Don’t keep postponing the unpleasant stuff

I just got off the phone with a client who is in hot water because they kept postponing dealing with a tax issue.  It wasn’t that big a deal 6 months ago, but it is now a crisis.  And their justification – “I hate dealing with this tax stuff!”  Really?  Hands up out there, all of you who LOVE dealing with tax stuff.

Into every life comes those tasks that are unpleasant and IMPORTANT.   Just because you don’t like doing them doesn’t mean you should postpone them indefinitely.   By doing that, they often grow in size and become big issues with serious consequences attached if not dealt with.  But even more importantly, don’t you get sick of that nagging voice in your head that keeps reminding you that you need to deal with that issue?

To me that’s even worse than simply sitting down and taking care of that unpleasant important task.  Then it’s over and I can get my peace of mind back.

Not All Prospects Are Worth It!

One of the biggest dust bunnies I see in business is hanging onto prospects for too long. A lot of us HATE prospecting – you know who you are!

For a variety of reasons you have decided that prospecting is a horrible task, so you grudgingly find a few prospects or perhaps they stumble across you. However it happens, you hang onto those prospects forever, waiting for them to buy. Because as long as you are focused on waiting for an answer from them, you do not have to find other prospects. Because if you do, and they all buy from you, how will you ever manage all that new business? (I actually had a business owner say that to me.)

STOP! To survive in business today, you must get rid of the clutter of old prospects who are hanging around tying up your time and energy. For every old one you hang onto, you are missing the opportunity to find a customer that is likely to buy from you. Show me a business owner who is not making money and I will show you someone who is doing very little prospecting. Dust off that prospect list – clean off those prospects who are dragging their feet on buying. Focus your time and energy on finding ones who will.

Are You Busy or Productive?

I have come to realize that time management can make or break the success of a business. When is busy being productive? The trap I see for entrepreneurs is that productivity creates administrative busyness. It is easy to fill time by looking after the administrative duties of a business; that’s why many hard working people watch as their incomes drop.

A simple approach to evaluating the productivity of your work is to list your business related activities over the period of a week. If administrative tasks take up more than 20% of your time, these should be delegated to an assistant. The value of your hired help can be calculated by figuring your own hourly wage when you do only what is productive. Look at where your time is most valuable and aim to delegate out all the other daily tasks that just need to get done.  Don’t get busy, get productive.

A Year for Improved Productivity

This year, I’ve decided to do business differently – I’m pledging to cut down my stress level, if not cut stress completely out of my life! To achieve this, I’m going to be (more) productive.

Here are a few of the things I’m going to do:

1) Rate my daily activities as high, medium, or low in the realm of brainpower. This gives me a good sense of what needs to be done in the morning, when I am most productive. I also figured out what hours of the day I work most effectively, and will schedule the “high brainpower” activities for that time.

2) When energy runs out, take it as it is. I’ve decided that when I’m not feeling 100%, I’ll take a quick 15 minute time out or break to rejuvenate myself, rather than slogging through activities. I’ll return to my work refreshed and ready to hit the ground running!

3) Create boundaries. I have set time for business and non-business. Last year I let these two bleed into each other. My goal is to stay disciplined – turn off the phone and computer during non-business time.

4) Touch things once. Rather than read an email and then go back to answer it a few hours later, I’ve decided to implement a rule whereby if I read an email, then I’ll respond right away and get it done rather than waste my time later by re-reading it.

What are you doing to make your year more effective? I’m always up for suggestions!

The Rule of Once

Being effective at sales requires that you be an excellent manager of your time. It means you make your work hours really count. And you can only do this by handling things once. Yes – once. I am talking about paper, voicemail, and email. Taking time to read, look or listen to things more than once is lost time. This really hit home for me when I read “The Ultimate Sales Machine” by Chet Holmes. He states: “If you spend just 15 minutes per day to reread documents or emails, you will waste 97 hours per year where no action is taken.”

Are you kidding me? What could you accomplish with an extra 97 hours a year? So get rid of the clutter and bad habits you are hoarding. Starting today, implement a new rule: If you touch it, take action. Don’t read that email or listen to that voicemail unless you are ready to tackle it. Yes, this will be hard to do in the beginning, but for my clients who have implemented it, they have seen a real jump in profitability and they find they have more free time. So I dare you to try it! Drop me a line and let me know what happens.

How Long Will Your Goals Last?

What I love about this time of year is that everyone is so positive.  We’re all making goals, thinking big and dreaming of the year to come.  But now, in the second week of the New Year, are your goals just as strong and alive as they were on January 1st?  I came across a great tool on Flying Solo, it is a one page strategic plan, with a template and instructions to fill it out.  Since this strategic plan is only one page, it is quick to fill out and easy to keep on a wall or in a day planner.  To meet your 2010 goals, fill out this template, revise it on a monthly basis and read it every day for inspiration and drive.  You can download the template here.

To Grow Your Dream, Lead Your Team

One of the most difficult changes for a business owner is shifting from being part of the team to the CEO and managing the team. Five years ago, Karen Engelage launched Beauty Solutions, a wholesale beauty supply company. Karen has seen her dream grow from a virtual office to a seven-figure company with a warehouse, showroom, training facility, customer service staff and a sales team. But Karen admits that her business growth stagnated for a while when she was trying to do everything herself – selling, accounting, shipping, customer service and administration. Read my latest Make it Business article for full details on how to successful make the move from being part of the team to managing the team.

Are You a Serial Entrepreneur?

I love this article in Entrepreneur Magazine that discusses serial entrepreneurs.  This type of entrepreneur is one who continuously builds businesses.  What does it take for an entrepreneur to become a ’serial entrepreneur’?

The article notes that a ’serial entrepreneur’ is able to move from business to business by keeping emotions out of work; fear, greed, and anger cannot be part of a ’serial entrepreneur’s’ mindset, work has to be solely based on logic.  This message concerning emotions is an important one for every entrepreneur, serial or not.  Work done logically rather than based on fear and greed, will help you to sell your business and move on to the next opportunity, as well as pick up after any loss in business.

Stay in Control!

Many entrepreneurs end up feeling like the business runs them, rather than the other way around. Here’s 5 tips to put in play to get that control back.

1. Keep focused on your most profitable business. The 80/20 Rule really does apply in business. As an entrepreneur there are a million calls on your time and energy. You cannot possibly do it all. Do you know which customers or products are your most profitable? Keeping them happy should be your primary focus.

2. Celebrate your successes. Take a moment at the end of every day to review what you have accomplished. Celebrate your victories, especially the small ones. Too many of us never take the time to recognize what we have accomplished – we’re too focused on all the stuff still left on the to-do list.

3. Just touch stuff once. Don’t re-read emails or documents a dozen times; don’t listen to voicemails partially and skip over them. Most of us can end up wasting up to an hour every day handling the same stuff over and over. Make yourself a new rule that you only pick up an email or piece of paper or listen to a voicemail if you have time to take action right then. Otherwise leave it till you do have time.

4. Work less hard. There will always be more stuff to do as a business owner – the pile never goes away! And you always have tomorrow to tackle that next thing. Life passes quickly. Go home at a decent hour every day and spend time with those you love.

5. Recharge yourself. You don’t try to run your car without gas, so why do it to yourself? You are the most valuable asset your business has, so make sure you take time to recharge. Find a hobby, an activity that gets you to unplug totally, so you are not thinking about work. Recharge yourself on a regular basis and you’ll be surprised at how creative and refreshed you will be when you are at work.

Preparing for the Big Day: Christmas

This is always the busiest time of year.  I am constantly watching clients squeeze 30 days worth of work into 25 days so they can have 5 days to spend with family and away from the office.  This maneuvering comes with careful planning.  How are you preparing early so you have time off during the holidays?  Here are a few things that I’m planning to do:

1. Schedule blogs: although you may not plan on spending your holiday writing blogs, your readers may like to stay in the habit of reading your ramblings.  To keep everyone happy, you can pre-write your posts and schedule them.  To make it fun, write some posts about Christmas!
2. If you are going to be too busy for tweeting, you can schedule some tweets as well.  Although twitter is all about social networking, I think it is okay if you schedule a few holiday tweets.
3. Do you plan on replying to emails over the holiday?  If not, think about putting an auto-responder on your email to notify clients and associates of your absence and when you will return.
4. Have you sent out all your Christmas cards?  Sending out Christmas cards to valued clients, and those that you hope to attract, can serve as an effective marketing ploy.

What are you doing to prepare for Christmas?  I’d love to hear your suggestions!