Kathy's family at the Beach

This week, I returned from two weeks away on vacation.  We had a fabulous time in New England at Old Orchard Beach and I was able to check some emails and do a bit of needed work, but my preparations before I left and my team support while gone really made it easy to be away from the office.

Of course we returned at a very busy time – not only is it the end of the month (books and billing due), but the kids are still home and needed a few more things before starting school on Sept 2nd AND add to this one of the worst heat waves I have ever experienced in Nova Scotia.

Today the temps got up near 34 C (about 88 F) and with our lovely maritime humidity it felt like 41 C (104 F).  I am not very good with high temperatures like this – not at all.  So my productivity this week has been less than my norm and that only adds to the cranky-i-ness.

We are all human and have issues at times.  Today mine was the heat. Oh, the horrible heat of the last few days.  Earlier this summer I told my husband (during another mini heat wave) that I had had enough and was going to buy a portable air conditioner for my office.  Of course, it was a hard sell, that type of purchase, when in all honesty I might only need it a few weeks (even days) every year. Yet the arguments against it were coming from someone who works day in and out in a nicely air conditioned office building.  So we decided it was not something we would pursue.

Yesterday, however, was my breaking point. We all have them, and mine was when I started sweating in places I did not know that it was possible to do. The kids were all cranky and hot, I was cranky and hot and nothing (not even a quick trip down the road to the neighbourhood beach) could keep my mind off the uncomfortableness of it all. Needless to say I was not very productive at all.  I even tried working late at night, but the heat just wouldn’t go away.

As a small business owner, my work is the business and if I cannot work then not too much gets done. And this heat wave is to continue until Friday night when we will probably get hit by Hurricane Earl.

This morning when I got up at 7 and the day was already stifling, I made my executive decision. Right after walking the dog, and checking some online availability, I headed out – telling the kids I would be back in while.

I went right to my local Canadian Tire store (think Lowe’s, but even better) and found what I was after – the tool to make me a productivity machine!   I also got the extra materials I needed to rig up something to make it work properly and back home I went to spend the next 3 hours on setup.  (Or should I say sweat up)

The end result was absolutely what I needed.  Sometimes you just have to go for it and take the steps needed to make everything work properly.  And that is exactly what I did.  I took a picture and emailed it to my husband at his work.  His response?

“You look happier in this picture than you did on our wedding day.” (Absolutely not true, but I was pretty happy).

You can see for yourself my level of happiness!

The lesson for other Work at Home and Small Business Owners – Staying productive is Key.  Always be looking to implement systems or use tools that will help run your business efficiently and keep you productive. And, these tools/systems may not always be standard to everyone.

PS. Hubby was quite okay in the end with my purchase – partly because by the time he made it home from work, the humidex was setting records all over the province and neighbouring ones as well.  My task for tomorrow?  Figuring out how to keep everyone from crowding in my office to stay cool! :-)

Technorati Tags: efficient business, home office, productive at work, productivity, Small business

Everyone wants to bring in more traffic to their website.  A simple way is though other blogs -  making comments on other blogs,  especially those in your niche.

How does this work?

Commenting gives you backlinks to your site. Backlinks are incoming links to a website or web page. Most blogsites have you enter your name, email and website link to post a comment, this allows other readers to click on your name and link and they will be directed to your website. Backlinks can also help your own SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Your ranking in search engines is increased with the more backlinks to your site. Better rankings, means better chances of being found in an internet search.

Making these comments also allows you to showcase your expertise on the topic to others reading the blog and comments.  It offers and opportunity to get exposed you to an audience you may not otherwise have a connection to.

Choose wisely when picking what blogs to comment on.  Go for a niche connected to your type of business and choose well ranked and respected sites. Making comments on sites like this means your name and backlink will also be published within another high ranking website.  This helps your own online visibility. Finding blogs can be as easy as following main ones in your niche or setting up Google alerts for specific terms and watching for good blogs to comment on from these alert results.

In most cases the first person to comment will get the most clicks to their site. People tend to follow on the first few then the most valuable… so make it a good comment and one that people will remember.

For your own blog you should encourage readers to engage and post comments on your posts, and when they do; reply and acknowledge that they took the time to:

1. Read your post
2. Make a comment

Their comments are also an opportunity for you to go deeper when providing an answer – help them out by providing links to your services or products. Take what you posted in the blog and based on what their comment is, go into more detail to help them.  Taking the time to do this will build your reputation and someone who is willing top lend a hand and go one step further when people ask questions. This helps build that KLT factor – Know, Like and Trust – so that people can visibly see why people do business with you and want to do the same.

Always have the option for blog readers to get blog updates via email or an RSS reader.  If they can sign up it means they get an email every time you publish a new blog post, creating an opportunity for them to directly read your blog and make a comment.

How often do you look for other blogs to comment on?  Is it a regular task you schedule in your weekly work – or simply a chance happening?

Here’s a challenge:

1. Do a Google search on your name and see how many results are online.
2. Setup a blog commenting time regularly over the next month.
3. After the month is up, check your name search again and look at the results.  Is there an increase in hits on your name?

I started this practice in late 2008, at that time there were about 1400 search results for my name (and they tend to all be me *benefits of a unique last name*).  If I do a search today there are over 32,000 results.  Yes all the social media content I do helps, but the blog commenting does as well.

Technorati Tags: blogging for business, increase website traffic, Small business

What do emergency room physicians, airline pilots, and kindergarten classes all have in common? They all use checklists to make sure they’re doing the right things at the right time. While they’re not sexy or fashionable, checklists are the backbone of many a successful business. Here are some ways checklists can help entrepreneurs keep their businesses running smoothly and productively:

• Checklists provide a guideline for outsourcing or delegating.
  Want to outsource slideshow creation to a contractor? Send them the details with your “slideshow creation” checklist, and they’ll know exactly what you want them to do, in order.
• Checklists make it easy to replicate best practices.
  Once you’ve pinpointed the exact way to create killer sales pages, you can document that and do it over and over again. Brilliance!
• Checklists save time by eliminating the “what’s next?” stage.
  You know when you finish one thing and have to stop and think, “What the do I do next?” Or “What did I forget?” Well, with a good checklist you won’t have to do that anymore. You’ll know.
• Checklists ensure that everyone is on the same page.
  When you’re collaborating with partners, assistants or virtual assistants, it’s easy to lose sight of who’s responsible for what and when. Checklists make it easy to assign tasks and remind yourself the proper order of execution.

Not all checklists are created equal, though. Research has shown there are a few key ingredients for making good checklists:

1. Keep it to one page. Longer checklists are intimidating and make it easy for people to get lost. Or they’ll avoid using the checklist because it’s just too darned long.
2. Be specific. Especially if you’re outsourcing or delegating, you have to leave no room for ambiguity.
3. Test it out. Once you’ve created what you think is a great checklist, give it a go. See if you’ve left anything out or put too much in. Then refine it and test it again.
4. Have someone else test it. Of course, you know what you mean by “add graphic to web page,” but will someone else? Give it to someone else to test and see what they come up with, where they get stuck, and what works well.
5. Use it! Checklists don’t do any good if they’re languishing on your hard drive. Use them – and if you find yourself NOT using them, ask why. Is it too complex? Too self-explanatory? Too simple? Then use that information to create a better checklist.

While checklists won’t solve all of your productivity issues, they are a fantastic way to simplify complex information and provide guidance for outsourcing. They can be a bit time-intensive to create, but the time that you’ll save on the back end will be well worth the effort.

Technorati Tags: efficient business, Time Management, virtual assistant

There is nothing like attending networking events – whether regular ones or special events. Sometime you may not be as keen to go, especially if you are presenting for the first time.  Standing in front of all of those people has great advantages.  So put your best foot forward and reap the benefits.

Someone may ask you to speak at a bigger and live event or networking event. Maybe you have done small sessions at your own networking meetings and it was a thrill because you were networking and getting your name out there. Also, someone wanted YOU. Your marketing has paid off in big ways and involving yourself in these activities increases your credibility and expert status.

Now, you are going to take part in a live event where you will actually stand face-to-face with those in the audience, it can be nerve-wracking as well as exhilarating.

Take a deep breath and get ready. You want to shine and the only way to do that is to prepare.

Know the main focus of the event

Share with the group in the session your knowledge and expertise based on what the event is trying to highlight. If it is geared towards a niche then feel free to discuss how you got into your niche, what marketing techniques you use and new ways to expand the niche.

Know the other presenters

Some of them may be sitting in your audience. If they are more seasoned than you, prepare a few questions for them about how they stay calm and at ease before a presentation.

Practice a lot

There is no substitute for this one. The way to avoid those dead silent moments when it seems that all your thoughts fly away is to get up and go over your speech many times. This is also how you prepare to deliver well-timed jokes. The more practice you get in, the more comfortable you will feel going off script when the inspiration hits you.

Have materials in place

The audience will want handouts. Prepare something eye-catching as well as informative for them to read and hang on to. You can create a packet of material including your business card and other pertinent information about how to reach you. Don’t forget to place a sign-up sheet at the door so you can contact them later.

Present your products

Don’t forget to bring along some freebies and priced products so that as soon as the presentation is over, they can get everything they need right away. One tip though, don’t make your presentation a pitch fest. You’ll do better if you remember that it’s about the giving of information and the helping. The rest will happen naturally.
When you take center stage, make sure you TAKE CENTER STAGE and Shine! Use your presentation as a platform for gaining new business partners, new customers and more sales.

Speaking at an event can do lots for your business – whether a live event or even as I have done sometimes with an online event.  Have you been a speaker before?  Any other advice to pass along?  Please share your tips.

Technorati Tags: event, live events, speaking tips

I really enjoyed reading the book, Write It Down Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It by Henriette M. Klauser, Ph.D. The premise of the book is simple: By writing down your goals and desires, you are much more likely to make those dreams a reality.

How much more likely? Research shows that people who write down their goals are about twice as likely to achieve them as those who do not. And if you count those who write down their goals but don’t quite meet them, they still get a lot closer than they would have if they hadn’t written them down in the first place. Therefore, you can see the strong case for committing to your goals in writing.

This research is true in long-term goals like building your dream house or traveling the world  – but what does all of this have to do with daily To-Do lists? Well, what is a To-Do list but a list of goals for the day? That means by writing your daily goals list on paper, you’re more than twice as likely to make significant process towards checking those items off than if you just try to fly by the seat of your pants. Here are some tips to help you create do-able, effective To-Do lists:

1.    Make it reasonable

We’re all too familiar with the endless To-Do list, the one with dozens of items, more than you could accomplish in a week, let alone a day. While writing every single thing you have to do down on a list may make you feel like you’re getting your life under control, it’s actually counterproductive (when I got married I had the most complete To-Do list ever…3:45pm use washroom was one of the items!!!). Not only will critical tasks get lost in the muddle, you can become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of things you have to accomplish. It may be more attractive to just take a nap!

2.    Make it specific

One of the biggest problems with To-Do lists is that people write down projects versus tasks. Anything that goes on your list should be something you can actually accomplish, such as “Call Jane about website launch plans,” instead of “Launch Website.” If you write down projects instead of tasks, you can’t ever cross them off – they just sit on your list and migrate from one day to the next which is obviously very frustrating. On the other hand, basic psychology teaches that rewards make us want to do an activity more – so every time we check off an item on our list, it motivates us to do more. You can only do that if the items are small enough to check off. However…

3.    Make it important

I’ve been tempted to write down things on my list just so I can cross them off (sad, I know ;-). While this gives you a little momentary boost, it doesn’t do much to move you closer to your goals. So before something makes it onto your list, ask yourself if it’s critical to the completion of your goals. If not, don’t even write it down. (Trust me, you will remember to “eat lunch” even if you don’t have it on your daily list!)

When used correctly, To-Do lists are powerful tools that can help you to accomplish more in less time. By “respecting the list” and following these three tips, you’ll have a daily To-Do list that will harness your energy and help you blast closer toward your biggest goals.

Have you any other tips to complete your To-Do lists?

Please post your tip here before Sunday July 18th at 11:59pm and you can WIN a PRIZE!

I will do a random draw (on July 19th from the comments that give a tip on completing a To-Do list and send the winner a copy of my eBook – Talking on Twitter.  In this you will find a schedule and to-do list to follow that will help you stay on track when using twitter.

Technorati Tags: efficient business, office organization, Time Management