Tip #18: Take a Break

This one is really a reminder for myself. It is so easy to sit down at the computer and never get up. If you are one of those people who literally spend hours sitting in front of your computer, schedule breaks in for yourself. You may need to set up a reminder in your calendar or set a timer.

We all know sitting too long is not good for our health, but we do it anyway.

If you catch yourself procrastinating it may be because you need a break. Procrastinating can be our mind and bodies way of saying we’ve had a enough. Give yourself permission to take a break.

My advice: when you take a break from your computer, also take a break from your smartphone, eReader and TV. Take a complete screen break. Do something different. Get out of your comfort zone!

How long have you been sitting at your computer today?

I attended the Women’s PowerStrategy conference this weekend. The founder and organizer Patricia V. Davis invited me to speak on a panel. I am grateful for the opportunity to get to share my story but what I really enjoyed about the conference was all the wonderful people I met.

Patricia coordinated an amazing group of women and men presenters. I was inspired by so many of the workshops I attended.

I was wowed by the keynote speaker Zakiya Mackey who is the Internship Program Coordinator at Girls, Inc, and a filmmaker!

I met some great people doing wonderful things in the world. People like Siobhan Neilland, founder of OneMama, turns out we have a lot of friends in common. My fellow panelist Vincent Zappacosta and Douglass Christensen the guys behind Dementia-Mama-Drama. And, Laura Berg, founder of My Smart Hands, Inc.

Also, discovered a wonderful women-owned sparkling wine company called Breathless.

Tip # 17: Network when attending conferences and workshops.

Sometimes the conversations that happen behind the scenes, in the hallways or even the restrooms are priceless. If you are shy and not sure how to approach people look around for someone who is alone and looking a bit awkward. Go up to that person, introduce yourself and ask them how they heard about the conference, why they are there or if they are enjoying the conference. Very likely this person will be grateful someone is talking to them. You never know… they could be your next client or know your next client.

Me, Laura Berg, My Smart Hands, Inc and Siobhan Neilland, OneMama

Vincent Zappacosta and Douglass Christiansen, Dementia-Mama-Drama

Patricia V. Davis, Founder of the Women’s PowerStrategy and Sharon Cohn, Breathless Wines

Tip #16: One space is okay.

Did you know that somewhere along the line someone changed the rules and now it is no longer necessary to put 2 spaces after a period? In fact, in the world of social media (especially Twitter) that extra space is a waste of space. When you only have 140 characters to fit your thought in to, every s-p-a-c-e counts.

Here is an explanation from my super-smart-editing-proofreading-word-genius friend Angela Smith: How Many Spaces Between Sentences?

Tip #15: D.I.N.G. – Do It Now, Girl (or Guy)!

I learned this one from the Flylady (a.k.a. Marla Cilley).

When you catch yourself procrastinating on something you really do not want to do but have to do, stop procrastinating, grab a timer, set it for 15 minutes and Do It Now!  Marla Cilley’s acronym DING is related to her theory of setting the timer for 15 minutes and just doing it now, stop procrastinating.

DING represents the sound the timer makes and is a reminder to Do It Now, Girl (or Guy)!

“You can do anything for 15 minutes”. – Flylady

PS. The FLY in Flylady stands for Finally Loving Yourself.

Tip #14: Read more books.

I see a lot of business owners spending a lot of money and time reinventing the wheel instead of learning from someone else who has already made the mistakes and mastered the skill.

5 reading suggestions to get you out of a business funk:

If you…

• are looking for more clients, read:  Get Clients Now! by C.J. Hayden
  
• are wondering why you never make enough money, read: Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny
• want to make more sales but don’t want to be the pushy salesman type, read: Testosterone Free Marketing by Denise Michaels
• are overwhelmed with managing your team, read: The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
• don’t like change, just got laid off or are feeling hopeless with the economy the way it is, read: Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson

What are your favorite business books? Please leave a comment below with the titles.

This is my original version of the book Get Clients Now from 1999. I love the cover!

Have you checked out your local library lately? Did you know many public libraries in the US now offer eBooks and eAudio books?

Please do not endorse me on LinkedIn, unless you have actually worked with me or seen me do one of the skills you are considering endorsing.

I do not like LinkedIn endorsements. It’s silly. I have strangers endorsing me for things all the time.  I have had friends endorse me for bookkeeping, friends who have never ever seen my bookkeeping work. Why people? Why would you do this? What if I am a terrible bookkeeper?

Just because LinkedIn suggests you endorse someone for something does not mean you should. It defeats the whole purpose! If someone endorses you for something please do not feel obligated to return the favor.

Tip #13: Ignore the “Skills & Expertise” endorsement feature on LinkedIn.

Tip #12: Be like a duck.

I grew up with ducks. I learned something from those ducks.

When it rains just let the water roll off your back. Have you ever seen the way water beads up on a ducks back and rolls off it?

When my feelings are hurt because someone is criticizing me or when someone is in a bad mood around me I try to remember to be like a duck and let the feelings or words just roll off of me. I visualize their hurtful words as water beading up and rolling off my back and then I waddle off in search of more positive, pleasant people to be around.

Be like a duck!

Photo by Flickr user Ernst Vikne

Do you have a Facebook page for your business? If not, why not?

Are you having trouble figuring out how to post to your business page and not to your personal profile? In working with clients, I have found many people do not know how to get to their page or how to post to it.

Tip #11: Learn how to manage your Facebook business page.

From your computer, log on to your personal profile at Facebook.com.

To use Facebook as your business page and not as yourself. Ie. in my case to use Facebook as Sally Around The Bay instead of as myself Sally Kuhlman.

After logging in to Facebook, look to the top right side of your screen for the small image of a gear.

Click on that gear and you will see a drop down menu that says:

Use Facebook as:

Click on the page you want to use Facebook as. Now when you post or “like” something you will be doing it as your business and not as yourself.

If you just want to view your page, look to the left side of the screen you will see the following:

Favorites
Groups
Pages

Under Pages click on your page. This will bring you to your page but you will still be using Facebook as you.

If you are wondering if you are logged on as You or as Your Business Page you can tell by looking at the top right corner and see which avatar is showing. In the image below I can tell I am using Facebook as Sally Around The Bay and not as my personal profile because I see my avatar and it says Sally Around The Bay.

Being a Virtual Assistant who specializes in social media, I have gotten some strange requests from people.

Business owners often contact me wanting to know how to take down a bad review on Yelp! about their business or service. More than once I have had business owner’s ask if they can hire (pay) me to write fake positive reviews for their business.

My response: Um, no.

Them: But I have a negative review on Yelp! and it is going to hurt my business.

My suggestion:  Usually negative reviews are there for a reason: either the reviewer or your staff may have been having a bad day and things just did not go right. If you have many negative reviews, you may want to read the reviews and see if you find a common complaint and then take a good look at your business practices and see if any changes can be made to improve customer satisfaction.

Respond to the negative review as soon as possible. Apologize to the disgruntled customer and do what you can to remedy the situation. Other customers will see your response and will appreciate that you took ownership.

The best way to get rid of negative reviews is to offer awesome service and fill your review page with legitimate happy customers writing positive reviews so that one negative one gets bumped down in importance. If a customer is raving about your business you can politely ask them to write a review on Yelp!

Tip # 10: Don’t be afraid to address negative reviews online. Use them as an opportunity to show you care about your customers.

Photo from SearchInfluence post Yelp Review Filter

Bean Up The Nose Art

Tip # 9: Make time for gratitude.

What are you grateful for?

Energy flows where attention goes.  Take 2 minutes a day to write down 5 things you are grateful for.

It seems taking time to be grateful is good for your health.

Gratitude can:

help you sleep better at night

help you through hard times

improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being

In the video below Oprah talks about what she knows about gratitude.

Sometimes it is difficult to be grateful. You may feel like you have nothing to be grateful for. You can start really small with things like I am grateful my toilet works. I know that sounds strange but if you have ever had a sewage flood in your house (like I have) you would be very grateful for a working toilet!  ;-)

Image above from the awesome Bean Up The Nose Art collection.