I’m always inspired by business success stories, but to tell you the truth, stories about business failures can be very instructive. One common problem that a lot of entrepreneurs seem to have is staying focused on what’s important. You have to follow your passion, but channel your efforts to where it’s needed.

I came across this story the other day of Internet startup Kiko, that offered an online calendar. After the owner called it a day and sold all of his assets on eBay. He followed up that dramatic action with a few thoughts about what went wrong and lessons learned:

Stay Focused. Most entrepreneurs have lots of ideas. Often times, many of them may be really good. I don’t know about you, but my favorite part about startups is talking about new products and new business ideas. If you’re a creative person, it’s very easy to get side-tracked on side ideas when you really should be working on your main one. This is bad. Bad, bad, bad. We did this a lot with Kiko, and it caused many delays in getting the product out the door.

I also found his advice about work-life balance close to my heart. I’ve often written about the importance of organizing your space, but seeing what happens when things aren’t optimized can be a wake-up call:

Make an environment where you will be productive. Working from home can be convenient, but often times will be much less productive than a separate space. Also its a good idea to have separate spaces so you’ll have some work/life balance.

Passion will get you started and help you get through rough periods, but the lesson here is to channel that energy to the business needs of the time.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

I’ve often talked about the importance of outsourcing tasks that you can’t do on your own to make sure you have time to focus on what you love about your business. But how do you do that? Many business owners have only a basic understanding of best practices when it comes to hiring good people.

A little while back, I got some great tips in this area from Vertical Bridge Corporate Consulting managing partner Sandra Reder. She had these ideas for how to conduct an effective hiring process:

1. Placing the advertisement on various job boards, website and possibly in print media

2. Receiving resumes (these days it can be anywhere from 75 to 150 resumes for one position)

3. Screening resumes to the job description and short-listing the suitable candidates

 4. Pre-qualifying calls to the short-listed candidates to see how they communicate, as well as to confirm some basic details about them

5. Possibly doing a more in-depth pre-screen on the phone to find out more about their past work experience before bringing them in for face-to-face interviews

My good friends at Clear HR Consulting also had some good advice about hiring, particularly in developing job descriptions and matching qualifications to your requirements, in one of their recent newsletters. I really liked this bit:

 Be specific about the qualifications, skills and experience required.

 * Consider requirements for education, work experience, technical skills and soft skills.

* Be specific about what qualifications the successful candidate must have. One of the biggest job description mistakes is listing vague & non-specific qualifications.

* Specify to what degree the candidate needs to possess the skills you require. For instance, if you need someone who needs to be able to do heavy lifting, specify the weight they need to be able to comfortably lift.

 * Include the level of education that needs to have been attained (e.g. grade 12, undergraduate degree in Science, P. Eng).

 * For “soft” skills that you require (e.g. organizational skills, communication skills), specify how strong their skills need to be or what they need to apply their skills towards. For example, “Good communication skills” can be improved by saying “Proven communication skills resolving customer complaints”.

 Remember, channeling your passion for business isn’t just about focusing your own activities. Hiring right and delegating will let you out-task certain responsibilities while you can concentrate on your own area of interest.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

A lot of the web tools we use for marketing purposes or just for fun can also be used to help us collaborate better in our work.

For instance, if you’ve ever tried drafting a document with two or more people, you’ll understand the frustrations of using email to send drafts back and forth. Is this the latest draft? Who made these changes? How do I get rid of all of this markup?

One alternative is Google Docs, which allows all invited users access to the same document, which they can look at and edit all at the same time.

Cell phones are also rapidly becoming mobile computing devices with tons of capabilities. If you’ve got an iPhone or a device with recording capabilities, consider recording a voice memo and sending the recording off to your teammates with just two more clicks.

Apps like Tweetdeck can also act as mobile group messaging devices on the fly. Take five minutes to create Twitter accounts (if you don’t already have them), create a work group on Tweetdeck and download the application to your phone. Now you’ve got a quick messaging platform that can also be used to share links and pictures.

With more teams working remotely than ever before, technology is awfully useful for helping people collaborate in new and practical ways. Experiment a little and you’ll find even more tools and tricks to keep your group in sync.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

We don’t always appreciate what we have, whether at home or at work. That angst that fights against complacency is actually a good thing – the sense that the grass is always greener on the other side is what makes us jump into new opportunities. That said, making a team work together with real synergy is not an everyday feat. Learn to spot the successes in your collaborations, so you can replicate that synergy elsewhere.

Does your team actually seem to enjoy working with each other? Happy people are productive people. If you find yourself actually looking forward to seeing the people at your office every day – well, that’s no small thing.

Then there’s the skill set. With an optimal balance where everyone is assigned tasks and workload according to their talents rather than which person has the smallest stack of projects on their desk, you’ll get real productivity.

Next, look at how your group talks to each other. If discussions are fluid, with plenty of back and forth, engaging ideas, and everybody listening to what other team members are saying, you’ve got something special. Far too many groups are dominated by someone with a forceful personality rather than expertise in all areas that the team has to work in. Freedom of speech and thought are not just good for civil society – they make businesses work better.

If you do recognize your team is functioning very well, analyze what it is about this group that works well. Often, it is based on good habits rather than some innate ability to work well with others. Try to transfer these habits to your other collaborative activities and watch your successes add up.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

In many small businesses, the two top employees aren’t just collaborating closely at work –  they’re husband and wife. How can you work together while maintaining a work-life balance?

First of all, you need to set firm boundaries for work and your life outside of your work. The dinner table and the bedroom are business-free zones. If you’re in a home office, papers, files, supplies and hardware all stay in there.

Dividing up responsibilities according to your real strengths is also key. If both partners have similar skill sets, it’s important to ensure they both have a share of the interesting work that will keep them motivated. It’s often easier if they have complementary skill sets (say, one handling logistics while another takes on creative tasks). Workload should be split fairly, which doesn’t always mean equally.

Communication is always important. You want to nip problems that can lead to workplace stress and resentment in the bud, because any lingering stress realistically will impact your relationship. Recognize that stressful situations will happen, but aim to mitigate these issues. Be honest with your partner and make sure that any possible miscommunications are clarified before the end of the workday.

Keep that balance in your work and life and you can have it all.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Remember what school was like? Things seemed a little simpler then. Tests and exams stressed me out, but the habits I had even before I became a professional organizer helped me get through those times and on to graduate. In school, as in my business today, you have to put in the effort and be disciplined to get the desired results. The parallels come through in several ways:

1. No Cramming before the Exam. In business, you are constantly tested. Whether it’s meeting a client’s custom needs on short notice or getting a new campaign ready to launch, the results matter more than how much effort you put in 12 hours prior to the deadline. Give yourself adequate time to do the job well. And get your rest, because on the day you have to deliver, there will likely be a whole new set of challenges to meet.

2. It’s Not Just About Knowing the Right Answer. Remember those math exam questions where you received most of your marks from showing the work, and only half a point for actually getting the right answer? In business, as well, you’ll be rewarded for taking the time and effort to understand your business processes. Examine your processes, not just your results.

3. Collaborate to Innovate. In school, I loved being able to bounce ideas off of the other students in my study group. That interaction helped me understand what I was learning in new ways and kept me interested in the process of learning. In business, I regularly get together with colleagues and professional contacts to stay on top of industry trends and get new ideas.

As my old teacher said, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. To reap the reward you want, work smarter.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

I firmly believe in making your own luck. There are opportunities out there for the taking every day, from discovering new ways to promote your business to meeting that key person who can help you take your organization to the next level.

Finding these opportunities can have a lot to do with changing your habits. After all, if you do things the way you’ve always done them, you’re going to get the same result. Some great tips from Alec Shalman, personal development coach, include:

• Changing your routine. Think about altering the routes you take to work or social engagements. Talk to new people, perhaps using some random identifier such as the color of their shirt, to take your predetermined biases out of the equation.
• Practice going with your gut instincts. (Alternatively, if your luck hasn’t been working too well lately, you could always try the infamous George Kostanza approach of doing the exact opposite of your instinct – not recommended for the long term, but it might be fun for a day).
• Transform bad luck into good luck with a good attitude. For instance, if you lose a client, look at it as an opportunity to re-examine your business offering and how you provide value for your other clients.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Part of striking a healthy work-life balance that I often talk about with clients is not thinking about work when you’re taking time off from work. If you’ve organized things right before you left, you shouldn’t have to worry about your business commitments while lying on a beach somewhere.

That said, like most people, I’ve found you can’t always keep your mind off of the business where you spend most of your time most days of the year. If you absolutely must turn your thoughts to your business while the beach balls are flying overhead, here are some ways to boost your business while you’re on the sand:

1. Think of three things that you could do as soon as you get back to improve productivity and energy flow. For instance, think about the location of your desk and chair, filing cabinets or other furniture with sharp edges, or where you are positioned in relation to your light source. As soon as you get back, implement the change.

2. Settle down in your beach chair and read a book. Even better if it’s not a business book. We often get inspiration from other people’s stories that we can incorporate into our own lives.

3. Play a game. A round or two of beach volleyball will remind you of the importance of teamwork and the value in selecting the right team for the job.

4. Take in the scenery. Sometimes we get so caught up in our work that we don’t get a chance to appreciate the beauty around us. Taking in a water view or a sunset can give you perspective.

5. Jump into the water. It’s cold at first, but once you get going, it can be a lot of fun. There’s a lesson for hesitant entrepreneurs here.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

You’re heading to a colleague’s summer barbecue tomorrow. It’s time to hang out, enjoy the summer sun, enjoy some burgers and potentially sow some seeds for future business.

Before I go to events, I make sure I’ve got a good stock of business cards. You don’t need to bring a lot. It’s going way over the top to hand out your card to everyone at the party, but the opportunity to connect may come up two or three times at a party, so at least have a few in your wallet or purse.

Another thing that is good to do is to know who’s coming to the party. Your own well-maintained contact list could contain little details about the person you met – birthdays, major events in their lives, career changes, etc. That way, if you know who’s coming, you can remind yourself and have an “in” to the conversation with them.

One note: It’s great to be organized before you attend summer barbecues and other social events of the season. But beware of going too far: nobody likes the person who is “all-business, all the time” handing out business cards immediately to every single person at the party before they’ve even had a chance to properly introduce themselves. Strike a balance on the side of casual.

Come organized and prepared to take advantage of chance opportunities that may come up over a plate of hotdogs, chips and soft drinks. Remember that sometimes a hotdog is just a hotdog, enjoy the party and get ready to host your own event with your newly acquired contacts.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

In the summer, it can be awfully challenging to focus on the work at hand. People are out at the park, on the beach, hanging out at the cabin, and you’re hard at work. Maybe all those people have hit on something you might not have figured out: even the most dedicated entrepreneurs needs a little time off to ensure that they’re productive when they’re doing the work that pay the bills.

A recent study found that 56 percent of the work force does not take advantage of all their vacation time (MSNBC). “And when they get away, 35 percent of managers check in with the office frequently, often daily; and 14 percent of non-managers do the same.”

It’s a common problem, but people typically need more than just a long weekend to recharge the batteries after several quarters of slogging through. Make taking time off easier by following these steps:

1. Schedule your time off in advance to ensure you’ve got plenty of time to do all the essential work you need to do before you go.

2. Ensure your partners, colleagues and employees know you’ll be away, so they all finish what they need to get done before you leave and while you’re gone.

3. De-clutter your office before you go. When you get back, you’ll want to return to an organized setting that lets energy flow.

4. When you’re taking time off, don’t think about work. Enjoy the other things you’re passionate about. The work will be there when you get back, when you’re ready to dive in.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca