High-Achieving Women's Blogazine

We all experience that ultimate limiting factor called ‘time’.  Unfortunately it does not matter who we are, all we have is 24 hours in a day which equates to 168 hours a week. Most people become distracted with many time wasters during their 168 hours per week.

It is extremely important for small business owners to develop effective time management skills because they often find themselves performing many different jobs and wearing many hats during the course of a week.

To help you control the distractions, here is my list of things that I recommend to business owner.  This list will help business owners better utilize their time and impact their bottom line.

1. Start to view time in the same way as you view money and invest it wisely.
2. Plan how you are going to utilize your team and yourself each day.
3. Do what you do best and delegate everything else.
4. Get clear on your priorities and then focus on them.
5. Track how you spend your time to spot the time stealers.
6. Revise your marketing plan and enhance your methods of gaining new clients.
7. Re-purpose and re-package your products and services.
8. Implement a cost-cutting program and follow-up.
9. Look for opportunities to boost sales or to diversify products and services.
10. Form partnerships, collaborations and strategic alliances.

One of the best ways to leverage your business is to form partnerships, collaborations or strategic alliances.  Look for those opportunities that will enhance your business and create long-term relationships.

If you would like to know more about how to avoid time wasters and how to form collaborations, partnerships and strategic alliances which will impact your bottom line, become a member of the Global Association of High-Achieving Women.  Membership does have its privileges and it will definitely impact your bottom line.

Love, Success and Greatness

© 2010 Dr. Laureen

As an award-winning career success and business growth coachsultant, I work primarily with high-achieving female career professionals and women business owners. One of the major problems that these women face is moving from “reactive” to “proactive”. In a study on time management, every one minute spent in planning resulted in reducing the time required to complete an activity or project by three to four minutes. Spending ten minutes in planning can reduce project completion time by 30-40 minutes, while one hour of planning can reduce completion time by three to four hours.   Properly utilized, fifteen minutes of planning can effectively control your time for an entire day.

If you have not been successful with time management in the past, here are a few of my helpful tips:

• Know your prime time and energy level.
• Respect, protect and direct your prime time.
• Have clearly defined goals and objectives.
• Implement an action plan for all projects.
• Develop systems and processes.
• Prioritize your projects.

What in your life needs some attention? Make a list of the areas you are out of integrity with: work, family or self. What actions need to be taken to clear these up? What life skills need to be developed and strengthened?   What are you avoiding instead of facing?

Setting proper priorities is the key to success. Here’s how to get started:

• Plan time for preparation and creative thinking for long-term projects. The short-term urgent tasks will always consume your time unless you plan to spend it otherwise.
• When you have a multitude of things to do, go through them quickly and make a list of what you need to do, by when and by whom. After completing the list, handle each piece of paper only once. Do not start a task, do a portion of it, then put it back on the pile. You’ll end up working harder, not smarter.
• Don’t start lots of tasks at the same time – even if you can handle multiple tasks at the same time. This is not always the most effective or efficient way of handing multiple tasks.

Did you know that there are two words that describe an individual’s approach to life, career and business? The two words are “reactive” or “proactive”. Reactive people wait for things to happen and then they respond. Proactive people respond by taking charge of their lives through planning, sound decision-making and successful project execution.

Studies indicate that more than 80% of all people fall into the “reactive” category leaving 20% or less in the “proactive” category. If your plan includes success it is important to have systems and processes in place that allow more time to make more money.

I have found that if your career and business plan includes success, you must step up and play a bigger game. If you need someone to assist you in up-leveling your career or you’re your business, visit: www.masterpiecesolutions.biz.

,Career Success and Business Growth Expert

Managing your time efficiently and the utilization of time saving techniques are very important when the clock is ticking. Below are some great tips that will assist you in setting proper priorities:

1. Plan for preparation and creative thinking time for long-term tasks or projects. The short-term urgent tasks will always use up all your time unless you plan to spend it otherwise.
2. When you have a multitude of things to do, go through them quickly and make a list of what you need to do, by when and by whom. After completion of the list, handle each piece of paper only once. Do not start a task, do a portion of it, then put it back on the pile. You end up working harder not smarter. Don’t forget; whenever possible delegate the task to someone else.
3. Don’t start lots of tasks at the same time – even if you can handle multiple tasks at the same time. This is not the most effective or efficient way of dealing with these tasks. Multi-tasking is not always good in all situations.

I have found that if your career and business plan includes success, you must plan your work and work your plan. If you need someone to assist you in developing plans for career success or business growth, visit: www.masterpiecesolutions.biz.  You can also read this article Changing the Direction – Are You Reactive or Proactive in its entirety by visiting the link here!

Hey Fellow Networkers:  Sorry I have not made an entry the past couple of days.  I have been busy working on an series of teleseminars with three other great entrepreneurs.  More about that later.    Lets talk about marketing and networking. Here is a helpful hint:  The more hobbies and group activities that you participate in, the more opportunities you have to network and market your business products and/or services.  Leisure activities such as softball leagues, girl’s or boy’s scouts, golf lessons, aerobics or yoga classes provide a natural venue for networking and can encourage relationship building much easier than some of the formal networking events often attended. One thing about leisure time networking and marketing is that leads will come your way from these venues without you having to do the hard sell — just because of the relationship you have built during your leisure time activity. Enjoy your Leisure Time and let the Networking come naturally through your Leisure Time Activities. Remember Listening and Marketing must be done together.  You can’t market with a profit without listening. Today’s Listening/Communication Tip: The Focus Factor —- This is the most obvious — and the most broken — rule when it comes to listening. Be in the moment. Put other thoughts out of your mind. You can feel when people aren’t truly listening to you, and you know when they are. Make sure whoever’s speaking feels you are really listening. Focus on what your clients are saying, and don’t let yourself get stuck on any one point. Don’t try to answer your question in your own mind while the client is still speaking. If you have to, make a note on a piece of paper about a question regarding what’s been said, but don’t let it distract you from listening to the rest of the client’s conversation.  It you listen well, you market well and you impact the bottom line with a signed contract.

I must share this with all of you who are still battling the “Paper and Clutter War.”  The last two weeks of December I spent re-organizing my office and preparing my office and paperwork for the New Year.  I realized that if I was going to operate my company more effectively in 2007, I had to enter the New Year extremely organized and uncluttered.   Here are the steps that I took to get organized for 2007.   1. Designate an ongoing workspace for handling ALL paper matters. 2. Make sure you have a paper shredder, waste basket and  a desktop organizer to hold office supplies such as pens, pencils, tape, scissors, stapler, stamps, envelopes, return address stickers, stamps and for sure plastic stackable paper trays. 3. Setup folders for every possible situation (client folders, a ‘to do’ folder, pending folder, and immediate action folder). 4. Start with one surface first, and work on that surface until it is completely cleared.  Either file the paper(s) in the client’s folder, put it in a ‘to do’, pending or immediate action folder or last but not least toss it in the waste basket or shred it.       5.At the end of your workday, always always always put things back where they belong.  Remember that staying organized is like any good habit — the more you do it the easier it becomes. Oh by the way in spite of getting organized, I did have a great Christmas with family.

Hey Fellow Networkers:  Sorry I have not made an entry the past couple of days.  I have been busy working on an series of teleseminars with three other great entrepreneurs.  More about that later.    Lets talk about marketing and networking. Here is a helpful hint:  The more hobbies and group activities that you participate in, the more opportunities you have to network and market your business products and/or services.  Leisure activities such as softball leagues, girl’s or boy’s scouts, golf lessons, aerobics or yoga classes provide a natural venue for networking and can encourage relationship building much easier than some of the formal networking events often attended. One thing about leisure time networking and marketing is that leads will come your way from these venues without you having to do the hard sell — just because of the relationship you have built during your leisure time activity. Enjoy your Leisure Time and let the Networking come naturally through your Leisure Time Activities. Remember Listening and Marketing must be done together.  You can’t market with a profit without listening. Today’s Listening/Communication Tip: The Focus Factor —- This is the most obvious — and the most broken — rule when it comes to listening. Be in the moment. Put other thoughts out of your mind. You can feel when people aren’t truly listening to you, and you know when they are. Make sure whoever’s speaking feels you are really listening. Focus on what your clients are saying, and don’t let yourself get stuck on any one point. Don’t try to answer your question in your own mind while the client is still speaking. If you have to, make a note on a piece of paper about a question regarding what’s been said, but don’t let it distract you from listening to the rest of the client’s conversation.  It you listen well, you market well and you impact the bottom line with a signed contract.