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#Strategy: 50 Free Ways To Increase Your #Facebook Page Likes…This Article will Walk you Through 50 Effective & Free Ways to Increase your #Facebook Page Likes.

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There are now an estimated 40 million #Companies & Small Businesses using #Facebook to promote their brand and connect with their customers. If you’re managing marketing for one of these businesses, you already know how hard it is to attract new “#Likes” to your page.

But while it can be a challenge to increase your page likes, making the effort is undoubtedly worthwhile: one researcher has estimated the average value of a single Facebook fan at $174. While this number obviously varies depending on the business and industry, there’s no doubt that capturing the attention and loyalty of your target audience on Facebook is important.

Most marketers know how to increase Facebook page likes through Facebook’s paid ad platform, but there are plenty of ways to grow your likes without spending any money. This article will walk you through 50 effective and free ways to increase your Facebook page likes. Some of these strategies will focus on increasing your organic post reach – because the more your posts get liked and shared, the more your reach and visibility increase. And ultimately, this is what will lead to the organic growth of your page.

1. Use images as a regular part of your content strategy. Despite what you may have heard, captivating and relevant images can still be a great way to increase engagement and reach on your page and posts.

2. The most common reason people unlike a brand page is because their posts are uninteresting. Keep more of the fans you already have by posting engaging content that meets the needs of your audience. See “How to Write More Exciting Content for Your Industry.”

3. Use Facebook’s Page Plugin (formerly Like Box) on your website or blog. A like button next to your blog posts is great for getting your content shared, but the Page Plugin will help you boost your page likes.

 

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4. Engage with other pages in your niche. Regularly leave thoughtful comments in response to other people’s posts. Make sure you’re commenting as your page rather than from your personal profile.

5. Promote your page on your other social media accounts. A simple ‘Like us on Facebook’ is unlikely to work. However, occasionally pointing your Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections to discussions happening on your page just might.

6. Contests are still a great way to entice people to like your page. Promote your contest on your site and to your email list, and make liking your page a contest requirement.

7. Reference your Facebook page on your blog. Draw attention to an interesting discussion happening on your Facebook page by mentioning it in a blog post.

8. Post multiple images. Some research suggests posting albums (as opposed to single images) may lead to increased reach.

9. Keep your promotional content to a minimum. Some experts suggest 80/20 – Posting non-promotional content 80% of the time and promotional content 20% of the time. This number will vary depending on your business, so see what works best with your audience.

10. In the About section of your personal profile, link to your Facebook page as your place of employment.

11. Keep your posts short and sweet. Some research seems to suggest that shorter posts (those between 100-119 characters) may result in the highest engagement. Other research suggests keeping your character count to 40 characters or less for optimal engagement.
12. Offer an exclusive discount just for your Facebook fans. This is a great incentive to like your page; in fact, 42% of people say they like a brand page for the coupons and discounts.

13. Don’t be afraid to get personal from time to time. People want to know there’s a real person behind your company, and will be more likely to engage with a person than with a faceless brand.

14. Regularly visit your Facebook Insights to find out which content is working with your audience. Find the posts that have received the most engagement and highest reach, and share these types of content more often.

15. Target Facebook ads to users by interest. One of the most effective ways to use Facebook ads is to target users who already like pages in your niche. Using Facebook’s Graph Search, find out which pages your existing fans like by typing in, “Pages liked by people who like my page”. Target your ads to users who have liked these pages, as they’re likely to be interested in your page as well.

16. Optimize your Facebook page’s SEO (search engine optimization): Use relevant keywords in your title and About section; Make sure your profile is complete and contains a consistent NAP (name, address, phone number); Link to your page from your website and other web properties.

17. Create a topical Facebook group. Facebook groups can be a great way to reach prospects who are wary of liking a brand’s page. Create an industry-related group that your target market may be looking for, and then use it to build relationships and trust. While a group may not give you the “one to all” voice a page does, the level of engagement you can achieve in a group can be much higher than on a page.

18. Tag other pages in your posts. When you tag other pages, your posts appear on their wall and may spark the interest of those pages’ owners and fans.

19. Create and share your own infographics. Infographics are one of the most shared types of images. Create your own using a tool like Infogr.am.

20. Offer true value. If you’re posting content that fills a gap or meets a need for your fans, your posts will get liked and shared; and this increased engagement will naturally lead to increased likes for your page. Pay attention to conversations happening in your industry, and offer unique insights and commentary that add something to the discussion.

21. Leave thoughtful comments on popular blogs in your niche. Be sure to link to your Facebook page when asked for your URL.

22. On Facebook, videos now outperform photos in terms of reach. Now is the time to start incorporating video into your social content strategy.

23. Include a ‘Like us on Facebook’ link on the ‘thank you’ page of your site. Customers are more apt to like you when they’ve just made a purchase they’re excited about.

24. Arrange a partnership with a complimentary page in your niche. Agree to cross-promote posts to help build up each other’s audiences.

25. Join industry Facebook groups and offer thoughtful advice and insights. If people like what you have to say, there’s a good chance they’ll hover over your name to find out more about you. This is one reason why having your business name and Facebook page URL in your About section are so important!

26. Suggest your page to your email contacts. Send a brief email inviting your contacts to connect with your business on Facebook.

27. While hashtags may not work as well on Facebook as they do on Twitter, they can still be a good way to attract new fans. One of the best strategies is to use popular hashtags when posting about breaking news or other trending topics.
28. It seems like nearly everyone is taking advantage of popup boxes on their websites these days. Join the club, and set yours up so that it cycles between asking visitors to join your email list and like your Facebook page.

29. Add a link to your Facebook page in your email signature. It never hurts to let your connections know about another way they can connect with you.

30. Post regularly: Posting sporadically sends the message that you’re not serious about your page. If you want people to invest in your page, you need to establish a regular pattern of posting useful and relevant content.

31. Embed your Facebook video posts onto your website or blog. This is a great way to promote your Facebook page to your website visitors.

32. Put your Facebook page link on all your marketing materials: your business cards, pamphlets, signage and even on your print ads.

33. Ask your employees to like your page. The more likes your page accumulates, the more powerful your social proof.

34. Offer flash freebies on your page. Word gets around…if you regularly offer ‘flash freebies’ (e.g., “The first 5 people to message me will receive a $20 gift card”) you can bet your page likes will increase!

35. Submit your page to a fan page directory like Fan Page List. It’s unlikely to result in a ton of likes, but with such minimal effort involved, why not try?
36. Upload photos from live events, and ask your fans to tag themselves. This gets your photos in front of your fans’ friends, extending your visibility and reach.

37. Connect with group admins. Getting on the radar of the admins and moderators of popular Facebook groups can be invaluable. If they see you as an authoritative source of information in their industry, they may share your page with their members.

38. Make sure you’ve claimed a great vanity URL. A catchy URL will be more enticing and much easier to remember.

39. Make sure you have like buttons and share buttons next to all your blog posts. When people engage with your content by clicking these buttons, this action appears in their friends’ feeds, increasing your page’s visibility.

40. Participate in Follow Friday. Although it’s more common on Twitter, some pages regularly host a Follow Friday. Participating can be a great way to build your audience as well as other people’s.

41. Ask your fans to share photos on your page. These will appear in their friends’ feeds, increasing your visibility.

42. Make sure your page’s branding and design are professional and consistent. When people come to your page, it only takes them a split second to decide whether to like it or not; make sure your page accurately conveys your brand’s voice and image.

43. Use a WordPress plugin like WP-TopBar to show a “Like us on Facebook” message at the top of each page of your site.
44. Include a “Connect with us on Facebook” link on your website’s contact or help page to drive traffic to your Facebook page.

45. Include a link to your Facebook page in the author bio of your guest posts.

46. Make sure your cover photo includes a call to action to like your page.

47. Include your fan page URL on every image you share on Facebook. As your image gets shared, so does your page URL!

48. Periodically include an invitation to “connect with us on Facebook” in the P.S. of your email newsletters. Your P.S. can be an incredibly powerful place to put a call to action.

49. Enable Facebook commenting on your site. If you have a WordPress site, you can do this using a plugin like Facebook Comments. If not, you’ll have to enable Facebook commenting the hard way.

50. Make engagement a priority. Answer questions and respond to comments promptly. Your Facebook posts are a starting point for great discussions – not a final destination.

Final Thoughts

While likes are certainly an important metric, keep in mind that engagement is the true yardstick for Facebook page success. David Baser, Facebook Insights Product Manager, reminds marketers that increased engagement should be their top priority: “User engagement is the best proxy metric for the ultimate success of [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][your] brand page on Facebook. It’s great for understanding how much distribution you are getting in the news feed, how many people you are reaching with your messages…From a fundamental perspective, that’s the most important thing for marketers to take away.”

Remember that likes don’t mean anything without true engagement. Converting social media followers to customers should be the goal. Focus on regularly providing relevant and compelling content, and your page likes will undoubtedly increase organically over time.

What would you add to this list? What’s your best tip for increasing Facebook page likes? Share below!

 

Forbes.com | June 16, 2015 | Jayson DeMers

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#Strategy: Drive Your Own #Success By Learning How To Manage Your #Manager… Simply #Managing your Staff isn’t Enough to Get Results in #Business. You also Need to #Manage your #Boss.

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You are the Expert in your Own Area, and you Know what you Need to Deliver Success in your Department & to Contribute to the Company’s Bottom Line. It’s Not that your #Boss Doesn’t Contribute—it’s Just that their Contribution is Different from Yours. And for Them to Get you What you Need to #Manage your Department Successfully, you Need to Begin by #Managing your #Boss.

businessman as chess piece

© Nomad_Soul – Fotolia.com

Simply managing your staff isn’t enough to get results in business. You also need to manage your boss. You are the expert in your own area, and you know what you need to deliver success in your department and to contribute to the company’s bottom line. It’s not that your boss doesn’t contribute—it’s just that their contribution is different from yours.

And for them to get you what you need to manage your department successfully, you need to begin managing your boss.

Here are two simple strategies for managing your boss to drive your own success in the organization:

1- Manage their communications about you and your department: Your ability to get a promotion and get the resources you need to succeed (budget, staff, or even simple support for initiatives) depends on how senior management perceives you and your department.

Don’t leave this important issue in the hands of your manager.

Provide your boss with bullet points, blurbs, explanations, and even facts and figures to demonstrate your success for them to use. Take a sales approach and consider the audience. They don’t want technical or process information; they care about your impact on the company’s bottom line, and they need short, concise information.

Offer to write material for reports, prepare slides, or even attend senior-level meetings and presentations with your boss. Show support for your boss while protecting your interests.

Find out what senior management is interested in and make sure your boss is equipped with the “talking points” they need to properly represent you and your department.

 

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2- Manage their support of you and your department : Chances are your boss has more than your department and your issues to worry about. Yet you want their attention when necessary to gain resources, approval, or even be noticed for success, so managing your boss is necessary.

What you don’t want is to be noticed for failure or be going to your boss for solutions to your problems.

So, take the initiative to work out issues and problems and bring the solutions to your boss. Be a problem solver and take less of your boss’s time so that when you do get their attention, it is on your terms, not theirs.

Also be proactive by asking your boss about higher-level issues and then showing them what you and your department can do to support those issues. Demonstrate and deliver support to your boss and when you need it, they are more likely to support you.

Whenever you need something that your boss has to get approval for, provide your boss with everything they will need to get you what you want. Similar to the first point, you also need to understand senior management so you can help your boss with the pitch.

Don’t let it rest on your boss’s shoulders or rely on them to know how to get support from their superiors for your initiatives. They should know, but don’t make assumptions.

Read all of Michel Theriault’s articles on AllBusiness.com.

 

AllBusiness.com | June 16, 2015 | Michel Theriault

#Strategy: 8 Ways Goofing Off Can Make You More Productive … Research Suggests That the Longer you Keep your Rear End in your Chair & your Eyes Glued to your Screen, the Less #Productive you may Be.

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I Offer this List of #Productive Ways to Goof Off During the Day & Evening. These Tactics will Boost your #Productivity & Sense of Well Being. But Beware Not to Overdo any of Them. Take too many breaks and you may enter the realm of procrastination.

zappos-happy-employees-7

One of my colleagues used to head to the men’s room and brush his teeth every time he felt a surge of writer’s block. He swears it did the trick. Another exits the building and walks around the block to clear his head. I sorely miss the mid-day yoga sessions that Forbes offered in its old offices in Manhattan. After an hour of downward dog, shoulder stand and corpse pose, my body was relaxed, my mind was clear, and I attacked my work with new energy.

 

A growing body of research suggests that the longer you keep your rear end in your chair and your eyes glued to your screen, the less productive you may be. Getting up from your desk and moving not only heightens your powers of concentration, it enhances your health.

John P. Trougakos, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has described how concentrating on one task is like using one muscle for an extended period. The mind needs a break, to rest and recover before it can exert again. Among other things, Trougakos recommends that workers take serious lunch breaks, to recharge with food and a change of scene.

James A. Levine, a professor at the Mayo Clinic, told the New York Times that we don’t take enough breaks. Sedentary work habits are as dangerous as a sedentary lifestyle at home. Levine likes the idea of your standing or even walking while you’re working, including during meetings. If you feel sleepy during the day, you should be allowed to take a nap, he says.

 

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Levine suggests that you work in concentrated 15-minute periods, divided up by breaks. “The thought process is not designed to be continuous,” he says. He points out that a short period of efficient work is much more valuable than long hours of wasted or partially productive time.

Then there is the power of daydreaming. Many of our most creative, productive thoughts come not while we’re trying to force them during long sessions at our desks, but at odd moments outside the office. For instance, there is the story of how Dan Wieden of advertising giant Wieden+Kennedy found the inspiration for the famous Nike “Just Do It” tag line late one evening, after reflecting on a conversation he had had with a colleague about the novelist Norman Mailer, who had written a book about convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. Gilmore’s last line before he was executed, “Let’s do it,” popped into Wieden’s head. Back at his desk, Wieden tweaked the phrase. But the idea had come in his off hours.

Many of us feel we shouldn’t waste time chatting with co-workers during the work day. But research has shown that talking with colleagues can increase your productivity. A team of MIT researchers led by Professor Alexander “Sandy” Pentland discovered that call center workers who took the time to converse with their co-workers, instead of just grinding away, got through calls faster, felt less tension and earned the same approval ratings as their peers who didn’t schmooze at the office.

After canvassing my colleagues, I offer this list of productive ways to goof off during the day and evening. These tactics will boost your productivity and sense of well being. But beware not to overdo any of them. Take too many breaks and you may enter the realm of procrastination.

1. Take a walk around the block.

Fresh air combined with a change of scene can reset blocked thought processes.

2. Take a nap.

Some offices offer this as a perk. Closing your eyes for a 15-minute catnap can be hugely refreshing.

3. Chat with a colleague.

Even if you only make small talk, a diverting conversation can give you a new perspective on the task at hand.

4. Run an errand

Like walking around the block, getting out of the office and taking care of business can give your mind a break and the exercise will get your blood flowing.

5. Brush your teeth.

The symbolism of removing decay and plaque can be especially potent when you are feeling sluggish.

6. Spend ten minutes checking Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites.

This is not as good for you as leaving your desk, but the mental distraction can offer a helpful break. Monitor your time however and don’t let yourself get sucked in for more than five minutes.

7. Go to the gym

If your company has an exercise facility, take advantage.

8. Go out to lunch

Judging from the habits of my colleagues, lunch out of the office is a dying American habit. But a healthy meal and good conversation can be nourishing on multiple levels.

This is an update of a story that appeared previously.

 

Forbes.com | June 15, 2015 | Susan Adams 

#Leadership: 4 Things You Should Ask an #Employee Who’s Leaving… A Solid Exit Interview that will Hopefully not Only Yield Valuable Insights, but That will Leave Everyone Feeling Good about our Experience Working Together.

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I wouldn’t have tried to talk her out of her decision, but there are a few questions I would have asked her if I had the chance to do it over again. (For the record, these are my questions as a #Leader & #Manager, not necessarily from a #Legal or # HR standpoint. Google is your friend if you want loads of suggestions on that front.)

Career Guidance - 4 Things You Should Ask an Employee Who's Leaving

A few months ago, one of my employees decided to leave the company. Her exit wasn’t a total surprise—we’d hired her originally as an intern, and we all knew her heart and her passion resided in the nonprofit realm. I tried to convince her that our business—employee engagement consulting—was saving the world in a different way, but alas, she wasn’t buying it.

We’re a relatively small organization, and life gets busy. On her last day, I was in client meetings and didn’t really get a chance to say a proper goodbye. I didn’t do an exit interview with her, either. (And I know what you’re thinking, by the way—so just do what I say and not what I do, OK?)

I’ve thought about her a lot over the last couple of months. I miss her presence in our office, but truthfully, I think she made the right decision. I’m a big believer in following your passion and purpose in life, and my guess is she will ultimately be much happier in a job that better fits with her life goals.

I wouldn’t have tried to talk her out of her decision, but there are a few questions I would have asked her if I had the chance to do it over again. (For the record, these are my questions as a #Leader & #Manager, not necessarily from a #Legal or # HR standpoint. Google is your friend if you want loads of suggestions on that front.)

1- How did the job match your expectations?

Our own research at Brilliant Ink tells us that creating accurate first impressions is a key driver of employee engagement, so one of the first things I’d want to know is how the day-to-day realities of the job stacked up to our description of it when she began work with us. This doesn’t necessarily change the nature of the work in the future, but it would certainly help us know how to sell the job more effectively and accurately to result in better hires (which, in my opinion, is the toughest nut of all to crack).

 

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2- Did you feel that the work you were doing aligned with your personal goals and interests?

We do a goal-setting process with our employees at the beginning of the year, and we revisit these on a quarterly basis. However, these are mostly professional development goals that tie directly to our business objectives. With this question, I’d be assessing how her work fits into the bigger picture of her life—something Millennials say is more and more important to them. And our research indicates that fully engaged employees report a greater likelihood of tapping into personal and professional passions and interests at work compared to less-engaged employees.

In this case of this particular employee, I already knew the answer—she had a passion for environmental work and causes, which doesn’t really relate to our field. And I wouldn’t necessarily change the nature of the work accordingly. But again, it gives clues into the kinds of questions we should be asking at the start of the hiring process and could guide conversations between managers and employees throughout their life with our company.

3- Did you have the tools and resources you needed to effectively do your job?

This is a big one. In the early years of the company, I got pretty comfortable with bootstrapping my way to success, which means we still operate pretty lean and mean. This is a good thing in terms of conserving costs, but we also have to remember that we can’t deliver outstanding work without the right systems in place to make the magic happen. Understanding how my employee felt about the kind of support she was getting would help us know what kinds of investments we should be making in the future.

4- Would you recommend this as a great place for a friend to work?

Would I get an truthful answer to this question? I honestly don’t know, but it’s worth a shot. The employee in question was a good, solid member of our team, and I’d trust her recommendation on future hires. If the job wasn’t a great fit for her, the next best thing I could hope is that she’d be an advocate for our company and a referrer of great potential employees. Plus, with the business that we’re in, it pays to know how we can improve our own employee experience.

Here’s a final exit interview question I don’t recommend: During a wrap-up interview, I once had a former boss ask me if there was anything she could do to change my mind. I enjoyed the job but was incredibly underpaid, so I felt a faint glimmer when she asked me this question. I told her a nominal raise would do the trick. Unfortunately, she promptly replied that it wasn’t possible. The lesson: Don’t offer something you can’t deliver. There’s nothing worse than getting your hopes up—only to have them doused with ice water.

We have an amazing team in place, and I hope I won’t be saying goodbye to anyone else for a very long time. But if we do, I’ll make the time for a proper goodbye—and a solid exit interview that will hopefully not only yield valuable insights, but that will leave everyone feeling good about our experience working together.

Photo of person leaving office courtesy of Shutterstock.

About The Author

Career Guidance
Liz Kelly is the CEO and founder of Brilliant Ink, an employee communications and engagement consultancy with offices in Oakland and New York. She recently co-authored the award-winning Employee Experience Survey, a study of more than 300 Fortune 1,000 employees that correlates key moments of the employee experience to overall levels of employee engagement.

 

The Daily Muse | June 2015 | Liz Kelly 

Your #Career: Are You Sabotaging Your Chances For A #Job Or Promotion? … Ouch! Life is Hard Enough without Hearing Things Like that In your Own Head. So we Worked on Ways to Get Rid of those Negative Thoughts by Changing Them into Pep Talks

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Have you ever been frustrated in your career and thought something similar; that you’re not good enough so why even bother to apply for the job? That little voice we hear in our heads is known as “self-talk.” This internal voice can be positive or negative. Either way, it often turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

man-on-staircase

Are you sabotaging your chances of obtaining a promotion or a new job? I’ve seen this happen to a lot of people, and here’s the catch – many don’t even realize they’re sabotaging themselves. Find out if you’re holding yourself back and how you can break free of internal negative thoughts.

“I never seem to be the person chosen for a promotion,” my client told me. “I don’t know why I even bother to apply for other positions, since I know they’ll just give it to someone else and tell me I’m not qualified.”

Have you ever been frustrated in your career and thought something similar; that you’re not good enough so why even bother to apply for the job? That little voice we hear in our heads is known as “self-talk.” This internal voice can be positive or negative. Either way, it often turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

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For my client, it meant she stopped looking for jobs that were more challenging, while her frustrations kept building up as she worked in a position where she felt bored and not intellectually challenged. She had been told by a few hiring managers that she didn’t have the right qualifications, and her confidence level had taken a beating. On top of that, her little voice in her head had turned negative, telling her she wasn’t good enough and never would be.

Ouch! Life is hard enough without hearing things like that in your own head. So we worked on ways to get rid of those negative thoughts by changing them into pep talks:

Recognize the negative thought(s). Every time a negative thought about yourself pops into your head, recognize this self-sabotage behavior.

Write it down. Grab a pen and paper or your smart phone and write down the negative thought(s).

Flip it. Now, rewrite the negative comment into a positive pep talk. For example, “They’ll never choose me” or “I’m not qualified enough” becomes “I’m worthy of finding my dream job” or “I’m worthy of getting this promotion.

My client realized that her internal negativity had been demotivating her and causing her to give up on her career dreams. Once she acknowledged these negative thoughts, wrote them down and then transformed them into pep talks, her outlook changed. She became proactive by analyzing her qualifications for each job and determining gaps. She spoke with successful people already in the positions she wanted and she even created a career development plan to close the gaps.

Her new attitude could also be seen by hiring managers during job interviews because she arrived much more prepared and self-confident than before. Taking control of her internal voice and stopping the negative thoughts allowed her to break free from self-sabotage – and she achieved her goal of being hired into a more challenging job.

You can do it too! If you realize that self-sabotage may be what’s holding you back from accomplishing your career goals, follow the three steps listed above. Take control of your internal voice and start giving yourself pep talks. Believe in yourself and all things become possible.

Lisa Quast, author of the book, Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach: A Foolproof Guide to Getting the Job You Want. Every Time. Join me on Twitter @careerwomaninc

 

Forbes.com | June 15, 2015 | Lisa Quast

#Leadership: As Minimum Wages Rise, Smaller Firms & Companies Get Squeezed…If you Raise the Minimum Wage on People Who are Doing Data Entry or Washing Dishes, What Does that Mean to my Skilled Employees who are Only Making a Few Dollars more?”

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Hannah Joseph dreams of bringing gourmet grilled hot dogs to food lovers coast to coast. But she now rules out owning any new restaurants beyond the two she and her husband currently operate in Indianapolis.  The reason: high staffing costs, and growing competition for low-wage workers.

King David Dogs has been coping with high staffing costs and competition for low-wage employees.

“I don’t want to deal with more employees,” said Ms. Joseph, co-owner of King David Dogs, whose 10 or so staffers start at $7.50 an hour, 25 cents above the federal minimum.

In May, U.S. small businesses paid their workers roughly $16.36 an hour, according to seasonally adjusted payroll data from some 250,000 businesses with fewer than 20 workers, compiled by Intuit Inc. That is up about 2.2% from a year ago.

In comparison, U.S. companies of all sizes paid workers in nonsupervisory positions an average of $24.87 an hour last month, up 2.3% from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

State and city lawmakers’ recent push for higher minimum wages is poised to raise pay for the bottom fifth percentile, for workers at both big and small businesses, according to economist Susan Woodward, of Sand Hill Econometrics, Menlo Park, Calif.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, from $9 an hour. Delaware’s state minimum wage increased to $8.25 per hour June 1, from $7.75 per hour.

 

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Some big employers such as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced this year they would start pay at $9 an hour, and McDonald’sCorp. said it would raise starting hourly pay by $1 above the local minimum at company-owned restaurants.

“People can’t work for the minimum wage and afford to pay rent, in any state,” said Raina J. Johnson of Milwaukee. The mother of a 5-year-old left her job at Starbucks in January, where she said she was making less than $8 an hour, to work as a freelance writer and blogger.

“I have student loan debts, but I don’t even want to think about paying them off because I have to think about keeping a roof over my head,” she said. “The minimum wage should be enough so people can actually live, and not be so stressed out and depressed about how to pay their bills.” A Starbucks spokesperson said that no employee currently starts below $8 an hour, but she could neither confirm nor deny what Ms. Johnson was earning in January.

The shift to an economic recovery period following the 2007-2009 recession has made workers scarcer. “We finally reached the point in the business cycle where companies have great difficulty hiring workers at the minimum wage,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economic research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “We’ve had a total focus on cost-cutting instead of motivating and retaining workers.”

U.S. employers added 280,000 jobs in May, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the 56th consecutive month of job gains, which is the longest streak on record.

Small-business owners were evenly split in their opinion of raising minimum wages, according to a May survey of 728 small firms by The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International. Forty-nine percent of respondents said the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour should be raised, while another 49% disagreed.

Dillon Edwards, who founded Brooklyn-based roaster Parlor Coffee in 2012, said entry-level positions, usually those dedicated to bagging coffee beans, start at $4 above the New York state minimum of $8.75 an hour. “It should definitely be more than that,” said Mr. Edwards, who has eight employees. “The cost of living is just so much higher. It needs to be at least in the double digits.”

If initiatives like the $15-an-hour one that passed in Los Angeles were to be approved in New York, Mr. Edwards said he would “be happy to pay” that amount, though it may require a ceiling on the pay of some of the higher-paid workers. “We know that it would ultimately reward our business and reward our community.”

King David Dogs has been coping with high staffing costs and competition for low-wage employees.
King David Dogs has been coping with high staffing costs and competition for low-wage employees.
PHOTO:ANDREW HANCOCK FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Many other owners of small firms already pay above the minimums to attract or keep the entry-level workers they need. Yet some owners say raising wages even further is out of the question, because there is a ripple effect that comes with increasing pay at the lowest levels.

For instance, Beth Fahey, co-owner of a custom-cake maker in a Chicago suburb, said her cashiers start out at $9 an hour, 75 cents above the state minimum, “just to stay competitive.”

Ms. Fahey, whose Creative Cakes has 34 employees and recently opened a cafe, said she offers full-time employees paid time off but couldn’t afford raising pay even more, especially for lower-wage workers.

“If you raise the minimum wage on people who are doing data entry or washing dishes, what does that mean to my skilled employees who are only making a few dollars more?” said Ms. Fahey. “I can’t raise everybody. If I do, the price of a doughnut is going to be $3 and nobody’s going to buy it.”

To cope with the wage hikes, some owners are rethinking their business models and how they allocate staff, in an effort to keep payroll costs low.

For example, in Los Angeles County, Dudley De Zonia, the founder and president of 180-employee Royal Truck Body, said he is considering moving some manufacturing work to branch locations in order to sidestep the expected increase in the minimum wage to $15. “Over the next few years, the minimum wage will be one of the biggest issues we face,” he said. The company manufactures work trucks for tradesmen and utility businesses.

The company has 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Paramount, Calif., and another 68,000 square feet in branch locations in Northern California and Texas. “We’ve already started moving stuff around,” said Mr. De Zonia. “It certainly makes it more affordable.”

While only a handful of entry-level employees at Royal Truck Body earn the minimum wage, about 80% of its staff makes under $15 an hour, he said. Because of that, he expects wages to rise about 30% by 2020, when the $15 minimum-wage hike will take effect.

Mr. De Zonia said he doesn’t take issue with an increased minimum wage, but he says the disparity in state minimums—makes it difficult for his business to compete on a level playing field. “I’ve got competitors in the Midwest who pay their workers $7.50 an hour,” he said.

In Indiana, the minimum wage has been $7.25 since it was last raised in July 2009. A bill that would have imposed a $10.10-an-hour minimum failed to pass in the Indiana legislature this year.

Staffers at King David Dogs in Indianapolis start at $7.50 an hour, 25 cents above the federal minimum.
Staffers at King David Dogs in Indianapolis start at $7.50 an hour, 25 cents above the federal minimum.
PHOTO:ANDREW HANCOCK FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

King David Dogs in Indianapolis currently generates about $250,000 a year. “We’re barely making a profit as it is,” said its founder Ms. Joseph, noting that she works outside the business as a lawyer to support herself and her family.

She and her husband once hoped to open 10 King David restaurants. But in light of potentially higher staffing costs, and challenges recruiting low-wage workers, their new plan is to sell King David Dogs products directly to grocery stores, or convert their business into a franchise operation.

Either approach would make it possible for them to expand the reach of King David without adding staff.

“We financially can’t” raise wages “without passing it on to our customers,” Ms. Joseph said. “There is only so much people are willing to pay for a hot dog. It’s not like we’re serving a foie gras burger.”

Write to Leslie Josephs at leslie.josephs@wsj.com and Adam Janofsky atADAM.JANOFSKY@dowjones.com

#Strategy: 10 Choices You Will Always Regret Making…Here are Choices you Will Someday Regret Having Made.

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Hindsight is a funny thing. Look forward and the path seems uncertain, the future unpredictable.  Look back and all the dots seem to connect … except the dots that mark the choices you didn’t make, and the risks you didn’t take.

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You’ll regret choosing not to care.

Here are choices you will someday regret having made:

1. Choosing not to be brave.

Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid — in fact, the opposite is true. Courage without thought or meaning is simply recklessness. Brave people aren’t fearless; they’ve simply found something that matters more to them than fear.

Say you’re scared to start a business. Find a reason that means more: creating a better future for your family, wanting to make a real difference, or hoping for a more rewarding and fulfilling life.

Once you find a greater meaning, you also find courage. See fear not as something to shrink from but as something to overcome — because that’s all it is.

 

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2. Choosing the pain of regret over the pain of discipline.

The worst words you can say are, “If I had only …”

Think of all the things you’ve wanted to do but never have. What did you do instead? If you’re like me, you can’t recall. All you know is that time is gone and whatever you did instead wasn’t even worth remembering.

Think about one thing you dreamed of doing five or 10 years ago but didn’t work to do… and think about how good you’d be today at that one thing if you had. Think about all the time you wasted and can never get back.

Then, starting today, push yourself to do what you hope to do … so five or 10 years from now you won’t look back with regret. Sure it will be hard. Sure it will be painful.

But it will be a lot less painful than how it will someday feel when you look back on what could have been… but isn’t.

3. Choosing not to say, “I will.”

A boss once gave me what I thought was an impossible task. I said, “OK. I’ll try.”

He told me trying didn’t matter—as long as I didn’t quit, I’d finish it. Trying didn’t enter into it. Persistence was all that mattered.

Often we say, “I’ll try,” because that gives us an out. Our egos aren’t on the line. Our identities aren’t on the line. After all, we’re just “trying.”

Once you say, “I will,” your perspective changes. What previously seemed insurmountable is no longer a matter of luck or chance but of time and effort and persistence.

When what you want to do really matters, don’t say, “I’ll try.” Say, “I will,” and then do everything possible to keep that promise to yourself.

4. Choosing not to take plenty of shots.

You may never create the perfect business plan, may never find the perfect partners or the perfect market or the perfect location, but you can find the perfect time to start — because that time is now.

Talent, experience, and connections are important, but put your all into enough new things, and some will work.

Plus, after you take enough shots, over time you’ll grow more skilled, more experienced, and more connected. And that will mean an even greater percentage of your efforts will succeed. Take enough shots, and learn from each experience, and in time you’ll have all the skills, knowledge, and connections you need.

Ultimately, success is a numbers game; it’s all about taking a shot, over and over and over again. The more shots you take, the more times you will succeed. So get the power of numbers on your side and take as many shots as you can.

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Michael Jordan famously said, I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

There is no guarantee of success, but when you don’t take any shots at all, you’re guaranteed to always fail.

5. Choosing not to move.

Familiarity creates comfort. But comfort is often the enemy of improvement.

If you have a great opportunity and the only thing holding you back is the thought of moving, move. If you want to be closer to family or friends and the only thing holding you back is the thought of moving, move. If you want to be closer to people who think and feel and act like you, move. (When I asked singer/songwriter Lee Brice for the one piece of advice he would give any aspiring country artist, he said, “Move to Nashville.”)

When the fear of moving is the only thing holding you back, move.

Don’t worry. You’ll soon find cool new places to hang out. You’ll soon develop new routines. You’ll soon make new friends. And you’ll gain a great new perspective on your life.

Besides, Thomas Wolfe was wrong. If it doesn’t work out, you can go home again.

6. Choosing not to let go.

Bitterness, resentment, and jealousy are like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. You are the only one who loses.

Life is too short to resent all the people who may have hurt you. Let hard feelings go.

Then spend the energy you save cherishing the people you love and who love you.

7. Choosing not to say you’re sorry.

We all make mistakes, so we all have things we need to apologize for: words, actions, omissions, failing to step up, step in, to be there when we’re needed …

Swallow your fear — or pride — and say you’re sorry. Then you’ll help the other person let go of their resentment or bitterness.

boring conversation diner couple break uprorobito/flickr

And then you both get to make the freshest of fresh starts, sooner instead of later — or instead of never.

8. Choosing not to throw out your backup plans.

Backup plans can help you sleep easier at night. But backup plans can also create an easy out when times get tough.

You will work a lot harder and a longer if your primary plan has to work because there is no other option. Total commitment — without a safety net — will spur you to work harder than you ever imagined possible.

Then, if somehow the worst does happen (although the “worst” is never as bad as you think), trust that you will find a way to rebound.

As long as you keep working hard and keep learning from your mistakes, you always will.

9. Choosing to be too proud.

Don’t be too proud to admit you made a mistake. Don’t be too proud to have big dreams, or to poke fun at yourself, or to ask other people for help.

Don’t be afraid to take a chance and fall on your face … and then to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go again.

Instead, take pride in the fact that no matter what might happen, you will always get up and go again.

That way, you never truly lose — and your dreams can never, ever die.

10. Choosing not to care.

Rejection hurts. Sadness hurts. Failure hurts; sometimes a lot. So what do you do?

You avoid getting hurt by deciding you no longer care. But then you never get to experience the joy of connection, the joy of happiness, and the joy of success.

Choose to still be in the game. Choose to care. Choose to live.

LinkedIn Influencer Jeff Haden published this post originally on LinkedIn.

Read more: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-choices-you-always-regret-making-jeff-haden#ixzz3d1uekgAf

#Leadership: 3 Reasons Being A Manager Is Overrated…Before you Start Dreaming about Stock Options & your Name on a Door Plaque, Here are a Few Downsides of Being Top Dog

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Being a Boss Means that you’re Ultimately Accountable for the Output of your Team — for Better or Worse.

A statistic I stumbled across while researching a previous piece has been stuck in my head this week. According to Deloitte’s 2015 Millennial Survey, 53% of Millennials across the globe aspire to be senior leaders (up to and including the CEO) of the organization in which they currently work. Far be it from me to rain on anyone’s parade, but I have to wonder if these (likely) entry-level employees have any idea of what they’re really in for as they climb the ladder to the corner office.

 

Before you start dreaming about stock options and your name on a door plaque, here are a few downsides of being top dog:

The Buck Stops With You

With great power comes great quarterly expectations. Being a boss means that you’re ultimately accountable for the output of your team — for better or worse. While you look like a hero when those under you overdeliver, if your team comes up short, you’re the fall guy. As a manager, you don’t live and die based on your own efforts, but how well you’re able to motivate and manage the efforts of others. Your success is no longer directly within your control, instead it’s based on an aggregation of what those who work for you achieve, which can leave you feeling powerless instead of powerful.

You’ll Be Dealing With Drama

If you’ve never aspired to go into politics or to work in a daycare, perhaps being a manager isn’t for you.  Immersing yourself in uncomfortable interpersonal situations that call for outstanding tact will become a significant portion of your workload. You will have to do performance appraisals of your subordinates and find the most constructive way to provide negative feedback on a subpar work effort. You’ll have to terminate employees and some of them might not go quietly or graciously. You’ll have to mediate petty conflict between team members without seeming to play favorites. You’ll have to switch up your communication style based on which employee you’re talking to and figure out the best way to motivate a group of individuals who may not have the same goals and definitely won’t respond to the same incentives.

 

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You’re No Longer A Doer

Ironically enough, once you’re a manager, you’ll be doing a lot less of the type of work that got you promoted to that level. You may love being a designer, but once you’re leading a team of designers, your focus shifts from figuring out the best way to create visually appealing and intuitive experiences across various media to how best to manage other people who are doing that and how to effectively allocate your own limited time. If you find fulfillment in getting your hands dirty with the daily intricacies of your work (be that teaching, coding, number crunching, etc.), a managerial role might feel oddly empty — you’ve been rewarded for all your good work by no longer getting to do that work. As Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes notes, most companies don’t have a clear career trajectory in place to advance and reward employees who are specialists in their jobs but not interested in or suited for management roles:

What’s missing, not just in the tech world but across the board, is a dedicated track—complete with titles, incremental pay raises and true upward potential—for exceptional performers who aren’t keen on managing people. These are the experts within an organization who have amassed a unique body of knowledge and who continually push their company to perform better. They may be leaders, but they lead by example, not by mandate. They inspire co-workers around them with their singular contributions rather than through direct instruction.

The Bottom Line?

There’s another statistic within the same Deloitte survey that’s also worth pondering and might shed a little more light on Millennials’ managerial aspirations. According to survey findings, only 28% of Millennials feel that their current job takes full advantage of their skill set. Looked at through this lens, the urge to be the boss may be less about grabbing the brass ring and more about feeling that moving up the corporate ladder is where greater autonomy and freedom lies. That might not be a accurate assumption, but it’s a very understandable one.

Learn more about my work and connect with me on Twitter.

 

Forbes.com | June 11, 2015 | J. Maureen Henderson

#Leadership: Agile Leadership and the Manager/Entrepreneur…Remaining Flexible is One of the Most Important Traits a Leader can Possess–Especially Today.

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Over the last number of years, the word “agile” has been tossed around in numerous ways. The most common use has roots in the programming world, where “agile” is regarded as one step forward from “waterfall” as a means of making incremental improvements, to assure that the final product grows and is adjusted through the development process to be aligned with customer demand. In recent years, agile has emerged as “agile leadership.”

IMAGE: Getty Images

Some people have a rigorous notion of agile. Others prefer to use agile as a synonym for the ability to be flexible and responsive to a particular situation. Fortunately or unfortunately, the term itself is used in a non-concrete way.

What does agile leadership mean? At its core, my approach to agile leadership is predicated on the assumption that leadership is as much about how one adjusts one’s leadership style to a situation as it is on the embedded personality characteristics of the leader. Agile leadership, in this sense, implies contingency that how one leads is dependent on how one analyzes and views a particular situation.

For example, if the situation is one of stability, minimum uncertainty, and routinized expectations, then, as a leader, you lead in one way. If the opposite is true–unstable environment, high uncertainty, and ambiguous expectations–then, as a leader, you lead in another way.

Leading a manufacturing division is one thing; leading R&D is another. Leading when customer expectations are clear demands one kind of leadership; leading when customer expectations are not clear demands another.

 

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Agile leadership demands a mindful consideration of the context and an ability to adjust your leadership style appropriately. Agile leaders are able to vary their leadership style along a continuum. The question, of course, is what is this continuum?

The classic distinction is facilitative and directive leadership. The challenge for an agile leader is to balance their directive and facilitative style. Directive leadership sustains control by allocating resources, making expectations clear, defining goals, and establishing the parameters of success and failure. Facilitative leadership is based on giving individuals maximum flexibility and autonomy–giving them flexible goals, and letting them define and deal with parameters and constraints on their own.

In balancing these two leadership styles, an agile leader needs to be clear about which style is appropriate. During lean and difficult times, you may want to explicitly define goals, with the assumption that by delineating goals and specifying expectations will allow you to better control resources. In times of growth and abundance, you may want to define goals more broadly and give autonomy to be open to opportunities.

The challenge for an agile leader is to understand which style is appropriate at which type in time. The challenge is to balance leadership styles.

In these times, agile leadership is a special challenge for managers & entrepreneurs because they are caught on the horns of a dilemma. On the one had, they want to lead in such a fashion to give their organizations and teams the space to be innovative to assure the cutting edge. On the other hard, entrepreneurs have a short leash when it comes to resources and time. They have to be continuously accountable to assure a concrete ROI. The need to stimulate creativity and innovation may demand that the entrepreneur place a greater emphasis on their facilitative style while the shadow of ROI may demand that they emphasize their directive style. Agility is the capacity to juggle both styles as necessary. Entrepreneurial leaders need to get beyond blinders and personality and be aware of when one style suits the situation better than the other.

Even before “agile leadership” was in vogue, leaders of organizations of all sizes were well aware of it. The name may be a fad, but agile leadership has always been a core behavioral trait of successful managers & entrepreneurs.

#Leadership: 6 Words For Stopping Blame & Increasing Accountability… When people Mess up at #Work, they Dodge #Accountability & Shift the #Responsibility to Someone Else. This is Called Blame.

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So when #Employees Blame Each Other, it’s Up to #Leaders to Turn that Blame into #Accountability. How? By using 6 simple words: “Let’s discuss what we CAN control.” Let me explain…

Mannequin Blaming Another

Sometimes when people mess up at work, they dodge accountability and shift the responsibility to someone else. This is called blame.

Far too many of us have experienced an employee missing a deadline and trying to throw a colleague under the bus for their mistake, like:

“I couldn’t get this report done on time because of that jerk Pat in accounting. Pat’s the one that never gives me the data on time, and that’s the reason my report was late. How can I be expected to get the report done on time when Pat is always holding up my data?”

Everyone is going to mess up at some point, but blaming others for mistakes is not a healthy or responsible coping mechanism.

One reason that blame is so unhealthy is that it’s aggressive and attacking. It’s one thing to make an excuse like “the internet crashed,” which points fingers at an inanimate object, but it’s quite another to cast aspersions about another person (or group of people). Those ‘other people’ will learn of the blame, hurt feelings will abound, the blame may be reciprocated, and on it goes. In other words, blame is highly contagious.

So when employees blame each other, it’s up to leaders to turn that blame into accountability. How? By using 6 simple words: “Let’s discuss what we CAN control.” Let me explain…

When someone blames, they’re basically trying to shift attention away from themselves. They’re saying ‘don’t look at me, look at that other person.’ And they’re doing it because they don’t want you to pin them down for whatever mistake they made. It’s similar to a magician distracting the audience while they’re pulling off the real trick somewhere else.

 

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Blamers are typically quite good at derailing conversations and sending them in another direction. Let’s imagine your employee Pat is late with a report. You call Pat into your office and have this brief dialogue:

• Boss: “Pat, the report I needed from you is past deadline.”
• Pat: “Well I can’t possibly control that because Bob in Accounting didn’t give me the numbers I needed to finish the report.”

If Pat says their line with enough intensity, many bosses will get sucked into a conversation about Bob and how Bob didn’t get the numbers, or the Accounting Department, or whatever. And this allows Pat to sidestep any real accountability. Pat may escape a conversation about why they didn’t inform the boss of this problem sooner, or why they didn’t work more effectively with Bob, or why they didn’t submit the other parts of the report, etc. And all of those topics are more actionable than griping about Bob and the Accounting Department.

So instead, let’s redo that conversation using the 6 words I mentioned above: “Let’s discuss what we CAN control.”

• Boss: “Pat, the report I needed from you is past deadline.”
• Pat: “Well I can’t possibly control that because Bob in Accounting didn’t give me the numbers I needed to finish the report.”
• Boss: “OK, I hear that, but I don’t want to talk about Bob. Let’s discuss what we CAN control.
• Pat: “I told you, I don’t control anything. It’s Bob’s fault, not mine.”
• Boss: “Listen, I don’t want to talk about Bob. Let’s discuss what we CAN control. I don’t want to talk about anybody else. I don’t want to talk about anything outside of our control. And right now, there are things we control. We control our reactions, we control certain parts of the reports, etc.”

In this scenario, you’re directing (and redirecting) the conversation back to the central issue: what you CAN control. This approach doesn’t allow the employee to dodge accountability, but neither is it a vicious reprimand. It’s a simple statement that says ‘we’re not changing topics, we’re not discussing other people, we’re only talking about what we CAN control.’

By not allowing the conversation to veer off track into an emotional blame game, the employee will be forced to start taking ownership. It moves the conversation away from fixing blame and onto fixing the issue.

Talking about issues we don’t control is, by definition, an exercise in futility. If we don’t control something, what’s the point of spending the next 30 minutes griping about it? We may as well gripe about the weather; it’s a waste of time and has absolutely no bearing on the weather.

But when we keep redirecting the conversation back to issues we actually DO control, we teach our employees that there is something controllable in every situation. And that, in turn, improves their accountability.

Mark Murphy is the author of Hundred Percenters, Hiring for Attitude, founder ofLeadership IQ, NY Times bestselling author, a sought-after speaker, and he also teaches a weekly series of leadership training webinars.

 

Forbes.com | June 12, 2015 | Mark Murphy