Getting Things Done: Where Does YOUR Motivation Come From?
January 28, 2008
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This is my third post on Getting Things Done…the others are here and here.
Right now I’m delaying today’s major task and necessary evil: stacks of papers. Why? Because blogging is more fun and papers aren’t. Besides-it’s slightly chilly in my basement and I’m enjoying being cozy under a blanket while I type. Ha! Plus, papers don’t talk back, blog posts sometimes do. Likely no one but me will read my papers (fortunately), but at least 1500 readers will read this post today. So, how do I go from here to there? How do I get my Royal fanny off this chair and into the thick of “Getting Things Done” so I can help all my papers find a home? I know the answers already, but doing them is a different story!
Here is a strategy for getting my Royal fanny up and moving:
1. Stand up
2. Turn on some fun, fast-paced music like “Dancing Queen” by Abba
3. Get a trash bag ready, locate my file folders, and labeler
4. Set a timer for 45 minutes (less overwhelming than 60)
5. Go and get as much done as I possibly can, “everything has a home” mantra
6. Take a break and do something I LOVE for 15 min (like a healthy grilled veggie sandwich for lunch)
7. Repeat process, if necessary, and yes, I dare say it will be absolutely necessary.
Writing this is perfect because now I’m mustering up the courage to get busy…so yes, kind friends, you must be my motivation today. Thanks! It also helps that I have a guest coming to stay…and I really can’t have my papers all over the bed anymore (office/guestroom). Papers don’t make a very nice comforter. I’m starting to hear dancing queen in my head…better go turn it on. 
Today’s Magic Wand: Where does your motivation come from?
Share with us!!!!
When Life Has Other Plans-Is Your Business in Order in Case of an Emergency?
January 23, 2008
Fairy Godmother Laura West of Center for Joyful Business writes today’s post:
Well, I started off 2008 very excited and pumped about the new year, new plans…new possibilities. I kicked off the New Year with a Business Planning Retreat with my friend and colleague, Wendy Watkins of PassionFruit People Growers. We went to the beautiful mountains in North Carolina and holed up in a luxury timber home - spoiled ourselves while we marinated, planned, brainstormed, calendared, blew up, and blew out plans for 2008. Talk about coming back and being revved to go!
Well, my intention was that I would be writing you a blog entry about our retreat, what we did, how we did it, etc…and give you some ideas and inspiration for your own.
Life had other plans.
Within two days of returning I had a high fever and severe abdominal pains, my Dr. sent me directly to a surgeon who put me in the hospital. Long story short…two and 1/2 days in the hospital, fortunately no surgery, just dehydration and eventually they discovered a lung infection. Sent home with antibiotics and an order for lots of rest.
Hmm, this wasn’t how I planned to spend the kick off month! Right now I would be in Las Vegas with David Neagle, at his workshop, “Experiencing the Reality of Success”. Cancel plans.
I like to look at these life turns and see what arises for a message. What is my body trying to tell me? My biggest question that keeps arising is “Am I fully en-joying life while I grown my business?”. I absolutely love my work and the amazing people I work with. It fills me up creatively and provides lots of stimulating, creative conversation. But what about personally? It’s had me tweak my calendar and add in some time for massage and spa time and also I’m looking at taking some personal fun & creative classes. I think life gives us these little wake-up calls to see if we are paying attention!
It also had me thinking about my business emergency plans. I needed to call and let clients know, rearrange teleclass plans, change cafe conversations, etc…at one point I even was talking my 10 year son through writing an email to a client so she would know I wouldn’t be on the call.
It’s inspired me to create - or start creating since I’m still recuperating - some back up plans.
Here’s a few of my ideas (please feel free to comment and add your suggestions):
1. Keep my Virtual Assistant up to speed with all current clients and contacts (or even better share my calendar) so she can contact them in one fell swoop.
2. Give my husband my Virtual Assistant’s contact information so if anything really traumatic should happen he can talk with her and keep folks up to date.
3. Get that new SmartPhone so I can have up to date contact information instead of having to call people to call other people. (obviously wouldn’t worry about this in a life or death situation, but in minor emergencies it streamlines a lot of effort)
4. I also spoke with my VA about updating our Policies and Procedures Manual. What if the emergency isn’t with me? She lives in Colorado and we sometimes joke about if a “bear gets her” what do I do. (Not that we are sending any intention or energy there, but she did have a close call last summer) My Policy and Procedures Manualoutlines all my online programs - the how’s of how to log-in, where we keep things, passwords, access codes, explains the different client lists, products, etc… Ours is out of date since we have grown so much over the last year so we are planning time to update.
All of these are just in case. Then I can rest comfortably knowing that my clients and readers would be taken care of and that I could take care of things if my support gets in a crisis.
How about you? What are your Emergency Back-up Plans?
En-joy!
Laura
Getting Things Done in 2 Minutes
January 11, 2008
Recently we held our first Startup Princess Networking Tea Party of the year and we discussed the David Allen book, Getting Things Done. It’s already changing my life.
Warning! This is not a book for reading in your bathtub….it really is a book that requires digesting with high levels of energy to concentrate and take notes. But don’t get scared, I highly recommend the effort. It’s definitely a “must read” regarding personal organization and processes for managing “piles of stuff” so there’s a reliable system. Confession: I’ve been the “slightly scattered” Startup Princess and I’d really rather be the “organized and effective” type, so I’m on a quest to change my behavior and decrease my mental stress and burnout/ADD functions because “I have so much to do, if I can just concentrate on where to begin.”
Last Fall I digested Timothy Ferriss‘ “4 Hour Work Week” and it shifted my paradigm of hard work and enjoying life more fully and now I’m working 10 instead of 50, taking more time to do other things important to me, including vacations and family activities, service, etc. I’m over my email addiction (90%) and my obsession with checking my web traffic (getting a desktop computer and putting it in the basement was the secret there, instead of lugging my mac laptop wherever I went like it was my nursing babe). Now if I can just manage the 10 hours that I AM working with order instead of chaos, I think we’ll see great levels of effective outcomes in 2008!! So, I begin with Getting Things Done and have high expectations…afterall, it is a national bestseller, so I hope it will work for me too.
Because I am quite overwhelmed with the thought of tackling my messiness, I’ve decided to just take a new baby step each week. In the book there’s a workflow chart (you can download for free under “free articles” if you create an account on David Allen’s site). 
In the book’s workflow chart it breaks down “what to do with stuff” by saying you should first (1) identify “what is it?” is it trash? is it something you need to keep for future as a reference? what do you need it for? Is it yours? Once you identify with the object and there’s an action associated with it (2) then you’re supposed to just do it then if it will take you less than 2 minutes. This is the teeny tiny baby step I’ve taken in the last several days and it’s really making a difference because I’ve realized how many quick and painless things I overlook often that I can get done in a heartbeat. I love it. Perhaps you will too…
Today’s Magic Wand: If you’re looking at your “To Do” list or in box and you can “get it done in 2 minutes”, don’t put it off any longer. You’ll be amazed by how quickly things will start getting done and your mind will start feeling lighter because it’s such an easy thing to check off. You’ll start to feel energized and organized because you ARE…one baby step at a time.
What’s the NEXT Baby Step you’d recommend?? I’d love to hear your thoughts… what do you think is essential for reclaiming my space and my thoughts? If you’ve read the GTD book, what do you think I should focus on next? What has worked for you?Â
Please Sell My Products! How to Be the Perfect Supplier and Attract Quality Re-Sellers
December 18, 2007
Many, many thanks to Fairy Godmother Erika Wilde of StopDirt.com for sharing her magical wisdom yet again! Enjoy her 10 secrets to being a perfect supplier!!
As an internet reseller for eight different suppliers, I’ve had my share of good and bad experiences with suppliers. I am approached almost weekly by people who want me to sell their products on my websites. I turn many suppliers down because they did not have enough of the perfect supplier qualities. If you are looking for resellers to sell a product that you produce, follow these ten tips to become the perfect supplier.
1. Drop Ship. You save your resellers time and money by drop shipping your product directly to their customers. Most resellers are willing to pay a nominal drop ship charge, usually $2-$5 per item. By drop shipping your product, you allow the reseller to enjoy ultimate cash flow by receiving payment from her customers before purchasing the item.
2. Offer Branding. Put your reseller’s contact information on the product. Can you offer a custom tag or sticker on the product? This leads to repeat business for your reseller.
3. Ship Blind. Do not include your contact information or the purchase price. Instead, make sure all the contact information will point customers to your reseller, not you.
4. Allow Resellers to Pay You By Credit Card. This saves accounting time and lets the reseller earn miles or rewards.
5. Ship Quickly. Make sure your product gets out the door within a couple of days. Slow shipments are the kiss of death for resellers. Immediately inform resellers about backorders or delays.
6. Ship Correctly. Send the right product to the right person.
7. Provide Internet-Ready Images. Resellers will be much more likely to add your products to their website if the reseller does not have to take her own pictures. Provide as many quality images as you possibly can.
8. Load ‘Em Up with Info. FAQ’s, tech or ingredients lists. Detailed product descriptions. Provide as much information as possible in a cut-and-paste format that makes for easy uploading to a website. Remember, your reseller needs to be able to answer all customer questions and she needs to know everything about your product. Make yourself available to answer questions and provide product updates.
9. Send Samples. It is hard for a reseller to sell something that she hasn’t actually seen. If your product is too expensive to send out for free, you can request that the products are returned to you after the reseller checks them out.
10. Don’t Compete. If you plan to sell the product yourself also, sell it at full retail so you aren’t undercutting your reseller’s profit. Feel free to set at MAP price (minimum advertised price) to protect your brand image, but make it low enough for reseller promotions and profit.
How to Manufacture a New Product Overseas
November 28, 2007
Our Fabulous Fairy Godmother Heather Allard is Founder of Swaddleaze and 2 Virtues and is now a consultant for women entrepreneurs at The Mogul Mom.
Are you completely overwhelmed by the thought of finding an overseas manufacturer?
I was too and that’s why I initially had my product, Swaddleaze, manufactured here in the United States, a decision that cost me thousands and thousands of dollars and nearly sunk my business in the first year.After searching through a gigantic apparel manufacturers directory, I found a mill that specialized in children’s apparel. They quoted me a “cut and sew” price that seemed fair and I contracted them to produce my first run of Swaddleaze.
What I didn’t realize was that I then had to source all the materials for my product and have the goods shipped to the manufacturer before they could begin production. I spent hours researching U.S. companies that made textiles, zippers, packaging, labels and more.I then purchased thousands of dollars of fabric, zippers, Velcro, interior labels, hangtags, packaging, inserts and price stickers and had everything trucked down south. The shipping cost was sometimes more than the cost of materials! My credit cards were practically melting and I had just begun this venture.When the manufacturer had finally finished the production run and had shipped the goods to me, each piece ended up costing $15.85! I had no idea how I would ever turn a profit at this rate. After selling through this initial run and almost going under, I made the decision to find an overseas manufacturer, no matter how daunting that task was.It took me about six months and a ton of “Googling” before I found an overseas manufacturer that was perfect for my needs. So how do you go about finding a manufacturer overseas that’s right for your business?
Here are the steps that will make that process faster, easier and less scary for you.
1. Before contacting overseas manufacturers, take the time to familiarize yourself with the terminology with this indispensable dictionary of trade, shipping and export terms at ExportBureau.com. This will help you feel confident when speaking to foreign manufacturers and will let them know that you’ve done your research. Some of the most common terms are:
Lead time this is the time between placing an order with a manufacturer and when the order is delivered.
Minimums how many pieces of a particular item you have to order. Usually, the more you order, the more affordable the price is.
Terms this usually means how and when the manufacturer will be paid (T/T, wire transfer, net 30 days, etc).
T/T this means that you wire transfer half the amount of the order before the manufacturer begins work and the other half at completion. The manufacturer will give their wiring instructions.
2. Ask around if you know other women who make products, ask them who their manufacturer is and then contact that company about pricing. Be sure to mention who referred you, as this will often get you a speedier reply. (If any of you are looking for a great apparel manufacturer, I’d be happy to refer you to mine. Contact me for more information.)
3. Use Alibaba.com, a global trade website that puts products, suppliers and buyers in touch with each other. Some Chinese suppliers are labeled “Gold Suppliers” which distinguishes them as premium, reputable suppliers. They are required to meet stringent criteria before becoming a Gold Supplier and are usually a safe bet. Once you’ve found a handful of manufacturers, contact them for pricing, terms, lead time and minimums. If possible, look for a manufacturer that will provide you with a complete package (also called FOB package). This means that the manufacturer will source all materials, produce the goods, package the goods, pack the goods, ship the goods and arrange for customs clearance and receipt of goods here in the U.S. and finally, have the goods trucked to you or your fulfillment center.
4. Compare pricing and service and then request samples. If there are any safety guidelines for your product, you must provide the manufacturer with those guidelines/criteria. Most overseas manufacturers are not familiar with US safety regulations set forth by the CPSC. Refer to CPSC.gov for more information. If you’re unsure about your product safety requirements, you can email a CPSC employee and they will assist you.
5. Once you’ve reviewed all samples and compared pricing, choose the manufacturer that’s right for your product or business and begin the production process.
Then, breathe a big sigh of relief because YOU DID IT!If you follow these steps, you’ll find out the same thing I did that manufacturing overseas isn’t so scary or overwhelming after all. It’s an exciting step that can often be the beginning of big success for you and your company.
