I read and listened to Colleen’s a.k.a The Communicatrix’s post about seeing your goals daily. I came away inspired, but I didn’t have the time to do what she suggested. I admit that I am sometimes lazy, but I would still like to be reminded of my goals daily.
The first thing to have a Gmail account. If you don’t have one, you can easily sign up for one.
The next step is to create labels. Labels are the way that people organize their emails in Gmail. If you don’t want to create labels, you can use the starred items system which Lifehacker has a how-to on.
For the purposes of this post. I created the labels S/Goals and S/Tasks. For more on how I came up with these labels, read the post from Web Worker Daily.
Next go to the Labs feature. You can get there one of two ways. Either click on the beaker icon on the upper right hand side of the gmail account, or click on “Settings“, then “Labs“. Find and enable the Gmail Labs Plugin for Multiple Inboxes. With Multiple Inboxes you can see up to 5 groups of emails based on labels or other email addresses.
After Multiple Inboxes Plugin is enabled, you can go designate what folders you would like to see visible when you open up your gmail account. Click on “Settings” again and then “Multiple Inboxes“. Here you can see which labels are visible. There’s room for 5.
Now, you can go ahead and go through your emails and label them S/Goals and/or S/Tasks, but what happens if you think of a goal or task and you are away from your desk?
Enter filters.
To create a filter, you go to “Settings” and “Filters“, and click on “Create a new filter.”
We are going to create a filter so that all emails coming from the goals email will be labeled with the S/Goals tag.
1. In the To: field type username+goals@gmail.com where “username” is you current gmail account.
2. Click on the “Next Step >>” button.
3. Click on the checkbox next to Apply the label and select “S/Goals”
4. If you have emails already labeled, they should appear below the settings. You have the option to apply the setting to the existing emails.
5. Click “Update Filter”.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the “S/Tasks” label.
The result:
My goals and tasks are now visible whenever I open up my gmail account.
How do you use your Gmail account to accomplish your goals?
The free business card offer (just pay for shipping) is still good until the end of the month (June 30th). So if you have videos on YouTube & are in need of some business cards, now is the time to act. Learn more at http://goo.gl/Uvwl
If your not able to communicate to others what makes you unique and what makes you stand out from the pack, how do you expect to make an impact?
When networking, we only have a minute, if that to make a statement about yourself. If you need some motivation, ask trusted colleagues what they think your strengths are, you’ll be surprised.
I found that when you have more than one strength, its just best to focus on one at the beginning of the conversation. The more dialogue and repertoire you have, the more people would like to learn more about what you do.
If you need more insight, think about the “old school” comic books or think about other colleagues strengths and how your skills can complement theirs and vice versa.
For women business owners, the need for excellent PowerPoint presentations while soliciting partners or customers is crucial to a successful small business. As a women entrepreneurs, we need to know our audiences before creating PowerPoints to address them. This is a crucial process for us all.
Given my artistic sensibilities, I enjoy designing PowerPoints for business presentations. However, sitting down to organize images, write text, insert graphics and add animation to a presentation is VERY time consuming. On top of that, the hard part about designing my own presentations isn’t just about the time. It’s recognizing the importance of professional – and catchy – presentations!
Well-executed presentations can offer potential clients and partners the absolute best first impression possible of you and your business. Presentations for current partners will ensure continued quality control within your small business. You could spend hours trying to design your own presentation, or you can hand the task off to someone who can get it done quickly and efficiently.
One organization that handles other businesses presentation design is www.123PPT.com. 123PPT offers creative and concept development, along with technical capabilities to develop state of the art presentations not only through PowerPoint, but also through Adobe FlashDesign, CD-ROM, DVD, video, and animation. 123PPT will give you estimates based on your exact needs.
A similar business presentation organization is ProPoint Graphics. ProPoint offers Flash and PowerPoint presentation design services. ProPoint serves large and small business alike, and similar to 123PPT, ProPoint will give you a quote on request.
Who designs your PowerPoints? How do you decide what content to include in your PowerPoints? How do you implement your brand in your PowerPoints? We would love to know, so shoot us a line.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing wrote a post about Make a Referral Week, which happens to be this week.
In the spirit of things, I’m going to recommend Google Voice.
Just in case you didn’t hear, Google Voice lets you screen calls, takes voicemail and you can forward your calls to your mobile, work or whatever location(s) suit you.
Recently, I have been using my Google Voice account to contact venues for an event I’m throwing. Its convenient because I am not giving out a personal number. The interface is nice because you can read your voicemail in your account don’t have to listen to voicemail “in order” like with most phones.
Don’t have a Google account? We are giving away 3 of them. Just leave a comment and tell us how a Google Voice Account can set you free.
Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs, listen up! I recently spent the majority of a couple of days helping a colleague restore her data after her computer was stolen. Well, we restored as much as possible. She was not good at making regular backups. As a result she lost a significant amount of data that she will never see again.
I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a friendly reminder to make backup copies of data that you do not want to lose; and data you hold near and dear to your hearts! I know many, and perhaps most, of you have your own businesses, so you could not only be sad from losing personal files, you could also devastate your business if you do not make regular backups. I’d hate to hear if some of you lost time, money and customers as a result of not having backup copies.
Some important files to backup that are often overlooked include:
Email
Tax returns
Customer files, including order histories as applicable
Photos
MP3’s, including your music files (I’d cry if I lost my hundreds of iTunes songs)
Address files
Phone lists
Application files (e.g., Word, Excel, Viso, etc.)
Invoices
Stored cell phone numbers and messages
Etc…anything important to you
Be sure to create more than one backup. For example, do not keep making your backups onto the same filename on an external hard drive, on the same USB drive, DVD, etc. If your backup media is damaged, then your data on the backup may not be able to be retrieved.
Which brings me to the next point…store your important backups somewhere safe! For your personal backups, a fireproof safe in your home *may* be okay, but preferably, store your backups off site in a secured location such as a bank deposit box.
And make your backups regularly… I recommend making it a weekly event. It is amazing how many important files you can lose over just a week’s amount of time! And if you have something extremely important, make a backup of it right away.
If you use online services to backup your data, let us know which services you love! Let’s promote what works!
I make it a point to market my business in every possible situation, including the times when I’m browsing books at the local public library or bookstore. While doing my own shopping, I’ll simply prop my business cards into relevant publications. By utilizing similar methods, you too can land new clients while showing creativeness and ingenuity!
Even in the depths of the digital age, people continue to rely on hard-copy books as sources of information. Imagine this scenario: A web/graphic designer – we’ll call her Susan – is seeking to expand her client list. She arms herself with a stack of business cards (a must for EVERY business, large or small) and heads down to her local library or bookstore. Concentrating on the most appropriate library sections – such as “Technology,” “Art and Design,” or “Small Business” – she inserts several business cards into as many relevant publications as possible.
A few days later, a fellow entrepreneur in dire need of a website for her own business visits the same library in search of information on web design. She picks Web Design for Dummies from the stack. As she flips through the pages, growing more and more daunted by techie lingo, she finds your business card… and pauses. It’s like a god-send! Silently, she ponders: “Should I really suffer through the stress of purchasing design software, and spending countless frustrating hours trying to design a website? I could really use that time to focus on my own work. Maybe I should give Susan a call and see what the rates are like.”
Just like that, Susan has landed a new client. This technique is simple, effective and most of all – FREE!
Let’s get going! Perform a web-based search of the most popular books in your industry (Amazon.com is a great place to start). Take note of these books and locate them in your nearest library or bookstore. Place your business cards into these books and other publications in the same area of the library. It is helpful to place your cards into relevant sections of books as well. For example, the above-mentioned web designer might have placed her cards into the section of the book that describes costly design software. Such a maneuver is like an unspoken sales pitch!
Feel free to share your tips and your stories below. We would love to hear from you!
Whether you are a mom, who is an entrepreneur, or a single woman trying to fit everything in, it is difficult to find the time to get to the gym. Entrepreneurs are busy bees, and the order of prioritization tends to place working out after business and family life.
That being said, the following tips and tricks can help you to keep your mind and body in working order when you just can’t find the time to get on the treadmill:
1. Start each day with a series of stretches: When you get out of bed in the morning, make an effort to perform a menu of stretches that makes you feel good. Whether they are sun salutations (raise your arms over your head until your hands meet) or simple calf stretches, warming your body up before you get moving is a great way to get a positive start on the day. This blog describes why and how stretching is helpful to weight loss.
2. Choose green tea instead of coffee: I love coffee, can’t live without it. And that is a problem. Coffee is highly addictive and causes the ever dreaded noontime crash, if you become dependent. I suggest switching off coffee with tea at least a couple of times a week, if not more often. Green tea, both caffeinated and packed with antioxidants, is a great solution. I like Tazo tea for its unique flavors and blends.
3. Eat fruit: believe it or not, fruit is a very satisfying choice to satisfy your sweet tooth. Instead of going for the Oreos, snack on some pineapples or strawberries. I suggest these fruits because they are used in several desserts for its sweet taste and acidic content. So, this might assist in any mental block you have about satiating your sweet tooth with health food.
4. Add fruit to breakfast food: Speaking of fruit, I’ve found that replacing syrup or butter with fruit atop my french toast or pancakes is a highly successful way to add nutrients and flavor to a carb-filled breakfast.
5. Practice your posture at your desk: While immersed in work each day, we all become guilty of slouching, hunching or shoulders down, or generally treating our body’s alignment like garbage. Be mindful of this. Set your monitor high enough so that you don’t have to come down to your computer (use a monitor stand; Staples has very cost-friendly versions). Wear reading or prescription glasses if you need them, so as to prevent sticking your nose into your screen. Utilize an ergonomic gel wrist pad and mouse pad. Most importantly, perform a posture check: Head up, shoulders back, chest out, feet flat on the floor, and legs in a 90-degree position. This website describes the benefits of good posture, and provides an alternative standing posture-benefiting exercise.
6. Utilize a stability ball: My friend Shannon learned to use a stability ball not only for crunches, but also as a way to check her posture during work hours. Sit on the ball with legs at a 90-degree angle, and keep your back upright and straight as if a puppeteer was pulling you up like a string puppet.
7. Insert fitness blasts into your day: Need to go run errands? Put on your walking shoes and hustle down to Kinko’s, Starbucks, the library, etc. Power walk your way around instead of hopping into the car. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Small fitness bursts are better than no fitness at all!
8. Volunteer: Volunteering at a shelter or soup kitchen not only performs a great service to your fellow citizens, but it provides a great way to get a physical workout.
9. Weigh and measure your food: Oftentimes people think that because they are eating grilled chicken or veggies, their meal is healthy. The reality is that we are only supposed to have 4 oz. servings of protein at a time, and veggies are often loaded with oil or butter when prepared. Be conscious of the ingredients in your meals, and perform a quick calorie count before serving.
Keep your diet and cooking simple: Speaking of veggies, a great way to insert veggies into your everyday diet is to keep your meals simple yet satisfying. I’ve learned that a well balanced and easy-to-do meal consists of a lean protein (chicken or fish) and a bag of frozen vegetables. Quick, painless, good for you.
Now that we are into the new year (I’m hesitant to say “decade” because for some that’s still up for debate,) we start to declare resolutions.
Instead of coming up with a long list, why not simply it into 10 goals. You can then keep track of a goal a month and have the flexibility to relax for a month or two.
Here are my 10 for 2010.
Stay healthy or else the rest of this list won’t matter.
Either upgrade or buy a new desktop computer.
Finally get my driver’s license (I’m a native New Yorker, so driving hasn’t been a priority.)
Schedule informal Coffee Conversations with friends and colleagues.
Spend more time with my family (especially my growing niece.)
Write more with pen and paper
Speak or attend at more conferences than I did last year
Look for collaborative opportunities with resourceful people
Find clients that I enjoy working with so that work doesn’t feel like “work”.
Achieve one more internet certification.
What are you 10 for ‘10? Let us know in the comments.
With Amazon’s recent feature, you can “bookmark” any item from any online store and place it on your Amazon wishlist.
This works out especially well if you are organizing gifts for members of the family. Just create a separate wishlist for them and keep it private so there will be no spoilers.
So what are you waiting for? If you have a wishlist , great! If not, its never too late to get started. Plus, you don’t need the holidays as an excuse to have one.
and one question has stuck out in my head.
or think about other colleagues strengths and how your skills can complement theirs and vice versa.
audiences before creating PowerPoints to address them. This is a crucial process for us all.
a colleague restore her data after her computer was stolen. Well, we restored as much as possible. She was not good at making regular backups. As a result she lost a significant amount of data that she will never see again.
local public library or bookstore. While doing my own shopping, I’ll simply prop my business cards into relevant publications. By utilizing similar methods, you too can land new clients while showing creativeness and ingenuity!
and the 
