All Entries in the "Productivity" Category
“But Nobody Does it as Good as Me” – How Delegating Tasks Can Lead to Bigger Revenues
At some point most entrepreneurs have proclaimed that only they can do their jobs well. And while this may be true for some of the tasks you tackle each day, it’s impossible to be good at everything. In 2003 when I started my first business (a bookstore that I later sold) I was determined to [...]
Stop Letting Your Business Run You: How to Get Your Life Back
When I started my first business back in 2003, I was excited about the flexibility and freedom I was going to have. After a decade in the Silicon Valley, it was liberating to know that I would be calling the shots. But like most entrepreneurs, I quickly discovered that flexibility and freedom are hard to [...]
10 Reasons Why It Pays to Organize Your Home Office by Debra Wilson
One of the many appeals of working from a home office is anonymity. Clients can’t just pop in whenever they want, so you can start your work while eating your breakfast or brushing your teeth. Unfortunately, this anonymity often leads to a less organized work space. After all, if you don’t have toimpress clients, why take precious time from your busy schedule to clean? Well, there are actually numerous benefits to keeping an organized and [...]
When Being Too Busy Hurts Your Business
Over the years I’ve witnessed a number of service-based businesses suffer from being too busy. Most of us think this is a good problem to have, but not when it’s at the expense of customer satisfaction. One of the greatest challenges for any business is to generate new customers, yet some people are really good [...]
5 Simple Ways to Get More Time Out of Your Day (Really!)
After writing an earlier post this week on how I manage e-mail, I thought I’d share some productivity tips that also work for me. 1. The Sticky Note To-Do List This is my best productivity tip of all. I keep a running To-Do list on my desk on an 8×5 steno notepad. Each morning I [...]
How I’ve Taken Control of My Love/Hate Relationship with E-mail
I’ve come to accept my love/hate relationship with e-mail. The truth is that I find e-mail to be the biggest drain on my time and energy. However, it’s often where I receive some of the best opportunities. Instead of letting e-mail rule my life, here’s how I deal with it: – Stop the madness. I [...]
25 Must-Have Online Tools for Managing and Growing Your Business
1. Google Analytics – This free monitoring tool allows you to keep track of website traffic including where your traffic comes from, keywords visitors use to find your site, and other trends. 2. Tweetdeck – If you are participating in Twitter, this is my favorite tool for monitoring Twitter activity. You can set up columns [...]
How to Make Your Business Networking Meetings (Coffee Dates) Suck Less
I’m going to go on record and admit that I’m not a fan of business networking coffee dates (gasp!). While these can be a way to build referral relationships, I find that sometimes these meetings feel like bad dates. You know within three minutes of sitting down at the table whether you’re actually going to [...]
How to Prevent Business Growth and Stay on the Entrepreneurial Hamster Wheel
There is a special kind of camaraderie amongst entrepreneurs. It is a bit like belonging to an exclusive club, where members celebrate the freedom of business ownership. And while freedom may be the motto, only a small percentage of entrepreneurs are truly free. Instead of running their businesses, they let their businesses run them. It’s [...]
