When you run your own business, you have thousands of technology choices to make. There are different brands of computers. There are a gazillion software programs. There are wireless phones, communications devices and gear galore. And you have to choose the right ones for you.

Making wise choices is tough. So is getting the gear to work right. When you need help using a device or piece of software you can pore through a manual or web site or spend your life on hold waiting for the help desk to help. What's an entrepreneur to do?

Here's one answer that works: start your search with the technology your friends and colleagues use. When you and people you work with are using the same equipment and software, lots of good things happen.

When you use the same applications as the people you work with, it's easier to share information. But there's another big benefit, too.

When you use the same equipment and software as people you work with, you also have a built-in, friendly help system. People who work in big companies may have IT people to call, but surveys tell us that they usually talk to each other instead.

Use your friends to help you learn a new system or piece of equipment. You can even make a party out of setting up a new computer.

Use your network to help you use software effectively. Teach each other special tips and tricks that makes the system work easier and more efficiently.

Technology is one of those areas of life where a little help from your friends is better than all the help-desks in China (or India). Choose technology that is best for your business but if you also look to what your friends and colleagues use, that’s a great place to start. Then use each other for help and advice.

Action Steps
Make a list of the things you think you understand about using technology. Tell your friends what you're good at, in case they need help.

Make a list of the equipment and applications you have questions about. Ask your friends if anyone can help you.

Be Bold and grow your business in 2008. Bold Vision Consulting - Expect Results www.BoldVisionConsulting.com

Who doesn’t say they need to be more productive? Have you heard the question: "If you can't find the time to do it right, how will you find time to do it over?" That question should be plastered right in front of us in this age of multitasking.

Multitasking has its place. There are times when you can do several things at once. You can read while you're on the Stairmaster. You can answer email while you're waiting at the doctor's office. You can talk on the phone and dust the office.

But beware. Multitasking isn't doing two or more things at the same time. It's rapidly switching between tasks. And that takes a toll on your energy and efficiency.

This is most damaging when you're trying to get work done on a project or something that requires concentration. When it's time for that kind of work, forget the multitasking and take the time to focus.

Research tells us that most people will do their most productive work in blocks of about an hour and a half of uninterrupted time. That seems to be enough for most of us to get into a project, make some serious progress, and wrap up.

But the key here is uninterrupted time. And the key to having uninterrupted time is showing some self-discipline. Eliminate distractions. Shut off the phone. Don't check email (gasp!). Lock the door. Don't do anything but the work at hand. Raymond Chandler, of Philip Marlowe fame, used to advise writers that they didn't have to write during the time they scheduled for writing ...but they weren't allowed to do anything else.

Take a break. When you're done, take a break. Do something else. That's a good time to check email and return calls. Get up. Walk around. Don’t burn your self out.

If this is new to you, start small. Schedule a forty-five minute block of time for this type of project-work every day. Let’s face it; none of us are so important we can’t hold off on responding to email or phone call for 45 minutes. After we recover from this trauma, increase your ‘blocked-off time’ to an hour and a half, and then two hours. You'll be amazed at how much you get done …and how your world doesn’t come to an end without email and voice mail.

Be Bold! Be Merry! Eliminate distractions.

Be a member of an exclusive, confidential group of business-minded individuals with a common goal to grow a successful business.

• You are held accountable by your forum partners;
• Create a roadmap for 2008; a simple 1-page plan;
• Meet monthly with your committed peer partners who challenge you to reach and grow.

Groups begin Late January / early February, 2008. Applications are due January 15. For more information call 207-221-3492 or visit www.OcularForum.com for more information or download a Membership application and fax to me at 207-221-3127.

I subscribe whole heartedly to the chaos theory; that there is underlying order in seemingly chaotic and random systems (i.e. my desk.)

An ever-present goal of mine has been to bring order to my desk.  I don’t think my comfort with desk clutter is unique. Organizing paper – that is culling through, throwing or filing things away is one of the most frustrating and stressful things for me. Papers, magazines, to-do notes, clipped articles, messages – my desk is an a-tonal symphony of paper in all sizes shapes and colors.  It’s really quite beautiful in an odd, creative sort of way.  I could however, put my hands on whatever was needed – and quite promptly I might add.

Perhaps my effort to arrange my desk more neatly is the result of buying into others’ definition of “order”.  As a matter of fact, I find it more difficult to locate things after I’ve organized and filed things away.  There IS a method to the madness of my system. 

Thank goodness for the new book, A Perfect Mess by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman.  These guys did studies and found “moderately disorganized people, institutions, and systems frequently turn out to be more efficient, more resilient, more creative and in general more effective than highly organized ones.” 

Phew! FINALLY someone who gets it! Everyone has his or her style of work and what I am suggesting is to focus on the work style that’s right for you.  The “clean desk” rule doesn’t necessarily improve productivity any more than the “clean plate” rule improves your health.  “Moderate” is the key word here.

So those of us efficient, resilient and creative types, be BOLD and stand firm! One person's chaos is another's order. 

A Promotion Action begins after the first of the year - January 3, 2007. There are only 4 spots left so if you're interested please go to www.PromotionAction.com for more information and to enroll. 

Stay tuned for other Bold Vision Consulting's January events.

Alignment

"If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time."

Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Sounds like a BOLD business objective, doesn’t it?    Dominating any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time…

ROWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION is the concept of alignment – and this is your secret weapon for making it happen in your business.

Sports teams provide great parallels to business.  Think about successful teams from the recent and distant past; The New England Patriots - The 49ers in the 80’s; The Boston Red Sox.  What winning teams have in common is that everybody, from the locker room to the owner’s suite, everyone is on the same page, dedicated to a common goal – win games.  Period.  The coaches, the players, the owners – they are tremendously aligned.  The result?  Championships.

If you are a solo-preneur, the alignment is between your head, your heart and your actions.  Are they all in alignment?  Head: Can you articulate your business objectives? Heart: Do you have a burning desire to achieve these objectives? Action: Are you doing what you know you need to do to achieve these objectives?  This is alignment and it is critical to success. 

If you are a business owner or executive with employees, how aligned are your people?  Is there a common vision you, as the leader, communicate so everyone knows the business objectives? Do they know how their job contributes to achieving the objective?  “How aligned is your team?” can be a tough question to answer.  Take a look and answer the questions below.  Score your answers, which will give you a general idea of how aligned your employees are with your vision.

         

How Aligned is Your Team? Consider each of the following statements and then rate your leadership team as follows: 1 = Never 2 = Rarely 3 = About half the time 4 = Most of the time 5 = All the time 1.      We have a strategic plan and regularly monitor the progress being made. 2.      Managers and employees alike are open and honest with one another. 3.      Everyone knows and can articulate our business vision. 4.      Everyone knows and can articulate their role in reaching the business goals. 5.      I can count on others to do their part.  6.      When we agree to something in a meeting, we demonstrate this decision outside the room. 7.      We are one another’s biggest fans – we each have the full support of the team. 8.      Employees tie personal success with organizational / team success.

A score of 34 or higher means your employees are clear about the vision and are “rowing in the same direction” to achieve this vision, which is reflected in your business results. 

A score of 28-33 may mean that there’s some work to do. Perhaps you’ve had a recent influx of new clients or a new product launch or something else that has stressed your employees a bit.  Communication, communication, communication is key here.  Stay close to the employees, reinforcing the vision, objectives and how important their role is to the success of the whole. 

If you scored under 28, your results, and therefore business performance, are almost certainly being hampered by a lack of alignment. This non-alignment may be reflected by symptoms such as missed deadlines, over-budget projects, declining customer satisfaction scores, under performing sales teams, expense over runs, etc.

What to do?? 

It all starts with a BOLD vision shared throughout the organization, so:

• Clearly communicate each person's role, responsibilities and your expectations;
• Keep your eye on the progress being made - Don't ever think your over-site isn't necessary or doesn't matter;
• Holding others as well as yourself accountable for fulfilling their roles and meeting expectations to achieve the objective; and
• Celebrating like crazy, the successes along the way.

Take this quiz - if you have employees or manage a team, share it with the others and determine your team’s average score.  Armed with your results, you can create a road map complete with follow-up strategies that will lead to the breakthrough results you need to Make It Happen. 

It all starts with a BOLD vision shared throughout the organization, so:

• Clearly communicate each person's role, responsibilities and your expectations;
• Keep your eye on the progress being made - Don't ever think your over-site isn't necessary or doesn't matter;
• Holding others as well as yourself accountable for fulfilling their roles and meeting expectations to achieve the objective; and
• Celebrating like crazy, the successes along the way.

Take this quiz - if you have employees or manage a team, share it with the others and determine your team’s average score.  Armed with your results, you can create a road map complete with follow-up strategies that will lead to the breakthrough results you need to Make It Happen. 

You're invited - On September 19, from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. at the Cumberland Club in Portland, Maine, you're invited to join us for an free discussion about alignment in business and how peer advisory groups can help small business owners get there. The event is free but space is limited so reservations are important. Please call 207-221-3492 or contact us via our website - www.BoldVisionConsulting.com for more information or to register.

For upcoming Bold Vision programs and events bookmark the Bold Vision Calendar and check back from time to time.

Posted by Lynnelle Bianco at 01:37 PM
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The Scientific American Mind may not be sitting on your coffee table, but it is on mine. Or at least the June/July issue is. I was flying back to Portland from Kansas City after attending a 2-day FastTrac certification program.

(FastTrac is a series of hands-on business programs developed and sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, MO. The programs are designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners start up, operate and grow their businesses. In Maine FastTrac is offered as part of the Center for Entrepreneurship at USM. The FastTrac program is of the highest quality and it also compliments Bold Vision Consulting’s programs and I’m happy to be certified as a FastTrac facilitator for USM.)

So …let’s get back to the Scientific American Mind. As I’m now in Detroit on a 2-hour stopover between Portland, ME and KC, MO, I’m walking past rows and rows of magazines, Detroit souvenirs and unhealthy snacks and see this headline screaming out at me: BURNOUT Needless to say, I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around and headed to the rack to check it out.

As a small business owner - in particular the owner of a business just celebrating a 1-year anniversary, (Yours Truly) can be at high risk of burnout. Even though business is developing as it should, it is never easy, there are never enough hours in the day and sometimes having to do it all AND find any time to decompress seems impossible. You add that all up and it’s easy to see how burnout happens.

“Even though your job or career might be extremely fulfilling, it can also be extremely demanding--and you feel overwhelmed. You are not alone.” This is the lead-in to the article. Great, I’m not alone. So I read on. Burnout “tends to hit the best,” those with “the most enthusiasm who accept responsibility readily.” That’s good, too. I’ve never been called demure and I don’t shy away from a challenge; in fact I thrive on challenges. Isn’t that a prerequisite for owning your own business?

“If someone works 12 hours a day, every day, yet still has found a way to relax, he will very likely have no problem.” Uh, oh. What slacker are they talking about, working only 12 hours a day? …finding a way to relax? Hmmmm. He can find a way because he’s only working 12 hours a day …no wonder.

Seriously, though; this is what most of us find to be the biggest challenge and why many of us burnout. Finding a way to relax; decompressing as I like to call it; finding a work-life balance as the challenge is more widely known; THIS is the challenge.

The Scientific American Mind article goes on to describe a few individual “burnout” situations and how each person responded to their crisis. For example, Larry, a 28-year-old consultant working 60 to 80 hour weeks collapsed outside the door to his apartment with a terrible headache, a racing heart and vertigo. Twenty-eight years old! Burnout is getting more and more prevalent. According to a November, 2005 Harris Poll, one third of workers ages 25 to 39 say they already feel burned out by their jobs.

What really woke me up was “The Burnout Cycle,” a list of the 12 phases (according to the author, Ulrich Kraft, a freelance science writer in Berlin) that lead to “Burnout Syndrome.” The phases include things like neglecting your needs, denial of emerging problems, inner-emptiness, being obsessed with handling everything yourself….and the list goes on. I admit, it is hard work NOT to burnout. Reading this article was a good reminder to get back to the basics in a few areas of my life, including exercise and limiting the late night oil I burn at the office. I’m telling you this as I sit here typing at 6:10 p.m. and when I finish this I’ve got to finish preparing for a workshop at the Unemployed Professionals meeting tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. Like I said, NOT burning out takes work! And a lot of practice.

So, take a deep breath, look at all you have on your plate and be realistic about what you have to do and what you can actually delegate. Then also be realistic about what you physically CAN get done in a single day; a single week or month. Do what you know you should do without arguing with yourself, do it and then reward yourself by leaving the office at a reasonable hour and enjoying a nice evening with family, a good friend or a good book.

This and a heavy dose of BOLD-ness will do you well. Remember …success and the good life - it all starts with a vision.

More about FastTrac –
FastTrac programs are primarily focused on the more “tangible” and traditional skills needed to be successful as a business owner, i.e. How to read financials, How to price your product or service, Delivery and Distribution issues, HR and Management issues, etc.

Bold Vision programs focus more on the “intangible” or “off-balance sheet” skills that are equally as critical to business success –critical to plain ‘ol success for that matter, i.e. keeping focused on your longer-term objectives while managing the day-to-day business operations, Perseverance, Time Management, Follow-Through, finding some life-balance when you have to do it ALL, etc.

For more information about Maine’s FastTrac program, call The Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business at USM – (207) 780-5919 or visit USM’s website at http://www.usm.maine.edu/cesb/fasttrac.html .

For upcoming Bold Vision programs and events bookmark the Bold Vision Calendar and check back from time to time.

How many times have you heard this: “Time is money.”? We in the self-employed world know better than most that time is money. We have to plan our time off judiciously because when we don’t work, we don’t get paid. It’s difficult enough to plan time off, but when we find ourselves wasting time when we should be getting things done, it just adds insult to injury. The productivity challenge isn’t limited to the self-employed – we may just feel it more acutely in the wallet than others.

However, the point is if we’re wasting time, things don’t get done; and if things don’t get done, business doesn’t happen. If business doesn’t happen, we don’t make any money. For all of the upsides that come with being your own boss, this isn’t one of them. In fact, this can be a big down side of owning your own business if it's not managed well.

You don’t feel like working today? It will cost you; literally.
Therefore, it makes sense then that the less time we waste, the more productive we are; the more productive we are the more money we make.

To improve your productivity, your first step should be to identify your biggest time wasters. Once done, you can then address how to eliminate or at least neutralize them to see an improvement. So, what would you say are your biggest time wasters?

Answer these two questions:
#1) What things outside of your control get in the way of your productivity?

#2) What things within your control get in the way of your productivity?

Pace Productivity, a Canadian company asked these same 2 questions in a survey of 690 entrepreneurs and employees across North America.

The first question was designed to find out what factors hindered productivity that were outside of the respondents’ control. The second question was designed to find out how people take responsibility (or not) for wasting their own time.

Question #1 received more responses than #2 however; every person surveyed was asked both questions. It appears people submitted more than one response to the first question, which was not the case with the second. In fact the most common response to the second question was no response at all. Interesting, right? How's that for accountability (or the lack thereof)?

Which brings me to my second point, accountability. You would be surprised at how much control you really DO have over your day. Most of the time it is YOU who decides to allow others to interrupt you. YOU decide how often and how much time you spend checking email, searching the internet, visiting with co-workers, etc.

You don’t have to hurt people’s feelings telling them you happen to be busy at that point – can they call you back later in the afternoon. You CAN turn the email notification sound to “mute” so you’re not interrupted every time you receive a new email. You do have more control than you think.

Think about your time wasters and be accountable. There are very few things about which you are helpless to improve.

HOW do your “time wasters” rate rate in the survey? See the survey results here as well as a few more tips on how to how to increase your daily productivity at work.

And remember ...Be BOLD! Be Productive! Make it Happen.

Sign up for the BOLD Bulletin, the monthly success e-journal for solo-professionals and small business owners. Submit your email address in the box in the upper right of the Bold Vision Consulting Home page.

Check out the BOLD Vision Calendar of events. Upcoming programs include:

Get Published! on 7/27

Unemployed Professionals on 8/1

On the Speaking Circuit on 8/10

Ocular Forum - Free Introductory Meeting on 8/1

2007 Strategic Workshop in Paris France - 1st week in December

Businesses are always looking for ways to make their management and staff more productive and their companies more profitable and competitive. Many companies have turned to training and development that may bring about temporary improvements. Others have created rigorous strategic plans that don’t deliver the full expected outcomes.

Not to get to egg-head on you, but I read an interesting article recently and I would like to share some statistics. According to authors Michael C. Mankins and Richard Steele in the August 2005 Harvard Business Review article titled “Turning Strategy into Great Performance”, on average only 63% of the objectives of strategic plans are achieved. This means that 37% of the plan objectives are NOT achieved - a 37% performance GAP. Or, in other words, if a sales plan calls for $100,000 in new business, $37,000 would have been left on the table. That's a lot to lose.

Why? What are these organizations doing or not doing to result in such a big difference between an organization’s strategic goals and the actual results? What gets in the way?

Surprisingly very little is attributed to a "tangible", such as lack of or unavailable resources. The key issues are how well the team communicates, aligns around top initiatives, creates short term and long-term plans, and holds themselves accountable to deliver the results.

Intellectually, most people know the importance of communication and accountability to successful achievement, yet they don't have the know-how to do what it takes to improve these skills. Or, more likely, they lack the discipline to do what they know is needed each and every day. What needs to happen may be common sense, but it is not common practice.

Communication, Leadership, Perseverance, Accountability, etc. - are often referred to as “intangibles” because the loss incurred by the lack of these skills is difficult to quantify in the traditional sense, i.e. Dollars & Cents. Therefore, most organizations don’t rate the importance of these skills to successful performance as high as they do the more typical indicators of success.

Yet research clearly shows that these “intangible” skills and disciplines are the biggest differentiating factor between organizations that do consistently achieve their planned strategic results and organizations that do not.

The top "intangible" issues contributing to this performance gap are:
• Poorly communicated strategy 5.2%;
• Actions required to execute not clearly defined – 4.5%
• Unclear accountabilities for execution – 4.1%
• Organizational silos and culture blocking execution – 3.7%
• Inadequate performance monitoring – 3.0%
• Inadequate consequences of rewards for failure or success – 3.0%
• Poor Senior Leadership – 2.6%

What can you do to close the gap in your business?

Start by acknowledging that your people are your business. More than your strategy, your marketing plan, your IT system or even your entire finance department full of spreadsheets, management information and predictions; people are the key to your success. To transform your business, transform your people.

Getting your employees, across the organization to work together, communicating with trust, taking personal responsibility for their own performance, as well as that of the overall business will generate considerable improvement. The secret lies in making sure that everyone in your business – including you – has the right attitude and is taking the right actions to produce results, time after time.

There are a number of options businesses have that can help them address the performance GAP. The particular program I use is called Best Year Yet, a planning and implementation process designed to bring about sustainable change for improved performance. This is the program I’ve found successful for myself, as a business owner, and in helping my clients.

The specific program, however, isn’t important. The important factor is to bring about sustainable change in the organization that will result in improved, lasting performance. For this to happen, make sure any effort taken addresses all of the issues noted above AND make sure there is unwavering support for this initiative “new way of doing business” at the top.

Until next time – Bold Results start with a Bold Vision! Go out there and Be Bold!

If you learn just one lesson from all you read to improve your business, this is the one that will have the greatest impact on your success in business and life in general. That lesson is:

Your attitude effects the actions you take.

The actions you take determine the results you get.

Change your attitude, change your business; change your life.

Putting as much energy into keeping your mind positive and focused on what you want is as critical as the actions you take; perhaps more so.

If you seem to be taking all the right steps and yet you are making little progress on getting the results you want, the problem is probably on the inside. What you're thinking and focusing on (or not) is limiting your success.

On the other hand, you've got to do what needs to be done, even if it is difficult or uncomfortable. So, if you're feeling great about yourself and the possibilities for your success but still aren't reaching your goals, you probably aren’t taking action on something you know you need to do. Maybe you've been cutting corners or avoiding that tough call.

Imagine having to make sales calls to build your business. (What business person can’t imagine this?) You sit at your phone and dial number after number, talking to prospect after prospect (action). All the while your attitude is, "I HATE making these calls. No one wants to talk to me and even if I am able to engage someone in a conversation, what's the chance of that one person accepting an appointment anyway!" With that type of attitude, you may as well not make any calls. Your lack of enthusiasm and your "I hate to do this" tone of voice will travel over that phone line delivering a message to your prospect that says "I really don't want to talk to you and I hope you’ll just say "no" so I can get this over with faster."

If your thought process was: "I offer a quality service that can solve my prospects’ problem. It's all a matter of timing; not everyone will be ready for my solution today, however someone out there is ready. Each "no" I get is one more call closer to that yes." With this kind of tape playing in your mind, the prospect on the other end of the line will hear a positive message in your voice that says: "I want to help you solve your problems." The responses you get can be dramatically different.

It's a fact: What you focus on is what you will get. The unbeatable combination of the right attitude and the right action enables you to take meaningful steps and keeps you moving toward completion of your most important goals. Simple? Yes. Easy? No, absolutely not. However, it is worth the effort because it WILL make the difference. Put the Foolproof Formula to work for you and you will be unstoppable!

If you think you are beaten you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you want to win but think you can't;
It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose you're lost;
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in a state of mind.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger and faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

-- Author Unknown

Posted by Lynnelle Bianco at 12:00 PM
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