How Shareable Is Your System?
January 30, 2009
Reading over fellow IBmoms expert blogger Alice Seba’s posts, I found one particularly interesting…
How Outsourcing Can Affect Your Retirement
That certainly caught my eye. As a business owner, I love what I do and the thought of retirement only crosses my mind once in a blue moon. It is unrealistic I know for me to expect to work forever. There will come a point when I am unable to work. That’s why I’ve started putting ’systems’ in place for the last year.
In doing so, I’ve also discovered a problem with my systems. I love to write in my Word Processor. I like the thought of nicely formatted documents, neatly printed and binded where I can refer to regularly. Yes, I still do a lot of things on paper. Especially reference documents. I like them printed because it sucks having to follow directions with two open windows. But paper also means my system is not shareable.
This realization hit me hard when I had to instruct my assistant who lives only 50 miles from me. Not a short distance but far enough I cannot have her in my office everyday or even once a week. It needs to be online. Why not just PDF the document. Tried that. It only generated more work. Making the PDF and uploading is not the problem but keeping track of all the PDF’s and referring to them was beginning to be a problem. My instructions also sometimes come in video format. I could of course create a page to list all the links out but if I was going to do that why not just create the whole system online? It’ll…
- Save me from keeping copies up to date
- Save me from doing work twice – enter information once and everything is there to share
I tried many ways and almost built a WordPress powered staff only site just to manage all this which is not a bad idea. That may be the next one I’ll try if this one doesn’t pan out but right now, I believe a wiki will work best for me because:
- Wikis are editable if I give users the ability to. If an assistant changes a password they can just enter it there and I or anyone else on the team can pick it up without constantly emailing each other.
- It is easy to link to different Wiki pages
- Wikis are pretty easy to use
- Staff can add, update or contribute information to the wiki. I can get them to help me create the systems by documenting the work they do work for me. When they leave to pursue bigger and better things, I already have documentation in place to pass on to new recruits.
If you’re interested to try out wikis to manage and share your systems internally, here are some places you can get started.
You can also run them on your web host – I prefer not to do this because I’ll have (yet) another web site and script to manage.
The Direction of Our Nation
January 20, 2009
I had an odd experience this past weekend. I read a bunch of articles on the Net about the Obama ineligibility trials that were obviously not given much attention by our dear Supreme Court and found myself in a slight state of depression.I hate to talk about politics in public like this because one of the greatest things about our country is the right to believe what you want and vote for who you want to support.
Obama is a very intelligent man and the fact that he is black has absolutely nothing to do with his qualifications to lead this country.
But the question of his citizenship does either qualify or disqualify him. To lead this nation, the Constitution says the candidate must be a natural born citizen.
If there is any doubt, and there is, then the powers that be have the responsibility to research the issue and provide sufficient documentation for the American people to see.
To ignore one of the three qualifications for this office is to ignore the Constitution that makes this country great.
Lawsuits such as Berg v. Obama, which have been initiated by Democrat attorneys, are being ignored.
Basically, what’s essentially being ignored is the Constitution.
When the leaders of a country will not take a stand on what the Constitution declares, and at least investigate the allegations that are being made, something is wrong.
I’m not sure what the exact numbers are in Congress’ popularity poll currently but the educated public has never really trusted professional politicians like we ought to. I’d guess that right now, the numbers may not be that high.
Any group of leaders that will ignore its founding documents has lost its vision and is following a different standard.
It may not be all that long before the founding documents themselves are challenged and replaced. When that happens, America will no longer be the capitalistic Super Power it has become. It will only be a matter of time before we begin to see it erode from the inside.
In fact, we are already seeing it go bankrupt economically from the inside right now.
Way too many established Fortune 500 Companies are closing their doors.
What does that mean?
It means the economic strength of America is being challenged. It means the political powers have a responsibility to enable capitalistic ventures to have more freedom to generate business, not create more government supported jobs.
Printing money to bail out industry after industry isn’t the answer. All that newly printed money is only going to increase inflation. That means everything will cost significantly more.
Inflation is the only result that comes from printing money to infuse into the economy.
Small business may get more tightly regulated, which is the ONE thing the government should NOT do.
Because the Internet is such a powerhouse for entrepreneurs who want to figure out how to make a little money on the side, government should give tax incentives to encourage citizens to explore the options.
All those millions of folks who are getting down-sized can easily turn to the Internet for answers. Yet, who knows what the future holds?
We’ll just have to wait and see what change the new administration brings.
So if you, like me, are depressed realizing that the foundations of this country are crumbling before our very eyes, here’s hope that I hope encourages you .
YOU were placed on this earth for a specific purpose. You have a job to do and it’s probably not the thing you are currently engaged in to just make a living. This crashing economy may be the very thing that leads you by force into your new calling.
You were placed on this earth during THIS generation to do the thing you were called to do. Maybe you’re not doing it yet, but maybe now is the time to get started with your education.
The job you have been given can’t be done by anyone but you. Yet most folks don’t know who they are. So let’s find out who you are so you can get started.
You can’t do whatever you’re called to do alone so the sooner you hook up with a team of folks going in the same direction, the faster you’ll get there. It’s like Canada Geese going south for the winter. They take turns leading and they make a lot of noise as they go. But because they have a system and communicate well, they arrive.
Find your place and get started performing.
If you have experienced the depression I’ve experienced, here’s help.
Give yourself 30 minutes to grieve. I hate I wasted a whole day.
Then decide you are going to do whatever you are called to do to make a difference in this country.
The first thing it will require is courage. Not education, not a web site, not a secretary. It will take courage.
America needs YOU. Your family needs you. You need you.
So be strong and courageous. Do not fear. Do not worry.
It’s time for good people to stand strong and keep this nation on the course that our founding fathers planned when they laid their lives on the ground to write our founding documents.
It’s time for America to rise, not crash. It will always be only as strong as its people.
Rhea!
who is preaching to herself
Using Apps To Generate Viral Traffic
January 15, 2009
Applications have been a long time fascination of mine, especially if they can be used to help marketing efforts. I’m not talking about creating sleazy, nasty-ware that infect people’s computer, hijack their browsers or spy on them that is just plain wrong.
Rather, I’m talking about useful or simply fun applications that people like and enjoy using. These are the ones that generally get passed along. So what can you build?
Games - since the beginning of computing and the Internet games are just plain popular because they are fun. Of course having a great game idea helps. If you’re just creating another clone of 8 ball that’s not interesting enough and won’t get you the viral traffic you’re hoping for. Come up with something unique or a new niched spin on a popular game.
Quizzes - Always fun. People love to know if they are compatible with their chosen career/spouse/life etc. They are also narcissistic and want to find out if they have a high IQ or not.
Calculators - some people may love math but if you can make it easy and save their time, they’d be happy to use it, bookmark it and refer people to it.
Timers, time trackers, calendars – we are a society obsessed with tracking time and productivity.
List creators, customized planners – everyone at some point looks for a better way to organize themselves.
That should be a good starter list for you to chew on. You can of course get real fancy and create social network apps, applications people log in to perform or track tasks, plugins and more. Those will require more technical skill or the ability to pay for it.
If you’re on a shoestring budget, there are many quiz scripts you can find for free at places like Hotscripts.com including calculators. You can also scope out private label software to brand.
What about Blog Talk Radio?
January 15, 2009
Quite a few potential mom podcasters have been asking me about hosting a show on Blog Talk Radio as an easy option for producing a new show.
For those who aren’t familiar, Blog Talk Radio is a totally free live internet radio venue for people who would like to host their own show and even be able to take live calls. They provide all the cool tools for your show and even generate an RSS feed of your recordings so that it is instantly podcasted.
There are some definite advantages to Blog Talk Radio. Running a live show means no mixing and production work later. The fun of taking live calls is a huge plus. I love how your live listeners can hang out in a web chat and interact with each other and you too.
If you’re going to use BTR, even thought they do provide everything you need for an RSS feed – I advise you to still set up your own blog and post your show notes along with the mp3 link so that you can be in control of your own RSS feed. You never know when you might want to make a change and it’s a terrible pain to deal with switching things out later.
I used BTR for Mom’s Morning Show for nine months. The system wasn’t always reliable but we always understood that it was new and constantly being upgraded and improved. And hey – you can’t complain about free, right?
I wanted to try BTR to see if having a show on their site would increase our exposure but to be honest, I didn’t see that happening. Even when their Community Manager gave us some buzz on the blog and when we were featured on their main page, we didn’t see big listenership. There are so many programs running all the time – just being there doesn’t draw attention. Promoting your show is still up to you. If you understand that going in, BTR is a great resource for you.
Some of the moms I talk to shy away from doing a live show for fear of things like flubs and dead air. There’s a post on the Blog Talk Radio Blog about avoiding dead air that I think holds some excellent advice about that.
Schedule Your Family Vacation As One of Your 2009 Goals
January 11, 2009
Ah, once again it’s time to set goals to make 2009 even better than 2008.
If you haven’t set goals, this year could turn out to be a nightmare instead of your dream-come-true.
One of the first things I always encourage our Proteges and others to schedule on the annual calendar is their family vacation.
Most families I know who have a home business, haven’t taken a vacation since they started it.
What does that tell the children? What does that tell their clients? Does that really make them feel “successful”?
Success embodies more than just a nice paycheck; it mainly affects your lifestyle. If you’re making all the money you want but are so tied to your business that you can’t leave it for a week, you may need to analyze your structure.
After all, you started a home business to get out of a rut, not to create a new rut at home.
If we are training our children to be entrepreneurs who lead their society in business, education, government, entertainment, sports or religion, they’ve got to have the right mindset. And that means balancing all parts of vocation and avocation.
We have a duty to teach it to them by example.
H. A. Ironside, who lived from 1876-1951, said, “If lips and life do not agree, the testimony will not amount to much.”
So taking at least one family vacation every year not only gives you a break and let’s you enjoy some of that success, but it lets the kids know you really can afford to spend money on them.
“Resting” is the other side of the “working” coin. If you don’t rest regularly, you soon won’t be able to work.
After having 10 babies, a home business, and still educating my last 4 kids at home, why do you think this has become so important to me?
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. If you don’t pace yourself and reward yourself along the way, you’ll soon crash and burn.
Not good.
So promise me AND yourself that you will at least TRY to schedule one family vacation, even if it is only for one weekend, into your overly-busy schedule this year.
And if your schedule is soooo jam-packed that even one weekend won’t fit, consider changing something serious, like your job. Something is out of balance.
Okay, so there. I said it.
If you want to have not only a successful business, but also a successful family, make sure you schedule great vacations at least once a year.
Your kids may need the break more than you!
So many books, so little time…
Rhea!
who totally believes moms need a break more often than they realize
P.S. If you want to follow us on Twitter, go here www.Twitter.com/RheaPerry!
3 Tips to Writing an Attention Grabbing Lead
January 2, 2009
Your audience, on average, gives your content about 20 seconds before they decide to continue reading or to click away. Myriad eye tracking studies have been conducted and they all come to one basic conclusion – readers and website visitors usually read your headline first, scan your copy quickly (and we’re talking seconds here) for a reason to read your article or web page, and then if so motivated will go back and read your first paragraph and hopefully continue on to read the entire article.
This means your first paragraph, your lead, plays a very important role in whether or not the remainder of the article will be read. Here are three tips to getting your readers attention every time.
#1 What is the most unusual or jaw dropping statistic or quote you have? What has the biggest wow factor? For example, if you’re writing an article on how to save money with your home heating, then your lead might contain an eye popping statistic about how much one family was able to save or how much the average consumer wastes. (We’ll discuss how to find these nuggets of data in a subsequent post).
#2 Introduce a little daytime television – human drama. People love stories, especially stories with a little drama or tension – Shakespeare was onto something. Start your article with a human element. For example if you’re writing an article on budgeting or financial management you could start by telling your audience about a particular family who on the edge of bankruptcy was able to bring their finances back under control. The article would then go into some tips on how to accomplish this.
#3 Tap into curiosity. Presenting a common problem or trend that we all have, or that your audience has, and then stating that you have a unique but effective solution for that problem. Don’t state the solution in the lead – allude to it. Spark their curiosity.
Your lead is perhaps the most important paragraph in your article. However the pressure to write a catchy lead can be overwhelming and the all familiar writer’s block is sure to pop up with too much pressure. Write your lead keeping in mind that you are going to go back and polish it up once you’ve completed the article. Often times, after writing the article, you’ll see a better way to write your lead. You’ll uncover an angle or a snippet of information that’s just perfect for your lead. This process enables you to write the article with a bit of structure and it eliminates the pressure for first time perfection.
