Millions of people each day are trying to keep up with the pace of life and trying desperately to squeeze in pleasurable “down” time – whether that means quality time with family and friends or simple alone time.
It’s difficult enough trying to manage our time with working long hours, running various errands, and carpooling the kids all over, but now we have to factor in time for unlimited texting, countless emails and endless voicemails. It appears no matter where we turn, something is competing for our time and leaving our personal time on the back burner.
Our new technology that has promised to make our lives easier now seems to take more of our time in the most unexpected ways, which can create not only learning
curve challenges but built-in distractions.
For example, have you ever noticed how you can go to great lengths to map out your day the night before, and then upon rising the following morning, with all good intentions mind you, you open up your phone or computer, and then bam, you read a text or email and your whole day can get derailed.
When did we begin to allow our inbox to dictate the course of our day and technology to govern our schedule? I am not advocating that we toss our laptops, BlackBerry’s and phones aside, they certainly are tools that can enhance our lives when used constructively. However, there is this aspect of “addict” ability instead of predictability that seems to seep in every now and then, creating an illusion on what the tool’s real purpose is.
I mean, the idea is that they are supposed to help us, isn’t it?
So how do we overcome these obstacles and prevent them from becoming intrusions in our lives?
I think in order to work towards a balanced life, we first must figure out where we are spending our time, and by doing so, we will be able to see clearly where we have been defining our priorities. Once we begin to look at where our time goes, we will get a new perspective on making the necessary changes for a more balanced life.
List it
Make a list of all the activities you do during the course of a day and then write next to each one the amount of time you spend on each task.
Time it
From the amount of hours you calculated from your time list, prioritize them according to the most time you spend on each, putting the most hours spent first.
Check it
Now ask yourself the following questions:
Am I happy with the way I am spending my time?
Are my priorities in alignment with the way I want to spend my time?
Does my life look balanced?
Most people find they spend anywhere from 50-70 percent of their time on their work and the remaining time is spent on family activities and chores.
I am curious about something – did you include the time you spend checking your emails, texting and talking on the phone or did you factor that time in with everything else?
Take action
Now that you know where you are spending most of your time, you are ready to take the action to change the course of your busy life.
For example, if you are looking for more peace and quiet, honor that request by giving yourself permission to have “me time.”
Whether you choose to ignore your emails for a bit, shut your phone off for a while, take a walk, or simply read, creating this new priority for yourself will help to ensure your peace of mind.
When with family and friends, try to be present without distractions. If you are not ready to leave your phone aside, then try silencing it, or re-programming it for a
“special” ring for urgent matters only. This will help wean the “addict” ability factor.
Find balance
Finding strategies and solutions to compliment our lifestyle, not complicate it, is what we are seeking. We are not after perfection here, but we are seeking a fine balance. Sometimes subtle changes can be the most powerful.
Patricia Diesel, who is passionate about helping individuals overcome their organizational challenges, is the founder of Keep It Simple Now, and author of “A Simple Guide to an Organized Life” and “Uncluttered,” her acclaimed weekly newspaper column.
Connecting with blogs that serve your audience is one of the best ways to Create Fame (and make money) fast! Blogs allow you go straight to where your market has already gathered online.
Try to befriend three bloggers in your space or industry. You should look for blogs that serve your buyers – whether it’s small businesses, stay-at-home dads, or skateboard enthusiasts. Whoever you sell to, I promise someone is blogging for them! (Finding these blogs is easy–google is your best friend!)
If you aren’t already following blogs in your market start with a small gesture – leave a comment or tweet to the owner of the blog introducing yourself.
If you’re already on the blogger’s radar, take the next step of sending them a personal email. Don’t try to be “strategic”, just be friendly.
Tell them who you are, and why you like their blog. If you aren’t sure what to write, start with “I’ve been reading your blog for a while and just wanted to introduce myself, I’m _____ “. Don’t over think this one!
adjective: self-employed and hired to work for different companies on particular assignments.
I’m just going to come out and say it: I hate the word freelance. Although the definition above fits the way I (and many of you) work, I much prefer the terms consultant, business owner, self employed, or entrepreneur to describe the manner in which I make a living.
That’s because to me, the word freelance suggests working without a plan. It suggests that I work a bit, but not a lot; that I get paid, but don’t make a steady income; or that I float and do things on a whim. For many of us, a lack of structure, reliability or intention are not characteristics we want to be associated with our work. One of the best ways to ensure that doesn’t happen is to replace the notion of “free” with thoughtfulness, strategy and focus. Even if you’re one person, working a few billable hours a week, you can still be doing so with intention. You can minimize the chance that people will perceive you’re floating along, and maximize the credibility and respect they give you instead. How? By having a business plan. Written by you, for you.
You see, if you’re consciously working toward a vision, the benefits of being self-employed increase exponentially. The passion, creativity, authenticity, and flexibility it brings you is harnessed in a meaningful way. Even if your consulting business is comprised of a small team, the same principle still applies. Instead of being a collective group of freelancers, you can be a cohesive group on a mission!
Here are some tips to help get you started on planning your way from a freelancer to mindful consultant:
Identify your values
List the qualities you appreciate in others, the distinct things about you that you wish everyone would appreciate, and the beliefs that guide the way you approach your work. For example, the importance of a positive attitude, an open mind, respect for others, and asking questions all have a place in my business plan. They are the constants I want to experience in the workplace I’ve created.
Embrace your dos and don’ts
Think about what leads you to your happy place. What conditions have to be there for you to work at your best – whether that means being innovative, efficient, funny, or strategic? In my business plan, I have two-page chart, with dos in one column and don’ts in another. My most natural way of working is described in detail here, and it serves as a great tool for assessing whether opportunities are a good fit for me.
Create a client wish list
If there are organizations or people you admire and would love to serve, write them down! It’s that simple. A wish list can provide inspiration on days you’re feeling lost and help focus your business development and marketing efforts. Plus, it’s a great conversation starter. By discussing your wish list, you’ll be showing to others and yourself that you’re working with intention. It will help you build confidence and will increase the chances that you’ll come across an “in” to one of your dream clients!
Set targets
Even if they become irrelevant before they’re achieved, having a few targets in mind will help you fix your gaze on future possibilities. For example, when I first launched my business, I set the goal of working with two clients from my wish list within the first year. By acknowledging that’s what success looked like, I was able to go after it with gusto (and, celebrate when I got there!). I’d suggest referring to your targets often to re-evaluate if they’re still meaningful to you and figure out what else you could be doing to get closer to them.
Keep an eye on the present
The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you can constantly grow and evolve. I’m not suggesting that you create a plan for being stuck. If you need to make a change to continue to feel alive, successful or authentic, do it! You can revisit your plan as often as you need to. Updating your plan should become part of the process every time you move toward a noteworthy change. Right now, my plan represents my long-term vision, and grouping my steps forward into three-month chunks is working for me. The key is to find a balance between the future and the present that works for you.
Write it down
Whatever you do, be sure to write your plan down rather than keep it all in your head. You’re bound to lose site of your vision when you’re discouraged, tired, overworked, or worried. Since these are the times when you need vision the most, you need to be able to refer to it easily and completely. Verbalizing your plans and keeping them in one place creates a whole new level of accountability and inspiration.
If the idea of creating guidelines for yourself makes your skin crawl, don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you become rigid. Oh no; I’m all for the pursuit of freedom and flexibility! I’m simply saying that whatever your ultimate goal, you can create a plan for achieving it. Now matter how big or small your ambitions, you can achieve them sooner if you consciously work toward a specific, well-documented vision. Even if the words are never read by anyone other than yourself!
Laura Melanson is the strategist and storyteller behind Red Balloon Relations, an ideation and creative writing boutique that combines emotion and strategy to help people challenge their status quo.
Hey Laura Roeder here. By popular demand, I’m making you a video letting you know what I think about the new Facebook deals and the impact it’ll have on the small business. So I am a very excited about Facebook deals.
If you don’t know what Facebook deals are, that’s the new feature where you can be in a working mode of business, pop up on Facebook on your phone, your Blackberry or your iPhone, check in, say I’m here I’m here at Peter’s Coffee Shop and then you get some special discount for being there. You get the free coffee, you get the 20 percent off or a lot of them are doing the donation thing or donating a dollar to this cause.
So if you’ve heard of tracking services like Foursquare or Gowalla, it’s the same thing but it’s on Facebook. But here’s why it’s exciting that it’s on Facebook. People use Facebook. Facebook has achieved that critical mass and that critical mass is so important for both users and for marketing.
Something that tell people a lot is don’t worry about keeping up with the latest and greatest social media site because as a business, you don’t care about it until the audience is there, right? Unless your audience is super techies that are the first early adopters of everything, you don’t really care about the technology until everybody is using it because for your business, it’s like you don’t want to advertise on the TV show that ten people are watching.
You want to advertise on a TV show that your million customers are watching and the million people or way more than that, are already on Facebook. The problem with Foursquare is, it all works but it’s sort of useless unless everybody is already on Foursquare. You can check in and your friends can see but unless your friends are on Foursquare, they can’t see it and not that many people are on Foursquare.
It’s really hard to achieve this critical mass. Facebook has clearly emerged as the leader that everybody is on right now. Who knows what’ll happen in the future? But this is really important for business because that means, when somebody checks in their friends actually do see that they’re checking in because their friends actually are on Facebook.
Facebook has really made it their mission to become the social glue of the Internet and they’re really doing it. You’re starting to see a lot of sites that are having Facebook comments as their comments instead of blog comments. That means everything you’re doing online is interfacing with Facebook is being shown to your friends. And now they’re hoping that everything you’re doing offline will be shown on your Facebook profile and will be shown to your Facebook friends as well.
So for businesses, I think this is a really exciting opportunity. I think it’s much more exciting honestly. I’d love all my web startups out there but they just haven’t achieved that critical mass. I think it’s much more exciting than something like Foursquare. So if you are a small local business I don’t think you need to jump in just yet. Keep your eye on how it’s being used, keep your eye on what your customers want and what your customers are talking about.
But as this gets rolled out in more mainstream, I do think it’s a great option for local businesses to really encourage word of mouth marketing.
So I’m Laura Roeder, that’s my take on Facebook deal.
When we think of marketing, we often think of the Big Campaigns – the headlines, the advertising, the offers. But the truth is it isn’t always about the Big Campaign but all the little opportunities to promote your business and share your message.
One marketing opportunity you’ve likely overlooked is your LinkedIn headline. Most people leave it blank but it’s a great way to give a quick hit overview of what you offer every time someone views your LinkedIn profile.
Here’s a one-minute video explaining how to change your LinkedIn headline:
Hi, this is Laura Roeder of getthedash.com and today I’m showing you how to change your headline on LinkedIn.
So, the first step is to sign on to your LinkedIn account at linkedin.com and you’re going to find ‘profile’ right here on the top navigation and click on that. Now, we’re at the page where we can edit our profiles and what you’re looking for is this line right underneath your name. So, again your name is the top thing on your profile. And then we’re looking for this line right below it. That’s your headline.
So, click ‘edit’ to the right of that line. And then we have your professional “headline”, as LinkedIn puts it. This is where you can enter whatever headline you like. And since it gives you such a short box, you might want to write it out in Word or something like that and then copy and paste in here.
You can put whatever you like as your professional headline. Hit ‘Save Changes’ and you’re done. You’ll see that your request is successful and you should see your headline show up right here below your name.
Almost every bit of blogging advice you get starts with:
“Have a Concrete Strategy for Your Blog”
Most of us shake our heads in agreement and start writing posts – without a strategy. It’s not because we are stupid or lazy – it’s because most people don’t have a clue about HOW to identify their blog’s strategy.
I understand that it may not be as easy as having a cup of coffee and writing what your passionate about. But, to make this work, your blog’s strategy has to guide your actions. It is the foundation for your posting calendar. Your strategy dictates how you will monetize your audience and it seamlessly works with your overall business strategy.
7 Powerful Blog Strategies
The good news is that almost all blogs are built on fairly common strategies. Let’s take a minute to explore seven of the most popular:
Talent Showcase:
Your blog is a quick and effective way to display your creative talents. Your audience can interact with you and see physical proof of your experience and expertise.
Network and Connect:
Your blog is a platform for attracting a like-minded audience of enthusiasts. On your blog, you use comment-provoking posts to connect with your readers and build rapport.
Notify and Inform:
Readers visit your blog because you have a knack for uncovering valuable information. Your blog is where you reveal what you’ve discovered and invite readers to contribute their thoughts.
Reflect and React:
The world (or your niche) is a confusing place and your blog exists to bring clarity. You routinely tackle tough arguments and offer your readers a new perspective.
Educate and Instruct:
Every post is designed to move your reader toward their personal goals. Your blog is filled with inspiration and practical exercises that puts your reader in a position to succeed.
Thought Leadership:
You are creator that weaves new ideas out of thin air. Every post tackles a new frontier that requires completely original thinking. You’re a content creator and your blog is a platform for sharing your insights and receiving feedback.
Lead Generator:
Always Be Closing. Your blog’s purpose is clear – get an action that translates into a sale or a new lead. Every element of your blog is meant to move your prospect through a defined purchase process.
As an online marketer, you have to make important decisions about every tactic in your arsenal. Although blogging takes time, it is time well invested – especially if you are following a consistent strategy. Once you’ve defined your strategy, use it to evaluate your posts, promotion, and other social media tasks (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
It’s Your Turn – Talk to Me?
Take a moment to review the list above and tell me what strategy you’re using for your blog. Do you have a strategy or will you need to take some steps to get yourself back on track?
Stanford obsesses about how to get passionate people’s blogs noticed and promoted at Pushing Social…except when he’s fishing for monster bass. Follow him to get the latest about his new ebook “Get Noticed.”
Ever searched google maps and seen a business listing pop up?
Those listings are a part of a free service called Google Places. Your places listing allows customer reviews, videos, and even a place for you to post updated special offers!
Start by going here to list your business. You will need to create a google account for this process if you don’t have one already.
Google will take you through some forms to fill out about your business. If you have an online business a lot of questions such as store hours won’t apply, but don’t worry you can just leave those blank. Note, they don’t like you to use your PO Box as your address. Here’s a quote directly from Google’s quality guidelines for creating a page:
“Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations. Listings submitted with P.O. Box addresses will be removed”
In the end they’ll need to either call you or send you a postcard to verify your listing.
Here’s a google places listing that you can check out as an example. Post yours on our facebook page or in the comments below after you add your own business!
Hi. I’m Laura Roeder and I want to tell you why I think Gmail’s priority inbox sucks and you shouldn’t use it. Here’s the problem with Gmail’s priority inbox. So, if you’re not familiar, this is a new thing from Gmail that automatically sorts what are your priority emails and puts them at the top of your inbox.
The problem is that it’s another crutch for not managing your inbox, right? It’s just yet another way to let your inbox fill up with messages that you don’t want because really, why shouldn’t you be getting any e-mails that aren’t priority e-mails. You really shouldn’t be dealing with those yourself. So, a few steps if you are using priority inbox and a few tips for things that, in my opinion, are better and more productive that you can do instead.
The first is to unsubscribe. That’s the most important thing you can do to get a handle on your e-mail. You don’t need every newsletter, you don’t need every promotion.
[0:01:00]
If there’s something that you find yourself hitting delete or hitting archive every single time that comes in, just unsubscribe to it. You can always subscribe again later if you find yourself missing it. So, be ruthless with your unsubscribes.
The next thing you need to do is in Gmail is use Gmail filters. So, filters are a way to automatically filter out messages, put labels on them, make sure they never hit your inbox. So, I like to do this with certain newsletters that maybe I want to check in on every so often but I don’t want them hitting my inbox as soon as they arrive. So, if there’s a newsletter from someone that you like to read or maybe promotions from a shop you like, where you don’t want to miss out on the promotions, just filter all the e-mails that come from that e-mail address. Just skip your inbox and get labeled and get archived. That way you can go over to the label, you can read them when you have time but they won’t be hitting your inbox.
[0:01:57]
And the third tip, if you’re a Gmail priority inbox user is that you need someone else helping you with your e-mail. If you run a business, e-mail should not be the number one way that you’re spending your time. Running your business should be the number one way that you’re spending your time. And there’s lots of little tips and tricks with auto responders. Auto responders check your e-mails twice a day. Nothing compares having a human being filter through your e-mails for you. That human being, one, can tell what’s important and what’s not, he can do for you the important stuff. And two, that way you know that you’re giving a human response to your customers. Your customers don’t want an auto responder that says that you don’t care about their e-mail. It just doesn’t feel good. What they want is someone responding so having an assistant help you with your e-mail, will free up a lot of time in your business and you can actually just have a whole inbox filled with priority e-mails instead of trying to have Google do the work and still just filling up your inbox with more and more junk.
So, I’m Laura Roeder and that’s why Gmail priority inbox sucks.
It’s true. Everything you post to the free social networks is not really yours. Yes – you technically “own” it – but the online space where you post this content is borrowed.
The solution?
Your own self-hosted blog.
In this post I’ll cover why you must have your own blog, what kind of blog to use, how to get started and then give you some specific action steps to do right away.
But first a story…
There was this really neat company a couple years ago called Utterli.
The concept was simple.
You could call a number from any phone, leave a voicemail, and your “content” would be posted online for the masses to listen. It was very similar to Twitter, except it focused on audio instead of 140 characters of text.
I spent some time building an Utterli following and was getting hundreds of listens to each piece of audio I recorded and posted. These Utterli messages were channeling traffic to our website and people were sharing the content with their networks. I found it to be successful enough to begin recording a 2-minute audio update each morning.
Each recording contained specific, actionable and timely advice for people who wanted to use social media to build their businesses. In two minutes I would deliver a quick insight combined with an action step. I was having fun and felt great at the volume of content I was creating.
Then Utterli closed up shop.
They were just gone one day.
No warning email alert like, “hey get all your audio recordings off our servers because we are going out of business next week.”
Just gone. Along with ALL my content and the entire network of followers I built.
Lesson learned: YOU DON’T OWN ANY OF YOUR CONTENT ONLINE UNLESS IT IS ON YOUR OWN BLOG OR WEBSITE.
Of course this is providing that you self-host your blog and continue to pay a small fee each month to the hosting company.
A blog will keep you independent of corporate whims and startup failures
A blog gives you control of your content. At any time, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter or Flickr can shut their doors, change their business model or simply kick you out of their club. Having your own self-hosted blog protects you from being wiped off the face of the Internet with the click of a mouse.
Your blog also gives you a home base. It’s somewhere to route all the traffic that you gather as a result of your activity on the social networks.
Think of your blog in terms of a virtual piece of real estate. When you have a self-hosted blog, you “own your digital house.” When you rely on social networking sites for your content, it’s like being a guest in someones house.
Plus when people are consuming content on your site, you are in control of the relationship. After Utterli closed shop – I lost my followers and listeners since I never formally connected with these folks through email or my blog. The entire relationship was built around a platform. Once that platform ceased to exist – so did our relationship.
What I mean by self-hosted blog
You could set up a free blog right now with Blogger, Vox, WordPress.com or a number of other services. But remember, you’re still depending on these services to continue offering a free space for your content to “live.”
The better option is to host your own blog. There are many options for blogging software, but I personally recommend WordPress.ORG. It’s free software, easy to use and has a growing network of developers looking to make improvements. You’ll have to pay a small monthly fee to a hosting company – but it’s worth it.
How to get started with your own WordPress blog
There are many resources out there to help you with your self-hosted WordPress blog. Many people are hesitant to make the leap because of the $10 per month hosting fees. But if you are serious about building your business and personal brand online, then it’s going to take some investment on your part.
Laura has put together a great training called Zero to WordPress Blogging. I would recommend that you get this program to help you set up your WordPress blog correctly from the beginning.
Ownership is everything. You can use social media sites to host content, attract prospects and build your network – but don’t rely on them to archive and preserve all the content you’ve worked so hard to create. At any time they can change their terms of use and you can lose all your work.
Today’s Action Steps
Set up a self-hosted WordPress blog. If you’re stuck on how to start consider Laura’s Zero to WordPress Blogging.
Now go take action.
Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media. He is a producer, author, speaker and social media marketing coach who consults with individuals and small businesses on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter.
Want to write a rockin’ guest post about running a small business, entrepreneurship, personal branding or online marketing? Review our requirements and submit your proposed article along with your details and we’ll get back to you on whether it’s a fit!
Products and services that I mention or link to on this blog may be products that I have a financial interest in promoting or have received some other non-financial compensation for.
Patricia Diesel, who is passionate about helping individuals overcome their organizational challenges, is the founder of Keep It Simple Now, and author of “A Simple Guide to an Organized Life” and “Uncluttered,” her acclaimed weekly newspaper column.
