Archive for the ‘Business planning’ Category

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

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

No one likes being pitched to all the time? How do you feel about telemarketers calling to sell you a new service? What about your neighbor who talks about how great he is all the time?  If you are like most people, you are turned off by these behaviours.  The same is true for social media!

• Friends, Connections and Followers are People Too!

Value their time just as you value yours. Just because they are on Twitter does not mean they are right for your target market or that you are for them.  You will have much greater success connecting with like minded people.
If someone adds you to their network, check them out. Is there a relevant reason they may be interested in you and your business? Check out their profile.  Many people have a rule that they do not follow anyone who doesn’t include a photo in their profile.  Over time, you’ll have to set some boundaries about who you follow and who you let follow you.  These boundaries will allow you to form greater, more meaningful connections with those you want to do business with.
For instance, if your business is centered around creating products that help parents keep their kids away from non-kid friendly sites online, then you obviously don’t want to be talking with (or associated with for that matter) someone who owns an adult-only website. Yes, that’s a bit extreme, but you get the point. You really should pay attention to (or hire someone who can monitor) who follows you and who you follow in return.

• Social Media is about connections NOT sales.

One of the surest ways, short of posting completely inappropriate content, to lose all credibility is to use your social media for selling yourself and your services exclusively.  No one wants to be chased at a store by a sales clerk any more than they want to follow someone who is constantly selling something.  It is okay to tell people about your products and services but this has to be a part of your interaction, not your only interaction.

• Having unrealistic expectations

Please don’t expect that you are going to create a new account, start posting great content and immediately see your sales and traffic increase.  It will happen, but it takes some time and effort. One of the amazing things about social media is that your efforts are multiplied over and over when people who you are connecting with share your content.  Social media is very powerful and can and will benefit your business, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will a list of thousands of followers all ready to purchase from you. Based on my experience with more than 50 clients, you can expect to take 3 to 6 months to build a presence which you can then use to build your business.

• Letting your social media involvement become a time drain

It is easy to lose track of time with your social media networks and unless you keep on task, it can become a time waster.  You need to learn how to make it work efficiently; read about how to do this here.
There is no right or wrong way to work social media into your schedule, but it is essential to find a system that works for you.  Be aware of your time and make plans on how and when to use social media to help market your business.

Hopefully these 4 tips will help you stay on track with your social media marketing.  Feel free to ask us how we can help on our facebook page, or simply post a comment here – We’d love to hear some of your tips and pitfalls to avoid.

Technorati Tags: efficient business, office organization

Do you often attend in-person or ‘Live’ events? Seminars or training events, even meetups – whether local or requiring travel – can be a great way to learn and network with other business individuals. Referrals, contacts and even friendships can develop at events and seminars. After each event you’ll want to take a breath. But, don’t breathe too long. There is work to be done that mustn’t wait. Seize the day!

The tendency is to think about the exciting things you learned and the people you met – for a while. After a week, you seem to lose your enthusiasm and settle back into life before the event. That is the last thing you want to do especially where your business is concerned.

Now, is the time to cement that lasting impression that you believe you made on the people you met at the seminar. Don’t let a moment go by, from the time you get home, that you are not harnessing the power of that meeting. Besides you know yourself that out of sight truly does mean out of mind if there is no contact for a while.

Here are a few tips to help you get the ball rolling on that pocket full of business cards, that camera full of pictures and that briefcase (or tote) full of helpful handouts and resources.

1. Create a new plan. Now that your head is swimming with ideas, take out that handy notebook and look at what you’ve jotted down. If you have been putting off a new program or service for one reason or another, this may be the perfect time to get going. Find out a new way to streamline the process and create a plan to get the ball rolling right now.
2. Email your new colleagues. Each business card in your hand should contain the website and email address of the one who handed it to you. Contact each person individually and tell them what a great time you had meeting them. To give them a mental picture of you, include your picture at the end of the email. What will impress them is if you can recount one tidbit from your conversation with them and include it also.
3. Get involved in online social networking. Find your new connections on all the social networks: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Invite them to be friends or followers (depending on the site) so you can keep in contact.
4. Blog about the experience. Get your readers interested in the event happenings. Share your experiences and any new business takeaway advice you received.
5. Develop new products. Talk about leveraging! You can turn that one seminar presentation into a wealth of digital products. Create an e-course on your topic. Use the handouts as filler for your monthly newsletter, content for your site or new topics for video media. Those brainstorming techniques you developed at the event will come in handy now.

What did you learn at your last live event? Did you do anything with the knowledge? Hopefully you did. If not, use these five tips to reawaken the enthusiasm and create new action items.

Technorati Tags: events, seminars, Social Media, social networking, training seminars

I recently read a great blog post by a fellow name Bob Jenkins – also known as the Bob the Teacher.  He tells a great story on why you should never rent office space from an employee and how it relates to hiring a web designer or webmaster and how they setup access to your domain name and webhosting account.

You can tell from the comments how many people have had issues of the same sort and how it affected them.  And then there is the other side from webmasters and why they have this preference.

All good points, however based on personal experience I am one who recommends and prefers when working for clients that accounts get opened and setup in their name, not mine. In most cases you can add admin access as well.

Working as a virtual assistant for my clients entails a lot of trust because it requires in most cases to have password access to a myriad of their accounts. This is the norm; access to email, social media, newsletter system, website, blog and many more….however, when our contract is complete or the client and I decide to part ways I always recommend they also go and change their passwords and any assigned admin access.  This can be a royal pain for the client, but really it is for their protection as well as mine (*Tip* I use Roboform to store and update my passwords – saves tons of time).

As Bob mentioned in his blog post, having password access is the same as having the key and alarm code to your brick and mortar store.  If someone is no longer working there – would you allow them to keep a key to come and go when they please?  Not likely. Too much is at stake – your business name, reputation not to mention the contents in the store. The same goes for your website and other accounts they have access to; your business name is your domain name, your reputation and contents of your store are dependent upon the content on your webpages, your newsletter has content and even access to email all your contacts.  These are all part of your online store and should be treated with the same respect for security.

This is not meant to say that your virtual assistant or anyone else hired to work for you, anyone with password access – will go and ruin your reputation at any chance;  it is meant to make you realize that having access is a risk. A risk you need to take seriously and protect as you would the key to your store.

When starting out, start right and have control of the online parts of your business that you will ultimately need to have ownership and control of.  If your accounts are not setup in your name then now is the time to question the setup and change it – while you are still working with the other party.

Technorati Tags: office organization, outsourcing, password security, virtual assistant