In business you have strategies which comprise goals, tactics and metrics. If you keep these ideas straight when you’re barnstorming plans for your business you’ll go far in achieving great success. The steps are:

1. Create a goal – A good goal is one that you can name, and achieve. Goals should be both achievable and realistic but also challenging. It should also be specific. “Increase newsletter sign ups by 80% in 30 days.” From that you can get an actual number.
2. Craft tactics – Once you know your specific goal, then you can develop tactics, and tasks to reach that goal. Such as: “I will run a PPC campaign for 15 days”. With that tactic you’ll have many tasks to accomplish such as: creating the sales page, creating the advertisement, choosing the keywords, setting up your newsletter and so forth.
3. Accomplish tasks – Tasks come from the tactics you choose. Schedule tasks each day with your goals in mind using the tactics you decided upon. You have 30 days to accomplish your goal, so on day one you will create a sales page, day two you will create the advertisement, day three you’ll send out some tweets and blogs, day four you’ll decide upon keywords based on keyword research, and so on, until finally you’re running the PPC campaign.
4. Evaluate Metrics — For instance let’s assume you have 30 newsletter subscribers when you start. This means that you must increase your newsletter subscribers to 54 (30 * .08 + 30 = 54 -30 = 24) in 30 days. This means that you need to get almost one new subscriber each day of your campaign.  If the tactics you’re using aren’t achieving that, then you need to adjust.
5. Repeat — If something works, do it again, and again. No need to recreate the wheel when it works. If you choose to change something change only one small piece at a time and give time to see the results of your efforts.

Many marketers run two different campaigns at a time with two different sales pages that are only slightly different to see which words, colors, and style works best. This can work for you too, and it is a good way to test and evaluate if your work is effective or not. So let’s repeat here the steps:

1. Create a goal
2. Craft tactics
3. Accomplish tasks
4. Evaluate metrics
5. Repeat

As you can see, breaking things down to steps and scheduling each day to achieve each step will eventually lead you to achieving your goals. Keeping track of the results of each task will further encourage you to keep going, or to change tactics.

Does your productivity ever get hindered by your desire to be perfect?  As you seek the easiest or fastest route to your goal, you may find yourself stopped entirely. Sometimes you may even do this on purpose, to keep from having to make a decision.

However, there’s a work-around. Maybe you’ve heard of the term, “heuristic.” Heuristics are rules that allow a solution to be found more quickly. With a heuristic, a resolution can be found even when the entire path isn’t clear from the onset.

For example, if there were no roads, but you lived in New York and wanted to make your way to California, you might try to:

1. Walk west as far as you can.
2. Walk around any obstacle, if possible.
3. If faced with a mountain range, walk toward the space between 2 small peaks.
4. Repeat until reaching California.

Does this experiment give you the most efficient solution? No; however, it will get you where you want to go as long as you know travel west.

Try these strategies to increase your productivity:

1. Choose the right time. Nearly everyone has times of the day when they are most effective and times when they tend to drag. It’s smart to schedule the most critical tasks for your most effective time of the day.
2. Toss it. If a task doesn’t really need to be done, just get rid of it altogether.
3. Get the bad stuff out of the way. Do the unpleasant items quickly and as early in the day as possible.
4. Set a goal each day (or night). In the morning, decide what you want to accomplish that day. This can be even more effective when planned the night before. Once you have a sense of direction, you can spend all your time getting things done!
5. Eliminate all communication. While you’re working, turn off the phone / cell phone, and don’t check your email. Hang a sign that says, “Do not disturb,” if necessary. You don’t have to do this for all your tasks, but at least do it during the more difficult items.
6. Batch similar tasks together. Do all your emailing at one time. Make all your phone calls at another. Open your snail mail during a set block of time. You’ll waste less time by doing your work in this fashion.
7. Set a timer. Even if a task might take hours, starting will seem easier if you simply give yourself 30 minutes to get as much done as you can. A time limit seems to help many people concentrate and work better, too.
8. Set targets. For example, if you have to make cold-calls for your sales job, tell yourself that you’re not getting up for any reason until you’ve made at least 100 calls. Regardless of what happens, refuse to stop until you hit your target
9. Use the Pareto Principle. This principle states that 20% of the actions you could take will provide you with 80% of the benefits. So focus on the tasks that will accomplish the most. Unfortunately, these are frequently the tasks that are not enjoyable. You might be surprised how little you really have to do if you focus on the critical 20%.
10. Delegate some of your work. Is there anyone else who can help you? The people around you are resources. When appropriate, use their time and talents wisely to get things done more quickly.
11. Set a deadline. Having a specific endpoint will really help to focus your time and energy. If a task doesn’t feel necessary, chances are that it won’t get done.
12. Increase your speed. It sounds silly, but this can really help. Try doing everything a little faster. Walk faster, talk faster, type faster, and read faster.

Implement these strategies into your daily life and you’ll find yourself getting more done in less time. The ultimate secret is to stay on task and not waste any time. These rules will help you do ju

Did you know that many super successful businesses have been started during economic downturns? Hyatt, Burger King, IHOP, The Jim Henson Company, Microsoft, and even MTV was started during an economic downturn. These are very successful businesses that started on a wing and a prayer with low start up costs, even in the garage of a parent’s home, and are now recognized the world over just by their name.

Aside from these well known businesses, there have been solely owned and operated businesses owned by people just like you, who found a new and exciting way to support their families and themselves. They might not be multinational billion dollar corporations but they do quite well supporting their family and their retirement years. Contracting, consulting, and other types of  ”home businesses” or entrepreneurship have exploded during this last recession just as they have during every other economic downturn we have had in our country. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a bit of a A ha moment according to the Small Business Administration, 63% of all small business fail in the first 5 years!

This is a sad but true reality.  Even sadder is that many of these businesses could have succeeded.  Generally it’s not the lack of ideas that cause business failure.  One of the top reason for failure starts at the beginning the inception of your business.  It’s lack of vision.  Without vision how do you know where you’re going or even when you’ve arrived.

To start with, goals are crucial. When we set goals, what we’re really trying to do is to bring each piece of our lives in line with our overall vision for ourselves. Using a powerful vision-setting process can help you set more effective goals, since you can chart a course that will take you toward and support your vision.

Do you have a vision for each segment of your life? Do you know where you’re headed spiritually, socially, relationally, physically, financially, and more?

Use this process to help you create a vision that works for you:

1. Write down your vision for a particular aspect of your life. Write a couple of paragraphs describing what you’d like to have or be. There’s no right or wrong. In fact, you probably won’t precisely articulate your dreams the very first time you try the exercise. A reasonable guess is a good place to start.

• In writing your vision, avoid focusing on what you don’t want, because this will only bring about more of that. Turn your back on negativity and focus on what you do want to bring about.
  For example, if you want more money: Avoid wording your statement like: “I don’t want to be poor anymore.” Instead, envision what it would be like to be rich, which is what you want, and write about what that would be like for you.
  Although you may feel challenged when first learning to focus on what you want, it gets easier. Plus, the rewards are spectacular when you can do it consistently. You’ll start to notice that your life seems as if you can change it at will, which you can.

2. Visualize. Read your vision statement 2-3 times a day and imagine that aspect of your life matches your vision perfectly. How does your vision make you feel? Are you really excited and enthusiastic? Is it appealing to you on all levels? This shouldn’t take more than 60 seconds to do each time.

3. Refine. If you feel really good about your vision, that’s great. If not, now is the time to make some alterations. Continue refining the image of your dream life until doing your visualization feels spectacular. Re-write each new version.

• At this point, you may be wondering when this process ever ends. Fortunately, it never ends. Your vision will forever be changing slightly throughout your life, which is good, since your desires will also change over time.

4. Review your vision daily and ensure that it continues to attract you. This will rapidly usher change into your life. In turn, these changes will demonstrate that you’re actually moving towards that vision.

Create separate vision statements for all the areas of your life. Consider your finances, relationships, adventure, health, social life, and spirituality. If you can get all these visions to look just the way you want, imagine what your life will look like!

Why Spend Time On This Process?

Consider all the things you do every day. Everything you do is either helping you reach your vision or helping someone else reach theirs. Wouldn’t reaching your goals make it a lot easier for you to help others reach their?

Creating a vision is the first step to creating the life you desire. Tweak your visions frequently and really focus on the experience of living that vision. This gets easier all the time, because imagining something enjoyable is pleasurable in itself.

Don’t hesitate; create your visions today. Then, start reviewing and improving them immediately. Your life will change rapidly for the better. You’ll then be spending your time making your own visions a reality instead of making someone else’s dream come true.

There is no end to the types of businesses boomers can start right from their kitchen table. But, you might have to think outside the box to get to the core of what you can offer. The best way to do this is to write down what you do now, and how you can translate that into a business for yourself. Are you a computer genius? Are you very organized? Are you a professional of some kind like a nurse, a lawyer, a CPA? Maybe you’re a secretary, or a software engineer? Any of these positions can be turned into a business from home. Even if you’re a stay at home mother, nearing or entering the empty nest time of your life, you’ve developed skills that can be translated into a business. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many factors that go into deciding what business is the right one for you to start. Choosing a business requires you to decide upon many different aspects. Such as, your skills, talent and training, your experience, your needs, your desires, and the lifestyle you want to live. Yes, choosing the right business for you also has to do with lifestyle design, because what is the point of having a business if you find out later that you can’t live the type of life that you want to live? Read the rest of this entry »