I am a big believer that “if you think you can, you can” and “if you think you can’t, you cant”…either way you’re right.
So the next time you say something can’t be done, stop and take a look at this video.
I know this won’t please the animal activists but it does stop and make you think. If you are like me, you will also be filled with a profound sense of regret and sorrow for what we are doing to our planet and our fellow sentient beings.
Christopher Reeve is a hero to many people. His unbelievable courage after a terrible accident was truly an inspiration to many. Here’s a quote from him that I admire:
“I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us…if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do.”
How true it is! And this “little voice inside us” captures the essence of our new gift book, Walk the Talk, by Eric Harvey and Steve Ventura. It reminds us that having values is very important, but it’s much more important to live them.
So sit back, turn up your speakers, and enjoy 3 minutes of inspiration from our new movie…Walk the Talk. Just click here …and don’t forget to share it with your friends and your team.
Setting goals personally and professionally is a crucial step to implement to ensure success. Here are 10 Commandments of Goal Setting:
1. Be Passionate
Be passionate about your goals so that you are motivated to achieve them. Scratch off any goals on your list that you are not willing to do anything it takes to accomplish them.
2. Be Realistic
When you choose goals for yourself, it is okay to dream, but you want to be as realistic as possible. You do not want to become discouraged when you don’t achieve a specific goal. Choose time frames that are reasonable and goals that are a stretch from where you are today.
3. Write your goals down
Writing your goals down will lead to an increased chance of achieving them. Write them all down and then prioritise them in order of personal importance.
4. Be Detailed
Every goal should have a time frame and amount assigned to them. For example, “I would like to increase sales by 10% by the end of the year”; instead of, “I would like to increase sales for my business”.
5. Be Accountable
To become successful at achieving your goals, you will need to hold yourself accountable by scheduling regular check points for progress review.
6. Ask for Help
Mentors and other professionals are valuable tools to help you in achieving your goals.
7. Have Integrity
Do what you say that you are going to do.
8. Be Persistent
Keep going until you reach your goals. Don’t give up prematurely.
9. Be Prepared for Failure
If you fail, set a new goal and keep going. Most successful people fail at some point, and most business owners will tell you that they have failed numerous times on the way to becoming successful.
10. Reward Yourself
Choose a reward for each goal that will encourage you to work hard to achieve them. You are more likely to work hard when there is a reward at the end of the process.
To apply goal setting to your business, read my article called, “5 Reasons why a Business Plan is Essential for your Business”.
Everyone experiences some level of stress in their life but if stress is not properly coped with, it can have many serious side effects to your health.
There are several strategies available to cope with stress including lifestyle changes, dietary changes and proactive steps to avoid burnout.
In business, stress is often associated with the demands of the career or with work and family imbalance. To avoid burnout, try the following strategies:
Take care of yourself
It is important to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle to properly cope with and to reduce the effects of stress on your body. Be sure to limit your alcohol intake, avoid smoking and eat a diet rich with vitamins and minerals by regularly eating fruits and vegetables.
If you are unable to maintain a healthy diet regularly, consider adding a multi vitamin supplement to your daily routine.
Take Time Off
Schedule regular long weekends, holidays and time to relax throughout your work year. If you do not have time to take regular holidays with your work schedule, practice relaxation techniques in your weekly schedule to help you cope with stress.
To read more about time management, click here to read an article on my blog.
Set Limits
Business owners tend to take on the majority of the work responsibility. Time management is a priority to ensure that you are not overworked and that you are able to complete tasks in a timely manner without being overloaded.
Outsource
If you are feeling overworked, outsource tasks to other employees or outsource them to another company to avoid being overworked. Virtual Assistants can assist you with a variety of tasks, leaving you to focus on your health and business. I regularly use the team at Office Elves for these type of jobs.
To read more about outsourcing, read the recent article that I have posted onto my website.
Get Enough Sleep
Most business owners are not getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep can affect your ability to concentrate and can have serious health consequences if not addressed. It is recommended to get 6-8 hours of sleep on a nightly basis.
All of these strategies are important to help you reduce the effects of stress on your body and to help you to cope with stress that you have from your personal and family lives.
If you need to reduce stress, start by evaluating anything in your current life that is causing your stress and then take proactive coping steps to reduce the effects of stress on your body.
In business, time is one of your most important assets. There are many time management tools available, yet many business owners fail to implement the ideas into their daily schedules.
If you are looking to become more successful in business, there are a few simple strategies that will help you to immediately boost your daily productivity by leveraging your time.
To start, identify where you are wasting time throughout the day. You may be spending more time than you realise on activities such as reading emails, making personal calls, searching the internet or simply preparing or organising your day.
If you are unsure of your own personal time wasters, create a daily time tracker and record what you complete throughout the day.
Once you have a few days of data, you will be able to identify potential distractions that you can eliminate.
Using time management tools such as a day planner or a software program are essential business tools. There is a large difference between using the tool and using it effectively. Your time management tool should include all business, personal, charitable, health related and any family obligations that you have throughout a given week.
To read more about time management, click here to read my article called “Take Control of your Life- Use your Time Effectively”.
As you are using your time management tool, you will need to prioritise your daily activities and responsibilities. Begin each day by reviewing the tasks that you will need to complete and set performance milestones for yourself throughout the day.
Eliminate all tasks that are unnecessary to ensure that you complete as many important tasks throughout the day as possible. Establishing a daily routine is also beneficial for ensuring that you leverage your time throughout the day.
Outsourcing is a powerful business tool. No matter how large or small your business may be, leveraging other people to carry some of your business load can allow you to focus more of your time on valuable business tasks.
To learn more information about outsourcing, read this article.
Don’t waste time waiting for appointments, meetings or through waiting in traffic. Always have something to do while you are waiting such as an audio book to listen to, a report that needs to be read, a business book or just a blank notepad that you can use to plan your day or next project on.
Leveraging your time to be more productive in business is a crucial skill to possess to ensure your overall success. Learn how to control your time at www.secretstobettertimemanagement.com
Writing is one of the most important skills that a business owner can possess.
Whether you are looking to write business letters, emails, blog postings, forum posts, articles, newsletters, eBooks, eZine, autoresponders or sales copy; your ability to be both clear and effective will determine your levels of impact on you readers.
Here are 5 tips for clear and effective writing:
Catch the Reader’s Attention
When you are writing you should start with a short sentence that is designed to captivate your reader’s attention. The goal of the introduction is to make your reader interested in what you have to say.
You will want to identify the bigger picture of your writing by explaining why your topic is important and how it applies to your reader’s personal or business life. You will also be able to catch your reader’s attention by knowing the audience; who they are, what their needs are and what would they be hoping to learn or gain by reading your text.
Use Strong Verbs
Verbs describe action and readers pay attention to action. Use active verbs instead of static verbs, avoid turning verbs into nouns and beware of using technical terms that you reader may not understand.
Clear descriptions are powerful when communicating a message in a way that is interesting and easy to follow for your reader.
Keep Your Writing Simple
If your writing is not simple, you may lose your reader’s attention. Be sure to construct simple messages, avoid parentheses, strive for simple paragraphs and have a clear and organised path for your reader to follow.
An organised writing structure with well organised thoughts is crucial to use when planning your business writing.
Keep Your Readers Involved
There are several ways to keep your readers involved while they are reading your writing such as providing specific examples, using stories to paint pictures in the minds of the reader and using effective quotations when appropriate.
Use an Effective Closing
When you are concluding your written content, it is important to summarise your thoughts and to include a clear call to action for the reader to follow. Be brief in your conclusion and be sure to end by emphasising your thoughts and what the reader’s learnings or calls to action should be.
You will need to learn how to be effective in all forms of written communication in business.
To learn about how to use clear and effective writing when drafting an email, read my article called “3 Incredibly Simple But Outrageously Powerful Keys to Guaranteeing your Email Messages are read”.
Emails can be used for business communication, general communication and sales messages as an autoresponder.
Home based businesses have become widely accepted as an effective income generating alternative to traditional employment. Many business owners decide to run a home based business for the flexibility to work at their own pace and to have a better balance between family and work.
Working at home allows you to work in your own time and at your own pace. There are several important strategies that you can implement to ensure that you run a successful home based business.
One of the most important skills to master when you are running a successful home based business is time management. It is crucial to set up a work schedule that is organised, effective and one that you adhere to, as it is easy for business owners to become distracted without a schedule when they are working at home.
You need to treat your schedule the same at home as you would if you were going to an office every morning. Also, ensure that you have an organised work space that is separated from any distractions in your home, such as children during the times that you are scheduled to work.
Your workspace should be structured in an efficient manner, with all of the necessary tools at your disposal to enable you to work continuously throughout your workday without disruption. For more information on time management, read my article “Take Control of Your Life- Use your Time Effectively”.
Marketing is the key to growing any business and is crucial in driving your business revenues. Leveraging your current network is one of the most important strategies in running a successful home based business. You will need to regularly contact your network, stay visible and grow the number of people within your network.
You can also tap into any existing customers that you may currently have by using drip marketing systems to help increase your sales rates per customer and to solicit qualified referrals.
Other important marketing techniques to help you grow your home based business include: eZines, Automatic email responders, Blogs & blog carnivals, IM’s, Podcasts, nanocasts, webinars, Social networking, forums and advertising. For more information on how to grow your home based business, click here to read my article called “Growing your Business: Top 5 Tasks that you must perform”.
Education is another key step to help you run a successful home based business. Be sure to leverage newspapers, eZines, eBooks, books, articles and websites that would contain tips or ideas that you can use to help build your home based business. The best strategy is to read something on a daily basis from blogs, forums and articles that are relevant to your business topic to help you to keep up with the latest news and tips from within your industry.
A case study outlining how one company similar to your own became widely successful just may be the jumping off point for your home based business to do the same
Home based businesses have made millions of people income every year across the world. By implementing time management, marketing and education strategies, you are more poised for home based business success.
I couldn’t resist a blog about this. I have had a smile as big as a Cheshire cat all day.
For those of you who know anything about Rugby (or who even care), one of the biggest “rivalries” in world Rugby is any game (and I mean ANY game) between Wales (Cymru) and its centuries’ old foe, England.
How sweet it was when, today at Twickenham (home of English Rugby), Wales defeated its arch-enemy on its own soil for the first time in 20 years. I couldn’t resist draping my Welsh flag over my front balcony and belting out a few Welsh arias…much to the dismay of my English wife, Karen, and our Pommie next door neighbours! Oh well.
What’s this got to do with small business, I hear you ask? Well, I think it’s a triumph for the little guy and gives hope to all of you small business owners who at times feel that it’s only the “big boys” who succeed.
If it’s possible for a nation with only 3 million people to triumph over it’s big “brother” of 51 million people…small businesses will (and can) survive in just as hostile environment and compete with the big corporates.
Small business success isn’t guaranteed but with the right skills; hard work and focus, anything can be achieved in life and in business.
I’m sure that my family in Wales are all partying and still singing Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau - iechyd da (cheers) & pwb lwc (good luck) to them all.
Cymru am byth!
Most business owners feel like they could work more productively throughout their work day. By implementing strategies to help you work more effectively, your business revenues should improve over time.
Here are 5 tips to help you to work more effectively and productively throughout the day:
Automate Your Systems
Automation is the key for many businesses success. Simple tasks such as responding to a customer’s question or comment can be performed online through an email auto-responder.
You can use an automated phone system to provide customers or potential customers with valuable information instead of spending time on the phone providing the same answers multiple times throughout the day.
Marketing campaigns can be automated and your time management systems can be automated with simple to use software programs.
Wherever you can automate a system, there will be a time and cost saving transformation to your business.
Implement Time Management Strategies
Good time management skills are at the core of any successful business. It is important to consistently identify and remove any time wasters that are present in your day. Common time wasters are reading emails, surfing the internet, taking phone calls throughout your day and an unorganised schedule.
Remove any distractions that you currently have and start each day with a specific plan to complete the most crucial and highest revenue producing activities.
Time management is an active skill that requires constant attention and modification for it to be effective in your business.
For more information on how to prevent those “time-stealers” visit www.secretstobettertimemanagement.com
Outsource
If there are activities that you complete throughout your day that could be performed by someone else, you are costing yourself valuable time and money if you are doing them yourself.
Start outsourcing slowly by choosing administrative tasks that you can delegate to someone else and then eventually you can build systems to continue to outsource work.
To learn more information about how to leverage outsourcing, click here to read one of my latest articles.
Track your Data and Results
Data about your business and its performance is vital to helping you make business decisions on a daily basis. Ensure that you are collecting and reviewing your business data on a daily basis for to facilitate your business’ optimal performance levels.
Organise your Work Space
Your business work space should be organised and uncluttered. If your work area is messy, you will spend valuable time looking for things instead of working on things.
Your desk area should also include the vital tools that you typically need throughout your day to avoid time wasted walking to another side of your home or the office to complete a given task.
Begin with these 5 strategies to help you work more effectively and productively in your business TODAY!
Discover how you can take a control of your time at www.secretstobettertimemangement.com
Debt Affects Everyone
More and more families are saddled with debt nowadays. The average American family is in debt to the tune of $12,000, the average UK family to around £8,800 sans mortgage. Even students are getting affected, with those attending various courses having debts ranging from $8,000 to over $20,000. Businessmen are in no way exempt to the general trend towards indebtedness. However, their debts usually include loans which were taken out for capital or operational expenses.
Five Ways to Deal with Bad Debt
Why does bad debt happen to good people? The answers vary widely. If you’re one of the people saddled with this debt, all is not lost. There are still ways of getting out from under that crushing burden and getting back on track.
1) Take stock of your cash flow. Some entrepreneurs with debt problems don’t know how much they’re spending, sometimes not even how much they’re really earning. The first step towards handling debt is to find out how much money is coming in (your income), and how much is going out (operational expenses, debt servicing, etc.). This information is needed so that you can figure out a) how to make “inflow” greater than “outflow” and b) how much more you need to increase inflow or how much more outflow you need to reduce to make this a reality.
2) Establish certain fiscal guidelines to live by. Establish a maximum amount you can spend, and keep below it. No ifs or buts.
3) Start cutting down on outgoing money. Personally, this means reducing the number of times you go to the mall, brown-bagging lunch to work, commuting instead of driving, halting non-essential expenditures like subscriptions and vanity purchases, etc. For your business, this is streamlining operations so you spend less to achieve the same business ends.
4) Think about restructuring your debt, and if that can help you. You have various options available to you. One is to talk to your creditors and see if they’ll agree to lower your payment rates. This can free up more money per month, at the cost of extending the loan lifetime. Another possible option is to take money from any investments you have, such as an idle property you haven’t found use for yet and use these to pay off your high-interest debts.
You could also consolidate your loans to obtain a lower interest rate and reduce your payments each month. Still another possible debt payment scheme is to snowball your debt, meaning you pay off the smallest debt first, followed by the next-smallest, and so on. This is a way to keep motivated paying debts, as you see those amounts disappear one by one. Take note, if you obtain the services of a credit repair company, you may get a negative mark on your credit history.
5) Discuss your options with an advisor. Look for a reputable one and he or she may be able to help you make your repayments more manageable. Ultimately, though, you’ll have to be the one to follow through with any suggestions the advisor might make.