BLOGGING WITH INTEGRITY

The Everyday Activities of Being in Business

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:05:28 -0700

Running a business can bring the unexpected along with the normal day to day activities and we need to be ready for them. The last minute appointment cancellation, or scrambling to accommodate a new client’s need to meet sooner than later, or the additional family committments that are important but squeeze into your already precious business time.

I haven’t found one small business owner that hasn’t had to face one or all of these challenges. The difference is how each owner prepares for them and what they actually do to meet these challenges.

Being gracious when a client cancels and still asking politely to reschedule to keep their business always goes along way in keeping your business.

Arranging and rearranging business and personal schedules to meet a clients needs is a necessity at times, but keep in mind that it shouldn’t be at the expense of your family. Do not commit right away. Review your schedule and give your new clients a few options that they can choose from. Taking your time to review your options will let them know they are important but that you are responsible to your other clients and your family even if it is not clearly spoken. If your new client really intends to meet with you, they will find another time to meet from the options you give them.

Family always comes first for me, but running a business and making family a priority can be a balancing act but one worthwhile. Everyone’s personal life is filled with family activities and responsibilities. Sometimes, new committments are added and are important for the family to continue their move forward. Take the time each day to review and add a couple of items on your family to do list and look at the same list for your business and then balance, rearrange, and scramble to make them work in harmony, or at least the best you can do that day. Be satisfied with what you have accomplished and keep pushing to successfully get through your everyday business activities while enjoy your family.

Possibilities

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 10:48:32 -0700

Each day brings endless possibilities. That sounds great doesn’t it? Just like a wonderful dream. So how do we find our way to that dream?

Create your possibility and then move yourself to action.

Get up off your computer chair or that comfy couch and get moving. Call new clients for more business, go outside and plant that garden or find a small bucket to start a compost bin to start saving the earth. One step, one thought , one dream......endless possibilities!

Find a Moment

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:40:25 -0700

As each day moves by so quickly, sometimes we miss the important things. Finding a moment that helps us to stay focused on why we are is the remedy to slow the day a little.

Some of us find we missed our moment when a telephone call takes precedence over that time with a family member or a friend who is sharing with us. We lost sharing and told the person they weren’t quite as important as that telephone call. Or maybe we were so tired from running our business that we didn’t enjoy the afternoon thunderstorm or notice that someone important to us needed to talk about their day.

Find a moment to stop and enjoy this life. Put a timer on and don’t work for more than 60 minutes at a time, take a break and just relax. Take a walk , do some light exercise, make some green tea, chat about nothing with a friend, call a family member to say hello, say a prayer for someone you know is struggling, all of these are moments that can refocus and energize us. Yes keeping focused on running your business is important, but remember we are here for a short time, don’t look back with regrets on all you missed because you couldn’t find a moment to enjoy them.

Just Ask

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:20:18 -0700

Have you ever been afraid to do something because you just didn’t want to ask? I really don’t worry too much about asking, that is until recently.

As a business owner you have many responsibilities that are yours because there is no one else. One of mine was to find out about the use of public forms for my business. I found that I would need to consult an attorney and or each city government legal department to get their permission for the use of the public forms. For the first time in a while I became a little fearful of asking. After all who am I to talk to attorneys? Would they laugh at my request, would they throw out a bunch of legal jargon that meant No?

Well what I did was what I blogged about a while back, I Moved Forward and Challenged Myself to Action. Yes I just did it. I started by calling the biggest city legal department and surprisingly enough got an affirmative answer that same day. The same thing happened in each of the subsequent cities I called. This turned out to be one of the most pleasant results to what I thought would be the most difficult task to accomplish since I started this business, but it has been the easiest.

And all I had to do was Just Ask.

Putting it all Together.

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:40:33 -0700

I just finished reading one more article on becoming a success. I found out again that the only one that is stopping me from achieving success is myself. Who would of thought I am my own worst enemy in the battle to succeed?

Honestly, it wasn’t really a surprise but it finally hit home that I have no one to blame if I don’t succeed but myself. If that doesn’t help put you in the right frame of mind to not be afraid of success nothing will. How can you allow anyone to know that you failed only because you just didn’t try hard enough, or long enough, or stay persistent, or because you just gave up because your were afraid to succeed? Not me.

One of my clients told me that he called me to use my services because I was so persistent in my follow-up. Okay so that’s a step in the right direction, right? And if use all that l I have read, all that I have earned through trial and error, and use my ability to persist through all the no’s, I can keep putting it all together to pave my path to success.

Slow Down

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 21:58:12 -0700

How do you sit down to write about something when everything is swirling around in your thoughts and nothing really makes sense? Family, business calls, web issues, planning a yard sale, making dinner, getting my cell phone fixed, all seem to demand some attention. Family of course most important, but at times gets lost in the balancing act, and business which can consume you if you let it sometimes threatens to overshadow everything.

Well, first I took a moment and did some yoga to Slow Down. It helped quite a bit. Next I gathered my thoughts and checked my plans for the next day and followed up with this final item of the day, writing an entry on my Blog. Funny enough, the writing has also slowed me down to really think about what I needed to do to redirect my thoughts in a more orderly fashion and realize tomorrow is another day.

Yes that’s it! Slow Down because you have done everything you could do for today and remember........tomorrow is another day.

Challenge Yourself to Action

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:48:45 -0700

Every business owner finds them self with an opportunity to face a challenge with defeat or with excitement. What we choose could ultimately determine the end or the success of our business. For me I read books that promote success, thoughtful insight, and faith in self to give me that extra push forward. Then it’s on to ACTION.

ACTION sounds easy enough but this is my biggest Challenge in life. Acting on all the solutions, ideas, and thoughts that I think of is sometimes lost in all that thinking. Move forward all the books say, Act Now, Don’t Wait, and you will be a success! OK, OK I hear you. Thought without Action is just a thought that gets lost in the wind.

So today I have overcome a Challenge. I acted on a Challenge from my Mentoring Group that I talked about in my “Keeping Up” entry last week. The Challenge was to either Blog regularly or delete the Blog. This entry today marks my 2nd entry in 1 week, beating the goal I set of one entry each week. Sounds like a pretty small challenge right? Maybe so, but the victory is sweet for me and I can feel my mind open up to the endless possibilities of putting my thoughts into Action and moving my business forward to success.

Keeping Up

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:07:35 -0700

As you can see by the lack of Blogging Entries, that I am definitely, “NOT KEEPING UP!”

What can I do better, how can I make the time, who’s bright idea was it to Blog? All great questions, and apparently none of which I have the right answer to except the last one, ME!

I asked some experienced and thoughtful people to become members of my Mentoring Support Group. How are they going to help me Keep Up? Well I am now responsible to explain why I have not or explain how I have reached the goals I have set. I have no desire to say that I just couldn’t do it when I know that I could have.

One of the suggestions to improve my business and set as a goal was to either remove the Blog from my web site or add to it on a more regular basis. Even if no one reads it. So here I am blogging my first entry on my goal of one per week. Amazing what a little pressure can do. What’s funny though is I actually like to Blog. No real reason not to Keep Up!

Here is a thoughtful suggestion to any of you who are not Keeping Up, tell someone what your goals are and have them ask you at a predetermined time if you accomplished them. It will keep you on the road to Keeping Up!

Moving Forward

Tue, 1 Jun 2010 19:23:50 -0700

Being in business can be an exhilarating as well as heart breaking journey. Just like life I guess. Starting a new business always brings equal amounts of excitement and stress. So many ups and downs, how do you “Move Forward?”

I found that putting one foot right in front of the other, facing whatever the issue is at the moment, learning from it, learning from it, and learning from it again, can help you Move forward. One step at a time.

There will never be a perfect client as there will never be the perfect business. We will make mistakes that can make us want to quit and walk away. There will be clients who question our ethics, our business practices,and our reputation. So will we give up? Will we walk away? Yes, some of us might, but those of us who keep “Moving Forward” will find out that everything has its time and will pass.

If you made the mistake, apologize, fix it quickly and with integrity. If you have a client who just won’t be a good client, finish your business with them in a forthright manner and “Move Forward” to the next better client. They are out there, clients who have integrity and ethics that want your business services or products.

Don’t give up too soon. Better business might just be waiting for you just around the corner and you will never know it was there unless you are “Moving Forward” to find it.

LEARNING FROM EVERYONE

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 14:44:42 -0800

After attending a “Get Motivated Seminar” and listening to a variety of speakers reminded me that I can learn a little something from everyone.

Some of the speakers made their point with humor, while others were serious and sold their ideas with tables and diagrams filled with facts. There were eloquent speakers spouting poetry and reciting historical speeches to fill their audience with inspiration. Famous speakers filled you with awe of their accomplishments convincing everyone that anything is possible.

I learned that if I can dream it, it is possible with desire and with an everyday effort. Reminded that everyone great has failed often more times than they want to remember, but in the end the accomplished more than they imagined, will keep me going in my moments of doubt.

Maybe my company isn’t an Apple or Microsoft right now, but it could be tomorrow, if I keep learning, keep trying, keep hoping, and keep moving forward.