Work Better, Not Harder

(guest post by Natasha Marchewka) Do you find you are saying NO to everything lately, to keep the status quo? I was... because I was overwhelmed and afraid. I already had enough daily commitments to keep me busy for the next 10 years. And then, I had a shift of perception. I realized that to grow (or be happier or fulfilled), I needed to say YES to things that stretched me. Further, what is entrepreneurship without risk taking? It doesn’t exist. That said, I’ve taken on MANY new commitments that I suddenly have the energy for because they all seem like where I need to be. In all cases, the yes’s come in the form of helping others in some way. When’s the last time you said yes to something that you felt enthusiastic about? Even when our plates are full, I believe there is room to say yes to commitments that ring true with us on a deep level. Taking a risk is part of living fully with the potential to fail or succeed. Either way, you succeed. I’m saying YES because I...

Almost 12 years in business and I don't have a bucket list. In fact, it didn't occur to me to have one until I stumbled across mention of it online. It got me thinking, what is the difference between a business bucket list and business goals? You won't put something on a bucket list unless you're going to make the commitment to do more than thinking about it. By its nature, a bucket list is 'do or die'. Things on a bucket list are like dreams and desires but more hardcore because they also have a personal commitment behind them. A bucket list is a list, not a plan. It's about results, not how to achieve them. Some of the items on it may have to be backed up by significant implementation plans. Is a business bucket list rigid and unchangeable? I'm a fan of flexible goals; it's important to be re-evaluating our goals. That means being able to cross things off without having accomplished them. Is the difference really in our perception of t...

Anita Hovey and I acting out I thought I would be spending the day with other business owners. I thought blogging was a marketing tool. I thought that swearing in public wasn't nice. None of these turned out to be true at BlogJam2015 at the Marriott in Halifax on October 4th. What I learned is that I make a lot of assumptions! Yes, there were some other business bloggers, but most of the speakers and attendees were not there for business. Mommy bloggers and food bloggers ruled the panel discussions. The few assumptions I had left were completely shattered during the closing keynote by Kaleigh Trace . One of her blogging tips was to relax and go masturbate. I swear every time she said 'vagina' I felt my mother cringe... and my mother wasn't there. My biggest takeaway? Blogging is a tool for expressing our passions and prejudices. And 'success' means something different to every blogger. photo by  @E11ephantRoom on Twitter Click to Tweet this Arti...

I've always been one to say that my work life and my family life are intertwined. Many small business owners would also say the same. I like it and I wouldn't try to separate them. Recently I was a bit taken aback to realize that I’m not using some of my business skills at home, and should be. My stepson has bipolar affective disorder and our family has been participating in weekly meetings with social workers to help us overcome the many challenges associated with the disease. When they started presenting us with skills, such as a problem solving process and active listening techniques, I immediately thought, “I know all this. It’s old hat.” The first goal setting exercise was fairly easy for me. I privately committed to three goals related to our family life and I immediately went to work to make them happen. My husband and stepson were going through the same process, also privately. About a month later, when we reviewed our goals and progress, I had completed two goa...

Years ago I read a magazine article that was an interview with a well-known Canadian male (although I can't remember who). What I do remember was the message, which went something like this... The subject of the interview was being referred to as extremely lucky. He adamantly claimed that he wasn't lucky - he was prepared. He was prepared to take advantage of opportunities that arose. Not only that, he was also constantly vigilant, so he wouldn't miss those opportunities. I'm pretty sure that was the same year I started my business. The message has stuck with me. For me, being prepared is about getting all my ‘ducks in a row’ when it comes to capacity and commitments. Being vigilant means networking and being social. Those things set me up for success. When those golden opportunities come along, I want to be found alert and prepared to take them on. In other words, I'm ready to get lucky... in business, that is. photo by Roadsidepictures / Flickr ...

Number crunching has always been a hobby of mine. For a few months our Klout score has been stuck at 55. Being a numbers person, I’d like to see it increase. It doesn't seem to matter how often I post, how much I interact, how much my content gets shared – stuck fast at 55. To clarify, our Twitter strategy has never been about quantity but rather quality. I've worked hard to improve the quality but that darn Klout score won’t budge. It really bugs me! It seems the only way I can increase it is to up the number of followers. While our followers are constantly growing, apparently not by enough to change that Klout score. I can’t keep up with the 900 people I’m already following. I’m able to interact with only a small percentage of them. Maybe I feel that following someone is more of a commitment than it really is? I've been fighting the temptation to turn Twitter into a numbers game. While I’m a numbers person, I realize there’s an inherent danger in fixating on one...

photo:  Michael Lokner There’s nothing like a vivid reminder of your past life to cause you to take stock of your current situation and do a little comparison. That happened to me recently after having a catch up phone chat with someone I worked with 15 years ago. Marcia and I were talking about an industry, a work culture, and processes that now seem so foreign to me, yet at one time were so imperative. At that point in my life, I certainly never envisioned the lifestyle I enjoy now. I absolutely love being a small business owner and working with other similar people. Here are some of the perks that I especially appreciate about being a small business owner: Not having to wear pantyhose My garden is 25 steps from my desk I can go into the office at midnight if I feel like it Getting the whole team behind decisions is easy, when the team is two! Team building is easy, too I can work all day with my cat in my lap I don’t need a briefcase to take work home I can ...

I love learning. It’s one of my favourite things to do. When I retire, I’m going back to university. Usually, I want to learn something because I’ve had a little taste of it and (a) I’m just plain curious or (b) I want to learn it so I can apply it to my work or personal life. I’m one of those people that actually read those thick manuals that used to come with new computer games before I did the install. There was a purpose. I knew what I wanted to do and just had to learn how to apply it. Learn and then apply - the better the learning, the better the application. I’ve been good at it my whole life. This year learning changed for me. I began learning lots of things without really knowing if: I was even interested in the topic I could apply it it made sense to apply it there were any benefits to the learning at all Lately, I’ve caught myself saying to people, “You just have to try it for a while to ‘get it’.” (Can you guess what I’m talking about?) A couple of years...

February 14th kicks off Random Acts of Kindness Week. I found these cool printable calendars that give suggestions for each day of the month. Try them out on your clients, friends and family! Source: The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation Click to Tweet this Article

I make a lot less money now than I did ten years ago. Back then I was single, living in Toronto and climbing the corporate ladder. The lifestyle I enjoy now is much slower paced and I certainly wouldn't have considered it successful or goal-worthy then. It’s too bad our younger selves aren’t better at predicting what our older selves will want! Our personal success factors will change over time. Last year in January I had an epiphany. I was attending  Debi Hartlen MacDonald’s Bootcamp  for the 2nd year in a row. We were all busy planning our strategies for 2010. It was my fifth year creating the same plan. The strategies and plans got better year after year. Did I get better at executing them? No. I was tired of doing only ‘OK’ at the same thing 5 years in a row. I had an emotional reaction to something I knew intellectually all along: in order to be successful at training and development consulting, I needed to be selling 80-90% of the time. And selling is not some...

One of my personal success factors is being able to afford to have someone come in and clean for me every two weeks. It started 15 years ago when I was single and living in Toronto. I was flying all over North America and my housekeeper would come in while I was away. An empty apartment accumulates more dust than a lived in one. I was making plenty of money to be able to pay someone to do something that I really dislike… and go play. Each person has their own definition of success. Yours probably has nothing to do with housework. Understanding your own personal success factors is important because it keeps you from chasing after goals to which you are not emotionally tied. Goals that don’t feel authentic will be much harder to achieve. Success is externally evaluated but internally experienced. Behind all of the outward signs, the essence of success comes down to our own personal sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Evaluate annually. Now is the time of year that we are con...