Every bit of planning, prioritizing and organizing comes down to this simple concept:  select your most important task and then concentrate on it single-mindedly until it is complete.  This means no multi-tasking, and no tolerance for interruptions.  The most successful people I know apply this key concept routinely, and I know that when I apply it, I always get more done on my most important projects.  Here are some additional concepts to consider.

The Requirement for Every Great Achievement?
Every great achievement of mankind has been preceded by a long period of hard, concentrated work until the job was done. “Single handling” requires that once you begin, you keep working at the task, without diversion or distraction, until the job is 100% complete. You keep urging yourself onward by repeating the words “Back to work!” over and over whenever you are tempted to stop or do something else.

Reduce Your Time By 50%
By concentrating single-mindedly on your most important task, you can reduce the time required to complete it by 50% or more.

It has been estimated that the tendency to start and stop a task, to pick it up, put it down and come back to it can increase the time necessary to complete the task by as much as 500%.

Each time you return to the task, you have to familiarize yourself with where you were when you stopped and what you still have to do. You have to overcome inertia and get yourself going again. You have to develop momentum and get into a productive work rhythm.
Develop Energy and Enthusiasm
But when you prepare thoroughly and then begin, refusing to stop or turn aside until the job is done, you develop energy, enthusiasm and motivation. You get better and better and more productive. You work faster and more effectively.  The Law of Attraction works with you because your attention to any subject draws more of it to you.

Why Waste Your Time?
The truth is that once you have decided on your number one task, anything else that you do other than that is a relative waste of time. Any other activity is just not as valuable or as important as this job, based on your own priorities.  Once you label something a priority, doing something else means that you’re not ready for success.

Action Exercises
Take action! Resolve today to select the most important task or project that you could complete and then launch into it immediately.

Once you start your most important task, discipline yourself to persevere without diversion or distraction until it is 100% complete. See it as a “test” to determine whether you are the kind of person who can make a decision to complete something and then carry it out. Once you begin, refuse to stop until the job is finished.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Inspiration, Law of Attraction, Leadership, Motivation, Success

“Confidence and enthusiasm are the greatest sales producers in any kind of economy.”

–O.B. Smith, Author

There have never been so many opportunities to build a successful business than there are today.  As many as 80 percent of all the products and services in common use today at home, in business and in organizations large and small, will be obsolete in five years; they will be replaced by new and better products and services. The rapid development of new technology and the desire of people for new or better or cheaper products or services means that you can build your fortune easier today than at any other time in history.

However, we know that 80 to 90 percent of new businesses fail in the first three years due to a variety of factors. One of those factors is managerial incompetence. It is an inability to sell the product or an inability to control costs or both. Another major reason for failure is offering the wrong product at the wrong price to the wrong market at the wrong time, or a combination of these. In which case, even the best marketing efforts and cost controls won’t help you.  I’m going to explore these issues in great depth over the next few months, as I start yet another business with my husband.  In the meantime, here are three factors to consider in ensuring your business success.

1. Determine the Need. The first principle with regard to selecting any new product or service is to determine that it fills a genuine, existing need, that it solves a problem of some kind for the customer, or that it makes the life or work of the customer better in some way. You must be very clear about this.
2. Sell a Quality Product or Service. The second principle for success with a new product or service is that it must be of good quality at a fair price. And if it is in competition with other similar products or services, it must have what is called a unique selling proposition. It must have some beneficial feature or attraction that makes it different from and superior to its competitors.
3. Determine Your Area of Uniqueness. No product or service can succeed unless it is somehow unique and superior to any other product or service like it. There is seldom any real opportunity in what is called a “me too” product - one that is just the same as all the others. At the same time, the safest business strategy is to start off with an accepted product that you can improve. In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new business or industry, start off with something that people are already doing, people are already buying and using, and find some way to improve it.

What is my big business idea?  I’m tackling one of the toughest problems in dental offices worldwide.  While that in and of itself might not be of any interest to you, (and I don’t expect it to be), how I achieve my success from start to finish is what I’ll be blogging about.  If you own your own business, you’ll definitely want to follow this blog over the next year.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Inspiration, Law of Attraction, Motivation, Success

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated failures.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

–Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States

One of the biggest problems we face as business owners is running out of steam and wanting to give up just when the going gets tough.When faced with a challenge, we need to persist.   When facing adversity, we need to persist.  When feeling down, we need to persist.  When feeling overwhelmed, we need to persist.

But how do we find the strength and courage to persist when all seems lost, or it feels as though there is no reason to continue?  Through your own written word.  Go back and read your values.  Re-read your goals.  Think about what you want and why you want it.  Your inner being has all the answers.  Read your own motivational book.  You’ve been writing and keeping lists for a while now, when things start to feel frazzled, ground yourself by remembering who you are and what your purpose is.  If you haven’t done this already, here are a few articles to get you started:

Determining Your Values

How to Set Clear, Definite Goals

Another common obstacle is that we come up to a challenge and start whining, “But it’s so hard!  I can’t do this.”  Or, “I don’t know what to do next.  I don’t know how to go about this.”  This is where your personal strategic planning comes into play.

Also note that success doesn’t have to be difficult.  We make it that way.  We choose to whine and complain, which means we struggle and make everything look difficult.  It’s really not.  It’s just one step at a time.

I have witnessed many instances where the ultimate reward went to the person who stayed with the company, or committed to their own business even in tough times, or simply committed to their own excellence -  who persisted – and succeeded.

So . . .  Persist until you succeed. (Then you can do whatever you want!)

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

When I’m asked to give an impromptu speech or share my coaching tenets, there are seven basic proficiencies that come to mind.  Whether you’ve just started your business or have a long record of success, take a moment to check out these tips to make sure you’re in great shape.

1. Be friendly.  Be the type of person others want to be around and you’ll have no trouble with getting clients or employees.
2. Show appreciation.  Let your customers, employees, business associates, vendors, suppliers, friends, and family know that you appreciate everything they do for you.
3. Be a good listener.  The answer to any problem is always right in front of your face.  Sometimes the person in the midst of it can’t see it because they’re too involved.  By listening calmly, you can often help them find the solution quickly.
4. Avoid arguing; it consumes too much of your energy.  Proving that you’re right to someone who is not going to do business with you is never worth it in the long run.  Move on; they’ll figure it out and possibly come back if you didn’t make them angry.
5. Be noticeable.  (In a good way, of course!)  Play up your great qualities.  Dress the part.  Find a persona and develop it.  Find ways to be the person – and the business – you want to be.
6. Sincerely praise others.  We always remember those who uplift us and leave us feeling a little better about ourselves – be that person to the people in your life, even if it’s just the people at your luncheon table.
7. The absolute best way to improve your business is to improve yourself.  Be vigilant about self-improvement.  Improve the owner and the business gets better automatically.  There are thousands, possibly millions now, of self-development courses, books, coaching programs, and websites.  Take part in all of them!  Invest in yourself just as you would your business.  When you’re a business owner, you are your business.

Of course, between writing this and posting this, I’ve thought of several more, but I’ll save those for another time.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Get Inspired! What do you want to create? Wake Up and Create the Life You Want: A Guide to Self-Empowerment has helped hundreds of women business owners create the life of their dreams. You can read their stories here. If you choose the downloadable version, it comes with my free report on “The Science of Getting Rich.”

Get Organized! Learn the secrets of getting and staying motivated and organized with the Eliminate Clutter and Organize Your Life E-book. This inspiring book gives you step-by-step instructions for getting control of every area of your life. No woman should be without this powerful guide. Click here for the table of contents and to purchase.

Be sure you’ve signed up, downloaded, are reading through and utilizing all of the freebies I’m giving out for the New Year. If you missed them, you can sign up now.

Posted under Motivation

The easiest way to get sales in any business is to be seen as the leader in your industry.  To do that, you have to stand out from your competitors.  The best way that you can stand out from your competitors is to position yourself as a business partner, always looking for ways to improve your client’s business.  Never assume that they’ve already thought of or tried your idea, and always be on the cutting edge besides.

Help Your Customer’s Business
When you deal with a business person, you can be sure of one thing: that person thinks about her business day and night. It is very close to her. It is dear to her heart. And if you come in and talk to her and ask pertinent questions about the business, looking for ways to help her run her business better, the customer is going to warm up to you and want to be associated with you and your company.

Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors
As a partner, you should always be looking to help your customer to cut costs and improve results in his or her area of responsibility. You should look for ways to help your customer in non-business areas as well. You should position yourself as someone who cares more about the success of your customer than anything else, even more than you care about selling your product or service. This approach to partnering in profit with your customer is a key way to differentiate yourself and to keep your customer for the indefinite future.

Don’t Criticize
The biggest mistake people make when first applying this concept, is to find fault and express it in a horrible way.  Don’t do that!  Soften whatever you need to say with, “I see you’re very successful at . . . .  Have you ever thought about . . .?  I could help you by . . .”  Then use your standard closing of, “would you like to hear more about that?” or even “Is that of interest to you?”

Practice the Reciprocity Principle
There is a principle of reciprocity in business that is very powerful. It is simply this: If you do something nice for someone else, they will feel obligated to do something nice for you. You should be looking for opportunities to go the extra mile, to do more than you are paid for, to put in more than you take out. By extending yourself, you improve your positioning in the customer’s mind and increasingly differentiate yourself and your company from your competitors who are after the same business. If you do this long enough and strong enough, you will eventually develop the partnership to the point where your competitors don’t have a chance against you.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

1. Think about how you can help your customer’s customer with your product or service. Take time to understand how your customer uses your product to do her business better.  Create a list and add to it when you think of something new, then review the list before your next meeting.
2. Focus on increasing your customer’s profits and financial results.  Use your list and work with your client to reduce costs and increase sales volume.  Show your customer that doing business with you is both satisfying and profitable in the long run.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Get Inspired! What do you want to create? Wake Up and Create the Life You Want: A Guide to Self-Empowerment has helped hundreds of women business owners create the life of their dreams. You can read their stories here. If you choose the downloadable version, it comes with my free report on “The Science of Getting Rich.”

Get Organized! Learn the secrets of getting and staying motivated and organized with the Eliminate Clutter and Organize Your Life E-book. This inspiring book gives you step-by-step instructions for getting control of every area of your life.  No woman should be without this powerful guide.  Click here for the table of contents and to purchase.

Be sure you’ve signed up, downloaded, are reading through and utilizing all of the freebies I’m giving out for the New Year. If you missed them, you can sign up now.

Posted under Education, Leadership, Success

With a new year often comes big changes and this year is bigger than ever for me.  I am changing the direction of this site in order to be more of a resource for women business owners.  While motivation, education, and inspiration, are concepts anyone can benefit from, I’ve been inspired to re-organize all of my websites and it makes the most sense to spin this site to be geared toward helping female entrepreneurs.

Some of the changes you will see very soon are:

The weight-loss articles are moving to their own site.  They are generating enough traffic and comments to warrant it and they have been a distraction to what I want to express here.

All of the dental practice management articles will spin off to their own site as well.  I recently sent one person to this site for the DPM articles and he thought I was out of business in that arena because of all of the “unrelated” articles.  It just goes to show how much you need to focus if you’re serious about doing business on the web.

What does all of this mean to my current readers?  If you enjoy my writing style and get benefit from it, you will continue to do so.  If you subscribe to my We Are All Self-Employed philosophy, every post will continue to inspire you.  I have frequently written my articles from a woman’s perspective, (not much choice there!), and since I am a woman business owner, most of what I write comes from that perspective as well.

I will obviously provide updates as the new sites are developed, once they are up and running.  You will likely see changes weekly.  I am expanding my speaking and consulting businesses at the same time, so the time frame for completion is one year.

Hopefully, you will notice the more streamlined approach to this site and be able to find the information you’re looking for much easier.

Until next time,
I Invite YOU to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Leadership, Motivation, Success

“On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . .”

Okay, I might not be your true love, but I do have 8 gifts for you–

Happy New Year everyone!

In honor of the 8th day of Christmas, I have 8 freebies for you today.  If you’ve been a follower of this blog for a long time, you have likely downloaded these already.  However, in an attempt to get everyone on the same page for 2009, I’m offering all of my free downloads in one fell swoop today.  Who knows – maybe you missed one somewhere along the way!

Here’s the list, once you enter your email address below, you will receive the download links.  (Be sure to check your junk folder because I am sending 8 separate links in one email.)  You can download one or all, depending upon what you want.  Enjoy!

My Top 10 Success Secrets report is my latest offering and includes the beliefs I hold, along with the things I do, that have contributed the most to my success and happiness.  These are the things that motivate me and keep me on track with who I want to become.

My Special Report on “The Science of Getting Rich,” by Wallace Wattles is a summary of the book with my personal approach to Mr. Wattles’ work.  If you like summaries without having to wade through cumbersome material, you’ll like this report.

“The Science of Getting Rich,” download is next, made available by Rebecca Fine.  For those of you who prefer the full-blown version and the original language – here it is!

The 30-Day Food Diary was created by a reader after inspiration from, “How I Lost 25 Pounds in One Month.”  She was so excited about her weight-loss, she shared this with the rest of us!

My Caloric Worksheet is what I used when I was on my diet several years ago and highly recommend to those who are struggling with taking the time to create their own tracking system.  It’s simple, but effective.

My Housekeeping list keeps me sane and clutter-free with a home that sparkles.  I love keeping house and working full-time, but if I didn’t have my list things would get out of hand very quickly.

Speaking of lists, my regular readers know how much I love them – lists that is – oh – and my readers, too – HA!  So for my final two gifts today, I’ve included my Master Packing List, which helps keep me calm and organized even when packing for a big trip, and my Master Shopping List, which helps me have a joyful experience at the super market.

Simply enter your name and email address below and all of these will be in your inbox shortly.  I have many exciting motivational, educational, and inspirational ideas to share with you in the upcoming year, so stay tuned!

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Education, Inspiration, Law of Attraction, Motivation, Success