Making a To-Do-List that MIGHT work for you.
Many people each Monday morning make a To-Do-List that will follow them around during the week like a whiney kid you want to ignore. Often the problem with a list is it mixes goals, projects and tasks. So, here are my definitions to start with - feel free to tweak to meet your needs.
Goal: Time sensitive, realistic, graph able, and usually a big picture item - i.e. achieve 10% increase in new business during 2010.
Project: This will support a goal (don't do it please, if it doesn't help you get to your goals). A project usually will have a shorter time-line than a goal and will have a clearly defined deadline. i.e. Get a $15,000 line of credit (LOC) needed to do the marketing campaign to get the 10% increase in new business.
Tasks: Tasks are always very specific. The should be actionable and simple. Also, each task should be the next strategic action to support a goal or project. If it goes on the list, it should start with a verb and be a one step action. i.e. Call Sam at Bank of Lotsamoney about LOC.
With that said, the only thing that is added to a To-Do-List are TASKS! That alone should save you huge amounts of time.
Keeping track - some people love a physical paper list they can cross off with flourish, others; computer tracking. Whatever you chose, it needs to be managed daily. If something stays on your active list for more than two weeks, it either needs to be re-dated; removed; re-evaluated or maybe deleted. Things left on a list too long become part of the background noise and in my world lead to the ignoring of the list altogether because we have allowed to the list to become the whiny child!
Digital ideas:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ free for simple version
ZenBe Lists - http://itunes.apple.com/ store $2.99
Outlook - Microsoft software $109.00 http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/outlook
Google Calendar - free www.google.com/calendar
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
Oil Slicks and Business
Open any newspaper or turn on any television news program and you'll see how the oil from a blown well in the Gulf of Mexico is drifting towards beaches and marshlands. Gulf residents feel helpless in the face of the growing slick. Federal authorities have spread miles of booms to contain it, dropped "surfactants" to break it up, and even lit portions on fire to disperse it in the atmosphere. But beaches and fisheries have already closed, and some economists estimate the disaster's cost will total billions.
Tax increases can be like oil slicks too. Why? Because you can see them drifting towards you from miles away!
We already know that taxes are rising on January 1, 2011. That's because tax cuts passed during the Bush administration automatically expire unless Washington renews them. Now comes word that last month, the Congressional Budget Committee passed a fiscal 2011 budget resolution calling for elimination of the preferential rate on dividends. Plus, the recently-passed health care reform act adds a new 3.8% Medicare tax on "investment income" for families earning over $250,000 per year.
Fortunately, like federal authorities fighting the oil slick, you have your own tax "booms" and "surfactants" to head off the tax creep. For example, you can hold dividend-paying stocks in tax-sheltered umbrellas like IRAs and qualified plans.
Proactive planning is the key to minimizing damage when oil wells leak. It may be too late for miles of threatened coastland. But proactive planning is the key to minimizing damage from tax changes. It is not "too late" to protect yourself from coming tax hikes. Are you ready for a tax "disaster" plan of your own? Give us a call.
Tim Pinkelman, CPA
Accounting Center & Tax Services, Inc.
419-882-9255 or 734-847-0400
http://www.accounting-centers.com/
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS
Hocus Pocus Time to Focus
As a kid, I loved the words "hocus pocus" when I would play with my magic wand that never worked like Harry Potter's did. Some quick research on the etymology of the words, reveal they don't go back to Latin and the Catholic Church. Hocus pocus started appearing in the early seventeenth century in several plays and William Vincent titled his 1694 book of conjuring, "Hocus Pocus Junior, The Anatomy of Legerdemain".
Enough with the history, besides, what does this have to do with business? Any business that has multiple jobs for each employee faces this problem of FOCUS. In the Human Resource (HR) world, when a company reaches about 150 full-time-equivalent employees, there is usually a need for a dedicated HR person. Prior to that, the head honcho needs to wave the magic wand and have someone (or an outside contractor) take on the focus of HR.
In my world, grabbing your magic wand and saying "hocus pocus" is a mental queue to getting a plan, delegating that plan if appropriate and then getting back to your own focus. Now, least we forget, as the delegator, we must review and evaluate, but if we have conjured the correct plan, someone else will be "doing" so we can be focusing on our own work.
Now all together: "Hocus Pocus Time to Focus" and check out what Pat has to say below.
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
Things are changing so quickly; it seems almost impossible to keep up, especially with new technology. I finally broke down and got a smart phone. I'm looking forward to receiving it this week, with its 3G mobile hotspot...whatever that means!
What's interesting though is that as much as things change, certain beliefs seem to stand the test of time. I recently located an article that was published in the April 1920 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Did you know that Good Housekeeping has been around for that long?
The article titled "Stiffening Your Mental Backbone" is by H. Addington Bruce. The byline says: "Can you do what you want to do? How often do you go to the office with plans all made for the day's work so that you can make every minute count, and then some trivial thing upsets the whole schedule and you go home at night with the feeling that the day has been lost?"
Can you relate?
Addington tells the story of a man who goes to a doctor because he can't seem to focus long enough to get necessary tasks done. It turns out the man was not nourishing his body properly and according to Addington, the doctor explained the condition to his patient as follows:
"You are lacking in energy because you do not eat properly. Your organism not being sufficiently nourished, all your faculties, your will included, fatigues quickly. Strength of body and strength of will tend to go hand in hand."
It's interesting that in 1920, the belief that nurturing our physical energy, gives us mental energy was accepted in Good Housekeeping magazine and 90 years later we still haven't learned that lesson. In fact, we probably nourish our bodies less than back in 1920, when more whole foods were consumed.
In his article Addington also mentions these familiar concepts:
Take a look at your beliefs and see if they have stood the test of time, just like these beliefs about the mind/body connection. You might also want to try an apple for a mid-morning break, instead of that donut!
Pat Altvater
Transforming Bodies and Minds
http://www.outsmartweight.com/
http://www.ignitethepowerwithinbook.com/
419-344-6613
As a kid, I loved the words "hocus pocus" when I would play with my magic wand that never worked like Harry Potter's did. Some quick research on the etymology of the words, reveal they don't go back to Latin and the Catholic Church. Hocus pocus started appearing in the early seventeenth century in several plays and William Vincent titled his 1694 book of conjuring, "Hocus Pocus Junior, The Anatomy of Legerdemain".
Enough with the history, besides, what does this have to do with business? Any business that has multiple jobs for each employee faces this problem of FOCUS. In the Human Resource (HR) world, when a company reaches about 150 full-time-equivalent employees, there is usually a need for a dedicated HR person. Prior to that, the head honcho needs to wave the magic wand and have someone (or an outside contractor) take on the focus of HR.
In my world, grabbing your magic wand and saying "hocus pocus" is a mental queue to getting a plan, delegating that plan if appropriate and then getting back to your own focus. Now, least we forget, as the delegator, we must review and evaluate, but if we have conjured the correct plan, someone else will be "doing" so we can be focusing on our own work.
Now all together: "Hocus Pocus Time to Focus" and check out what Pat has to say below.
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
Things are changing so quickly; it seems almost impossible to keep up, especially with new technology. I finally broke down and got a smart phone. I'm looking forward to receiving it this week, with its 3G mobile hotspot...whatever that means!
What's interesting though is that as much as things change, certain beliefs seem to stand the test of time. I recently located an article that was published in the April 1920 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Did you know that Good Housekeeping has been around for that long?
The article titled "Stiffening Your Mental Backbone" is by H. Addington Bruce. The byline says: "Can you do what you want to do? How often do you go to the office with plans all made for the day's work so that you can make every minute count, and then some trivial thing upsets the whole schedule and you go home at night with the feeling that the day has been lost?"
Can you relate?
Addington tells the story of a man who goes to a doctor because he can't seem to focus long enough to get necessary tasks done. It turns out the man was not nourishing his body properly and according to Addington, the doctor explained the condition to his patient as follows:
"You are lacking in energy because you do not eat properly. Your organism not being sufficiently nourished, all your faculties, your will included, fatigues quickly. Strength of body and strength of will tend to go hand in hand."
It's interesting that in 1920, the belief that nurturing our physical energy, gives us mental energy was accepted in Good Housekeeping magazine and 90 years later we still haven't learned that lesson. In fact, we probably nourish our bodies less than back in 1920, when more whole foods were consumed.
In his article Addington also mentions these familiar concepts:
"As a man wishes, so he wills."
"Like begets like."
"Form the habit of devoting a few minutes every day to thinking about work in a large, broad, imaginative way."
Take a look at your beliefs and see if they have stood the test of time, just like these beliefs about the mind/body connection. You might also want to try an apple for a mid-morning break, instead of that donut!
Pat Altvater
Transforming Bodies and Minds
http://www.outsmartweight.com/
http://www.ignitethepowerwithinbook.com/
419-344-6613
Monday, April 26, 2010
Change is Good
Change is Good
You have a great new idea for your business; it will bring more customers and greater profits. You did the numbers and checked and rechecked. And then there is "Sue". Sue is that employee (maybe boss, friend or spouse) that never wants to change. If your plan is sound, you will want all the "Sues" on-board.
Here are some ideas:
~~Create and communicate the vision including details of the desired results.
~~Look to the employees to be enthusiastically empowered to make this happen.
~~Celebrate the short term victories and identify the people that implemented them.
~~Make the new project the "status quo" quickly. It needs to become "what we are
and who we are".
What happens if the idea is a bust? Well, you can go back to "Sue" and say "What would you have done different?" If the "Sues" in your world were on-board, then they may now have some insight into how in the future this will work. Learning from the past and making corrective action is one of the best predictors of success.
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528
www.ChangingLanes.biz
The Yes Factor by John McKee
Seven tips to help you turn your business negotiation skills into life skills.
1. Be prepared to walk away.
2. Know when to forego all together.
3. Deal at the right level.
4. Come prepared.
5. Don't take anything personally.
6. Anticipate objections.
7. Don't underestimate karma.
John McKee, a certified business and executive coach
is the author 21 Ways Women in Management Shoot Themselves in the Foot. He also has BusinessSuccess-Coach.net, an online destination for professionals who aspire to maximize their success in business To reach John, or for more information, www.businesswomenweb.com
You have a great new idea for your business; it will bring more customers and greater profits. You did the numbers and checked and rechecked. And then there is "Sue". Sue is that employee (maybe boss, friend or spouse) that never wants to change. If your plan is sound, you will want all the "Sues" on-board.
Here are some ideas:
~~Create and communicate the vision including details of the desired results.
~~Look to the employees to be enthusiastically empowered to make this happen.
~~Celebrate the short term victories and identify the people that implemented them.
~~Make the new project the "status quo" quickly. It needs to become "what we are
and who we are".
What happens if the idea is a bust? Well, you can go back to "Sue" and say "What would you have done different?" If the "Sues" in your world were on-board, then they may now have some insight into how in the future this will work. Learning from the past and making corrective action is one of the best predictors of success.
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528
www.ChangingLanes.biz
The Yes Factor by John McKee
Seven tips to help you turn your business negotiation skills into life skills.
1. Be prepared to walk away.
2. Know when to forego all together.
3. Deal at the right level.
4. Come prepared.
5. Don't take anything personally.
6. Anticipate objections.
7. Don't underestimate karma.
John McKee, a certified business and executive coach
is the author 21 Ways Women in Management Shoot Themselves in the Foot. He also has BusinessSuccess-Coach.net, an online destination for professionals who aspire to maximize their success in business To reach John, or for more information, www.businesswomenweb.com
Monday, April 19, 2010
Referrals and Readiness
Are You Ready?
The latest natural disaster to hit this planet is the volcano in Iceland. True, it has not devastated humanity the way the last three earthquakes (Haiti, Chile, China) have, but it certainly has affected businesses, lots of businesses.
Individually, war, natural disaster, local traumas and personal tragedies happen in our communities and will affect our business. Just saying to yourself or employees "Get back to work" is only affective for a short while. Knowing where you and your staff are vulnerable will help before tragedy strikes.
You may want to consider a four step approach to potential disaster.
1. Know your the risk for your business. Some businesses are in flood zones, others in quake zones. What is your local, physical risk? Make sure your computer backup system is working - You do back up your computer regularly, right?
2. Know your staff. Do they have loved ones in war zones? Do they have family in high risk careers? Are they living in a neighborhood subject to problems - natural or man-made?
3. Know your personal risk factors. Personally, what would you need to have on hand if the lights went out for a few days?
4. Finally, make and implement a plan. The implement is key. My car has a tool kit, duct tape, clamps, fix-a-flat, jumper cables, blanket, work gloves and a first aid kit. When I purchased my new car, and was transferring all this from the old to the new, the service tech commented that I wouldn't need that tool kit. I looked him square in the eyes and said "A girl scout is always prepared". I will be very happy if I never have to use the clamps and duct tape to fix a radiator hose again but I like to know that if needed, I have the tools.
Dave Krueger of World Prep, Inc from Toledo, Ohio has made a business about being prepared and his preparedness kits have won him awards and research grants. For him, being prepared is not only his business but he knows, it can save lives.
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528 http://www.changinglanes.biz/
Referrals
Webster defines referrals as the act, action, or instance of referring. I had a Social Studies teacher that would never allow us to define a word with the word (or use the phrase "It's like...") but it's Webster after all. And I have to use the word "Like", only in a different context.
Bob Burg states the new Golden Rule in Business: All things being equal, people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. How difficult is it to build this foundation with EVERY new customer you bring in? How time consuming is it to repeat your message consistently and concisely over and over again? Do you feel like you have reinvent the wheel in your sales process with every new client?
The answer is simple. Really. And you probably stated it at the last networking event. Recall when you said "Word of mouth is the best advertising"? It absolutely is. It's your responsibility to make sure it GOOD advertising.
Do your customers really know ALL that you do?
Do your customers feel like you've given them EXCEPTIONAL value?
Do your clients trust you to treat their associates EVEN BETTER than you treat them?
You can ensure the answer is YES! to all these by answering the following questions:
What are you doing to get your customers to acton your behalf and promote your product/service? What are you doing to get your clients to take actionand refer you to their friends and family? What are you doing to create urgency and motivate your sales force to bring in results sooner rather than later - this instant?
What would an automated referral system mean to your business? Find out at http://www.idealreferral.com/
Copyright 2010 Todd Pillars is an Referral Coach with Send Out Cards. Please contact him today at 419-855-2273 or tpillars@gmail.com to SUPERCharge your Referrals!
Visit http://www.sendoutcards.com/tpillars to send out a FREE "Thanks for being a customer" card to your hardest "hard-to-please" customer!
The latest natural disaster to hit this planet is the volcano in Iceland. True, it has not devastated humanity the way the last three earthquakes (Haiti, Chile, China) have, but it certainly has affected businesses, lots of businesses.
Individually, war, natural disaster, local traumas and personal tragedies happen in our communities and will affect our business. Just saying to yourself or employees "Get back to work" is only affective for a short while. Knowing where you and your staff are vulnerable will help before tragedy strikes.
You may want to consider a four step approach to potential disaster.
1. Know your the risk for your business. Some businesses are in flood zones, others in quake zones. What is your local, physical risk? Make sure your computer backup system is working - You do back up your computer regularly, right?
2. Know your staff. Do they have loved ones in war zones? Do they have family in high risk careers? Are they living in a neighborhood subject to problems - natural or man-made?
3. Know your personal risk factors. Personally, what would you need to have on hand if the lights went out for a few days?
4. Finally, make and implement a plan. The implement is key. My car has a tool kit, duct tape, clamps, fix-a-flat, jumper cables, blanket, work gloves and a first aid kit. When I purchased my new car, and was transferring all this from the old to the new, the service tech commented that I wouldn't need that tool kit. I looked him square in the eyes and said "A girl scout is always prepared". I will be very happy if I never have to use the clamps and duct tape to fix a radiator hose again but I like to know that if needed, I have the tools.
Dave Krueger of World Prep, Inc from Toledo, Ohio has made a business about being prepared and his preparedness kits have won him awards and research grants. For him, being prepared is not only his business but he knows, it can save lives.
Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather
Changing Lanes LLC
419-897-0528 http://www.changinglanes.biz/
Referrals
Webster defines referrals as the act, action, or instance of referring. I had a Social Studies teacher that would never allow us to define a word with the word (or use the phrase "It's like...") but it's Webster after all. And I have to use the word "Like", only in a different context.
Bob Burg states the new Golden Rule in Business: All things being equal, people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. How difficult is it to build this foundation with EVERY new customer you bring in? How time consuming is it to repeat your message consistently and concisely over and over again? Do you feel like you have reinvent the wheel in your sales process with every new client?
The answer is simple. Really. And you probably stated it at the last networking event. Recall when you said "Word of mouth is the best advertising"? It absolutely is. It's your responsibility to make sure it GOOD advertising.
Do your customers really know ALL that you do?
Do your customers feel like you've given them EXCEPTIONAL value?
Do your clients trust you to treat their associates EVEN BETTER than you treat them?
You can ensure the answer is YES! to all these by answering the following questions:
What are you doing to get your customers to acton your behalf and promote your product/service? What are you doing to get your clients to take actionand refer you to their friends and family? What are you doing to create urgency and motivate your sales force to bring in results sooner rather than later - this instant?
What would an automated referral system mean to your business? Find out at http://www.idealreferral.com/
Copyright 2010 Todd Pillars is an Referral Coach with Send Out Cards. Please contact him today at 419-855-2273 or tpillars@gmail.com to SUPERCharge your Referrals!
Visit http://www.sendoutcards.com/tpillars to send out a FREE "Thanks for being a customer" card to your hardest "hard-to-please" customer!
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