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Stop and Ask Why

Jul 8th, 2010
by Shari Voigt.
2 comments

“Are you doing work worth doing, or are you just doing your job?” ~ A great question posed by Seth Godin in his blog post “What’s the point?”

Time doesn’t stand still for any of us. Whether you’ve shortened your work day as I have, or are working 40+ hours each week, we all have a limited number of hours to get the job done. Is the time you invest in your business, time well-spent? What about today? Will today’s activities move you toward achieving your small business goals, or are you running a parallel course – as in, you can’t get there from here?

The Pareto principle states that 80% of effects stem from 20% of causes. For most small businesses this means that 20% of our clients provide 80% of our income, 20% of our advertising produces 80% of the results, and say it isn’t so … only 20% of our time is truly well-spent!

Where’s your 20%?

Posted in: Small Business Issues.
Tagged: · ·

Boundaries Make You More Productive

Jul 6th, 2010
by Shari Voigt.
No comments yet

Did you know you can get more done in less time? A little over a week ago, I cut my workday in half. I went from working 8 a.m – 8 p.m. with not enough to show for it, to a very reasonable 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., with weekends off. The result: I’m accomplishing twice as much in half the time … and I’m lovin’ it!

Clock by Chris Halderman on flickr

Clock by Chris Halderman on flickr

If you set your own hours and especially if you work from home, it’s crucial to set boundaries. When my husband and I tell others that we both work from home, we’re usually met with an incredulous “I don’t have that kind of discipline … how do you do it?” type of response. The truth is that it begins and ends with boundaries.

I can easily stay busy 12-hours each day on the computer – and just as easily accomplish little. There’s always one more email that needs a response, one more blog post begging to be read, one more idea to be learned to help propel one’s business to the “next level.” But at the end of the day, if billable work or priority tasks haven’t been accomplished, all that busyness of a 12-hour workday is a waste of time … time we could and should be spending more productively.

  • Shorten your workday.
  • Set time limits for your tasks.
  • Focus in 55-minute segments with a five-minute break.
  • Get more done in your morning, evening and weekend – not work related.
  • Setting reasonable boundaries helps you free your mind to get more work done during working hours.

The timer is your friend.

I have a small kitchen timer on my desk and a time tracking tool installed on my computer. I set the kitchen timer for 55-minutes, and punch into Toggl (my time tracker) with a quick description and project name, then focus on the task at hand. This gives me six focused time periods throughout the day. And guess what, folks: you can do ANYTHING for 55-minutes. No distractions allowed! At the end of the day, I log billable project time, make a list of what’s needed tomorrow, then walk away.

Side benefits:

I’ve reclaimed my mornings, evenings and weekends … those hours between work days that we call “life.” We’re eating better because meals have become more than a happy accident. I’ve found time to exercise and keep the house ready for company. Best of all is a sense of peace because I’m living a more balanced, healthy life.

If you’re working too many hours and not getting enough done, check your boundaries. Could you get more done in less time if less time was all you allowed yourself?

What have you tried that helps you to be more productive?

Posted in: Small Business Issues, Time Management.
Tagged: · · · · ·

Why Can’t I Find You Online?

Jun 22nd, 2010
by Shari Voigt.
3 comments

I found your ad in the coupon mailer. How come I can’t find you online?

If you’re spending money on advertising, but don’t have a working website, you’re putting the cart before the horse.

New Home ConstructionYou probably wouldn’t invite 100 of your closest friends to a party at your house before you built the house, right? How about those you would consider to be prime prospects for your services – would you invite them to an open house before you had a location for them to visit?

Yet that’s exactly what your doing if you’re advertising before building your home base – your website. You’re spending money on the party supplies. You’re inviting the guests. Except these guests don’t really know you … they’re wary of accepting the invitation. They Google you to learn more about you – and you’re nowhere to be found.

44% of online adults search online for information about someone whose services or advice they seek in a professional capacity, like a doctor, lawyer, or plumber. (Source: Pew Research Project)

What will they find when they search for you? Yes, if you’re in business you really DO need a website. It’s time to start building your house.

Will they find your unclaimed Google places listing? It’s free to claim, you know. If you take the time to fill it out properly, it can provide a description of your service offering, your hours of operation, display photos or even video. Not to mention, a properly optimized Google places listing has a greater chance of appearing near or at the top of the local listings at the top of the search results page. Here’s another statistic for you:

One in every 13 search results displayed by Google in 2009 included a map.

When they find you next to the map, don’t you want to put your best face forward?

Google’s not the only game in town. You also need to be found on Yahoo and Bing, Yelp and Facebook. Fill out your business profiles completely. Include a link back to your website. Add photos where possible. Give people who find you on these sites an easy way to contact you.

Now, with this taken care of – the foundation laid – the house built, go invite some guests to the party. Make sure to add your website link to your print ads, your letterhead, business cards, and email signature. Your website and social media presence will grow to become a profitable online extension of your business.

If you need help building your professional business website or improving your overall visibility online or off, drop me a note using our contact form.

So what are you waiting for? How come I can’t find you online?

Posted in: advertising.
Tagged: · · · · · · · ·

Blogging, Creativity and Burnout

Jun 15th, 2010
by Shari Voigt.
6 comments

You know, I’ve read again and again that unless you’re blogging for money, blogging isn’t your business. It’s easy to believe that. Blogging is a lot of work. Coming up with new ideas day after day, taking the time to write something intelligent, then promoting what you’ve written is time-consuming, sometimes downright impossible. Stepping back in after taking a break from blogging is even harder. Why is that?

Yet, I can show you peaks and valleys, not only in our website statistics, but also in new business arriving based on the activity of this blog. The type of new business doesn’t necessarily correlate with anything recently written, so it’s not a formula of write about x and receive y.

It may be that the commitment to writing something worthwhile is what makes the difference. Maybe it changes the way  I interact with clients and prospects? Blogging does force me to be in continual learning mode and to seek new ways to share time-tested information If it’s interesting enough to write about, it’s usually useful to talk about.

Anyway, after months of feeling creatively burned out, waiting for it to pass, I’m back on task. Permission to pass on posting weekly has been rescinded. It’s not just about the website stats and the business end of things, but also personal. There’s something missing when I don’t make the time to do the activities collectively referred to as blogging.

It’s also part of what John Jantsch calls “the way we do things here,” a philosophy of how we do business. Education is key.  I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t have all the answers, but I believe in writing to learn. Let’s continue to learn together, shall we?

Posted in: Book & Periodical Reviews.
Tagged: · ·

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