Robbi Hess

Do You Have Priorities? Really?

I've found that if I write a to-do list and keep it open on my desk I get a lot of work done. Without the list, I spend time poking around on Facebook, reading Tweets, and channel surfing. I also am find I need to eat my breakfast, drink my coffee and jump into work first thing in the morning -- having a meeting first thing in the morning means I will have to work later into the evening. I do try to keep to a work schedule -- something that is not always easy to do as a work-from-home business owner. 

When morning meetings come up -- or afternoon meetings for that matter -- I find I am thrown off my game and it takes a lot of concentration to get back into the swing of things. Is it just me? Do I have bad time management skills that a disruption in my day can sometimes make a normal day suddenly feel frenetic? 

Is is a lack of prioritizing on my part? Do I need to plan my workday to begin after my meetings and networking events are over? Do I need to learn to be more flexible with my use of my working hours? Is it all of the above and then some?

In the course of my workday I sometimes forget that as an entrepreneur I need to consider networking and business meetings as part of my workday not an interruption to them. Networking, as any business owner knows, is part and parcel of the schedule. Networking should be a priority and needs to be scheduled and added to your to-do list. If attending networking meetingsmeans you need to put in a additional hour at the end (or the beginning) of the workday then consider it time well spent. 

The clients you have today may not be there tomorrow and the next best client for your business could be at the very next networking event you attend. Prioritize and spend at least 10 percent (ideally 20 percent) of your workweek networking, shaking hands and getting out of your office.  

 

Are You Inspired By Your Morning Routine?

I'll admit I am a hold out to reading the daily newspaper. I subscribe to The Arizona Republic and when I am back in New York I pick up a copy of theDemocrat and Chronicle. I rarely read the paper on its actual day because I don't like to have to run out and buy the paper on the days it's not delivered I "save" one to read the next day. 

The other day I was watching The Balancing Act and someone (for the life of me I can't remember who it was) was on the show talking about morning routines and how the way you start your day can color the rest of it. Common sense, but not anything I had ever thought about. Consider it though, you wake up listening to doom and gloom on the news, pick up a paper and read about crime sprees, fiscal irresponsibility by government officials and other snippets of bad news. It is enough to make you say blah and want to crawl back under the covers. 

Taking Time To Savor The Moments

Know how everyone tells you to "stop and smell the roses"? Well when people have said that to me before, I kinda wanted to make 'em sniff the thorns of the roses. Now that I find myself in the position of caregiver for my father, I've learned the beauty of that saying. 

I had moved out of state last year but my dad was diagnosed with an inoperable lung tumor and he has spots of cancer on his spine -- all of a sudden my life changed. I came back to NY to help out as my sister and brother had been doing the majority of the running to the doctor's visits with my parents until the diagnosis was handed down. I'd planned to come back to NY for a few weeks to help out then head back to AZ. Now that I am here, I've extended my trip and paid the exorbitant airplane ticket fees -- thank you American Airlines/Continental -- so I can help out. 

How Great (Or Not) Is Your Customer Service?

What's the last time you had great customer service? Horrible customer service? What did you do about it? Many of us -- myself included -- typically sigh and walk away, vowing to never visit that store or website again, but we don't usually say anything. If, however, we do speak up, it's usually to complain about the bad, rather than to tout the good, right? 

In the past I was more likely to complain to friends and family if my food was undercooked, the shoes I ordered weren't quite as advertised, or if the book I purchased had so many typos I couldn't even finish it. I rarely went to the source, I simply never gave that establishment my money again. Today though, with so many companies having social media pages, it is easy to voice your pleasure or displeasure at the moment of your unhappiness. I know I've done it, recently. 

Can You Make Money Blogging?

While you may not have gotten into blogging with the idea that you were going to quit your day job and live a life of writing, watching television and eating bonbons, right? Blogging can help you bring in some money but as with anything you have to work at it. Very few people jump into blogging and achieve overnight success.

Even if you take famous examples such as the blog that was made into a movie, Julie and Julia, consider how many days she was working and writing on her blog before she achieved “overnight success.” Blogging can bring you in money if you work at it and have a focus for your blog. Keep in mind too that if you hear that Jane Doe is making money blogging about extreme couponing and you feel you want to jump on that bandwagon, make certain you love extreme couponing. If you don’t love what you write about, the idea of blogging will become a chore and it will show in your work.

10 Ways To Grow Your Business Through Social Media Marketing

Social media moves and changes more quickly than the seasons – in some instances it seems to change and morph from one sunrise to the next! As a small business owner you’re faced with the daily task of working in and growing your business, so how to you keep up with the fast moving tide of social media?

Wrote Down My Dream, Made It Come True

For years I'd taught writing classes and was always great at telling the adults in the classes that "writers write" and to "make time to write something for yourself or toward your goals everyday." It was great advice and I patted myself on the back every time I gave the would-be writers in my class these words of wisdom. 

I realized though, that I was a lot of talk, but not much action. True, I write for a living and earn my livelihood as a blogger and social media consultant but when it came to my own writing -- my romance novel, my ebook series, etc. -- they were always on the back burner because, 'I have clients to write for, I just don't have time for me." 

As I saw the 2011 winding down I realized that yet again I didn't practice what I was preaching. I still hadn't written or published a romance, I still hadn't written my ebook. I knew I didn't want to end the year with these two things still no crossed off my To-Do list. I'd had enough of carrying these two goals forward from one calendar year to the next. 

Working To Be Resolute in 2012

Every year I ponder whether I should put together my New Year's Resolutions. I sit down with pen and paper and come up with the usual, "Lose weight," "write every day," "exercise more," etc. You know the drill. Those vague resolutions that eventually fail and then make you feel bad about yourself? We've all been there, right?

One thing I found extremely difficult to keep up with was the "exercise more" especially when I lived in New York. It's hard to get out and exercise when it's snowing and blowing and I was never much on team sports -- which I consider a gym to be. 

What's Twitter Doing For Your Business... Really?

Chances are you’re signed up for Twitter and you use it occasionally but you wonder if it’s truly doing anything to help you and your business. Is there just too much noise on Twitter to make a difference? Are the masses really reading your tweets? For the longest time I really didn’t get the point of Twitter. I have followers, I follow people but truly, how am I supposed to keep up with the thousands – sometimes more – of tweets that come in on a daily basis?

If you spend even 30 minutes a day connecting with people – and on Twitter you can connect with high profile people – think Nathan Fillion! And he does his own tweets. Many high profile people actually do their own tweets and who knows, if you follow them maybe they will follow you. Regardless of how you think of twitter – micro-blogging or public instant messaging – you might want to get on board as it’s been reported that between 5,000 and 10,000 new people sign onto Twitter every day and it’s estimated that there are around 5 million users. Looking for potential business partners? There they are!

Looking for an 'I do' from a publisher?

In a perfect world -- just like with the love of your life -- a book publisher or potential blog sponsor
would knock on your door, drop to one knee and ask you if they could publish your prose or sponsor your online words. Well, in the I-want-to-be-published world, this doesn't happen. You have to be the one to pursue the publisher, sponsor or advertiser of your dreams. You have to be on your best behavior and cross your fingers, hoping they will accept you into their family and you will publish happily ever after. 

There are some steps you can take to make that happen. While seeking a sponsor for, or advertiser on, your blog is different from locating a publisher for your book, there are some universal truths.