How Big is Your Bowl?

I know when I ask that question and everyone thinks of the size of their candy bowl they had for Halloween that is not what I am referring to. I am referring to your “life, experience and business” bowl! Take a plant for instance, you purchase plants to decorate your home or office with from stores like Home Depot and they are in 2 inch pots. It is recommended for it to continue to grow that you change out the pot and replant it in a slightly bigger one and then do it again for the plant to be able to grow bigger and bigger. OK, see the similarities? The plant (and fish are the same way) need a change of surroundings along with a bigger location to continue to grow. It cannot grow to its full size if you keep it cooped up in the same small habitat! Now relate this analogy to you and your business. Are you networking in the same groups you have been for years? Are you holding onto all of the “needed to be done” tasks for yourself to do? Open up your bowl size… reach out to new groups whether it be social networking on the internet with Facebook, LinkedIn and so on or meeting with a new networking group – find a 5 Minute Networking event – they are great! For those tasks that are holding you back from getting more work because you cannot keep up with what you have, hire an assistant whether it be in your office or a virtual assistant. The cost of paying an assistant will be more than covered when you have opened your bowl up for growth and more business comes in!

Networking… Don’t Miss The Opportunities

It’s all in the relationship! Networking is a way of life today for Entrepreneurs. You can work for a company or be a solo-preneur and have a need to network. With the downturn in the economy people are turning to those who “care”, those who have “time”, those that “follow-up” and those who “offer a resolution to a need”. Is that you? Network – Network – Network You never know who someone else might know and by networking you get your name and services out there in the running for work. Also in turn, by networking you might find a person that fits a need you might have! It is a win win situation. There is an art to networking, the main key is to be authentic and be YOU! We all know that when you network you should be there to get to know the others you are meeting and not just “sell” yourself. Practice that! We have some great networking groups here in Santa Clarita that meet weekly or monthly. There are networking groups that have affiliations outside of our little valley if your services are not just for local customers. There is a fun website – www.meetup.com that lists every kind of “Meet Up” group you can think of from personal self-care to hardcore business people. Look into, join and get notices – the most important part is NETWORK!!! Build Relationships!! You never know who and what you might find! Good luck and Have a GREAT Time!

Delegation… a Lost Art Part Two

Do you find yourself thinking I don’t even have the time in my day to delegate a task to someone… This is a pitfall many of us fall into. The truth is you don’t have the time NOT to delegate.

As a business owner your calendar is probably your most valuable tool. Notice I called it a TOOL – you need to use it that way. Schedule everything you have to do on the calendar that includes shopping, paying bills not just business meetings and networking! You will get a clear picture of the REAL amount of time you have in a day. Now while you are scheduling things – schedule in a block of time for delegating tasks, the beginning or end of the day is always best!

During this time you will focus on tasks you can hand out to others to complete type up an instruction email, include all attachments and don’t forget to include a date you expect this task to be completed – send it and consider that task completed! Your support team will get it done! It is important to make time work for you not you rush around trying to keep up with time!

Networking and Collecting Business Cards – what do you do?

What do you do with the “tons” of business cards you have collected while networking??  Can your VA help you with this?? The answer is a bellowing YES!!  Networking is fun and sometimes can be a chore in itself.  You are out there at Chamber events, and sometimes multiple Chambers too.  You belong to a networking group, or two.  You attend “meet your neighbor” events and other locally sponsored events.  All of this is done to get your business out there and in the eyes of consumers and other business owners in order to attrack business.  But in doing all of this “networking” you have collected business cards by the masses and leads by the handfuls, what do you do with them all?  Staring at the piles can be overwhelming and some of us tend to do nothing and those leads and relationships can go cold.    A virtual assistant can help you create a data-base from those items.  Your VA can scan or hand input each one and delivers them to you via mail, email or even creates a shared database for the two of you to keep up to date!  This is a daunting admin task that is a time stealer for business owners!  Pass this task to your VA and free time for you to actually tend to those leads and relationships!

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