Business Plans for Freelance Consultants

Business Plans for Freelance Consultants

The phrase ?business plan? probably calls to mind a lengthy formal document full of analysis and fine details. At the same time, it suggests the structured thinking process that should lead to such a document.

Unfortunately, it is way too easy to put too much effort into creating the former, at the expense of the latter.

Frankly, too many consultants start with the document and let it drive the planning. They use commonly available formats and ?fill in the blanks,? which is different than ?answering key questions.?

The wide availability of model business plans leads consultants to waste a lot of effort, so let?s look at the ?templates problem? before we get into the core elements of a good business plan.

Browse, Then Toss

Search for ?business plans? and you will quickly find raft after raft of ?business plan templates.? If the free templates are not enough, you can invest in software to help you put together a brilliant looking document.

Creating a business plan is a valuable practice, one you should perform at least annually. But there are several problems with the fancy, exquisitely detailed approach of most templates:

  • You may not need a lengthy, detailed document at all. If you never share your business plan with anyone else, do not put hours into making it beautiful and answering questions that don?t apply to you.
  • They are rarely focused on one-person businesses, especially consulting. Do you really need to write up your Management Team? Organization Chart? Discuss Equipment, Facilities, and Labor Requirements?
  • They use excessive formatting and structure to create the illusion of great thinking. For example, many require a separate Vision Statement, Mission Statement, and Statement of Objectives. Overkill.
  • They are just too long. It is not unusual for a template that is just headings, with a sentence telling you what to fill in under each one, to run 15-20 pages. You will quickly end up with a 40-page document that few people are going slog through.
  • You certainly don?t need a huge, formal document to run your business well, and many freelance consultants will have little call to share such a document with anyone else.

My recommendation: get it out of your system! Search for business plans on the web, browse through templates, get an idea of the standard formats and common topics. (Two of the more reasonable sources for the basics of business planning are the Small Business Administration and SCORE.)

And then put them aside until you absolutely need that level of formality ? which may never happen.

The Three Business Plans

Consider three possible documents:

  1. The Captured Plan: documentation of your planning process, the questions you asked yourself and the answers you came up with.
  2. The Portable Plan: a one-page summary of your Captured Plan. This one fits in your head, so you can carry it around with you to guide your daily business decisions.
  3. The Presentable Plan: what the templates produce, lengthy, detailed (and boring!). Don?t bother to create one of these unless an external need arises.

Create the plans in that order. Do the thinking needed to run a successful freelance consulting business first, and then capture that thinking in a document.

As for The Presentable Plan, the most likely need for that kind of document is looking for financing. Whether you go to a bank or credit union or find an infusion of cash from other sources, external parties may demand a formal business plan. Then you dig out the templates and go to work.

But relatively few freelance consultants find themselves going that route. And I?ll share a little secret: although many bankers request a formal business plan, and may even look at a few sections, they do so mostly to cover their own butts.

I?ve heard more than one business banker say that if the small business owner cannot easily talk about the key issues their business faces (The Portable Plan) quickly and confidently, no amount of verbiage in a pretty document will make any difference.

Elements to Capture

Looking at common elements found in?effective business plans, I recommend carefully examining the following issues:

  • What are you selling?
  • Whom are you selling to?
  • How you are going to get in front of that market?
  • How you are going to run your business?
  • Budget/Financial Issues
  • Projections
  • Risks, Obstacles and Responses

What are you selling?

What services and products will clients pay you for?

The most common problem here is talking in generalities (?provide executive coaching?). Go deeper to list specific actions or products that you can charge for.

Will you offer on-site seminars? One-on-one coaching sessions? E-books? Webinars? Diagnostic tools? Safety assessments? Will you spend time doing research and generating reports and recommendations? Propose marketing/legal/operational strategy?

Be as specific as possible. Don?t hide behind the ?every project is unique? excuse. Identify common elements in your work, or list typical projects.

Whom are you selling to?

This is one of the most valuable, and most neglected, elements of business plans, namely, your ideal client, your target market.

What needs, what problems, will lead clients to turn to you for help?

Having identified underlying needs, describe ideal clients in detail. What industries, or what types of individuals, have those needs? If we?re talking about companies, how big are they, how many are there, where are they?

Go for tight definitions. If you consult to businesses, don?t delude yourself into thinking every business is a potential client. It is unlikely your services are equally appealing to giant corporations and local small businesses.

If you consult to individuals, again, get beyond thinking ?everybody needs me.? Look at age groups, income levels, lifestyle, location, and any other factors that can help you focus on the people who are most likely to need what you offer.

How you are going to get in front of that market?

Think of this topic as an extension of your target market.

Where do they hang out? Do they read certain journals, newspapers, blogs? Is your target market more likely to exchange ideas on LinkedIn than Facebook? Do they live on social media, or do they think that?s fine for personal/fun activities, but not for serious business?

What sources do they all see and hear? Where would articles reach them? Advertisements? Do they attend conferences or conventions?

If you cannot come up with anyplace your target prospects intersect, either physically or virtually, maybe the need you are addressing is not urgent enough to support a business!

If you cannot come up with anyplace your target prospects intersect, either physically or virtually, maybe the need you are addressing is not urgent enough to support a business!

Look at how others are trying to reach this market. If no one else is serving your target market, you may face significant challenges (and expense) in getting their attention. If there are just scads of rivals providing services like yours, you?ll have to work harder to distinguish yourself from the pack.

The easiest path runs through a market where some communication channels, some ?watering holes?, ?are already in place. But it is not so flooded with providers that low price is the only decision factor for potential clients.

A good understanding of your target market and their ?gathering behavior? is the starting point for specific marketing strategies, whether that?s publishing articles, a strong online presence, advertising, or other methods. Often marketing strategies are weak precisely because the consultant has avoided the sometimes difficult research into where their target market lives, thinks, and acts.

How you are going to run your business?

Even without?a management team and an org chart there are many practical decisions to be made about running your business. All too often they are made haphazardly.

Will you hire helpers, subcontractors like administrative help, web designers, writers, technical support?

What supporting services are essential to your business? What level of equipment/technology do you need? Will you travel frequently? Will you meet with clients on your turf, or theirs, or in a virtual environment? Do you need an office, or a conference room, or at least occasional access to them?

Budget/Financial Issues

Ah, the money. Business plan templates will ask you for an Income Statement and a Balance Sheet, hardly practical for most one-person consulting businesses.

Still, freelancers who never do formal budgeting often encounter ugly surprises when clients are few (and also miss opportunities they haven?t prepared for).

Estimate gross sales (before expenses and taxes) for the coming year. Be realistic: this is not about goals, it is about what you can depend on. Be conservative.

Many consultants experience seasonal cycles. Break your anticipated annual sales down into monthly figures that reflect those patterns.

Still, freelancers who never do formal budgeting often encounter ugly surprises when clients are few (and also miss opportunities they haven?t prepared for).

Nail down your fixed costs. You pay for Internet, office supplies, phones and more. You may pay for online services (online meetings, surveys and diagnostics, e-mail list management). Clearly record what you?ll pay out, month after month, whether or not any money is coming in.

Make sure you have a rule-of-thumb estimate of your tax rate.

Build in some long-term costs for things like replacing equipment. How often do you plan to get a new laptop? Do you hope to bring in helpers, or upgrade online services, in the next year or two? Assemble anticipated cash outlays for the next few years.

And don?t overlook cash flow demands due to the lag between invoicing and payment. For example, many consultants travel quite a bit. You may pay for your plane ticket when you book it, getting reimbursed by the client much later. How much cash must you have on hand to carry project-related expenses while you are waiting for payment?

Put all of this together in a monthly budget for the coming year. Then prepare annual budgets for the following couple of years.

Finally, look at your emergency resources. If you hit a bad dry spell, or your computer melts down and needs to be replaced off schedule, where would you find the cash to survive? Savings? Credit? Relatives?

Review your budget for action points: Do you need to raise rates? Cut costs? Save more? Book more clients?

Projections

Here?s where you plot out your future. What is your expected growth in sales for each of the next few years?

Why do you believe sales will increase? Don?t just take last year?s number and increase it by some amount. Think about how many new clients you will need, what new products and services you might offer. Describe changes in your target market that you can leverage into growth (e.g., new legislation changes, such as changes in: privacy rules, safety requirements, or reporting requirements that are important to your clients).

Also describe plans that will affect costs. Perhaps you will move into an external office in the next couple of years. Factor that into your projected expenses so you can see what kind of sales growth is needed to support the move. Remember that seizing opportunities can incur expenses and impact your ultimate profit.

Look beyond sales and costs to include other factors that are important to you. For example, perhaps you are more interested in efficiency than growth. You want the same level of sales, but from fewer clients, or more from products and less from personally delivered services. Your goal is to boost personal time and reduce stress, not to boost income.

Doing a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) can be a big help in this element, and the next one. See this post for the basics of SWOT analysis for freelance consultants.

Risks, Obstacles and Responses

What stands between you and that projected future you just described? What could knock you off track, even threaten your livelihood? (Again, SWOT analysis can be very helpful.)

?Obstacles? are longer term, more chronic challenges to your success, while ?risks? refer to individual events or changes that hurt your business. Take competition as an example.

For each obstacle and risk you identify in your business plan, identify first steps to counter any negative impact on your business.

If you consult on developing effective web sites, say, you have a lot of competition. Besides full-service consultants like yourself, there are basic web designers. And don?t forget the ?build your own web site in minutes!? platforms that just about every web host offers. The plethora of simpler, lower-cost options is one obstacle challenging your ability to get the attention of prospects and convince them to choose a more complete consulting approach.

On the other hand, for a tax consultant, certainly there are chronic obstacles in the form of cheap tax-preparation software. But what about the risk of one of the national tax preparation chains opening an office next door to you?

Remember, it is hard to react quickly if you have not thought about your responses in advance. For each obstacle and risk you identify in your business plan, identify first steps to counter any negative impact on your business.

The Portable Plan

Once you have completed ? and recorded! ? your detailed business plan, distill it into something you can carry around inside your head.

I strongly recommend you limit yourself to one printed page for your Portable Plan. (And if you end up creating a Presentation Plan at some point to share with another party, your Portable Plan will provide most of the ?Executive Summary? that typical templates put at the front of the document.)

  • Describe your business in a paragraph that captures what you sell, your target market, and any salient points about how you plan to run your business.
  • Devote another paragraph, or even two, to marketing, to your strategies for getting in front of your target market.
  • Summarize the future as you see it: projected sales, opportunities, risks, obstacles, and so on.
  • Highlight the key financial issues you want to tackle: cash flow, emergency resources, funds to invest in opportunities, training, equipment, etc..

If you know those things ? what you sell, who your target is, how you reach them, what you expect, and a few practical guidelines to running and financing your business ? you will make much better decisions each month, each week, and each day.

The Final Test

Ask yourself one last important question: Is this a living plan?

Or will it lie in a file gathering dust (or e-dust) between annual reviews?

The better the job you have done of crafting a solid business plan, the more likely you are to refer to it now and then. Changing conditions, new opportunities, newly perceived risks will drive you to pull out your plan and read a particular section.

Even better, as you see how your plan is working during the year, pop into your file and update the relevant sections. Use the document as a thinking tool, not as part of the fossil record of dead thoughts.

A living, evolving business plan, with a clear structure to make sure you do not overlook key elements, can show you the path to more success with less frustration and stress. Learn to create, review, and revise your business plan on a timely basis, and you?ll be well ahead of your competition.

Source: http://freelanceswitch.com/the-business-of-freelancing/freelance-consultant-business-plans/

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Searching With Light: The ?Hope? For The Next Thomas Kinkade ...

Last month we asked if Jon McNaughton was the right artist to take Thomas Kinkade's place in American culture and decided that it was not a good fit: McNaughton's much more concerned with ranting than actually painting. No, the next Painter of Light cannot be somebody with too many complex ideas. He needs to present something as familiar and easy to pull on as the cozy fall sweaters you're currently pulling out of your dresser drawers. The work should be ubiquitous and unchallenging, suitable for Facebook. And if you support our current president you already may have clicked 'like' on the work of one such artist already, that is the "Hope" poster of the now-famous street artist Shepard Fairey. Salon called Jon McNaughton the right's Shepard Fairey, but could it possibly be the other way around? Is Fairey the left's McNaugton? Is Fairey the left's Thomas Kinkade?

if you live in a city, there's a good chance that somewhere not far away there's a little greeting-card-and-tchotchke store filled with kitschy Kinkade merchandise. And there's also a good chance that near this store there'll be a street sign populated with Fairey's stickers. Depending on your cultural orientation, you may tend to notice the one and not the other. But Fairey's Andr? the Giant images and certainly his "Hope" poster are as iconic and recognizable as Kinkade's cottages. And what, exactly, do they mean? Nothing. Or everything, whatever you want. As we've noted, Kinkade was visual Splenda: no story, no substance, all atmosphere. Fairey's work is not so different. The stylized face of the cult 1980s wrestling figure with the admonition to "Obey" is a page right out of the Dada playbook in that it's essentially meaningless. Fairey's message is solely in the method: put art where you're not supposed to! Redefine your environment! Subvert the establishment! Or not. Where the Dada artists used absurdity to make a point, Fairey only uses it to strengthen a brand.

There are many people who have accused Shepard Fairey of becoming a sell-out. The truth is, though, that he's never not been a sell-out, because by trade he's a graphic designer. His job is to make stuff look cool, which he does spectacularly well. Like Kinkade's, Fairey's fantasy world is also one that doesn't exist. His aesthetic is an ubercool mashup of Soviet propaganda, Eastern textile patterns, and American psychedelic and pop art. Whether or not he was really guilty of a "fair use" violation with the Obama poster is another discussion entirely. His work is a pastiche, a "statue with blank eyeballs," in the words of Fredric Jameson, in that it randomly cannibalizes historical artifacts and reference points, intentionally stripping them of their original contexts in the service of visual "spectacle." Remember when Nike used the Beatles' "Revolution" in a TV ad (and, even more ironically, when they re-recorded a version of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not be Televised?"), tipping off the era in which alluding to counterculture is now the de rigueur marketing strategy of Honda and Apple and any number of luxury brands? That is essentially Fairey's genius, staking out a style that makes sense on the street and on a Saks bag. His 2010 show which closed out Deitch Projects in New York almost looked like a "Greatest Revolution Hits" as curated by Spencer's Gifts: John Lennon, Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix. The only thing missing was the velvet. It's a nice have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too position, not so unlike being able to call a painting an "original," because it's been "highlighted" by a mall employee (sound familiar?). To underscore the similarity between the two, here's a list of companies that, at one time or another, employed either Kinkade or Fairey. Can you guess which artist worked for which corporate giant? (Scroll down to the end for the answers.)

1. Turner Entertainment
2. Disney
3. Coca-Cola
4. NASCAR
5. Dick Clark Productions
6. FOX Studios
7. Johnson & Johnson
8. Paramount Pictures
9. La-Z-Boy

Despite the differing voting patterns of their fan bases, the two artists are more similar than they are different. They're the twin offspring of Warhol, who said that "good business is the best art." You could argue that both are panderers in that they capitalize on existing, market-tested assumptions, selling them back to the audiences that want them the most. But even more interesting is the uneasy relationships both artists have with those ostensible audiences. Surely, many Christians observed that Kinkade's relationship to his Creator often seemed less significant than his relationship to the bright golden calf, and Fairey's supporters have sniffed more than a whiff of opportunism in his progressive impulses?after all, it's not like he was out there designing posters for Dennis Kucinich. Hope or Light? You choose. But they both look good over the sofa.

Answers: 1. Kinkade 2. Both 3. Fairey 4. Kinkade 5. Fairey 6. Fairey 7. Fairey 8. Fairey 9. Kinkade

Previously: Searching With Light: Is Jon McNaughton The Next Thomas Kinkade?

Drew Dernavich is a cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine (not that cartoonist ? the other one) and the co-creator of the cartoon improv show Fisticuffs! He is on Twitter.

Source: http://www.theawl.com/2012/10/is-shepard-fairey-the-next-thomas-kinkade

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Microsoft?s Massive Halo Launch

A $100 million movie isn?t cool. You know what?s cool? A $500 million videogame.

At least that?s what David Fincher, the acclaimed director of The Social Network, seems to think. According to two Microsoft executives who have spoken exclusively to The Daily Beast, the auteur?s next big project isn?t a movie, or even a trailer for one. Instead, Fincher has flown to Prague to direct a mysterious, two-minute teaser for a videogame: Halo 4, the long-awaited sequel to Xbox?s blockbuster action trilogy.

READ MORE How Obama?s Like Facebook

Fincher is a Halo fan. But it?s also a savvy move. The game may prove the biggest entertainment launch of 2012?in any medium.

Other stars have taken note. Conan O?Brien and Andy Richter are slated to voice two of the game?s characters. The franchise is even using the presidential race as a marketing opportunity. If you use your Xbox to watch three of the four debates, Halo 4 will reward your civic zeal with shiny ?warrior armor??so you can eviscerate aliens, patriotically.

READ MORE Welch: I Wish I?d Tweeted Question Marks

When Fincher?s trailer premieres on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 18, it will mark something of a renaissance for console gaming. As analysts presage the rise of mobile gaming and fall of bulky consoles, Microsoft is quietly planning a huge rollout for its most important launch of the year. It might just be gaming?s biggest coming-out party.

Music and movies tend to get a lot more Wall Street attention than videogames. But in 2007, Halo 3 made $300 million in its opening week alone?that?s more than The Avengers? first week, and more than the Social Network?s total gross. The first Halo was the first Xbox killer app: a sci-fi space opera from a little-known studio, Bungie, which Microsoft had snapped up in 2000. At the time, the gaming press speculated that the buy might have had something to do with color scheme: the green hue of Master Chief?s suit meshed well with the new console?s own aesthetic.

READ MORE Alcoa Tops Earnings Expectations

Six games later, the franchise has made $3 billion on 43 million sales. There are Halo novels, miniseries, and reams of florid fan-fiction. ?Halo has transcended a traditional videogame,? says Rob Matthews, head of global consumer marketing for Microsoft?s?interactive-entertainment division. ?It?s a major part of pop culture.?

Microsoft thinks that gaming has finally climbed out of the parental basement?and is risking a lot to keep it there. This year the company posted its first-ever quarterly loss. And as the Xbox ages, its sales have slowed. Xbox holds about half of the console gaming market, which saw declining sales in 2011. Although Microsoft?s revenue hit all-time highs this year, other sectors of its business have faltered?most notably, the bleeding Bing division. Halo 4 has the potential to start the next fiscal year with a plasma bang.

READ MORE Obama's Wall Street Problem

To make matters even more interesting, the game will be the first in the series developed exclusively by Microsoft?s own team, 343 Industries. Bungie split amicably from Microsoft after the launch of Halo 3, with the larger company retaining all intellectual property. And it plans to put those assets to work in an all-out, international, multimillion-dollar marketing blitz.

You?ll be able to buy Halo-branded Doritos with a Halo-branded American Express card, and wash them down with a proprietary, Halo-branded Mountain Dew concoction. Moreover, the game?s brand partnership with PepsiCo is the largest ever for the videogame industry, said Bryan Koski, head of Xbox Global Marketing for Microsoft. The company is producing its own live-action miniseries, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, which it plans to stream for free. And though the details are hazy, Microsoft plans to take over ?a central European principality? for a day, and fill it with re-created set pieces from the game. The soundtrack will be composed by Neil Davidge, the man behind Massive Attack, and remixed by James Iha, former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist. And for television ads, rather than plastering generic spots across the networks?or even the Fincher preview?Halo 4 will be developing custom segments to fit in with specific shows: FOX?s The Fringe and FX?s Sons of Anarchy, as well as slots on Comedy Central and ESPN.com. When the game finally launches on Nov. 6, it will hit 7,000 American stores simultaneously, with glitzy events from New York to Berlin. Matthews waxes poetic: ?Marketing is about romancing all of that,? he says. ?We are reinventing the way videogames are made and marketed.?

READ MORE The Number: $3.5 Million

Part of the romantic?and highly expensive?marketing push is a product of necessity. The consoles are showing their age, and the old-school joystick and shoot play model is ceding ground to motion-capture, not to mention mobile pick up and play. But until the next generation rolls around, Microsoft?s biggest, non-Windows brand still has more selling power than almost any other gaming franchise. And so, expect to see Master Chief, Halo?s super-soldier protagonist, almost everywhere, aiming his high-caliber carbine rifle right between the Angry Birds? eyes. He?ll also rain fire on Nintendo and Sony, whose own consoles are fighting for elbow room in a weakening retail gaming market. As Christmas bells ring, the retail stakes couldn?t be higher.

Related from The Daily Beast

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-massive-halo-launch-084500563--politics.html

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Healthy Living: Bar Fitness - YNN - Your News Now

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Important Things To Consider During E-commerce Web Development

Miscellaneous Written by Anonymous ??Monday, 08 October 2012 04:19 The trend for majority of businesses today is using the internet to capitalize on returns. The increasing use of e-commerce web development is one that cannot be overlooked. Every business wants to be identified with a shopping cart or website application shop. E-commerce development in essence, isone of the most reliable and efficient ways for a business to get ahead. While this is the case, in order to get the most out of it, there are a couple of things that must be taken into consideration. Some of these are as highlighted below.

??? Product information: The aim of e-commerce development is to help you sell your products. For this reason, you need to provide all relevant information needed by your clients and this includes the materials, sizes, weights and dimensions of the product. If you have any other information that is relevant to the product, make sure it is included in the product information.
??? Checkout process: Every e-commerce web development needs a checkout process. An ideal one is where the procedure includes single web page. If you have one that has more than this, it is going to be a hustle for your customers.
??? Contact information: You should give your customers enough contact information. This is the only way to build their confidence in your business. In this respect, you should include your contact number, email, fax and any other contact information that they might consider essential. This also proves that you are committed towards serving them in the best way possible.
??? Sign in: Any e-commerce web design is incomplete if it does not include the sign in. This helps your business collect information about your customers and also proves that you are a professional and reputed website.
??? Search option: Majority of customers who use e-commerce websites do not want to waste time looking for a product. For this reason, make sure that you include a search option on your site. Ideally, this should be addressed during the e-commerce web design process in order to avoid any inconveniences that might arise at a later date.
??? Product image: Since your clients are not able to see the product physically, you should include high quality product image on your website. In order to pull this off, it is advisable to work with a reputable e-commerce web development company. This is the only way to ensure that the web design overland park you end up with meets your e-commerce development needs to perfection.

All these factors are essential for the purpose of ensuring you end up with a reputable ecommerce site. However, it is also important to ensure that you hire an e-commerce web design company that is known for delivering high quality work.

We are provider of the most comprehensive and customized SEO serviceses, Web design services, Web development services and also provide e-commerce web design and e-commerce development services in overland park, lees summit and Kanas city.

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Last Updated on Monday, 08 October 2012 04:19

Source: http://www.workoninternet.com/business/reviews/miscellaneous/219166-article.html

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The Full Explanation of Umbrella Insurance | Blog Interact?

For those of you who don?t really understand the meaning of Umbrella insurance. Umbrella insurance coverage is a separate policy from your auto or homeowner?s insurance policy.

Read full story on http://www.turacontent.com ?
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Source: http://bloginteract.com/stories/the-full-explanation-of-umbrella-insurance/

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UC Berkeley study finds flirting can pay off for women

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 9-Oct-2012
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Contact: Pamela Tom
ptom@haas.berkeley.edu
510-642-2734
University of California - Berkeley Haas School of Business

Haas School of Business research on effective negotiation

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY'S HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS When Madeleine Albright became the first female U.S. Secretary of State, she led high-level negotiations between mostly male foreign government leaders. In 2009, comedian Bill Maher asked Albright if she ever flirted on the job and she replied, "I did, I did." Flirtatiousness, female friendliness, or the more diplomatic description "feminine charm" is an effective way for women to gain negotiating mileage, according to a new study by Haas School of Business Professor Laura Kray.

"Women are uniquely confronted with a tradeoff in terms of being perceived as strong versus warm. Using feminine charm in negotiation is a technique that combines both," says Kray, who holds the Warren E. and Carol Spieker Chair in Leadership at the Haas School.

The study, "Feminine Charm: An Experimental Analysis of its Costs and Benefits in Negotiations," was published in October in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and co-authored by Haas PhD alumna Connson C. Locke of the London School of Economics and Haas PhD candidate Alex B. Van Zant.

Flirtation that generates positive results, says Kray, is not overt sexual advances but authentic, engaging behavior without serious intent. In fact, the study found female flirtation signals attractive qualities such as confidence, which is considered essential to successful negotiators.

To determine whether women who flirt are more effective in negotiating than men who flirt, the researchers asked 100 participants to evaluate to what extent they use social charm in negotiation on a one-to-seven scale.

Earlier that week, the participants evaluated their partners' negotiating effectiveness. Women who said they used more social charm were rated more effective by their partners. However, men who said they used more social charm were not regarded as more effective.

In the second experiment, the researchers asked subjects to imagine they were selling a car worth $1,200 and asked for how much would they sell the car. Next, the subjects read one of two scenarios about a potential buyer named Sue. The first group meets Sue, who shakes hands when she meets the seller, smiles, and says, "It's a pleasure to meet you,." and then "What's your best price?" in a serious tone. The second group reads an alternate scenario in which Sue greets the seller by smiling warmly, looking the seller up and down, touching the seller's arm, and saying, "You're even more charming than over email," followed by a playful wink and asking, "What's your best price?"

The result? Male sellers were willing to give the "playful Sue" more than $100 off the selling price whereas they weren't as willing to negotiate with the "serious Sue." Playful Sue's behavior did not affect female car sellers.

Kray says many of her students who are senior women executives admit they love to flirt and describe themselves as "big flirts." Kray maintains flirting is not unprofessional if it remains playful and friendly.

"The key is to flirt with your own natural personality in mind. Be authentic. Have fun. That will translate into confidence, which is a strong predictor of negotiation performance."

###

See Abstract: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/38/10/1343.abstract

See Full Paper: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/38/10/1343.full


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[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 9-Oct-2012
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Contact: Pamela Tom
ptom@haas.berkeley.edu
510-642-2734
University of California - Berkeley Haas School of Business

Haas School of Business research on effective negotiation

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY'S HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS When Madeleine Albright became the first female U.S. Secretary of State, she led high-level negotiations between mostly male foreign government leaders. In 2009, comedian Bill Maher asked Albright if she ever flirted on the job and she replied, "I did, I did." Flirtatiousness, female friendliness, or the more diplomatic description "feminine charm" is an effective way for women to gain negotiating mileage, according to a new study by Haas School of Business Professor Laura Kray.

"Women are uniquely confronted with a tradeoff in terms of being perceived as strong versus warm. Using feminine charm in negotiation is a technique that combines both," says Kray, who holds the Warren E. and Carol Spieker Chair in Leadership at the Haas School.

The study, "Feminine Charm: An Experimental Analysis of its Costs and Benefits in Negotiations," was published in October in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and co-authored by Haas PhD alumna Connson C. Locke of the London School of Economics and Haas PhD candidate Alex B. Van Zant.

Flirtation that generates positive results, says Kray, is not overt sexual advances but authentic, engaging behavior without serious intent. In fact, the study found female flirtation signals attractive qualities such as confidence, which is considered essential to successful negotiators.

To determine whether women who flirt are more effective in negotiating than men who flirt, the researchers asked 100 participants to evaluate to what extent they use social charm in negotiation on a one-to-seven scale.

Earlier that week, the participants evaluated their partners' negotiating effectiveness. Women who said they used more social charm were rated more effective by their partners. However, men who said they used more social charm were not regarded as more effective.

In the second experiment, the researchers asked subjects to imagine they were selling a car worth $1,200 and asked for how much would they sell the car. Next, the subjects read one of two scenarios about a potential buyer named Sue. The first group meets Sue, who shakes hands when she meets the seller, smiles, and says, "It's a pleasure to meet you,." and then "What's your best price?" in a serious tone. The second group reads an alternate scenario in which Sue greets the seller by smiling warmly, looking the seller up and down, touching the seller's arm, and saying, "You're even more charming than over email," followed by a playful wink and asking, "What's your best price?"

The result? Male sellers were willing to give the "playful Sue" more than $100 off the selling price whereas they weren't as willing to negotiate with the "serious Sue." Playful Sue's behavior did not affect female car sellers.

Kray says many of her students who are senior women executives admit they love to flirt and describe themselves as "big flirts." Kray maintains flirting is not unprofessional if it remains playful and friendly.

"The key is to flirt with your own natural personality in mind. Be authentic. Have fun. That will translate into confidence, which is a strong predictor of negotiation performance."

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See Abstract: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/38/10/1343.abstract

See Full Paper: http://psp.sagepub.com/content/38/10/1343.full


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uoc--ubs100812.php

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Teenage Pakistani girl activist wounded in attack

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) ? A gunman walked up to a bus taking children home from school in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley Tuesday and shot and wounded a 14-year-old activist known for championing the education of girls and publicizing atrocities committed by the Taliban, officials said.

The attack in the city of Mingora targeted 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who is widely respected for her work to promote the schooling of girls ? something that the Taliban strongly opposes. She was nominated last year for the International Children's Peace Prize.

The school bus was about to leave the school grounds in Mingora when a bearded man approached it and asked which one of the girls was Malala, said Rasool Shah, the police chief in the town. Another girl pointed to Malala, but the activist denied it was her and the gunmen then shot both of the girls, the police chief said.

Malala was shot twice ? once in the head and once in the neck ? but her wounds were not life-threatening, said Tariq Mohammad, a doctor at the main hospital in Mingora. The second girl shot was in stable condition, the doctor said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting. But Malala and her family had been threatened by the Taliban for her activism.

The attack displayed the viciousness of Islamic militants in Swat Valley, where the military conducted a major operation in 2009 to clear out insurgents. It was a reminder of the challenges of keeping the area free of militant influence.

The problems of young women in Pakistan were also the focus of a separate case before the high court, which ordered a probe into an alleged barter of seven girls to settle a blood feud in a remote southwestern district.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry began proceedings into the allegations, which were first reported in the local media. The alleged trade happened in the Dera Bugti district of Baluchistan province between two groups within the Bugti tribe, one of the more prominent tribes in the province.

A tribal council ordered the barter in early September, the district deputy commissioner, Saeed Faisal, told the court. He did not know the girls' ages but local media reported they were between 4 and 13 years old.

However, the Advocate General for the province could not confirm the incident.

Chaudhry, the chief justice, ordered Faisal to make sure that all members of the tribal council appear in court on Wednesday, as well as a local lawmaker who belongs to one of the two sub-tribes believed involved in the incident.

The tradition of families exchanging unmarried girls to settle feuds is banned under Pakistani law but still practiced in the country's more conservative, tribal areas.

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Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/teenage-pakistani-girl-activist-wounded-attack-111256793.html

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Report: Joran van der Sloot impregnates girl despite being in prison

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? A newspaper said Monday that Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch man who is serving a 28-year-sentence for murdering a young Peruvian woman, has impregnated a woman while imprisoned in Lima.

The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf cited Van der Sloot's lawyer Maximo Altez as saying the pregnancy is past its third month, and Van der Sloot himself as having confirmed the news in a telephone call on Saturday.

"A test has proved" the pregnancy, the paper quoted Van der Sloot as saying.

The woman, identified by the paper only as "Leidi," was said to have become pregnant during an unsupervised visit with Van der Sloot. It was not clear whether that is allowed or possible under Peruvian prison rules.

Media in Peru last year identified a woman named Leydi Figueroa Uceda as Van der Sloot's girlfriend, and said they had conceived a son together, but she denied it. Altez then described the pair as "friends."

In De Telegraaf Van der Sloot said "Leidi" uses the birth control pill but had apparently forgotten to take it and she would not have an abortion due to her Catholic faith. He said he didn't have DNA proof the child is his, but he believes it to be.

Van der Sloot is a self-described liar, having repeatedly confessed to killing U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in 2005, and later retracting the confessions. He is the last person known to have seen her alive.

He was convicted for the 2010 robbing and killing of Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel room after meeting her in a nearby casino. He is wanted by authorities in the U.S. for allegedly extorting money from the Holloway family on the promise of revealing the location of her body.

He could resist extradition to the United States, where is wanted in the Holloway case, if he obtains Peruvian nationality. That would be a possibility if he becomes the father of a Peruvian child or if he marries a Peruvian citizen.

Van der Sloot is appealing his conviction.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-imprisoned-dutch-killer-impregnates-girl-090553579.html

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