Every Monday on my Facebook page I host a chat called Money Making Conversations. People send me questions about how to grow their businesses and careers and I read and respond from 12 – 1 PM EST. Here is a recap of this week’s conversation:

Do you think as a business owner, it is important to have integrity and character to be successful in growing your business? – Deshonda

Deshonda,

The best motto to help you grow your business is “The customer is always right.” Once a customer loses faith in your product, they will spread the word faster than when something good happens. Bad news travels 10 times faster than good news. So yes, the core success of every business is based on integrity.

Recently you spoke about how you became successful when you removed your emotions from the business. How did you do this…what is your formula for doing this? – Karen

Karen,

To help me, I just focus on my goals. Unrealistic goals are tied to emotional decisions. Realistic goals are tied to non-emotional decisions. Whenever you find yourself HOPING to do something, you are basing this on emotions. Whenever you find yourself PLANNING to do something you are taking emotions out and setting yourself up for success.

My question today is, is it better to have a personal business account or a pool account for those who want to pour into your business? For example family or close friends. – Janet

Janet,

You should have a personal account for your personal affairs and a business account for your business. If not, filing taxes will be a nightmare for you!

Can a person overcome a reputation of being “difficult” to work with if they are talented and hard working OR is reputation more important? And if you develop an unflattering reputation, how important is it to “change your image” and what is the best way to do that? – Patrice

Patrice,

The fact that you are asking me this question tells me that you are admitting you may have a bad reputation!

People used to tell me that I was hard to work with because I was too opinionated and aggressive. After a lot of introspection I had to change! You always want to keep your pool of professional contacts as wide as possible. If you have a negative personality then your pool will get smaller. You can always change your tone and how you present yourself to the world. It is important to change for long term success!

Rushion what do you think about cover letters on job applications. Are they outdated? Or still very important? – Kay

Kay,

Thinking of a cover letter as a traditional “cover letter” is outdated. However, if you think about your cover letter as a “hype sheet,” then this is not outdated. Every job needs a certain level of creativity, and so your cover letter is the best way to express your creativity while hyping yourself.

Additionally, when applying to jobs, make sure all your social media is cleaned up. Not just photos, but also make sure you don’t have any crazy or unprofessional posts.

Do you have any suggestions on how I can best articulate my military experience to potential employers? – William

William,

You should do this with a cover letter, or “hype letter” that I referenced earlier. A simple resume will not do this. Be very descriptive about what you have done in the military and how it will help the company moving forward.