1. Have a set schedule

You’ve heard me say this many times before, but as entrepreneurs we need to act like the boss and set our work schedule. When we don’t have a set schedule, many women don’t have the discipline to work their business.

Creating a weekly schedule in and of itself is a new success habit for many of us. So it may take time before its part of how we run our business. So don’t be too hard on yourself. Just start working on it!

First, figure out when you’re going to plan your schedule for the upcoming week. Will you do it on Friday morning, on Sunday evening, on Monday morning? You can create it as a standing appointment on your calendar.

When you create your schedule, look at everything you have going on. Figure out when you’re going to work your business. When are you going to “clock in and clock out?” And what are you going to work on during your work hours? When are you going to work on your “money-earning activities” and when are you going to work on your “administrative activities?”

Here are some things to consider. You may choose to:

• Tell your accountability partner or coach (or mastermind group) when you’re going to work for the upcoming week.
• Update your schedule on your voicemail message. You can even update it each week letting people know when you’ll be available and how quickly they can expect a call back.
• Post your schedule on your office door, so your family knows when you’re working and when you’re not.

2. Have set work activities
For some women, they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing because “they don’t even know where to start.” Have you ever said that before?

The feeling of overwhelm, which causes us to lack focus, is a common one. Try incorporating the new success habit of “writing everything down,” which we’ve talked about in prior training articles. Get everything off your mind and get it captured.

From there, I suggested that you work off master lists, instead of daily to-do lists. When you’ve mastered this success habit, you simply work off your lists. If it’s 9am and you’ve scheduled yourself to work your business from 9am – 11am and you’ve scheduled yourself to work on “money-earning activities,” simply pull out your “money-earning” list and start plugging away.

Here are some things to consider. You may choose to:

• Create a reward system for yourself. Maybe if you accomplish five things on your list, you get to end your day early. Or maybe you treat yourself to a specialty coffee, or something fun like that. You can make it a game with yourself.
• Set a timer. Look at the first item on your list and guess how long it will take. If you think you can get it done in 5 minutes, for example, set your timer for 5 minutes. Not only does it help to create a fun game for yourself, it helps you stay focused and on track. Once you’re done, go onto the next item. How long do you think that item will take? 15 minutes? If so, set your timer for 15 minutes. You get the idea…

We’ll continue with more common obstacles and possible solutions next week!

In the meantime, I’d love to help and would be honored to be your Accountability Coach to help you easily overcome these and other business challenges!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

The IRS is getting tougher and tougher on small businesses.  A huge number of this year’s IRS audits will be focused on in-home small businesses.

If you were ever audited by the IRS, it’s key that you can prove you have an intention for profit.  How do you do that?  I’d like to share a wonderful article on how to do that byLeAnne Ozaine-Smith (at http://ascendlive.com/index.aspx.)

1.  Generate revenue by working your business. There is no “business” without revenue.  Revenue is income resulting from your efforts in working your business.  (money from sales, commission checks, etc.)  Think like an auditor:   If there is little to no revenue, then why should business deductions be allowed? Smells like a hobby.

2.  Books & Records. One of the primary ways you prove your profit intention is by your BOOKS, not by your Records.  (Records support your Books as backup documentation.)  Books are your own record of where your business money came from, where it went, how each financial decision (money spent) affected your bottom line, and the appropriate business reporting.  Records are things like your receipts, copies of your bank statements, your mileage log, calendar, and the stuff you see when you log into your bank’s website.  Think like an auditor: This business owner doesn’t keep an account of their cash flow or sources of revenue! Profit is a result of spending less than one makes. If this business owner is serious about profit, I don’t see it. Smells like a hobby and makes your business a perfect candidate for reclassification.

3.  Improve your business by constantly measuring your progress against your business plan. If you’re not profitable, ask yourself why and figure out the answer. (losses are not good, no matter what someone told you)  Your pay-less-tax-strategy can’t be “let’s not be profitable” if you are in business legitimately.  Think like an auditor:  If a business owner said to you, “Oops, guess I didn’t make a profit this year; but I don’t know why.”  Smells like hobby, not good.

4.  Get lean.  Income-Expenses=Profit. If you’re spending more than you are earning, then you need a Spending Plan (operations budget). Without one, it’ll be really hard to prove a profit intention to protect your right to take business deductions.  Think like an auditor: This business owner doesn’t use an operations budget and measure their progress against their goals? Smells like a hobby to me, they clearly don’t have an intention for profit here.

5.  Love isn’t enough. Believe it or not, IRS is looking at “elements of personal pleasure” in Direct Selling Businesses.  Whether it’s selling skin care or nutritional products, you can’t love the thing your Company “does” more than the money you should be making if you want to prove an intention for profit.  Think like an auditor: If you would do it for free because you love it so much, then you have no emotional incentive to navigate your business into Profit and it won’t matter if you’re not profitable. That’s the opposite of legitimate business.

What do I do if you get a notice that you’re being audited? You need to call your CPA immediately; they will deal with the IRS on your behalf.  Do not try to save a few bucks (or) save face by attempting to do it yourself.   The budget has been allocated to audit more home-based business owners and Direct Selling professionals.  You’re an honest person; let your CPA professionally handle them directly; and you deal directly with your CPA. This will be less stressful and smarter all the way around.

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Accountability Coach

One of the biggest differences between those who achieve what they want, and those who don’t, is that those who succeed “think on paper.”  So I’m going to ask you to think on paper and create your 101 Dreams list. 

This list will consist of 101 things you want to do, be, have, see and become in your lifetime.  Yes, you heard me correctly!  That’s 101 things!  And I know that sounds like a lot.  But have fun with this.  Go to your favorite coffee shop or sit in your most comfy chair at home with a glass of wine.  And just start brainstorming!

Don’t judge yourself.  Simply jot down everything that comes to your mind.  You very well may get stuck at around #30…..and again at around #65…..and most likely at #95.  But work through it and dream big!

Can I share?  Here are some things on my Dreams list:

• Take the whole entire summer off and live at the beach
• Work five hours a day, Monday through Thursday….while easily earning over $100,000
• Own a house with a wrap-around porch
• Stomp grapes at a California winery
• Drink a beer in Germany
• Give at least 15% of our income to God and charities
• Attend the Kentucky Derby in an official derby hat
• Take a cross-country trip with my family in an RV

How about you??  Please share!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Accountability Coach

One big gift you can give yourself is the peace of mind which comes from “writing everything down.”  Do you forget to do things?  Do things slip through the cracks?  Do you have a hard time getting to sleep (or staying asleep) because your mind is racing?

When a wonderful business idea comes to you when you’re driving in the car, what do you do with it?  When a reminder about buying your best friend a birthday gift pops into your head when you’re blow drying your hair, what do you do?  When you’re at a client meeting and you agree to do a couple of things, where do you jot down these messages?  How about when you’re listening to your voicemail messages?  Where do you write them?

Please don’t tell me that you just keep these things in your mind and “hope” that you’ll remember them.  Please don’t say that you write it on whatever scrap of paper, post-it note or napkin which you find handy. :)  But to be honest, if you answered “Yes,” you’re definitely not alone!

But one of the greatest, simplest success habits you can gain is to capture all your thoughts on paper (or digitally.)  Don’t let them float around in your head, where they will surface at inappropriate times, stress you out and be forgotten when they are needed. Have an idea? Write it down, right now, before you forget. Thought of an errand you need to do? Capture that as well. Just remembered something for your grocery list? You know what to do….

1. Find an appropriate capture tool for you.  Maybe you have a simple spiral-bound notebook for the month.  Find a section in the book and use it to write down EVERYTHING.
2. Get in the habit of keeping it with you always. 
3. Make sure you take the time daily to transfer the items on your capture tool into your “action lists.”
4. Don’t be so hard on yourself.  If you find that you’ve forgotten to use your capture tool; that you’re not in the habit yet of always having a capture tool close by; or you find that you haven’t been emptying your capture tool items into the appropriate “action lists,” don’t beat yourself up or abandon the system.  Just get started again!

Here’s to a peaceful night’s sleep!

You may have heard it called the pareto principle; the 80/20 rule; the 80:20 principle; etc. Whatever we may call it, we find that in business, this principle holds true time and time again.

Where you spend your time. What are the three key money-earning activities in your business? How do you make money? Is it by speaking; writing; demonstrating your product; developing team members on your team; selling houses; painting; etc.

I encourage you to spend 80% of your working week on these money-earning activities. So if you work your business for 20 hours a week, I highly suggest that 16 of those 20 hours are spent on money-earning activities and that only 4 of those hours are spent on “administrative activities.”

Which types of activities are money-earning and which type of activities are administrative, really depend on your business. As a tip, some of these things may be administrative activities in your business: responding to e-mails, paperwork, proposals, finances, team meetings, organizing, project planning, etc.

Who to focus on. I also encourage you to spend 80% of your customer focus on building relationships with your current customers, for repeat and referral business…and spend 20% of your focus on finding new customers. Of course if you’re brand new in business and you’re just building your customer base, these percentages will need to be adjusted a little.

Many times we focus on “how do I find new, new, new customers” and we neglect our current customers. It’s a lot more costly, time-consuming and draining to feel like you always need to find “new and more.” But when we focus on building genuine relationships with our current clients and adding value to them over time, that’s such an enjoyable way to build a business. Granted, building relationships takes time…but it’s so worthwhile!

What to focus on. I guess that for most of you, 80% of your revenue comes from your top customers (from 20% of your customer base.) Of course, this depends on your business model.

What this statistic means is that you want to get to know what your top customers want. How frequently do they want you to keep in touch with them? How do they want you to add value? How can you build loyal customers for life? Etc. What better way to find out than to ASK them!!!

My question for you is “are your 80/20 ratios in line…or are you out of balance?”

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Partner

Giving you a kick-in-the-skirt to help keep you encouraged and on task…

“Calendar blocking” is a critical habit in the quest to work less and make more.  I suggest you have three types of days during a week: non-work days; money-earning days and administrative days.

On your non-work days, you would be doing NO work-related business activities…no work e-mail, booking calls, etc. It’s 24 hours dedicated to the rest of your life, to living in the other seven categories of your vision.  To give dedicated time to the most important people in your life. To give dedicated time to your hobbies, volunteer and church activities. To give dedicated time to yourself…to recharge your batteries, so that you can give your clients the best of you during your work days.

It’s important to have two phone lines, a personal line and a business line.

This way you can turn your business phone off when you’re not working. I suggest you have a VM message stating your working hours and when the caller can expect a return call from you. This helps you give yourself permission to take time off, without guilt!

The next type of day is “money-earning days.” On these work days, you’ll focus your energy on the three key money-earning activities. These are the days when you’re “watering your money tree.”

Now let’s arrange our calendars so we’re spending the majority of our work week on watering our money tree, with a good mix of spending time on both your current customers (which equals our “now money”) and with new leads and potentials customers (which equals your “future money.”)  Neglecting either components can lead to a withering money tree (which equals a dry “bank account.”)

The third type of day is the “administrative day.” On these work days, you’d focus on handling all the behind the scenes work created on your money-earning days, or those activities that will make your money-earning days flow smoother. Paperwork, proposals, finances, team meetings, organizing, project planning. This all depends on your business model. One activity may be money-earning time for one business owner, yet that same activity may be administrative time for another business owner.

During your monthly planning sessions with yourself, I encourage you to go ahead and create your themed days for the entire month.

Which days will be your non-work days, your money-earning days and your administrative days?  During your working hours, make sure that 80% of your time is spent on money-earning activities about 20% be spent on administrative activities.

Give yourself the gift of focus and the gift of momentum!  Start calendar blocking today!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

Identify your money tree

Last week, we talked about creating and watering your money tree.  Essentially, this is about figuring out the most important tasks to do in your business and focusing 80% of your work week working on these activities.  When you do this, you’ll have tons to celebrate in your business!

It seems like such a simple concept, yet the majority of business women I meet are not spending their time this way.  Instead they’re spending their time on non-money earning activities.

Think on paper

Another critical thing to your business success is creating quarterly goals.  Brian Tracy says it best: “A major reason for procrastination and lack of motivation is vagueness, confusion, and fuzzy-mindedness about what you are trying to do and in what order and for what reason.”

If you want tons of reasons to celebrate in your business, think on paper!  Each year, create your year’s success vision.  Identify where you want to be at year’s end.  Get it down on paper!  And then each quarter, create quarterly goals.  Break your vision down into concrete actionable goals which will get you one step closer to achieving your vision.

There’s a science to effective goal-setting; to gaining self belief that your goals can be achieved; and to working with laser focus.  And I’d love to help you master these critical success habits!  Together, let’s celebrate huge things in your business this year!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

For each of us, our money tree looks different. So let’s create and draw yours.

In the tree trunk, I suggest you write the word “money,” or “income,” or “money tree.” Or you can just write a “dollar sign” inside the trunk.

Next, you’ll have three thick branches coming up and out of the tree trunk. These are your three key money-earning activities. Write one activity inside each of the three branches.

So let’s say your business is as a Financial Investor. Your top three money-earning activities may be to: First, to serve your current customers – people whose portfolio’s you’re currently managing. Second, may be to find new customers. And third, may be referring customers to your affiliate partners so you can earn affiliate commissions.

Now you may be thinking that there are many smaller activities that fall under each of these three categories that need to happen. And how do you know where to focus your efforts? What I’ll recommend you do is take this activity one step further.

For this part, you’ll have three leaves on each of your three branches. So for example, to serve your current customers, what are the three ways to do that with the best results?

Write these activities in each of the three leaves. The first leaf may say “create and send out a monthly e-zine.” This is packed with helpful financial information for your customers. The second leaf may say “send out cards and place customer care calls,” so that you can stay top of mind. And the third leaf may say “to hold customer portfolio reviews.” This is an opportunity for your clients to ask any account questions they may have and allows you to be seen as an expert over their financial matters.

Draw yours now.

Now the key is to arrange your calendar so that you’re spending the majority of your work week watering our money tree, with a good mix of spending time on both your current customers (which equals our “now money”) and with new leads and potentials customers (which equals your “future money.”)  Neglecting either component can lead to a withering money tree (which equals a dry “bank account.”)

Ideally, I recommend that you spend 80% of your working week on these money-earning activities (i.e. “watering your money tree.”)  For many of you, I’d guess that your current equation may in fact be the reverse of that. Realistically, you may have been spending about 80% of your time on administrative activities and only 20% of your time on money-earning activities.

I hope that with this exercise, you will immediately, or gradually, flip this around. You will be happy with the results.

Now get your watering cans out and water your money trees!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

Last week, we talked about how you can increase your expert status through speaking.  Another great way to share knowledge freely, while helping your target market solve problems, is through writing.

Blogs and Blogsites

A very popular and easy-to-do writing strategy is to create a blogsite. There are many free options available, such as blogger.com and wordpress.com.

Some blogs take more of the format of a journal, as it’s more of a one-way conversation. And there are some blogs, which have very active communities that are posting comments back and forth.

At this point, you should have done some market research and starting getting to know your target market real well. For your blog, ask yourself what your market is most interested in hearing about. Do you see a consistent theme? For example, is it about saving time and money; is it about how to get organized; or is it about how to create business success? From this theme, you’ll want to have articles, tips and resources to help your market gain solutions to these issues.

So for example, I wouldn’t recommend a Creative Memories Consultant have a blog called “My Creative Memories Business.” Instead, it would be a blog more about solving her target market’s issues and challenges. So the title may be “Never Miss A Moment” and would include blog entries that give the readers useful tips, such as “what to do with the box full of pictures” and “how to use free online software to crop pictures and to get the red-eye out.”

Ezines (electronic newsletters)

Some businesses go a step further with their blogsite. They use it as a way to collect names of people who are interested (with permission) for you to keep in touch with them. For example, on my blogsite you’ll see how I give readers a free e-book and access to my weekly ezine. They simply enter their name and email address and they get added “to my list” of women who want to continually get tips and training on how to run an in-home business. My ebook is one of my “No-Obligation Invitations.”

Writing an ezine (an electronic newsletter sent via e-mail) is an incredibly effective keep-in-touch strategy. It is a way to freely give to your target market and to stay top of mind. When writing an ezine, consider the 80/20 rule. 80% of the content would be filled with valuable information (not selling) and 20% may include information about the products and services you have to offer.

There are many systems that will automate your list-building efforts, as well as the distribution of your ezine. I recommend 1shoppingcart.com, but there are many available (such as icontact, constantcontact and aweber.)

Books

Simply being an author of a book can give instant credibility. It’s not as hard as one would think to write and publish a book. Books take many forms these days…from ebooks to traditional hardcover books. If you’ve been running a blogsite or sending out ezines for a couple of years, I bet you have plenty of material in there to right a book.

If you are unsure of how to get the book started or bringing it all the way to the finish line, you can utilize the services of a professional writer who will walk you through the process. Or another resource you can look at is www.lulu.com, which can help with the writing and/or publishing of books. It’s a very cool resource!

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach

Since customers have so many options of who they can work with, how are you setting yourself apart? One key thing you can do is to give away some of your knowledge freely. Not only do you appear to be generous with an abundance mentality, but it also positions you as an expert. Be someone who knows their stuff and is willing to give it away, without fear of “losing” to the competition.

One way to stand out in the crowd is to speak in front of groups. And I’m not
referring to your sales appointments. Instead, I’m suggesting that you provide more general, take-away information (where you may not even mention your specific products.)

This may require you to create some new presentations, since we’re not referring to your typical “sales format.” And I’m confident that you already have the knowledge to use this marketing technique, even though it may be a new concept.

For example, how about giving a free 30-minute seminar at the public library; a professional association; a Mom’s group; a retirement community; etc.? Of course, first and foremost, consider where your target market is. You can talk on topics such as:

• Ten things to know to keep your nest egg healthy and growing
• Look ten years younger in 10 minutes
• How to create a home sanctuary in one weekend
• Five things Moms must know to throw an incredible kids’ birthday party
• How to organize loose photos into a memorable album in four hours

Remember that I said the key difference between these speaking opportunities and selling appointments is that you may not even be mentioning your own products to sell. Instead, you’re referring to how your industry can help a need your audience may have. We want them to be able to walk away from the presentation feeling like it was time well spent, because they’re empowered with knowledge. And when the time comes that they may need your product, they’re bound to think of you.

Not only is this a great marketing tool, but it is also a great way to sharpen your speaking and presentations skills, without the pressure of having to make a sale.  Additionally, venues are much more apt to let you present when they know the purpose is to educate, not to sell.

I suggest that you have a way to direct people to your “No-Obligation
Invitation” at the end of the talk. You can have some form of sign-up sheet to
capture contact information, utilizing the permission-marketing method, for those who want to receive follow-up information. And even though your primary purpose of this type of event is not to sell on the spot, certainly be ready to do so if someone requests to buy.

Ultimately I recommend that you identify your “signature talk” which you could continue to use over and over again, as you speak to different groups and venues. Not only will this ensure that the talk becomes natural and polished, but it’s a great way for others to identify you as the expert on this subject matter and refer you on to others.

Cheering you on,
Clare ~ Your Accountability Coach