Archive for December, 2008

A New Practice for 2009

I am spending New Year’s Eve on beautiful Saltspring Island and as I contemplate the year that is past and the year that is to come, my mind keeps being drawn back to a project launched by Deepak Chopra that I read about this week.

Called The Vow, Deepak is calling on people to take a vow of non-violence in their thoughts, speech and actions.  I think this is a very powerful tool.  It got me thinking about all the ways I see my female clients and friends practice violence on themselves with their own thoughts and speech:

  •   They hold themselves to a state of perfectionism which is unrealistic and creates a ton of stress and anxiety within them.     
  •   Not eating ice cream or chocolate “because it will go straight to my hips”.
  •   Not acknowledging their successes  - instead they always focus on all the stuff they have not finished doing yet.  
  •  Pointing out the mistakes they made, instead of taking credit for a job well done or giving all the credit to other people.
  •  Not taking time out to recharge, refresh or look after yourself.

All of these things are a form of self-violence.  They stifle enjoyment of life, pride in one’ s accomplishments and send out a message that “you’re not quite good enough yet.  Keep working harder.”

So I say enough.  Go and take the vow and then loosen up on yourself in 2009.   Send me your stories throughout the year and let me know how it turns out!

Posted December 31st, 2008   |   in   Business Coaching   |   No comments

What do you need to build a successful franchise?

Several clients lately are considering franchising their business model so I wandered over to have coffee with the experts, Katryn Harris and Jeff Baker, at Open Box Integration.

They have worked with several companies who now have successful franchise models and my question was simple:  What 3 things have to be in place for a franchise to be successful?  And here’s what they said:

  • Rapid growth (or planned rapid growth) of the franchise
  • Local management support of the franchise (=brand quality)
  • High quality systems/back end that allows you to organize operations efficiently and track revenues and profitability
Katryn and Jeff have seen a number of franchises limp along or fail because their systems couldn’t provide the information and support franchisees needed to be successful.  ”The system you put in place for your franchise is the engine that drives your growth.  It is the difference between selling 2 or 3 franchises and selling 20 or 30.”

Posted December 18th, 2008   |   in   Sales   |   No comments

How to Make Your Company Blog Effective

More and more businesses are launching blogs out there.  This week I read a great article by Mack Collier at MarketingProfs (the latest business resource I have on my daily read list) on the Ten Elements Every Company Blog Should Have.

My favourite two elements?  

  • Have a strategy for your blog.  What do you want it to accomplish for your business?  Don’t just throw it up there.  Have a direction and focus for your postings.
  • Post between 2 and 5 times per week.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are usually the best days for traffic, so schedule posts to run these days, usually around 10am-noon.

Read about the other 8 elements you need here.

Posted December 12th, 2008   |   in   Business Coaching   |   No comments

No, but thanks for asking!

I am seeing a lot of clients this month overwhelmed by the responsibility of doing all their usual stuff plus meeting all the Christmas expectations.  And I found myself asking the question:  Why don’t we all just say no more often?  

The universe must have been listening as I just received the latest newsletter from my friend, Emma-Louise Elsey at Simplicity Life Coaching and the December topic is all about saying NO.  

Here’s what she has to say:

Women seem to have a harder time saying “No” than men. I think we worry more about hurting other’s feelings and what others think of us.  But when anyone says “Yes” and would rather say “No” what we’re really saying is, “Your needs are more important than mine”.

So, next time, ask yourself “Whose needs am I meeting by doing …… – mine or theirs?” Then simply say: “No, but thanks for asking.

Great advice – so my challenge to you this week?  Say no to something that you really don’t want to do. And then go ahead and do something you really want to do!

 

 

Find the joy and let go of the struggle!

Posted December 10th, 2008   |   in   Business Coaching   |   No comments

Web PR Gives Big Bang for Small Bucks

I just wrote an article in the latest issue of Make It Business on using Web PR to build visibility for your business.  In these economic times, you want to be looking at getting a big bang for your marketing and PR dollars.  I interviewed the experts at Soya Marketing so read the article to find out how you can use the web in low cost ways to drive your sales.

Posted December 03rd, 2008   |   in   Business Development   |   No comments