Sunday, September 30, 2007

Are You in a Dip?

Is your business or life in a dip?

If you're not sure, you should read Seth Godin's new book, The Dip: The Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

I bought this book because my business, like my life, reached a dip. I felt frustrated and not sure what direction to take my business until I read the book. What fascinated me about the book was that he talked about quitting. Yes, that's right, quitting.

He said the difference between people who succeed and those who don't has to do with knowing when to quit.

We're taught in school and life to 'keep on going,' and that 'winners never quit and quitters never win.' Then, when we get out in life and continue to struggle with something, we feel defeated and want to quit but we're afraid.

How do you know when to quit? That's as individual as your genes, but one thing is true: if you have no passion, you've reached the glass ceiling, you're not passionate or if you're not growing and learning and you're only mediocre, it may be time to throw in the towel and quit with pride.

Yes, quit and move on to something you can excel at - something that makes you better than mediocre. The world rewards the top people at what they do and they don't just get rewarded a little, they get rewarded a lot.

For example, Vanilla ice cream is the most popular selling ice cream in the world and most people know that chocolate is second. What they don't know is that because Vanilla is the best, it demands not just a bit more sales, but tons more sales. Chocolate may be second but it's in the distant second and not too far in front of Butter Pecan, Neopolitan, etc.

So...if you're trudging away in life or business and not feeling the best at something, it may be time to quit and move on to something else. If pride is in your way, give it a quick, swift boot. After all, most highly successful people quit many things.

Many A-List actors were enrolled in college and quit to pursue their love - acting. Premed students quit their profession to pursue something else because they didn't really love the idea of being a doctor. (Thank goodness they did - who wants a surgeon who hates their job, operating on them?)

So...instead of feeling like a failure for quitting, think about the time and resources you save, the frustration and lack of interest, and direct your energy to things you're good at - things you excell at and things the world needs.

Happy quitting....

Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/

Lisa

Thursday, September 20, 2007

To Delegate or Not?

If you're a small business owner or entrepreneur then you've probably struggled with this age-old question: 'Do I delegate or do it myself?'

In the beginning of a business, we may delegate but we often feel we have to do everything. There are many reasons for this way of thinking and they are as follows:

1. We don't have the money. (this is a valid reason)
2. We don't have the time to teach someone else.
3. We don't really know what we should delegate to someone else.
4. We're too busy to even realize we need to hand off some of our work.
5. We feel independent and want to 'go it alone.'
6. We don't want to give up control (this is a huge one that people fear)

There are other reasons we hold off on delegating but these are the most common reasons.

Relinquishing control is the most challenging habit because we often feel that 'no one can do the task as well as us.' We're afraid that if we hand the job to someone else, they will lose the clients, waste the resources, make us look bad, make the company look bad, etc.

Nothing could be farther from the truth (if you hire right from the start)

All the most successful companies in the world only experience success when they stop doing everything themselves and they delegate the things they hate, don't enjoy, don't have abilities for and so forth.

Ever notice how some companies bypass others? It's got to do with the team they hire. They look for talented, intelligent people who have the same philosophies and a passion and desire to build the company. These people have skills and abilities that their employer doesn't have.

That's right, never hire someone exactly like you or you will miss out on new skills.

Another reason small biz owners hate to delegate and hand jobs to others is because they feel they don't have money to do so.

I have felt this way at times because honestly, I hardly had the money to pay myself. This is where you sometimes have to be creative.

If you're a coach, you might barter and trade your coaching with someone who does website design, etc. See how you can offer your products and services in exchange for other things you need.

I caution against just a straight barter. It's better to pay for something and have the other person do so as well so there is an exchange of money. This way, you will feel abundant and will attract more money.

Being too busy to delegate can be like a double-edged sword. You need to have someone take on the work and yet you're too busy to give them things to do. It's kind of like driving your car and the gas gauge light comes on to tell you that there's only one sixteenth of a tank of gas left but instead of driving to a gas station, you decide you're too busy to slow down and refuel. Instead, you keep on driving and eventually run out of gas and are overly late for that meeting.

Sometimes pride gets in the way and we feel independent and think we should do everythng ourselves. That might be okay for a short spell; it's good to know how all areas of your company work, but after a while, playing a Lone Ranger will make you irritable, sick and you'll lose the passion for your business. You need to delegate so you can do what you do best and bring in revenue.

Finally, sometimes we don't even know what we should delegate. If you know you need to give work to someone else (signs are: frustration, losing revenue, not doing what you're gifted at, etc.) but don't know what work to hand over, you must have a plan.

Start by writing down every single thing you do in your business.

For example, you might read and answer email, send faxes phone clients, follow up with new clients, handle marketing, do book-keeping, etc.

Study your list, think about the talents you have that bring you money and then eliminate things that frustrate you, take you away from making money, take too long to do, you don't really know how to do them and so forth.

Try to only focus on things that are creative and bring you revenue, credibility, clients, etc.

If money is a huge issue, contract out. Get a virtual assistant or an employee to come in to your company and work a set amount of hours per week or month. This is a very viable way to run a company.

For example, you may only need a book-keeper for a few hours per month. Why hire someone full time if you don't need them?

When deciding to delegate or not, ask yourself what your time is worth. If you're charging $100 an hour for a service and your books are draining your time, it may be worth your while to hire that book-keeper for a few hours a month so you can take on more clients and make more money.

Take this week and think about where you might bring an expert into your company. I wish you well and feel free to email me your ideas at: info@escapethepace.com


Lisa "Small Biz Stress Buster"

Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/

Monday, September 03, 2007


Going on an Information Overload Diet - 5 Quick Tips to Dieting



Usually we don't like the word "diet." The cartoon character, Garfield - the orange and white big, fat cat hated this word and said it was like die with a 't.' Most of us couldn't agree more if we love food and I know I do - that's why traveling is so much fun.

Today I'm talking about the one kind of diet most of us don't mind - the information overload diet. That's right...'the ditch some of your information diet.'

Do you ever get to your computer and you have dozens of emails, people expecting a response back, letters, news, phone calls, and people wanting you to join yet another Internet social network?

In one week, I had seven people tell me about five online social networks, about how to join and what to do. You know, there's some pretty good ones like www.youtube.com and so forth, but I just don't have the time to sit holed up in a basement, checking all my responses on a social network. It's great when you're a teenager and you have tons of time and want to meet people all over the world - in fact it's pretty awesome. But, when you're running two companies, dealing with family and more, you just have to prioritize your life.

Want to know how to gain an hour of time a day, make more money and have more freedom - GO ON A DIET, AN INFO DIET!

How do you do that? Simple - see what you're paying attention to and why and think about how you can eliminate some of the 'noise' in your life. 99% of the stuff we pay attention to isn't relevant to our lives, we're just nosy. (I admit it!)

Start like this:

1. What do you read, listen to, respond to? What can you drop this week? Drop one to three things that you don't really enjoy and that take up time. Perhaps you drop a newsletter, quit an online social network, etc.

2. Stop watching the news right before bed - this doesn't allow you to relax. If you want to see the news, watch it early in the morning or the evening or just scan a newspaper.
We're all so worried we'll miss something but everyone is 'plugged in' so even when you miss the news, people say to you, 'Hey, did you hear about...'

3. What is relevant for your life? Ask yourself this question. There's only 24 hours in a day and you should focus on information that interests you, that you can respond to and that makes your life better. Sometimes the news makes you feel hopeless, depressed, unable to help. Why watch it if you feel like this?

4. Internet, T.V., iTunes, etc. Put a limit on the amount of time you'll watch or listen before you do this if time is an issue. For example, if you love surfing the net, tell yourself you'll research for no more than 30 minutes; set a timer if you must. This can really save you. Once I surfed the net for a whole afternoon and then I missed great weather and a chance to get outside and do things.

5. Set your techno rules. Only check email two or three times a day and spend 15 minutes per time and you'll save at least an hour a day, possibly longer. Tell people when they can phone you and have time when you can't be reached so you set a buffer of time to relax and 'chill.'

That's my rant for now. Send me your ideas and I'll post them for others. We all are in need of some serious dieting.

Lisa "Small Biz Stress Buster"

Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/