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Do You Plan Your Week? Maybe That’s Why You’re Not Getting Anything Done!

31/7/2016

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PictureChester Planning His Week At 13 Months Old. #StartEarly #FinishFirst
Last Sunday as I wrote my plans for the week ahead I wondered how many people do this.
 
I don’t do it every Sunday and when I don’t, my week is not productive at all, I feel as though I am wondering about aimlessly productivity-wise.
 
Conversely, when I plan I’m so much more focused that I can just let emails pile up as I try to meet personal deadlines before close of business on Friday. I used to plan work during the weekend but I don’t tend to anymore.
 
So, I sat down and thought about why I like planning on Sundays.
 
Mental Preparation
 
As with most people, my productive/working week starts on Monday. If I make plans on Sunday it means that I am ready to go by the time Monday starts.
 
For me, it doesn’t work to do this planning on any other day because it makes Mondays feel like they’ve started on the wrong path.
 
Reviewing The Week
 
The planning process doesn’t take much time, perhaps 20 minutes, but it also allows me to review what didn’t work or happen the week before.
 
Most people don’t finish everything they tasked themselves to do because, by nature, we all think things take less time than they actually do.
 
It’s Saturday morning as I write this and when I woke up at 4 a.m. I planned to write, post and schedule emails for three blogs. I’m only on my second blog and the third will not happen. This is what happens, it’s life.
 
It’s okay though, because it’s Saturday, and I don’t work on Saturdays but my body clock forgot that so here we are, essentially in “bonus time”, doing some extra work.
 
Creating Focus & Clarity
 
Unlike New Years’ Resolutions weekly reviews tend to be more specific and generally much more achievable.
 
Having a focus for the week gives each day a sense of direction it doesn’t have when you just wake up and start making things up as you go along.
 
Taking Time To Think
 
Normally, when the week starts we go into autopilot and don’t pause to think even when we know we need to. Sundays are a good time to have this very necessary pause so that we don’t go into overdrive doing things week-in week-out that are not working.
 
Sundays are an opportunity to change tack, to refocus, to energize.
 
My big question to you is: do you sit down and plan your week? How do you plan? How could you plan better?

Have a business or life question you want me to answer? Please email it to me with the subject “Question”. Note that all such questions will be answered as a blog post and will be sent to my full email list. 

Want to start a business? Check out The Money Spot Program.

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No Sense Of Urgency Keeps You Poor

7/1/2015

5 Comments

 
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A sense of urgency is something I didn’t think of as a skill or even anything worth highlighting as fundamental to growing a booming business until very recently.

My whole family has a great sense of urgency: mum, dad and my two little sisters. This blog was inspired during a moment of annoyance when, on one day, my dad and my little sister wanted things done for them and their emails all came through with a “do it now, please” kind of tone – being pregnant had a lot to do with my irritability.  

Anyhow, I paused and thought that this is why these guys, like me, get a lot more done in a day than the average person.

What Is A Sense Of Urgency?

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A sense of urgency is that in-built impulse you get when something needs to be done and you feel it needs to be done now. This impulse makes you get up and take the action necessary to see the thing through to completion.

Not everything is urgent but two people will see the same task as having different urgencies. So, for example, I tend to hire graphic designers based in Asia and Eastern Europe even if they cost exactly the same as a designer in the west because they their sense of urgency matches my own.

If I order graphic design work on a Friday evening a contractor in Asia / Eastern Europe will generally start right away. I’ll see a draft or completed job before the weekend is over. A designer in the West will generally only start the work on Monday because they feel entitled to a weekend. Say what?

Me, I feel obliged to satisfy my fans and clients. I take time off to rest but if something needs to be done on a Saturday or Sunday those days are not excluded – I can and I will work on these days. Importantly, I generally enjoy the work regardless. 

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Now, if you want to start and run your own business you’re likely going to either be running the show on your own in the initial days or have to drive and excite your small team into action. 

If you take constant action: wake up early, sleep late, produce content and are basically actively trying to get something completed it will eventually come together.

If you allow yourself too much rest and struggle to complete tasks or even to struggle start doing them, you’re not going anywhere fast. A sense of urgency is a must to enjoy business and life success.

Some people naturally have a greater sense of urgency than others. If you feel you’re lacking in get up and go, here are a few tips: 

  • Set realistic goals with specific associated tasks to achieve those goals
  • Set deadlines for your tasks and stick to them
  • Offer yourself rewards if you meet deadlines
  • Offer yourself punishments (other than not getting the reward) if you don’t meet the deadlines
  • Find an accountability buddy that will hold you accountable to deadlines
  • Hire a coach that will hold you accountable to deadlines

The Success Section of The Money Spot Program covers the above topics in great depth to ensure there are no obstacles in your way to success

I hope this helps you make your dreams come true. If you have any “sense of urgency stories”, please share them.

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Want to Build a 6-Figure Beauty Business from the comfort of your sofa? Then my course is designed for YOU! 

"Beauty" includes a WIDE range of products from the not so obvious non-perishable foods and crafts to the more obvious hair, makeup, fashion, health & fitness.

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Working On All The Wrong Stuff Is Keeping You Poor

17/12/2014

0 Comments

 
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I watched one of my entrepreneur friends go from making great money for a two year period to having to get a job after a very short period of declining revenues: I saw it coming but I failed to stop it.

I strongly believed that they person needed to build a brand and to market themselves with that brand using the usual blogs and social media relationship building. Out of the three elements of my money spot program they only had one element on lock-down: distribution. My friend was selling very successfully via an online portal and to be honest as their revenues were better than mine I felt they wouldn’t listen to my advice. Why should they?

Why did I think they were working on the wrong things?

They got it right by starting with and focusing on one product. However, they spent all day, every day ordering and managing stock plus packing and shipping product to customers. This, in my book, is one of the worst things an entrepreneur can do.


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These kind of tasks are some of the easiest to do and the most straight-forward to pass on to someone else. I did ask my friend to hire someone to do it but they ultimately said they enjoyed and preferred to do all these operations themselves. Fair enough.

If these admin like tasks were only taking one maybe two hours per day, I would have been like fine, it’s not a big deal, however, this was not the case – they consumed most of the working day.

Why did the strategy fail?

By spending all time on admin, no time was spent on building a strong and attractive brand and no relationship was being built with potential new customers. This meant the person was just selling another commodity rather than a lasting brand identity.

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If they had spent some time building a following then in hard times when sales were poor they would appeal to their fans with promotions etc. The only emails to-hand were those of existing customers and unfortunately most of those had already bought all the items they would have wanted from my friend’s store.

Unconvinced by the potential for social media, the dream life that had been worked on so hard was neglected.

How can you avoid the same trap?

I have three simple tips. Don’t be satisfied with selling another commodity:
  1. Build a strong brand
  2. Build an awesome relationship with potential customers (i.e. market effectively)
  3. Pass on as much admin as you can to someone else (e.g. using sites like elance and PeoplePerHour to hire) so that you can work on tasks that no one else can do: tasks that need your awesome brain.

If you’ve been selling another commodity – sit down and strategize your way out of this sticky situation – selling a commodity will fail you in a recession.


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Want to Build a 6-Figure Beauty Business from the comfort of your sofa? Then my course is designed for YOU! 

"Beauty" includes a WIDE range of products from the not so obvious non-perishable foods and crafts to the more obvious hair, makeup, fashion, health & fitness.

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** All views expressed are my own and not those of any employer, past or present. ** Please get professional advice before re-arranging your personal finances.
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