As a boss, you are the leader of your team. It’s up to you to motivate and guide your employees so that you deliver the best possible results as a unit. However, at the end of the day we’re only human. It’s not always easy to be perfect, especially when you have so much pressure as the boss. 

Whether you’ve been the boss for decades, or you’re new to management, here are some of the best tips for being the best possible boss you can be.

Practice Patience

It’s easy to get frustrated with your team when they aren’t delivering the kind of results that you need them to. However, patience is a critical part of leadership. There will be moments when you want to tear your hair out or shout at members of your team because they’re not performing the way that you’d like them too. 

This is why it’s critical that you set yourself up for patience. The best way to start is by getting plenty of rest. You may find yourself in your bedroom at the end of the long day stressing about deadlines or pressure in the office. 

However, keeping yourself up at night isn’t going to do you or your team any favors. Rest as much as possible so that the next day you’re fresh and ready to take on the challenges of the workplace. The more tired you are, the more irritable you will be and the more susceptible you’ll be to making poor decisions.

Praise

Don’t be one of those bosses that only gives feedback when it’s negative. Your employees thrive on praise just as much as you do. It’s important that you tell them when they’re doing a good job so that they will feel encouraged to continue the good work. 

If your employees don’t feel like they’re being recognized for their hard work, then it’s only a matter of time until they’re going to start slacking off. Praise can come in many different forms, from verbal recognition to bonuses and raises. The idea is to use positive reinforcement to motivate them which will get you much better results then constant criticism.

Set The Example

One of the biggest mistakes that leaders can make is forgetting to lead by example. You can’t tell your employees to be one way and then act differently yourself. “Practice what you preach” as they say, and your team will learn to respect you. 

Whether you’re the president of the United States or the manager of a shoe store, the same rules apply. Don’t only tell your employees how you would like them to be— show them and they will follow.

If you’re about to retire soon, there are a few things that you may want to do while you’re still working to help you get ready for the time that you’ll spend in retirement. Because you may not have many years between retiring and when you’d need to consider moving into an assisted living facility, it’s vital that you prepare for retirement correctly and plan for the years that you’ll have to enjoy your retirement.

To help you see how this can be done, here are three things to do as you start coming to the end of your working years. 

Start Balancing Your Income

There are all kinds of financial strategies that you can and should start employing when you’re getting close to retirement. One of these strategies includes paying off as much of your debt as possible so that you go into retirement with as little amount of debt as you can. Another strategy is to invest as much money as you can into your retirement accounts so that you have as much money as you can to live off of once you retire. The trick here is knowing how to balance this as you near retirement. 

To do this, consider how much debt you have with how close you are to your ultimate retirement savings goals. Your answer might have you wanting to pay off more debt or put more money into your retirement accounts. 

Determine Why You’re Retiring

For some people, retirement might seem like something that can’t come soon enough. But for others, retirement might feel like something that they’re supposed to do but that they don’t necessarily want to be doing.

Depending on how you feel about retirement now, you may want to spend some time thinking about why you’re retiring. In some cases, you might want to think about getting a part-time job after you retire to either continue earning some money, keep your mind sharp, give you something to do, or for another purpose. 

Think About How You’ll Spend Your Remaining Time

Once you do decide to retire, the stark difference between your working years and your retirement years can be hard to reconcile. To help with this transition, you should spend some time now thinking about how you want to spend all of your free time in retirement. 

If you’ve been wanting to develop a certain hobby for years, do some research into how to get started and start setting things in place to begin once you retire. This can help you have something to look forward to and put your energy toward once you stop working. 

If you’re planning to retire in a year or two, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you get yourself financially and emotionally prepared. 

Everybody wants to be able to settle down and retire in comfort one day. After all, there’s nothing better to look forward to than enjoying the golden years of your life comfortably. 

However, the harsh reality is that you have to work hard today if you want to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor later.  As such, advancing in your career is essential. 

By putting in the right amount of effort, and constantly assessing your goals, you should grow in your career in no time.   If you’re ready to advance in your corporation, then look no further than these tips to do just that.

Be Confident

The most successful people are the ones that truly believe in themselves. They go after what they want, and they have a laser leg focus. They keep their eye on the goal and they refuse to let anything stand in their way when aiming for their goals.

The most successful people in life stick up for what they believe in, and aren’t afraid to believe in what they stand for. The more confident that you are, the more you exude that same energy onto other people and the more they’ll believe in your power as much as you do.

Never Take No For An Answer  

It’s important that you negotiate your terms, and never take no for an answer.  That means that when someone tells you can’t do something, you refuse to give up without accepting defeat.  This also includes your salary. 

It’s important that you’re confident enough to ask for the pay that you believe you deserve and be fearless when asking for it.

Interestingly enough, one of the most common reasons why men often get more raises than women is that they simply ask for it!

Prioritize Productivity

The most successful employees are the ones that achieve the most amount of results in the shortest amount of time.  By prioritizing productivity, you will show your superiors that you’re worthy of advancing in your career. When you’re producing top results compared to your colleagues, then you’ll be first in line for a promotion or raise. Always keep your eye on how you can get things done better and faster.

Work Well With Others

One of the most important aspects of advancing in your career is showing other people how well you work with others. When you work as a team player, then it demonstrates that you have the personality traits that it takes to be a leader. Avoid conflict at work, keep your head high, and stay focused on your work.  

By following these tips and being great at what you do, there’s nowhere to go but up in your career!

Kevin Mulleady Weighs In On the Tech Startup Failure Rate

In 2018, the tech startup failure rate was 63%. For such a promising place to be, it’s led to a lot of disappointment for many people. Kevin Mulleady, founder or co-founder of multiple successful companies, weighs in on what’s happening within the companies that fail and provides tips about preventing collapse.

The Mindset

Kevin Mulleady specializes in biotech, finance, and investment. He points out that part of the problem is that there’s a push for people to be their bosses today. It seems that everyone, everywhere, wants to abandon their 9 – 5 so they can take charge of their lives and their careers.

Mulleady says that, while this is an admirable goal, the long-term aspirations often don’t recognize what it takes to build a business from scratch. To be fair, this is true for every industry, but it can be especially challenging to get started in technology today. Because there are so many players who have come to dominate the industry, trying to squeeze into such a cluttered landscape has proved to be nearly impossible for many.

What people tend to remember when they forge their own path are the success stories. There are plenty of people who, despite the odds, stumble onto immense profits almost right at the get-go. They end up ignoring the failure rate entirely or telling themselves that those who failed are nothing like them. The confidence can lead to overspending at the beginning, which can land a company in hot water faster than they thought possible.

The Wrong Market

The virtual world opens up doors to billions of people. This is theoretically a huge opportunity, but in practice, it can lead tech companies to choose the wrong target market. If they can’t narrow down who their audience is and give definitive reasons why they should be interested in the product or program, a tech company might waste a lot of time continuing to hammer home a message that ultimately isn’t connecting.

Kevin Mulleady says that he understands how intuitive it can be to think broadly. After all, if you can appeal to a wide swath of people, it will lead to that much more traction. He says that in some cases, though, you’re better off being more niche — at least at first.

Not an Expert

People without a lot of experience in technology can counterintuitively make their fortunes in technology. Much like the entrepreneurs who land success almost inadvertently, it’s possible to strike gold regardless of your expertise or specialty.

However, in the tech field, it’s more likely that you’ll be swallowed up by the bigger fish who began with the right skills and the right team. Kevin Mulleady says that there’s a lot to be said for hiring experts if you’re not an expert. However, if you don’t know the field at all, you’ll have a hard time spotting someone who does. Resumes and references don’t always tell you the real story of what it’s like to work with someone or how innovative they are when it comes to solving problems. If you’re starting without a lot of capital, it will be that much more difficult to get people on board. Tech professionals are in-demand, and their average salaries reflect it.

Kevin Mulleady on Preventing the Cycle

Mulleady has been an investor for much of his career, and it’s his job to assess the real value of a product or service. He has to look past the numbers to what someone really has to offer. After so much back and forth, he stresses the importance of researching who you want to market to and using resources carefully. Above all else, he thinks that all entrepreneurs should set measurable, attainable goals along their journey. If there’s no way to track progress, then it will be easy to unexpectedly hit failure without even realizing it.

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As a business owner, you probably feel in some ways like your business is your baby that you have nourished from the ground up, and to see it fail would break your heart. Every person who works for you should understand your values and goals, and be a small extension of you for the times you can’t be there to run every aspect of the business yourself.

As your business grows, you will eventually need to hire more and more people in all different areas. If you’ve ever had any employee not work out, you know just how disappointing that can be and it may make you wary of hiring people in the future. However, there are definitely things you can do to make sure you hire the best possible people who will treat your business as if it were their own. Here are 3 helpful hiring tips for business owners.

Consider Their Age

In no way should you ever be ageist in your hiring process, but you should always consider a person’s age and where they’re at in life when deciding whether or not they will be a good fit for your business. For example, someone may mention at an interview that they are close to reaching retirement, or it may say on their resume that they have recently come back out of retirement to re-enter the workforce. This is perfectly fine, but if you are specifically looking for someone who can work for you long term, this may not be the best candidate.

Give People A Chance

While it can be scary to give candidates with less experience a chance, in many cases when you take a chance on someone they can end up being your best hire ever. If someone has the right core values and you just click with them during the interview process, consider giving them a chance to see if they have what it takes to help run your business.

Go With Your Gut

This one is a good tip in all areas of life and work, not just during the hiring process. If you have a good feeling about someone, listen to it. But if you have a bad feeling about someone, you should listen to that too. Most of the time your intuition will not lead you astray, so go with your gut feeling about people when you are deciding who to hire. 

The hiring process can be tough, both for the business owner and the potential candidates. Hopefully these tips will help make it easier for you to find excellent employees that you will enjoy working with for years to come. 

Friday, January 28, 2022, 1:22 PM

Nils Larsen manager of financial portfolios explains how to set investment goals. 

LOS ANGELES, CA / JAN. 28, 2022 / Setting investment goals is an essential part of the investment process, according to Nils Larsen manager of financial portfolios.

“We develop financial goals very early in our lives, and those goals transform as we age,” Nils Larsen said. “The goal to purchase a car may transform into the goal to purchase a house, and eventually a goal to retire comfortably. Investment goals set the foundation for all of your investment decisions.”

Defining Investment Goals

The first step in setting obtainable investment goals is to define what those goals are.

The following are a few examples of common investment goals:

• Planning for a family
• Saving for education
• Creating an emergency fund
• Planning for major life vents (a major vacation, wedding, etc.)
• Planning for retirement

Retirement is one of the most common investment goals. Investors to create a comfortable retirement fund are encouraged to start investing as much money as possible as early as possible. 

The SMART Qualities Test

Experts like Nils Larsen manager suggest passing financial goals through the “SMART” qualities test before setting them in stone.

• Specific: Investors need to focus on one or a few clear goals instead of a large, general goal.
• Measurable: Progress in reaching the goal is easily traced and recorded.
• Achievable: The goal should be within reach. 
• Realistic: An investment goal should be achievable given the individual’s current financial situation.
• Time-based: Every investment goal should include a timeline for completion. 

Create a Strategy 

One of the most important aspects of setting investment goals is to create a viable strategy. An experienced financial portfolio manager can help you create a strategy that will help you reach your goals on time. 

Financial experts use several common strategies to help individuals achieve their goals.

Financial Growth

Financial growth is a common investment goal. Individuals with short investment timelines need to use different investment strategies to achieve growth than individuals with longer investment timelines. 

Wealth Preservation

Individuals who have already acquired wealth often want to focus on preserving that wealth for their future or future generations.

Maintaining a Lifestyle or Improving It

Individuals often seek the help of a financial professional to improve or maintain a certain style of living. Some are happy with the material items and assets they have, while others are seeking help to lead a bigger, better, or even more relaxed lifestyle. 

Determine Short and Long-Term Goals

Not all investment goals are treated the same. A financial portfolio manager will help investors determine goals that are possible to achieve in the short term and others that will take longer.

A common short-term goal is to create an emergency savings fund, while a common long-term goal is to save for a child’s college education or personal retirement. 

Nils Larsen Manager of Financial Portfolios

Nils Larsen is a financial portfolio manager with decades of experience in the industry. His expertise in risk tolerance, goal setting, and other aspects of investing has helped countless individuals and families reach their financial goals. 

Kevin Mulleady Discusses His Perspective of Leadership

Being a leader has always been a balance between taking the reins and letting other people get their job done. Kevin Mulleady explains more about what that looks like for him in practice and why it’s so important for other leaders to get it right.

Coming from the Top

There’s a quote by investor Ray Dalio that has always stuck with Mulleady: “Understand that you and the people you manage will go through a process of personal evolution.” This process that Dalio refers to encompasses everything from communication to objectives, and it’s one that needs to be watched and nurtured for as long as a leader is at the top.

It’s this approach that will help all directives come through correctly, in ways that don’t make employees feel undervalued or otherwise unappreciated. It also helps employees stay flexible. Without that enforcement, it would be easy to get into a standard routine as a professional. However, the best companies are always adapting to new demands.

At Altru-Sciences, Kevin Mulleady’s new venture, the employees are trying to get effective pharmaceuticals into the hands of patients who need them. With the stakes that high, everyone in an organization has to be able to stay on their toes. If everyone is on board and ready for changes, it makes it far easier to handle the unexpected shifts that all businesses inevitably face.

Giving People Confidence

At the end of the day, few people want to be micromanaged. If they have a system that works for them and they’re getting the job done, they might reasonably prefer to be left alone more often than not. Yet the leaders who are too hands-off will also yield complaints, particularly when employees feel like they don’t understand what they’re attempting to accomplish.

For Kevin Mulleady at Altru-Sciences, there’s a push-pull that comes down to giving people confidence to take care of their to-do list. This starts with giving employees a cause for their work. Luckily, Mulleady’s pharmaceutical focuses on patients with unmet needs, a worthy goal that can help the people under him push through any number of challenges.

From there, he inspires people to believe in their own abilities so they can push themselves to new heights. This isn’t about putting in extra hours, but about using those hours as wisely as possible. He advises other leaders to focus more on the ratio between productivity and stress. If people are working more but they’re producing less, this is a clear red flag. Similarly, signs of burnout — even when accompanied with higher levels of productivity — could be just as devastating to the long-term survival of the company.

What Mulleady wants to see are employees who feel empowered to make their own decisions, but not because there’s no oversight from the people above them. This is a collaborative strategy that can result in some of the best initiatives a company ever has.

The Beginning of Altru-Sciences: Learning from Following

Kevin Mulleady may be the founder and cofounder of several companies but that doesn’t mean he never had to work for someone else. Learning the art of following is where all real leaders begin. Sometimes, you can learn more from other people’s leadership than you can from personal experiences. When you follow someone, you’re in a unique position to watch what another person does in ambiguous situations.

This isn’t about judging someone else’s actions, but merely about understanding what drives different decisions and why. There are exceptional leaders out there who understand the impact of how they treat their team. There are also ineffective leaders who would prefer to turn a blind eye to their style and blame their employees for each and every failure.

Most fall somewhere in between, and it’s the follower’s job to decide where they fall and why they would do things differently if they were in the same position. Altru-Sciences started with the lessons that Mulleady learned, and enjoyed its success due to the careful balance of leadership instilled in the company.