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Do The Right Thing But at The Right Time

October 6, 2011 By 2 Comments

source: Ant Smith

Yesterday, I grabbed a sandwich at a deli near my house and the place was packed. While I was waiting in line, one of the employees almost knocked me over. He was busy mopping the floor and putting the rugs back, while customers tried to walk past him to pick up their orders.

The floor needed to be mopped, but did the guy have to mop during the busy lunch rush? He was doing the right thing, but his timing was off.

How is your timing? Consider these questions:

Do you follow up with clients when say you will?

A superstar realtor friend of mine has had a record year. Why? She calls her prospects back on the exact day she promises to call. When she shows that much attention to detail, the prospects are so impressed (and surprised), they hire her to represent them.

One of the few times a prospect she was working with decided to sign with another realtor, was when she responded to the prospect’s text at 3 am. The client had sent the text at dinnertime the night before and didn’t appreciate the text in the middle of the night. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Time mgmt./Productivity, Working with clients Tagged With: ,

To Do or Not To Do…It’s All in the List

October 4, 2011 By 10 Comments

A good friend of mine used to use a paper-based planner to write her to-do lists.

As her business grew, she quit using her planner and switched to sticky notes that she plastered all over her monitor. Her system broke down when she started covering older notes with newer ones. She tried to improve her sticky note system by using different colored notes, but that didn’t help.

Now, instead of using her new smartphone to record tasks, she writes her top to-do’s on her hand. She admits that her “organic” way of tracking tasks is a little unreliable, especially by the middle of the day when she’s washed her hands a few times, but she’s out of ideas.

Whether you’re like my friend and you’ve exhausted all of your options, or you’ve used the same planning system for years, take a close look at how you’re planning your days. There are a few ways you can make your system more effective. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office organizing, Time mgmt./Productivity, Working at home Tagged With: ,

Are You Quitting or Are You a Quitter?

September 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment



Have you ever quit a job, quit working with certain clients, or quit a sport or hobby because it took too much time and was no longer fun? If so, does that make you a quitter?

Not necessarily.

There’s a difference between quitting and being a quitter.

What’s quitting?

When you quit, you give up because you’ve exhausted all of your options and you realize it’s time to go in a different direction.

You’ve spent time, money and emotion trying to succeed, yet you keep running up against a brick wall. At some point, enough is enough, and you quit.

What’s a quitter?

When you’re a quitter, you don’t ask for, or listen to, anyone’s advice. You’re stubborn and won’t try to do things any other way. Although friends, colleagues and maybe even clients try to help you, you’ve checked out and moved on to something else. That’s being a quitter.

Click here to read this entire post on Success…Your Way

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Working at home Tagged With:

If You Don’t Believe in Yourself, Who Will?

September 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Great job! Way to go! You did it!

How many times a day, or even a week, do you hear that?

When you’re holed up in your home office, working by yourself, and keeping in touch with your clients through e-mail or the phone, how often does someone give you a pat on the back, either in person or virtually?

Chances are, the answer to both questions is never.

Take credit for a job well done

If there’s no one around to give you a pat on the back when you’ve closed the deal of a lifetime, or finally set up an appointment with a prospect who has eluded you for months, congratulate yourself. Whether you celebrate by calling your friends and sharing the good news, or by taking the rest of the day off, take time to acknowledge that you’ve accomplished something important.

Recognize your talents

Some entrepreneurs pay coaches and consultants to help them discover they already have the skills they were trying to learn. Sometimes it’s better to discover your talents on your own, but if you aren’t there yet, a coach can help you believe in your talents and teach you how to focus on your goals.

Believe in yourself

Motivational speakers tell you to “believe in yourself” and “what you believe, you can achieve.” For some of you, that may be enough to make you spring out of bed each morning and welcome the day with open arms. For others, it may be enough to make you sick, pull the covers over your head, and wait for the day to end. You don’t have to go to extremes to believe in yourself, but eventually you’ll realize the benefit of believing in what you can do.

Sometime today, give yourself credit for what you’ve accomplished, no matter how small, and realize you have more skills than you thought. Then go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back.

You deserve it.

What do you do to make it easier to believe in yourself? How do you celebrate your accomplishments?

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Working at home Tagged With:

Time to Get Off Your “Buts”

September 1, 2011 By

For the past few weeks, I’ve put off finishing a seminar that’s scheduled for next month. I know the material, and I know what I want to say, but putting the information into a PowerPoint hasn’t been at the top of my to-do list.

A few days ago, I realized that enough was enough. I was tired of thinking about the presentation first thing each morning and last thing before I went to bed, so I set aside the entire afternoon to finalize it.

While I had to answer some important e-mails and return a few calls in the morning, I was proud of myself for staying focused and finishing my presentation by dinnertime.

Getting started on a task or a big project is difficult, especially when you really don’t want to handle it. It’s easier to make excuses and avoid taking the first step.

If you find yourself procrastinating on an important project, use one of these five methods to help you get started.

I have the privilege of being a contributor for Success…Your Way. To read the rest of this blog post, please click here.

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office organizing, Time mgmt./Productivity Tagged With: , ,

The Right Place for a Home Office Isn’t Always Obvious

August 31, 2011 By 12 Comments

I’ve worked with home-based business owners for years, who had little less than the corner of a room for a home office. On the opposite end was a client who couldn’t find space for a home office within her 6,000 SF home (really).

If you think you don’t have room for a home office, think again. Start by evaluating the various rooms in your home. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office design, Home office organizing, Working at home Tagged With:

What I Learned by Setting up my Office in a Coffee Shop

August 23, 2011 By 15 Comments

Yesterday morning, I woke up drenched in sweat. Sometime during the night, my air conditioner quit working.  I called the same company that fixed it last month, and they moved me ahead on the schedule. (My desperate phone call probably had something to do with it!)

After I dropped off my younger son at football practice, I went straight to a coffee shop around the corner. It had been a while since I had spent time working at a coffee shop. Usually I meet friends and clients for coffee, but this time was different…I needed to work.

There were a few things I figured out about while I sipped my cup of decaf.

Silence is golden

Bring headphones. During the first hour, the place was busy, but not too loud. During my second hour, three guys sat down and apparently their moms never taught them about “inside voices.” I pulled my headphones out of my laptop bag, listened to music on my iPhone, and then kept working. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office setup, Working at home Tagged With: ,

How to Save Time by Helping Others Be On Time

August 15, 2011 By 6 Comments

On a show that my sons and I were watching a few nights ago, one of the characters walked in and said, “I’m late because I’m very important.”

Can you relate to that line?

Think about the last time you were sitting in a coffee shop waiting to meet with someone. You were clear about the time and place to meet, yet you have to wait at least 15 minutes until that person shows up. How frustrating is that?

All of us know someone who’s time-challenged. They’re not trying to be disrespectful of our time…it just seems that way. There are a few ways, though, to help people in your business life and personal life be on time.

Give an earlier time

When you schedule an appointment with the always-late person, give him or her a time that’s 30 minutes earlier. When that person shows up late, they’ll actually be on time. That worked with a former boss of mine. When she had to do a live television interview, I told her to show up at the studio 30 [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Time mgmt./Productivity, Working with clients Tagged With:

When is it Time to Fire a Client?

August 9, 2011 By 8 Comments

When I was in the corporate world, I couldn’t pick and choose my clients (or unfortunately, my boss). No matter how eccentric the client was — his or her stories would make an interesting book — I had to grit my teeth and bite my tongue to make sure no one complained to my boss.

It’s no wonder that eventually I was fitted for a mouth guard so I would stop grinding my teeth at night.

When I quit my last job to start my own business, I realized that nice, decent clients were out there. For many years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with amazing clients who listen to my advice, are open to new ideas and more importantly, understand (and appreciate) how I can help them. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Working at home, Working with clients Tagged With: , ,

How to Tell Whether It’s Time to Leave Your Home Office

August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As much as I enjoy working from home — I’m the first person to try to convince anyone to keep his or her overhead low and set up shop at home — I realize that a home office doesn’t work for every business.

At some point, for whatever reason, it may be time for you to move out of your home office. Consider whether any of these reasons for leaving home apply to you.

Lack of room

As your home-based business grows, you’ll probably need more employees (unless you want to use freelancers and virtual assistants instead of an in-house staff). That means you’ll need more space for everyone to work.

Sure, your staff could spread out in the chairs and sofas in your family room and work on their laptops, but that’s not an ideal situation.

One of my clients ran an Internet consulting business with a staff that filled his home office, overflowed into his dining room and took over his family room. His family finally convinced him to rent outside space for himself and his staff. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balancing home/office Life, Home office organizing, Home office setup, Making money from home, Working at home Tagged With: , ,
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