My good friend Nicole Fende is really excited about her new book and so am I! She is running a fun promotion to bring exposure to her book and you could benefit!
Don’t miss your chance to win a copy of Nicole’s new book How to be a Finance Rock Star. All you have to do is help Nicole find Fluffy the Finance Feline, who is currently MIA, gallivanting around the globe.
Check out the hints below and submit your answer for Fluffy’s current whereabouts before today’s midnight deadline -
Warning - this message may be a bit more harsh than you are used to reading from me. Read it anyway!
If you are like most business owners, you created your business because you wanted to live on your own terms and you knew that you have something amazing to offer.
But, have you realized that dream?
Are you doing what you love, or putting out fires? Do you have minor business problem gathering other problems, rolling downhill and ending up smack, dab in your personal life? Do you find you are getting sidetracked and not finding the traction you need to move your business forward?
The truth is every performance gap, every little inefficiency, every lack of organization or productivity, not only reduces the effectiveness of your business, it also steals time from your personal life! This is TRUE FOR all BUSINESS owners!
As business owner you need to confidently take your business to the next level… if you’re not, you may be going nowhere fast... In fact if you are like 95% of business owners, you are already there…in the area of a million ideas and nothing getting done.
I LOVE Gifts! I love giving them and I love getting them.
'Tis the season.
That means the SmallBizChristmas giveaway is back! The fantabulous Michelle Shaeffer is hosting and she invited me to share a gift, along with 12 other entrepreneurs and small business owners.
These gifts have been created especially with YOU in mind, to help you reduce stress, get organized, grow your business and more.
There are 1000s of books that you could read to grow your business, but how do you know which ones are good for where you are in the life cycle of your business?
I asked my expert panel:
To be productive means to be in a position where you have the quality or power of producing especially in abundance. It is about getting things done and growing your business.
What book has positively impacted your ability to be productive in your business? Please share title and author.
What is your favorite learning point from the book you mentioned?
Today, I'll share 13 ideas and I'd love for you to add yours to the list in the comments!
For the last few days I have been out of the office fighting the flu, but I didn't want you to miss out on this opportunity!
As we near the end of 2011, I know you've probably already mapped out your business plan for the New Year. But what if I were to offer you the opportunity to access the top business growth strategies from 12 Amazing Women Entrepreneurs, who are true power players in their niche? What if you could learn some targeted tactics to dramatically up-level your business in 2012?
My friend and colleague, Dr. Shannon Reece, has created a fabulous gift for you!
ANNOUNCING THE 12 DAYS OF EXPERTS PROJECT!
The 12 Days of Experts Project was designed with you in mind, because I know you want to become a power player in your niche, and with this series, you can learn how. In this 12 day series you will be introduced to 12 amazing women, who are movers and shakers in their area of expertise, and have generously offered to share some of their best strategies with you at no charge. Awesome, right?!
True success is not about playing small. So if you are ready, I invite you to join me, Dr. Shannon Reece and the Experts on this exciting 12 Day adventure.
I invite you to register now so you don't miss a thing. Free access to this series runs from December 1- 18th, and then these videos will be gone! And for those lucky viewers who participate in this series, there are wonderful surprises along the way.
Many of my clients contact me because they have looked at their bottom line and realize that they had better figure out how to do things better, faster and cheaper. Putting systems in place so that you and your business are more productive is one way to Rock Your Profits, but it is not the only way.
Do you wonder why you never reach your profit goals?
Do get a little sick to your stomach when you start thinking about anything related to finances?
Do you wish someone could explain it to you in simple to understand terms?
Did you go to business school? Did you know that most entrepreneurs didn't? When you launched your business were you prepared for everything you had to do to make it thrive?
Perhaps you thought you just needed to learn the skills to make you an expert in your field and "Voila"! you'd be a sought-after success!
It's not so easy, is it?
To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to know about all sorts of things—like marketing, networking, budgeting, branding, social media, video, and so much more! And did anyone ever teach you how to successfully combine your business with the rest of your life?
So many entrepreneurs spin their wheels searching for answers to things they don't know about. It can be downright exhausting trying to keep up with all the new strategies and tactics to stay ahead of the curve as your business grows.
Wouldn't it be great if you could find everything you needed to learn in ONE place? A graduate school for entrepreneurs? Well, now you can!
I'm inviting you to enroll, as my guest, in an extraordinary summer school designed specifically towards the unique needs of entrepreneurs who want to excel in business and in life … Summer School for Entrepreneurs 2011.
Once a month, I share links to a number of different blogs and sites. Today, I decided to do things a little differently and ask my Facebook network of productivity and organizing pros to share info about their blogs.
You will find blogs on productivity and organizing as well as some of their personal blogs on topics like gardening and living a simplified life, etc.
I do not normally post regarding personal causes, but this one is near and dear to the Calahan Solutions, Inc. family. Ellen Hankes is a very dear friend, consultant with Calahan Solutions and CPO-CD. I have written about her many times here on Productive & Organized.
Her speciality is working with those that are chronically disorganized and/or hoarders. She is a positive light to everyone she comes in contact with. She was recently diagnosed with invasive & fast-growing breast cancer & is being aggressively treated. We have spent the last few months following her on her journey as she keeps us up to date on http://www.caringbridge.org/. I am forever amazed at how positive she is in light of very difficult days. She tackles each one with style and humor. She inspires me!
In her honor, her daughter started a Relay for Life "team Ellen" & I'm a member. We will be relaying from 4:00 PM CST June 4, 2011 to 5:00 AM CST June 5, 2011.
One of the activities that happens at this particular Relay for Life event is an auction. So, I reached out to my community of Professional Organizers and they really came through for me. As I put everything together on Saturday, I realized that the grouping is
Valued at More than $1000!
Today I'm sharing the awesome things in the package and asking for your support.
On Mondays I frequently share something to get your juices flowing. I call it Motivational Moment. I'm writing today very excited to tell you about a program you really should consider participating in and even if you don't want to do the entire program, you MUST check out the 3 videos that reveal the small steps you can take to create a huge impact to your bottom line. They are filled with motivation. But, I'm getting ahead of myself here... let me back up a bit.
Dr. Shannon Reece is a colleague and friend that has participated in a number of my collaborative posts as well as shared her thoughts on eliminating fear right here at Productive & Organized. Every time she has participated, I have received great comments from you! Today, I will tell you about a few different opportunities to learn more from her and some of them are at no cost to you!
February is Time Management Month and every small business owner and work-from-home professional I know (including me) needs all the help we can get with effective time and priority management!
My buddy and fellow productivity expert, Elaine Quinn, has created a fun giveaway. Keep reading to learn more.
A little while back, I wrote to you about my theme for this year: decisive productive action. One of the things I mentioned was that I was not going to let perfectionism get in my way and that I was going to enhance my focus on making decisions and carrying them out effectively. Well, my buddy Marcia Hoeck Steger put me to the test last week! She and I were on the phone catching up and she asked me if I would do a Twitterview with her.
A what?!?
I then learned that a Twitterview was an interview that was conducted on Twitter using a hashtag (we used #BizProd) to aggregate all of the comments together in one spot where people could follow the conversation.
Hmmm... I had never done one of those before. Sure! Let's do it. So, we scheduled the following week to hold our inaugural twitterview. (It was her first time being the interviewer.) Today I'll share the experience and the interview on the topic of productivity.
Have you ever felt like you were ...working harder than ever,
but not accomplishing anything that made you feel like you had a purpose being responsible and doing what you needed to do for your family, friends and employer/clients,
but weren't fulfilled spending most of your time 'putting out fires'
and not accomplishing the really important things
working hard for 'someday' when you'll be able to do what you want with the ones you love feeling like there had to be more?
My friend, Allyson Lewis felt that way too. But, when someone introduced her to a new way of thinking, her life began a radical and wonderful change in just 7 minutes.
A few weeks ago my colleague Janice Simon and I were chatting on Twitter about some of the changes that I have put into place in the last 1.5 years or so. As many of you know, I have had a few different metamorphosis experiences and have shared them here on my blog. As Janice and I were talking, she asked if I would write a guest post for her blog about some of the things I did to organize my life changes. You can check out the post here:
PS -- If you've enjoyed this post and want to see more, why not subscribe to our daily emails (Feedblitz) or through the RSS Feed (click here)? Or, follow us on Twitter! Or connect on Facebook!
There are many ways to manage your time and activities. How do you decide? I asked my friends to share their favorite planning tool. Today's post shares what they had to say. I'd love it if you would share your thoughts too.
Today's post is short since you received 2 earlier this week! However, I did not want to miss telling you about this opportunity.
It is really very simple:
-You want to get organized -Smead wants to help you succeed
All you need to do is like them on facebook and the simple, bite sized tips and tricks will be coming your way. In addition, you could win an amazing basket of organizing products!
So, go to the links above today and join the fun.
PS - I am not receiving any compensation for this post. Smead is trying to grow their Facebook presence and they have cool products and I love telling you about ways to get great info and maybe win some stuff too. Seems like a win win to me!
If you feel overwhelmed by all the work you have on your plate, and pressured because there’s too little time to do it, then...
... you're going to love this...
Imagine starting and ending every day with an empty email inbox. Imagine finishing all of your urgent tasks each day and having the freedom to accomplish your highest level goals. Imagine the joy of being on top of your work... and feeling fulfilled because what you do every day is deeply connected to who you really are.
"I'm not making excuses anymore. I'm tired of looking for important papers. I'm tired of wasted time. I'm tired of not focusing on my business like I should. This is the year and now is the time!" That is what I heard from a new client as I was talking to him this week, and I could not agree more! 2009 was rough on a lot of us. 2010 is the start of something new, something better. Success IS in your grasp! Do you feel it? I hope you do.
I want to support that success, so I've decided to open my calendar and offer a limited number of f'ree strategy sessions via telephone or skype.
The new year is a great time to think of ways that you can improve your life -- Getting Organized always lands in the top 10 lists of New Year Resolutions. There are many outstanding resources available help you, but I often hear that it is hard to find them. Our solution was to get the resources available in one spot!
We are in the home stretch of 2009 -- bring on 2010!! One item frequently purchased at this time of year is a calendar or planner for the upcoming year.
But, what is the right kind of planner to use? Some say the traditional paper planner is the best, while others swear by their smart-phone or on line tool. How do you decide what is best for you?
Keep reading to learn what my colleagues and friends had to say about the "Great Calendar Debate." They provide tips to help you decide as well as some recommended tools.
TGIF! Today's post is short but sweet (hey I have to give out something sweet around Halloween!) with a great no cost resource I found a few days ago. If you have a need for tools that help you with your budgets, loans, calendars, financial statements, business forms, contacts, diet and fitness, lists, sports pools, home organization, or childcare then you should check out this site.
They offer no cost downloadable spreadsheets for a number of business and personal needs. Each template that they have created work in Excel and some even work in Open Office and Google Docs.All templates on this site work in Excel. Most also work in Open Office and Google Docs.
Added bonus: If you are looking for tips on effective use of Excel, you can find them on the site too.
PS -- If you've enjoyed this post and want to see more, why not subscribe to our daily emails (Feedblitz) or through the RSS Feed (click here)? Or, follow us on Twitter! Or connect on Facebook!
Today's post is really short, but I wanted to share a great post that talks about how to look at your social networking. The author gives some fantastic resources and perspective on how long various social networking activities take. Check it out! http://virl.com/dbdb3/
Also, LinkedIN just came out with a new way to manage your contacts on LinkedIN. Check out this short video to learn more.
I've told you before that I'm on Twitter. I share all kinds of short bits out there, but I also ask questions. The other day, I asked "What is your favorite on line productivity tool." I got some really great responses and you can find them all marked in my Twitter favorites.
Anyway, my buddy Vikki aka @snootyvixentold me that Tumblr was her favorite. That had me curious because I knew Tumblr as an on-line bookmarking site. Never thought of it as a productivity tool. So I asked her and she shared her strategy with me. Now, I'll share it with you!
We never really want to think about the terrible things that can happen in our lives, but sometimes it is important to think of them long enough to make a plan so that the emergency is handled as well as it can be.
The State of Illinois has a new program that can help emergency personnel get in contact with your emergency contacts. One of my favorite sources of local health information and colleague is Maureen Sollars. She shared the information below (Thanks Maureen!):
Paper is by far the #1 reason people contact us. The paperless office that was promised back int the late 70s / early 80s never happened. My friends at the Monticello Corporation created a new video that does a great job of talking about how to gain control of paper. Take a watch and tell me what you think!
“Efficiency is doing things right, but effectiveness is doing the right things." ~Peter Drucker~
In today’s economic climate, it is more important than ever to make sure that the things we choose to spend our time on are the right things. Drucker encourages us to understand that it is important to decide “what” is to be done first. Only after that decision is made should we figure out the “how” and “when”.
When you consider your system for setting priorities, you must focus on doing the right things, rather than simply doing things right.
Are you in charge of leading your business or department?
Do you have a large list of abandoned projects all sitting at various levels of incompletion?
Do you have a list of projects that do not reflect your best work?
Do you struggle with figuring out how to focus your time and energy and work on what is truly important?
If so, you'll want to closely examine what's on the pages of this special report. I reached out to my contacts from around the globe and asked them to share their favorite priority setting tips and tricks to help YOU be successful. Get yourself on the track to better productivity by seeing these 40+ tips.
I hope you enjoy the report! I also hope that you will teach others how to focus on what is really important in their life. If you find value here, please let your peers know about this report. You can find the original page for the report here: http://Steph.bz/PrioritySetting.
For the past few days, I have talked about why our brain is like a computer and shared the first six of seven tips on what you can do to free up room on your brain's hard drive.
Today I'll share tip 7 for freeing up space and getting rid of brain clutter.
For the past few days, I have talked about why our brain is like a computer and shared the first five of seven tips on what you can do to free up room on your brain's hard drive.
Today I'll share tip 6 for freeing up space and getting rid of brain clutter.
Life gets hectic! Today, there are so many things we can do with our time. There are also slews of tools we can use to help us manage everything. Trouble is, there are so many that it TAKES TIME to figure out what we should use! Truth is, alot of these tools do similar things in different ways. Today I'll share some resources and see what you think. Find simplicity today!
Yesterday, my brother commented to one of my time tips and it really made me laugh.
He brought up a good point -- Facebook and other social networking sites can be real time-killers if you are not careful. Then, I realized that I have not really shared my experience or the tools that I use to stay productive online. That will begin to change today by sharing one of my "secret weapons."
As I was reading Denise Wakeman's post on Facebook, I learned about a tool that helps you with quick and effective on-line marketing. It is called a Twitter Mosaic. I thought I would give it a try to see if it was a time waster or a quick Twitter tool. My mosaic is below (Denise is the 5th from the left in the glasses)
I'm happy to say that this Twitter tool is not one that takes 30 minutes to process. I typed in my user name and in 2.3 minutes my mosaic was created. I have a few more than 3100 followers, so that is a pretty good result time.
This past week we decided to sell a weed whip that we no longer used. It was in new condition and still worked (well my husband could make it work, I could never get it started, that is why we were selling it!) The person that bought it from us asked if we had the user's manual.
Recently, I have had a lot of colleagues and readers ask me how I stay in touch with people that are important to me and I realized that I had not talked about this tool in a while. When I first learned about this tool, I thought it had to be too good to be true. Boy was I wrong! The company continues to impress me with their ability to upgrade and keep costs low and value high. Keep reading to learn the benefits and how this tool has helped me.
Like many small companies, Calahan Solutions is not on a big corporate server environment. The company is ran on PC desktops and laptops (OK MAC Lovers, I know you are going to have comments for me, but at this point we don't have MACs). The hard drives of those computers are the life-blood of the company.
Then it happened... the unthinkable! I went to my desktop computer about a week ago and turned it on. It made a really odd whirring sound and I thought to myself "this can't be good..."
Disasters strike every day and they strike QUICKLY! People don't plan to participate in a disaster. Unfortunatly, many don't prepare to avoid consequences either.
Yesterday we started a series on being prepared. Today I'm going to share an office safety checklist as well as some awesome web sites.
Last night I was reading an article in Working Mother magazine & stumbled upon this resource.
An online company http://www.gazelle.com will happily buy your working or broken tech equipment! Here is what they say on their site:
**********
What Is Gazelle?
We provide an easy, fast, and safe way for you to sell electronics and recycle electronics. When you sell cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, or other gadgets to us, you'll earn cash and help save the environment by keeping old, used gadgets out of landfills. You get green while being green! The bottom line is you want to sell electronics and we want to buy electronics. A perfect match!
**********
Sounds awesome to me! By any chance have you tried it? You can bet I'm going to grab some old cell phones & check them out!
Not only will they buy your items, but they are making sure that they don't go to landfills. How cool is that?
To your success!
Steph
*blogged from my ATT Tilt phone*
"I WANT TO THROW MY COMPUTERS IN THE LAKE AND START OVER!!!"
I'm sure you have felt this way at one time or another... Computers are fantastic when they work for you and about the worst thing on earth when they don't do what you want them to do. Did you know there is more than one way for your computer to get cluttered? This clutter can lead to significant slow down in operating performance, or a significant slow down in your ability to find information you want. Today I'll share some tricks to speed things back up.
One of the things that I had promised myself while on this trip in Pittsburgh was that I was going to do a lot of catch up reading. The first book that I started and finished all on Monday was Dave Crenshaw's The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done. As a recovering Multitask-er (or Switchtasker as he puts it) I was excited to get to this book. Keep reading for my perspective on this book, key points discussed and how you can get your own copy.
Research published in January 2007 reveals that the brain chemistry of spenders and non-spenders, in the moments before a purchase, is so different that scientists are able to predict with pretty much complete certainty whether a person is going to buy an item or walk away from it.
There are great articles and blogs all over the net, but sometimes it is hard to determine which articles are worth the time to read and which ones are better left alone. So, I've started a new posting on this blog. As I find great content, I'll share it with you weekly. Keep reading for this week's great items.
As you know, I am a big believer in diversity and that there are different solutions for different people. There are no "silver bullets" or magic solutions.
However, there are things that you can learn about the way your brain works (how you are "wired") that will help you determine how to spend your time and solve challenges. Keep reading and take the quiz!
Sandra Felton is the founder of Messies Anonymous and has written many books on being a "Messie" and Attention Deficit Disorder. If you struggle with ADD/ADHD or know someone that does, keep reading!
One of the best ways to start on your organizing journey is to have a great set of goals and a way to manage how you get things done. In the past, I have shared strategies from various successful people. Today, I found a great video where author, multi-millionaire and entrepreneur, Michael Masterson shows us how he manages getting things done in his office. He shares his goal tracking process all the way to how he manages to dos and various pieces of paper that he prints from his laptop. Keep reading to see his video and more!
There are great articles and blogs all over the net, but sometimes it is hard to determine which articles are worth the time to read and which ones are better left alone. So, I'm going to start a new posting on this blog. As I find great content, I'll share it with you weekly. Keep reading for this week's great items.
Happy New Year! I'm not working today, so I asked my good buddy Michael Masterson to share some of his thoughts. Keep reading to see a great article on why you want to put levity in your life! May this year be your best year yet! To your success Stephanie
Sometimes when I talk about delegation, I am referring to taking a task and giving it to someone else to do. Today, I'm talking about taking a very mundane task and delegating it to automation!
I found a cool new tool recently while surfing TipsGuide.com. It is called OnlyWire. OnlyWire lets you bookmark articles/posts that you find and like to multiple bookmarking accounts all at once.
Every year at this time many of us get new electronic tech toys to play with and use. As this happens, other tech toys get set to the side. Knowing what to do with your electronic discards is really important.
Learn what is enhancing or impeding your productivity today! Click on any of the self-evaluator tools below and receive your results online immediately!
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