There is an old adage by Confucius that says, “Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” 

Arguably one of the most brilliant Eastern philosophers of all time, he lived during simpler times. In the modern market, love is not enough to create a successful enterprise. Passion alone will not keep the doors to a business open or help build the foundation necessary to succeed. More importantly, in this economy, love of one’s work does not keep the lights on, put food on the table, and all the other necessary activities required to perpetuate a business. 

Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly one quarter (23.2 percent) of businesses will fail within the first year. By year 10, 65.3 percent of businesses shutter their doors and close shop. That leaves roughly 3 in 10 businesses that will endure. Many budding entrepreneurs would say they are married to their business, but like any good relationship, sometimes love, sweat, and tears are not enough. 

Speaking to countless businesses, big and small, will reveal one indelible factor: Commitment, resilience, and constant planning are also requirements for building a successful business. Also, one cannot forget about the luck factor. 

The best planning and optimal launch of a well-constructed business model can be derailed by a natural disaster, pandemic, or other unforeseeable events. Unpredictable changes to legislation can render a person’s business idea untenable or even illegal, which is why the first step to any venture should be incorporation. 

Starting a home catering business? Great. What happens when a client gets food poisoning and blames the products? 

As a sole proprietor, the cook can be held liable for any and all business liabilities. 

Every business carries risks, but there are ways of mitigating risks and protecting personal assets. Before running a credit check for a loan for a storefront or taking a batch of pastries to the food market, the business must be born as its own entity.

For example, as a single-member LLC (Limited Liability Company), Patrick’s Perfect Pastries, LLC is a separate legal entity from Patrick. While Patrick may run the business and operations, the LLC has its own federal identification number, pays taxes, has a bank account, and is held responsible for damages in the case of misfortune. 

In other words, if Patrick’s client does not know to refrigerate their white-chocolate raspberry cheesecake, leaves it out for three days, then wants to blame Patrick for becoming ill, the LLC takes the financial hit in the case of damages, rather than Patrick. 

There are fees associated with starting an LLC, and the business must stay in compliance, cannot be recognized globally, and might be taxed in other countries. However, the major benefits are that a board of directors is not required, and personal property/assets are protected from any business liability. 

Businesses can also become an S Corporation (S Corp), which allows up to a maximum of 100 shareholders that all have common stock in the company, which essentially means that all shareholders have voting rights and receive dividends based on their number of shares. S Corps are required to have board members and hold meetings with strict rules on keeping records of the minutes. C Corps are similar to S Corps but are recognized internationally, and owners may get preferred stock in the company, which comes with priority to receive dividends. 

Choosing the entity type depends on the business model and preferences of the owner. While a tech company specializing in global mitigation of cyber threats might prefer international recognition that comes from a C Corp, a landlord trying to lease a single recently purchased townhome would likely benefit more from an LLC, as would an artisan selling arts and crafts at a farmers market or starting a home cottage.

In Florida, sunbiz.org is a great resource for establishing an LLC, but law offices also specialize in helping with Articles of Organization and registering. Additionally, legal teams carry the added benefit of offering legal advice during the formation of the business entity, as well as annual filing. 

After forming the entity, there are ways to generate funding beyond grinding away at the day job, such as taking advantage of Florida’s Small Business Loan Support Program, a state incentive to help new businesses. Tallahassee also has the Office of Economic Vitality with resources available to help new and developing businesses. Local municipalities also offer grants when trying to develop businesses in new or gentrified areas. 

Newly formed entities might face challenges trying to build the credit necessary to qualify for a loan. One trick is to get a credit card from a retailer, such as a home goods store, home improvement store, or a larger bank. Even if there is an annual fee for the first card, using it each month will establish credit for the business and help with future loans. 

There are also cost-saving measures and incubators (See Domi Station in Tallahassee or Co:Lab in Pensacola) that offer cheaper rent for certain types of businesses, as well as shared working space and other intangible resources. Rather than going all-in and pouring savings into a dream, it could be worthwhile to rent a kiosk in a strip mall for a retail business—see The Garden in Pensacola (page 56) that also offers a launch pad for retailers. Other options are opening a kiosk inside a hospital or college, which will help to generate revenue and a customer base with minimal overhead before trying to open a permanent storefront. 

While having a passion is a good start, successful entrepreneurs need to understand their markets and demographics, which requires research and planning before the launch. 

Jeb MacVittie

BEST PRACTICES  Sgt. Fred Smelt of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office addresses an employee group regarding the most appropriate ways to react to the presence of a shooter in the workplace.

On Aug. 12, 2016, an IT employee committed suicide with a gun at the county administrative complex in Pensacola. Visitors were screened, but employees could enter the building through a garage entrance without being searched.

On Feb. 5, 2014, an employee at a Ford dealership in the Taylor County city of Perry crashed his truck into the business and began firing with a semi-automatic shotgun. He seriously wounded three people, including an on-duty sheriff’s deputy getting his car serviced, who was able to kill the gunman.

On Dec. 14, 2010, a disgruntled man began shooting at a Bay District School Board meeting. He fired four shots at school board members, missing them all. He was wounded by a security officer and ultimately killed himself.

On Nov. 20, 2014, a mentally ill Florida State University graduate returned to campus and opened fire at the entrance to Strozier Library, where about 500 students were studying. Before he was killed by police, the 31-year-old attorney had wounded three people, including one who is permanently paralyzed.

“It can’t happen here” is how many business owners and managers deal with the possibility of violent, sometimes fatal, incidents in their workplaces. But, security experts say, it can and it does.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that an average of 551 American workers were killed in workplace violence annually between 2006 and 2010, the last year figures were available. Seventy-eight percent of those killed were shot to death. Men were most often the victims, with 72 percent of them dying at the hands of robbers or other assailants. Women, however, were the victims of relatives or other acquaintances 39 percent of the time, compared to only 3 percent of men.

While the numbers are sobering, those same experts say spending a relatively small amount of time and money can prevent such tragedies, or at least keep the human toll to a minimum.

For starters, “businesses should have an emergency action plan and should train their employees on the implementation of the EAC,” said Charlie Strickland, co-owner and CEO of Talon Training Group in Midway, near Tallahassee, which offers on-site classes and consulting.

“We can go to their business and actually teach them, we can look at their emergency action plan, we can look at their facility, we can do a site evaluation and then we can make recommendations to them on how to make things safer,” said the former Leon County Sheriff’s Office trainer and SWAT team leader. “We do courses for their business and teach their people how to react in an active shooter or domestic violence situation. It’s not hands-on training. We’re not teaching them to shoot; we’re not teaching them how to fight. We’re teaching them to think and what to do if something happens.”

Currently, the most oft-heard advice is “Run. Hide. Fight.” When an incident unfolds, run away. If that’s not possible, hide. And when confronted by a violent assailant, fight.

But thinking through each of these actions in advance is vital when faced with a terrible scenario. It might be planning an escape route. (One of the worst things you can do, said Strickland, is pull the fire alarm.) It could be as simple as shoving a doorstop under a door after determining if it swings in, or out. Or locking the door and barricading it with a file cabinet. Or even deciding which office supplies, such as a letter opener, stapler or coatrack, could be used as a weapon.

“Your brain doesn’t work the same under critical-incident stress,” Strickland said. “If you don’t consider those things ahead of time, you’re not going to think about it under stress.”

One of the greatest deterrents to curbing violent outbursts is recognizing and reporting employees who exhibit unusual or changed behavior. Like the mantra for spotting potential terrorists, “See something, say something” works in the workplace.

“In all the studying I have done, I have not seen one single incidence where an employee has just snapped,” said Arizona-based security consultant Robert Sollars. “I think that’s a media invention. It makes for a good sound bite, but nobody ‘just snaps’; there are always warning signs. Whether coworkers and families and friends catch these signs is another issue.” 

Sollars has written a book on the subject — “One is Too Many: Recognizing and Preventing Workplace Violence” — that outlines 21 warning signs that might predict employee violence, including such behaviors as drug and alcohol abuse, poor health and hygiene, depression and new religious or political fervor.

“If it’s been going on for days, weeks or months at a time, that’s where the coworker needs to tell the supervisor and the supervisor go on and tell HR,” Sollars said. “There’s a ton of excuses people use for not saying anything to anybody, and a lot of times, the supervisors or manager don’t report it any higher than themselves, thinking, ‘That’s going to look bad on me’ or ‘I can’t afford to have this employee pulled off the line …because we’re behind.’”

Most workers aren’t worried about the threat of fire in their workplace, because someone thought ahead to install sprinkler systems and fire extinguishers. Preparing for a violent encounter — rather than creating a sense of paranoia and hypervigilance — can provide a similar sense of security at work.

“I want my people to feel good about coming to work. I want them to feel safe and secure and empowered,” Strickland said. “And by having a good emergency action plan that employees have been trained in and know how to implement, you are empowering your employees to actually focus on their jobs at hand and not worry about their safety anymore.” 

Resources for Workplace Violence

• The Leon County Sheriff’s Office offers active shooter workplace training free of charge to businesses. To arrange for the training, contact the Public Information Office at (850) 606-3342.
• The Department of Homeland Security offers a wide variety of downloadable print and video resources relating to workplace violence and terrorist threats at dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness.

bobmadbob / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Any business leader will tell you that running a world-class organization is no easy feat. It’s challenging to work toward a vision and create a positive future for you and your team, especially since you are guaranteed to face all kinds of challenges, adversity, negativity and tests along the way. But in the face of these obstacles, your attitude makes all the difference in the culture and success of your organization.  

Pessimists don’t change the world. Throughout history, we see that it’s the optimists, the believers, the dreamers, the doers and the positive leaders who change the world. The good news is, even if you’re the biggest pessimist you know, you can learn to change your outlook, and that will change your life and make you a much stronger leader.

Research clearly supports the connection between a positive attitude and success in terms of individuals and organizations. For example, the research of Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and science journalist, demonstrates that positive teams perform at higher levels than negative teams. 

Also, according to Wayne Baker, research he and Robert Cross conducted shows that “the more you energize people in your workplace, the higher your work performance.” Baker says that this occurs because people want to be around you. You attract talent, and people are more likely to devote their discretionary time to your projects. They’ll offer new ideas, information and opportunities to you before others. The opposite is also true. If you de-energize others, people won’t go out of their way to work with or help you.

Finally, a Gallup study estimates that negativity costs the economy $250–300 billion a year and affects the morale, performance and productivity of teams. 

Optimism in your company starts with you. If you don’t have it, you can’t share it. The good news is that pessimism is just a state of mind. It’s not permanent. You can change it, and you definitely should. 

Here are seven tips to help you make the life- and business-changing transformation from a negative leader to a positive leader:

1. Stop complaining and blaming. If you’re complaining, you’re not leading. Leaders don’t complain. They focus on solutions. They identify problems and look to solve them in order to create a better future for all. Positive leaders don’t attack people. They attack problems. 
2. Don’t focus on where you are; focus on where you’re going. Lead your team with optimism and vision. Regardless of the circumstances, keep pointing others toward a positive future. Even when Clemson football lost the national championship in 2015, head coach Dabo Swinney believed they would return the following year and kept pointing his team toward a positive future. He didn’t see the loss as a challenge. He saw an opportunity to come back and win it the following year — and that’s what they did. 
3. Lead with love instead of fear. Fear is draining; love is sustaining. Fear divides; love unites. The key to leading without fear is to provide both love and accountability. Negative leaders provide a lot of fear and accountability but no love. If your team knows you love them, they will allow you to challenge them. But love must come first. Former CEO Alan Mulally turned around Ford with both love and accountability. He said you have to “love ’em up,” and you have to hold them accountable to the process, principles and plan. He was able to save Ford and help the economy with a lot of love and a lot of accountability.
4. Be demanding without being demeaning. Many people think positive leaders are Pollyanna positive who just smile all the time and don’t care about results. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Positive leaders pursue excellence. They believe in a brighter future, so they take the necessary actions with excellence to create it. Positive leaders are demanding but aren’t demeaning. They lift others up in order to accomplish their goals, rather than tear them down. They don’t talk at you — they walk and run with you.
5. Connect one-on-one. The greatest leaders connect with those they lead. Dave Roberts, manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a great example. One day I witnessed a player walk in and say hello. Dave got up and gave the player a big bear hug for about five seconds — the kind of hug that a dad would give to his son. He said, “I do it each day, and he often stops by to talk about life and challenges and whatever is on his mind.” A few weeks later, while watching the Dodgers play the Nationals in the postseason, I watched in amazement as this player hit homeruns in Games 4 and 5 to help the Dodgers advance. It was as if I had a front-row seat to see the impact of what happens when a coach makes the time to pour love and support into one of his players.
6. Create positive change inside-out. Don’t let your circumstances and outside events define you. You define your circumstances with your vision, beliefs and action. Many leaders believe they are victims of circumstance. They have an external locus of control. But positive leaders believe they can influence events and outcomes by the way they think and act. Coach Donna Orender is a great example. When she served as commissioner of the WNBA, she saw a lot of negativity amongst those in the corporate offices. There was a feeling that no one cared about women’s basketball and a lack of belief that the organization could be successful. But Orender saw the passion and optimism in the coaches and players, and she believed in them and in the future of the WNBA. She began building an optimistic belief system and inspired her colleagues to believe in the WNBA’s future, as well. By focusing on one success at a time, she helped create a new reality for herself and changed the organization from the inside-out. I saw the same optimistic attitude and leadership in Silicon Valley during the Great Recession. While the rest of the country was going through the downturn, the people who lead and work for the companies in Silicon Valley refused to participate in the recession. They were too busy trying to change the world. They were surrounded by a bubble of optimism. 
7. Encourage instead of discourage. Positive leaders are also positive communicators, in such a way that they make people around them better and feel encouraged instead of hopeless or discouraged. They also spread positive gossip, listen to and welcome new ideas and give genuine smiles when they speak. Finally, they are great encouragers who uplift the people around them and instill the belief that success is possible. One of my favorite phrases comes from the original Olympic “Dream Team” and Detroit Pistons coaches Chuck Daly and Brendan Suhr. It is “shout praise, whisper criticism.” Shout praise means recognizing someone in front of their peers, and whisper criticism means coaching them to get better. Both build better people and teams.

There is a power associated with positive leadership. Even if you naturally lean toward a negative outlook, making a few changes can inspire momentous change in your own career success as well as in the success of your team. When you lead with optimism and share positive energy with others, you will transform the negativity that too often sabotages teams and organizations. Your new positive attitude will at last allow you to take on the battle, overcome the negativity, face the adversity and keep moving forward. The best really is yet to come.

SFIO CRACHO / shutterstock.com

Talent is the No. 1 commodity in the world.

I’m not afraid to make that claim with certainty because without talent, a business can’t grow in the 21st century. It’s the lifeblood of any company, especially in the technology industry. Without talent, a company is at risk of stagnating.

For startups and established companies alike, growth is essential. Without steady growth in customers, users, revenue — or whatever metric a business is using to qualify success — investors will flee. In the modern marketplace, simply going steady isn’t enough; a business needs to be on an upward trajectory.

The way to achieve steady growth is to either grow a company’s customer base or to innovate and expand its products or services. In the tech space, it is nearly impossible to innovate without a staff of talented, creative and technically proficient individuals.

In Tallahassee, many such individuals can be found graduating from one of the city’s three largest centers of higher learning. Companies often look to recruit from Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College, where there is a steady supply of programmers, designers, developers and engineers.

Other centers of education in North Florida abound, including the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and the University of West Florida in Pensacola. One would think local companies would be flush with young talent.

Despite having access to such a large talent pool, companies have trouble hiring and retaining talent. Many technology providers and startups are craving talent but can’t seem to find it (or keep it from leaving). North Florida is experiencing an acute case of brain drain.

This highlights one of the region’s biggest challenges, a communication gap between universities and local businesses. Tallahassee business guru Steve Evans described the universities’ perceived apathy toward local businesses in a recent interview. Recalling his tour of one career-center recruiting program, he lamented that, of the dozens of businesses invited to recruit through the event, only a handful were local.

But the outlook for businesses seeking to source talent locally is improving. The FSU Career Center has several new initiatives in place to help bridge the gap. Kelli Gemmer at the Career Center cited partnerships with the local chamber of commerce, business incubator Domi Station, CareerSource and several other organizations as part of growing efforts to help make students aware of the abundant opportunities for work in Tallahassee.

According to a Knight Institute report from 2006, 27 percent of the students from all Tallahassee-area colleges combined actually do stay in Tallahassee. That was a decade ago, and Tallahassee now has a lot more to offer to young grads.

“The city of Tallahassee is one of North Florida’s best-kept secrets when it comes to finding a great place to work and live after graduation,” says Catherine Barrios, who graduated in 2016.

“This is mainly due to the combined ‘big city’ and ‘small town’ feel, diverse academic and professional communities, and the ever-increasing development within each neighborhood,” she says. “The abundance of untapped opportunity and the potential for quick growth in my career attracts me to remain working in Tallahassee.”

Stories such as Catherine’s are becoming more common. One thing she mentions is that small-town/big-city feel that Tallahassee maintains, which highlights the next hiring hurdle: culture.

I’m not only referring to the culture of the region as a whole but of the individual companies that make up its economic ecosystem. While the local culture (or “scene”) is extremely important in talent retention, so are the look and feel of the companies that seek to hire these students.

According to two young developers from Florida’s student tech community Florida Hackers, company culture is hugely important to young job-seekers and is something that companies need to actively address. Christian Pelaez-Espinosa says that culture is one of the biggest things graduates are looking for.

“I think that if a company is able to provide a culture of learning and students excelling, they’ll see more opportunities,” he says.

Companies looking to recruit technical talent must realize who they’re competing with. In other cities where entrepreneurship, technology and innovation are well established, they have tried-and-true methods for attracting the best and brightest from all over. There are hundreds of sexy tech startups in places such as Austin, Raleigh-Durham, New York City and all over the West Coast of the United States that any student would kill to work for.

Why?

Culture. Perks. Environment. For better or worse, many millennials in the technology space aren’t looking for suit-and-tie work environments (think “Office Space”). This can be difficult for traditional businesses to understand or cope with, and some companies may never be able to fully shift their culture. However, offering flexibility in terms of schedule, dress code and other perks can make a business relevant to young technophiles.

One other way that businesses can entice students to stick around is by offering the opportunity for learning and growth. Students and graduates want to grow their skillsets and improve their abilities. If a business can come up with a hiring program that focuses on building skills, especially through mentorship, special projects and leadership opportunities, applicants will come.

If young graduates see a company as a stepping stone to a career in technology, it will be able to attract better talent and keep it longer.

With so many students coming and going, even if a business can attract great talent, it may end up with a “revolving door” where students come in and then leave after short periods of time. (Most people now change jobs four times by the time they turn 32, according to CNN.) This can be a problem in terms of knowledge loss and hiring expenses. That’s where a growth-oriented program can really help convince young graduates that a company is a good place to start their careers.

Ultimately, the best thing businesses can offer to potential talent is value. Whether that comes in the form of a paycheck or as tenure working in a technology company, the experience for an employee or an intern needs to be driven by reciprocity. Seeing students as a source of cheap or free labor is thinking about the problem all wrong. Unless the principle of reciprocity is built into hiring practices, a business risks being seen as exploitative.

Hiring local graduates is tough. With nationwide competition and an under-the-radar reputation for technology in the area, many companies face an uphill battle. But by creating a culture in which millennials feel comfortable, building communication avenues and providing value for potential employees, businesses and organizations can create a more favorable hiring climate.

Getting young talent interested in a company is difficult, but making a few tweaks to hiring processes can make a local business much more attractive, improve hiring outlook and prepare a company for the future. 

Nick Farrell is director of communications at Cuttlesoft, a custom software company. Looking for more insight into North Florida startups and technology? Check out the Startup Capital series at cuttlesoft.com/startup-capital. 

Courtesy Tallahassee Segway Tours

Ana Parra, Erica Thomas and Andrea Soriano were closing in on master’s degrees in business administration at FAMU when they served as consultants to Tallahassee Segway Tours and helped get the business rolling. They were joined in the project by Britanny Boyer, not pictured.

Tim Nettles came to refer to them as his “MBA Girls” and intended not the slightest of slights in doing so.

“They got to know my business inside and out,” said Nettles, the owner of Tallahassee Segway Tours at 1500 S. Monroe St. “They took a sincere interest in my product and made very clear recommendations about pricing and what they thought we could offer the market. They were especially helpful with suggestions about how we could best reach a younger demographic.”

The MBA Girls are Britanny Boyer, Ana Parra, Andrea Soriano and Erica Thomas, four women who were closing in on their master’s degrees in business administration at Florida A&M University when they joined with Nettles in an MBA Candidates Consultancy Program project designed to mutually benefit both the students and the participating business.

The consultancy is the final class taken by students in the MBA sequence at FAMU. As a capstone course, it requires that students employ concepts and tools that they become familiar with throughout their post-graduate studies.

Dr. Jennifer Collins is the assistant dean at the Division of Management Services in the School of Business and Industry at FAMU. She was in on the ground floor when the consultancy program was established five years ago.

“It used to be that a professor occasionally would find a business for students to interview,” Collins said, “or students might be asked to focus on a publicly traded company that they could gather information on. The consultancy gives students an opportunity to interact closely with an actual business and see how everything in their curriculum comes together in making real-world business decisions.”

The Florida Small Business Development Center at FAMU, headed by Keith Bowers, identifies businesses interested in taking part in a consultancy. Students are then matched by the FSBDC with businesses based on their “entrepreneurial DNA,” Collins said, and a survey completed by both the consultants and their client.

Bowers said the FSBDC has a “vested interest” in the businesses it assists and endorses the consultancy program because it encourages his clients to harness new technologies and helps them repay their loans and create jobs.

“We provide businesses with the perspective of diverse and very creative minds,” said Dr. Shawnta Friday-Stroud, dean of the School of Business and Industry at FAMU. “We work with businesses that, if they had to pay for the findings and recommendations our students give them, they probably wouldn’t get them.

“Our program gives them the opportunity to vet ideas in a non-threatening environment.”

Friday-Stroud makes the point that consultancy work may be especially helpful to students who have aspirations about one day becoming entrepreneurs, themselves.

“They get to see a business through the eyes of an entrepreneur,” Friday-Stroud said. “It is one thing to read about starting a business in a book or to see something from afar, but in this program, students spend a fair amount of time closely interacting with the entrepreneur, and they get insights and nuggets that you cannot get in a textbook.”

The consultancies culminate in a written report given to the client as a deliverable, and students make a presentation of their findings to an audience that includes the client, representatives of the FSBDC and Dr. Collins.

“I look for evidence that the students have demonstrated mastery of concepts from class and that they exhibited a high degree of professionalism in their dealings with the client,” Collins said. “They need to demonstrate strong written communication skills and come up with recommended strategies based on data. It is all about making data-driven decisions.”

A couple of projects stand out for Collins.

“When the Lofts on Gaines Street apartment project was in the building phase, students put together a wine-and-cheese event to attract potential buyers of units,” Collins recalled. “They shared floor plans of the apartments to those who attended and delivered prospective purchasers to the developer. Our students gained hands-on experience in event marketing.”

As part of another memorable project, students developed a Kickstarter campaign for NaughTeas, a distributor of ready-to-drink iced teas, and conducted taste tests at Cascades Park.

“We were instrumental in helping that business launch,” Collins said. “Now, I see their product whenever I am at the airport.”

In the case of Tallahassee Segway Tours (TST), students began with an assessment of the big picture before eventually arriving at the tactical level.

They conducted a PESTEL analysis, which takes a look at “macro-environmental” factors in six areas that affect an organization: political, economic, social cultural, technological, environmental and legal.

As a product of that analysis, TST was encouraged to consider variables ranging from the weather to lifestyle trends to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The “MBA Girls” divided TST’s target market into three segments – tourists/visitors, local residents and college students — and recommended strategies and tactics specific to each segment and applicable to the market as a whole.

Overall strategies were:

• Establish and maintain a strong social media presence.
• Increase visibility.
• Create and market shorter and more varied tours.

Recommended tactics related to those strategies included:

• Creating and taking “social media breaks” during tours.
• Posting selfie pictures and videos with guests and using upbeat captions featuring emojis.
• Having a presence at activities including FSU tailgate parties and Springtime Tallahassee.
• Establishing a “Ghouly Glide” tour with stops at “ haunted” locations in Tallahassee including the Lively Building, the Knott House and the Old City Cemetery.

Collins was pleased to have heard recently from a member of the “Segway Team” who had accepted a job with a small business in Memphis. She was hired before the employer learned about the former student’s experience and expertise in business development.

“The business needs some time and attention in those areas and the employer learned that they were getting in our graduate more than they thought they were getting,” Collins said.

Nettles said that he was well served.  

“The students were very enthusiastic and very thoughtful,” Nettles said. “They weren’t just checking a box and getting a grade. They were invested in what we were doing. This was an opportunity for them to get involved in the real deal.”

Would he recommend the consultancy program to other budding businesses?

“Without a doubt,” Nettles said.

Friday-Stroud said the consultancy program is consistent with the “service culture” at FAMU.

“It is one of the ways in which we can give back to the community,” she said. “When we can help businesses succeed, the community benefits. The program is a win-win-win for the students, the clients and the community as a whole.”

ImageFlow / shutterstock.com

American employees who are constantly connected to work report the highest levels of job and life stress of any time in history.

Business leaders and scholars agree that much of this stress is a result of mismanaging the boundaries between work and home life. The reasons are many, including increased globalization, a more rapid pace of change and the growing emphasis on working remotely. Also, advances in communication technology — from ever-present smartphones to easy video conferencing — lead to employees and supervisors being in seemingly constant contact and create what many describe as a “24/7 workforce.”

My research team and I recently developed a study designed to examine the role of privacy away from work on employee stress and wellbeing to further understand employee-employer boundaries.

Approximately 500 administrative and professional employees were asked the extent to which leaders at work respected their privacy while away from work. As examples, employees were asked to indicate the extent to which their boss “understands that I have a life away from work” and, conversely, “thinks I am on call 24/7.”
When compared to employees reporting high levels of privacy, those indicating low levels also were:

• 40 percent more likely to feel overwhelmed with too many tasks.
• 31 percent more likely to observe boss moodiness.
• 18 percent less likely to help others at work who asked for assistance.

Those same employees also reported:

• 28 percent higher levels of co-worker threat behavior.
• 23 percent higher levels of job and life burnout.
• 23 percent higher levels of job-search activity at work.
• 20 percent higher levels of work anxiety, both on the job and at home.
• 15 percent higher levels of frustration with others and company expectations.

Overall, employees with low-privacy relationships indicated they did not have the level of control they needed to focus on work and give the same level of attention to other aspects of their lives. In fact, one 34-year-old accountant said, “I hate the fact that managers think they can dictate how I live my life away from work.”

Why are some employees treated respectfully during non-work hours, while others are subject to the whims of supervisors? Our study found that high- and low-privacy employees differed along multiple dimensions while at work. Compared to low-privacy workers, those given more privacy reported having access to more work resources, were more confident in their ability to get others to “buy in” to their ideas and suggestions, and indicated higher levels of supervisor support, access and openness to speak candidly even when reporting unfavorable news.

These employees were not bothered because they really did not need to be. They knew what was expected of them at work and took care of it, articulated their expectations for non-work interactions, and made sure that supervisors were aware of their unique family and social obligations.

Companies exhaust incalculable resources managing the way employees and supervisors interact on the job with little concern for what goes on outside of the workday.

My advice for employees wishing to have the best of both worlds is to talk with your employer in ways that lead to favorable results. Instead of telling your boss, “Your Saturday calls are annoying,” say, “Weekends are my time to recharge so I can approach the new week enthusiastically. So unless it is an emergency, please allow me to do so.”

In addition, sitting down with your boss and collaboratively agreeing on your availability represents a type of contract both parties should acknowledge and accept.

Employees who set the boundaries rather than reacting to them benefited by seizing back some of the control often lost at work.

Employees also need to constantly monitor their stress levels, taking into account the source of the stress, how it affects their physical and psychological health, and how it affects work, home life and important relationships.

No one knows you like you know yourself, and you can hide some things from others but not yourself. Get control and help if needed.

Wayne Hochwarter is the Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State University’s College of Business and a professor fellow at the Australia Catholic University.

jorgen mcleman / shutterstock.com

Ask any working professional what they could use more of, and you’ll probably keep getting the same answer. Time. In the frantic pace of the digital age, time is something everyone seems to be short on now. (It’s almost laughable that we once thought technology would help create more leisure time!) But if workers could figure out how to make the most of their waking moments, they could be far more productive and happy regardless of their time constraints.

Success at work and in life often comes down to one thing: developing better time management skills. Our minutes have become hot since time is so scarce these days, and we toss them away without a second thought. The truth is, we are always going to have obligations, deadlines and responsibilities, but if you learn how to handle your hot minutes you can work with the clock instead of against it.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your time (no matter how little you have) and achieve a healthier and happier work-life balance:

1. Prioritize sleep so you can function when you’re awake. If you do nothing else, prioritize your sleep needs. You will be more productive and feel more ambitious when you get the rest your body requires. I suggest scheduling sleep like any other daily activity on your to-do list. Pencil in a stopping point in your day and stick to it without fail. Then wind down with a book or another relaxing bedtime ritual to help you drift off to sleep.
2. Establish what the “workday” means to you and your boss. It’s common for employers to call or email you after hours, but it is up to you to decide whether you’re available after hours. If you choose to be off-duty on nights and weekends, that is your choice (and your right!). Just make sure you respectfully address your “workday” limits to your boss upfront, so everyone is clear on the boundaries.
3. Don’t stay on your email all day. Constantly checking your inbox is distracting and slows you down. Designate a few times in your workday to check email so that you remain in control of your schedule and aren’t being reactive to new messages as they appear.
4. Choose human connection over technology. Though technology has improved our lives, it comes with its own set of problems. Emails and texts are convenient, but they create room for confusion and miscommunication. Whenever possible, talk in person in order to get your message across clearly.
5. Learn to say no and mean it. It’s OK to turn down invitations, cancel plans or disconnect from the outside world every now and then. Saying no is a skill that will benefit you throughout life, so allow yourself to politely start bowing out of unnecessary commitments right now.
6. Set achievable goals each day. Even the most thoughtfully constructed to-do list will be useless if it is too ambitious. What’s the point of writing down unachievable tasks? We’re not superheroes and shouldn’t try to be. Make your daily goals small enough that you can actually get them done. Remember that you can always do more if you have the time.
7. 7. Give multitasking the ax. Multitasking is ineffective and counterproductive. People work best when they give focused attention to the task at hand. So aim to work on only one project at a time and give yourself permission to forget about other priorities until you are done.
8. Listen up! Active listening consists of being present and engaged when communicating with another person, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s very common to forget to listen after you speak your thoughts in a conversation, and you often lose important info as a result. When you are talking with a coworker, manager or anyone else, be sure that you turn off that pesky inner monologue and focus when it is the other person’s turn to speak.
9. Don’t be a sheep. While maintaining the status quo is often a good thing (especially at work), there may come a time when it is advisable to stop following the herd and innovate in the name of productivity. If you can envision a way to work smarter and better, you may just create new best practices for your place of work that will save time and increase quality.
10. Stop shuffling papers. Most of us waste a lot of time shuffling papers from one pile to another. Chances are that your desk is full of paper you don’t know what to do with. Stop this maddening cycle by touching each sheet of paper just once and figure out the appropriate action. Either put it in a to-do pile so you can deal with it immediately, a file (for documents you must keep), or the trash. This keeps the papers moving and keeps you sane!
11. Step away from the Internet. Surfing the web is a huge time-waster for most people. An innocent little break often turns into an hour (or more) of wasted time that you can’t get back — especially when you should be working or headed to bed to get some rest. I advise shutting off access to the Internet at a certain time each day to avoid getting lost in cyberspace. I also recommend breaks from recreational Internet use — about a month — to focus on other aspects of your life that may need attention.
12. Have some fun along the way. It’s important to remember that stressed-out people aren’t all that productive. You have to relax and schedule “recharge time” into your life to avoid burnout — especially if you have an intense work environment. Be sure to build in time for fun on the weekends and on some evenings but try to make work fun, too. If appropriate at your office, find ways to infuse a little lighthearted play into your workday.
13. Practice breathing and mindfulness. Imagine how productive you could be if you could focus, calm all anxious thoughts and truly be present. You can find out by practicing mindfulness.Breathing is a tool for achieving a relaxed, clear state of mind. There are multiple methods for achieving this state, including tai chi, meditation, yoga or simple breathing exercises. Find one that resonates for you and practice it daily.
14. Stop owning other people’s stuff. How often do you hear yourself saying, “Never mind, I’ll do it myself”? Probably more often than you’d like, and this habit takes up your precious minutes in no time. The solution is to hold others accountable for their responsibilities. This includes your children, your spouse and your colleagues. Let “Never mind . . .” be the exception instead of the rule.
15. Let go and delegate. Learn to know when to let someone else handle a task. It can be hard to relinquish control, but it is also necessary to delegate, especially if you’re in a leadership position. Remember that delegating is not admitting you can’t handle your responsibilities — not at all. Rather, it’s about maximizing the potential of your entire workforce.

Remember that you have two choices when trying to manage your time. You can either let your priorities and obligations run your life, or you can take charge of your minutes and let them work for you to achieve your goals in a timely manner. While you won’t ever succeed long-term by racing the clock, you can drop your bad habits, improve ineffective practices and kick stress to the curb so that your whole life improves.

Jackie Gaines is a coach for The Studer Group and a senior executive with a career that encompasses more than 38 years of sustained leadership and accomplishments with major health systems and organizations. She has dedicated most of her career to the advancement of quality health care programs, particularly those focused on the care of the poor and underserved. She has written four books, including “Wait a Hot Minute! How to Manage Your Life with the Minutes You Have.” Copies can be purchased online at StuderGroup.com.