How do you motivate your employees? Cold, hard cash, baby. Or in this case, cash and prizes.

When we returned to the office we started adding some fun things here and there. What can we say, we’re still in celebration mode after being apart for months on end. We have short daily meetings in which we share our goal for the day, if we crushed our goal the previous day, and a personal update. It used to be that if you got your “big one” the day before, we all nodded a “well done, you” and carried on. Yawn. This process needed a little more fun. 

Behold, the “Automaton” wheel. Now, when we accomplish a goal, our names go into a lottery and whoever wins gets to spin the wheel. Prizes can be anything from choosing the music for the day, to the money jar (funny, I’m the only one adding to this sucker) to choosing someone to wear a nylon tattoo sleeve. Oh, look who got the tattoo sleeve this time?

I don’t know if this really prompts us to work harder than we normally would, but it’s a few minutes of extra fun and we can all use that.

Now for some more books I’m into this week. If you’re a small business owner, you likely seek small business books to supplement your insight. There are two things I have learned through small business that I wish I knew sooner. One, writing a book is awesome for your business. Two, marketing your business the right way will make or break it. Which leads me to:

Chandler Bolt  – he’s the CEO of Self Publishing School. His most recent book, Published is THE book you need to read first if you’re considering self publishing. Chandler has become not just a colleague, but a friend. He preaches what I’ve always believed, “Nothing helps you grow your income, authority and business more than writing a book”. And, I love how authentic he is, and how his true desire for others to flourish comes through in this book. Published gives you the guidelines for self publishing, should it be the path you choose to take. If you are thinking about writing a book or have one in the works, this book will provide you with the map so you can take your journey from your first page to being published to your launch. 

Don Miller. You know him, you love him. Don’s written some awesome books, and Marketing Made Simple is one of them. This book delivers on the promise to make your marketing simple and is chock full of marketing wisdom to help you convert your prospects. You will learn how to cultivate customer relationships, develop your sales funnels and campaigns, and learn the secrets to commanding an audience on your website. Most people go to school for this, you know? One quick pro tip and quote I loved: “If you want to be remembered, associate your product or service with the solution to a problem.” ― Donald Miller

That’s it in a nutshell. Give people a solution to their problem. After all, what’s better than serving others?

Until next time!

-Mike