Holistic Business

My mother used to throw this little mom-ism out from time to time. She would use my sister as an example. 3 kids, work, husband, household - and she could be the first to show up with a homemade meal when someone was sick or there was some tragedy. I would marvel at how she had it all together. But, I see now, she was so busy that she had to structure and plan her time almost by the minute, and that included leaving time for such things. Or at least allowed time to swap to-dos.

I’m seeing this now as my business grows. I have more and more lists, and am getting more and more organized. I love calendaring and schedules and I’m doing more than ever in the business growth department. I’m attending more tele-seminars and getting more training then I did two years ago. I’ve also taken quite a lot of time off this past summer. Granted, it was a lot of single days here and there and a handful of long weekends in addition to one full week, but I really had a lot of fun and got a lot of accomplished.

How can this be?

In my heart, I’m really a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants person. But I’ve learned that it’s easier for me to retain that if I stay super-organized. Not that it was something on my life list, but I’ve taught myself how to be anal in my business - how funny (especially if you know me).

One of the reasons I struck out on my own was to add to the quality of our family life. We were always scrambling, nothing in the house to eat (well, that is still a struggle, baby steps ya know), weekends filled with getting the laundry done, etc.

I had allowed myself to get back in that rut once things started to take off. Then it got out of control. My husband started calling the dryer his underwear and sock drawer.

One of the things I started doing last week that has helped tremendously is taking about 20 minutes every morning after going through my emails to go over my notes from client calls, look at what was in my email progrom’s to-do folder, and checking my calendar and online shared to-dos. I make a list of what I need to accomplish that day, based on priority, deadlines, and when the project was received. If I really should get to the grocery store, or it’s a great day to hang the laundry outside - I put that on the list too.

Then I put an order to these items. This is’t based so much on priority but common sense and knowing myself. For instance, all the quick things get done first. All the items that take 20 minutes or less are out of the way early in the day. Instant graitification from crossing things off. Then, knowing myself, I’ll do any personal things that need doing. Post office, bank, grocery store, etc. Then, what is remaining does take priority and time of day into account. For example, if I know I have to get on the phone with 1ShoppingCart, I plan to do that the moment they open. I generally know when my clients are in the office and if I need to send them a proof I make sure I’m getting it to them when I’m most likely to get it in front of them for a quick look.

I get so much more accomplished in this manner and my time goes so much farther.

Have you found ways to add more time to your day? Let me know!

Namaste ~ ~ ~

The Virtual Assistant association I belong to, the VACOC, is hosting yet another fantastic teleseminar… this month the focus is on “Earning Your Worth” for women business owners with Mikelann Valterra, founder of the Women’s Earning Institute, and you’re invited!

The Five Strategies for Earning Your Worth

Date: Thursday, September 20, 2007

Time: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST

Duration: 60 minutes

Cost: FREE!

To Register:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/teleclass-registration.htm

Women business owners often find themselves struggling against an “internal income ceiling.” In this powerful teleseminar, Valterra explores the psychology of why even successful women undersell themselves, and what to do about it.

From having lower pay expectations than other people, to difficulty in asking for what they truly want, women who “underearn” deal with complex emotional issues around making money. Participants will elarn five crucial skills to earning what they are really worth:

• How women can make it easier to ask for what they want;
• How and why women underprice themselves and what to do about it;
• How to conquer the “Good Girl Syndrome;”
• How women can get in touch with “resentment” to make more money;

This promises to be a great teleseminar, I’ve been following Mikelann and she is so dead-on with her insight and viewpoints.

Be sure to register, our seminars fill up fast!

Namaste ~ ~ ~

Technorati Tags: Virtual Assistant, VACOC, Earning Your Worth, Mikelann Valterra, Women’s Earning Institute

Frankly, I don’t care. Come look at mine - you’ll see what I mean.

I was walking to the post office the other day and was, once again, angered by the pesticide warning flag on my next door neighbor’s lawn.

Hey, buddy - see the big grate in the street in front of my house? It’s called a storm drain. Water runs off your yard, flows into it, then goes into local streams, creeks, the river, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.

Oh, you fish? DO YOU EAT THE FISH? How does it feel to know you are eating pesticides?

What’s the problem with clover and dandelions? Why this obsession with having the greenlest lawn?

I admit, most of our neighbors probably talk about us (What is with those people? Their yard looks like one big field of weeds!) Weeds to one person are wildflowers to another.

It’s not even the matter of how it looks - let’s put that aside.

Just think about it. How many homeowners are there in the US? What percentage of them get their lawn sprayed to protect against bugs and weeds? Just imagine how much poison ends up in our streams and rivers. It’s disgusting. For a real eye-opener, read this. Scroll down to the case studies (if you can stomach it).

If what they are putting on your lawn is so bad they have to put warning flags on it - do you really think all trace of that goes away? Do you let your children, grandchildren, pets, and other loved ones walk, sit, eat (in the case of little ones and pets) the grass?

OK, enough ranting, now for a little help.

We have throughout our town, brick walks in front of the houses. If you’ve ever lived with a brick walk, you know how weeds can find the tiniest spot to set root and just *don’t* want to be pulled out. Sometimes (again, I’m sure people talk) I end up having to mow our walk.

But, here is a great earth friendly weed killer recipe:

• one gallon white vinegar (smaller mixture, use 4 cups)

• 1 cup regular table salt (smaller mixture use 1/4 cup)

• couple squirts of liquid soap (dish or hand soap) - this is just to help the mixture cling to the weeds

You’ll want to heat up some of the vinegar to totally disolve the salt or your sprayer will get clogged. Also - don’t pour hot liquid into your sprayer, let it cool down. I just use one of those sprayers you can pick up at the garden center or grocery store.

In the morning, on a sunny day when there is little chance of rain - spray this mixture on the weeds. It works like a charm and does not injure any widlife (human or otherwise).

Try it and let me know what you think. I’ve got to do this myself this weekend.

I hope you’ll feel better about yourself and your contribution to a greener earth by using an environmentally friendly weed killer.

Namaste ~ ~ ~

Technorati Tags: pesticide warning flag, earth friendly, weed killer, environmentally friendly weed killer

I’ve gotten to the point that I get soooooo many newsletters, tips, etc. that I’ve told myself I need to cut some out.

There is a publicity “expert” that I have been getting information and tips from for quite some time. Some of it has been useful, some of it I already knew but was probably useful for others.

OK - this publicity “expert” has made it easy for me to unsubscribe from one list - HERS!

She is now selling a training seminar geared towards Virtual Assistants (OK, we’re used to being sold to), and interns. But she’s not really selling it to us - she’s selling it to . . . I guess she thinks - our employers????

When did a VA get into the same boat as an intern? And why is she not really selling it to us, but to our clients (who she is obviously thinking of as our employers)? “Send me your Virtual Assistant . . . ”

EXCUSE ME!!!! . . . but my clients don’t “send me” to someone for training. They may ask me if I can do something and if I answer no, they may ask if it’s something I’m interested in doing. If my answer is yes, and they offer to pay for training, well, that’s one thing. But, really, I will be the one to determine what services to offer my clients. I have absolutely NO PROBLEM in paying for and getting the training *I* need for the services I decide to offer.

This is just so icky. And to add to the ick, the professional Virtual Assistance association I belong to, the VACOC (Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce) - had this woman as a guest expert and she spoke to and probably garnered some sales from the seminar. Did she come back and speak to our founder or any other members? Nope, just went on her merry way and really pissed a LOT of us off with this demeaning and not well thought out sales copy.

Of course, there are some VA organizations that are behind her.The old affiliate links and “we’ll promote your crap if you promote ours” sort of thing.

Ick - ick - ick (this is me with the eebie jeebies)

tfu-tfu-tfu (this is me spitting 3 times)

ahhhhhhh (this is me cleansing to rid myself of all these negative thoughts and demons)

Technorati Tags: publicity, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistance, VACOC, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce

This free teleseminar is being sponsored by the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce.

As usual, it’s going to be great, enlightening, and more than definitely worth your cost of time.

Our guest expert this month is Jim Logan, Marketing Consultant.

Several things we’ll discuss:

• The three things your prospective clients consciously or subconsciously think about when deciding whether or not to purchase your services;
• The most important thing to highlight when describing your service;
• Why the least valuable thing you have to offer your customer is your time;
• How to increase your hourly rate without billing by the hour;
• How to differentiate your service from your competition and attract your ideal client

This seminar is being sponsored by the VACOC, but is not only open to Virtual Assistants - it’s for any independent service provider.

For more information or to register: http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/teleclass-registration.htm

So, sign up and give your holistic business a shot in the arm - hope to “see” you there!

Namaste ~ ~ ~

Technorati Tags: Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce, Jim Logan, Virtual Assistants, holistic business