With the combination of this month’s theme of Fresh Start and the ongoing, relentless banter of the ‘economic climate’, I felt compelled to write this post.  One of the most, if not the most important quality I think we can develop as humans is the curiosity and willingness to look at things differently. Circumstances, however challenging or rewarding, are just the circumstances – they are not the end result. They are more like a roadblock or barrier that stand in the way of what once was the path of least resistance, and the end result or goal you desire to achieve.  So, when you find yourself realizing that this path you were on is no longer the best route to arrive at the end result.  It’s simple, take different route!  I’m not disputing that we are in a challenging situation with regards to the economic climate in both our own local communities and those of the world.  I’m merely suggesting that these recent circumstances are an opportunity for us to discover, build and develop a new route.  We can still get where we want to go – we just have to find a different way. 

It is in these moments of seeming crisis that we need women who are willing to use their given talents of imagination and collaboration to see the opportunities that this ‘new route’ present. The ability to capitalize and benefit on any given circumstances lies in your ability to ’see things differently’.

There’s lots of ‘evidence’ all around you that suggest that things are bad.  Just watch the news or listen near the office water cooler.  My suggestion: Commit that in 2009 you will be open to exploring ‘new routes’ in an effort to reach your goals. It might be bumpy and unpaved, but, the alternative is to sit and wait for the sky to fall…

Heather White

CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Doing the same old, same old gets you the same old, same old.

Here’s a “chart a new path” reality check: businesses that do not innovate will die.

It’s true, but it doesn’t have to be scary. Innovate does not have to mean come up with five fancy new products with 10 more bells and whistles each. Doing business innovatively means being open to creativity in the ways you connect and respond with your customers.

1. Keep an eye on your market and ask for feedback regularly (market research)
2. Keep telling people about your business and how it can benefit them (marketing)
3. Figure out what works, then rinse and repeat (marketing metrics)

When the marketplace is changing it’s time to put on your running shoes and keep your eye on the ball. It’s the only way to stay in the game.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

With technology in every part of our business lives, it is easy to forget some of the traditional tools of business development from years past. We all send copious amounts of emails and texts each and every day. What many of us forget is the power of a handwritten note.

Taking the time to write a note hold more weight than it might of 20 years ago. Before email and even fax, handwritten notes accompanied all documents that people shared in business. It was taken for granted because it was the norm. Now with technology playing the role it does, when was the last time you wrote a handwritten note to a client? How about to thank a colleague for a referral? When I had a big print job designed and printed by Catherine Worrell (www.ideastreamdesign.com), I asked to have some note pages printed that I could use for quick notes to add to files, put with shipments, or to use when giving clients a referral to something. They sat in the closet of my office for a year as Post-It notes were always at hand and a bit more convenient.

Then last January (2008), I received a handwritten note from one of my grade school teachers that I still communicate with, and was so pleased to see her penmanship, and the letter felt that much more intimate. I could visualize her taking the time to sit down, fish out my address, and write me a letter. At that moment, I decided to pull my personalize stationary out of the closet and start trying to send notes, letters, and quick comments to people by hand, rather than email. To be honest, my hand hurt the first letter I wrote (obviously, we use different muscles to type then we do to write).

Sending out that first letter, I felt like I had invested something and the person that received it got on the phone almost immediately to tell me how impressed they were that I handwrite notes. I didn’t admit that they were the first one that I had done, but over the last year, I’ve made it a practice. Here’s all you need to get started sending letters of appreciation, quick notes to thank someone for a meeting, or to follow up with an old contact you are looking to leverage again.

1. Order some personalize stationary, or get some good stock from companies like Crane
2. Commit to yourself to write one letter (size and length doesn’t matter) a week.
3. Track what responses you get from those you send letters to.
4. Watch your business grow. It’s all about doing things that others don’t.

It’s the little things that matter in business development. Everyone can have a great website, a cool e-newsletter, and interesting printed materials. A handwritten note will push you outside the pack and that’s where the business is.

All the best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com

By telling others of your goals, you enable yourself to do incredible things. For some, this trick can be a very effective way to overcome procrastination that can derail your efforts to achieve your goals. When you tell others, you impose a sense of obligation on yourself to fulfill the task you have set for yourself. Feedback from your friends and colleagues can help keep you on that path.

But what happens when there’s no one around to listen to you? On those occasions where you may want to put an objective on record before your ambition is sapped by distractions, a handy tech tool can do the job.

Check out Jott, the cellphone-messaging equivalent of a private secretary following you around 24/7 taking dictation. It allows you to leave brief messages that are then transcribed to your email, Twitter account, Google calendar or desktop.

Even if there’s no one else around, you can use your own voice to project the power of suggestion. And just in case that urge to deviate from your new path should come, you’ll have written orders – from yourself – to ensure you take care of the task at hand.

- Linda Chu, CEO – Out of Chaos

Now that you have your goals written down, you need to schedule time to make sure they get accomplished.  Too many of us start the year with good intentions, but rarely make the changes we crave because we don’t schedule time into the calendar to get those things done.   We just fall back into old habits or ways, then get angry at ourselves and start to believe that change is not possible.

Achieving your 2009 goals takes focus.  It’s like growing a garden or raising children – you become successful by focusing your attention and energy in small amounts every day. 

So start your personal commitment to reach your goals by listing the action steps you need to take for each goal and then scheduling what needs to be done and by when – right now into your calendar for at least the first quarter of the year.  This will make you feel you are on the road to success.

Then take a moment and share with us the top 3 things you are 100% committed to doing to build the life you want in 2009.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Maybe you are a morning person. You could be a nigh owl. Maybe you are your most energetic somewhere in the middle. Back in university, I liked sleeping in until 10AM but would start writing papers at 11PM after my roommates went to bed (or were out on the town). It took me the first two years of university before I realized that I didn’t have to attend 8AM classes. Knowing my natural ‘power hours’ was one of the most important things I did during my educational years.

In business, it’s the same. If you are tapped out by 5PM and can’t face anything other than take out and American Idol, let alone a networking event, then don’t book to go to networking events after 5. There is an abundance of network building opportunities throughout the day. In Seattle, there are networking events that happen at 6AM and 7AM. Then others at 1130AM through to 2PM. There are also a lot of after work events (5PM on). I travel from city to city and there are litearally dozens of events each week at each time of the day. I used to be a night own, but now, I like the morning events. I’m the person that at 5PM, I’m ready to head home and hang up the briefcase.

If you think you have to get up early but are dragging your butt, that’s going to show. If you have put in a full day and then show up for a cocktail party at 730AM wishing you were in bed, others are going to know. Business development is about showing yourself in the best light at the best time of day. You don’t want to be out and about feeling 50% (either too tired to show well or not having fully come awake yet.) Decide when you are at your best and look at events that support that time. If you aren’t feeling 100%, you are wasting the opportunity to connect with prospective clients, colleagues, referral partners, champions and strategic alliances.

Square peg in a square hole. Make time serve you rather than you serving time.

All the best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com

When was the last time you caught yourself in a moment of intense gratitude where you looked around and thought “this is the life!”?  What I notice as I move through my daily activities is that whenever I’m able to connect with that enthusiastic, “feel good” energy (this I call the “flow”) I am stunned and amazed at how easy, how effortless, how joyful and how exciting life really is.  New business flows, professional relationships evolve, opportunities show up.  The challenge seems to be, how do I get back there, to that feeling, when I’m standing in my bathrobe, hair still dripping wet, cell phone ringing off the hook and due in a meeting in 15 minutes?  My body and soul are craving that warm peaceful feeling of security and safety from being in the “flow” and my mind is screaming “GET DRESSED!”  As backwards as it may seem it is in these moments of extreme panic, stress and anxiety that the re-connection with the “flow” is most important.   I know, I know, it seems nearly impossible to stop, take a breath and pull yourself out of the state of desperation, especially when you are running late.  Trust me when I say that one minute to reconnect yourself will get you right back into the flow and from there, the beauty of life will take over.  The parking spot directly in front of the building your meeting is being held in (that you are running late for) patiently awaits your arrival. Here’s 3 simple things you can do in under a minute to get reconnected to the flow:

1. Sit down with your feet planted evenly and firmly on the ground.

2. Feel your bum on the chair.

3. Take 5 really deep breaths.   (DON’T rush this or it won’t work.)

This simple exercise will ensure that throughout 2009 you have an easy, deployable tool that will reconnect you to the flow.

All the best,

Heather White

CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

So, how are those New Year’s resolutions coming?

Every year we promise, “This year is going to be different!” But we’ve all been guilty of making a grand resolution and then gradually dropping back into old habits as time wears on. Often, the mistake is not that we decided to make a change, it’s that we didn’t clearly define the new path that will get us there.

Clearly defined “baby steps” are much more effective than a vaguely defined, grand scheme. So, let’s break it down into easier steps.

Let’s start with a great foundation: Have a Specific Goal in Mind.

Seriously, how will you know if you have arrived if you don’t know where you were headed in the first place? Classis mistake, don’t make it! If I had a dime for every business bumbling along without a specific, measurable destination in mind…

I’ve been advising companies for years and there are two questions I always ask, right out the gate: (a) “Where are you now?”, and (b) “Where do you want to be?” We need to mark the two spots on the “map” before we can choose appropriate marketing activities.

Sit down and define your goals for the year. Do you want to double revenue or double new customers? Do you want to increase additional sales to existing customers, or break into new markets? Now define the date by which you want to reach that goal, and you have a Specific Goal.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

Here are a couple of the resources that can take the stress out of business development this year. The first one ensures you don’t lose important file and the second one offers a seamless way to send MAC files to a PC user, send files that get bogged down in your e-mail system, or anything in between. Both tools are free (with paid upgrades available), and you will find that they take a lot of stress out of managing emails and files.

Backup to avoid stress.

If you are anything like me, you have forgotten a file at work, left the USB key in the car, or have been on a business trip scrambling to get someone from the home office to send you a missing file. I’ve started using Dropbox, a free online service that lets you save up to 2GB of files online. You keep your files in a folder on your computer and in real time, it syncs with your online folder. No matter what computer you are on (PC or MAC), your files are there. Much like the service Apple offers, without the $99 price tag. Check it out at: www.getdropbox.com

Sending big files?

Try “YouSendIt” which is what we use at the Ghost CEO to send each other and clients files that are too big for e-mail servers. There are paid services with this program, but the express version is free. You are limited to sending one file at a time, but even if you upgrade, it still makes life and sharing much, much easier. Find the (free) Express site at: http://www.yousendit.com/cms/standalone-app

Remember to have technology work for you. If you are getting bogged down resending files, looking for files, worried about losing files, or any mix of file frustration, it is time to leverage tools (like above) to keep you billing time, rather than dealing with glitches.

All the best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com

Your productivity and ability to move closer to your goals can be enhanced with the principles of Feng Shui. Improving the flow of your energy in the space around you can create love, growth, wealth and health in your life.

The clutter in your home or office (or home office, for that matter) is a sign of poor energy flow. When your surroundings are disorganized, you’ll have less energy and find many distractions from your tasks at hand.

Taking away the clutter and improve your energy and focus.

1. Make sure all doors can open fully. Hang up the jacket you left on the doorknob.
2. Remove all possessions from the floor. Feng Shui or no, your books and CDs belong on the shelf.
3. If any of your possessions makes you sad, angry or resentful, remove it from your space.
4. Put those documents into a proper file organizer. Piles of unsorted paper have sharp edges, a definite Feng Shui no-no.
5. Plants and draping cloths can help soften sharp edges and corners of the room to improve energy flow.

- Linda Chu, CEO – Out of Chaos