Work Better, Not Harder

I don't need to tell you how hard it is to stay focused. And that's why it's so important to have goals that we can refer to that will keep us on track. Goals are sometimes quite removed from our daily activities. Once they're determined , a strategy is built around them. And then plans are made to execute the strategy. Next plans are broken down into action items and finally, we do or delegate specific tasks. When we're in "task mode" our goals may be completely out of mind. That's not a bad thing... as long as we're doing the things we planned to implement the strategy that will achieve our goals. Deviating from our plans is where we can get into trouble , and one way that happens is called "scope creep". That's a project management term - what is running a small business if not an ever-evolving project? Scope creep can happen accidentally but also "on purpose" and we need to be cautious of either. It's ea...

Do you enjoy doing your own marketing? The answer has a big impact on how successful you will be at it. Stop and consider: Do you like doing marketing work? Do you have the needed skills? Are you good at it, really? Is what you're doing yielding desired results? No? Beware. Negativity and stress will rain all over your marketing activities, dampening your results. It can be daunting to give up control and money for marketing help. I do marketing for clients, charities and myself... and I still hire experts for my own marketing. I'm happy to get fresh and creative input from other pros. And I've learned I'm much better at other people's marketing than my own. In recent months, I've had marketing help from eleven different people. Some was consulting, some training, but a fair bit was doing things I do for my own clients. Even though I love marketing, I still delegate. Instead of trying to convince you it will be a good thing, how about a li...

If you don't think spelling mistakes matter, consider this: photo: CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS The headline was: "Kathleen Wynne’s ‘open government’ launch marred by spelling mistake." So, while she was talking about important stuff, eyes were on the spelling error, mouths were snickering, and fingers were tweeting. Her message was lost in the distraction. Do you think someone got reprimanded or even fired over this mistake? Who goofed? Was it the person who requisitioned the sign? The person who ordered the sign? The person who approved the proof? The person at the printer who processed the order? The person who printed it? The person who packaged and shipped it? The person who received and unwrapped it? The person who placed it on the podium? The camera and sound crew who set up and tested, looking right at it? Kathleen herself as she walked to the podium? This wasn't just one person's mistake. There were a lot of people going through the mot...

I recently had to take a week off work unexpectedly and dash off to Ontario when my step-son went into the hospital. An hour before we hit the road, I was emailing clients and friends with promises of finishing up projects as soon as I arrived at the hotel room. Silly me! After a 20 hour road trip, all I wanted to do was get to the hospital. That remained my priority for the next 4 days and thoughts of newsletters and websites were long gone. On the day I left, my friend said all my clients would surely understand if their newsletters were late going out. After all, they have families too. There is no doubt in my mind that all of my clients would have been supportive and accepted my apologies... if that had happened. But that didn't happen. The newsletters went out. The emails got answered. New sales were made. It was an unplanned test and we passed. Yay! Last year I was smart enough to bring on a superwoman (Danielle) to work with me. Because we’ve been getting so bus...

If you are a control freak like me, you’ll know that delegation is a BIG decision. There are lots of things to consider. The question of what to delegate should be easy but often isn’t. You want to delegate things that… you don’t like to do slow you down or sap your energy cause you to be disorganized draw your focus away from the things you’re really good at require a certain expertise to get quality results - and you are lacking that expertise can be grouped together for easy delegation So now that you’ve figured out what to delegate, how do you go about it? It’s all about finding the right balance between quality and cost. Quality Is the activity something that needs skill and experience to get a quality result? How do you perceive cost and quality? Higher quality usually means higher cost. What is the level of quality that you require and are you willing to pay for it? Cost What is your time worth? You really have to have a clear understanding of this befor...