====================================
Recharging
====================================
Three times in the last 24 hours, I got the message on my cell phone "Alert! Battery is low" and I dutifully plugged it in to the charging cord, 45 minutes later retrieved it and placed it in my pocket never verifying the charge was complete. This morning, when I saw that after charging, it still was giving me the "low-life" message, I investigated and discovered I'd not plugged charger into the outlet. Oops!
This reminds me of how as business owners, we tend to treat the holiday season as a time to do everything to perfection while saying we are "doing" the things that will recharge us. . . well sort of, but not really.
This holiday season, make it a habit to confirm you are getting recharged. Maybe that means, sleeping an extra hour, or minding your nutrition, or just catching some down-time alone or with people you choose. Be proactive and schedule your recharges and verity they worked!
Plugging in to what recharges you will not only lead to a happier holiday now but in January, you won't need a vacation from the holiday.
Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
====================================
Lesson Learned
====================================
I hosted one of my jewelry open houses this week and while I’m grateful for the sales I did make, I made an error in judgment when it comes to marketing. (Tsk! Tsk!) I mailed my mailers out with a week’s advance notice and relied too heavily on email marketing to drum up interest in the open house. While I believe that email marketing works, I didn’t have a relationship built with my clientele through that medium. So here’s the take away for you:
1) mail early! Give people at least two week’s notice for an event (Emily Post would suggest four weeks) and
2) make sure your clients are used to receiving email messages from you because you don’t want your invitation to get eaten by the dog named “spam.” Enjoy your week!
Copyright 2009 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
419.855.3399
Celebrating 10 years of delivering results for our clients.
http://www.rebeccaboothmarketinggoddess.com/
http://www.marketinginabox.biz/
A Free Copy of Think And Grow Rich! The Best-Selling Success Book of All Time http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/ChangingLanes Vic Johnson, wants to give you a free copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill! It is one of my personal favorites and one I give to college granulates. It is one of the few books I reread on a regular basis and still find new thoughts. Think and Grow Rich has been responsible for more self- made success stories than any book I know.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
Listening and Giving
Listening to Your Customers
Even in slow economic times, a business can grow by paying attention to the customers. Listening to your profitable customers and adapting your business to them now, may do more to sustain a business than any mass market appeal. Besides, the masses are not all your ideal customers anyway.
Some people right now need or want your business's product or service, so tell the truth, explain what you will and won't do and realize that some will go away.
This week, ask your customers how you can better serve them. What makes them smile?, What will make their buiness life easier?
Time spent now, will be remembered in the future when customers have more to spend!
Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
Giving to Give
A novel idea for the commercialized world we live in and do business, when every Season's Greetings or Birthday card contains a coupon for a percentage off an order of $20, 50, 100 or more. (It seems we increasingly have to spend just to qualify for discounts that make the deal a perceived value.) So what does Giving to Give mean?
It means get rid of your agenda. Send a Birthday card to your best customer - without your logo on the card - and say . . . wait for it . . . "Happy Birthday! We're glad that we have had the opportunity to be of service to you in the past year and we sure hope it's been a good year for you!"
It means saying what you think you can't. Send your biggest client a Season's Greeting card and tell them "We respect you and value your input over the last year". I guarantee it will go miles beyond the smarmy "Wishing you and yours a . . . fill in the blank".
It's easy if you turn the tables on yourself. You probably have received a card or a gift from a supplier, or maybe your dentist, or even your mechanic, and it was probably branded with their logo and how much they can save you on your next purchase or service, etc. If you can relate to this then I'll bet you a dollar to a donut that you said something like "Yeesh. Why can't they treat me like person instead of a dollar sign!"
When we treat our customers, clients, family and friends like we'd like to be treated, we get amazing results. Practice the Golden Rule in your appreciation and it will show through. If you Give to Get, or give to get something in return, then that will show through too! If you'd rather have your card or gift recipients say "Wow! That was special!" and go on to tell all their friends and family, then let go of the outcome and send them something from the heart.
"For it is in giving that we receive." - St. Francis of Assisi
Copyright 2009 Todd Pillars is an Appreciation Marketer with Send Out Cards.
Contact him today at 419-855-2273, tpillars@gmail.com or visit his website at http://www.sendoutcards.com/tpillars
Links of Interest
A Free Copy of Think And Grow Rich! The Best-Selling Success Book of All Time by Napoleon Hill. http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/ChangingLanes Vic Johnson, wants to give you a free copy. It is one of my personal favorites and one I give to college graduates. Take the opportunity to get one for free!
Even in slow economic times, a business can grow by paying attention to the customers. Listening to your profitable customers and adapting your business to them now, may do more to sustain a business than any mass market appeal. Besides, the masses are not all your ideal customers anyway.
Some people right now need or want your business's product or service, so tell the truth, explain what you will and won't do and realize that some will go away.
This week, ask your customers how you can better serve them. What makes them smile?, What will make their buiness life easier?
Time spent now, will be remembered in the future when customers have more to spend!
Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
Giving to Give
A novel idea for the commercialized world we live in and do business, when every Season's Greetings or Birthday card contains a coupon for a percentage off an order of $20, 50, 100 or more. (It seems we increasingly have to spend just to qualify for discounts that make the deal a perceived value.) So what does Giving to Give mean?
It means get rid of your agenda. Send a Birthday card to your best customer - without your logo on the card - and say . . . wait for it . . . "Happy Birthday! We're glad that we have had the opportunity to be of service to you in the past year and we sure hope it's been a good year for you!"
It means saying what you think you can't. Send your biggest client a Season's Greeting card and tell them "We respect you and value your input over the last year". I guarantee it will go miles beyond the smarmy "Wishing you and yours a . . . fill in the blank".
It's easy if you turn the tables on yourself. You probably have received a card or a gift from a supplier, or maybe your dentist, or even your mechanic, and it was probably branded with their logo and how much they can save you on your next purchase or service, etc. If you can relate to this then I'll bet you a dollar to a donut that you said something like "Yeesh. Why can't they treat me like person instead of a dollar sign!"
When we treat our customers, clients, family and friends like we'd like to be treated, we get amazing results. Practice the Golden Rule in your appreciation and it will show through. If you Give to Get, or give to get something in return, then that will show through too! If you'd rather have your card or gift recipients say "Wow! That was special!" and go on to tell all their friends and family, then let go of the outcome and send them something from the heart.
"For it is in giving that we receive." - St. Francis of Assisi
Copyright 2009 Todd Pillars is an Appreciation Marketer with Send Out Cards.
Contact him today at 419-855-2273, tpillars@gmail.com or visit his website at http://www.sendoutcards.com/tpillars
Links of Interest
A Free Copy of Think And Grow Rich! The Best-Selling Success Book of All Time by Napoleon Hill. http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/ChangingLanes Vic Johnson, wants to give you a free copy. It is one of my personal favorites and one I give to college graduates. Take the opportunity to get one for free!
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
If you haven't read "Think and Grow Rich", check it out for free - no overdue library fees! Just pay shipping. http://ping.fm/tyau4
Monday, November 30, 2009
Lessons Learned & Tax Changes, Again.
"Treat your business like a Fortune 500 Company. Create and implement a process that organizes your company behind the scenes." --Nolan Baker
--------------------------------
Lessons Learned and Relearned
--------------------------------
While working with clients, family and myself (my most difficult client) I am constantly reminded that we all have good ideas that get lost in the daily clutter of life. Usually these ideas are simple, clear, and will make a difference. Just last week, Tim Pinkelman, a great business planner, friend and client, showed me a form he had created years ago for meetings to handle, organize and identify the next step. It was simple, one page, fill in the blanks, check the boxes to organize the activities of a meeting. This is the type of tool that helps the attendee listen instead of taking voluminous notes. A great tool he had rediscovered.
I think we all have those moments of "why am I not doing that anymore?" Mostly, it comes from the day to day stress of getting things done without respect to added value or savings.
So where to start to change this cycle? Well, I will usually say - a plan that is written and goal driven. But today, I want you to be the student as we approach the holiday season and the New Year.
1. Create order in your life. Let Chaos be a theory not applied in your life. Clutter is the zapper of energy; it reminds us of undone projects.
2. Keep is simple. Occam's Razor paraphrased by me is "if all things are equal usually the simplest solution is the best."
3. Find Clarity. Knowing what you want and when you want it are keys to success and happiness.
4. Set goals. Goals need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Think of goals as the GPS of your life - you know you want to get somewhere, right?
This week's quote is from Nolan Baker, a financial planner in the Toledo, Ohio area that has built a practice and grown it in these unique financial times. What the quote eludes to is the need to put systems and processes in place so that the creative juices and energies of your ideas are not lost! Whoa - that sounds like Lean in practice and a way to document what you have learned! Oh yes, he is the cover-boy of the http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/ for November 2009.
While you are getting ready for the holiday season, get your mind in a place that will benefit your dreams for only then will you be of greatness for the rest of us!
Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
-----------------------------------
Tax Changes, Again
----------------------------------
One thing we can be sure about with taxes is they are a constantly moving target. On November 9, President Obama signed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Act of 2009. That Act extended the first-time homebuyer credit for purchases signed before May 1, 2010 and closed before July 1, 2010. The new law also limited the credit to homes costing $800,000 or less and raised the income level to qualify for the credit ($125,000 for individual filers and $225,000 for joint filers).
However, the new law also extended the credit, up to a limit of $6,500, for buyers who have maintained the same principal residence for any five-consecutive year period during the eight-year period ending on the date they buy a new principal residence. So you don't have to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify for the "first-time" homebuyer credit!
Buying a home has always offered tax-saving opportunities. The new law makes these opportunities even more attractive. If you're worried about missing these sorts of "hidden" opportunities, then call today to discuss what we can do. And let your friends, family, and colleagues know that we're here to help them, too!
Tim Pinkelman, CPA
Accounting Center & Tax Services, Inc.
http://www.accounting-centeres.com/
419-882-9255 or 734-847-0400
-------------------------
Links of Interest
--------------------------
A Free Copy of Think And Grow Rich! The Best-Selling Success Book of All Time by Napoleon Hill. http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/ChangingLanes. Vic Johnson, wants to give you a free copy. It is one of my personal favorites and one I give to college graduates. Take the opportunity to get one for free!
-----------------------------------
SMART goals details
-----------------------------------
Does your Business have a Plan? Webinar and Live Classes are available
now with Changing Lanes. Your business can still be the business of your dreams.
December 7, 9, 10 - live webinar. Registration
-----------------------------------
Learn more about Occam's Razor
Have a profitable week.
-----------------------------------
Linda Fayerweather, Editor
Changing Lanes LLC
--------------------------------
Lessons Learned and Relearned
--------------------------------
While working with clients, family and myself (my most difficult client) I am constantly reminded that we all have good ideas that get lost in the daily clutter of life. Usually these ideas are simple, clear, and will make a difference. Just last week, Tim Pinkelman, a great business planner, friend and client, showed me a form he had created years ago for meetings to handle, organize and identify the next step. It was simple, one page, fill in the blanks, check the boxes to organize the activities of a meeting. This is the type of tool that helps the attendee listen instead of taking voluminous notes. A great tool he had rediscovered.
I think we all have those moments of "why am I not doing that anymore?" Mostly, it comes from the day to day stress of getting things done without respect to added value or savings.
So where to start to change this cycle? Well, I will usually say - a plan that is written and goal driven. But today, I want you to be the student as we approach the holiday season and the New Year.
1. Create order in your life. Let Chaos be a theory not applied in your life. Clutter is the zapper of energy; it reminds us of undone projects.
2. Keep is simple. Occam's Razor paraphrased by me is "if all things are equal usually the simplest solution is the best."
3. Find Clarity. Knowing what you want and when you want it are keys to success and happiness.
4. Set goals. Goals need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Think of goals as the GPS of your life - you know you want to get somewhere, right?
This week's quote is from Nolan Baker, a financial planner in the Toledo, Ohio area that has built a practice and grown it in these unique financial times. What the quote eludes to is the need to put systems and processes in place so that the creative juices and energies of your ideas are not lost! Whoa - that sounds like Lean in practice and a way to document what you have learned! Oh yes, he is the cover-boy of the http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/ for November 2009.
While you are getting ready for the holiday season, get your mind in a place that will benefit your dreams for only then will you be of greatness for the rest of us!
Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
-----------------------------------
Tax Changes, Again
----------------------------------
One thing we can be sure about with taxes is they are a constantly moving target. On November 9, President Obama signed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Act of 2009. That Act extended the first-time homebuyer credit for purchases signed before May 1, 2010 and closed before July 1, 2010. The new law also limited the credit to homes costing $800,000 or less and raised the income level to qualify for the credit ($125,000 for individual filers and $225,000 for joint filers).
However, the new law also extended the credit, up to a limit of $6,500, for buyers who have maintained the same principal residence for any five-consecutive year period during the eight-year period ending on the date they buy a new principal residence. So you don't have to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify for the "first-time" homebuyer credit!
Buying a home has always offered tax-saving opportunities. The new law makes these opportunities even more attractive. If you're worried about missing these sorts of "hidden" opportunities, then call today to discuss what we can do. And let your friends, family, and colleagues know that we're here to help them, too!
Tim Pinkelman, CPA
Accounting Center & Tax Services, Inc.
http://www.accounting-centeres.com/
419-882-9255 or 734-847-0400
-------------------------
Links of Interest
--------------------------
A Free Copy of Think And Grow Rich! The Best-Selling Success Book of All Time by Napoleon Hill. http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/ChangingLanes. Vic Johnson, wants to give you a free copy. It is one of my personal favorites and one I give to college graduates. Take the opportunity to get one for free!
-----------------------------------
SMART goals details
-----------------------------------
Does your Business have a Plan? Webinar and Live Classes are available
now with Changing Lanes. Your business can still be the business of your dreams.
December 7, 9, 10 - live webinar. Registration
-----------------------------------
Learn more about Occam's Razor
Have a profitable week.
-----------------------------------
Linda Fayerweather, Editor
Changing Lanes LLC
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