Just Say No…

Sometimes small business owners have to know when to say no. This is a very useful time management skill. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day for everything we want to do. Maybe you’ll have to have coffee with that potential client tomorrow. Remember you have to take care of the clients you already have. Another reason that you need to learn to say no is because you have to take care of your health. You certainly can’t make much money or do much networking if you get so sick that you wind up in a hospital. It will be hard at first, but after a while you’ll get the hang of it.

Are You Content with Your Time Management Skills? 7 Reasons Why You Must Have a To-Do List

Are you content with your time management skills? 7 Reasons Why You Must Have a To-Do List

by DeAnna Spencer

As an entrepreneur with ADHD, I often struggle with staying on task. One way I combat this is by making lists. This strategy can help people without ADHD stay on top of things as well. This article lists 7 things to remember about to-do lists. I know you’ve heard time and time again that you need to make lists. Here’s why it’s important to have a to do list.

1. It will help you to remember what you have to do today.

Small Business owners often wear a lot of hats. You usually find yourself with a kazillion and one projects going on at once.
When you have a to-do list, you won’t have that, "Now I know I was supposed to be somewhere." thing happen to you as often.

2. A to do list keeps you on task.

Sometimes you get distracted by things such as forums, games, or shopping when you’re supposed to be finishing a project.
One surefire way to combat that is to keep that to do list in front of you to serve as a gentle reminder before you go to that non business related forum
and spend hours reading the posts.

3. When you complete the items on your to do list you feel a sense of accomplishment.

I don’t know about you, but I get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I can scratch items off of the to-do list.
Even when I have completed a "small" task it makes me feel good to know that there’s one less thing that I have to do.

4. A to do list should be recorded somewhere. It doesn’t count if the list exists in your head. You are guaranteed to forget something.

Write it down, put it on your pda, use outlook, do whatever you have to do to get your to do list recorded.
I use Plaxo and my pda to stay organized. Basically plaxo is an online version of outlook.
It has a section that is a calendar and there’s a place for your tasks for the day.
The great thing about using plaxo is that it’s on the web so even if your computer crashes, you still have access to your calendar.

5. A to do list is never set in stone.

It’s just a guide for the day, week, month or year.
You should always allow room for the unexpected to happen.
You could get sick or there could be a dire emergency with one of your clients.
You may have to work overtime on your job.
You could get stuck in traffic.
Always allow a cushion for these sort of things.

6. Your to do list should be realistic.

If you work a full time job and are running a business, don’t put too many things on your daily to do list or you’ll feel discouraged
when you don’t get all of the things accomplished on your list.

7. Make sure to include some time for fun in your to-do list.

You should always schedule at least one hour of "me time" on your to do list.
This could be your time to exercise, read, write in your journal, or stare at your bellybutton.
It’s important to have down time so you don’t get stressed out.

These are just a few ways to manage your time better.
For more ideas, please read my article, 31 Ways to Get an Extra Hour Out of Each Day,
located at http://ezinearticles.com/?31-Ways-to-Get-An-Extra-Hour-Out-of-Each-Day&id=3191
You should also pick up a copy of the book, Getting Things Done, by David Allen. This book has a lot of
useful tips on time management.

When you manage your time well, you can focus more on marketing yourself.

DeAnna Spencer publishes the website, Learn Small Business, to help small business owners grow their business.  Visit this small business resource today for more tips on running a business.

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Internet Time Management

Internet Time Management

By Rene Graeber

The Internet is taking over man’s normal way of living, so therefore when we consider time management, we must also consider the World Wide Web.

It used to be to manage time; we had to consider family, friends, work, and ourselves.

Now we have to consider emails, websites, advertising, marketing, and other key factors that are including in businesses today.

At one time in our lives, we went to work for eight hours and returned home.

Now we go to work and it is never determined what our workload will include.

Time management is critical for saving us from headaches, heartaches, and other types of pressures. When we manage our time accordingly, we seem to function well in society and at home.

The flood of data that passes us each day via the Internet has changed the entire outlook of time management in the last few decades. When we go to work, we often have to sift through a pile of emails, sorting to find out which ones matter the most.

Sometimes we may stumble upon emails that surprises or interest us. This is not good!

Time management means to spend your time wisely, and if you are sitting around reading an interesting email, where is your time going?

The fact is most advertising are slicks that draw us into a world of fantasy. We often stare into the hands of something that lures us deeper into its web, and if we decide to act on the slick, we often find ourselves regretting the stupidity of acting.

Don’t find yourself saying, “I regret this action.” Rather find yourself saying, “Darn it was a wonderful day.” Life is way too short to waste precious time. When you are drawn away by flaky advertisings, your time is consumed, and your job, family, friends, and you suffer.

Surfing the web is another source that can take our time and toss it out the door.

When we are surfing the web, many interesting topics may confront us. Or, sometimes we see pop-ups that distract us from our intentional goal. Pop-ups for the most part are consistent fakes that interest the human eye, in an effort to distract us from the real world.

The interesting topics on the Internet can benefit us in many ways, but if we are at work, our main focus should be work. Once we finish our job, and other tasks are not scheduled on our list, then we can browse the World Wide Net with freedom.

We can also consider the chat room. Some companies make available chat rooms for their employees. This is good if you are using the program for work, but many of us are caught up in a game of cat and mouse. The chat rooms are so appealing at times, that it makes us want to stay on for hours.

Chatting is a source of communication, which is good, but if the time you are spending in the chat room is not making progress, what is your purpose?

To obtain sufficient time management, you need to avoid the areas that consume, and focus on the areas that make you zoom.

About the Author: Do you want to get rid of your dreadful “time-wasting” habits and start doing things in an organized, efficient manner? Take a few minutes and I’ll show you how to quickly and effectively get more done in a week than what most people can accomplish in a month! Just visit this FREE website at: http://www.time-management-tips-techniques.info

Source: www.isnare.com

Are you content with your online advertising expenses?  If not, schedule a coaching session with DeAnna Spencer.  She will design an affordable online advertising plan for your business.  Visit her small business resource site today for more details.

This Week’s Time Management Tip.

This week’s time management tip
Write it down.  I can’t tell you how many times I have missed an important event because I forgot to write it down.
Even if you have a pda, you still need to have a paper calendar.  What if your pda gets fried or something happens to your hard drive?
Always write your schedule down.  You’ll be more likely to remember what it is that you have to do that day.

Are you content with your online advertising expenses? Schedule a coaching session with DeAnna Spencer today. She’ll create an affordable online advertising plan for your business. Visit her small business website today for more information.

Efficient Blogging

Efficient Blogging

By Jim Estill

One of the challenges of blogging is to come up with good posts that interest readers and keep them coming back. Sometimes I do not feel like I have good original wisdom. It is presumptuous to think I can have top quality original material all the time.

A second challenge is the time to blog. I run a $1 Billion dollar company so when I decided to blog I knew I needed to figure out how to do it efficiently. My blog is mostly about efficiency and time management; these are topics I study.

These two challenges can be solved with a simple concept. Copy.

Ideas to use when copying are:

1 – attribution. Give the credit together with the link to the original author.

2 – look for something you can add to. Blogs can be synergistic. Take a concept or part of a blog post and expend on it and give your opinions, insights or views. In many cases, this can start a flow of ideas that are enriched from the original post.

3 – You can use either the whole post or most usually just part of it and point people to the original.

4 – I usually ask for permission which has never been denied. After all copying helps the original author and garners them some readership. And of course never copy copywritten material without permission (and most blogs are not copy written).

5 – The simplest place to find material to use to copy is by blog surfing although this can mean a lot of irrelevant material to filter. One source of free articles sorted by topic is www.isnare.com.

6 – In many cases the person you copy from will point a link back to you since it is flattering to them. Charles Caleb Colton said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” (one trick on quotes is to look them up on www.brainyquote.com). These links to you can increase your traffic.

In summary, copying saves time and increases the quality of material on your site. It can even lead to traffic since in many cases you will get link backs from the original site.

About the Author: Jim Estill is CEO of SYNNEX Canada a $1 Billion distributor of computer products. He is also a regular blogger at http://jimestill.blogspot.com/

Source: www.isnare.com

Are you content with your online advertising expenses? Schedule a coaching session with DeAnna Spencer today. She will design an affordable online advertising campaign for your business. Visit her small business site for more details.

5 Tips For Balancing Work and Home

5 Tips For Balancing Work And Home

By Craig Rowe

Most people understand how difficult it can be to balance their work and home lives once they get married and have children. Somehow it seems that work life or home life is always encroaching on the other and causing problems at work, at home, and many times both. However the following five tips are great options to help with balancing work and home.

Make a Schedule

The best thing to do when trying to balance work and home is to make a schedule. Know how much time you have and schedule your work time and your home time. Then, you will know when you need to schedule work and home events. This will make your life significantly easier and you will know which activities fit into which time frame. Just make sure you stick to your schedule.

Share Responsibilities

Many times work and home responsibilities can become overwhelming because one spouse is handling more of the responsibilities than the other. So, learn to share responsibilities at home and each spouse can be responsible for their work. Also, older children should have some home responsibilities as well to help parents balance work and home.

Leave Work at Work

Balancing home and work can be difficult because it is so easy to take work home. If you really want to balance work and home then you will always leave work at work and keep home a sacred place for family and home activities.

Dedicate Weekends to Home Activities

A great way to keep home and work separate is to always focus on home activities during weekends, or at least on days off from work if you happen to work on weekends. When certain days are home days and other days are work days then it makes balancing work and home considerably easier.

Plan

The best way to balance work and home is to always make a plan. There are tons of tips that will help you, but there is nothing like making a plan and then following the plan to really balance work and home. It might be difficult, but if you have it planned out and follow the plan you will be surprised how easy you can find a balance.

About the Author: SearchArticles.net features thousands of articles and tips including hundreds of tips and information for telecommuters and self-employed workers. Visit http://www.searcharticles.net for more articles on working from home.

Source: www.isnare.com

Are you content with your online advertising expenses?  Schedule a coaching session with DeAnna Spencer today and she’ll design an affordable advertising plan for your small business.  Visit her small business resource site today for more details.

Time Management Tips For a Successful Life

Time Management Tips For A Successful Life

By Roy Thomsitt

The application of time management skills has tended, in the past, to be thought of as something that is for business life only. In reality, though, time management is something from which we can all benefit in our personal lives as well, and in the art of marrying our working lives with our home and social lives.

Those benefits show in a number of ways, including health, well being and satisfaction with our lives overall. Manage your time well, and you can feel in control of your life, rather than letting events control you. There is no single “method” of time management, either in business or personal life. However, there are various time management tips and techniques, practices and theories, which it is worth knowing about.

Acquiring time management skills is something we can set about doing in a methodical way. Really, we all practice time management whether we know it or not. It is more a matter of whether we do it well or badly. The following tips are for improving time management skills, building on those that you will naturally have. Even primitive man used time management, it was just a lot simpler in those days. Time had to be allocated for hunting, and that time had to be used to the fullest effect possible to survive.

Here are just a few time management tips:

1. Before learning any techniques to help you manage your time, have a clear idea of what you are setting out to achieve. Give yourself the opportunity to get your life in some sort of order so that you can both enjoy it to the full and succeed to the full. If you just apply time management to areas of your life that do not really matter to you, then you will not be progressing at a personal level.

2. Get your priorities clear in your mind, so that they are a natural part of you. This will need to become a habit to be very effective, and you will need to apply prioritizing over a number of time spans. Your long term success will probably depend on your being able to prioritize what you need to do to achieve that success. However, to use your time well on a particular day, you need to start the day with a clear idea of your priorities. that also applies to the week, the month and the year. Your priorities for the shorter period must always feed positively into the priorities in the next longer period, and so on, so that each time period is mapped out with priorities that lead to your ultimate success.

3. When assessing priorities, be ruthless with parts of your life that are not contributing to your longer term goals. Removing the areas of your life where you are wasting time, will free up more time for you to apply to reaching your goals.

4. Always be sure to build your health and enjoyment into any plans. Time for relaxation and exercise are critical to your long term achievements; always make time for proper meals, and keep to a healthy but enjoyable diet. Time management is not an exercise in being macho with your business life; it is an opportunity to build a balanced life for yourself and your family.

5. Once you have set your priorities for any period, write them down and refer to them from time to time, updating them if necessary. Should you appear to be failing, examine why, and reset and reinforce your goals and priorities. It is too easy to slip back into bad habits that inhibit your progress.

6. Be sure to keep a diary and use it to plan out each day, week, month. There are all sorts of electronic gizmos, online planners, software etc to act as aids to your time management. Personally, I think a good old fashioned diary is just as good, if not better. About 18 months ago I reverted to using a traditional diary to plan my working time. That forces me to get away from the computer, even for a few minutes, and think what my priorities are, and what I need to be reminded about.

If you can become better at time management, you will find your life more satisfying and less stressful, as well as being able to achieve greater things. For millions of people, life just sweeps them along in a torrent of activity, or inactivity, over which they have little or no control. That can be very stressful, unhealthy, inefficient, and demoralising over the long term. There is nothing quite like controlling your own destiny to reduce stress and aid success.

About the Author: This time management article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement website.

Source: www.isnare.com

Are you content with your online advertising expenses? Schedule a coaching session with DeAnna Spencer today. She’ll create an affordable online advertising plan for your small business.
Visit her small business resource site today for more details.

Finding Rest For The Direct Sales Company Mom

Finding Rest For The Direct Sales Company Mom

By Annette Yen

When you’re a hard working mom with a Direct Sales business it’s very easy to find one day that life is completely out of balance with the scales tipped deep toward the business and everything else hanging on to the other end for dear life. Because I have seen many a mom burn out of direct sales as a result of this chaotic unbalance, I want to encourage you, Direct Sales Mom, to find a Sabbath rest for yourself and your business.

A while back our family decided, rather radically, to take the truth of a Sabbath rest seriously, mostly because we believe the 10 commandments are still that – commandments. And since the fourth commandment of “remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy” falls between the third and fifth commandments it’s just as valid as “Thou shalt not commit adultery”.

This wasn’t as easy as it sounds. It was, however, one of the most freeing things I’ve ever done personally and direct sales-wise. Before it’s time to hit the pillow on Saturday night, I make a deliberate effort to make sure all “work” is done and shut down the computer until Monday. My voice mail message, my email and my instant message programs all are automatically set to respond with something like, "Sorry I missed you. I’ll get back to you on Monday."

Imagine, a whole day, spent in rest and enjoyment. No thinking about my direct sales business. No “to do” lists. No endless emails, checking inventory, filing paperwork, making up hostess packets. Nothing at all having to do with work.

Even if you’re not one who believes in the bible, that just makes a whole bunch of sense. Your family needs to you take a rest from the work. Your customers need you to refresh for 24 hours so you can serve them with gusto starting again on Monday morning. YOU need the break to renew your mind, however that looks for you, and to take time to smell the flowers… or even plant them if that’s relaxing for you.

The focus of the biblical command is that of holiness…focusing your mind for that whole period on God and His glory. I have to admit, that is still a struggle for me. I fight to keep my mind at rest and I still spend much of my Sunday thinking about what I’m going to do on Monday. But I can’t even describe how wonderful it is to not even have the option to act on it. Instead of running up to my computer “just one more time”, I can take a nap. Instead of mulling over a design for a flyer, planning my next party or answering downline emails, I can read the bible or another great book… one that has nothing to do with Direct Sales, downline management, business building ideas or sales tactics!

And you know what else? On Monday morning I get up ready to hit it hard. Yes, my inbox is full of emails, but it’s a delight to look through them, actually read them instead of skimming, and answer with a refreshed mind. My family is happy, my customers are happy, I am happy… and I like to think that God is pleased at my efforts as well.

About the Author: Annette Yen is the rested Direct Sales mom who loves helping other moms find their niche in the Direct Sales field and make it work for their families. Visit Annette’s blog for more tips on making the most of your Direct Sales business and sign up for her email newsletter at http://www.sailingtosuccess.com .

Source: www.isnare.com

Are you content with your online advertising expenses?  Schedule a coaching session with DeAnna Spencer today.  She’ll design an affordable advertising plan for your small business.  Visit her small business resource site today for more details.