junkmail sux!

remember the days when you were excited to get more than a couple emails a week?  my mailbox is so crammed with junk these days I almost don’t have the energy to dig for the good stuff… junkmail really sucks!!!  Even gmail can’t filter it all out… and I LOVE gmail!  I think they offer the absolute BEST webmail service out there… but those spammers are crafty! 

I think I get more ads for VIAGARA than Hef… and last I checked, I don’t have a penis!  In fact, since I’m separated from my husband, I don’t even have one by association… oh the cruel irony!

 

Give it away…

I learned a strange, yet powerful business lesson today.  It’s important to know HOW everything in your business works, but even more important to NOT have to do any of it yourself.   Did that make sense to you?  Yeah, me neither… but read it a couple times and trust me, it will strangely begin to sound logical.

see, you NEED to know how stuff works in your business, at least for the most part… but in order to help your business reach the next level, once you gain a full understanding or master a given task… you need to give it away to someone else.  Free yourself up to innovate and take the business to places only you can.  More on this once it sinks in…

 

take the help!

I’ve been very fortunate in the past few years of my life to have met and worked with some of the most intelligent business people on the planet.  With technology moving as fast as it does, by the time I’ve figured out v 1.0, the rest of the world is embracing v 3.2.1… Ever get the feeling that it’s just not possible to keep up?  I do… a lot. 

Fortunately for me, I know a lot of smart people, most of whom are more than willing to help me understand their area of business expertise.   Trouble is, I never want to seem like the “nuisance” or “pest” by asking too many questions.  I tend to “feel bad” that I’m taking someone’s time… The downside of that, of course, is a lot more ‘banging-my-head-against-the-wall-to-figure-something-out’ than is absolutely necessary.  So, I’m learning to take the help when it’s offered.

one of the more eye-opening lessons I’ve learned lately has been the idea of ‘trade’… value given for value received.  This one hit me like a ton of bricks… it seems so simple, yet it really is pretty profound.  If you bring something of value to another person, whether it be on a personal level or in business, they feel better about giving you value in return… whether it be a skill or advice or whatever… and you can feel better about taking it!  Not many people get far without some help from others.

more on this later… there’s nothing like the ‘value’ of a good night’s sleep 

 

sucker for a “freebie”

humor me for a sec… I just became a member of (www.simpleology.com) Who couldn’t use a little help learning how to blog?  so, they said if I post this piece of code on my blog, I can take their course for free… I’m game, probably because I have absolutely nothing to lose.  Or because I’m a sucker for free stuff.  Pathetic, I know, but the first step is admitting it, right? Oh, and I think if you click on the link, you can get it and try it out for free too…

So, here goes nothin’….

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

 

 

breathe… you deserve it!

we’ve all heard this one before… “there just aren’t enough hours in the day…”  ain’t it the truth.  no matter how hard we try to organize ourselves, the time always seems to get away from us…  I think this general phenomenon has to do with the fact that we’re all just taking on too much in our lives… we forget to just kick back every once in a while and “do nothing at all”. 

I am a victim of this self-inflicted pain myself… there are times when I shudder at the very thought of my Outlook calendar… crammed to the max with phone calls, appointments, meetings and reminders to remind myself to remind myself about all of the above. 

So, lately, I’ve taken the advice of one of the great mentors in my life and added reminders to my calendar (which conveniently syncs to my Blackberry) to remind myself to remind myself to take frequent breaks… Even just taking 5 minutes every hour-and-a-half or so to lean back in my chair or sit on the floor and simply focus on breathing or stretching, has really improved my productivity… 

you see, I sit in front of a computer monitor for MANY hours each day… as I’m sure a lot of you do for work… and after a while I begin to feel like the “Hunchback of Notre Dame”.   I’m sure there are some people who would say I look like that at times, too.  (of course, I don’t speak to any of them anymore… but I digress)  Those few minutes every couple of hours that I “allow myself” to focus on stretching or breathing is beginning to pay off… 

I know  it doesn’t sound like much, but when I get back in my chair, even though I have just as much crap to do as I did 5 minutes before, (if not a few more emails to answer) somehow, as if by magic, it seems more manageable… maybe I’m delusional but I do know this… every once in a while you need to “turn yourself off” to the outside world and focus on the important stuff… and what’s more important than breathing?  even if you have to ‘remind’ yourself to do it 

 

the beauty of the virtual workplace…

working from Panera Bread today… free internet, free coffee refills!!!!!!  and all the noise you can handle! 

all kidding aside, if you don’t work virtually (at least a couple days per week) I’m really sorry!   I’ve been doing it for the past 6 years or so, and I highly recommend it.  In fact I feel bad for those who don’t get to enjoy it’s perks… no traffic, no expensive wardrobe, less gas consumption, no traffic, clothing optional, no cubicle, no showers (although I wouldn’t recommend this one every day), and did I mention NO TRAFFIC!?!  (unless, of course, you count the dog who loves to lay right in the middle of the hallway during your frequent trips to your personal ’snack machine’  (aka “the fridge”)