Successful Blog

Using Common Wisdom and Goals to Avoid Perceived Productivity

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Working Hard and Getting Nowhere

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Every company that I work with has some issue with perceived productivity — people working hard at things that add no value. It might be a team that’s lost direction or a culture that does things as they’ve always been done. It could a department who never evaluates the effectivenees of their process.

I suppose that comes from a misaligned perception that hard work is equal to a positive contribution. It’s not so. A positive contribution is any work that moves us closer to our goals — sometimes that’s hard work; sometimes it’s simple and elegant.

When we work at home, it’s easy to fall victim to the lure of productivity that gets us nowhere. We feel like we’re working. No one says our time investment isn’t worth it. In the past few months, people have said these things to me:

I’m all I can and in the last 6 months, I’ve only made $600.

I work 14 hours a day. I guess you need money to make money.

In my last job, I was a high performing VP. Now I can’t get a client to talk to me.

Every time I asked what they were doing. They answered with common wisdom about successful blogging.

  • I spend hours writing high-quality blog posts.
  • I spend hours writing comments and social networking.
  • I tweak my blog to make it more inviting.

If you’ve got a blog, you know that it’s work to do all of that. It’s highly productive work, if the goal is to build a first-rate blog audience. But the folks who came to me had a goal to build a client-based business. They were working hard on some things that wouldn’t take them where wanted to be.

It was perceived productivity. Wisdom needs to match up wth where we’re going.

Each person took a minute to apply their goals to what they were doing. The wisdom matched to their goals made a new purpose and new direction. Every high-quality blog post and every hour spent networking and commenting was considered in light of their business. A slight shift made a big difference. Time spent became highly productive.

Wisdom + goals = direction, purpose, productivity

Ever been victim to perceived productivity?

I have. Now I keep my goal in front of me.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Big Challenge is OVER, Keep that Energy Going ON

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Sometimes Timing Is Everything

This week’s challenge in the the b5media Business Apprentice Team Challenge . . . Kay’s finally settling into her role as entrepreneur. Kay hardly has time to read the whole web. What one blog post or article might I recommend that will help her move forward at this point?

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In the apprentice story, Kay has made it through her first, and hugely successful, Christmas rush. Now Christmas is over and I’m guessing that Kay is only human. Sometime, win or lose, a big push in business can cause a dip in enthusiasm about the business we love.

The sheer investment of energy can leave feeling like we need a rest. Moving forward to face the next challenge can seem like something we have a right to put off. Unfortunately, a business won’t stand still while we’re resting and refueling. If we stop to do that we can find ourselves in crisis mode again when the new challenge rolls around.

The best business advice for a time like that is to have great habits to fall back on. An article over at LifeDev is just what this situation needs. It’s a simple method for time management. Simple is the key because, at a moment of regrouping, the way to entice ourselves back into involvement is by accomplishing little things that mean a lot.

Time Management, Simplified: How to Be Productive With No Worries simplifies the system and streamlines David Allen’s Getting Things Done for folks who want to reduce the time spent learning and maintaining Mr. Allen’s system. Leo Babauta who wrote the post says:

The fewer tasks you have, the less you have to do to organize them. Focus only on those tasks that give you the absolute most return on your time investment, and you will become more productive and have less to do. You will need only the simplest tools and system, and you will be much less stressed.

Boy do I agree.

In fact, that’s just what I’m going to start in today.

How do you keep your momentum going? Has a blog post ever made it easier for you?

Only 8 blogs are left in the Apprentice Challenge if you like my choice and this post, would you give Successful-Blog a vote in the poll in the sidebar at TAXGIRL?

The Blogs remaining in the challenge are:

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related
Success Can Come Right Out of Nowhere
Six Steps to a Remarkably Powerful, Personal Network
How Do You Know When You’re Ready to Move to the Next Level?
How to Think Like a Millionaire and Be What You Want to Be

Time Management for Creative People

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No Stopping Mark!

Great Find: Time Managment for Creative People series . . .
Time Management #1: Why You Need to be Organised to be
Permalink: http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/time-management-why-you-need-to-be-organised-to-be-creative/
Target Audience: Anyone creative who has to get work done
Content: Mark McGuinness, who wrote the wonderful enneagram series here, is over at Business of Design Online (BODO) doing a series called Time Management for Creative People. The taghline tells both the focus of the series and its promise: Manage the mundane – create the extraordinary.

The eight posts in the series — which will form an ebook — break out as follows.

  1. Why you need to be organised to be creative
  2. Prioritise work that is ‘important but not urgent’
  3. Ring-fence your most creative time
  4. Avoid the ‘Sisyphus effect’ of endless to-do lists
  5. Get things done by putting them off till tomorrow
  6. Get things off your mind
  7. Review your commitments
  8. Resources to help you get things done

Time Management for Creative People is one of the ways business coach Mark McGuinness helps creative professionals and creative agencies succeed.

For more practical tips and inspiration visit his Wishful Thinking blog.

Bravo, Mark!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Find out about working with Liz.

Where Does Your Blog Fit in Your Business?

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Blogs Are Tools, Not the Core Business

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Two days ago, Steve Broback and Teresa Valdez Klein announced that Blog Business Summit Chicago would not be happening after all. In its place they have launched a new blog called Web Community Forum. Steve explains their reasoning this way.

Our conferences have always relied heavily on local participation, and our feeling is that Chicago has been very well served this year by at least two excellent, and very reasonably priced blogger conferences: SOBcon and BlogHer. A third event close on the heels of these other shows is obviously a tough sell. In addition, it’s clear from discussions with local marketers that blogging has normalized and is not the disruptive force it was back in 2004 when we launched the BBS.

I applaud Steve and Teresa for their insight and courage.

I think they’re right. Blogs shouldn’t be the center of what we see anymore.

Where Does Your Blog Fit in Your Business?

In February 2006, I posted that blogs are technology. At the time, I didn’t take the idea as far as I might. But I’ve been thinking about this since SOBCon07. My thought is that we don’t talk about computers, spreadsheets, or pencils the way we talk about blogs. Yet to me, all are tools we use to get our work done.

Unless we charge a subscription, blogs are not our businesses. They help us advertise, communicate, teach, interact, meet with our customers, but they are not our product or service. They are not what we do or sell. A blog is a business support not the business itself.

My point is this:

Just as knowing how to lay bricks, work with wood, paint walls and decorate can make beautiful store, but does not ensure a thriving business. Having a beautiful blog with wonderful content is not having a thriving business either.

The design, the usability, and the words on our blog are merely a vehicle to sell the products, ads, or services that are our real income streams. Knowing how business works is still key.

A great business uses a blog, but is not merely a blog.

So I leave you with these questions.

  1. How would you describe your blog’s place in your business?
  2. If you could get one all-important question answered about your online business what would it be?

Thank you for your answers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

How to Master an Overwhelming To Do List

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Worse than herding Cats

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I admit it. To my thinking, one thing is worse than herding cats. It’s wrestling with the things I have to do. In my world, a To Do List can quickly get overwhelming. It can be filled with things I don’t know how to do, little things that are labor intensive, and too many things that are unrelated yet need getting done in the same time period. It always seems that part of the list is extremely URGENT and can’t wait for my learning curve. I can’t get to done that way.

How to Master an Overwhelming To Do List

To Do items are in the flow of things when there are only a few. When there are many, I have to get out of the details to where I can see to move them into a organizational groups. These are key steps to mastering a To Do List.

Every item I write begins with a verb. When appropriate, they begin with “Learn to” to remind me that they need more time and more steps.

  1. Brain dump. Write all of the items down a list in any order. Do it first thing in the morning, or last thing — to be able to hit the ground running when a new day begins. Get them out of your head and on paper or on computer. A spreadsheet works nice. It allows one item per box, and they’re easily movable.
  2. URGENT Sort. Group those things that are URGENT. Define URGENT as something of high consequence will be impaired, if this action does not happen in the next 24 hours. Calculate the amount of time these actions will take. If the time to do them is less than the time you have, get help now. Set the rest aside until the URGENT list is under control. Looking for URGENT items should be routine. Finding them should be rare.
  3. Action Sort. Sort all projects three ways to get things done. Group actions that are better done together. Two criteria rule this step: time sensitivity and power to make things happen.
    • HOT List. Sort everything about the most time-sensitive (HOT) project. List all related actions that need to be executed in the next 2-3 days. First apply these two questions to the HOT project. Then apply the questions to the whole list you have made.
    • What can I do in a few minutes that will get someone else working when I move on to the next item? List these so that you can do them first. Two people working move two parts forward.
    • What similar things can I do in series to save time? List like activities together, if doing them that way will save time. Blocking time to make all phone calls or writing all email related to the HOT project can save bundles of time. When is the best time in your day to do each type of task?
    • Quick Hits List. Sort short 5-10 minute tasks that are not HOT!! but need to be done in a timely fashion. This list is one to keep close. When a few minutes open up, or a piece of writing gets stuck, you’ll be able to grab the list to move something forward. Then switch back to regularly scheduled programming.
    • To Do List. Sort the remaining items. List them by their importance and time sensitivity. Then schedule them into the next 2-3 days.
  4. When new actions anitems arise add them to the list where they fit.
  5. Have a partner on call for emergencies. Some folks, like me, are drawn up to the macro level, we work well organizing strategy. We work best at the 30,000-foot view. Other folks are down to drill down to the beauty of details to build structure at the micro view. When time is short and a pile of action details demand attention, nothing compares to a working partnership — one person sorts the relationships, the other makes the lists.

Attend to the HOT List immediately. Attend to the Quick Hits as time opens — carry it with you to take advantage of opportunities wherever they arise. Attend to the To Do List when you have scheduled each item. Turn off interruptions when you’re working. Revisit your plan every morning to sort, list, and schedule the day.

You might think that three lists are more work than one, but in fact, three shorter lists allow focus and save time when scanning for the next thing to do. The key, of course, is to list everything that needs doing and doing everything on the lists.

Did I just confuse you?

–ME “Liz” Straus
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

Is Your Business Stuck? I’ve Found a Way to Help

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Here’s How We Can Make It Work

In the last few months, many people have come to me because their business is stuck. I try to help when I can, but my time is growing thinner and thinner, and so am I. Still it tears at me to turn away someone who I know I could help get going just sharing what I already know.

I also suspect there are more who would come if they could, but they feel that they can’t afford to ask. In the same way, I can’t afford to help everyone who asks or I would never see my family. Well, maybe I would when they took our home, because I gave too much away.This problem has been on my mind for some time, because strategy and helping are joys and the two things I do best naturally.

You read my blog. You know I think on problems until I solve them. Today, I can say, I think I’ve got an answer to this one.

I’m Pleased to Announce

The Start-up Strategy Package

The Start Strategy Package is a personal consultation in which I get to know you and together we define and focus your business. We look at who you are, who you want to be, and the ways that you can get there. In a focused set of conversations and communications, we’ll get you started with the right direction and the energy to move forward.

You’ll have

  • a definition of your customer
  • a definition of your product or service
  • a name and tagline for your business
  • next steps to move forward

For a limited time, I’ve put together The Start-up Strategy Package that I extend to entrepreneurs who are stuck or just starting out. We’ll work to define your customer, your product or service, and your company name and tagline. The payment plan is an investment of US$250 as a first payment plus a second $150 payment due one month later or the equivalent in services. (for details let’s talk). If you’re interested email me at lizsun2 @ gmail [dot] com with the subject line The Start-up Strategy Package.

Due to the nature of this offer, I’ll only be able to help one client at a time for limited hours, but at least the helping out will be able to keep going.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Behind every successful business there is an outstanding manager. — The Perfect Virtual Manager.

PS. I have to go to the DMV now to renew my driver’s license. So don’t think I’m ignoring you.