Idea-itis

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I recently got back from an amazing event called Be The Change. What I love about these events is that I learn tons of things, get new ideas, find inspiration, build new relationships, discover opportunities for growth and, of course, uncover new paths to profit.

These events are amazing brainstorming sessions on steroids!

But there is a problem with them. Oftentimes it’s too much. You end up with a terrible case of “idea-itis”. You have too many ideas and after a day or two of excitement you find yourself overwhelmed, frustrated and in some ways in worse shape than you were before you went. And let’s be honest here, it doesn’t take an event to leave you feeling this way, does it?

The truth is that there is no way that you can do it all, even if you have a team of people helping you. The only way to create a thriving and sustainable business is to first, evaluate your options, second, decide which things you will do and which you won’t and finally, getting into action and doing!

Letting go of super cool ideas can be tough so here’s the three step process that I will be using over the next few days with my own to-do list and with those of my clients.
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Filed Under: Business Building Tips, Productivity, Reaching Goals Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How’s It Going So Far?

April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It’s officially springtime and while many people use January 1 as a date to spur them into action, I find Spring is when my brain really kicks into gear and I get down to business.

In order for me to get myself moving I first need to set the stage and clear away the winter cobwebs with a good spring cleaning. What I’ve noticed is that I tend to do the same things to help my business and life grow as I do in the garden.

Here are four things that you can do this spring for your business, life and garden to make them thrive.

    1. Clean up the debris. First you have to set the stage. In your garden you get rid of the branches that fell during storms, leaves that came down after the last raking and the shells from the acorns that the squirrels munched on during the winter. Now is also a great time to take a look at your desk, workspace and to-do list and get rid of the junk. Ask yourself if the things you have around you are things that will help your business thrive or if they are things they just ended up there?
    2. Prepare for new growth. You break up the earth and spread fertilizer in the garden. Now is also the time to prepare your workspace, mind and calendar. Are there programs that you want to invest in to help you grow? Are there things that you are in the middle of that you want to wrap up so that you are ready to move on? Are the things you are doing and have around you fostering creativity or stifling it?
  1. See what’s growing. You check to make sure that your plants have survived the winter and that you still like what you have growing. Now is the time to look around and make sure that the projects that you have lined up still make sense for you. Was the idea a good one when it was planted? Is it still a good idea? Is it time to let it go? Is it time to give it all you’ve got to make it flourish?
  2. Decide what you want to grow and see if it fits. None of us have endless space, and even if you do have room, the space doesn’t always suit the things you want to grow there. So, while you look over the things that you want to do, see if they fit into your plan. Do you have the time, space and environment you need to devote to these projects to make them grow? Does it make sense for you to spend your time and energy on them?

When you give your calendar, to-do list and things a good spring cleaning you will set yourself up for a business and a life that thrives.

But there’s one more piece … do you have the help you need? My garden will not look the way I want it to without someone to help me mow the lawn, move rocks and keep up the beds. My business would not function the way I want it to if I don’t get the help I need there too. Some of the help I use is a coach, a support network, equipment and training in skills that I may be lacking or want to brush up on.

What help do you need to make your business and life run better? What skills do you want to learn or sharpen? Go ahead and share your thoughts below.

Filed Under: Business Building Tips, Productivity, Self Improvement Tagged With: , , , ,

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You’ve heard the saying before “Action speaks louder than words”.  Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself to someone, or at least thought it.
And it really does.  We can say anything we want to do.  We can make all the to-do lists in the world we want to make.  We can have all these grandiose plans for our business.  We can ask the Universe for a successful business.

But unless we take ACTION, none of those intentions in the last paragraph mean squat.

You might be thinking to yourself, “There’s only so many hours in the day and so much I need to be doing” and that’s okay.

Make your list of what you want to do.  Prioritize that list by importance.

What’s the first step you need to take to move FORWARD to complete the project?  You don’t have to complete the project in one sitting, so depending on the size of the task, break it down into multiple sittings — maybe an hour each day for two weeks.

Now, do YOU have to do it all?  Can you hire someone to help you with any particular task or project?

In my last blog I wrote about synergy and how two people can accomplish more than one, so make sure you have the support in place to help you move forward and take action.  That support can come in the form of a mentor, coach, Virtual Assistant, accountability buddy or multiple people.

Your hopes and dreams don’t mean anything unless you move forward and take action!  What are you doing in your business to take action?

Filed Under: Business Building Tips, Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,

Are Your To-Dos Overflowing?

March 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What’s a woman to do? I mean really?

It might seem like a very simple thing, but one of the things I find increasingly difficult to manage is my to-do list. Like many of you, my to-do list will include things I need to do for my business, for my clients, my team members, committees, as well as those personal to-dos for my family and me personally. I’m one of those that work best by actually writing my to-dos down in my planner so I can check them off – BUT, I also like to be able to see them all in an online environment. In my search for the ultimate online to-do list, I came across https://workflowy.com, an amazingly easy way to create and segment your to-do items in an outline format. It might just be the list I’ve been looking for … and to make it even more enticing, it’s free!

In WorkFlowy’s own words “WorkFlowy is an organizational tool that makes life easier. It can help you organize personal to-dos, collaborate on large team projects, take notes, write research papers, keep a journal, plan a wedding, and much more.” With WorkFlowy, you can create an entire list of to-dos just like you would create an outline, segmented by subject or by whether it’s for your business, clients, personal, etc., and can be expanded or collapsed based on that criteria. Each to-do within each segment can also easily be added to and/or marked as done. Very simple, but when you see it in action, it’s awesome because it’s a very visually organized system that lets you see what needs to be done, when and where in a nutshell. It’s a little difficult to try to explain exactly how WorkFlowy works, so you’ll have to trust me on this one. Just go to https//workflowy.com, open up your free account and check it out. There’s a video on the home page called WorkFlowy in 45 seconds. The video will show you how it works so much better than I could ever explain. Once you start using the system, you’ll understand why they call it WorkFlowy!

Filed Under: Business Building Tips, Productivity, Self Improvement Tagged With: , , ,

Is Your Spelling A Pet Peeve To Your Readers?

March 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In my last article I posted a photograph of a word puzzle that had an incorrectly-spelled word. I purposely did not share which word was wrong just to see how many people might have caught it. Of the people who contacted me… none of them spotted it.

That’s okay! It just reinforces my point that we all should utilize spell check before sending any email or letter… and if it’s really important, we should have another human being proofread it before it goes out.

By the way, if you’re curious, the word was together, which is the correct spelling.

I’d like to share with you some of the other spelling errors that are pet peeves of mine. These are the words I most often spot as being incorrect. Spell check will question them if only you take the time to run it.

Your vs. you’re

Your is a possessive word, belonging to somebody. I like the color of your shirt.

You’re replaces you are. As a hint: when you combine two words (called a contraction), you basically replace the space with an apostrophe. You’re on the schedule to work tomorrow.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Virtual Assistants/Assistance Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Are You a “Do-It-All?”

February 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Do you view Multi-Tasking as a good thing? Do you think that if you don’t do it all, it won’t get done correctly? Worse yet, it won’t get done at all? If you say “yes” to one or all questions, let me tell you that you are not only hurting your business, you are also putting your physical and mental health at risk, and your usual peak performance will diminish.

Consider:

  • What causes you to multi-task, almost obsessively?

Possibilities:

  • Need to control.
  • Need to be in many places at the same time.
  • Nobody cares as much as you do to get things done.
  • Need for perfection, because no one does it:
    1. Better than you.
    2. Faster than you.
    3. Prettier than you.

Illusional Benefits of a “Do-It-All”:

  • Saving Time.
  • Saving Money.
  • Keeping things on track and “perfect”.
  • By being in control at all times, nothing can go wrong.

Real Consequences:

  • Distractions.
  • Lack of Focus.
  • Incomplete projects.
  • Mistakes.
  • Forgetting what’s truly important.
  • Not enough Self-Care.
  • Putting yourself last.
  • Time and Money seem to elude you.
  • You begin to feel tired.
  • You begin to feel sick and tired of being tired.
  • Unexpected financial costs begin to creep-up
  • Suddenly, you are not working on your business; instead, you’re spending a lot of hours working IN it.
  • You are not engaged in your personal growth.
  • Your self-esteem takes a hit.
  • You begin to question your self-worth.

Processes:

  • Create a one-page list of what you would like to see happen; one page for your business, and one page for your personal life.
  • Create a Profit and Loss statement of what activities are working for you and which ones are not. Yes, you must identify the “energy” leak in all aspects of your life.
  • Create a new Vision statement, both business and personal; and revisit your mission statements. Do they still hold true today? If not, re-write them.
  • Check your list of Personal and Professional Values. If you don’t have one, create them! This is very important.

Solutions:

The following action steps will help you take back your life, even in a “good”, multi-tasking way, where the “Do-It-All” in you, can take a much deserved rest.

  • Take time to analyze and evaluate what each list is telling you.
  • Identify the areas where you have energy leaks, and they are:
    1. Physical
    2. Mental
    3. Financial
    4. Emotional
    5. Spiritual
  • Understand what’s working and not working.
  • Hire a mentor or professional coach to help you plan to take action and make changes accordingly with what’s working and what is not.
  • Focus on activities that are revenue generating.
  • Work with your list of values. It is the foundation for identifying your ideal client. It is also the foundation for identifying the people you need in your life to help you succeed; both professionally and personally.
  • Find a pool of Virtual Specialists or on-site professional assistants to help you in the different aspects of your business.
  • Learn to let go and delegate.
  • Once you delegate, it becomes leverage.
  • Build your “trust” factor in others, as others will on you.
  • Soon you will find more time to do the things you really enjoy.
  • Put the FUN back in what you’re doing.
  • Re-kindle the passion.
  • Begin to do what you love.
  • The results of your efforts is an image of who you are and what you do, so your inner work is as important if not more, than your outer work.
  • And always remember a very simple rule: “When you grow, your business grows.”

In closing, go do what you do best, and let the others do the rest. You can still multi-task without having to be a “Do-It-All”.

Re-claim your self-confidence, assertiveness, assurance and self-worth, and let your brilliance shine.

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Writer’s Block — Oh, My!

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You have a blog and you have an ezine.  You know you need to post to your blog and communicate with your email list regularly.  But what happens when nothing comes to mind?  That happened to me just this week.

I normally get my Tuesday ezine article/blog post to my assistant on Fridays so that she can set it up in Aweber and post it to my blog for Tuesday morning distribution.  I sat at my desk all day Friday, thinking in the back of my mind, “I need to write my article.”  Friday night came and nothing was written.  I thought about it Saturday, but still nothing.  I’ll admit it…Sunday came and I had horseback riding on my mind and my article was nowhere on my radar.

Then here comes Monday, which was full of client calls and work that needed to be done.  I have that nagging, impending deadline fast approaching — and still no idea what to write.  Well, not really no idea.  I was having ideas but nothing was resonating with me.  I also have a list of article ideas that I write down as they come to me so I can refer to them later, and none of those were really calling my name either.   I asked team members for ideas…still nothing.  I read through some ezines from other folks that were in my inbox.  I listened to part of a recorded teleseminar.  Still nothing.

What did I do?  I baked cinnamon rolls, ate some, and then walked 2 miles.  My health/nutrition coach would not be very happy with me about the eaten cinnamon rolls, but I walked 2 miles to make up for it, so maybe she won’t get on me too bad on our weekly call tonight!  One of my goals for 2012? To lose weight, eat healthier and be more fit. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Building Tips, Productivity Tagged With: , , , , ,

Improve Productivity by Keeping the Chaos Out

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’m always amazed at how easily we grow accustomed to things. Years ago my husband and I removed an air conditioner from a window. We didn’t have anywhere to put it, so we stowed it under a clear glass table in our living room. Even though it was completely visible we didn’t see it and amazingly, neither did our guests.

Woman covering earsI was at the chiropractor the other day, he touched my shoulder and I winced in pain. I hadn’t realized anything hurt until he touched it.

My neighbor had a new roof installed a few weeks ago. All day long the contractors were running generators and banging right outside my office window. I knew it was loud but didn’t realize just how much it bothered me until they shut down the generator and my whole body noticeably relaxed.

In many ways it’s a good thing that we acclimate so easily. I forgot the word my chiropractor used to describe what was going on but the way he described it was that, being constantly aware of every single sensation we feel, see or hear would overwhelm us. All of the sensations we would have to process would make it completely impossible for us to do or think about anything else.

It’s wonderful that our brains are great at compartmentalizing like this but these stimuli have an effect on the way you function and how you run your business and life.

In your daily business you are exposed to tons of input. There’s the constant barrage of email, phones ringing and things that “must get done.” Then there are the ideas that you’ve already started working on and want to follow up on or finish. Of course there are also ideas that have come across your desk which look interesting or promising. [Read more...]

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Boomerang — Woohoo!

January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Last week I was on a call with a dozen other Virtual Assistants.  I love this industry, and here’s one of the reasons why.

One of the VAs mentioned a cool tool that she uses called Boomerang for Gmail.  You see, I switched to Gmail over a year ago and haven’t looked back.  I definitely do not miss Outlook, although I missed the feature of sending an email later.

Have you ever responded to an email at 1:00 in the morning, but really didn’t want it to go out until 9:00?  Do you really want people to know you have no life and answer emails in the middle of the night?  Well, with Outlook this was easy to do…but I hadn’t found a tool for Gmail.  And I’ll be honest, I really hadn’t looked either! [Read more...]

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I Hate Being A Solopreneur

December 29, 2011 By 2 Comments

I was speaking to a colleague the other day. Like me she’s a coach who works with other business owners. We hadn’t spoken for about a year, so I was happy to catch up. When I asked her what was going on in her life she told me that she was looking for a job in the corporate world. She missed the predictability of a job. She was tired of making decisions and she missed the regular paycheck.

In some ways I can relate. Running your own business is often difficult, but I find the rewards outweigh the difficulties. All in all I love being an entrepreneur, but there’s one thing I can’t stand…being a solopreneur. It gets lonely! It’s so easy to spend your day alone and lost in your own world with no perspective about what’s going on around you.
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