Startups

4 Important Values You Will Need When You Coach Millennials

Published

11 years ago

May 25, 2015

Al Gomez

When you become a manager or supervisor, one of your most important roles would be to become a coach.

Instead of just administrative or managerial tasks; you are now in charge of motivating and inspiring another employee. Coaching a millennial seems easy enough, until you realize that they are impulsive, impatient, and unruly.

Still, they are your company’s greatest assets. A millennial’s drive to succeed and win against all odds is exactly what your business needs in this overly competitive world.

But how can you steer them in the right direction?

Let these four core values be your guide.

1. True listening

They say true listening consists of 90 percent body language and 10 percent words. It requires the listener to observe what the other person is ‘not saying’.

That means paying attention to small details such as shoulder shrugs, head tilts, downcast eyes, and neck rubs.

Remember: millennials are proud. They want to appear strong and independent. So they won’t be so quick in admitting that they have a problem (especially when it comes to work).

For example, an employee apologizes for low performance for the previous month. Don’t just focus on words; listen to his body language. Does he look sad? Is his voice worried?

Maybe he’s having personal problems that he’s not telling. Paying attention to non-verbal cues is a priceless skill to have when dealing with any employee.

“If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk.” – Robert Baden-Powell

2. Empathy

Don’t confuse sympathy with empathy. The latter is broader and more difficult to put into action. However, it is a necessary skill if you want to successfully relate to others.

For example, one of your employees may have trouble dealing with tasks because she is going through a divorce.

Don’t just offer a simple ‘I’m sorry to hear that…’ or ‘It’s going to be alright…’. If you want to be an empathetic coach, you need to put yourself in that person’s shoes to help her overcome her problem.

It’s more than just offering kind words. Sometimes, you need to wait a while before that person would open up to you, but take the initiative.

As coach, it is your responsibility to help employees deal positively with their fears and/or troubles. Listen, then come up with solutions together by seeing the situation through your millennial’s eyes.

3. Trust

Millennials want to feel that they are a part of something huge. However, you’re not yet sure whether you want to hand them that big project just yet.

Instead of throwing them into open waters, let them gradually swim into shallower parts first; with trust.

For example; if you don’t want them to spearhead a client’s website campaign, at least allow them to pitch in ideas.

Don’t constantly breathe down their necks, either. Relax, set a deadline, ask for progress, then provide feedback and/or rewards when results are met.

When you show that you trust them, millennials are more confident to bring out their best.

“The glue that holds all relationships together- including the relationship between the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” – Brian Tracy

4. Flexibility

One thing that turns off millennials is lack of freedom. They often hop from one job to another because they are looking for a great career that lets them live out their lives at the same time.

So don’t make them feel tied to their desks between 9 to 5. Instead, follow up that trust by being flexible.

How? Offer them choices.

If you have an active employee for example, direct that energy into a community-based project OR let her try a new skill.

Serve various activities.

Play up the routine by dishing out new duties from time to time. If your millennial wants to attend another function, compromise so she has time to finish all her tasks, without missing that important event.

4 Important Values You Will Need When You Coach Millennials

It’s not easy handling millennials. I should know, I have an office full of them! They are unpredictable, often disorderly, and need frequent feedback.

But I cannot imagine a campaign without them. It’s their limitless energy, curiosity, and thirst for knowledge that keeps my company active.

So to keep all of us happy, I employ those four core values and insert a bit of fun every now and then.

At the end of the day, coaching a bunch of impatient millennials is not only rewarding, it’s an achievement in itself.

Have these values helped you? What values would you add to this list?

Related Topics:Career coaching a millennial dealing with any employee employee feedback help employees millennial millennials to become a coach worker

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Al Gomez

Al Gomez is a Digital Marketing Consultant at Dlinkers and Sagad. With more than twelve years of digital marketing experience in search engine optimization, paid search and email marketing, he has contributed to a variety of online publications including Moz, Semrush and Wordtracker.

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Startups

How an LLC Can Help Shield Your Personal Assets

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 1, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

You are a freelance designer, and your client sued you over a trademark mistake. If you believe that your personal savings are safe, then you may be wrong. You are operating as a default sole proprietor. You and your business are the exact same person. As a result, your personal bank account, your car, and even your home are legally up for grabs.

However, if you start an LLC, you can build a legal shield between your business liabilities and your personal life. These days, you can easily form an LLC online.

How Does This Legal Shield Work

When you start an LLC, your business gets a distinct legal identity. Now, your LLC can open its own bank accounts, sign contracts, take out loans, buy equipment, and be held responsible for its own actions. You are not liable. This boundary between you and your business is called the “corporate veil.”

Visualizing the Separation

Inside the Shield (Business Assets)

Everything your company owns is included in this shield. If your business faces a debt collector or a lawsuit, only your business assets are at risk, such as:

Money in the business bank account
Inventory and raw materials
Office equipment, computers, and company vehicles
Business intellectual property

Outside the Shield (Your Personal Assets)

You don’t have to worry about your personal assets, such as:

Your personal checking and savings accounts
Your home and personal real estate
Your family vehicles
Your retirement funds (401k, IRA) and personal investments

What LLC Protection Covers

Business Debts and Contracts

When your LLC signs a commercial lease, hires a contractor, or buys inventory on credit, these are the obligations of the LLC. Your creditors will come after the assets of the LLC if your business can’t pay.

Lawsuits

If your business is sued over a contract dispute, faulty service, or an operational issue, lawsuits will be filed against your business. All your personal assets are safe.

What LLC Protection Does Not Cover

Personal Torts

The term “tort” refers to an act that causes harm or injury to someone else. The LLC shields you from the mistakes of your employees and general business liabilities. However, it never protects you from your own personal actions. For example, if you personally commit fraud, you can be sued personally.

Personal Guarantees

Vendors often hesitate to lend money to new, growing businesses. Such businesses don’t have long credit histories. Lenders often require you to sign a personal guarantee.

How Owners Accidentally Destroy Their Protection

The legal shield provided by forming an LLC only works when you run your business properly. The corporate veil can be pierced when a court decides that your LLC is not legitimate and strips away your protection in a lawsuit. This usually happens when you make one of the following three mistakes.

Commingling Funds

Many small business owners often mix their personal money with their business money. You are commingling funds when you use your business debit card to buy your personal groceries or you deposit a client’s payment directly into your personal checking account. The legal wall crumbles when you don’t treat your business and personal finances as completely separate.

Missing an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the legal document that outlines:

How your LLC is run
Who owns what percentage
How profits are handled

If the creditor’s lawyer finds out that an operating agreement is missing, they may argue that your LLC is just a shell.

Falling Out of “Good Standing”

When you start an LLC, you must file annual reports and pay franchise taxes to keep it active. The state will place your business in “Administrative Dissolution” or bad standing if you miss any of these deadlines. You could lose your limited liability protection if you operate a business under an inactive or dissolved LLC.

Startups

Move Fast without Breaking People: Product Safety Lessons for Ambitious Startups

Published

1 month ago

Jul 15, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

Fast growth can hide product risks until customers get hurt, especially when safety comes late in development. A software bug can be patched, but a chair, charger, or smart device can cause a burn, fall, cut, or crash.

For founders moving from a prototype to mass sales, the cases handled by Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers in Boston show why launch goals should not push testing, warnings, and foreseeable risks aside. A product claim can involve the design, how a unit was made, user instructions, or several firms in the supply chain.

Why Minimum Viable Should Never Mean Minimally Safe

A minimum viable product should test whether people want an idea, not how much danger they will accept. Teams can delay colors or premium finishes, but not guards, safe heat limits, sound wiring, or clear instructions.

Set Safety Rules Before the Build

The product brief should define who will use the item, where, and what could happen during setup, cleaning, storage, wear, or mistakes. It should also consider what a child, guest, tired worker, or first-time buyer might do.

Shared rules help teams move faster. Designers know which guards must remain. Engineers know which parts cannot fail. Suppliers know what cannot change without review.

Test How People Really Use It

A neat demo is not the real world. Users place products on wet counters, soft rugs, or rough ground. They skip a guide, use the wrong cable, or handle an item in unexpected ways.

Testing should cover misuse without predicting every extreme act. When a risk can be reduced through a guard, lock, stop switch, or clear signal, that design change is often greater than a warning alone.

How Design and Manufacturing Risks Differ

Some risks are built into the design. Others arise when production fails to match the approved plan. Teams need to identify the source before choosing a correction.

Design Problems Start with the Plan

A design problem can affect every unit. A base may tip, a blade may sit too close to a hand, a control may activate too easily, or a battery space may trap heat.

Final inspection cannot repair a flawed plan. The team may need a new shape, shield, limit, material, or control, followed by testing before more units ship.

Manufacturing Problems Break the Plan

A manufacturing problem occurs when a unit or batch does not match the approved design. A fastener may be missing, a weld may be weak, a wire may be damaged, or the wrong component may enter production.

Good records help define the scope. The team should know who made each part, which batch used it, what checks occurred, and where units went. Fast trace work can keep one fault from becoming a wider crisis.

When Customer Feedback Signals More Than Dissatisfaction

Support teams hear about delays, difficult setups, strange sounds, and refunds. Most reports are routine. Yet heat, smoke, sparks, breakage, sharp edges, sudden movement, falls, or failed guards require review.

Treat Complaints as Safety Data

One report may lack key facts, but similar reports can reveal a pattern. Staff should record the model, batch, date, use, photographs, and outcome, then alert someone who can pause sales or order testing.

Teams should not blame unusual use before asking whether another reasonable buyer could make the same choice. A support ticket can be the first sign of a hazard that lab testing missed.

Preserve the Product and the Record

After an injury, the product can help explain what failed. A repair, disposal, or undocumented test can remove evidence. The same applies to old labels, manuals, test files, customer messages, and design notes.

Startups should keep relevant items safely, record who examines them, and preserve earlier versions of instructions and warnings. This history can show what changed and why.

Why Warnings Must Reflect Real Use

A warning works only when a user notices it at the right time. Dense text at the back of a manual may not help during setup. The message should name the hazard, explain the harm, and state what reduces the risk.

Placement matters too. A charging risk belongs near the port. A weight limit belongs where weight is added. Even so, warnings should not replace a safer design when the hazard can reasonably be removed.

How Founders Can Preserve Speed without Cutting Safeguards

A delayed launch, redesign, or recall can feel like defeat. In practice, early action can prevent harm, protect trust, and give the team better facts for the next version. The strongest startups move quickly because their systems protect people.

When a product injures someone, legal guidance can help preserve the item, collect design and manufacturing records, identify responsible companies, and examine whether a defect or unsafe choice caused the harm.