SOARTO SUCCESS April2023 Magazine isoken ogbomo Helps us navigate thelo ming “ElderCareCrisis” How De pWork Improves Productivity BuildingaThriving WorkplaceCulture Se ingEye-to-Eye forAgre ment soartosuc es m agazine.com
PAT ALTVATER Be Sure to Cherish The Present Elite Experts Network AFP Marketing PatAltvater.com Cherishing the present and appreciating the gift of life is a powerful mindset that can enrich your life in so many ways. This means you are fully engaged in the moment, embracing the beauty and wonder of life, and feeling grateful for every opportunity that comes your way. When you cherish the present, you are fully immersed in the here and now, rather than being preoccupied with the past or future. You take the time to notice the small details that make life meaningful and spend time with the people and experiences that bring you joy. One of our contributors, Holly Kile, died in March. Holly was creative and brilliant and much too young to leave us so soon. We will miss her. In her honor, in this issue we reprinted one of her articles from before she became sick…Harness the Power of the Published Author on page 28. When someone dies, it provides perspective, doesn’t it? So cherish the present and appreciate the gift of life, in order to create a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in your life.
Personal Growth Strategies SOAR to SUCCESS CONTENTS Magazine 04. 10. 14. 16. 12. 32. 34. 30. 28. 19. 27. 20. 22. 24. 36. 38. Core Business Strategies Business Acceleration Strategies Seeing Eye-to-Eye for Agreement By Jack Klemeyer I Need A Magic Lamp To Grow My MSP! By Jeanne DeWitt Developing Strategy Without Customer Intel is Criminal! By Mark Allen Roberts Building a Thriving Workplace Culture By Lisa Ryan Sharing the Opportunity of Private Money Lending By Karen Cupp Use QuickBooks for a More Productive and Prosperous 2023 By Jim Fisher Should You Use The Latest AI Tools In Your Business? By Melanie Rembrandt Harness the Power of the Published Author By Holly Kile Book Recommendation Reinvention Uncensored Are You Leading Based On The Situation And The Follower? By Janet Kendall White How Deep Work Improves Productivity By Pat Bennett The Power of NO! By Megan Patton Our Favorite Videos Our Contributors Cover Feature: Isoken Ogbomo Helps Caregivers & Employers Deal with the “Elder Care Crisis”
Isoken Ogbomo Helps Caregivers & Employers Deal with the “Elder Care Crisis”
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Feature Article Isoken Ogbomo, is the founder of Complete Health Services, a company born out of Ogbomo’s concern for the geriatric population in nursing homes, where she worked as a nurse practitioner. She wanted to provide the elderly with a better quality of life and the ability to age in place with dignity. Isoken was born in Nigeria and originally came to the United States with her husband 22 years ago. She earned a bachelor’s degree but went back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. She has achieved the ‘American Dream.’ Being an immigrant in a new country, she first became educated and then grew a successful business, all the while helping older Americans receive the higher standard of care they deserve. She wanted the focus of her new endeavor to help the elderly keep their dignity and maintain a high standard of life. Something that was not happening in many retirement and nursing homes. In-Home Caregivers, the DBA for her company Complete Health Services, was born to provide in-home caregiving in Illinois. Isoken is very proud of what her company has been able to provide for our aging population and especially happy with the company’s geriatric scientific care post-hospital rehabilitation program. Due to shortened stays (demanded by insurance companies) in an expensive hospital a study completed in 2020 showed that 41.4 percent of elderly Americans discharged from a hospital, required readmittance for further treatment within seven days. “That is a significantly high number. I know there are multiple reasons why people return to the hospital, but specifically for the geriatric population, there is fragmentation in the healthcare system.” In most instances when an older person is discharged from the hospital, they are passed over to Medicare therapy. Medicare therapists will only be in the home for a few sessions over a four to six weeks period following a hospital stay. There are one hundred and sixty hours in a week and the Medicare therapist will spend less than one percent of the time with the patient. They instruct the patient about what exercises they need to be doing and then leave them alone to do the therapy on their own. There is no way the patient can recover in a timely manner through “in home care therapy” alone so the patient will medically decline and get readmitted to the hospital while the family
caregiver is stressed, losing time from work, and getting ill from the stress of caregiving. “Medicare therapy at home is more of an educational meeting, not really a therapy session. Normally the recommended exercises are painful for the patient, and they become reluctant to perform them on their own. Plus, 70 percent of older people have some type of memory impairment, so they may not even remember to do the required exercises if no one is there to guide them. This is exactly why I created and designed our geriatric functional wellness program.” Isoken’s program is focused on improving overall health and managing symptoms to avoid a return trip to the emergency room, or hospital. It is designed specifically for the aging population. It offers transitional care management, post hospital post rehab care, chronic illness management and disease specific caregiving at home. The program helps
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Feature Article chronically ill patients to get home, stay home, stay out of the emergency room, manage their chronic symptoms, feel better faster, age in place and thrive regardless of any life limiting conditions. Many of Isoken’s clients are business owners, or busy executives who have become caregivers with parents in need of in-home care. “They want their aging parents to receive the best in-home care, so they can continue with their career, care for their own children and have less interruption to their own lives.” It’s become clear that there is an ‘Elder Care Crisis’ in this country. With better living conditions and advancements in medical science, people are living longer, but may not be able to live on their own unattended. This creates a tremendous strain on the caregiver, especially if it is a child with a family of their own and career demands. By the year 2030, the ‘Baby Boomer Generation,’ will total 71 million. Over 20% of the American population will all be over the age of 65, which will require even more family caregivers. “Caregiving not only affects the family that is attending to an aging family member, but it also negatively impacts the caregiver’s employer.” Time necessary to be at home caring for the parent or taking their loved one to a doctor’s appointment leads to lost work hours for the employer. Even if the caregiver is at work their thoughts may be with the parent, wondering if they took their medication, did their rehabilitation exercises, or had their meals. This leads to less productive work hours and loss of productivity for the employer. “My company has collaborated with Stella Nsong’s efforts to reach out to businesses to bring awareness to these critical work issues. We can help corporate America handle the upcoming increase in their employees dealing with an aging parent at home with our platform, careworklearn. com.” Our program helps businesses help their employees better handle aging family members which improves productivity of the caregiver, while they are on the job. “I am really excited about this aspect of our business. The average family caregiver can still be productive and have a stress-free caregiving experience.”
Right now, many companies try to help by simply providing their employee a list of resources and agencies that could provide some help to the caregiver. Very often, the employee will spend hours on the phone or online looking for help and many hire the wrong and inappropriate type of a caregiver because they do not know the kind and level of care that their loved one is supposed to have. “If you are a new caregiver, you have no clue, you don’t know where to turn first, or the correct questions to ask. It’s very confusing. The eldercare system is very fragmented and complex. We can help educate the caregiver and provide the resources necessary to help them plan ahead and find the right services and situation for their aging family member. This program will help managers provide support to their employees dealing with the added burden of being a family caregiver.” Planning ahead can make all the difference. Knowing what to do ahead of the time, when mom, or dad can no longer live alone, or has fallen and requires an extended in-home rehabilitation. “My company, In-Home Caregivers along with careworklearn.com wants to make an impact. Employers and employees will have access to accredited services and resources to plan for care and relieve the stress of caring for family member to make life easier for the employee, as well as the employer.” Isoken found that she was devoting so much of her time to her business that she was neglecting herself. Her mentor suggested that she should find a hobby that would allow her to de-stress and have fun. Hobby?? Isoken couldn’t think of a single hobby. “I decided to join a gym and become more active. When I found a ping pong table in the facility, a “light bulb went off in my head”. I played Table Tennis as a child with my brothers and neighbors which brought me feelings of joy, this was a defining moment for me knowing that I found my hobby after all. Now, I challenge myself to spend a minimum of 90 minutes every week just devoted to table tennis regardless of my busy schedule. I have made new friends playing ping pong, even got a new client on one of those occasion.
3 Keys to Soar to Success When Soar to Success asked Isoken what three traits she believes are needed to soar to success she said: 2 1 3 Surround Yourself with Encouragers. I read a book, “Welcome to Greatness.” One of the chapters was devoted to this very topic. You can hear so many NO’s, it is normal part of running a business. Every new business encounters obstacles and challenges. I have five encouragers and I stay connected to them. Have a Coach I have had both a coach and mentor and I personally believe that everyone needs a strong coach, or mentor. When I began my company, I didn’t think I needed anyone’s help, but I decided early to invest the time and resources necessary to have someone to help guide me though the intricacies of owning and operating your own business. I believe the external guidance and support they offer can make all the difference. Embrace Spirituality My own spirituality has been a key to my personal success. I know that everything I am or have comes from God and I am very grateful. Having a mindset of gratitude has been very critical to who I am and what I look for in other individuals. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Feature Article Complete Health Services and In-Home Caregivers of Illinois are committed to provide home health care and supportive living services that enhance the health, dignity and wholeness of our clients. They are dedicated to building long term relationships with those they serve via quality training, superior customer service and collaborative care systems. We enjoyed our interview with Isoken. You can listen to it on iTunes or watch on YouTube. To learn more about Complete Health Services and how they can help you, or your company defeat the ‘Elder Care Crisis,’ visit their Facebook page, or website. Contact Isoken Ogbomo at 630-300-0446, or email her at info@in-homecaregivers.com.
How many times have you been in a situation where two sides are searching for a way to work together or who want to resolve conflict? It might have been you and another person or perhaps two workgroups.. none the less, the search for a common agreement is what both parties were trying to get to. I remember a simple exercise from my days of learning neurolinguistic programming (NLP) called “Finding an Agreement Frame.” When used properly the result is almost magical. With this strategy, Seeing Eye-to-Eye for Agreement By Jack Klemeyer
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies do for you?” Keep writing the answers they give above each of the previous answers moving up the page. Keep going for more answers to “What will that do for you” until you get to an answer where you can see the body language in the other agreeing to, and vise-versa. Find a common outcome so that when you restate it, both Bill and Mary agree and state it this way: “So what you both want is…” or if that can’t be reached, look for a linked outcome that Bill can congruently agree to what Mary wants. Stated this way: “So if Mary got this (outcome) and Bill was satisfied that (his outcome) would occur you would both agree to that?” It’s important that you as the moderator take charge of the interaction and interrupt whenever the back-and-forth is going nowhere useful. Keep an eye on both parties for body language of agreement, such as heads nodding, or smiles. If the participants keep arguing or you determine that there may be some “hidden agendas” you can question the premise that the two parties agreed to have you help negotiate their differences. “Perhaps your differences are too great.” And then notice how they react to that take-away. If they say something like: “No… we want to resolve this…” or something along those lines, that is a good sign that they do indeed want to reach a common resolution. Give this strategy a try the next time you’re in the middle of a conflict and want to resolve it quickly and efficiently. I think you will be amazed how it works. you can offer some new and better ways of interacting. Let’s say Bill’s team and Mary’s team are having a disagreement and you’ve been asked to assist them to find a common solution. Now the Bill and Mary here could be the sales team and the customer service team, or really any two or more teams looking for agreement on an outcome. It’s important to use a whiteboard or flipchart to write the problem or challenge clearly in font of all parties. This is important because now the parties, in our example, Bill and Mary are on the same side looking at the situation together. You could say they are aligned in searching for a solution. That’s why putting the challenge out in front of all parties is so important. The next step is to ask them a question, and ask them in these words: “Mary, what is it that you want?” Then write down what Mary says she wants toward the bottom of the page or whiteboard. Ask Bill what he wants and write it down too, also toward the bottom of the page or whiteboard. Be sure to write the exact words they both use. Those words have specific meaning to them. In this exercise we don’t necessarily need to know what the meaning is, just use the words they each use. Next, it’s time to start to get to the resolution of the conflict. Ask each person, pointing to what they each stated they wanted… “What will that do for you?” sounds like a strange question, and trust me… it works. Write their answers above what it was they stated they wanted. Going back and forth between Bill and Mary keep asking about the previous answer: “What will that
Building a Thriving Workplace Culture By Lisa Ryan Engagement is critical to building a thriving workplace culture in today’s employeecentric world. Engaged employees are more productive, motivated, and likely to stay with the company. However, it can be challenging to implement employee engagement strategies that are lasting and effective. This article will explore strategies to help managers build trust with their employees and create a more engaged and motivated workforce. Purpose and meaning: One of the most important ways to increase employee engagement is to give employees a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. For example, managers can encourage employees to share their ideas and suggestions for improving processes or solving problems. As a result, employees will gain a sense of ownership over their work, and it helps managers identify and address areas where improvements can be made. Professional development and growth: When an organization provides training programs, mentorship opportunities, and leadership development initiatives, it helps employees feel that they are learning and growing in their careers. Managers can support this process by regularly meeting with employees to discuss their goals and career aspirations and offering constructive feedback and support to help them achieve those goals. Effective communication: Managers should make an effort to be transparent and open with their employees and to communicate expectations and goals. This helps build trust and foster collaboration and teamwork within the organization. In addition, managers should encourage open and honest communication among employees and create a culture where feedback is valued and acted upon. Positive and supportive work environment. Managers create a positive work environment by providing employees with the resources and support they need to do their jobs effectively, recognizing and rewarding their achievements, and promoting a healthy work-life balance.
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies Research has shown that companies with high levels of employee appreciation and recognition tend to have higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty and lower turnover rates. In addition, having a culture of gratitude can lead to longterm benefits for the company, such as increased profits and a strong reputation in the industry. By focusing on strategies that give employees a sense of purpose, provide opportunities for professional development and growth, encourage open communication, and create a positive and supportive work environment, managers can increase employee engagement and build trust with their employees. In addition, by taking an active role in the process and being willing to adapt and try new approaches, managers can create a lasting and effective employee engagement strategy that will benefit both the organization and its employees. A positive workplace also fosters a sense of community within the organization. Showing gratitude and appreciation: Employees are more likely to be motivated and committed to their work when they feel that their efforts and contributions are valued and recognized. This can lead to increased productivity, a more positive work environment, and a greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment for employees. Examples include praising employees publicly in meetings or privately in one-on-one conversations or thanking an employee for their hard work or for going above and beyond on a project. Nonverbal gestures such as a handwritten note, a small gift, or a simple act of kindness create a positive and supportive work environment and can make a big difference in how employees feel about their job and the company.
I Need A Magic Lamp To Grow My MSP! By Jeanne DeWitt Virtually all MSPs, regardless of size or location, are aiming to grow and increase their monthly recurring revenue. However, for most MSPs, the owner is involved in too many things - sales, tech, marketing – basically the jack of all trades. So how do you grow when you are a part of everything? Unfortunately, many MSPs remain in this rut. They tend to stick to what they know and keep doing the same things every day, only to find out year after year they are in the same boat. So, what’s an MSP to do? What if you had a magic lamp that you could rub and a genie would grant you that answer? Would you jump at the chance? Well, start jumping! I can tell you from many years of owning an MSP and working with MSPs that they remain in this rut because they continue to work IN their business and never take the time to work ON their business. I know it’s hard to try and find
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies 3. Automate. If you didn’t eliminate or simplify the task, look at automating it. Simply look for tools that can do a job you complete manually. 4. Delegate. Delegate any tasks left on your list that you haven’t eliminated, simplified or automated. Ask yourself is this task repetitive, teachable and doable by others? If so, create an SOP for staff to follow and work with them to make sure that the steps are followed and everything is being done the way you want it. I know this may seem difficult at first, but try it. I promise you can trust the advice of this Jeanne that helped to grow a 7 figure MSP. If you want to learn more about how to grow your MSP give me a call or join our complementary Cloud Academy at CloudServicesForMSPs.com for guides, training and tips on how to increase your recurring revenue with cloud. more time in your daily schedule to do something different, but it’s necessary or the rut will never end. So, what are some great steps to start? Start by tracking how you spend every working (not waking) hour so you can see where your time is spent. Record each task, when you did it and how long it took. Do this for a month and then review each task with the following steps: 1. Eliminate. Ask yourself, if I don’t do this task, what will happen? If nothing will happen, meaning profits will remain the same, nothing will break and no one will care, then it’s worthless. Delete it. 2. Simplify. If you didn’t eliminate the task, look at simplifying it. To simplify something, you need to be able to achieve the same result with fewer resources. Ask yourself, what can I do to achieve the same outcome from this task with less time invested?
Developing Strategy Without Customer Intel is Criminal! By Mark Allen Roberts In today’s volatile and uncertain business climate, we must understand our customers and how they make buying decisions. Think about the changes we have experienced since the pandemic. No wonder many senior leaders are tired and can’t find another hour in their day. Some challenges we have all faced include the following: Health concerns due to the pandemic Supply chain interruptions Work from home and isolation Labor constraints War in Ukraine Increased order volumes Inflation Pressure on our gross margins In many cases, what has always worked in the past is not working today. Organizations that capture the voice of their customers and leverage those insights into new strategies and tactics profitably scale in any economy. One company captured the voice of their customers during Covid and found the criteria their buyers were using were different than how they made buying decisions in the past. We
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies We serve dynamic markets today. How buyers buy today is much different than how they purchased 5 to 10 years ago. How buyers buy tomorrow will likely change as well. Marketleading organizations understand the importance of capturing your customer voice today and leveraging what they learn to increase sales and profits. I wrote an eBook on how to leverage the voice of customer interviews to grow sales, and you can download it for free on my website, https:// otbsalessolutions.com/voc/ . Are you interested in learning more? My blog shares 17 reasons why we need to capture the voice of our customers, and you can access the content at this link https://otbsalessolutions. com/17-benefits-of-voice-of-customer/. If you would like help updating your strategy to leverage customer insights to drive explosive growth, let’s chat. updated their sales and marketing messaging and added the new criteria, and within months their revenues were setting records that surpassed pre covid revenues. Today they are running three shifts, sales continue to grow 165% prior, and their new 100,000 square foot addition to their plant will be completed in April. Do you need insights to drive explosive profitable growth in your organization? At a recent conference on how to scale your organization profitably, best-selling author Vern Harnish shared, “voice of the customer is the diet for every CEO to help update strategy. “ How does your team capture the voice of your customers today? Could the voice of customer research help your team identify and launch new innovative products and services? Who should own/understand the voice of your customers? ( hint, it’s not sales!)
htps:/www.AFPMarketing.com ServicesProvidedbyAFPMarketing: IntentionalMarketingPlanning WebsiteCreationorUpdating ContentCreation:video,blogs, socialmediaposts,podcasts LinkedInProspectingwith EmailSequences NurtureEmailCampaigns IsYourMarketing StrategicorHaphazard? Areyougetingtheresultsyoudesire? Youcanwhenyouworkwithus. Strategy Creation Execution YourFul-Service Outsourced MarketingTeam
Bring Your Whole Self to Work By Mike Robbins “Bring Your Whole Self to Work” by Mike Robbins is a compelling book that highlights the importance of authenticity in the workplace. In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, many people feel the need to hide parts of their true selves at work. This often leads to disengagement, burnout, and a lack of fulfillment in one’s job. The book encourages readers to bring their whole selves to work, which means embracing their strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. Robbins argues that authenticity is not only good for employees’ well-being, but it also leads to higher productivity, innovation, and creativity in the workplace. Robbins’ writing is engaging and relatable, as he shares his own experiences and those of others to illustrate his points. He also provides practical tips and exercises to help readers overcome common barriers to authenticity, such as fear of vulnerability and the need for approval. One of the most compelling aspects of the book is its focus on the human element of work. Robbins emphasizes the importance of building genuine connections with colleagues and creating a culture of trust and respect. He argues that when people feel safe to be themselves at work, they are more likely to collaborate effectively and achieve their goals. Overall, “Bring Your Whole Self to Work” is a must-read for anyone who wants to thrive in their business and build more meaningful relationships with their colleagues. Regardless of what stage your business is at, this book offers valuable insights and practical strategies for bringing your whole self to work. By Pat Altvater About the Author Mike Robbins is a renowned author, speaker, and coach who has dedicated his life to helping individuals and organizations enhance their performance and achieve success. He is the author of several bestselling books, including “Bring Your Whole Self to Work,” which has been praised for its practical advice on creating a more fulfilling and productive work environment. Robbins has delivered keynote speeches and conducted workshops for some of the world’s most prominent companies and organizations, including Google, Microsoft, and the US Department of Labor. His insights on leadership, teamwork, and emotional intelligence have helped countless individuals and teams improve their performance and achieve their goals. He has been featured on NPR, ABC News, the Oprah radio network, and in the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, the New York Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and many others. He was a regular contributor to Forbes and is the creator and host of the popular podcast, We’re All In This Together. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Book Recommendation
Are You Leading Based On The Situation And The Follower? By Janet Kendall White Situational leadership, sounds straight-forward and simple, doesn’t it? Then why is it so rarely applied? Created originally by professor and author Dr. Paul Hersey and author Ken Blanchard, Situational leadership refers to when the leader or manager of an organization must adjust his style to fit the development level of the followers he is trying to influence. The model shows the most effective leadership style based on the follower’s development and willingness as related to the task, project, or job. Thus, the model can be applied not only to different people within the same organization but different people at different times within the same organization depending on the project and job they are working on. An image of the model though it has evolved over the years looks like this:
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies The model when applied appropriately makes total sense and is effective. The trick is to know your own personality style, leadership style and know how to adjust that as needed based on the person that you are leading, their personality, and the job at hand. The tendency is to look at a person and their accomplishments or capability and think that because they are competent and capable in one area or in a current job that they will be the same in another job or on another project and that may be true and it may not. They may be someone that you have been utilizing “S3” or “S4” with in one job or situation and they need “S1” or “S2” style now. Often when we are coaching leaders that are having difficulty with someone it is because they have misread or not even thought about the person as it relates to the specific situation, they have been placed in. They delegated to them, and things aren’t going well, the person missed deadlines, did poorer quality work and the leaders’ reaction is to jerk back to “S1” from “S4” and start telling the person what and how to do things. The person ends up feeling frustrated and micromanaged. How do you avoid situations like that? 1. Know the follower’s personality type by utilizing things like the Everything DiSC assessment. 2. Have a conversation about personalities, the project or job and what leadership style each of you is expecting will be utilized. 3. Identify any potential pitfalls in advance and agree on how they will be handled. 4. Keep lines of communication open and expect and encourage mistakes. 5. Learn together. There are many leadership models out there and they all have benefits. This is one that has continued to evolve but when applied in conjunction with personality understandings, authenticity, and transparency can be very effective. Enjoy the leadership journey and reach out if you need assistance or know anyone that does janet@berkshiregroupinc.com Feel free to check out our other resources also https://berkshiregroupinc.com/ Often when we are coaching leaders that are having difficulty with someone it is because they have misread or not even thought about the person as it relates to the specific situation, they have been placed in.
How Deep Work Improves Productivity By Pat Bennett In a world full of digital diversions, how are some people able to achieve a higher level of productivity than others? In the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Georgetown University professor Cal Newport demonstrates how you can develop the skills necessary to focus on an optimum level and reach peak productivity. Learning how to do “deep work,” he argues, is among the most valuable skills people can learn. In a nutshell, it boils down to this: set aside several 90-minute focus sessions a day in which you block out distractions and focus on an important task. That’s it. If you can do this daily, it’s been shown to improve productivity. “Three to four hours a day, five days a
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies week, of uninterrupted and carefully directed concentration, it turns out, can produce a lot of valuable output,” Newport says. Deep work pushes your cognitive capabilities, meaning it requires focus and concentration. It’s usually not something you can do while watching Netflix out of the corner of your screen. Deep work is often a brief experience, cut short by meetings, chats, and other interruptions. You can set aside a four-hour block for deep work each day, but it would be difficult to maintain focus the entire time, even without interruptions. Think of how your mind sometimes wanders the longer you read an article or book — you just scan through the words and sentences, taking in none of their meaning. For tasks like this that require our full attention, our ability to stay focused tends to decrease over time. It’s hard to argue with Newport’s logic. Unless you make a concerted effort to turn off all distractions, it’s difficult to attain the kind of productivity that turns out full book drafts in a matter of weeks or allows a professor to publish nine papers in a year. Since starting this article, I’ve already been interrupted by four texts, and once by my own brain telling me to write down a reminder about scheduling an appointment I’d been avoiding. I certainly shouldn’t be sitting anywhere near my phone. I know that if I focus intensely on this topic, I’ll be able to delve deeper and write faster than if I allow outside distractions. And when I’m finished, I’ll be able to move on to the next task with a free mind, even if the next task is a quick check-in in with my children or scheduling that dentist appointment. “When you work, work hard. When you’re done, be done,” says Newport. How I’ll embrace deep work: • Take control of my smartphone by reconfiguring the settings so that I no longer receive any alerts for social media or email. • When I’m doing something, I will only do that one thing. This applies to everything from reading to experimenting with a new recipe. This will help me be more mindful in the moment, which some scientists say is as good for your brain as meditation. What will you do? It boils down to this: set aside several 90-minute focus sessions a day in which you block out distractions and focus on an important task.
Such a simple word, yet so hard for many of us to say. However, the word “no” must become part of our vocabulary if we want to set an intention for our business, create goals and maintain focus throughout the year. There are two parts to saying no – internal and external. Internal to our business or our work life, we must identify what isn’t working, what behaviors may hinder our growth, and what current activities are not critical to the success of the business. As we approach our new planning season, we have an opportunity to look critically at our business through the lens of the year just coming to an end. What worked, and what did not work? For the things that did not work, can you pinpoint why? Are there things that we have learned about our business this year that helps us decide what we will no longer do or no longer tolerate in our business? By Megan Patton The Power ofNO!
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies A simple exercise is to take a look at what is not working in your business. Then, determine what you must stop doing to make the problem go away. Finally, what will you do differently now that you have said no? Saying no to current unproductive, or possibly destructive behaviors will allow room for improvement. Saying no to a difficult client can open the door for a new client who is better aligned with your own mission. Saying no to a cumbersome process can pave the way for new efficiencies in your company. There are lots of reasons to say no; I encourage you to find your NO! We can apply the NO principle externally, to our personal lives and obligations as well. Many of us are asked to do many things – take meetings, jump on zoom calls, be present at networking events, volunteer in the community, at school, church, etc. It is easy to get overbooked very quickly if we don’t use NO judiciously. Of course, I am not suggesting that we turn down every request for help that we receive, rather, I urge you to consider each and every request cautiously and with an eye towards balance. Have an intentional approach to handling requests. What fits in with your individual priorities? Focus on your personal mission and say yes to things that align with what you believe in, and that you have the time for. Say no to everything else. If it does not align with your personal mission or your company direction, it is easier to say no, than to agree with something that could potentially pull you off course. One of the simplest words, yet often, one of the most difficult to say! Practice with this and see how it enables you to find and hold your focus throughout the year.
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Reinvention Uncensored (8¼®´ (±ob´U Joan Washburn Author, Speaker, Executive Women’s Life Coach Connect with her at: http:// washburnendeavours. com/ http:// thewashburncenter. com/ In this episode of my Reinvention Uncensored series, I interview Joan Washburn about her reinventions. Unlike some of my other guests, Joan’s reinventions were imposed on her and not strategically planned. Watch our interview, where we talk about the unexpected occurrences that caused Joan to make two major reinventions in her life. There are several things you can learn from Joan by watching this video: 1. When you have an unexpected reinvention, take the time you need to regroup. 2. Try not to panic if things are moving too fast or too slow for you. 3. Allow yourself to accept help from others. 2QH WKLQJ , OHDUQHG IURP WDONLQJ ZLWK -RDQ GXULQJ WKLV interview is that people are more resilient and stronger than we sometimes give ourselves credit for and all of Joan’s life experiences are what make her such an excellent coach now. So when something unexpected happens for you, remember Joan’s story. Reinvention Uncensored
Harness the Power of the Published Author By Holly Kile Your presence on social media is a great representation of your brand. Your blog attracts and engages with new audiences. Your email list keeps you connected with fans and followers. Each tool in your marketing toolkit has a job to do, but the one with the most power by far is your published book.
Your name on the cover of a tangible, hold-itin-your-hands, printed-on-paper book is the one thing that can take your business from somewhat successful to rock star status. As an Author, You’re an Instant Expert Pay attention to the “experts” you see interviewed on morning news shows, talk shows, and on radio and podcasts. Notice anything? They’re almost always introduced as “The author of…” There’s a reason for that. Those who have the expertise to dig deep into a subject just so they can break it down in a way that others will understand clearly know their stuff. Books don’t just skim the surface of a subject. They follow the rabbit trails and make new connections and explore unknown corners. If you’ve written a book, you have almost certainly earned your “expert” status. Writers Are Committed and Driven Not only are authors seen as the experts in their field, but they’ve proven themselves to be more committed than most. Think about the time and energy and frustration that comes from writing 150 or 200 or even 300 pages of content about the same subject. Not only that, SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies but those pages must flow together in a logical order, make sense out of difficult to grasp concepts, and be engaging, too. That’s a tall order and for those who pull it off, the kudos are well deserved. When your book is published, you deserve to walk a bit taller and hold your head a bit straighter. But even if you don’t, others will see you through new eyes, simply because you’ve written a book. Books Offer a “Foot in the Door” When Nothing Else Will When it comes to publicity— be it in the form of interviews, speaking engagements, JV invitations, or just more traffic to your website— you really can’t do better than a book. Books open doors that no other content marketing tool can. Books get you noticed by toptier influencers in your niche. Books make you a more memorable speaker. And believe it or not, self-published books even turn into traditional publishing contracts, and all the benefits that go along with it. With all the advantages that come with having written a book, what’s holding you back? No matter what your niche or who your market is, there’s room on the shelf for your unique insights. You owe it to your audience, and to your business, to get that book published. Books open doors that no other content marketing tool can.
You hear the buzz. Use AI (Artificial Intelligence) for your business to save time, enjoy a competitive edge, write your content… the list goes on. For those of you who love technology, you know how to use these tools to your advantage. But for the rest of us, this is just one more thing to add to our “To Do” list. Sound familiar? If so, there are a few key questions to answer before outsourcing Microsoft’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and other services, or ignoring them altogether… What is this new technology, anyway? Today, you can log onto a specific website, ask a question and get an answer within seconds that is generated by AI. Should You Use The Latest AI Tools In Your Business? Are they a friend or foe… By Melanie Rembrandt
This means that you may be using someone else’s content without knowing it! In fact, there have been several news stories recently about copyright problems and AI (Forbes, AIE, The Verge, etc.). You can avoid these issues, and give your audience more value, if you use original content instead. Second, AI doesn’t add the “human touch” to content. People buy from others whom they “know, like and trust.” If you don’t share personal insights and human-interest stories in your writing with your own style and tone, you will have a difficult time selling your products and services. After all, you know your customers better than anyone, or any robot! Yes! You can use these tools for initial research, to get your creative juices flowing and start the writing process. But if you really want to offer your customers valuable and unique information that will give you a competitive advantage, it’s important to communicate with them on a human level… with all of the humor, personality and emotions that only you can provide! SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies For example, I asked ChatGPT: “What is ChatGPT?” and “What is AI?” Here are the answers I received: “ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot designed to interact with users and provide helpful responses to their queries. As a language model, ChatGPT has been trained on large datasets of natural language text to understand and generate human-like responses to a wide range of questions and topics.” “AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, which refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. AI systems are designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decisionmaking, and language translation, among others.” As you can see, these responses are fairly well written and present the information I requested. This is why many people are using these services to write their copy for them. But is this a good idea? Should you use AI to write your content for you? Sure, this is a great way to get information fast, but it’s not a good idea to use the results verbatim in your communications. Why? First, these AI services find information online and then present it to the user without giving sources for the data.
There is an old saying that if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, take others with you. This is certainly the case when you are building wealth through real estate investing. With the volatile stock market people are looking for other opportunities to invest their money, one of which could be in real estate. Sharing the Opportunity of Private Money Lending What if you could show them how they could earn secured returns by investing with you. It all starts with building a relationship and communicating the opportunity. They might be curious to be involved and your role is to educate them. Begin by creating a simple, easy to read letter sharing what you are doing in real estate By Karen Cupp
investing and that you have an opportunity for them. Make it dynamic and inviting. Make a list of potential recipients. Don’t discriminate by thinking someone doesn’t have money. You never know if they might have resources and are just waiting for someone who has skills and experience and is investing. The key to this is to open the door for initiating a conversation. Send the letter and be willing to follow up. Remember you are not trying to sell them on the idea. You are only sharing an opportunity. Be willing to educate and make them comfortable. Never ask for the money….. only share the opportunity and be open to them taking you up on it. Next, build a private money lending packet to outline who you are, your business goals and how private money lending could benefit them. Remember these people may only know one facet of you and have no clue that you are a successful investor. Include information about the teams who help you accomplish your goals. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies These could include your partners, your property manager and others. Include information about why private money works better than traditional lending institutions in certain circumstances. Outline benefits that private money lenders gain when they lend money. These could include high return on investment and fixed rates of return. Outline lender security protections when they do lend money. These could include a promissory note to protect their interest and a recorded mortgage to secure their interest. Private money lending is not for everyone. Any time you lend there are risks. However, there are also risks in the stock market and other investments. The biggest risk is the loss of opportunity to build wealth for your family by staying locked in fear. Life experience gives you the wisdom to share with others, making their path easier. You spend much of your energy going after your dream of building wealth through investing…..you owe it take others with you.
With the new year well underway, it is time to assess where you are with your finances and consider where you’d like to be. If you’ve been able to use the guidance offered last month, your accounts receivable and payable should be up to date. As you may have discovered, running related reports in QuickBooks and communicating with your customers and vendors can go a long way toward meeting those obligations- but there’s more you can do to prepare for the coming year. For example: • If you’ve set sales goals, QuickBooks can help you track them. • If you are looking to bring in new customers, you can let them know what you can do for them and for how much in advance by brushing up on QuickBooks’ estimate tools. • Uncertain about the status of your inventory? QuickBooks can tell you what you need to know. Using as many of QuickBooks’ features as possible is a habit that can go a long way toward making 2023 a more productive and prosperous year than perhaps 2022 was. Are You Using QuickBooks’ Sales Tools? QuickBooks can help you look ahead by helping you look behind, primarily through its sales reports. One approach is to identify your best customers since they may be some of your best prospects for 2023. You’ll find this information by going to the Company Snapshot. Click Snapshots in the toolbar and make sure the Company tab is highlighted. Find the Top Customers by Sales chart and set the date range for a past period. Click the Customer tab for more information about historical sales. By Jim Fisher, CPA/PFS, CTC Use QuickBooks for a More Productive and Prosperous 2023 Figure 1: Your best customers may be the ones you already have. QuickBooks can help you identify them.
You can find other sales reports in the Report Center. Go to Reports | Report Center and click on Sales. Customizable reports here include Sales by Customer and Sales by Item, as well as Sales by Rep. There’s even a Pending Sales report, which would signal that some follow-up might be needed. Should You Be Creating Estimates? This, of course, will depend on the type of work your company does. If you do lawn work or computer repair, for example, giving prospects an estimate will help them determine whether they want to proceed with the product or service. It can also be a starting point for negotiations. Open the Customers menu and click Create Estimates. Select a Customer:Job and verify the Date and Estimate # and give it a Due Date, so the customer knows when the estimate expires. Enter the products or services and their proposed quantities and prices, then save and send or print the estimate. How Much Inventory Do You Have? This information is critical whether you sell oneof-a-kind items on Etsy or dozens of the same product. When you create an item record in QuickBooks to use in invoices, estimates, etc., you should be using the software’s inventorytracking tools, so you always know when you’re running low (or out). Open the Lists menu and select Item List. Open the Item menu in the lower left and click New. Select Inventory Part under Type. In the window that opens, fill out the top part of the form with information about the product. At the bottom of the screen is a section labeled Inventory Information, as pictured above. Complete the following fields: • Asset Account. This should be set to the default, Inventory Asset. • Reorder Point (Min) and (Max). QuickBooks reduces the number of items in stock every time a sale is made. At what point(s) do you want to be warned that you’re running low? • On Hand. How many do you have right now? • Total Value. QuickBooks calculates this field. • As of. Make sure the current date is the one you want. If you let yourself run out of a particular item, or if you try to sell more than you have on hand, you’ll get a warning when you try to create an invoice or sales receipt for the product that says You don’t have sufficient quantity on hand to sell item. Make It a Good Year There are certainly other QuickBooks tools you can use to improve your financial outlook, which will be addressed throughout the year. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to call if you need help with the material covered in this column or want to learn about additional features that could help your business succeed. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies Figure 2: You’ll always know how many items you have in stock when you complete these fields in item records.
ThreeWays to Increase Engagement Among Frontline and Deskless Employees Is Your Sales Team Prepared For a Recession? Why Goal Setting Matters and How To Do It Correctly! Two Elements That Lead To High Performance Talking Too Much? Our Favorite Videos
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ2Nzk4