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Is Busyness Getting in the Way of Your Marketing?
October 19th, 2007
Is "Busyness" Getting in the Way of Your Marketing?
Time management plays a critical role in the survival and success of your business. Managing your "business time" effectively makes it easier for you to consistently market your business…and generate the profits essential for growth.
Marketing is everything you do to make your target audience aware of your product/service. It convinces your target market that you provide what they want. It sets up the strategy for the path of least resistance to closing the sale. In other words all the activities leading to the sale.
Entrepreneurs frequently find themselves dealing with the day to day stuff of running their business. This results in putting marketing on the back burner because of the lack of time.
5 ways to manage your time for better marketing and sales results
1. A wise internet marketer once told me to clearly define my target market and identify what an ideal client looks and acts like. Describe them in writing and add plenty of details to the picture. Well worth the effort and time because it really simplifies your marketing efforts.
2. The sales funnel is a great tool in effectively using your marketing time. Comparing the sales process to a funnel, a prospect starts at the top of the funnel (the widest part) and then works through a system to reach the narrow part where they become a customer. By using the sales funnel, you can gauge your marketing activities and quantify your prospects at each stage of the process. Create your sales funnel and define the activities needed to keep it full.
3. Put the law of accumulation on your side. An accumulation of tiny efforts that start slow but eventually snowballs and continues to grow while gathering momentum.
Block 15 minutes a day to do something that keeps your sales funnel full. Just 15 minutes for five days a week equals one hour and fifteen minutes of marketing time. That’s five hours a month devoted strictly to marketing your business. Doing a little bit everyday will produce great results. Consistently do those activities to keep adding to your sales funnel.
4. Another way to keep your funnel full is to devote time to follow up. We often forget about the follow up… make it part of your sales funnel activities. Decide how much of your business schedule you will devote to follow up marketing.
5. Not all marketing actions are created equal. Do the 20% that brings the greatest results. When you consistently devote time to market your business, you begin to discover patterns. Some will produce better results with less effort and time than other activities. Blocking 30 minutes every week to review your marketing efforts can speed passage through your sales funnel.
NOTE: Don’t confuse advertising with marketing. Your marketing plan should include some advertising. Marketing discovers what your client wants and you give it to them…provided it doesn’t fall into the realm of illegal; immoral; or fattening!
Tracking, testing and reviewing your marketing activities will show what works best for your business.
Perhaps you devote a half hour a week to one activity and half hour on another but one produces 20% more sales. Which would one you prefer to devote your marketing time doing?
It’s important to your business success not to let the "busyness" take over and squeeze out time for marketing. Each week devote time to keeping your sales funnel full and improve your sales by focusing on your top marketing activities.
entrepreneur marketing time Read the Story behind the sunglass |  "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
#8 -Time Management Quick Tip
October 18th, 2007
Flip Your Time - Time Management Booster #8
The 10 Minute Investment
Invest 10 minutes at the end of the day preparing for tomorrow. Use this strategy to give you a head start on the day.
Put everything together you will need, adjust your daily achievement list and arrange your activities from high productive to low productive.
The next day you can dive right into your activities without thinking about them.
The Daily 10 Minute Investment Habit ensures you stay focused on the most important activities.
Read the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
5 “Getting Started” Strategies for Using Facebook to Grow Your Business
October 15th, 2007
5 "Getting Started" Strategies for Using Facebook to Grow Your Business
Did you know the number way to build a solid profitable business is through relationships?
Social networking sites provides an excellent opportunity to connect, make friends and develop relationships. Using them can get overwhelming, especially when you don’t know where to start.
Thanks to my awesome coach Deb Micek, I cut through the learning curve and finally got "pimped out" on my space and began building relationships. http://www.myspace.com/timediva
Next thing Deb suggested is Facebook. I created an account months ago but didn’t do anything with it. I figure I’d make Deb a friend now and deal setting it up in a few weeks. Other higher priority items on the agenda right now.
"Flip Your Time-Quick Tip™"
Set regular times like 2 or 3 times a day to check your email.
I checked my email and discovered a "Friends Request" for Trevor Crook. Come on.. I just made Deb my friend. Seems we have a mutual friend in Deb.
Checking out Trevor’s profile, I went Oh My Gosh (OMG), and decided I better get mine put together real quick. Thanks to Trevor’s inspiration and sending me a few apps, my profile page happened quickly.
In less than 24 hours I connected with 18 friends, got invited to a Hawaiian luau, got "leid" celebrated a birthday, sent drinks and gifts to my top friends, joined some groups, and post on friends walls.
And there are still friends request to waiting approval… Needless to say I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and excited. It happened fast.
These Five Strategies can help you get started on Facebook.com
1. Create your account and set your privacy settings
Web Worker Daily give some great advice on privacy settings
I also recommend using an email address strictly for all your social networking. Scott Allen, author of Virtual Handshake, wrote an excellent article on how to make your email address work for you
2. Set up your Profile.
Most of it, you use drop down menus but your personal part requires some thought. You only need to include a couple of items for each section now. You can go back and tweak it later. These sections include: Interest, Music, Movies, TV, Books, Quotes and About Me. The about me can include your 30 second commercial and web address. Don’t forget to upload your photo.
3. Personalize Your Profile Page
You’ll find thousands of applications to customize your profile page. Don’t go crazy. Start with a few… try these recommendations
- Profile Web Address – give you simple url
- A Free Gift- instead of paying for gifts
- Top Friends – display your top friends
- Welcome Friends – a personalized welcome
- Snapvine – audio messages/comments
Remember the Key is to Build Relationships
4. Find Friends
You’ll be amazed at the number friends that already exist on Facebook. You can use "Find Friends" to start locating people you already know.
Join a couple of groups like the Pay it Forward for Entrepreneurs and invite group members.
5. Strategy Plan
People start accepting your invitation… now what? You want to build relationships not collect friends.
So engage them.
- Send a welcome/thank you email.
- Send them a "new friends" gift.
- Post on their wall. –very important
- Invite them to post on your wall
- Block dedicated time each day to interact.
That’s enough to get you started. Still in the learning process myself. So far I like Facebook over Myspace. It’s easier to connect and stay in touch.
Since I’m part of the Pay it Forward Entrepreneur Group… I’m paying it forward to Trevor for his help… visit his site http://www.trevorcrook.com/ get a free gift
Don’t forget to stop by and make a friends request.
http://profile.to/annrusnak/
Read the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
10 Ten Time Management Tips to Keep Your Children and Business Happy
October 11th, 2007
10 Ten Time Management Tips to Keep Your Children and Business Happy
You decide to join the growing ranks of women starting a business. You soon discover running a successful home-based business with your children can make you feel like a hamster trapped on an exercise wheel.
This can leave you feeling frazzled and frustrated when caring for your children interferes with the time you think you should spend on your home- based business. Time management books seem to neglect this issue totally.
These 10 tips can help you meet the needs of both your business and children and get you off the hamster wheel.
1. Reality Check
There’s a big difference between being with your children during the evenings and on the weekends and being with them ALL day EVERY day.
When you worked, somebody else took care of your children’s needs and demands during the day. Reality is you traded your full time job for another full time job, stay at home mom, plus added the extra demands of a home business.
2. Organize Your Home Business Hours
Arrange your business hours to accommodate your children’s needs. The younger your children, the more time they require.
Drop the 9-5 working mentality. You are the boss now. Take advantage of the ability to set your own hours to your advantage .You may only work on your business two or three hours a day. At the end of the week, those hours add up.
Set up a business rules… for example: You work from 2 to 4 p.m. and nobody interrupts you except for emergencies.
3. Ask the Spouse for Help
Get your spouse to spend an hour or two with the children in the evening. If he works outside the home during the day, this is his opportunity to invest in some quality time with them. He can read stories, play games, help with homework and get them ready for bed.
Set a timer to work on business activities during this time slot. Once the time goes off, stop and enjoy the rest of the evening with your spouse.
4. Baby sitting Swap
Connect with another women business owner and form a “kid swap.” One day a week or month watch each others children. This give you dedicated, uninterrupted time for your business
5. Hire a Babysitter
Hire a teenager or pre-teen to watch you children a couple hours in the afternoon. Use this time to return phone calls and meet with clients.
6. Children Transportation Services
Larger metro areas usually offer some type of “children transportation” service.
These services specialize in providing car transportation that fit your children’s needs. They can pick your children up and take them to day care or school, community and recreation centers, tennis, baseball, football, and soccer practice, or to music lessons.
This service was a big time saver for me. They picked my daughter up from figure skating and took her to school in the morning.
7. Establish Clock Boundaries
In addition to establishing business hours, set boundaries for family and personal time.
Scheduling regular time with your family will help you avoid getting too obsessed with the demands of your business.
Your children like routine and will respect your business boundary if they know you’ll spend time with them at “quitting” time.
8. Involve Your Children
Your children can do small jobs for you in your business. It makes them feel important and boost their self confidence while learning responsibility. Check into the possibility of deducting their salary on your taxes
9. Children Live in the House Too
Yes, you children can do household chores too. Give them assigned tasks to do. Even 3 year olds can put their toys away. Expecting them to do their share provides valuable lessons that they can carry into their adulthood.
10. Prepare for the Unexpected
What do you do when your child becomes sick at school and you got a client meeting? Put some contingency plans in place for those last minute notices. Prearrange with friends, family member or neighbors who can come to your rescue on short notice.
children home based business home business time management women business ownerRead the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
18 Reasons for Procrastination
October 11th, 2007
18 Reasons for Procrastination
Everybody does it to some extent.
It causes severe repercussions for your business/career and personal life.
It is the most common problem, the "Biggest Enemy"in maximizing your time.
Procrastination!
Procrastination is a bad habit. A habit that results in wasted time, missed opportunities, poor performance and increased stress.
Not to mention that it erodes your self esteem and self confidence.
What is procrastination?
Simply - "Avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished."
Procrastination robs us of our time, keeps us from achieving our goals, and deprives us of increasing our profits and income…..
….Why do we indulge in such self-defeating behavior?
There are numerous reasons for procrastinating. Here are the most common:
1. Information Overload:
Today information comes at us faster than the speed of light. Too much information often leads to…
2. Not Knowing Where To Start:
It’s hard to start something and finish if you don’t know where or how to begin. Many times the inability to begin leads to…
3. Disorganization:
You can’t find information or the things you need to begin the task. Disorganization can cause…
4. Lack of Concentration:
Have you ever tried to finish a task when you can’t concentrate? Very difficult.
No wonder you don’t liked doing what is needed. One of the reasons you can’t concentrate is because you are experiencing…
5. Lack of Focus:
No direction or goal to keep your mind focused on the task. When you are unfocused, you probably have…
6. Lack of Motivation:
No compelling reason or sense of urgency to start or complete the project. Lack of motivation can come from…
7. Lack of Energy:
Do you feel like doing anything when you are tired? Maybe you are tired and don’t have any energy because of…
8. Boredom:
Yawn!!!…The task could be boring because there is no creativity involved. Nothing to excite you to get going or it could be boring because it is…
9. Unpleasant:
YUK…it is human nature to avoid doing unpleasant things. No fun. But are you making it unpleasant because you strive for…
10. Perfectionism:
Everything has to be just right…add too much detail…can’t have any mistakes… The task is never completed because it is never perfect. Can’t start either unless everything is perfect in the beginning. Perfectionism is a sign of you being…
11. Highly Critical:
Are you constantly criticizing what you do? It’s never good enough? You never can do anything right? Are you being critical and can’t start because of your…
12. Fear of Failure:
Making mistakes is unacceptable. If you don’t start, you can’t make a mistake. You can’t fail…Fear of failure isn’t the only fear that holds us back and causes procrastination, so does…
13. Fear of Success:
The opposite of failure. Often the reason for both fear of failure and fear of success is…
14. Low Self Esteem :
You don’t believe you can do it. You don’t feel worthy or good about yourself. So why begin in the first place. Low self esteem can come from…
15. Personal Problems:
Your life is a mess. You have health issues, perhaps even relationship problems. Maybe you lost your job. You have financial problems. Whatever it is, who wants to start something new with all this "stuff"going on? Some problems are unavoidable or you have no control over them. It does make it difficult to start or finish a project. But some problems are self inflicted because…
16. You Don’t Understand Your Personal Style:
You are trying to be somebody you are not…living up to somebody else’s standards. You may be working against your peak hours. What kind of environment do you work best in?
Do you feel like you are constantly working against yourself? Do you feel like nothing ever turns out right anyway, so why bother? Do you begin to get impatient? If you are impatient, you probably have the…
17. Inability to Delay Gratification:
You do what you want to do, when you want to do it, instead of doing what needs to be done. One of the reasons is you…
18. Lack Control:
Don’t have the discipline to finish what you started? What causes this lack of control? The inability to start and complete a task. Well, it could be because….
Just pick any reason from the list and repeat!
Every one of us suffers from procrastination syndrome at one time or another. The goal is not to let procrastination take over and rule your life.
Best Cure of Procrastination….A-C-T-I-O-N *
|
A |
= |
Ability To Do It |
|
C |
= |
Change |
|
T |
= |
Tenacity To Stick With It |
|
I |
= |
Intention Is To - - - - |
|
0 |
= |
Ongoing Process To Overcome Obstacles |
|
N |
= |
Now Is The Time To Start. |
NOTE:
The majority of people procrastinate as a result of bad habits accumulated over their lifetime. For some, it can be a psychological disorder. If you feel that your procrastination is more that just a bad habit, you should seek the help of a professional.
ProcrastinationRead the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
7-Time Management Quick Tip
October 11th, 2007
Flip Your Time - Time Management Strategy #7
Create a Master Deadline File
Use this file to organize and meet each and every deadline in a timely manner.
You will likely get to work on the project with an impending deadline in the near future.
With a deadline file, you will know where you stand at all times with any on-going projects. Knowing what’s completed, still needs completing and when it’s due. deadline project time management
Read the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
Randy Pausch - Dying Professors Inspiring Last Lecture
September 25th, 2007
A Dying Professor’s Final Lecture on Acheiving Childhood Dreams
My coach sent me a link today on the story and video about Randy Pausch featured on the Wall Street Journal site. So inspiring I, forward it to my clients.
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, is dying from pancreatic cancer and gave his last lecture at the university on September 18, 2007.
In his inspiring and moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch shares the lessons he learned and gives advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.
I loved hearing how his parents let him draw on the walls. Reminiscent of how we let and encourage our daughter do pretty much what she desired. As long it was harmful, illegal or life threating.
Below is the Wall Street Journal video.
You can listen to his full Randy’s Pausch final lecture on You Tube but the word is out about this inspiring lecture. I kept running into long delays and skipping.
But I did find that this You Tube user split the Randy’s Pausch lecture video into
12 smaller segments. I’m able to open and download them quicker to my computer. I like the bite size 10 minute pieces.
You can also check out this site for other various Pausch video formats
Enjoy and please share your thoughts about this Randy Pauschs lecture.
Carnegie Mellon inspiring lecture randy pausch Wall Street JournalRead the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
Did You See a Dot?
September 25th, 2007
Did You See A Dot?
What did you see? A Dot?
When this quiz was given at a seminar, I too stared and stared at the page trying to figure out what the "trick" was?
I saw a dot… oops… if you said a dot… don’t feel bad. Most of us are conditioned to see only the dot.
Kudos to Chris who posted in the comment section "
I see a black dot on a white ground."
That’s right. The majority of what is there is a white background. The white background represents the bigger picture.
People often miss the big picture that life can offer because they consistently focus on the dot.
Signs of "Dot Focus" can include:
- complaining
- dissatisfaction
- negative outlook
If you find yourself caught in the clutches of "Dot Focus", stop… take a deep breath and express gratitude for all you have, no matter how small.
Life it to short to waste time on dots.
focus waste timeRead the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
It Can Happen Anytime… What would you do?
September 12th, 2007
It Can Happen Anytime… What would you do?
What would you do if your computer crashed… Its a fact of computer life.
Mine did right after our Accelerate Your Success beta team call Monday…
These four strategies my save you time and much grief.
1. Do you have a "techie" you can call to come out and fix the problem. If you don’t, make friends with one. Preferably someone who will come to your office.
2. The data… your worst nightmare when a computer crashes or becomes possessed… loosing the data.
I’m sure you hear it all the time… back up your data… horrors if I lost my email, my browser bookmarks, my skype files, my ftp information, etc.
The majority of my files sits on an 500 GB external drive, but the above information resides on the computer hard drive.
3. Software… if you need to re-install the software, do you know where it is? do you have the serial number and activation codes?
I purchase software online (great money saver) and download it. Often comes as a zip file. I keep a copy of the zip file on a cd. I save the activation codes on a text file and include it on the disc. Along with a printed copy of the email that came with download.
All my downloaded and store purchased software is kept in a fire proof lock box (safe). Including the operating system.
Some of your hardware comes with disc… don’t loose those. If you had your hardware for while, you may want to check for current drivers.
If you purchased upgrades, don’t pitch the original. You’ll need it, the upgrade won’t work with out it or least without the original serial number.
4. Window users... did you know operating system comes with back up feature?
I didn’t. I manually copy my "critical" information over to the external drive.
It’s very simple to set up:
Hit start, select programs… select accessories… select system tools… select back up…
With this crash, my techie needed to re-format the computer by wiping it clean and starting over.
While it took him a good part of the day to restore the computer and many of the programs… while it’s taking me several days to re-install the software… I did loose several days of using the computer (talk about withdrawal) but didn’t loose any data.
My coach said he installed a program called "Ghost" after his computer problems… it’s suppose to take a snapshot of your programs… eliminates the need to re-install them.
If your computer crashed or got a mind of it’s own… what did you do? What measure and precautions did you put place just in case…
computer crashRead the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
Is That My Voice?
September 6th, 2007
Is That My Voice?
A special thanks to Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand for her recent interview with me.
Networking does pay off… I met Anna at Penny Haynes Podcast Event, formed a relationship and she invited me to become one of her guest speaker for The Engaging Brand Podcast.
Learn more about time management, how to improve your productivity, shares tips for leaders on how to manage their time to create business success by checking out the interview at The Engaging Brand Podcast
(http://www.totcgo.com/engagingbrand)
Read the Story behind the sunglass | "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com