Our Contributing Authors
Chukwuma Asala
Chukwuma Asala is an international student from Nigeria who is studying to earn an MBA from the State University of New York in Albany. He has analyzed more than 20 industry case studies throughout his education thus far, and hopes to bring some of his business knowledge to Gaebler.com.
Articles written by Chukwuma Asala
Chukwuma is an avid reader of business books and an active observer of real-world entrepreneurship. In each of his articles, he blends his many talents along with his keen understanding of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.
- Activities to Keep Your Sales Numbers Growing - The challenges in sales tend to be progressive, especially if you are new to sales. The first challenge is simply how to make a sale. The second and usually tougher challenge is how to keep your sales numbers growing. This article will give some insight to some of the habits you must form to keep your numbers on the up and up.
- Affiliate Marketing Programs - Affiliate marketing is one of the simplest yet more effective ways to increase a company's exposure, especially via the internet. How does it work exactly and what makes it so effective?
- Attributes of Entrepreneurs - What does it take to become an entrepreneur? It takes a certain mindset and a different way of thinking to get into business.
- Benefits of E-Commerce - Why e-commerce over a traditional business? Read on...
- Benefits of HR Consulting - Why use an external HR consultant? The use of an external consultant in an organization is a common practice in the world of business.
- Benefits of Starting a Wellness Program - There are many benefits of incorporating employee wellness programs into a company. Most people know what they need to do to be healthy. No one believes fast food is good for you, or getting on the treadmill for twenty minutes four times a week could increase your risk of a heart attack.
- Benefits Versus Features - Most people in sales feel people are complicated and too demanding. The reality is however that people are very simple, but sales people make the decision-making process complicated. The only question customers really want answered is: What's in it for me? This article will emphasize the importance of focusing on the benefits of a product rather than the features when selling.
- Building a Business with Your Spouse - When you are thinking about starting a business with your spouse, it is important that you consider what new stresses may come into play. This article aims to introduce you to some issues that may cause conflict with your loved one.
- Characteristics of Successful Salesmen - There is a generic profile for every successful person. That is to say they all have a few things in common that if you aspire to have you too can also be successful in your current position. This article will take a look closely at some of the key characteristics you must have to be successful in Sales.
- Developing a Mentoring Relationship - The business world is full of people with wisdom and knowledge who wish they could share their knowledg with other people. However, the reality is that most people don't know how to use a mentor or a coach effectively, and so a lot of this wisdom is untouched. It takes work to develop an effective mentoring relationship and this article will touch on some of the key things to focus on when looking for mentorship from someone.
- Developing Leaders Around You - The mark of a real leader today is in how many leaders are coming behind him. This article will highlight the importance of developing leaders around you and how to effectively do this in an organization.
- Developing Strong Mentor Relationships - What does it take to be a mentor? How do you establish good mentoring relationships with the key members on your team?
- Dressing for Success - Dress has always been very important in business. No matter the industry, there is a universal look that every successful person has. This article will go over some of the ways to enhance your business image so you can put your best foot forward.
- Effective Presentations - One of the biggest skills to develop in sales is giving effective presentations. Most people will buy a product because the individual left a big impression on them, and presentations are a good way to leave and make an impression on customers.
- Emotional Intelligence and the Entrepreneur - How does emotional intelligence help in entrepreneurship? What are the characteristics of a high EQ versus low? The article evaluates the consequences of both.
- Entrepreneurship and the S-curve - Understanding S-curves is vital to your company's success. How do you harness the knowledge from some of the S-curve trends of past industries?
- Entrepreneurship or Job Security? - Why should you become an entrepreneur? Determining whether or not you're cut out to be an entrepreneur can be a difficult task. Here we take a look at what to consider in terms of job security, and why people may be choosing more careers in entrepreneurship.
- External Recruiting - No matter how small your company or enterprise, the short-term as well as the long-term success of your business will be determined by the ability for your company to stay innovative. An outside party is usually the best catalyst for such innovation. This article will talk about the different pros and cons of external recruiting and when it is most effective to bring an outsider into the organization.
- Focus on People, Not Profit - It can be difficult to turn a regular customer into a loyal customer. Sometimes you just need to know what you can do to win their heart over. Read on for some tricks gain your customer's trust.
- Freshman Year in Business - Your first year in business will be one of the most thrilling and frustrating at the same time. Welcome to the world of entrepreneurship.
- Get Ready to Work - What does it take to build a successful Network Marketing Business? Network Marketing businesses present a simple way to start a business of your own but do not misconstrue simplicity for ease.
- Getting Past the Age Challenge - How do you get past the age challenge? Entrepreneurs are getting younger and younger. Here are some tips on how to be successful and young at the same time.
- Home Based Business and You - Home-based businesses are quickly increasing these days. As an entrepreneur, working at home can often accommodate an already busy schedule. How can you capitalize on this?
- How Much Does it Really Cost to Start a Business? - Most people underestimate how much it will cost to run their business and overestimate how much their profit margins will be.
- How Personal Growth Fuels Business Growth - Most businesses measure their growth by revenue or sales. But a more important proxy to measure an organizations growth with is the personal growth of the leader or head of the organization. This article will highlight the importance of pursuing personal growth as a standard for business growth.
- How to Communicate Confidence - How do you communicate confidence? This article will give you the tips and tricks to turn heads.
- How to Develop Charisma - As a leader you must master the ability to influence people. We all know people who just seem to attract crowds everywhere they go and have people feeling endeared to them in seconds. This article will give some key points on how to develop charisma, one of the more important intangibles when dealing with people.
- How to Get Repeat Sales - Sales keep an organization profitable. Repeat sales ensure that the organization will not fall back to previous benchmarks. How exactly does one effectively keep previous customers and build on an already existing customer base? This article will give some tips on getting and more importantly keeping customers.
- How to Handle Conflict and Confrontation - Conflict is inevitable when people are involved. Egos and emotions are always being tested and as such it takes a person with good knowledge of conflict resolution to help alleviate situations in an organization that otherwise if left untouched could be disastrous. This article will talk about some of the different aspects of handing conflict and confrontation.
- How to Lead Leaders - Most people if asked if they would want a high performer to come into their organization would almost immediately respond with an emphatic yes. But it is much easier to lead a follower than it is to lead a leader. How does one go about leading a self-starter? This article will broach some key things to be aware of when managing a leader in your organization.
- How to Offer Constructive Criticism - The toughest thing about managing people is you're in a position where you see the mistakes they make and feel the need to correct them. This is especially important if these mistakes could prove very costly to the organization as a whole. This article will give a few tips on how to offer criticism without creating dissension with your employees.
- How to Win a Business Plan Contest - What are some quick tips on winning a business plan contest? Business plans are usually very exhaustive but the presentations usually lack the same clarity and conciseness of the print. Some of the best business plans are never picked up by investors because of a sub-par presentation, even if the actual document of the business plan is of a better quality.
- Important Elements of a Good Business Plan - A business plan is not complicated to write but a botched business plan will get you nowhere with future investors. This article will highlight some common mistakes when writing business plans.
- Internal Recruiting - Recruiting is a huge human resources function in any business. Internal recruiting is usually the first choice for most small startups that are looking to grow their employee base. This article will talk about the different pros and cons of internal recruiting and when it is most effective.
- Job Mentality Versus Business Ownership Mentality - Business ownership is not for everyone. If it were, more and more people would become business owners and fewer people would be looking to work for business owners or companies. This article will summarize the differences between a business ownership mentality and a job mentality.
- Keeping an Organization Unified - Unity is not easy to come by in an organization. Creating unity most times is not the challenge but keeping it is. Just how does one go about keeping a team growing together with one goal, one agenda and one purpose? This article will highlight some important tips on creating and keeping unity in your company.
- Key Characteristics of Goals - Everyone knows that it is important to have goals in business. But why is it so few people know how to go about setting goals and more importantly seeing through to completion? This article will highlight the key characteristics of goals in business.
- Keys to a Professional Business Card - What makes a professional business card look professional?We have all seen business cards that instantly strike us as professional, and we've also seen some cards that make us question what the person who owns the business card was thinking when they created them.
- Leading with Questions - How can you use questions to improve your sales efficiency? How can you take control of an interview?
- Managing Different Personality Types: Introverts and Extroverts - There are a lot of different personalities, but almost every personality type will typically fall into one of these two categories: introversion and extroversion. This article will take a look at differences between these personality types and how to effectively manage and facilitate teamwork between these two personalities.
- Managing Personalities by Mastering You - If you can understand the different types of personalities people have, it makes it much simpler to communicate with and manage them. This article examines the four common personalities as defined by Gordon McFarlane, an author and motivational speaker on leadership, sales and relationships.
- Managing Team Dynamics - What are the things that leaders of teams do to ensure their teams are healthy and growing? Learn tips about how to manage the team dynamics in your business.
- Managing Team Dynamics After a Layoff - How do you handle a team that just lost one of their teammates? There are many right ways to keep team dynamics together after a layoff. However, if handled incorrectly, the team can really suffer.
- Managing Your Appointment Calendar - Sales is all about how many appointments you can book that will lead to a sale. You can't directly always control the outcome of an appointment, but you can always control if your calendar is booked or not.
- Overcoming Rejection in Sales - The biggest challenge in sales is how take a rejection of what you are trying to sell and keep going. This article highlights the key elements of understanding and mastering this skill early in your sales career or business.
- Partnering with Family Members - Many businesses are run by families. Family provides a great source of dependable work, however there are some problems that can arise. This article will discuss some of the challenges of partnering with family members.
- Picking the Right People - What are the important things to consider when picking business partners? It is no surprise that the quality of your company will be directly linked with the quality of its people. To take it a step further, the quality of the founding partners will determine whether or not the business will stand the test of time.
- Pitfalls in Small Business - What are some of the rookie mistakes people make when starting a small business? Several things can often go overlooked and cause some growing pains in small business.
- Professional Vs Personal Development - What is the difference between Professional and Personal Development? How do you simultaneously focus on both? Is that even possible?
- Quick Tips to Help You Get Started - As a young entrepreneur, you may feel the world is set on a silver platter. However, if not handled properly, your business could sink. Here's some tips to help you stay afloat in the business world.
- Reasons for an Internship Program - Why are internship programs a must if you are to have a company that is long-term? There are a plethora of internship opportunities available to most students looking for good work experience.
- Referral Marketing - Advertising is one of the most expensive marketing functions for a business. No matter how good a product or service is, without advertising it is not as effective as a lesser quality product that has a strong advertising campaign. More businesses today however are starting to leverage consumer referral as a means of expanding their market coverage. This article will explain this new phenomenon and give some points on why this is working.
- Retention Through Personality-Typing - How can understanding personalities help in retention of employees? This has been a topic of much research and here's what you can do as an employer to accommodate the different types of people.
- Retirement Myths - Growing up we were taught a lot of things that at the time were as real as anything else we believed at that time. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny all played a huge role in our lives at a time when we were too innocent to know the difference. This article will take a look at some of the similarities between Santa, the Easter Bunny, and retirement.
- Signs of Disunity in an Organization - An organization that is unified in their purpose is unstoppable in the marketplace. Unity is easy to create and maintain in a small organization. As a business or company grows however it become increasingly difficult and great care must be taken to keep the organization motivated and loyal to the mission statement of the company. This article will point out five key things to look for which are clear signs an organization's unity is at risk.
- Success is About People, Not Ideas - What is the bottom line with evaluating a business idea or service? The media has a way of placing successful people on a platform that no one else can reach.
- The Atmosphere of a Winning Team - What type of atmosphere is ideal for growth? Looking to improve your entrepreneur leadership skills? This article is full of leadership tips.
- The Difference Between a Sole Proprietorship and a Partnership - What are the pros and cons of a partnership and sole-proprietorship? This article should help give you some answers.
- The Family Test - Family can be the biggest obstacle to your business getting off the ground, so here's some helpful tips to get them working with you, not against you.
- The Importance of a Mentor - Why is a mentor important to have when starting a business?Most entrepreneurs go into business alone, no partners, few investors, and incurring all the stress of getting their business off the ground.
- The Importance of A Values System - What role do values play in entrepreneurship? Values are intangible priorities that people use as a compass in their navigation of their daily dealing with people. As an entrepreneur and leader of your organization it is important you clearly define early on what your value-system is for making decisions and make it known through your actions to your team.
- The Importance of Education and Mentorship - From Tupperware to Avon, network marketing businesses have a lot of appeal. But what makes them a sure bet? Read this article to learn about the importance of training, education and mentorship at network marketing companies.
- The Importance of Having a Mentor - If you examine any successful person they typically have one thing in common: a mentor. Nearly every successful person in history had someone who they could confide in and learn from when times were tough. This article will highlight the importance of having a mentor in business and entrepreneurship.
- The Importance of Reading - Aside from the personal growth and enjoyment derived from reading, there are numerous benefits to incorporating a personal growth reading regimen into your daily schedule.
- The Importance of Using a Sales Script - Most people, when asked whether or not they feel that sales is a hard profession, respond with an emphatic "yes". For the brave ones who venture into sales, they find that selling is not hard at all. It is making a sale consistently that is the challenge. This article touches on the importance of using a sales script to achieve consistency in your sales calls, appointments, and ultimately results.
- The Job Security Myth - A myth can be defined as a traditional story accepted as history which serves to explain the world view of how things are done today. This article will take a look at how the popular phrase, "job security", is fast-becoming one of the more popular myths in the 21st century.
- The Mindset of an Interview - The process of growing your organization is a filtering process and it all starts with the interview. This sets the tone for the rest of that person's career with your company.
- The Psychology Behind Sales - Why do most people view Sales as the toughest job in the world? Probably because most people don't realize that Sales has nothing to do with selling.
- The Root Cause of Failure in Entrepreneurship - It is a well-known fact that all ninety-five percent of businesses fail within the first five years of inception. This article will take a look at some of the common pitfalls to succeeding as an entrepreneur and what to avoid when going through those first five years.
- Things to Consider When Choosing a Business Location - Why is location important? What factors influence where businesses decide to start? This article will provide answers on what to look for in a location when you start your business.
- Things You Need For a H1-B Visa - What is required for an H1-B visa petition? Read on to find out.
- Tips On Managing Your Finances - Money is becoming increasingly hard to manage in today's economy. And with rising inflation, job losses, and the recent credit crunch, business owners must be very tactful in matters of finances if they are to continue to stay in the black and out of the red. This article will highlight some key elements of effective money management both at the business level and personal level.
- Tips on Setting Appointments - Most people in sales know that feeling of picking up the phone and having it weigh 20 pounds. The fear of making calls to book appointments has stopped many a good salesmen from cashing in on a good client. This article will go over the format for making a successful phone call to book an appointment with a prospect.
- Tips on Starting a Business in College - It is rare, but there are some young buckaroos who get the entrepreneurial itch early in their college career and decide they want to join the few who are looking to control their own destinies. Here are some tips for how to succeed as a young entrepreneur still in college.
- Tips on Time Management - Successful people are very ruthless with how they use their time. As a new business owner and entrepreneur or a veteran business owner, time management will either be your biggest asset or largest liability. This article will highlight some of the keys to managing your time effectively in business.
- Understanding Strong Personalities - How do you effectively lead and manage strong personalities in your organization? In the course of being a manager or supervisor you will inevitably encounter a number of different personalities, some of which will be easy for you to manage and some which will be very difficult best on your leadership-style and personality-type.
- Understanding Time Compounding - What is time compounding and how does it work in network marketing? Read on for how you can use this strategy to your advantage.
- Using Articles and Research Papers - How can you leverage articles and research papers to your advantage? Read on to find out.
- Wal-Mart and Distribution - Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500. This company has dominated the business of distribution for the last five decades and doesn't look to be slowing down. This article will talk about why distribution is still the business to beat in the marketplace.
- What It Takes to Become an Entrepreneur - What exactly does it take to be able to succeed as an entrepreneur? This article will examine the mindset necessary for someone to succeed on his or her own in business.
- What to Consider When Buying a Business - When does it make sense to adopt a Merger and Acquisition strategy? Multiple companies today are merging due to tougher financial times. This article provides a brief analysis of the reasons to buy a business.
- Why Affiliate Marketing - Many people today are looking at affiliate marketing as a good business model to get into for a number of reasons. This article will highlight the pros of the industry and why it is the business model for the next decade.
- Why Emotional Intelligence is Important - What role does emotional intelligence play in retention? What are the things you can do to make this work to your advantage to have a thoroughbred company?
- Why Network Marketing Makes Sense - This article discusses why network marketing businesses are fast-becoming the first option for budding entrepreneurs looking to get their feet wet before jumping in the deep end of entrepreneurship.
- Why Social Networking Is Hot - There is no question that the biggest buzz the last few years has been social networking websites. This article will explain why.
- Work Visas: The Pros and Cons - A work visa gives U.S employers the right to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that are classified as specialty jobs. Here's an introduction into the world of work visas.
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