I’ll start with the moral of this story:

Having great people in your company is essential. It set’s the tone for a great company culture. Attracting a big pool to choose from is tricky. Try using creative perks…Professionals love creative perks and benefits! And even smaller companies can offer some excellent small business perks that grab attention for just few hundred bucks.

Here’s some proof:

Last week we began a search to fill a position in our company, Northstar Ventures.

The position wasn’t too glamorous and we’ve had a hard time generating applications for it in the past.

As it turns out, the people involved in recruiting within our company set up a competition between each other. Whoever could generate the most resume’s would win…something…(that’s not the important part.)

They each posted their position descriptions and ultimately, the descriptions were almost identical.

One of them generated 2 responses. The other generated 25 responses.

The difference? Well, the position description that generated 25 responses had one unique line added to the very end of the post:

“…we also have XBox 360, Guitar Hero and a Ping Pong Table in our office.”

Check out these blogs for more information on this topic:
14 Behaviors and Attitudes That Can Drive Workplace Success
Before Customer Service Can Change, the Culture Must Change
The $2,288 Manicure

In a recent video I prepared to our large list of Thinktank subscribers I talked about the secret of taking action.

You get an idea. You start taking action on it. You make adjustments and discoveries along the way. And voila! As a result of your desire, focus, vision, and action, mixed in with a little hard work along the way, you create the next Microsoft! Sounds simple, huh?

If it were really that easy, most people would own their own business. And most people don’t.

The action part is where most people who want there own business get stuck!

Why? Because they don’t know what they want.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “You can’t move toward a goal if you don’t know what you want.” I think you can! And here are a few ideas to help you do just that!

Lots of people focus on what “business” would be “right for them.” You could go through the Yellow Pages and look at all of the traditional businesses as well as the more obscure… and you just might find something that fits.

But I would suggest that you think about what problems people have that you could help them solve, or what goals you could help people achieve.

People will pay you dearly to help them solve their problems or reach their goals.

Just flip on QVC or the Home Shopping Network any day of the week, any hour of the day, and you can watch people spend money on miracle cleaning products, clothes steamers, hangers that reduce their closet space by one half, or software to help them speak a foreign language!

Search the Internet for information about a particular problem, challenge or interest. What do you find? Books, e-books, subscriptions, CDs, DVDs, and MP3s about how to do it, and people including myself are forking out lots of money for it.

Don’t wait around for the perfect time to get started with a great business idea. Get started right now by thinking about problems that you can solve for yourself or other people if you only had the right product or information.

That’s how great companies are born.

Check out some other great blog posts on this topic:

Business Quote of the Week
Give Away Your Business Ideas
How to Start Business