Should old acquaintance be forgot …

2010?  It’s a new year and new decade!  What are your New Year’s Resolutions for 2010?  Lose weight, quit smoking (you know who you are!), start a holistic business … What were your resolutions last year in 2009?  In 2000? In 1992? Did you have the same resolutions?  Did you continue your new resolutions all year?  Did you get March 1st with those resolutions?????!??!?!  If not, then you’re in the same boat as most Americans.  Approximately 87% of us don’t keep our resolutions.  It’s frustrating, distressing and exhausting.

One way to keep your resolutions fresh and have staying power is to think of them as goals.  Resolutions are the end result of goals.  They may be formidable goals. But in the end, completing those goals will fulfill your resolution needs.
Use the acronym GOAL to keep your resolutions year-round.  Here are a few tips to keep your GOALs:

G = GET GOING NOW

I’m a great believer in taking action.  Talking about a goal, creating a vision board, or reading affirmations are a wonderful start.  But if there is NO ACTION afterward, the goal is naught!  If there is no action, it becomes a wish.  Wishing is hollow if not followed by consistent action to fulfill your goal.  How many New Year’s resolutions have gone unfulfilled due to lack of action and follow through? What is your 2010 resolution(s)? What are some interim goals for the first quarter of 2010? What is your goal (to fulfill your New Year’s resolution) for January 2010? What are some steps you need to take? How do you need to get going now?

Action Steps

Write down your 2010 goals, steps to take, and completion dates. Below is a link to download a table for you to visualize your goals and the steps you need to take to fulfill them.  The first row of the table has an example of one of my 2010 goals and some steps I need to take to complete the goal.  Note the steps to complete the goal have a concrete deadline date. Download the table now: http://www.bizsuccesspartner.com/ezine/goals-table.pdf

O = OUTCOME

Taking action steps toward your goals are tough! You are moving into uncharted territory.  You are moving toward your goal.  To maneuver through the quagmire, remember your ultimate outcome.  For example, if you’re ultimate goal is to be 50 lbs. lighter, when times get tough, do some visioning.  Imagine yourself fitting in your clothes with ease and comfort.  Imagine how you’ll look in a new dress or suit.  Imagine your smile of confidence.  Imagine telling your family (or your family telling you) what a great thing you’ve accomplished.  It’s happening NOW.  Not in the future but NOW!  Keeping your eyes on the prize and clearly knowing your outcome is the ultimate high!

A = ALLOW

The early part of 2002 was tough for me.  While I was still reeling from the events of 9/11, I was going through a divorce; I was in another stormy relationship and I weighed 203 pounds.  What turned my life around? One day in March 2002 I got out of breath while tying my sneakers.  I had had it!  I was ready for a change.  The divorce didn’t get signed overnight nor did my other relationship change significantly but I did change my healthy mindset overnight.  Friday I couldn’t tie my sneakers without panting; Saturday morning I was jogging in the park, grocery shopping for more nutritious meals and snacks, and losing weight.  Within 4 weeks I lost 8 ½ pounds!

I knew it would be tough – I love desserts! But by mid-2003 I weighed 149 pounds.  How did I lose the weight and still have dessert? I allowed myself to have my cake and eat it too!  I allowed myself to make mistakes AND LEARN FROM THEM! I allowed myself to have dessert, an extra cookie or two, and discover more about my character.  I learned about my food triggers and my emotional eating habits.  At first it was distressing, but I got an accountability partner (someone whom I would update with my meal intake, eating habits and issues).  I spoke to her twice a week.  In turn, she was telling me about her food issues.  It worked!  WE both allowed ourselves to veer from the ultimate goal only to come back on track quickly.  By the way WE BOTH have kept the weight off since then!

L = LOVE

About 30 years ago, I saw an interview with a jazz musician. He was asked why is it he has a strict policy to love every song he records.  The musician answered that he had to love every song because if he didn’t and it became a hit, he was playing a song he disliked for the rest of his life!  Keep this in mind when fulfilling your goal.  Love your goal! Embrace your goal! Find your goal irresistible! Be passionate about your goal! Love the action you’re taking to realize your goal!  Love how you are kind to yourself to achieve your goal! Love the outcome! Love, love, love, love your goal!  And love the process!

A Unique Opportunity

As you know I’m a certified business coach who loves to help entrepreneurs catapult their businesses to the next level.  I work one-on-one with a few select business owners to dramatically increase their client-base and business esteem.  As a special offer, I am extending an invitation to anyone reading this article to schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss how coaching and the GOALs system may help grow your business.

The consultation is free and you are under no obligation to hire me in the session.  In fact, I’m very selective about my clientele.  But I will be happy to meet with anyone who is serious and committed to significantly improve the profitability and visibility of their business.

This offer expires on midnight (ET) January 29, 2010.  When you contact me, mention you heard the offer through Michele O’Reggio’s January 2010 newsletter.

Please contact me at coachingwithcrystal@yahoo.com to schedule your complimentary consultation or be added to my list to receive my monthly newsletter.

Have a great 2010??!

If it’s important to you, you’ll change …

Crystal Williamson
certified small business coach > technology/computer coach
coachingwithcrystal@yahoo.com
www.coachingwithcrystal.com
www.facebook.com/crystal.williamson
www.blogtalkradio.com/coachingwithcrystal
347.236.2030

It happens every day; a relationship full of promise and potential for both parties falls apart with bad feelings on both sides. Although this might sound like something more worthy of a dating advice column, the fact is that most business relationships end badly for the same reason personal ones do – lack of communication.

In the online business industry there are  rumblings of relationships gone bad between online business owners and their virtual teams.  This strife is not only hurting  entrepreneurs and small business owners, who have to scramble to keep operations going by either hiring new personnel or by taking on everything themselves, but it’s also hurting virtual assistants, who are left wondering how to find a business where their talents will be most effective.

The good news however, is that the vast majority of these problems are avoidable. With a little work beforehand, business owners can be assured that they’re hiring personnel who will fit perfectly into their existing business structure and personality. DISC Personality Profiling is a sure-fire way to achieve this ever-elusive goal.

What DISC is

DISC is one of the most popular and widely used personality profiling systems in the world and is a positive way to identify what motivates you and the strengths you bring to a team. It also shows the areas where you are not so strong. This is valuable, as it alerts you to which personnel you can bring onto your team to help balance you.   You are observed and known by your actions and by the people you are most motivated to have around you.

DISC profiles measure the energy you are investing into four main traits or factors of personality. You are referred to as a “High” D, I, S, or C as a result. While you have all four dimensions of DISC available to you naturally, you have practiced some more than others over the course of your life, and you cannot operate as high in all four at the same time!
Here are the four main factors of personality:

1. (D) Dominance of Problems - people who need to control, maintain power and assertiveness.
2. (I) Influence of People – people who love social situations, friendship, and communicating
3. (S) Steadiness of the Pace of the environment - people who thrive on patience, persistence and thoughtfulness.
4. (C) Compliance with Procedures and rules – people who are most comfortable when they have all the facts.

The Delegation Challenge

Here are the four personality types and the unique challenges they have when it comes to delegating:

• (D) “I would love to delegate things and grow my business. I already know that is the key. The real problem I have is that most people I could hire are too slow, or they make a mess of it.  Sometimes the only way to maintain control is to do it yourself.  What I want is to find someone who can follow instructions and get it done my way.”




• (I) “I really need to delegate. I’m forever finding that I can’t get my great ideas finished. I have a new idea before I completed the last one.  But every time I want to delegate a task, an Assistant wants me to break it all down and give them all the details.  That just isn’t my strong point.  I get frustrated because I just want someone to understand what I need and DO IT.  I’d like to hire someone that really gets me and can be a partner in my business.”




• (S) “I’m not sure I really want to delegate. I like things done in a certain way, and I don’t like to be pushed too fast. I want to check on the results until I’m sure that I can trust my Assistant to follow my process.  I know it would help me to delegate, but I want a partner who will help me set a good foundation for my business to build upon.”




• (C) “It is hard for me to delegate because I want things done RIGHT. Sometimes I don’t understand why others don’t pay as much attention to detail.  I have been called a perfectionist – but frankly, I believe that my reputation is on the line.  Whatever leaves my desk has to be representative of me.  I can only delegate to someone that cares about the details as much as I do.”

Ok, I admit it, I’m a perfectionist (style C), and it sometimes gets in the way of delegating effectively. Many of us have natural tendencies that can keep us stuck and unable to delegate and let go.

Can you identify with any of the styles above,: Do you procrastinate?  Micromanage ? Or are you a  perfectionist like me?If so, DISC personality profiling will allow you to modify the behaviours that have been keeping you from delegating and the results you want. It will also give you peace of mind, paying the way for your business to experence the growth you always knew it could.

What DISC Gives You

• A powerful understanding of yourself and others
• A clearer insight into interpersonal behavior and relationship dynamics
• Realization of the impact of your personal behavior on others
• A useful tool to help you assess everyone’s behavioral style
• A method for planning your approach to all personal and professional interactions
• A way to maximize your potential in any given situation.
• Team members who will fit perfectly into your business structure and personality

You’ll also learn how you manage others in areas which are particularly sensitive to other people and the style of management you require – specific points that those who manage you can take note of in order to make their job easier in giving you the environment you need to be a happy team player!

Communication is the  Key

The secret to successful delegation is to use DISC Personality Profiling to identify what motivates you, the strengths you bring to a team and the areas where you are not so strong. You will then know which personnel you can bring onto your team to help balance you, and how to communicate effectively to get things done,  get the results you want and to lay the foundation for a successful long-term successful relationship. “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.  Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”– Tao Te Ching

Imagine the success you can achieve when you have a team where everyone does only what they’re brilliant at! Leverage your brilliance to double your income, have more freedom and create a wealthy lifestyle.  Find out how at http://www.bizsuccesspartner.com/teambuilding

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How Good is Your Memory?

At first, you may try remembering all of your usernames and passwords.  But, it will not be long before you have so many that they get all scrambled up in your head.  Thus, you can spend a lot of wasted time trying to remember the right combination.  If the password cannot be sent to your email address, you may even have to set up a new account, which wastes your valuable time and is very frustrating.

Of course, a lot of people implement the infamous sticky note to keep track of their passwords.  It would be great, but there are two major drawbacks. What good does it have to safeguard your private information, if anyone can check out your sticky notes?  Second, what happens if you lose them?

Automation is the Key

Resources for entrepreneurs are meant for increasing productivity and making the job easier.  But, what good is it to have all of these online resources, if you cannot access them immediately?  If you can identify with this time consuming and frustrating dilemma of constantly searching for passwords, then you need Password Manager software that securely stores data in an encrypted form.

As far as software programs are concerned, this is one of the best small business resources available on the market today.  Now, you can let your computer be your memory, increasing productivity and simplifying your outreach to the online world. You can have as many accounts as you need.  It is like having an office manager without having to pay a salary.

If you’re an entrepreneur with an online business, you should always be looking for small business resources and strategies to get more done with less effort, increasing productivity and your profits. 

With great  Password Managers, you will have the ability to:

1.  Manage your login information
2.  Auto fill your forms
3.  Store Information securely
4.  Create a master password
5.  Have secure search engine access
6.  Have passwords set for you
7. Create safenotes (write notes that you can password protect)
8.  Bookmark (save and manage) your favourite websites

With a Password Manager, increasing productivity is easy  because it saves you  the time needed to access and make accounts.  The software will automatically remember your login information, so you no longer have to pause and try to remember how to access an account.  When you have forms to fill out in order to set up a new account, Password Managers can do that for you in the blink of an eye.

Password Managers can also set up a master password that will give you access to all of your accounts without a hassle; and the software will safely and securely store all of your pertinent information. Password Manager software can even generate secure  passwords for you which is absolutely critical to protect your data.  There are several elements  that are necessary to create a secure password – using your personal data is not secure. If you’re not using secure passwords, it’s like locking your door and leaving the key under the doormat.

If you want to simplify how you work, save tons of time and frustration, Password Manager software is one of the best small business resources available. You’ll have an automated assistant to remember all of your vital password details, create secure passwords to protect your data, create new accounts quickly and so much more! A Password Manager is a must-have tool for increasing productivity working online.
 
Copyright, Michele Hanson-O’Reggio. All rights reserved.

Put Your Passwords on Speed Dial with Roboform!
 Free 30 day Trial: http://www.bizsuccesspartner.com/recommends/roboform

A simple training process that I use is the  5 step PEDAF technique. Educational and learning theory shows that the use of all 5 senses along with spaced repetition, increases the trainee’s understanding and retention. The PEDAF technique reinforces learning by tapping into 3 of our 5 senses.  The reason why many entrepreneurs don’t get the results they want with delegating is because they only do 1 of the 5 steps.

Today, I used the “Demonstrate” component of the technique which reinforces the trainee’s visual sense. It may not be relevant to use this with every task you delegate, but use it as often you can.  Your objective would be to show your Virtual Assistant (VA) what you want the end result to look  like  and/or what steps they need to take to complete a task .

For example, if you need your VA to do paperwork for you, show her what a completed form looks like. Or if you want your website or document to be formatted to look a certain way, show her an example(s) of what you like – make sure that you’re both looking at the same thing.  Today, I created a video  of a task I did on my computer to train my VA on  a new task.  I recorded step by step audio instructions, using Camstudio (a free and easy to use software).

Note that if you hire your Best Fit tm VA, she/he will often know the process to use to accomplish many of your tasks (ie. article marketing, social media marketing). However, there are things that you will want done a specific way – your way, and demonstrating what you want done will ensure success.

This technique is included in my Delegation Success Formula that I teach in my ‘Leverage Your Brilliance Team Building Program’.  If you’d like to  grow your business by leaps and bounds and have more free time with team building,  schedule a Free consultation with me at:
http://www.bizsucccesspartner.com/consultation

Here are some of the benefits of using an online fax service:

* Simple: Send faxes to any fax machine (or virtual fax number) worldwide using the web or email. All you need is Internet access and an email address – no hardware or software required. Receive faxes directly in your existing email inbox.

* Reliable & Mobile: Never miss another fax again. Online faxing is available 24/7 and it goes where you go. Fax by email from work or home. Send wireless faxes from the road using your handheld device. You can access real-time reports online anytime, and receive email notifications of the status of your faxes.

* Saves you money: Online faxing has become one of the cheapest resources for small businesses available today. It eliminates the need for a fax machine, fax supplies, a separate phone line for faxing, and costly maintenance. You can sign up for an online fax service and pay as little as 8 cents per fax. If you go over the monthly contract limit, you’ll still pay only pennies on the dollar.

* Saves you time: Once you send your fax you can forget about it. No more redialing if the fax number is busy. Your online fax service will do that for you. You can send to multiple recipients at one time. Fax confirmations are emailed to you so you don’t have to walk back to the fax machine to wait for confirmations. Also, you can pre-schedule faxes. Schedule them to be sent at a time that is most convenient for the person receiving the fax.

Some other great features include:

* Store your faxes online.
* Fax from multiple email addresses.
* Get a real local or toll free fax number in cities throughout Canada and the United States, sometimes at no additional cost.
* Send a fax to many of your business contacts simultaneously.
* Voice Broadcasting: once you experience the ability to contact all of your customers or business contacts with a single voice call, you will never want to go back to a traditional fax service.

Several online fax companies offer similar services, but at the very minimum, you want to ensure the program you choose:

* Offers 24/7 customer support
* Offers toll free and local fax numbers
* Offers competitive pricing plans
* Offers a NO RISK trial period

So, now you know. Online faxing is one of the most useful resources for small businesses today. Time is money, and online faxing saves both. It’s one of those small business resources that is vital to your entrepreneurial success.

1. Make a specific positive comment.
2. Critique and/or suggestion for improvement.
3. Overall positive comment.

Here’s how I did it.  “VA Name, I can see that you put a lot of hard work and research into this and I really like how you presented the information (positive feedback). However, *all * my instructions for this task were not done – please read my email again (critique which may make her feel a bit deflated). I’m looking forward to seeing your results when you complete all the steps – you’ve always done excellent work for me, thanks!”  (overall positive comment to ensure she remains motivated).

I just hired a new Virtual Assistant to help me with marketing. I already have an experienced VA who does this for me but decided it was best to leverage her expertise for other marketing tasks. I could have hired an experienced VA who can hit the ground running, which is what I recommend to my clients. However, because I used to do article marketing and I evaluated my new VA as an ‘A player’, I decided to invest in training her.

Below is my feedback I emailed to her this morning about her first task. The level of delegated authority I am using as I train her is the lowest level of delegated freedom: ‘wait to be told/ do exactly as I say/follow these instructions precisely is’. Here’s why this feedback will result in a successful outcome :

1. Gives clear, specific details
2. Reinforces what she is doing right, will motivate her
3. Asks for her feedback
4. Reinforces check-ins
5. Improves systems

“Marie, for author resource box, you are correct in entering the default standard version for the GoArticles.com site since we can’t enter a different resource box for each article – great job! However, please note that you should have entered the HTML version since this site accepts html resource boxes.  I forgot to mention to you when we spoke that when opening a new article marketing account, you should look in the Publisher Guidelines to see if there are any specific instructions re submitting articles (apart from those I gave you).  The guidelines for this site said ‘URLs in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks.’  so  you need to enter the HTML version.

Also,  please update the submission process document with this step: “When opening a new article marketing account, check Publisher guidelines first before submitting article, to ensure that we comply.’ And as we discussed, if there are no instructions re html resource boxes, always enter the html version first and if it isn’t accepted ,  use the plain text version.  Enter this information about each site on our article submission report under ‘Comments’ section that we spoke about and use this revised spreadsheet to work from as I’ve entered some comments for you. If you have any questions, as usual, let me know and continue to email me updates daily. We are making great progress, thanks!”

So now, I can move on to other tasks, knowing that my VA has everything she needs to move forward. I don’t need to think about this anymore until I hear from her.

Feedback, feedback, feedback – VERY  important when delegating! It’s one of the key components of my Business My Way Delegation Success Formula tm  that ensures you get the results you want every time.

Delegate your way to success!