ast month I shared the story of Emily and her overwhelmed staff who felt stressed by a large number of messages and tasks from a variety of communication channels, concerned that some were slipping through the cracks and not getting done. They were all hypervigilant about checking their communication sources, even long after their normal work hours. (Read the post here) Emily and the [...]
Do you ever worry that setting firm boundaries in your business might affect your relationships with clients and coworkers? Award-winning realtor Ann Blair and I discussed her experiences with balancing the two in a recent podcast. (Listen to the podcast here.) As a very busy realtor, Ann manages her time and tasks well but realized that, because she wants to provide superior service to [...]
When you own a business, it's crucial to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. It can be stressful to wake up at 2 AM wondering if you remembered to answer that text message from one of your team members, or if you circled back to a client regarding Slack notifications. This is the situation Emily (name changed for protection!) found herself in. And, [...]
How do you effectively keep track of important tasks and deadlines when you manage two businesses and a staff? While very organized and effective, Elin Barton was experiencing a productivity bottleneck created, she believed, by not regularly reviewing her calendar and project management system. Elin's video production and marketing company (White Knight Productions) and the Elin Barton brand (elinbarton.com) were both growing, and although [...]
Imagine organizing paperwork for your bookkeeper only to find a Post-It note attached to the back of an invoice reminding you that a proposal is due . . . tomorrow! Depending upon your schedule for the rest of the day - and how much time you have available to complete the proposal - panic could ensue. A missed to-do almost created a missed opportunity! [...]
I hear it all the time: “There just aren’t enough hours in the day!” This always comes from having a productivity bottleneck of some kind, something that prevents you from getting done everything you want to in your day. In a recent podcast interview Karianne Munstedt (CEO of Karianne Munstedt Portrait coaching and photography), Karianne shared that she believes her productivity bottleneck stems from [...]
I recently participated in a Strategic Planning Session for a non-profit board I'm on. As we started digging into the vision of the organization for the future, the facilitator kept asking, "Does this answer the question 'What does good look like?'" Often, we realized, that answer was NO. Sure, our vision was good for NOW . . . but not really good for the [...]
As I learned in our recent podcast, Tanya Smith did just that! (If you'd rather view the video than read it, watch the podcast here.) Tanya left her 15-year corporate design career when she recognized a lack of high-quality branding options for professionals and personal brands. She founded WorkStory Creative to fill the gap. She helps professionals build authority, raise the perceived value, and attract [...]
You love your business. But every once in a while you get frustrated, overwhelmed, and tired. You are one person – yet it feels like you are doing the work of 3 (or 4 or 5). It's hard when you wear ALL the hats...even if you're good at delegating! And the joy you had when you first started your business . . . well, [...]
One of the goals my client shared with me is to not take work home to do in the evenings or on weekends. She often took that time to catch up on a project or two when she should be relaxing! She came to our coaching call last week frustrated. She had spent a couple of hours over the weekend holed up in her [...]
