Brain Fade-Where & What

Oops-I think my brain has sprung a leak. More and more often I walk into a room and then don’t know what I am doing there. Dates get mixed up in my head. And where did I leave my glasses?

This can be attributed to one of three things; either I’m getting old, I’m not paying attention and letting life happen to me, or maybe my brain is wearing out. Since I know that I’m not as old as my calendar says I am; I know the problem can’t be blamed on age and I am shown daily that my brain is still functioning; I must just be moving too fast for my angel to keep up with me.
I do know that when I have too much on my plate I tend to run in circles, getting nothing done. How do I learn to pace myself so I’m pleasantly busy, but not buried in projects?

Check lists help, calendars help, and sticky notes are god sent. I’ve read that prioritizing helps, but what is really more important than what? Everything wants to be done, now, or sooner.

Short of having someone follow me around with a pad, I think I have to just concentrate more on the now and hope I have enough room in my brain to store all the things that I’m putting off ‘til later. And hope too, that my brain doesn’t spring a leak and let all the good stuff escape.

Announcing

I have always loved to give. I could carry a $25.00 bill for several weeks and then spend most of it on others. Now you and I will both be able to share in a BIG way.

After years of planning, Other Creations Foundation, Inc. was launched this week. The Foundation, and its partners are dedicated to making the world a better place and educating women so they have the power to improve their family's standard of living and help their communities develop and grow.

Your small contribution of $25.00 will be used to fund the program of your choice; education, water treatment, micro loans, or special projects. More than one half of the World’s population does not have clean water. In many parts of the World it doesn’t take much to start a business to improve the standard of life for your family. Minimum education not only builds strong communities, but it lets student know that they have choices. These are all conditions we are trying to change.
Check out the success stories on our new site, recommend projects for consideration or just leave your comments. We really appreciate your interest and help. You too can really make a difference for women and their families and communities. Please do whatever you can.

Marketing in Tough Times

Are you sitting in your store or office wondering where all the customers/clients went? In normal times we typically lose about 10% of our customers in any given year to competition, their changing needs, or other mysterious reasons; but these are not "normal" times. Our lack of customers is just a snapshot of the greater economy. When the economy is struggling you can also expect to be struggling. That is "normal."
During tough times it is imperative that you reach out more, do more to attract business. This also may mean spending money that is scarce. However, DO NOT consider anything that you have to spend on advertising or marketing as an expense. It may affect your cash flow, but it is not an expense, it is an investment in your future success. Without ongoing marketing efforts you can be sure that the 10% client loss will increase substantially.
When available cash for marketing or advertising becomes a challenge it is time to get creative. There are a number of avenues you can take to get your name out there that are free. They make an investment of time, but you have that if your traffic is down.

Take a look at social media, using your computer to reach out, newsletters to keep in touch, surveys to be sure you are offering what your customers want, blogging or article marketing, networking or press releases.
If you need some ideas that match your goals contact me. We never charge for the first hour of consultation and that may be all you need to get headed in the right direction.

Are You Prepared?

Having recently spent over a week cleaning, sorting, donating and gifting my brother’s stuff, I had an exceptional “in your face” lesson about how important it is to plan our exit at least as well as we plan our lives. This chore just reinforced the message of how important it is for us all to be prepared.

None of us want to think about our own morality so we tend to not get organized; it is critical that we do. Even if we don’t think we have any heirs there is a still a need to take care of this stuff. It is very hard on whoever has to go through all your papers and stuff to find all the pieces of the puzzle.

In my Brother’s case he didn’t have children or exes and his estate is not very big, but he had a lot invested in collectibles and there is no indication of how he wanted to share it. Unfortunately, there is also no inventory to go along with the collections. This oversight leaves someone with a big project of evaluating and sorting and purging. A simple list or even the original purchase receipts shoved in an envelope somewhere would lessen the stress of this challenge. Not only will this be a monumental chore, it will keep the loss up front and interfere with a healthy mourning process.

Although a legally executed will would be the best choice of documentation, simple lists or notes can serve well to take some of the strain out of the project. The lists can assure that you are able to share with your friends after you have gone in the same ways you would if you were still around. Sharing your wishes with others is the extra special gift you can leave for the ones you love.

And keep in mind that not leaving a valid will forces heirs to have to deal with probate and courts. The government gets lots of money and the family gets lots af anxiety and heartache. Do you really want to leave this legacy? Acting now is much easier than having your family re-act later.

Fraud Alert

It can happen to anyone. I just got one of those emails that is “phishing” for information. It looked like it really came from my bank and when I clicked on the link it took me to a page that looked like the home page for my bank. Whooa! Never, never, never, click on the link from a mysterious email, or any other account, even if it looks real, unless you have contacted the account yourself. These perpitrators are trying to steal you identity. Immediately go directly to the account in question to check on your status. Type in the address that you have on file; DO NOT use the link in the email; this tells the bad guys that you are vulnerable.
While you are in your account contact the fraud division. They may want you to forward the email to them. Banks and other companies take this kind of fraud very seriously. They work closely with law enforcement to find the bad people who are causing so many problems for people; especially those who aren’t aware of this type of fraud. This kind of identity theft can cause you years of hassles, lost credibility and huge amounts of money to repair.
It is a shame that we can't trust our fellow man, but unfortunately there are too many of these frauds happening to not be aware so you can protect yourself

Civility

I was just having a discussion with my Dad about why people don’t return social obligations. How many times have you taken friends to dinner before they think to ask you out in return? Do you keep inviting them? This lead to the conclusion that they just don’t know any better; they were never taught manners.
The conversation continued with a look at why people don’t RSVP a mailed invitation. "Répondez s'il vous plaît", which is a French term that means “please respond”, is added to invitations for a reason. It is very frustrating to create a wonderful party and not know how many people will show up. This is an especially special nuisance when you are paying a caterer for each meal. I think it is common courtesy to let your hostess know if you will be able to attend. That brings us to “what is common courtesy”?
Emily Post was America’s foremost authority on manners and graciousness in both your personal life and business. Her contention is that if you abide by the Golden Rule you will enjoy a more comfortable and successful life. That means responding to invitations when asked and considering the value of the friendship when playing the “who owes what” game.
These practices also apply to your business life. Return calls promptly, do what you say you will, remember thank you notes and generally treat you associates as well as you do your friends.
Your life will become a more positive place; a place where it is fun to hang out and has plenty of rewards to offer.

SERENDIPITY

Serendipity is the good fortune of making pleasant discoveries by accident. I just had one of those wonderful moments this afternoon. I had chosen new paint colors for my Beach house by the way the looked to my eye. I knew just what look I wanted. Then today as I was describing the colors to a friend I discovered that I had chosen colors that all had environment related names; the grey is called Cumberland Fog, the purple is Blackberry Harvest, and the white is Snow Fall. All three represent, to me, the great outdoors which is definitely the flavor of the neighborhood where my house is. People there definitely spend more time outside than in.
Have you ever picked out a new treasure at the store and then found out that it was the item on sale? That’s serendipity. Isn’t it fun? Pleasant surprises like that are what add smiles to our lives. They are what keep us looking at the sunny side of life.
Serendipity doesn’t happen entirely by accident. It happens when people are positive and open to new opportunities. Looking down all the time will only yield a few pennies and a lot of used gum, but looking up will offer a world of possibilities. Keeping a positive outlook allows good thing to happen, being negative limits your chances for serendipity. Wouldn’t you prefer to have life’s little surprises than a collection of old gum.