Archive for the ‘Focus’ Category
Time is the great equalizer. Everybody gets the same amount: 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour. We can't save time or accumulate or rearrange it. We can't turn it off or on. It can't be replaced. You can always make more money but, you can never make more time. But these days, it seems as if the lament of not having enough time has become a national anthem. Everywhere women and men, especially small business owners, find themselves constantly in a rush, over-booked and over-scheduled with no time off. Life is accompanied by the ongoing stress of not enough time. And sometimes doing too much and being too busy can be a way of numbing feelings or disguising depression or anger.
Though it may not always seem so, how we fill our time and how we spend it is our choice.
Answer "true" or "false" to the following questions to discover if you're caught up in the "too-busy" cycle. If you answer "true" to four or more questions, it's time to reach outside yourself for help to step off this treadmill and start living a life you love!
- I constantly find myself doing "urgent" things and trying to catch up.
- I allow myself to drift into obligations when I don't know how much time or energy they'll require.
- I find myself running from when I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night. I'm always tired and never feel like I accomplished enough.
- I seldom schedule a day off for myself and when I do, I tend to fill it with activities.
- I don't make time for "self-care" activities: physical exercise, nurturing or "pampering" myself, cultural stimulation, spiritual well-being, learning something new, playing, or simply doing nothing.
- I seldom have time to do the things I really love.
- My work and project areas are cluttered with "I'll look at this later" stacks and "to-do" piles.
- I often miscalculate how long certain activities will take.
- I often miss deadlines or work long hours to meet a deadline.
- I respond to interruptions such as phone calls, faxes, email, beepers and pagers, and allow them to take me off track.
- I try to keep things in my head rather than making lists. If I do make a daily "to-do" list, it's impossible to complete in a day.
- I tend to move from one urgent thing to the next, rather than working toward specific goals and objectives.
- I find myself constantly wishing I had more time or projecting an imaginary future when I have more time, making comments such as "as soon as..." or "next year..."
- I spend time running errands and rushing because I didn't plan well enough.
- I spend time doing things I could pay someone else to do.
- I often do things because I "should," or continue to do things that no longer fit who I am.
- Other people complain that my schedule doesn't allow enough time for them.
Deanna Maio, Business Development Strategist & Speaker, teaches women business owners how to grow their business significantly while still having time to live a great life. For FREE tips on how to get more results without working harder, attract more clients, and grow your profits, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
Author's content used with permission, © Claire Communication
Most business owners experience a creative block at one time or another. It’s not uncommon, but it can be very damaging to your business. Whether you’re a writer, virtual assistant, or marketer, creative blocks quickly turn into stumbling blocks and stop you from doing your best. Here are a few tips to help you eliminate creative blocks from your business:
#1 – Take a break
It may seem counter-intuitive, but a creative block is often a way of your body and mind telling you that it’s time for a break. When we’re in the thick of it, it can be difficult to see things for what they really are. A short break will help you clear your mind and get focused on the task at hand. The most effective breaks are those that help you clear your mind of your current situation altogether. And it can be anything from sitting in the sunshine for 10 minutes to going for a brisk walk. Try not to think about your creative block or task at hand and simply let your mind relax and unwind. The idea is to simply step away from the problem for a few minutes and to come back refreshed and re-energized.
#2 – Think outside the box
Sometimes the solutions to our problems are right in front of us but simply require a little outside thinking. For example, if you’re experiencing writer's block, instead of pressuring yourself to write the perfect article, simply jot down your research and “raw” thoughts. This will make up the bulk of your article. Then you can come back to it later and add your creative flair to make it all flow together. Say you’re a virtual assistant and have been given a task you’re not sure how to complete. Then maybe you can join a networking forum and ask for advice. You can even subcontract that aspect of your job to another virtual assistant. Sometimes a little creative thinking is all it takes to get rid of our creative blocks. There is no set formula for what needs to be done and you don’t necessarily have to do it all yourself. The key here is to find solutions – whatever they may be – and to not concentrate solely on the problem.
#3 – Journal it
Journals have been known to help bring clarity, peace of mind and solutions to many problems. By simply jotting down your thoughts and how you feel about certain situations, you may come to a conclusion. If you’re experiencing a creative block about the direction or growth of your business, for example, journaling those thoughts may be all it takes to come a the conclusion you’re happy with. Putting our thoughts and ideas into writing can often bring clarity and closure to many of our issues.
Creative blocks are frustrating for any business owner. The above tips will hopefully help you overcome those blocks and help you gain clarity and focus once again.
Deanna Maio, Business Development Strategist & Speaker, teaches women business owners how to grow their business significantly while still having time to live a great life. For FREE tips on how to get more results without working harder, attract more clients, and grow your profits, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
There are very few people, if any, who long to be unsuccessful. You don't just wake up in the morning and decide that you want to be mediocre. Most people long for more, but only a small few actually achieve the success they want. Just the same, successful people don't just become that way by accident. They have to work for it.
So what makes the difference between success and failure? What is it that successful people have that helps them get where they are? Here are just a few key traits of successful people.
Goal oriented
When you are sifting through piles of work, or are hit by a setback, it's easy to feel distraught. If you can't look forward and see why you do what you do, you're going to be more affected and more likely to give up.
Persistence
When you talk to successful people, you'll find a common theme. It's not that successful people don't fail, it's that they don't give up when they fail. They keep going and keep trying until they make it. Even if things go well for you in the beginning, eventually, the odds are you're going to fail eventually. You've just got to dust yourself off and keep trying.
Self-aware
In order to be successful, you need to know what you're good at. That way you can direct your path towards your positives and exploit them. It's also important that you be aware of your weaknesses, which is something that's a little harder for most people. By knowing your weaknesses, you can figure out how to avoid them faulting you, or you can take steps to improve on them.
Positive thinking
Have you ever noticed that when you're around someone who's excited and happy, you feel happier? And if you're around someone who's always depressed, you start to feel sad yourself? We are affected by what we are surrounded with. And the same goes internally. If we fill our minds with positive thought, we eventually start thinking more positively. And if you believe you are good at what you're doing and can accomplish your goals, you're going to try harder and longer to get them.
Creative thinking
There are thousands of businesses across the country and millions more across the world. These are all people competing for the same money you are. In order to make yourself known, you have to do something different. That will require you to be creative - through product ideas, marketing, customer support, or even in how you organize your office.
So, you're maybe thinking that you don't have most of these attributes, but that doesn't mean you can't become a successful person. The good news is that these behaviors can be learned. If success is something you really want, you just need to get the systems, support, and focus so you can stop working so hard and start working savvy.
Deanna Maio, known professionally as The Savvy Strategies Coach, teaches business owners simple, powerful processes to stop wasting time, start making more money, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and use your valuable time more wisely, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
I'm often asked, "What could an intern do for me and my business?", by the entrepreneurs I meet at networking events and speaking engagements I attend. For many of them, the term "internship" brings to mind images of a young college student making copies, digging through filing cabinets, and sending faxes. While this is may be the stereotype, there are many more things an intern can do to help you reach your marketing goals and further their own learning and skill building.
If you have a business, whether it's full time or part time, run out of your home or an external office, an intern can be a great asset to support your marketing efforts. There are lots of things you can hire an intern to do that will help you out and provide a learning experience for her at the same time. Here are seven projects that are great for interns:
1. Managing your database
Every business owner should have a place to keep contact information of the prospects, partners, leads, and vendors they know. Imagine going to a networking event, trade show, or speaking engagement and having someone else to do the data entry of that information into your system. They can also:
- Add contacts to a follow-up or drip marketing sequence
- Schedule time on your calendar to make a follow-up phone call
- Complete regular 'maintenance' on your system by removing old email addresses and add missing fields like zip codes
- Call your contacts to get mailing addresses for thank you notes
- Run reports to check on email open rates and bounces
2. Social networking
Interns know how to use social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter. They can save you a great deal of time by posting and scheduling your status updates, adding or finding new friends, accepting or declining group and event invitations, creating events and inviting guests, uploading photos, keeping your profile up to date, or messaging new friends to encourage them to join your Facebook fan page or email list.
3. Finding reciprocal linking partners
Inbound links are a valuable commodity, and reciprocal linking can get you those links at no cost. But it does take some time to find webmasters of relevant sites who will link to you. Why not get your intern to do it?
4. Managing emails
If reading and answering email from networking partners, prospects, and clients takes you a good deal of time to manage, let your intern help. He can screen the emails that come into your inbox, decide whether it needs action or just to be read, answer the ones you tell them to using a template you write, bring the ones he can't answer to your immediate attention and archive the rest.
5. Running email campaigns
From the nuts and bolts of setting up autoresponders to tracking results, there is much to be learned from an email campaign. Letting your intern work on one will benefit both of you.
6. Setting up shopping carts
A shopping cart is a key component of any Internet marketing site. Allowing your intern to set up shopping carts on new sites will free up your time.
7. Promotion of special events
When you are planning a special event, teleclass, or program launch, it's always nice to have an extra hand. Your intern could handle the promotion aspect of it, freeing you up to do the planning.
If you find you are spending time working "in" your business more than working "on" your business and any of the above tasks keep you from doing the important activities only you can do, hiring an intern is a great way to get help managing the administrative functions of your operation while helping a student get valuable experience at the same time. And that's what I call a win-win.
Deanna Maio, Business Trainer & Coach, teaches business owners simple, powerful processes to stop wasting time and start making more money, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and use your valuable time more wisely, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
I'm convinced there's just too much information available in the world for business owners. We don't need all the options that exist. We need the top two or three options pulled out from the heap, simplified, and then we need to select one and get moving. Information is not what is stopping business owners from getting the results they want. You see, I believe it's a lack of action or support during the implementation process that gets us in trouble. We're trying to get so much done that often we don't get started on the important projects and improvements in our businesses that can make the really big differences:
- More Sales
- Better Relationships
- More Referrals
- Streamlined Processes
- Faster Results
Some people are born doers. Some people are born thinkers. Some think about doing and never get anything done. There are many ways to become a person of action and what works for someone else may not work for you. Action people are usually people who are organized and seem to know exactly how to proceed from one project to another seamlessly and without effort. Others flounder in a world of disorganization, haplessly moving one piece of paper to another location without knowing why. At the end of the day, the doers typically have more energy than at the beginning as they feed on taking action. The flounders at the end of the day are still floundering and can’t understand why nothing has been accomplished and they feel exhausted. They step back to assess their day’s accomplishments and deceive themselves into believing progress is being made, when in realty little or nothing has been done. For these people, organization is an essential key.
Whether it’s for your home or business, make a to-do list and prioritize it. Tips for a successful list include:
- Put only the most important tasks on the list
- Each time you complete a goal or project scratch it off
- Feel the satisfaction
- Don’t mark tasks off until their done
When everything on the list is finished, reward yourself. Even if you don’t quite complete the list in one day, go ahead and celebrate your victories. This gives you something to look forward to and gives you incentive to accomplish more. Again, be honest with yourself and only accept reward when deserved. Another plan of action states that you can waste too much time making lists and you should visualize your task at hand until you have the energy to do it. They suggest you sit quietly, clear your mind of all other things and concentrate on your task or goal at hand. See yourself doing the project in vivid detail. Whatever the job entails imagine yourself doing each and every step. Change the way your think and you will change the way you act and how many results you create.
Deanna Maio, Business Trainer & Coach, teaches business owners simple, powerful processes to stop wasting time and start making more money, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and use your valuable time more wisely, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
I'm so super excited to announce my newest program, Creating Your Free Powerful Support Team.
Learn More and Enroll Now
I put together a little video for you about it. Check it out here:
I hope to see you there!
Deanna
Have you ever procrastinated on something? Of course you have; we all do it at one time or another and some of us suffer from procrastination more than others. If you’re an entrepreneur, procrastination can have some detrimental effects on both you and your organization. Not to worry, there are several straightforward strategies to reduce and eliminate procrastination.
How Procrastination Affects You
We procrastinate for a variety of reasons. Several of them include:
- Fear – we’re worried that the task is going to be complex, we’re going to fail at it, it’s going to be disagreeable, and so on.
- Disinterest – it’s easy to procrastinate when you’re faced with doing something that you simply don’t feel like doing. However, if everyone did that, the dishes would always be dirty and the laundry would pile up.
- Expectations – this parallels fear. When someone is expecting something from us and we’re nervous about not meeting their expectations, it can cause procrastination.
Regardless of the reasons we procrastinate, the conclusion is always the same. We end up in nail biting, sweat inducing crunch time. Now, instead of a week or a month to get something accomplished, we’ve left only a day or even an hour. This creates incredible amounts of unnecessary stress. The stress that procrastination creates is bad for our physical and emotional wellbeing. We can become drained because we don’t take care of ourselves, and some major consequences can be insomnia, depression, and binge eating.
Burn, Baby, Burn
Procrastination also creates burnout. It becomes a vicious circle. You procrastinate because you’re burned out and exhausted and then when you’re under pressure it only prolongs that feeling. The final result is that you’re no longer finding pleasure in what you’re doing and you don’t want to do it. You don’t have the same sense of excitement or enjoyment in your activities and you’re no longer enthusiastic and positive.
Productivity Dwindles
Procrastination also diminishes productivity. When you procrastinate and then are forced to finish the job quickly, the task usually takes much longer to complete because you’re not focusing on it with energy and enthusiasm. You are only focused on completing the task. It becomes a mad dash for the finish line. This uncomfortable scurry usually leads to mistakes which can damage your reputation and ultimately your business.
Effects of Procrastination
Procrastination, as we’ve already talked about, can cause a lack of productivity, burnout and stress. It can also lead to a second-rate final product. If you don’t take pleasure in what you’re doing, you’re troubled about the outcome or you have to hustle through it, the end result can be something you’re just not proud of. And procrastination can also make you lose enthusiasm for an occupation you once loved.
Digging Deep
Procrastination can be reduced and/or eliminated by digging deep and discovering the reasons behind your procrastinating. If it’s due to fear, then you’ll need to determine if it’s a legitimate fear and how you are going to tackle it. If you’re procrastinating because you dislike the task, create a solution. You could:
- Outsource the task to a coworker
- Construct a system that eliminates the task, or
- Find a way to embrace the task and get it done
Procrastination is something that everyone has to deal with from time to time. Learn to understand and control your procrastination tendencies and you will eliminate its effect on you and your business.
Deanna Maio, Business Coach & Consultant, teaches women business owners how to attract more clients, make more sales, stop wasting time, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and client base in your business, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
As an entrepreneur you may hear a lot about networking and wonder what all the hubbub is about. Networking, both online and off, is a wonderful way to build connections in your industry. It's a terrific way to increase awareness, build your customer base and ultimately boost your profits. However, you probably know that already. What you may not know is that networking is also a wonderful way to motivate yourself.
Impress Them
Networking pushes you to be at your absolute best. If you’re putting forth the effort to network, you’ll want to stand out. So when you communicate with the public, strive to make your first impression peerless, by being ready, willing and able to give them an informative and inspirational pitch about your business.
Connections Count
You never know where you'll meet your next business partner, a superior customer or one of those coveted 'Paul Revere type' of individuals who spreads news faster than CNN. If you meet a 'Paul Revere' and can get them excited about your business, you’ve just launched your business into a whole new arena.
Moves You Forward
Because networking is usually a scheduled event, it accomplishes two things. It drives you to prepare before you head to the website or event. And it pushes you too put some serious thought into how you present yourself both online and off. Networking forces you to think about your business, where it’s going, what your future plans are, and how you want to be perceived.
Ideas Ignited
For most people, networking with other successful people sparks their competitive spirit. We see other successful people and think, “If they can do that, so can I.” We hear great ideas, product launches, marketing tactics and business strategies and we think, “How can I do this too? Hearing the stories of others is very motivating!
Mindset Shifts
Finally, networking both online and off (though online networking can be done in your pajamas with unruly hair and un-brushed teeth) makes us feel and act more professionally. For the most part, the simple act of being a professional makes us feel more professional. We start to feel less like a person who works at home in their pajamas and more like a business person, a CEO, and most importantly, a successful entrepreneur.
Deanna Maio, Business Coach & Consultant, teaches women business owners how to attract more clients, make more sales, stop wasting time, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and client base in your business, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
Imagine you went to an auto mechanic, and he told you he was going to lift the hood of your car, shine a light around, and move some parts up and down. Does this sound like a service you would pay for? Of course not. What you want to hear from the mechanic is that he will fix your car. If you're not telling clients about the results your work produces and the benefits they will get from it, they will never see the value of it.
Market the results of your work, not the process you use
If you were in my profession of business coaching, and someone asked you, "What is coaching?" you would be unlikely to enroll a client by saying, "We meet by phone for half an hour each week and talk about your goals." That's just the process - where's the value? A slightly better answer might be to say, "Coaching is a process for helping you get what you want." Now you are stating some value. But an even better answer would be not to market "coaching" at all, but instead to market higher earnings, improved selling skills, or more fulfilling work. You would respond not with a definition, but with a statement of benefits: "I help my clients learn to make more money with less effort."
Offer Results, Not Services
Instead of offering tax preparation, an accountant could invite you to "save money on taxes." Instead of selling logo design, a graphic designer could suggest "get your business noticed." Rather than proposing a company retreat, a trainer could promise "improved teamwork and cooperation." Whenever possible, market benefits your clients can place a dollar value on. You're asking them to write you a check, so if they can't see a monetary benefit, they are much less likely to do it. In a corporate environment, talk about improved productivity or employee retention. With individuals, describe the benefits of a healthier lifestyle or better relationships. People need to see your service as the answer to an essential need they have. If you allow it to be something that's just nice to have, you will either limit your market to clients with a budget for luxuries, or you'll limit your rate to only what people will pay for something that's nice but they don't really need.
Homework: Try this over the next week!
Sit down with paper and pencil, at your keyboard, or with a voice recorder, and list out all of the results your clients result after working with you. Be as specific as possible. Extra credit if you call a past client and ask them what results they got after working with you! Consider financial, health, relationship, personal development, and business improvements. Extra, extra credit if you can use mathematical or measurable facts (i.e., for a business coach, "increased income 600%"; for a massage therapist, "reduced pain by 30%", etc.)
Deanna Maio, Certified Business Coach & Consultant, teaches women business owners how to stop wasting time, start making more money, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and client base in your business, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
How can you confidently respond when someone makes a request you'd prefer not to accommodate? The question has just been posed. Pause. Was your inclination to say yes, even though there's a voice deep down saying "no." Well, let's raise the volume on that voice. What possible reasons could there be for saying no?
- It's beyond your means?
- It's beyond your comfort level?
- You have no interest?
Identify all the reasons you have for saying "no." Identify which stem from a lack of confidence, versus a sincere disinterest in fulfilling the request. What would happen if you said yes? Perhaps:
- You would be considered agreeable
- It would make your friends/colleagues/significant other happy
- Your visibility with your prospects, referral partners, or clients would be improved
It's comes down to a simple cost/benefit really. Would the discomfort involved in saying yes outweigh the benefits of possibly going along with the request? Or, do the benefits outweigh your temporary discomforts?
The role of guilt
Saying "no" is hard for many of us. Guilt often comes into play. Whether this guilt has its foundation in religion, a proper upbringing, or a worldview that simply says "it's not nice to say no", we often recognize it and make decisions we'd rather not be making, based upon it.
Saying "NO"
You've made the decision, after scientifically weighing the results of your cost/benefit analysis, do honestly say "NO". Well, go ahead and say it clearly, and self-assuredly...in the mirror. Look yourself in the eye, and do it. Just say "NO." Say it like you really mean it, and then say it again as you would to whomever made the request of you. When you pretend you're speaking to the person who made the request, does it come out differently? Practice and experiment with different ways to say "NO" until you find one you're comfortable with. Then go, and say "NO."
After you say "NO"
If you're used to giving in to others, then guess what? After all that practice, you may just be surprised to find that they are not willing to accept it! They may push, rephrase the question, or make a new, not altogether different, request. Be prepared for this! Know your boundary - what ARE you willing to do? Revisit the questions you asked yourself before - what would happen if you said no, or yes? If you are serious about saying "NO" then stick to your guns. Tell the individual making the request that you would appreciate it if they respected your wishes, and ask them to refrain from pursuing it further. If you are comfortable expressing your "reasons why" then do so speaking from your personal perspective. "No." is a complete sentence and you don't have to share reasons why if you don't want to.
Tips on how to say your "NO!"
The "Wet lettuce NO"
If you are going to say NO, you must say it in a way that means NO! Saying NO in a quiet, unassuming voice is like a hand shake that is floppy and limp. By saying NO in a non-confident manner it will make you feel as though you have got to convince the other person about your decision and the reasons why you have said it!
The "Mr Angry NO"
This is at the other end of the spectrum in how to say NO. It is done in an aggressive manner and usually said with contempt. It is not an effective way to communicate your NO. Here are a couple of examples:
- "NO. I'm not doing that rubbish. You've got to be joking aren't you"
- "NO. I wouldn't lower myself to do that piece of work"
The assertive NO
This is the best way to say NO! In a firm, yet polite voice say: "No. I will not be able to do that for you." Also, if you want to say the reasons why, keep it short and sweet. "No. I will not be able to do that for you. I will be having my hair done at that time."
Use effective body language
When saying NO remember the power of non-verbal communication:
- Look the person in the eye when you say the NO.
- Shake your head at the same time as saying NO.
- Stand up tall.
- Use a firm tone in your voice.
When all is said and done
Don't forget that when anyone asks a question of you, you are perfectly OK to say, "Can I think about that and get back to you". No-one should be pressured into giving an immediate answer, even if the delay is only a couple of minutes. It will give you some time to think it through and to gather your thoughts. It will also give you some time to think about how you are going to say it, the words to use and your body language.
Saying NO exercise
Practice makes perfect, as they say! What I would like you to do for the next 7 days is to start to say NO more often. So whether it is the double glazing salesman, the cold call, "Would you like fries with that" or the shop assistant - practice saying NO to one person for at least the next 7 days. You will be an expert come the end of the week! What will happen? You will feel much more confident and proud. You will find that practice makes perfect and the more you confidently say "NO" the easier it becomes. Others will respect your wishes and take you seriously the first time you say "NO." You won't find yourself doing things you never wanted to do in the first place. You'll have more time to focus on the things you do want to be involved in. The list goes on from there.
Deanna Maio, Certified Business Coach & Consultant, teaches women business owners how to stop wasting time, start making more money, and create a business that acts as a vehicle for living the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to increase your income and client base in your business, visit http://www.savvygals.com/
