Five Business Resources I Can’t Live Without...

There are many resources that I use on a daily or weekly basis that are online-based. I wanted to share these with you and get feedback from you on what your favorite resources are. I think we can all benefit from knowing what it is that helps make our businesses efficient and cost-effective.

(1) WordPress

WordPress is a valuable one for me since it powers my website / blog, powers the websites and blogs of my clients and allows me to openly communicate with my website visitors and with my clients. It also allows me to communicate with my friends and family easily and efficiently through my personal blogs. Speaking to the business side of things however, it becomes my main portal for all things related to my business and industry.

(2) MyHours

Each day, I log the hours that I put in for my clients. It is one of the most important tools for me because it solely determines my invoicing and billing for my clients. On the 15th and the 30th of each month, I pull a report from MyHours and invoice my clients according to what appears on that report. The program is great because it is web-based which means that from any PC, any location, I can log the hours I am working for my clients.

(3) Cartville / 1ShoppingCart

In terms of list building and tracking contacts, I use Cartville. I don’t use the software yet for the shopping cart or the affiliate program but I do plan on taking advantage of those items once I get to a point in my business where I have more products than services or at least an equal amount of each. Cartville is a great business tool and 90% of my clients also use it for their business.

(4) PayPal

In addition to MyHours, PayPal is the other most important resource in terms of invoicing and billing. PayPal is the website that I use to invoice my clients and because it is free (except for a few small fees on transactions) it keeps my costs low. The other benefit is that I receive payments quickly rather than waiting on checks from other countries. My clients in Australia can easily submit payment for their invoices just as quickly as a client in Canada or the US could.

(5) Feed Demon

Feed Demon is a feed reader that I use to track other blogs on the internet. I subscribe to the blog’s feed and I track them in my software program so that I can stay current. What is great about Feed Demon is that it keeps the posts organized by subject (I specify what subject I want them to fall under) and also by individual blog. This is great because it allows me to stay connected to the bloggers that I enjoy with minimal effort. Time is something we, as entrepreneurs, highly value and this cuts down my time spent on blogs.

Feeling Overwhelmed?...

I was just reading Tim Sander’s blog and his post on delegation and overwhelm was so great, I had to write about it. How many times do you find yourself saying yes to every project or every new client because you don’t want to turn away work? I imagine it happens often. Well, according to Tim, it doesn’t need to!

“Before you week is over, tell someone you can’t.

That’s right, just say no.

Don’t let people delegate to you when you are full of your own plans.”

Read the rest of that entry here…

The thing is, we all have to say no at one point if you want to maintain your sanity. When someone comes to my business looking for a specific service that I don’t offer, I simply say, “No, I’m sorry, that isn’t something to do but please contact ‘x’ and they’d be happy to help you with that if they have the time and capacity to do so.”

So just say no… That’s my second challenge for the week. Say no to at least one thing this week and you’ll feel better about your own workload.

How to Write a Sticky Note Business Plan...

In the middle of May, my assistant Trina Lamarche of VA Assistant, will be joining me in my office full-time. She’ll be working for me part-time and the other amount of time will be spent doing work via her own business which she just recently launched. Tonight, she is coming over to work on some projects that we are in the middle of but I also may do the following with her… Read through this article if you’ve struggled over the concept of a business plan before.

Thank you to my good friend and client, Sheri McConnell, for passing this article my way. It was written by Christine Kloser.

If you’re like most creative entrepreneurs, the thought of writing a business plan is not the highest item on your priority list. You’d rather explore new ideas, create products and services, develop a new speech, or work with your clients… than sit down and write a plan.

But, to be successful in business, you need to have a plan in place. The good news is you don’t have to write a formal (bank-friendly) business plan to keep your business on track. In fact, until recently, I used my self-made “sticky note business plan” to keep track of my business goals and plans.

The “sticky note business plan” is a simple and fun tool you can use anytime, any place to keep your business pointing in the right direction. Here are a few simple steps to get you started:

Gather Your Planning Supplies
Thankfully, you won’t need fancy computer software, or heavy reference books to write your plan. All you’ll need is a wall, six poster boards, three pads of sticky notes, scotch tape, a note pad, a Sharpie marker and a pen. It’ll also help to have a quiet place and a few hours of time to enjoy this process. You may even want to light your favorite candle and play some relaxing music.

Lay Out Your Plan
Tape the six poster boards up on the wall. Once the boards are up on the wall, grab your notepad. Sit down for a few minutes and quietly think about the aspects of your business you want to plan. For example: do you need to design a new product or event, do you want to create a marketing plan, do you need a timeline plan for the next 3 years of your business, is it time to plan the launch of a new service?

Use your notepad to collect all of your ideas and decide on the six main categories you want to include in your plan. Next, write each category on six separate sticky notes using your Sharpie marker. Then, stick one note on the top center of each poster board… so each board is labeled for one of your six topics.

Download Your Ideas
Here comes the fun part. Get your pen and sticky notes and begin to write down every single idea that comes to mind for each category. Don’t edit or censor any ideas. Simple write them down and stick them on the poster board for that category. Try to say with one category at a time as best you can. But, if other ideas keep coming to mind, write them down and pop them on the appropriate poster. Let the ideas flow and enjoy the process of getting everything on paper.

Organize Your Ideas
So, now that your ideas are on the poster boards, begin to organize them. Look for themes, sequences, and categories of items. Physically move the sticky notes on the poster board to group ideas together. Sometimes I’ll organize ideas by timeline, sometimes I’ll organize by concept… you can organize them in the way that makes sense to you.

Put It All Together
Now, step back and take a look at your whole plan. After going through this process, you may discover some items need to move higher on your priority list; while other ideas may need to be dropped from your plan completely. The right things to do (and the order in which to do them) will surface now that you have the whole plan in place. Next, rearrange the posters so the highest priority plan is at the left side of the wall and the lower priority plan is to the right side of the wall. Finally, transfer your highest priority tasks to your calendar to make sure you begin executing your plan.

Keep Going
As you make progress with your plan, continually re-evaluate where you are… and keep moving forward with your projects. Personally, once I complete a concept from one of my poster boards, I remove the sticky notes so I can visually see my progress and all that I’m accomplishing. You may enjoy doing the same thing.

Now that you know how to write your “sticky note business plan”, you’ll discover it’s actually FUN to work on your plan. And, it’s a huge asset to your business.

© 2007 Christine Kloser

Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? You have my permission, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Christine Kloser “The Conscious Business Coach,” publishes the revolutionary ‘Conscious Business Connection’ ezine. If you want to learn proven business strategies boosted with Spiritual success principles, you’re in the right place. Get your FR^EE tips now at www.ConsciousBusinessCoach.com.