When was the last time you bought something before you even realized it? Well, you know it’s all about marketing, isn’t it? Those sneaky guys working behind those desks just can’t stop them selves from taking your money out of your pocket.  How magic that is, right? You wish you knew how to do that, don’t you?

It is really impressive how people perceive marketing to be such a distinguished science that it can only be taught in business schools. I often hear even business people, especially small business owners, waffling about their inability to compete against branded competition: “They have marketing people… They know marketing…”

But is marketing really such a magic wand that can make the difference? Well the answer is yes, but do you need to go learn marketing to be able to practice it? The answer is no. You don’t need anyone to tell you how to do marketing when you are already applying it in every aspect of your life. In fact is as simple as this: if you are alive, then you are an experienced marketeer.

Human beings get this feature pre-installed in their brains when they come out of the factory. And they start practicing it when they throw out those first words out of their mouth… when they create that unique bonding with those fellows called parents… when they buy their first bike and got that new friend. Oh, by the way, they receive a master when they finally find that right person to spend the rest of their life with!

A straight definition of marketing is: Buying and Selling in a market. Let’s connect the dots then: You spelled out your first words cause it was a way to start getting what you want. You sold noise to buy attention. You created that strong bonding with your parents cause they provided to you anything you needed. You sold love to buy caring. The story goes on… You can make the connections in every move you make. You are reading this post to probably learn something. You sell your time to buy knowledge – hopefully valuable!

So, yes. It’s all about marketing. Marketing is life anyway. And as in life, anyone gets to know how to survive but those who keep paying attention, understand their world and react properly to situations flourish. Do that in your business as well. Don’t just exist. Open your eyes, understand what your customers want and give it to them.

Is that simple and you have done it so many times before!

Dreams are an essential part of our life. Everyone is dreaming of something right now you are reading this post. Some of them are daydreaming and some others just live a virtual life experience over their sleep. Day dreams  are more important. Daydreaming is almost equal to living. Can you imagine your life without it. In fact dreams are what making us do whatever we do.

Think of this for a moment.  When you were young you were dreaming of being older and how that would look like. This shaped your character. Then you were dreaming of becoming a pilot, a businessman, a teacher. That drove you into school and affected your competencies. Ok, you did not become a pilot but you probably do something for living that requires a lot of personal responsibility, and you did not become a businessman but maybe you know how to get the best deal anytime you are purchasing something.

What is important is that those dreams we all have are kind of a guide on which corner of the life we want to head to. It is a mental compass that help us do something more than what we were meant to do or what we look like we are capable to do.In any case, if we dream something we have at least a reason to think about how can we achieve it and look into it in more detail. This will help us find a way of actually doing it, or even almost doing it. The point is that we will try it, in opposite of someone else who never dared dream of it and never tried it.

Dream people! There is a reason you can dream what you dream…

Is teamwork always the best way to do things in business? Well, no one would argue against the fact that 2 brains are always better than 1 but that doesn’t mean that we should always form and count on teams anytime we want to achieve something big and great.

In any case, there’s not a golden rule to command when a team setting is better than that of having an individual completing a piece of work, but there are a few common situations where forming a team may equal to rising a wall that doesn’t let you move forward. So, before deciding on the next assignment you want to grant to your team, take a few seconds and think of what is it you need to achieve:

Problem Solving or Decision Making

If you are thinking of forming a team to solve a challenging problem, then you have made a great choice. If you are thinking of forming  a team that will be charged of making important decisions, then good luck.  For problem solving more people can help to achieve a positive outcome fast and effectively, however when it comes to decision making the case is different. The fundamental difference between these two subjects is that decisions are accompanied with a responsibility for the outcome, and when a responsibility is left split among many people, no one has to take the full responsibility. Therefore teams inevitably do not provide for high quality  decision making outcomes.

Intellectual or Manual work

Another aspect you should consider regarding the necessity of forming a team is the type of work required.  While there are certain types of work that are impossible to happen without forming a team, it doesn’t mean that the more the people involved in any given project the greater the results you could achieve.  A single guy couldn’t build the Burj Dubai Tower. But it was a single guy, Einstein, who developed the Atomic Theory. Which one is greater? “Teamwork” cannot always outperform “individuality”  and the unique intangible asset called “talent” that make some people able to outperform in certain types of work. Especially when it comes to intellectual types of work finding the right person can always bring in way more qualitative and quantitative results than that of  having a whole team working on the same subject.

Balancing between getting a job in a big company vs. a smaller company is always a fair concern that most of the people have, especially in their early career years. The transition time as well (when is it the right time to make this career move, from a small to a big company or vice versa) is also a riddle that may bother you any time you are thinking about your optimum career plan.

In reality, it really depends in a lot of factors; however in a case where you would have to make a choice between those two, the best you can do is consider how big or small you are yourself. Once you have that figured, go in the opposite direction for the decision to join a company.

Big companies are usually the best way to start a career when you are a novice. Fundamentally, working for a bigger corporation is always more valuable in terms of getting access and exposure to the wealth of knowledge they carry, that essentially means that you have the best resources to master the skills you will need to progress in your career. In general, you will also always get a decent salary and most importantly a great resume highlight and career push. However, once you get older in a large corporation, you realize that there is always an increase on the competition to achieve a higher hierarchy role (there is only one CEO in every company at the end!) which eventually affects your salary aspirations.

Smaller businesses on the other hand, provide better opportunities for those that have already mastered the specific skills required for their area of expertise. Obviously they are of better value for a small company because they are expected to transfer this knowledge they have previously acquired in a bigger one. They also have greater chances to progress faster to the higher levels of the ladder, having to face quite less competition than before.

Bottom line, when you are young you might want to join a large corporation to give you the best start in terms of experience and career prospects. Salary will be decent and you will progress steadily. Once you have matured enough in a large corporation it is a wise choice to move into a smaller company to increase your salary significantly but also to have the best chances to break the ceiling sooner!