How to Stop Spinning Your Wheels and Fully Enjoy Your Business

Copyright (c) 2009 Christine Kloser

I got off the phone yesterday with a colleague who reminded me of myself. (Well, he reminded me of my past self.) He had experienced a good level of success, was respected by his colleagues, had a wonderful family and all the clients he could ask for.

But, there was something very wrong. He was exhausted, overworked, stressed out, and feeling like his life was his business… missing out on the other things that meant a lot to him.

I call this the «spinning your wheels» syndrome. It happens when you find yourself constantly running on the hamster wheel of your business (and your life). Only to realize that when you «get» to where you think you want to go, it’s not what you had envisioned. The «success» experience falls flat in comparison to what you thought it would be. Where is the bliss? Where is the freedom? Where is the joy from doing the work you love so much? Ahhhh… these are all very good questions.

And, here are three steps you can take immediately that’ll help you get off the never-ending «merry go round» of your business and enjoy more ease in your life. These were the very steps I took to shift things in my business to a place where I truly love my business and my life.

Step 1: Create Your Personal Definition of Success When it comes to experiencing entrepreneurial success, so often we see that definition being (according to the external world) about financial success. However, if the sole focus of a business is on financial reward, your life will be compromised in that pursuit.

It’s important as you look at redefining success for yourself, that you look at the entire picture of success. Here are some things to consider as you contemplate this… that go beyond your financial goals. What is the work that truly calls to your soul? How do you want to spend your time in your business? What types of clients do you want to work with? How many hours a week do you want to be working on your business? Do you want to offer more products or services, or cut back on your offerings? What kind of team do you need in place to help you experience your definition of success? How involved are you with your team? Do you want to travel for your business, or stay closer to home? What support do you have on your journey?

These are all questions to consider as you define what real success means to you. You’ll see that success is about much more than money… it’s about fulfillment, peace of mind and joy in your life.

Step 2: Reevaluate Your Business Once you’ve gotten clarity on your personal definition of success, it’s time to take a closer look at your current business. It’s important to give yourself a half day (or preferably a day) to step back from the operations of your business, and focus on the big picture. Too often, I see entrepreneurs who are working to create a business based on someone else’s model of success. But, in this step, the only model you need to allow to emerge is the one that works for you.

As you reevaluate your business, identify if there is anything you’re doing that you don’t want to do? On the other hand, are there things you want to do, but aren’t getting to? Are there aspects of your business that you think you «should» do, but they just aren’t working for you? Once you evaluate your current business, turn your focus on creating a vision for the business you really want. If you could create anything for yourself in your business, what would that be? This type of reevaluation is a necessary step in getting your «wheels to stop spinning» and fully enjoying your business.

Step 3: Be Proactive Being proactive is a key step to take your insight and clarity from the previous two steps and create positive change for yourself. When you do this type of work (to create your personal definition of success and reevaluate your business), chances are you’ll see some things that require a change to be made.

But, it’s up to you to take your new understanding and shift something in your business as a result. Nothing is more painful than knowing it’s time to make a change, yet not being proactive to it. This has been the step that’s allowed me to release entire businesses, projects, strategies, or programs that didn’t fit with what I saw for myself, my life and business. As a result, more aligned opportunities keep showing up for me, and I’m feeling more fulfilled in my business (and my life) than ever before.

These three simple steps aren’t necessarily easy, but they are indeed simple. If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your business and want to enjoy your life more fully, you owe it to yourself to give yourself the gift of time to follow these three steps and move forward toward the business and life you truly want.

How to Select A Professional Web, Graphics and Sign Designing Company

Online presence has become mandatory for all businesses because of the ever-increasing popularity of the internet. New innovations such as blogging, tweeting, and social networking have revolutionized the concept of online marketing. Owning a website has become a necessity – a basic requirement, not a thing to boast about.

As there are a number of websites competing with each other to grab the users’ attention, the design of the website has to be elegant and visually pleasing. How can one find a good web design company from a large number of competitors? If you own a business and would like to be online as well, you can find excellent options for professional graphic design and web design.

The following tips would help you in selecting a good and reliable web design company that employs professional web designers.

Check The Company Website

There are many things that one can learn from the website of a web design company. You can find the websites of web design companies in your local area by searching the internet with some simple keyword phrases such as «Houston graphic designer» or «small business website design Houston». You will find a number of websites. Take time to check and analyze the design of each and every website. Select the ones whose websites you find most suitable to your ideas or the ones that you like the most.

Check The Portfolio

Most of the websites will have a portfolio page. It contains details of the websites designed by the company. It is better that you visit all the websites listed there. If the designs of a particular web design company are consistently good, then you can proceed to contact the company.

Web Design Versus Graphic Design

One has to check the services offered by the company. Is it just a web design company alone or does it offer both web-design and graphic-design services? If you run a business, it is better you select a company that offers both web-design and graphic-design services – more so if you run a small or medium business or if you are planning to start a new business. You will need a company logo, business signs, brochures, and business cards, apart from a neatly designed website. A company that has expertise in both web designing and graphic designing can function as a one-stop shop for your design needs. Selecting such a company is both time saving and cost effective.

Technical Aspects

Once you have made a short list of graphic designers and web design companies, you have to enquire about certain technical aspects. For web design, it is important to get a complete picture of web hosting and other marketing support activities such as search engine optimization and online marketing. Some companies offer free web hosting for the first year.

You also need to check whether you will get the copyright of the design and content of the website. Different web design companies have different practices in this aspect. From the customer point of view, it is always better to own the rights of your website and other company designs.

Payment

Never pay in full in advance. It is in fact better not to pay anything in advance till you see the first proofs. If you pay in advance, and you do not like any of the designs, then you may not get the advance back, even if you do not use the designs. You should pay an advance only if you like the first proofs.

How Long Do Short Sales Take?

The truth about short sales is that while everyone wants it expedited, the process invariably stretches longer than expected. A short sale may take anywhere from three to six months and the closing of the property may take an additional 30 to 60 days. For buyers, a short sale definitely takes longer than buying a regular non short sale house. This is because the lender must first approve of selling the property at a price lesser than the balance debt amount on the property. Most buyers, however, prefer buying a short sale property because these can be obtained at less than their original market value. Banks often take as long as two months to six months to respond to an offer, whether positive or with a counteroffer.

Factors Determining the Pace of a Short Sale Process

Here are some factors that decide the length of a short sale process:

• Cooperation: Mutual cooperation among all including the seller, lender, buyer and the listing and selling agent is a must for hastening the short sale process.
• Responsiveness: A responsive lender will return calls promptly and conduct their work on time, leading to expediting of the process.
• Preliminary Work: Completion of preliminary work, such as conducting the exterior appraisal of the house and market evaluation by the lender can expedite a short sale. However, if the lender chooses to deprioritize a property or worse delays for unknown reasons chances are you could be waiting for many months for a response.
• Information Gathering: To ensure quick lender approval, homeowners must furnish requisite information and documents, such as bank statements, tax returns, hardship letter, financial statement and pay stubs. Sellers must also sign documents that allow the lender to coordinate with their listing agent or attorney to manage the entire process.
• Negotiation: The lender assigns the offer, along with the financial documents, to a negotiator based on his availability. A negotiator is assigned within 14 to 180 days, depending on the process and the lender. The negotiator then reviews the file, orders a broker’s price opinion and decides the acceptability of the offered price. If the price is considered too low, a counteroffer is made or it is rejected. If an agreement on price is reached, addendum and counters are signed and the buyer arranges for the finance and the deal is closed within 30-60 days.

To add to this load, sellers also have to sign documents to list their property. To get assistance on and to expedite the short sale process, contact the experts at www.floridashortsaleshelp.com. The company’s expert guidance and compassionate ways have successfully closed short sales throughout all of Florida.

How to run a conference call

With the new innovations more people are working from home, or working from the road.  All of this work is done through the internet and through the phone.  And a lot of times people don’t know how to run a phone conference.  Trust me; I’ve set in on a lot of those meetings.  So, I decided to write some steps that will help with organizing a phone conference in a more structured way.
Send out the agenda before the meeting
The key to an effective meeting is an agenda — this applies to any kind of meeting, not just a conference call. Make sure you send out the details of the call in number in advance, and make sure it stands out, so the participants will not miss it.  If you using Outlook send out meeting using the tools that are built in, it will help you track and be aware of who is attending your meeting, and it will do all the work for the participants for them by filling in their calendar slot with your meeting.

If the conference call is a regular status update, ensure you also send out the meeting notes from the previous call.  In that case the first item on the agenda should be checking in with people up for the actions they’ve agreed to be responsible for in the previous meeting.
Introductions and details
At the beginning of the call introduce any newcomers to the rest of the group and invite them to spend a couple of minutes describing themselves and their role on the call.

Next, ensure everyone has a copy of the agenda. I suggest recording the conversation, so later one you can hire a transcription services company to transcribe the entire conversation. This serves two benefits: firstly, everyone will be more careful and accountable for what they say, and secondly, a single set of meeting notes will be distributed after the transcription of the meeting is complete.
Finally, lay out the rules for interaction on the call. Because it’s audio-only, the usual cues we use to indicate that we wish to take a turn at speaking are not present.  Since you recording the call ask people to say they name before they speak so it is easier for the transcriptionist, and your notes are clearer. Clearly it’s unrealistic to expect people to stick to the interaction rules for the duration of the call, but laying them out at the outset will help ensure things run quickly and smoothly.

Keep it short

Studies have shown that people start to suffer a number of unpleasant side-effects after holding a telephone receiver to their ear for longer than about an hour. In any event, forty minutes is about the limit of most people’s concentration span.
If you find the call is starting to drag on beyond an hour, it’s a good idea to wrap things up and continue at another time. If you find this is a regular occurrence, it may be an indicator that you need to revisit the agenda, or possibly split the group up into separate, more focused groups. A particular time-waster is having engineers and businesspeople on the same conference call. A better way to handle this is to have three shorter meetings — one with just the engineers, one with the businesspeople, and one with single representatives from each group to present the results and take any feedback to the next department meeting. Remember practice makes perfect, so get on the phone and schedule some meetings.

Janitor Equipment – X Mistakes When Buying Janitor Equipment…and How To Avoid Them!

Making use of the best Janitor equipment is extremely important so as to keep your commercial and at the same time household places clean. Presently, you will find many janitor equipments, you on your part need to be a bit vigilant so as to bring home of the best offered Janitor equipment.

Let us now take a look at the different Janitor equipments and find what works best for you!

The first in the queue is window washers. Window washers are used for getting rid of dirt that gets accumulated on the windows. Based on the material and type of your windows, you need to choose the respective window washers. You can prefer brushes that are made of stainless steel and plastic rubber and come with a replaceable tip.

If you want to clean your floors then you can go in for any janitorial equipment like floor dryers, carpet cleaners as well as vacuum cleaners. This janitorial equipment helps in cleaning even the most stubborn dirt that has been accumulated on the tiles and carpets.

You can also go in for magnetic floor sweepers which work similar to a vacuum. You can use them both in and outside your house. But then, you need to also keep at your hand a couple of basic suppliers such as dustpans, brushes as well as brooms.

The best janitorial equipment for your floors includes powders, dilatable liquids, aerosols, and pump sprays. These equipments disinfect as well as clean harmful germs.

However, make sure you wear gloves as well as retain proper ventilation when it comes to using these products. If you don’t do so then you may indirectly harm your lungs and skin.

When it comes to your bathroom, you need to go in for the cleaning supplies that are meant for the tiles, tub, toilet bowl as well as drainers. The tile and bath tub should be free of any sort of mildew and stains. You can do this by using wipes, spray and foams.

There are different cleaning supplies manufacturers for all areas in addition to the bathroom. You will also find products that don’t need any sort of brushing. You need to simply spray these products on the shower surfaces. In general almost all cleaning products comprises of disinfectant ingredients that helps in the destruction of harmful bacteria like E. coli, fungus and Staphylococcus.

The janitorial equipment meant for your drainers are usually in liquid and powdered form. The liquid products are of three types, based on potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid. Prefer going in for the one that is based on hypochlorite.

The toilet bowl needs to be cleanest bowl of all in your home. For cleaning it, you may use liquids, foams, and tablets. Make sure you choose janitorial equipments that contain anti-microbial chemicals for killing germs as well odors. Use powder or liquid janitorial equipment for cleaning your refrigerator, dishwasher, oven, and glass surfaces.

Don’t overlook these points…keep them in mind and I am sure you wont make any mistake!