FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Came across this great article today about perfectionism. I see a lot of women in business who hamstring their success by their insistence on making things perfect before moving on. Perfectionism is demoralizing and wastes a lot of time and energy. If that is a path you find yourself walking down, check out this short article then make a commitment to toss perfectionism out the window - focus on getting things done and reward yourself for your victories.

If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviours and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve.”

~ Anthony Robbins, (author and performance expert)

This quote caught my eye because I saw a client today who was struggling with growing her business and she acknowledged that she does not manage her time efficiently. She allowed herself to get so busy doing stuff in her business that she did not raise her head above the desk to see what else needed to be done to accomplish her goals. Now at the end of the year, she is beating up on herself for not accomplishing what she wanted to. My suggestion to her for success in 2008 was rather than read another book on time management or effective goal-setting, she instead focus on building self-discipline. Set specific times for handling email and only look at it during those times. Return all phone messages within 24 hours, mark off time in her calendar for business development activities, and commit to attend a set number of networking events every month. And then stick to these standards, no matter what. No excuses, no procrastination – just understand that this is what you expect yourself to do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Make it a habit, like brushing your teeth. Setting a strong baseline standard for yourself is a good way to reduce your stress because you focus on what is most important to you to achieve what you want. Get rid of the time wasters and go for what you want.

The latest edition of Make It Business just came out and the whole issue is devoted to retail success, including great articles on how smaller retailers can be successful.

My column points out 3 common mistakes I see retailers, large and small, commit often.

1. Making a poor first impression with customers – people make up their mind in 8 seconds about whether they will spend money in your store.
2. Believing that you just hang out your shingle and they will come – great merchandise is not enough; you need to build visibility.
3. Put all your focus on attracting new customers and ignore existing ones.

Click to read the whole article.

One of the biggest challenges facing small business owners is getting PR. In fact, it is such a daunting task that many of them don’t even try. They figure they will just wait until they have a budget big enough to hire a PR consultant. I recently came across a great eBook “PR in Your Pajamas”- written by Elena Verlee, a business coach and PR expert. Although the book is promoted as ‘practical publicity for the time-strapped, cash crunched mom entrepreneur’, this practical guide is a good read for any business owner. Her no-nonsense approach to PR provides valuable advice including practical tips for building a media contact list and 10 key questions you need to ask a reporter. My favourite section of the book is “The Art of Following Up” where she gives specific tips for how to follow up with a reporter without becoming a stalker or sounding like an idiot they would never want to interview! Filled with great quotes from media people and other business owners, this book will definitely jumpstart a few PR ideas for you.