Is your brand easy to relate to? Does your customer base think of your brand and get a pleasant, warm feeling?

This may seem like a cheesy question, but it’s important that your brand have a positive effect on people. There are many ways to do this: an attractive logo, colorful designs and a catchy name. But even more powerful is the story that is put behind your brand.

Is your story one that is worth telling? And if it is, are you telling it frequently enough?

If not, this is something you need to work on. Nothing connects you to your audience better than an engaging brand story. Here are some points of interest you should really focus on when polishing up your story.

What Are You Doing for Others?

Even if you’re simply participating in events like fundraisers or awareness campaigns, these types of things are always worth mentioning. Sure, we can’t all be like TOMS Shoes who donate a pair of shoes to kids in need for every pair bought. But you have to start somewhere. If you aren’t involved in any sort of community outreach, see what is available in your area and start incorporating that cause into your band, even if it is in a small way.

Where Do You Come From?

Make a point to let people know where your business is located and why it’s an awesome city. Make it clear that you are proud to be doing business in your city. If you can, incorporating the area where you were born and raised helps, too. You’d think that in a day and age when most business is done online, these sorts of things wouldn’t matter much. But it seems that business owners that are proud of their roots seem to resonate more with potential customers than those that could care less.

Both of these points, in addition to a great attitude and dedication to awesome customer service makes for a great brand story. All of these things should instantly come to a customer’s mind when they think of you and your brand.

There are a few social cues that seem to never go away. Some of these can be annoying, but many of them are necessary. One of the most important social responsibilities you have as a business owner is doing your part to help preserve the environment. This is great for not only fulfilling an important social role, but it can also serve as a winning factor when it comes to securing new clients that are particularly invested in environmental causes.

“Going green” as a business owner is pretty simple—it just takes some discipline. If you go about it right, you really won’t even have to change very much about the way you currently do business.

For example…

Start Printing Less

This is a step that can also decrease all of that clutter on your desk.  Besides, do you really need to print out every single e-mail you get? Sure, some companies have to print out documents that are several pages long, but make sure you’re only printing out the necessary pages. And for those things you do have to print, be sure you recycle the paper when you are done with the documents.

Conserve

If you have kids, you’ve probably scolded them about leaving lights on. You should keep this mindset at work, too. When you leave work for the day, make sure your lights are off and those your computers are either shut down or in energy-saving mode. In fact, placing your computers in energy-saving mode all of the time will conserve energy when you aren’t behind your desk during the workday. Also, before leaving for the day, cutting your thermostat down a bit more will also help save energy (and, as with the rest of these tips, money).

Recycle Your Electronics

In a day and age when we are all becoming dependent on electronics, our landfills are seeing more and more electronics waste piling up. As a general rule of thumb, see if you can upgrade any existing equipment or systems before making the decision to get brand new equipment. (This obviously saves you a lot of money, too). With computers and phones, you can always look around your local area for places in need for those devices or factories that might recycle them.

What are some ways your business does its part to help the environment? Any tips to share?

We were all raised to appreciate and practice good manners (hopefully). Unfortunately, some people have assumed that there is no need for manners when interacting with others on the internet. This is especially true of social media platforms. It seems that social media has become exempt from the good manners that we were all raised to practice.

Manners can actually be hard thing to keep in check on Twitter. The Twitter environment—or “twitterspehere” as some have taken to calling it, is set up in a way where interacting with one another is regulated by the amount of characters allowed per tweet.

So just to play it safe, here are some good manners that you can practice on Twitter to keep a good online reputation.

• Acknowledge a re-tweet by a simple word of thanks. Make sure you hyperlink their handle (using the @ symbol and their name) so others can visit their page and follow them.

• Avoid controversial topics. Believe it or not, no one cares about your feelings on whatever the controversial news topic of the day is.

• Every now and then, send a shout out to your new followers. This not only thanks them for their interest, but it also increases their exposure, as all of your followers will see their names.

• Always respond to Direct Messages…unless it’s something spammy.

• Even if you curse here and there in your normal life, try to keep it to a minimum on Twitter and other social profiles.

• Whenever someone mentions you in any way, shape, or form, always respond with thanking them and try to get them additional exposure through your followers.

• This is thought to be a preference for some people, but it seems that most everyone gets irritated by people that use ALL CAPS. This applies elsewhere, too…not just Twitter. Please don’t be that person…

And that’s the brief guide to good manners on Twitter. What are some other considerations you take when engaging with people via social media?

It never hurts to learn just a little bit more about how to effectively run your business, build your brand, and better yourself. Some of this stuff can’t really be picked up in college. No matter what courses you might have been taking.

So here are four books that every small business owner should own—or even people that have an idea lurking in the back of their head for a small business that’s imply needs to be nurtured. Hey…it never hurts to learn a little something extra.

The E-Myth Revisited – Michael Gerber:  This book is basically a Myth Busters for starting a small business. Gerber walks you through the process of starting up your own business with the tact of a good friend rather than a professor or instructor.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey: At first glance, the title may not indicate that there are things to be learned in regards to business within its pages. But Covey dives deep into solving professional problems as well as learning how to operate a business (and your life) with dignity and respect.

Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson: Sure, it’s a biography, but there is much more to be mined from this book that just trivia about Steve Jobs and his legacy. Packed with interviews and insights from Jobs himself, what better place to learn about the ins and outs of starting and successfully operating a business than from Steve Jobs?

How to Win friends and Influence People” – Dale Carnegie: If you want to create a successful business, you first need to understand how to create and foster relationships with people. This principle is the core of Carnegie’s book as he teaches the best strategies for establishing relationships both in and out of the office.

How about you? Have you read any great books that inspired or taught you how to better run your business? If so, please share in the comments below.

It’s summer—the weather is great outside and vacations are still lingering on the minds of your employees. This, along with the weeks leading up to Christmas, can often make it hard for your employees to stay motivated.

As a small business owner, part of your job is to keep your employees motivated and happy. There is no science to this…it really just comes down to valuing and respecting your employees. Here are three ways to make sure you keep them productive and motivated no matter what time of the year it might be.

Give Credit: Always make sure you are applauding the efforts of your employees for everything they do. If they have played a monumental role in churning out work that has landed your company an award, don’t dare take the credit for yourself. Let it be known publicly and within the office who the real hero is. Giving credit when credit is due is one of the best ways to keep your employees happy. Sometimes, if possible, this recognition may need to come in the form of a bonus or gift of some sort.

Manners, Please: No matter how groggy and irritable you are on Monday mornings always take the time to speak with your employees. Even if it is nothing more than a simple “Hello” or “Good morning,” this helps to make employees feel valued. Studies have shown that people in upper management that simply come into the office and sit down behind their desk without interacting with employees are respected less by those that work for them. Taking the time to engage in small talk or going out of your way to thank your employees for their hard work make you more relatable to your employees and, therefore, more respected.

Make it Fun: As long as you are up to date on your work, it’s okay to slack off every now and then. This shows your employees that you want them to be stress-free and relaxed. Knock off of work early for an unexpected lunch and half a day off. Go bowling or golfing to help build relationships in the office. Let your employees know that you see them as more than just “production units” and would like to spend non-work time with them outside of the office.

What are some ways you have found to successfully keep your employees motivated in the office?

We’ve all been told that cleanliness is next to godliness. And whether or not you ascribe to that particular bit of wisdom, recent studies have indicated that cleanliness may not necessarily equate to productivity—not in an office environment, anyway.

We’ve all worked for or with people that firmly believe that if you want to get work done and remain organized, you must keep a clean workspace. For the most part, these people are highly organized my nature and tend to be very meticulous about fine details.

However, you might not be too surprised to find that creative types tend to be a bit messier. Their workspaces are often cluttered and messy. They know exactly where everything is, but need to look through mounds and mounds of documents, scattered all over their desk, to find it.

Some of you are shuddering at that thought, aren’t you?

Well, a consumer study conducted in 2011 actually discovered that clutter can help stimulate creativity and efficiency. It is also thought to help with decision making and productivity. This is especially startling given that the study was originally intended to prove that messy environments hurt productivity.

To back up this assertion, a recent article in the New York Times tackled a similar topic. They even went so far as to suggest that a clean space indicates that not much work is taking place. This does have some merit to it; nine times out of ten, any messy space you see is usually occupied by a super-busy worker. Meanwhile, the clean space feels like a creepy abandoned house.

Keep in mind, these are suggestions that have been basically proven by actual studies—they are not just the opinions of workers that have better things to do that organize their desks.

What are your thoughts on a messy workspace? And, speaking of which, what state is your workspace in?

Can you bring to mind those nights in college where you stayed up all night cramming for exams? Sure, on occasion this may have helped you ace the exam, but can you recall how utterly exhausted you were afterwards?

In college, you could sleep for a day or two to recover. But that’s not a luxury you can afford in the world of small business.

Think about this the next time to claim that “There aren’t enough hours in the day!”

What would you do if you did have more hours in the day? While there are certainly many tasks you could get done with more time, you also need to remember that working longer hours can actually be rather harmful to your business.

This is also something you should keep in mind when you’re faced with “crunch time” before you start asking your employees to take work home with them or before you start burning the midnight oil in your office.

The ways that extended hours and working overtime on a regular basis can be harmful are fairly obvious. And sadly, it will show in your work output.

Tired employees equal cranky employees. After a while your productivity will start to suffer, as people tend to make more mistakes when they are tired. Even as a small business owner, exhaustion and overall burnout from working too much can result in poor decision making and a lackluster overall performance.

Also, let’s face it: over-working yourself can lead to additional stress in your life and can also go so far as to make you sick; when your body doesn’t get the rest it needs, it gets weak and, therefore, becomes more susceptible to illnesses. (This is one of those things you probably learned in those college all-nighters for a Biology exam).

So before you set out to take the world by storm by working extended hours on a regular basis, consider just how harmful working longer hours can be for you and your business.

People of all trades go about starting their workday off differently. Some head straight for the coffee maker. Others might check their messages first thing in the morning.

Most people don’t really have a set schedule. They tend to just go with the flow and take the morning as work allows them to. However, there are many successful business owners and entrepreneurs that swear to answering their e-mail first thing in the morning.

These are people that know what they are talking about, too. Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney and Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple always start their days off by answering their e-mails.

While men of this caliber are obviously far too busy to comment and length about their daily activities, there are others in the workforce that have also developed this habit and have found that answering your w-mail first thing in the morning is probably the most productive way to start your day.

Think about it…

• Making sure you communicate with others right away rather than waiting until later in the day tends to get ideas moving faster and the dialogue started right away.

• Chances are, we’ve been thinking about the subjects of a few e-mails that need responses overnight. Those ideas are still fresh on your mind in the morning; reply right away before the business of your day makes you forget about the points you wanted to make.

• Getting e-mails and basic communication with others taken care of in the morning is thought to be the best time to communicate. Unless you were frustrated by being stuck in traffic or not feeling well, chances are you’re going to be at your verbal best in the morning.

This is actually a highly debated topic in the business world. And while there is certainly no right or wrong answer, answering your e-mails right away—the moment you step into the office—seems to have its merits.

Where does your preference lie?

More and more large corporations are allowing their employees to work remotely. For many of these businesses, this comes down to issues with office space. Others, however, use the telecommuting life as a way to lure in qualified individuals.

As a matter of fact, there are many businesses—small and large alike—that are becoming advocates of working remotely. This is mainly due to a landslide of studies conducted in the last 10 years or so that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that employees that work from home are much more productive than those working in the office.

These studies determine that there are a variety of reasons for this increase in productivity. Essentially, it was proven that a change in scenery can help boost productivity. A few examples include:

• The fast-paced and often restrictive environment of an office can stifle creativity and any sort of motivation.
• Alternatively, unfamiliar and new ambient noises tend to keep us alert and focused; this include a steady thrum of people for those that work in coffee shops or even something as simple as music at home (something most offices naturally frown upon).
• Working from home allows employees to set their own schedules. If they work better very early in the morning, they can start knocking out tasks at 5 a.m. And if they are night owls, they can work after midnight, so long as deadlines are met.

Of course, there are drawbacks to working out of the office, such as the feeling of camaraderie with co-workers. And some people just work better in the office—the freedom of working from home is an obstacle more than a help.

As an employer, these are all points worth considering. And if you’re an employee, be honest with yourself and your employer. If you believe you work better from home, bring it up to your employer but be ready to have some evidence as to why it would work to their benefit.