Email Etiquette Tip

When it comes to the Subject field of your e-mail,
Always be brief and concise. For example if you
sell widgets, for a first time contact or Web site
request you could use: "Widget.com Information
You Requested."

The person on the other side should be awaiting your
information and recognize that Subject field as being
your response.

Typos, all caps or all small case can give the
impression you are a spammer - or worse yet,
someone who isn't literate enough to want to do
business with.

If the conversation is ongoing back and forth and
the focus changes direction, make a point of changing
the SUBJECT: field to reflect the conversation's new
direction.

This E-mail Etiquette Tip is provided as a
courtesy by: http://www.NetManners.com

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Success In A Pot

From Dr. Anthony Fernando's Dare To Dream, Practical Inspiration For Achieving Your Life's Goals.


Success In A Pot

I've shared this before, but it's worth sharing again.

Don't Quit!

Put Yourself On The Right Side Of Compound Interest

A great article for those who need to get their finances in order. Let me help you put a plan together. I can provide you with a complimentary financial needs analysis!

For many years, we have been a society of "buy now, pay later," often spending more than we made. People burned through any savings they may have accumulated, retirement planning was neglected, and credit cards were charged to the hilt. When property values were rising fast, many used their home like an ATM, taking out equity for cars, boats, motorcycles and other toys. [Read more . . .]

The Formula for Failure and Success

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day.

Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters.

On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally doesn't result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we escape from any immediate consequences of our deeds.

If we have not bothered to read a single book in the past ninety days, this lack of discipline does not seem to have any immediate impact on our lives. And since nothing drastic happened to us after the first ninety days, we repeat this error in judgment for another ninety days, and on and on it goes. Why? Because it doesn't seem to matter. And herein lies the great danger. Far worse than not reading the books is not even realizing that it matters!

Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year... because it doesn't seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices - choices that didn't seem to matter.

Failure's most dangerous attribute is its subtlety. In the short term those little errors don't seem to make any difference. We do not seem to be failing. In fact, sometimes these accumulated errors in judgment occur throughout a period of great joy and prosperity in our lives. Since nothing terrible happens to us, since there are no instant consequences to capture our attention, we simply drift from one day to the next, repeating the errors, thinking the wrong thoughts, listening to the wrong voices and making the wrong choices. The sky did not fall in on us yesterday; therefore the act was probably harmless. Since it seemed to have no measurable consequence, it is probably safe to repeat.

But we must become better educated than that!

If at the end of the day when we made our first error in judgment the sky had fallen in on us, we undoubtedly would have taken immediate steps to ensure that the act would never be repeated again. Like the child who places his hand on a hot burner despite his parents' warnings, we would have had an instantaneous experience accompanying our error in judgment.

Unfortunately, failure does not shout out its warnings as our parents once did. This is why it is imperative to refine our philosophy in order to be able to make better choices. With a powerful, personal philosophy guiding our every step, we become more aware of our errors in judgment and more aware that each error really does matter.

Now here is the great news. Just like the formula for failure, the formula for success is easy to follow: It's a few simple disciplines practiced every day.

Now here is an interesting question worth pondering: How can we change the errors in the formula for failure into the disciplines required in the formula for success? The answer is by making the future an important part of our current philosophy.

Both success and failure involve future consequences, namely the inevitable rewards or unavoidable regrets resulting from past activities. If this is true, why don't more people take time to ponder the future? The answer is simple: They are so caught up in the current moment that it doesn't seem to matter. The problems and the rewards of today are so absorbing to some human beings that they never pause long enough to think about tomorrow.

But what if we did develop a new discipline to take just a few minutes every day to look a little further down the road? We would then be able to foresee the impending consequences of our current conduct. Armed with that valuable information, we would be able to take the necessary action to change our errors into new success-oriented disciplines. In other words, by disciplining ourselves to see the future in advance, we would be able to change our thinking, amend our errors and develop new habits to replace the old.

One of the exciting things about the formula for success - a few simple disciplines practiced every day - is that the results are almost immediate. As we voluntarily change daily errors into daily disciplines, we experience positive results in a very short period of time. When we change our diet, our health improves noticeably in just a few weeks. When we start exercising, we feel a new vitality almost immediately. When we begin reading, we experience a growing awareness and a new level of self-confidence. Whatever new discipline we begin to practice daily will produce exciting results that will drive us to become even better at developing new disciplines.

The real magic of new disciplines is that they will cause us to amend our thinking. If we were to start today to read the books, keep a journal, attend the classes, listen more and observe more, then today would be the first day of a new life leading to a better future. If we were to start today to try harder, and in every way make a conscious and consistent effort to change subtle and deadly errors into constructive and rewarding disciplines, we would never again settle for a life of existence – not once we have tasted the fruits of a life of substance!

"Only human beings can reorder their lives any day they choose by refining their philosophy." Jim Rohn



Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine. To subscribe, go to www.JimRohn.com All contents Copyright © JimRohn.com except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide.

Cookie Monster

What's wrong with this picture? I don't see why the Girl Scouts organization is banning this young lady from selling Girl Scout cookies online, considering that sales are down this year, and I believe the intent of this organization was to teach young ladies that they can achieve anything they are willing to tackle in life.

Cookie Monster

You go, girl!

Barbie Turns 50!

I love Barbie and can remember she was the rave of the dolls for many years. I was fortunate that my mom worked for Mattel Toys and had a lot of dolls, clothes, house, fashion show. I still like the older Barbies over the more updated versions. Check out the link on some of Barbie's career choices. Barbie was one talented lady, if we would only believe that we can be that talented!

Barbie's Careers

Why We Should Use Public Transit

Read this interesting article on public transit.

Is this the wave of the future, or are we just going back in time? They say there is nothing new under the sun . . . do you remember the street cars? I remember riding the buses in my younger days . . .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29597893/from/ET/

The Art of Nagging

Who would have thought . . . this is something that I'm good at, or at least my husband tells me I nag him all of the time! Read on . . .


The Art of Nagging
by Tina Forsyth

I was talking to a colleague of mine yesterday who was sharing that she loves her Virtual Assistant, but in her words:

“the one thing that she won’t do is nag me to get stuff done… I need someone to nag me like my mom does!”

Now this may make you chuckle, but it really is a very common complaint that I hear from business owners… they really want someone who is going to keep them on task. Someone who will follow up with them to ensure that they are doing the things that need to be done - and perhaps nudge them along or hold them accountable when they don’t stay on task. I like to call this being a ‘professional nag’ for your clients.

And yet many VAs out there aren’t doing a very good job of this. Even when their clients specifically ask them to ‘be a nag’ they still aren’t doing it.

Where is the disconnect? I am a natural nag (just ask my husband, haha) so I think that I take for granted that this is an easy thing to do. But when I step back and look at it from an objective perspective I have to wonder if part of the problem is that

a) people just don’t know how to nag and

b) they aren’t comfortable doing it.

So let’s break it down a bit and take a look at how we can lovingly nag our clients.

1. Understand why nagging is important! At face value it is easy to think that our clients shouldn’t need to be nagged - after all, we are all adults and it is their business right? Shouldn’t they already be motivated to get things done? Even with the best of intentions, most business owners are simply too busy or distracted and they forget about or lose track of priorities in their own business. They want someone who is going to remind them of what is important and help them keep it front of mind. Once you *get* this you can see where nagging is actually a very important benefit to your clients.

2. Ask them for regular updates on project X. Sometimes the simple act of knowing that you are going to be asking them on a regular basis about X is enough to get people moving. Make sure to give them a deadline for completing X or remind them of a previously set deadline… people are more likely to complete a task when they know they have a deadline (it’s human nature).

3. Ask them where they are stuck. If something isn’t getting done it is usually symptomatic of an underlying issue. For example, let’s say you are waiting on your client to write an article for the newsletter. It could be that they can’t think of a topic to write about (brainstorm with them) or they know what they want to write about but haven’t had the time to sit down and do it (start the article for them and have them edit/finish it). In some cases it could be that priorities have shifted and project X is no longer as important as it was. Regardless of the cause, if you ask where things are stuck then you can look at ways to help move things forward or let things go.

4. Look for ways to clear their plate. Alot of times our clients get busy or distracted with things that they actually shouldn’t be doing. If your client seems overwhelmed to the point where things aren’t getting done take a look at where they are spending their time. Chances are that there is some stuff that you or another team member could take off of their plate to free them up to focus on other things.

5. Ask them how the want to be nagged. You might have it in your head that it needs to be some big elaborate nagging solution, when all they actually want is for you to ask them once a week about X. Or maybe send them a weekly list of ‘projects on the go’.

Nagging is actually more of an art than a science - there is no one way that is going to work for all clients. And a certain approach that works really well with one client may not work for another. So look to be a bit creative when you can, consider different ways that you could help your clients get things done and aim to have some fun along the way!

For example, I have a running joke with my business partners where i’m ‘The Boot’. In our relationship i’m the one responsible to do the nagging, and so we have some fun and joke about it - ‘Oh no! Tina is putting on The Boot to kick our butts into gear - watch out!’ LOL

The heart of nagging is about providing a constant reminder to your client about what is important - so that they can refocus themselves to do the things that are important. Regardless of what that constant reminder looks like, be sure to do it.

Tina Forsyth is the author of Becoming an Online Business Manager: Playing a Bigger Game with Your Clients and Yourself. She writes and consults in advanced online marketing and business systems for business owners and their support teams. www.OnlineBusinessManager.com