Experience, hard word and talent are not enough to succeed in today’s workplace. You need to also focus on building a network that will bring you the success you want. Your career will likely span multiple jobs and fields and the best and fastest way to get where you want to be is having a network of people you can call on. Building an effective network takes time, planning and intention. Here are 5 rules that will help you out:

1. Talk to strangers. You never know who is standing behind you at Starbucks.
2. Build a network with intention; create a plan of the types of people you want to meet and work the plan.
3. Give as much as you get; don’t be stingy about looking for ways to help others out. This will repay itself many times over when you need a helping hand.
4. Reach out to people long before you need anything; do not be that person who only ever calls when they need something. That is not networking – that is using people and you will not be appreciated for it. Stay in touch regularly with the people in your network.
5. Ask for what you want, not what you think you can get. The simple act of asking will get you a lot more than you can ever imagine.

Remember: success does not come to those with a low tolerance for risk or those who are led by fear. Start talking to people – you will be surprised what you learn!

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

In my last post, I emphasized the importance of using your time according to the 80/20 rule, where you focus your efforts into your most profitable efforts. But how do you know which efforts are really paying off?

You’re going to have to log all your activities and how much time you spend doing non-productive work. For that, you’re going to need a spreadsheet.

Put together a simple Excel grid with two columns showing time range and the type of activity. Start recording the actual work that you do, going into some detail as to the types of tasks involved. This will help a lot later, when you’re not just focusing on what activities provide the most benefit, but also how efficiently you’re doing them. There may be ways to reduce the number of steps to produce virtually the same output.

If you’re being interrupted, record that as well – who’s doing the interrupting, who called you on the phone, who instant-messaged you, why you left your desk and so on.

Do this for at least one day, though if your week varies significantly, you may need to do this exercise for the entire period. This will also help you to arrange more consistent routines.

Finally, you get to the most important part – go through the logs you’ve recorded and note the activities that are providing a real measurable benefit to your business. This can also be the hardest part. You may want to consult with a business coach or time management expert to provide feedback on the best use of your time that you’ve recorded.

Now you’re on your way to designing a better time management system that you can use for the long term. You know what to do. There’s no time to waste.

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

We’re heading swiftly towards the last quarter of the year and it’s time now to start to assess the year thus far. Thinking back to January when you set you business goals and objectives, it’s now time to make sure you’re on track to achievement. You’ve heard us harp on all year about measurables and this is why. When you set goals for your business there has to be an accompanying action plan – without it you surely won’t succeed in reaching your targets – and more importantly a way to measure whether or not you are on track. Using revenue as an example, if you set a goal of grossing $200 000.00 in sales this year then you will know:

Quarterly Target – $50, 000

Monthly Target – $16, 666

Weekly Target – $3, 846

Daily Target – $769

Hourly Target (based on 8 hours) – $96.15

By breaking down your goal into these measurable chunks it’s easy to keep you finger on the pulse everyday as to whether or not your on track. Take a look through your 2009 goals and measure your progress against your goals. How are you doing? If you’re off target, think about your strategy for the last quarter. What can you do differently? What can you kick in to high gear to finish strong?

Everything you do in business has to be measurable. It’s the only way you can stay on track to reaping what you sow.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

On the West Coast, in Vancouver BC, summer is well upon us and even though the sun has been shining 5 days out of 7 for the past 2 months, there is still a looming knowledge of what is coming…rain, maybe snow, grey, cold damp…yuck! We live here for the summer: sun, blue sky, outdoor activities galore, beautiful beaches, scenic mountains for hiking and biking, golf, water sports. And yet, entrepreneurs everywhere are glued to their laptops and pda’s unable to peel themselves away from their business. The very reason they left the corporate world is holding them hostage to the same habits. Working 8, 10, sometimes 12 or 14 hours a day. A slave to their business. And worse yet, the summer is passing quickly by. How can we change this? And quick?

Cease all multitasking immediately. Instead, do 1 thing at a time, focus your attention on the task at hand until it’s complete.

Start this week by shaving 2 hours a day off of your work schedule. If you normally work from 9 – 5, for the rest of this week, leave at 3pm. 

Starting next week, take one whole day a week off to enjoy the summer weather and accompanying activities.

Tasks will expand to the amount of time we give them. If you give yourself 6 hours to get done what you normally would in 8, trust me, you can get it all done. If you give yourself 4 days to get what you’d normally complete in 5, this too can be done. Think back to the last time you went on holidays. Did you accomplish an insane amount of work in your last week, especially on your last day? Take this ’sense of urgency’ approach to your work this summer and enjoy more days by the beach, on the water, on the golf course, or wherever it is that you’d rather be then in front of your computer.

Enjoy some fun in the sun!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” Vince Lombardi

I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to be too concerned about the recession on a sunny day. I was sitting out on the deck this morning reading the New York Times magazine and it was talking about all these places in the US where housing projects and developments just stalled. It was the wierdest thing (said in a mocking tone). These developers thought that if they built these massive complexes without pre-selling them, that people would line up to buy. Nobody lined up and now the developers are bankrupt. Even more shocking, people bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford and those houses got taken away when they lost their jobs. On top of that, they were leveraged out to the max and so no savings in place = hard times. These people are losers my friends. People who were trying to be something they aren’t and now are suffering public humiliation. The worst part, in all sincerity, is that their families suffer along side them.

What is the matter with people today? Have we, as a collective group, lost all forms of common sense? A friend of mine says, “I wish common sense was more common”, and she’s right.

I watch crowds flock to Suzy Orman shows to hear her say, “sorry girlfriend, you can’t afford that.” Really Suzy? I make 20K a year, spend 75% of it on housing and food, and I shouldn’t buy those $500 Jimmy Choo shoes on my Visa? Awwwww, come on Suzy, Just one pair?

Some of the stupider things I’ve heard people say on television about the recession in the last week:

• I knew I couldn’t afford the house payments, but I thought the bank would help me out.
• I knew that my whole division at work was being laid of three months ago, but I thought they would spare me.
• I can’t believe that working at Bear Sterns isn’t getting me a job.
• I can barely stand having to put up with my parents while I live with them. I know they are helping me get back on my feet, but I have the smallest bedroom in the house.
• I refuse to work for less that $75,000 a year. I’d rather be on unemployment.
• I know there are jobs, but I refuse to move.
  
• They will have to kick me out of my house. I’m not leaving until they put my stuff out on the street.
• I can’t believe how much my business is down. I’m going to start marketing when things get better.

Business is not immune to natural selection. The weakest and dumbest to get the biggest hits when things go south. I had a woman come to one of my events in Detroit three years ago. She came up to me after the show and said, “We can’t keep building cars they way we have been. It just doesn’t make sense. I think I need to plan my exit strategy.” She was a manager of a plant for one of the big 3 automakers in the US. She spent the next six months making her shift and has transfered her management skills from automotive to retirment homes. I got a note from her a few months ago saying that she was now getting heavily invested in Real Estate and couldn’t believe the deals she was getting. This is a smart woman. She saw the writing on the wall and left when it suited her. She didn’t wait to see herself and her cowokers get locked out of their jobs and put on the unemployment line.

What’s this whole rant about? Life is good. Life is short.  Don’t wait for tomorrow to do what you NEED to do today. If you think you might lose a big client, don’t close your eyes and brace for it. GO GET A NEW CLIENT! It’s not rocket science, or maybe it is. Maybe the reason why so many people are suffering right now is that they didn’t see it coming? Does anyone really believe this?Natural selection is at work eating up the people with the greatest concentration of ‘dumb ass’ in them. It started back in the cave man days. One cave man says, “I think I’m going to stay away from that tiger that wants me for dinner.” The other one said, “Pretty kitty and walked out and got eaten.”

A sunny day is a good day to do some planning. Plan for yourself, plan for your future. Plan to enjoy sunny days because you know you have control over how things turn out. You can take action before, during, or after you get hit with something and learn from it. The woman in Detroit didn’t have to get hit in order to learn about the importance of planning. Now she really gets it and is getting rich in the process. Don’t buy fire insurance when you smell smoke. Buy it when you learn what a fire is. Here are the questions to get your primed to protect your back, stay on course, and enjoy many sunny days to come:

1. What is the greatest threat to my way of life at this moment?
2. If this threat became a reality, what would my course of action be?
3. What can I do today to minimize the risk of the threat happening or mitigate its effects if it does happen?
4. Who do I know who has gone through this and come out the other side? What can I learn from them?
5. Are any of my actions contributing to a big fall for me personally? (i.e. Living outside your means/buying things you can’t afford)
6. Do I have resources at my disposal that I can access in a time of need? If not, how can I get started?
7. What am I doing that I know is wrong or conflicts with common sense? How can I get back on track.

These might be really tough questions for you to go through, but they will be tougher if you are under the gun to find solutions. Forewarned is forearmed. If you don’t like where you are, shift. If you like where you are, set up systems to keep yourself there. Your business life will model your personal life and vice versa. Be wise, look ahead, and plan for the worst, while hoping for the best. Many a visionary has been struck down because they spent too much time looking out and not enough time looking in. Much of business development and life development is to seize opportunities and mitigate risks. Today is your day to do just that.

Enjoy the sun.

C/

www.GhostCEO.com

Going all in can be a scary concept. It’s a stretch for your comfort zone, as we discussed last week, it’s a stretch for your ego (anything outside of what you’re doing today is ‘dangerous’ as far as your ego’s concerned), it can be a stretch for your bank account in some cases and even personal relationships can be stretched as a result of going ‘all in’. That’s why your 100% commitment and passion is required, otherwise it’s not a big enough goal, dream or aspiration. If you aren’t ready to go full out, no matter what to accomplish whatever your ‘all in’ is,then don’t start in the first place. 

I remember my coach years ago saying to me “most people tiptoe through life, hoping to make it safely to death” – what a great statement, and it’s so true. Most adults are so stuck in their comfort zone, afraid to make a mistake, choosing caution at every opportunity that they safely end up at the end of their life. RRSP’s in tact, house paid off, 365 papers read/year, ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but, you get my point.

Human beings are driven by energy and energy comes from passion. Get clear on the things that excite you, don’t get talked out of going ‘all in’ by your ego or those in your life who can’t see your vision. Commit 100% with the knowledge that if you make a mistake, get hurt, lose money, whatever it is that you fear might happen, you can pick yourself right back up and keep on going.

Death is inevitable, but, how you live while you’re alive is YOUR choice. Are  you ready to go ‘all in’?

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

There’s never really a ‘perfect’ time to do anything, but, the beginning of a new year seems to carry a certain electric energy to it and therefore is as close to perfect as I think we’re going to get.  Perfect for what you ask? Perfect for increasing your confidence by doing something totally off the wall, out of character for you, something you’ve never done before, but, have always had this little itch to try anytime you’ve witnessed someone else doing so.  This weekend I challenge you to increase your confidence by stretching your comfort zone and putting your body, mind and spirit in a new environment.  Make it as big and bold or as small and careful as you need to.  By the simple completion of such a challenge you will remind yourself of what an amazing being you are and you can carry this newly awakened confidence to the boardroom next week.  

Because at this point you may be thinking ‘great idea Heather, like what?’, or maybe you’re thinking ‘this chick is nuts’, either way, here’s some things I’ve done over the past few years that have stretched my comfort zone immensely, but, have increased my confidence and appreciation of myself 100 fold.

*let me preface this list by saying that I’m a tall, somewhat lanky individual and therefore if reading the below list amuses you – perfect! no excuses ladies, just have fun and feel good!

• Cardio Salsa Dance Class
• Completed the Grouse Grind in under an hour
• Downhill Skiing
• Eckhart Tolle’s 10 Week Book Study
• Hip Hop Dance Class
• Cooked my first Turkey Dinner for 8