When Business Planning Becomes Necessary
Recently we watched an exciting video “Bear and the Potty.” I think that was the title. Anyway, it was about a big brown bear teaching all these little animals, who were outgrowing their diapers, to use the potty. Of course, we were watching it as we were babysitting a four year-old for some friends. There […]
Why You Don't Need a Business Plan
For a truly micro-business, or being self-employed, a business plan is a recipe for disaster. A formal business plan can be over 100 pages, full of all kinds of strange things like ‘competitive market analysis’ and ‘financial forecasting.’ Ugh. You know who reads business plans? Banks and funders. You know who writes business plans? Businesses […]
How to Use Systems Without Turning into a Heartless Zombie
You can tell as soon as you pick up the phone before the other person has even said anything. That little silence, the clattering in the background, tells you it’s a telemarketer on the other end of the line, and there is nothing they have to say that is worth your precious time. The business […]
How to Hand Off Your Most Hated Tasks
A few years ago I hired a bookkeeper because, frankly, I hated bookkeeping so much that I wasn’t doing it. I hated it, felt overwhelmed and intimidated by it. And our taxes were a mess. So I happily handed off the bookkeeping task to someone who had been referred to me. A YEAR later I […]
How to be Consistently, Creatively Productive
== Flash back two years == As I sit down to write an article, I feel stumped. I’ve got an hour to “get it done,” and meanwhile I’m just staring at the screen… 55 minutes later, with a few sentences written, I have to stop, and I’m off to the next thing- two back-to-back conference […]
How to Tame a Hydra-Headed Business Project
That book you wanted to write, that retreat you wanted to lead, the website you wanted to create? It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now, weeks or months into it, you’re facing the seven-headed hydra of ancient Greek mythology. Every time you finish a task, two more sprout in its place. […]
Why Getting Help In Your Business Can Create Chaos
I want you to imagine you’re a paramedic. You drive up in your ambulance, and turn off the siren. Looking out through the windshield you see a car has smashed into a bus, and flipped over on its roof. There are people milling around, all of them pointing in different directions, “Come here first! This […]
Why Not to Get Help When Your Business Looks Like a Bus Accident
I want you to imagine you’re a paramedic.
You drive up in your ambulance, and turn off the siren. Looking out through the windshield you see a car has smashed into a bus, and flipped over on its roof. There are people milling around, all of them pointing in different directions, “Come here first! This person needs you first!”
There’s just you and your partner, and more people than you can easily count need help. Dispatch has already told you that the system is ‘Level 0’ – meaning all the other ambulances are tied up.
No backup, and too much to do. What do you do?
Writing Articles That Get Read, Remembered and Recommended
You already know you should be writing articles for your business.
But, how do you do it? You watch as all these ‘big name’ writers churn out article after article, seemingly effortlessly, and meanwhile your just wanting to write even one that is spot-on, and really helpful for your customers.
And it wouldn’t be a bad thing if it helped your marketing, too.
How Long Does It Take to Get a Business Going?
Are you violating child labor laws with your small business? I don’t mean are you using a sweatshop to produce your products. I mean- how long has your business been around, and are your expectations of it reasonable?
How long does it take to get a business going?