Put a Model Week in Place to Maximize Efficiency and Effectiveness

 

There are only 24 hours in a day and as business owners having a model week can help make the most of your time. There are three kinds of days in a model week, Focus days, Buffer days and Personal days.

  

Each type of day is made up of 80% of your waking hours.

Focus days

These are the days that actually provide income to your business.

·       Presenting/speaking that you were hired for

·       Meetings with potential and existing clients, phone or in person

Buffer days

These are prep days and time to work on your business.

·       Paper work

·       Education, Research

·       Attend meetings to learn your craft

·       Business planning

·       Marketing – planning

·       Develop presentations

·       Take/return phone calls

Personal days

There is no work related activities of any kind on a personal day.

·       Time with family and/or friends

·       Alone time

·       Vacation

·       Personal appointments

When your business is new you will need more Buffer days and will have less Focus days in your week. Your goal should be to evolve in the shortest time possible to more Focus days in a week than there are Buffer days. The more focus days you have the better the bottom line to your business will be.

About Nancy D. Butler

Nancy, a national motivational speaker, business coach and award-winning author, has been quoted in many local and national publications including USA Today, Money Magazine, Playboy magazine, The Chicago Tribune, AARP and The Day and has been a speaker for major corporations such as Pfizer, General Dynamics and Dow Chemical. Nancy has also been a guest on several television and radio shows.

Contact Nancy for a free consultation at nbutler@aboveallelse.org. 

Time management

As busy as we are, it often seems the only way to get things done is to multitask. However, doing more than one thing at a time does not allow the ability to truly focus on doing each task as efficiently and effectively as it could be done. If time was allowed to truly focus on one task at a time it would help to alleviate this problem. Consider initiating a “model week”. Certain hours each day are set aside to do certain things. When necessary, the door is closed and no phone calls are taken to allow you to focus all of your attention on the task at hand. There are still of course times for multitasking, but the bulk of each day has a set plan and schedule to allow the focus time needed.

Watch for additional details on how to set this up in next month’s blog.

About Nancy D. Butler

Nancy, a national motivational speaker, business coach and award-winning author, has been quoted in many local and national publications including USA Today, Money Magazine, Playboy magazine, The Chicago Tribune, AARP and The Day and has been a speaker for major corporations such as Pfizer, General Dynamics and Dow Chemical. Nancy has also been a guest on several television and radio shows.

Contact Nancy for a free consultation at nbutler@aboveallelse.org. 

SpeakNaked 75% of the Time

As a speaker prepare to speak for only 75% of the allotted time.

When you speak Life happens and your speaking time gets cut short.  Late starts, technical issues and audience questions all cut into your carefully crafted presentation.

 Making you rush through or, worse yet, cut the most powerful part of your talk.  The conclusion, the call to action, the close, the end....


Too many presentations get Cut Short:

Don't let this happen to you

All of our presentations that start at least 10 minutes late..and still have to end on time.

The Sales presentations that took time to to inform the client of all the bla bla bla history of their company then ran out of time to address the costs and scheduling

Your small business presentation that was cut short and you were unable to give your contact info or  closing

And we've all seen rushing the last 5, 10 or 20 slides

The Benefits of 75% SpeakNaked are 100%

You have just given yourself breathing room if you do go over a bit

They will love ending early, you have given them the gift of time  

You get to hone your presentation down even finer

You can take more questions with any extra time

You can stay and enjoy their standing ovation even longer

The solution is simple....Prepare to use 75% of the allotted time

Glenn Dulko Founder of SpeakNaked 

If you are scheduled for an hour, prepare to use 45 minutes
If you are scheduled for a half hour, prepare to use 22 minutes
If you are giving an 18 minute TED talk, prepare to use 14 minutes

Now that I've use almost 75% of my blog space I invite you to become a better speaker and presenter with me, one tip at a time.  Follow my daily Twitter Speaking Tips @SpeakNaked  or contact me Glenn@SpeakNaked.com.     Thanks, Love ya,  Glenn


Glenn Dulko, Speaker, Trainer, Blogger, Tweeter, Founder of SpeakNaked Speakers training and presentation coaching. Glenn works with emerging women speakers to find their voice, their message, and their unique delivery to share their message out loud and change the world.

How Believing You Need a Website is Costing You Time and Money (part 1 of 3)

There is a good chance you have a website you love; it generates leads, it makes you money, it shows up on search queries, it is frequently maintained and you even receive compliments on its design and functionality. If this is you; congratulations! You don’t need to read the rest of this article; unless you…

Know someone who “believes” they need a website?

I have lost count over the years as to how many prospective clients contact me in panic mode saying “I need a website. How long will it take?” My first response is always the same “Why do you feel you need to have a website?” 6 out of 10 people will respond with “Because everyone says I need one. They say I’m losing money if I don’t.” Okay, there may be some truth to what “everyone” is saying; but I then ask “Do YOU want a website?” Usually, the answer is “I don’t know.” or “Not really. What do you think?”

What do I think? I think following the crowd because they said to, stinks. I think every person has the right to listen to, and act upon, their own gut judgment whether it is to do, or not to do. To quote a good friend of mine “No one should ever be “should” upon.”

I especially think that someone in this position; who is struggling to “believe” they need a website can find their own resolution by simply stating to themselves “I do NOT need a website.” Saying this a few times allows the statement to clear the back-n-forth mind-chatter of “What do I do? Should I? Should I not?” This will give the person the quite space they need to separate their true feelings from outside influences.

If one does not clear the mind-clutter the result could lead to procrastination in many areas of the business, one being marketing in general. If all marketing efforts are halted by this elusive website decision, then you guessed it the company will experience loss of visibility, momentum (which circles around to time), and ultimately money.

Once they can hear their own thoughts, and gut-reactions they will be able to answer the following questions honestly, for themselves:

• I know who my ideal client is, the emotional traits of their struggles, and what they will experience after working with me. I share them here: _________.
  
• The purpose of my website is to _____, and I will know it is working when _______.
  
• When visitors arrive at my website they will take one of the following actions: _______. (we’re aiming for at least 3 different actions)
  
• I understand an un-maintained website can do more damage than not having one at all. I am _____% committed to the on-going success of the website. (we’re aiming for 95 to 100% here)

These are great starting questions to help evaluate if you are ready for a website; now, later, or not at all. You will instinctively know, by how you answer the questions (easily, struggled, didn't answer) what the right choice is for you at this time.

I will state it. I truly believe that not every company needs a website. A website is only a fraction of the overall marketing strategy a business owner needs to consider.

I have declined clients who asked me to build them a website; when they didn’t need it or were not ready. Either way, I could not consciously invoice them for something that in the long run would just sit there doing nothing to help grow their business. Some clients went and had someone else built a website for them, others looked at me oddly, thanked me for my honesty, and we focused on alternative approaches.   

A business owner can have an online presence without the cost of creating and maintaining a website. In the next article I will share with you the: Top 4 Reasons Why You Don’t Need a Website.

Until then, happy marketing!

Chana Monahan

Greenhouse Graphics, llc. Where Ideas Grow

860-379-2974

grow@greenhousegraphicsllc.com

www.greenhousegraphicsllc.com