Earth Day, Going Green and Successful Business...

There's been much talk about Global Warming, and with Earth Day on April 22nd, more people are understanding the importance.

There's also concern about the economic impact that 'going green' will have on the North American economy. My question is this - how can we afford to keep polluting and have a bustling economy, much less a healthy planet?

Consumers are already purchasing Hybrid cars, local produce, natural cosmetics, the list goes on... Green businesses are sprouting up everywhere. We can address this challenge!

Here are some ideas to help Mother Earth and in turn, your business and future:

1. Create a greenhouse (details at: www.GreenHouseGuide.com)
2. Change your lightbulbs to the new energy efficient one
3. Ditch the big house - go smaller (you'll have more time for living if you're not working for the big mortgage)
4. Cut down on clothes buying
5. Work from home, telecommute
6. Citys can use LEDs to light the streets
7. Ride the bus - this saves energy
8. Pay bills online - ditch all the paper
9. Open Windows
10. Ask energy experts to give you an energy audit of your home
11. Check labels before you buy things - watch for chemicals and try to 'go natural'
12. Say "No" to plastic bags and if you use them, recycle them - according to resources, 15 plastic bags could be recycled into energy to make your car drive one mile
13. Kill light at quitting time
14. Shut off your computer
15. End the paper chase - Ask yourself what really needs to be printed.
16. Car pool
17. Make your garden grow - you'll need less food from far away places that need to ship it by
18. plane or boat
19. Check your tires - make sure they're filled correctly; you'll get better mileage '
20. Buy a hybrid vehicle if you canThink outside the packaging - packaging has gotten worse over the years. Ever have to use scissors to attempt to open something so wrapped in hard plastic you can hardly get it open? This is not good.
21. Consume less, share more and live simply. We all owe it to ourselves, our children and our children's children to be as responsible as we can now.
22. 
    Some things I do include: living in a 866 square foot home, recycling all glass, plastic, paper, cardboard - whatever can be recycled, growing some vegetables, ordering produce every week from a company that buys as much food from local farmers as possible and uses organic means to grow food. You may not be near this area, but check out how this company does business - I've been using them for years. Their site is: www.spud.ca

What can you do in your home or business to make a positive difference in the world? Can you minimize the paper you use, recycle your ink cartridges, work from home, bike to work, buy from local farmers, turn out more lights at night, or START A NEW GREEN BUSINESS?
Take care and happy escaping,
Lisa - "Small Biz Stress Buster"

www.escapethepace.com

P.S. Some sites worth looking into include:
http://www.earthday.com/
http://www.earthday.net/
http://www.carbonfund.org/
http://www.climatehotmap.org/
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
www.aninconvenienttruth.com.au/truth/
http://www.read-the-truth.com/
http://www.wwf.org/
www.earth911.org

HAPPY EARTH DAY!


Wishing you a Happy Earth Day.
Lisa - "Small Biz Stress Buster"
http://www.escapethepace.com/

Does anyone want what you have to offer?

Has this happened to you? You have a temporary lack of confidence and ask someone who's very successful about your business and they say something that 'temporarily crushes your confidence?'

Last week I asked a highly successful Internet marketer about my business. I appreciated the honesty (really I did) and the constructive criticism but...and here's the but - I was told no one wants what I have.

I have polled people, asked my subscriber list, read articles for five years and I know people are stressed. I also know as a retailer and small business person, that stress keeps us from truly being successful; think how much more you could accomplish if you were organized, unstressed and focused.

Anyway, this marketer said small business people are 'ONLY TRYING TO SURVIVE AND DON'T WANT WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER...'

I disagree - I BELIEVE SMALL BUSINESS PEOPLE WANT TO NOT ONLY SURVIVE BUT THRIVE! And, if I can help them do this by eliminating stress, I believe there's enough people who value this service.

What do you think? DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WANT TO MASTER STRESS FOR PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL SUCCESS?

If they don't, I'd love to know because I really thought I had something of value... :-(


Lisa - "Small Biz Stress Buster"
www.escapethepace.com
Get your One Hour Stress Buster Power Hour Here! Guaranteed to help you succeed.

What is one thing in business and life you can't get back?

You've probably heard the riddle before - the answer is TIME. We can create pretty much anything else but we can't recreate missing, wasted time. We all get 24 hours a day and that's it; we can try to add a couple hours and make it 26 hours a day but then we're into another new day.

There are zillions of time management books in the market and while they offer great advice, they can't deny that we really can't manage time - time is a man-made concept. You can't put time in a box, you can't stop for freeze time or rewind it, it just keeps moving.

How do you know time is passing? You see the second hand on the clock ticking by, the changing of the seasons, another new wrinkle...

What can you do to make the most of time? This depends on who you talk to and what book you read but we all know there are things that can make your time work for you:

1. Track your time: Not sure how much time is wasted or how productive you are? Take a day and record what you do from the time you wake up until you go to sleep. You'd be amazed at the amount of time you eat, sleep, commute, work, communicate with others, exercise, do hobbies, etc.
2. Set your intentions: (notice how I didn't say goals) Set your intentions for what you want to do each day, month and year. What do you really want for your life?
3. Set up teams: even if you're new in business and don't have a lot of money, you can hire or trade services with others and get others to help you achieve your intentions more quickly
4. Take mini breaks: the human body can only focus effectively for 90 minutes at a time - taking mini breaks keeps you more productive and rested
5. Find time for fun: if you work hard, play hard
6. Record your memories: be sure to track your memories - life speeds by and you want to get those photos off your computer onto discs and in photo albums
7. Life is relationships: whatever you do with your time, form good relationships with others - life and time will be sweeter

For more information on how to minimize stress and make the most of time, visit Lisa and try her One Hour Stress Buster Power Hour

Take care and happy escaping,

Lisa Rickwood - "Small Biz Stress Buster"

A New Cure for Business Wimpiness...

Have you ever felt wimpy in business? What do I mean? You know...you call a prospect in hopes of doing business and then you 'wimp out' and say you're 'just touching base' instead of telling them about your latest 'project that might actually help them.'

Or... you go to a network meeting but talk to one person because you 'just don't want to have to introduce yourself to a lot of people.' Or...you don't want to tell an employee that they 'don't really have a clue' so you say that 'they're just having a bad day.'

I admit it - I've wimped out and I know it's not a recipe for success. What if Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, a Governor, a brain surgeon, a police officer, a nurse - you get the idea...what if they wimped out at work? It wouldn't be good. There would be no Oprah show, Donald Trump might lose a billion, a Governor might do a lousy job, a brain surgeon might remove the 'wrong part of the brain'...

So what's a busy, wimpy-feeling business person to do? Act strong. And what if you don't feel strong because you're doing something new, something uncomfortable, etc. Still ACT STRONG.

One of the best techniques for doing this is to think back to when you had a major challenge in your life. What happened? Most likely you excelled because if you live long enough, you get strong.

Make a list of things you survived and thrived from. Now, think about that business meeting, that client you need to call, that talk in front of people -anything that makes you feel 'wimpy' and then think about how you conquered much more challenging things.

Not sure what things I'm talking about? Make a list of near death times, challenging times, whatever really made you 'step up.' Then, see how the things you're facing now are in relation to the past.

For example, I've lived through: a broken elbow with two steel pins put in and later removed, a broken tailbone (twice), broken fingers, car crashes, numerous falls, dog bites, near death fall 15 feet to cement, sunstroke, heatstroke, 105 degree fever, childbirth (twice) without medication, disappointment, heartbreak, dysfunctional family stuff, losing friends, losing family, losing pets, the dentist, bad jokes, bad hair days, bad clothes days, camping horror stories, being human, being female - you get the concept. Heck, if a person can stand this, they can handle rejection, speaking in front of crowds, spiders, business challenges, etc.

I'm sure you are 20 times stronger than you think. So...the next time you feel 'wimpy' think about what you've endured. You're a surviver and you can kick that wimpy feeling right out the door. Look out world, here you come!

Hope this inspires you to GET STRONG and have success!

Feel free to drop me a line at: www.escapethepace.com I'd love to hear how you eliminated the 'wimpy feelings.'

How much sleep do you get last night?

If you're a small business owner or entrepreneur, you've probably 'burned the midnight oil' more than once to get that report, project or web change done for your company. And, you've probably felt like ____ (feel free to put whatever you want in this space.

Why? Because you probably sacrificed sleep to complete your task. Sleep is the most underrated healthy thing we can do for ourselves and yet when we're "under the gun", we let sleep go.

Case in point, I've been staying up till 1am in the morning for the last week to complete a project. Was it worth it, no way! Now, I've got the _______flu and I'm dragging my sorry butt through the day. (I should know better!)

People underestimate the importance of sleep and how much stress it puts on your body when you lack it.

For example, inadequate sleep can cause the following in the human body:
- Decreased resistance to colds and the flu
- Irritability and depression
- Fatigue
- Your I.Q. actually being lowered by a few points (I don't know about you, but I need all my brain cells working in peak form)
- The equivalent of being drunk (many disasters were caused by sleep-deprived employees. ex. ferry in New York crashing into dock and killing many people)
- Quicker aging - that's right people, want to age slower, get adequate rest
- Increased blood pressure - sleep deprivation stresses the body
- Higher incidences of cancer, age-related diseases
- Impaired learning and memory - hard to learn and retain new information

I could go on, but sleep researchers are still discovering why sleep is so important.
Occasionally you may need to stay up late, and you may be a person who doesn't need 8 hours of sleep - you may only need 6.

The point is this - get to know how many hours of sleep you need, when you have more energy, less energy and your sleep-wake cycles. Sleep is more restorative and important than just about anything you can do short of eating well and exercising.

Want to minimize stress in your life? Get your beauty rest - it's an entrepreneur's sercret weapon!

And, if you want to eliminate stress and have more time to sleep - I'll show you how in my One Hour Stress Buster Power Hour.

Happy napping,

Lisa - "Small Biz Stress Buster"