What does this say? One could argue that it sends the message that you don’t think you would make the money back, that you don’t think the business is capable of generating revenue. Ouch!
While we should always be careful in our spending within our business, you want to be careful that choices are dictated by actual financial realities and not by fear.

Remember, you went into business to have more in life, not less. And because you believed in yourself.