Smart Business Solutions

Smart Business Solutions About Us - OUR SERVICES ARE FREE!!! Know For Yourself…So you can help people to know for themselves…. Most importantly…
have a good time while you’re winning.

We assist our clients to solve the unsolved... We nurture young entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and to stand in a test of time. Here’s what we can help you do:



Get the relevant education you need to succeed in life

Give you the ability to realize your inherent potential

Free your mind to experience enthusiasm towards life

Live a life of personal fulfillment

Be in a place where

people don’t take things so seriously

Relax enough to engage in life and enjoy things while you get the job done. Keep things light and fun and condusive towards succeeding

Be confident enough to take bolder actions towards bigger personal and financial goals

Continue on the road to success through ongoing education

ABOVE ALL, think like an entrepreneur. George Vlagos of Oak Street Bootmakers

When George Vlagos was in middle school, his father, a cobbler, would have him come into his Chicago shop to shine shoes every Saturday. John Vlagos, a Greek immigrant, was hoping to show his son that working with your hands is difficult and that he should find a different profession. Well, it backfired. The jobs that made it possible for him to afford a pair of nice shoes ended up driving him back to the family craft when he realized how difficult it was to find a pair of quality shoes. He decided to design his own. Today, there is a six-week wait list for a pair. "It blows my mind that people are walking the streets in New York, in Chicago, in other countries, wearing something that I designed," says Vlagos.

15/02/2018

Setting year-long goals are ineffective, say BestSelf Co. cofounders Allen Brouwer and Cathryn Levery. Instead, try these goal-setting tricks that will help you stick to your New Year's resolution.
GODFRED Amoako
SMART Business SOLUTIONS CEO

13/10/2017

5 Things that Matter Most in Leadership & Life

Edited from SmartBusinissSolutions by Godfred Amoako

The evolutionary journey is not grandiose, but gradual. It’s about doing something—even small things—every day, not waiting for huge leaps and otherwise doing nothing. Children evolve very quickly. Why should we be different as adults?

The challenge is that in adults, evolution must be self-intentional. If we don’t deliberately pursue our evolution it won’t happen. If we don’t continually strive to learn we will stagnate and stop our growth. We may be comfortable, but our contribution will stop.

To continue our evolution in leadership and life, we must continue to learn. In the most positive sense, learning is power, and those of us engaged in lifelong learning—whether seven or seventy—are constantly enhancing our power. Our evolutionary journey is one of accumulating power so that we can help ourselves and others. This is the essence of leadership.

We have to be lifelong learners and continually gain power over:

*Health* : What do we need to do to sustain good health, especially as our physical condition changes? What can we be proactive about and what should we be reactive about? What are only fads and myths and what is fact? What kind of physical activity is best for us?

*Money* : How much will we need at different points in our life for what kind of lifestyle? How should investment strategies change? How much risk tolerance do I have and should I have? What kind of banking relationships should I create?

*Relationships* :Are there long-term, poor relationships that ought to be repaired (or abandoned)? Are you developing new and appropriate relationships for your career? Are you making the most of relationships to expand your horizons, gain work, and grow?

*Happiness*: Are you enlarging your sources of happiness? Can you synthesize happiness by making lemonade from lemons and a citrus industry from lemonade? Are you creating happiness for others and sharing yours with friends and family?

*Meaning*: Happiness and meaning are interrelated. Too many of us believe that we are engaged in a search for meaning. The truth is that we should be oriented toward creating meaning. The creation of meaning involves the perpetuation of our own happiness.

The independent and bold creation of meaning for ourselves, shunning the external meaning often foist upon us by society and the media. Your position is that just as no one should consume wealth without creating wealth, no one should consume happiness without creating happiness., and so on. There should be no one who is simply a taker and consumer.

Truly successful people are happy because they lead lives full of meaning. There is meaning in their lives because they are happy. They realize the reciprocity between happiness and meaning. We need meaning and happiness to lead great lives.
*Start Today*

24/08/2017

Don’t let anything stand in the way of your success

Patrick Riley has built a career that transcends long-held norms. The black, gay media personality from Atlanta has logged 20 years working with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Wendy Williams and BET Creative Services. Here are Riley’s tips for pursuing your passion against others’ prejudice.

Be yourself. Growing up, Riley’s family told him to stop “flouncing around the house, stop dancing like a sissy.” But over time he learned he couldn’t live his life by other people’s expectations, and the producer didn’t cower when Winfrey asked him to step in front of the camera and talk about his experience as a gay man of color in media.

Value yourself. Any core passion is worth the hard work, so amid his success, Riley continues to educate himself to stay competitive. When starting out, he says, “Don’t give everything away for free.” Relationships must be equitable when it comes to time, money and work.

12/07/2017

6 Steps To Become AnEntrepreneur

Step 1: Search your soul.

Why do you want to strike out on your own? Some workers report feeling drained from years of never-ending corporate politics and structure; others are newly displaced with a desire to continue working, but on their own terms.
What did you love about past jobs? Your well-honed organizational, problem solving or analytical skills could be quite marketable.
Maybe you have a passion or hobby that can be transformed into a business idea. The only requirement is filling an urgent need for your customers.

Step 2: Develop a plan.

Get your business ideas and strategy down on paper. Creating a business plan is your first step toward outlining the framework for your operation. The U.S. Small Business Administration website has tips on writing a winning business plan and offers additional startup advice.

Next, enlist the help of professionals. An attorney specializing in small business development can suggest the business structure that works best for you: sole proprietorship, limited liability company or S corp. An accountant can help with ways to finance start-up costs.
Once you’re up and running, hire a web guru to help develop your website and a Twitter tutor to establish a social media presence. Surround yourself with the experts you’ll need to get started.

Step 3: Give yourself a skills check-up.

Keeping your technical abilities sharp can be challenging in today’s business climate. The trick is keeping up. But there’s help. Adult education courses covering topics such as computer skills, social media and web-development tools are available in most communities. Many colleges now also offer workshops to guide business newbies in the areas of entrepreneurship, leadership and marketing.
You can also attend local workshops or view live and prerecorded webinars presented by SCORE, the nonprofit that provides small-business education and mentoring from its network of over 11,000 volunteer professionals.

Step 4: Use your expertise.

With 20 to 30 years of experience under your belt, you’ve gained the maturity and know-how to manage relationships — critical in operating an exciting new venture. Use this to your advantage.

You can also tap your long list of contacts to cultivate leads.

Step 5: Create loyalty.

Make customer service your top priority. Satisfied customers become loyal customers, and the referrals they provide will fuel the growth of your enterprise.

Step 6: Get ready to have fun.

Being the boss requires a lot of hard work, but the rewards and benefits can be life-changing. Start by following these steps, and you’ll be on your way to success..

Godfred Amoako
CEO SBS

11/07/2017

Hire people who FAIL interviews ! - here is why

I have heard so many times in the last 25 years - "this candidate does not fit into the role".

Nobody fits exactly into anything. We are not square pegs to be fitted into square holes.

Most candidates get rejected for the wrong reasons.

"Does not fit" is one of the worst reasons. It says we do not believe a candidate can learn fast enough, adapt fast enough, be flexible enough. How do we determine that exactly ?

Of the worst reasons for rejection, it is the most cruel one. It sounds polite but tells the person you do not believe in their abilities to learn and adapt.

During an interview, you are not interviewing a person - you are interviewing your own ability to get this particular candidate to the level needed for the job.

I beg you, when you reject a candidate, please do not say s/he does not fit.

Please say instead, "I am not likely to be able to motivate this person and/or to get him/her to speed quickly". If you put it like that, you may actually decide to give them and yourself a chance -a chance for yourself to do something really good.

Various questions on the interview. few people are hired in the past several years that did NOT answer any questions. All of them did really well.

1) Many qualified people do not do well on interviews.

2) Answering theoretical question has very little to do with actual on the job performance.

3) Recognizing the potential is very difficult, but not impossible. I try to ask questions these days that go after the potential, in addition to skills and experience. I am trying to establish the willingness and ability to learn new things, creativity and adaptability. I am looking not only for the answer, but the way the person thinks and learns. It is not what you know, it is how you think - that matters most. One can have the skills, but ability to apply them in non standard situations is key.

In fact when you hire someone who did not do well on the interview, you are motivating them already. It is a very powerful motivational message.

If you have not read my related article, you really should - The best people will QUIT !

In particular, please pay attention to the notion of the temple. Once an employee knows what the temple is, the productivity rises many-fold.

A motivated employee can do so much and learn so much so quickly.

Do not hire the skills, hire the potential skills !

Better yet, hire a person, not a skill set.

Godfred Peace Amoako
CEO SBS

10/07/2017

CAREERS ADVICE BY Donald J. Trump

I hate jumping on the bandwagon. Especially if it is a Donald Trump bandwagon. But I couldn’t help but think if there are any similarities between his ‘achievement’ of late and the world of recruitment.
The first thought was ‘Do people hate recruiters as much as they hate Donald Trump?’ A little too self-deprecating for me. My second thought was for our candidates – ‘Donald Trump is a reminder that you should apply for that job even if you don’t have experience.’ Not a good way to keep our clients happy. Then I realised that the last two Recruitment Consultant hires at Beeken Reeves – successful hires to boot – have come from a background so far away from recruitment that his recent win shares a lot of comparison. So here I am, writing another Donald Trump related blog. Original right?

My first comparison is with our resident Doctor, whose eclectic background covers playing professional rugby league for Huddersfield Giants to recently receiving a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He moved down to London from York at the end of 2015 after becoming disillusioned with his originally chosen career path, joining Beeken Reeves as an Associate Consultant. In his own words, he says that his ‘first 6 months as a recruitment consultant were both exciting and difficult’ yet I can safely vouch that he is not only ahead of schedule in terms of financial performance but also has shown business and management acumen which will shine through in months to come. After a year in recruitment, in completely new industry, he is excelling in a field that his studies never would have directed him to.
Another recent hire is also a northerner (we have a theme going here).

After achieving a degree in Creative Music Technology from Huddersfield University, she worked as a freelance Composer across the UK, working with hugely well-known brands to create promotional videos. After living in Hastings, she took the plunge in the summer of 2016 to move to London and pursue a career in recruitment. In her own words ‘I did some research into recruitment and I loved the fact that the amount you can earn is completely dependent on the amount of hard work you put in.’ Her tenacity in her initial freelance career has translated to the entrepreneurial world of start-up recruitment fabulously. After only a short period of time she is working autonomously with candidates, ahead of schedule to start taking over some of our key accounts and shows all the signs of a high-potential employee for the future. Again – another example of someone who has used her transferable skills and fallen into an industry that is frankly poles apart from her studies and experience.

But why am I making these comparisons? Well if a man with no previous experience in politics can rise to the highest political position in the USA, this should serve as an example that pursuing a change in career can be successfully achieved (I’m not suggesting you all become politicians. All though I hear the expense policy is fairly liberal!).
With this in mind, I’m sure all of you at some point have considered a different career path or have been in a position in your career where you think ‘what’s next?’
So why not recruitment?

Why not be trained by some of the best trainers in the world, specialised in their field, with the single aim of helping you to improve your recruitment skills. The better you become as a recruiter, the more value you add to your client’s business. You will service your candidates better and help them find their perfect job faster. Ultimately, you will make more commission. So, as you hone your skills, enjoy greater success and make more money, it becomes a bit of a no-brainer.
At Beeken Reeves and our parent company Recruitment Entrepreneur, we invest in people’s careers to make sure you are the best you can possibly be. We have fun at work, we earn more money than our competitors and we invest in developing your long term career in business. Simply put, the better you are when you work with us, the better we are.

There is no prejudice shown on your background. Whether you are just entering the career ladder or want to make a complete change, if you show drive, determination and a willingness to succeed, you can make a successful career in recruitment. I should be testament to this, I never made it close to being a professional Rugby League player, barely scraped a 2.2 in Sports Science and was turned down from a Sales Assistant job at Poundland when I was 15.

Godfred Peace Amoako
CEO SBS

08/07/2017

FIGHT FOR YOUR DREAM - NEVER LET GO OFF YOUR DREAMS

Everyone has a mountain to climb, a race to run and a dream to pursue. Surmounting your mountain, running that race and pursuing the dream God gave you will lead to success.

However, there are major obstacles that must be overcome. This article is the seventh in the series culled from our book "Defying All Odds" which explores how to overcome barriers and win.

The summit of the mountain is reserved for fighters; people who have identified a dream worth dying for and are willing to put in their all to make it happen. The sad reality is that many people have no compelling dream in their hearts. They have nothing they are willing to die for.

They, therefore, give up at the slightest opposition or provocation and go on to provide every justification for not pursuing the opportunity of a lifetime. Such people love to spend hours and even days describing the activities of their opponents and detractors and how much they have cost them. People like that are going nowhere in life. Stop whining and fight for your vision.

On the last day of the 2008/09 season in the English Premiership, four teams were facing the threat of relegation to a lower division. Their positions and number of points amassed were so close that everything came down to their performance in the last match of the season.

One team had been relegated earlier, but at the end of that day two more teams would go down and the remaining two would survive. A whole year’s effort now virtually hinged on what would happen in those last ninety minutes of action.

In the build-up to the day, there was a huge debate about which teams would make it and which wouldn’t. As the teams prepared for what should be the matches of their lives, each one’s opposing supporters and local rivals taunted them and declared that they were finished.

At the end of the day Newcastle United, one of the most highly-supported teams in the Premier League, was relegated along with Middlesbrough. Unlike others, their destiny rested totally in their hands.

They were playing Aston Villa in a match that they simply had to win to survive. By half time, results were going their way at other venues and even though they were a goal down, all they needed to do was score an equaliser to turn things around and stay up.

The value of a place in the English premiership is estimated to be worth tens of millions of pounds each year. That was how high the stakes were.

The sad reality is, not only did Newcastle fail to score; their play seemed to lack the sense of urgency or determination often required to excel in such situations. The very future of the club and its economic viability was under threat but the team played like they had nothing to fight for.

Totally absent was the last minute frenzy that often characterises matches with such high stakes. It was as if everyone had accepted their fate or nobody really cared. That is not how to achieve great things and reach the pinnacle of achievement.

If anyone wants to take away your blessings they must have to fight you for it. Even when the odds are heavily stacked against you, let it be on record that you went down with a fight.

Riding the Storm

If your dream is under siege because of sceptics, rivals, opponents or detractors, you’ve got to fight your way beyond them. Learn the lesson of the eagle, which operates best in severe wind storms. The strong winds that oppose other birds and make them rush for cover are the ones that rather excite the eagle.

It uses the strength from those storms as a propelling force or ‘fuel’ for its massive wings in flight. That way it is not required to fluff its wings and put in a lot of effort. Instead, it just glides above the winds.

Learn to convert ‘opposing’ energy into ‘propelling’ energy. Be energised by the doubts, scepticism, unwarranted criticism and opposition you face just because you want to excel.

Your ultimate goal is to finish your race and to win and the following will help you stay the course:

100% Focus & 0% Distraction. In mountaineering, the closer you get to the mountain top, the greater the risks associated with being distracted. In the case of Mount Everest, the summit region has a number of narrow perches with steep drops of several hundred feet on both sides. Those are the points when your concentration must be highest. The slightest distraction and you’d go down. Similarly, in life you need to stay totally focused on where you are going in the face of distraction and provocation. The higher you climb the greater the risks associated with falling and therefore the more focused you must be.
Refuse To Accept A Wrong Identity. Other people will always exercise their right to have an opinion about you. These opinions may range from true to exaggerated to outright false. Sometimes, the things people think and say about you may border on the entirely outrageous. Not only will they say these things but, in some cases, they will try to force that wrong identity on you like a garment. The biggest test you need to pass will be how you react when this happens.
When David’s brother accused him of naughtiness, pride and wrong motives, he did two things in response: he made his point and walked away. David asked, ‘Is there not a cause?’ That should be your response.

If your pursuit of a worthwhile, compelling cause is misconstrued and misrepresented by others, refuse to accept their negative report about you. Instead, continually remind yourself of the positive, progressive person you are and confess what God’s word says about you.

When they go beyond maligning you to setting impediments in your way, use what are meant to be stumbling blocks as stepping stones to your victory.

Surround yourself with possibility thinkers. The amazing story is told in Mark Chapter 2 of a group of men who were so determined to bring their sick friend to Jesus that they climbed onto the top of the house and broke through a portion of the roof in order to let him down. Many times, this story is told with a focus on the spirit of perseverance and faith exhibited by the four men. However, another dimension worth noting is that the man had chosen friends who had the capacity, willingness and commitment to lift him up to the next level. Faced with a milling crowd, they had every legitimate reason to stop at some point and return or leave him to his fate. They chose to fight for their friend.
Make friends who will be willing to tear down barriers in order to give you access to your miracle. Achieving great things in life involves creating new space and removing obstacles.

You cannot always do it alone. When you have to rely on colleagues, associates, team members or friends, they must be people who see possibilities all around; people who see no limits or boundaries.

Build Spiritual Strength. Learn to fight your way up alone in prayer. When forces are marshalled against you, you need God in your corner. Develop your spiritual muscles by praying constantly and backing it up with the word of God. Form the habit of repeating God’s promises aloud to yourself every morning and in every difficult situation. The more you do so, the stronger you become and the better equipped you become to deal with the assorted challenges you may face on the road to the top

Intrapreneurship seems to be having a bit of a moment, but before it became a buzzword Jack Welch was already hard at it...
06/07/2017

Intrapreneurship seems to be having a bit of a moment, but before it became a buzzword Jack Welch was already hard at it. Few intrapreneurs have had as big an impact on a business than Welch did on General Electric - raising its value by 4,000 per cent. So what can we learn from him?

This change maker not only transformed his company, but has also influenced management policy all over the world.

Born in Peabody, Massachusetts in 1935 to a homemaker mother and a train conductor father, the boy Welch pursued a variety of summer jobs in his school holidays while he studied. He grew up to take a Chemical Engineering degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He received several corporate offers but turned them down to go to the University of Illinois, where he gained a Masters degree and a PhD in Chemical Engineering.

Even then, Welch demonstrated a single track focus in pursuing his studies.
jack_welch_getty

Image credit: Getty images
At 24, he joined General Electric (GE) as a junior chemical engineer in Pittsfield Massachusetts. His starting salary in 1961 was $10,500. Soon after joining General Electric Welch found the place to be so bureaucratized that he decided to quit his job - but was persuaded to stay on by an executive, Reuben Gutoof.

While he had been working, Welch had looked around him at General Electric, saw a lot of things that needed improving and developed some ideas about how good companies should function.

Gutoff promised Welch that he would help him create the kind of small company atmosphere that the engineer was calling for, the theories he started to come up with were to transform General Electric and much of leadership training all over the world.

By 1972, he was Vice-President, then he became Vice-Chairman and Executive officer. In 1981 he was appointed Chairman and CEO; at 45, he was the youngest CEO GE had ever had.

Here are some of the ideas implemented that enabled him to transform GE.

Kill bureaucracy

Welch felt that bureaucracy creates waste, slows down decision-making, and makes a company less competitive because of an emphasis on approvals and procedure.

He wanted employees to work on eliminating bureaucracy on a daily basis. So he advocated simplifying work as much as possible, making the workplace informal, dropping unnecessary tasks, and working with colleagues to streamline decision making.

Simplify

Welch wanted to bring excitement into business so worked to eliminate as much jargon and complexity as he could. That waste meant complicated letters, memos or even managers. Each year, Welch would fire the bottom ten per cent of his managers, however well they had done in absolute terms. The policy became known as Rank and Yank.
Get less formal

Welch discouraged ties, held informal meetings and encouraged everyone to relax more. He also asked people to brainstorm and socialise more. Informality, he said, inspired people to have more ideas and was one of the keys to GE’s success.

Face reality

Never assume that companies are in good shape, said Welch. Always examine with a fresh eye and give yourself options. When he joined GE, he found a sinking ship that was losing market value and was overstaffed. He set about challenging that position and turned the company around.
jack_welch_getty3

Image credit: Getty images
Change is good

Change can be mean opportunity, so change became a company value under Welch. He encouraged people to expect the unexpected and move fast enough to stay ahead. Agility equalled success.

Lead by energising, not controlling

Welch called his leadership 'Boundaryless' which meant loosening rigid patterns, letting others know how their efforts were helping the organisation, and sending hand-written notes to colleagues and customers.

Defy tradition

Under Welch, employees were encouraged to question every aspect of company behavior and contribute ideas to changing something important at GE.

Intellect rules

Managers had their power removed under Welch. He did not want workers to blindly follow orders, but instead contribute ideas. He created a learning environment where ideas ruled over hierarchy. He asked staff to spend one hour a week learning what competitors were doing and offered rewards for the best ideas.

Welch’s other principles included Pouncing, i.e. pleasing customers and snapping up opportunities. He expected employees to lead by example and not to micro manage but to manage less by empowering, delegating and stepping out of the way. In his 21 years as CEO, Jack transformed GE into the world's most admired and successful company with his innovative management techniques. Revenues grew five-fold from $25 billion to $130 billion and income grew ten-fold, from $1.5 billion to $15 billion. His profile states,

This ultra-intrapreneur’s achievements are considerable, and so thousands of companies around the world have adopted the Welch Way.

In 2010, Jack founded the Jack Welch Management Institute, a business school that offers executive education and management training. Now in his eighties, Jack Welch still encourages learning.

Godfred Amoako
CEO SBS

Address

Box KF 2560
Koforidua
0233

Telephone

024 777 3099

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Smart Business Solutions posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category