Good Habit: Take control of your online time!

January 11, 2011

Finally! Something brilliant to share.  Watch brief video about two applications that you can use today to tame your online excesses:  Mac Freedom and Rescue Time. Whether you’re Mac or PC, you can give yourself an online time-out or set up analytics that make it impossible to ignore where you really spend your time. If you’re burning [...]

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Up your delegation IQ with this 8 point checklist.

December 15, 2010

Delegation is a 2-way street, make sure you’re managing your part to maximize the impact leverage has on your bottom line.  8 points to consider when you delegate work to an employee or contractor:  1.  Define the assignment exactly.  Describe end results as well as any other interim deliverables. Consider mocking up tables or charts; indicate [...]

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Go public! Your next client might be right in front of you.

August 6, 2010

I use the term “findability factor“.  Marketing is about establishing “know, like and trust” relationships, and ensuring that you have ongoing contact points. That way, when someone needs you, they remember and can easily find you. Usually I’m talking about consistency and persistence- but recently I’m hearing stories about chance encounters with prospects that become instant clients. [...]

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Good Question: Were you better today than yesterday?

May 13, 2010

This one is from Dan Pink, via his book, Drive.  The question is a tool to use to keep yourself motivated. Ask yourself if you did more, if you did well, if you followed through as planned.  Pink suggests looking for small measures of improvement and reminding yourself that you don’t have to reach mastery [...]

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Good Habit: Keep Your Big Picture “Whois” Data Up-to-Date

April 26, 2010

If you have a domain name registered, you know that periodically you’re asked to verify the associated ”whois” data.  If nothing has changed, you need take no action, but you must review the accuracy and make any updates needed. Why not make it a habit to review your big-picture “whois” data quarterly as well? Here’s the information [...]

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Good habit: Manage Your Receivables

April 13, 2010

You knew this was coming. Once you have your time keeping and timely billing habits in place- the next one is to create the habit of managing your receivables. Here’s how: Be clear re when payment is due. Make sure you go over this during your intake process, and include it on your statements. Review [...]

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Good habits: Bill Promptly

April 8, 2010

Speed of billing is one of the levers you can move to improve your cash flow. Take it seriously. It’s the 7th of the month, if you haven’t gotten last month’s bills out yet- make it your priority. Keep track of your time on a daily basis, write quality billing descriptions the first time and use billing [...]

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Thinking about failure? Think BIG!

April 5, 2010

Hanna somehow managed to catch the entire season of Project Runway on demand over spring break. I’m not sure when she watched it, must have been the three days I worked. She updated me about the excitement related to a contestent that dropped out and the one brought back to fill the open slot. Apparently, Anthony, the [...]

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Good habits: Track Time Daily

March 23, 2010

I’ve been procrastinating about getting a checklist of good habits out to you, so I thought I’d bite off a chunk and start with just one!  Whether you charge by the hour, or by flat fee, or on a contingency basis, track your time daily. I’m convinced it’s the first thing you need to do [...]

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Good question: What’s your emergency plan?

March 11, 2010

A new client was in a car accident with her grandson recently. Everyone’s OK, but the car was totaled. If you look at the crumpled car, it’s hard to believe no one was hurt. Truly a blessing. After the accident, she was thinking that if something had happened to her and her husband- there was really [...]

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