I had looked forward to attending this workshop all year. It usually sells out. I know. I have been on the waiting list far too long. My invitation was finally here, crisp and ready to be replied to. As I scrolled over all the usual mumbo jumbo, an acronym scrolled across the bottom that stopped me, BYOD. With the continual degradation of traditional acronyms, this could mean anything. When in doubt, Google it. In 30 seconds I had my answer.
Read MoreAs I listen to my client, I am struck by his intelligence. It is honest, self generated, Ivy League school supported, experience worthy intelligence. It is a type of intelligence I will never hold; much of it relates to his industry and service offerings that are highly niched, degree driven and detailed orientated.
Disclaimer: I have my own intelligence; also degree, experience and organized driven.
Read MoreI have an incessant habit of cleaning before the New Year. I can’t stand bringing junk and disorganization into something that feels to fresh, clean and opportunistic as a New Year. Being off for a few days over the November holiday, allowed me to start digging through piles, filing the trash bin and finding old memories. What a good feeling it is to purge the stuff I don’t need and reconnect with my past memories. This year, I came across something I hadn’t seen in many years; my resume.
Read MoreI remember getting the email like it was yesterday. The neighbor emailed me, “YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE. CALL ME.” As I made the dreaded call, I got the news that no home owner wants to hear. Your rental house is on fire and the neighbors called the fire department. My husband left immediately, for what seemed like, the longest 2.5 hours ever. Waiting to hear what became of my beloved house, the one we brought home our first born to, the one I started my business in, the one that allowed us to move to our dream property on the coast, was the longest 2.5 hours of my life. When my husband called, it wasn’t to lament over the fact that the tenants blew up and then burnt down the garage. No, his words were much simpler; Do we have our papers in order?
Read MoreAfter countless days of wondering, I finally do it. I finally garner the courage to follow up with an associate who hasn’t responded to me in 4 days. Yep, four days..which in my world is a lifetime. During that time, I have thought of her on five different occasions, pushed back our project by 3 days and halted another one coming in, unsure of what direction she wanted to take our work. I have side tracked other work and painfully watched my email, waiting….and waiting……and waiting. All she has to do is respond, answer a simple question about next steps and send it off to me. Did she get the email? Did she forget about me? Did she push send and the internet trolls ran off with my email? No one really knows, because she didn’t follow up.
Read MoreWhat do I do? Do I succumb to the shiny object in front of me? A day of being unplugged? To forgo the accountability and tasks, meetings and outreach that was all scheduled, so strategically might I add, on this day? It would be disastrous to my business goals. I would be behind, by January 5th.
Read MoreLiving with paranoia is crippling. Just ask my client Bob. When Bob came to me he was so paralyzed by his paranoia, that making day to day decisions created so much anxiety and fear that the business was stalling out. Marketing initiatives were not being made, hiring new employees was lagging to the point that client orders were being delayed and even deciding when to schedule a management meeting took so much time, they never happened. Employees were tip toeing around him, to try and push work forward, in fear that if Bob had to intervene, everything would come to a halt.
Read MoreMy hope is my kids know that I am their mother and the rules, love and our family culture is one that they want. However it makes you wonder about the way we are with our employees as well. Could showing up different every time your employees go looking for you, just like the little bird experienced when trying to find his mother, create distrust? Could your employees disloyalty and sluggish behavior be your fault?
Leading employees is a role, that when absent, will show up in low productivity, loyalty and growth. What do those signs really look like?
Read MoreI just crossed a big one off the 2017 goal list and I will not deny, it feels good. It took months of hard work, planning, organizing and perseverance, but in the end it was worth it. While it had nothing to do with Synergy Business Coaching, in some ways it had everything to do with it. Training and running for the Mendocino Trail 50K(That is 31 miles for you Americans) taught me that life is work and work is life.
Read MoreLast week I opened my email, for the fourth time that day and found 6 newsletters in it. A few from current clients, one from a past and various reach outs from companies I have possibly given way to much money to over time. With the limited amount of time I have, I found myself naturally prioritizing what I needed to read, wanted and would never even open. Each week, I find myself doing this more and more and wonder, can there be too much information?
Read MoreEverything was good until, someone asked something so random, I wasn’t even sure they had been sitting through the session the entire time. They pressed me for an answer and I wanted to help. But I wasn’t sure how. I began to sweat and my responses began to ramble a mile a minute. Oh crap. My worst nightmare was becoming a reality at 11:30 in the morning. One of my flaws was being exposed and I couldn’t do anything about it.
Read MoreMost people are challenged to celebrate their wins. In business we are trained to work hard, do our jobs, keep our heads down and clock in and out on time. We have become so trained to do, we have forgotten to be…and being is what life is all about.
Read MoreOne day about 6 years ago I decided to start saying no. Sometimes I wonder if it was some subconscious preparation for children or maybe I was doing what I saw all my mentors do. Either way, I did it. I said no…..and I did it again and again and again.
Read MoreCreating and managing a budget might be one of my most favorite business activities as an owner. The boxes and lines, control and excitement, strategy and repeated actions allows my mind to “zen out”. It must be an entrepreneurs “meditation”. But it doesn’t end after building it. Taking this same system and implementing it via the decisions I make, the strategies I implement, the people I hire and fire completes the perfection this system has become.
Read MoreAs small business owners, referrals from existing customers are one of our easiest and best ways to gain new customers. If you’re like me, asking for a referral might not seem natural. I realized I had never asked this client for a referral, instead I was hoping—like so many business owners do—that my great service, stellar personality, and the results we achieved would simply speak for themselves. But building a business on hope is a bit reckless. So how can we make the process easier?
Read MoreA reverse mortgage is another way that you can get some money from your own home, condo, manufactured building to create a consistent cash flow that can give you the back up you need, for the assurance you deserve. If you find that you fall under the requirements necessary to obtain one, it might be your next system solution for the strained cash flow positions you find yourself in from time to time.
Read MoreBusiness finances can be scary. Whether you are running formal financial reports like income statements, budgets, and balance sheets or doing nothing at all; if you don’t know what you are doing, you are probably making common financial mistakes that are hurting you.
Read MoreMy heart still skips a beat every time I pick up a new follower. As my tablet dings, in succinct harmony with my phone and then desktop computer, I know what has just occurred. It really could be called magic, when you think about it. To have the ability to catch someone’s attention, from a killer post or through a strategically placed hashtag is really tough. Be proud of your work or of that fantastic marketing team you created. You are in an elite group that has few members. Now what?
Read MoreNowadays, with how hard it is to get one, I am in appreciation for any check that comes my way. Being a small business owner, I understand the stress and anxiety that can come with finding business and keeping cash flow coming in and not just out.
Read MoreYou can’t avoid social media. It is the only way to be social now-a-days. Personally, do what you want. I don’t care if you want to hide forever, lurk around and follow people or be the 10 times a day posting master. However, when we are talking about business, it is different. Being social in business is vital to the grassroots marketing that has to happen if you want to look fresh, young, hip and inviting. No one wants to be stuck in the past and not letting your business be social on the WWW is, well, unsocial. Therefore you might as well be #d2m.
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