Be More Effective: Stop Being Attached To Results

Be More Effective: Stop Being Attached To Results
When you start a new business, launch a new product or sell
to a new customer, are you attached to the outcome? "Of
course" you're probably thinking, "isn't everybody? So
what? " Well, what happens when your expectations aren't
met. Even more important, what happens when you're running
your business? Are you fully present, aware and engaged in
what's going on? Or are you thinking about end results, not
paying full attention to what's happening and the possible
opportunities or dangers? Are you getting disappointing
results? The paradox is if you want to get great results,
put your attention and energy on creating, let go of your
expectations.

Do you believe that this is a limited universe and things
can only show up the way you've decided they're supposed
to? Are you following somebody's 'foolproof' system and
believe you're a loser if it doesn't work exactly the same
for you? What if you're different and unique. Not in a bad
way, but in a wonderful creative way. What if you could
create and receive things in ways you can't even imagine.

Consider a more expansive way of doing business. You are
confident that this is an abundant universe and are willing
to receive everything you desire. You have confidence that
money will come to you if you keep asking questions and
follow your intuition. You become aware of what actions to
take and focus on effective action without worrying about
the outcome. You're fully present and effective in each
moment. You're aware of what aspect of you business needs
attention when it needs it. You use business systems, but
you use them with awareness and know when to improvise.

This is conscious business. It's what can make your life
and business full of spontaneity and joy. And profits. Not
being vested in the outcome and not resisting and reacting
to or aligning and agreeing with people and events sets you
free. You are free to be fully you and you are free to
powerfully use your business savvy and people skills in
every moment. When you agree with something, you're under
it's influence. You're not being fully you. When you resist
against something, you're fighting it. It has a hold on
you. You're not free.

Allowance is seeing everything, including your own opinion
as just an interesting point of view. When your opinion is
no longer significant, you don't have to align and agree or
resist and react against anything. You are totally you and
not the effect of the world. You're then like a rock in a
stream that allows everything to pass by it, instead of
being swept away. You can fully experience everything
without losing your self. When you can receive all things
and not hold onto anything, you can be totally you.

You then start to have choice. As long as you're in
judgment, you limit what can show up in your life. Whatever
shows up for you will match the judgment of what you think
has to happen. Why not be open to infinite ways to create
what you're really looking for. When you're in allowance of
everything, you can choose to receive what you desire
without being attached to how it shows up. Are you ready to
choose a dynamically fun and expansive way to live and run
your business?

Thanks to Gary Douglas of Access for identifying allowance
and interesting point of view.

Copyright (C) Richard Atkinson 2007

----------------------------------------------------
Rich Atkinson is a creativity and change facilitator. He
coaches individuals and businesses to let go of
limitations, rediscover talents and abilities and create
extraordinary new possibilities. To contact him or get a
free copy of "7 Empowering Questions,"
go to http://www.AccessCreativePower.com

The Power of Storytelling

The Power of Storytelling
Each and every day as we are building our businesses, we
all know the key to a successful presentation is a product
being sold to the end-line consumer and/or sponsoring a new
person. In an upcoming issue, I am going to write about
the difference between making a sale and having customer
loyalty in the sales process. In the sales process, you
are fighting many different types of animals. For most of
us who are in direct sales, you have 45 minutes to present
a product/business concept and make a person believe in
you, your product, and more importantly have them make a
decision that they want what you are offering.

When you are presenting the business, it is very easy for
you to get very factual and completely lose the interest of
your prospect. When you tell a story about the success of
someone who is using the product or have a person give a
live testimonial about how much they love being a
distributor, you will keep the interest of new people who
are listening for the first time.

For most of us, the first time in our lives that we were
ever presented with the concept of a live audience was back
in kindergarten when we played "show and tell". Everyone
was always interested in what you were saying because you
were simply telling a story. We have all heard of the
famous K.I.S.S. rule: Keep It Simple Stupid. When
presenting your business or product, the key play is to
tell a story and keep it simple. Everyone can relate to
the grandmother, who can talk about their grandchild as the
most beautiful, precious child in the world. She will make
you feel as if her grandchild would be such a gift to own
as your own. You need to take that same simplicity and
utilize it during your presentation and create the same
result - ownership of your product.

As you tell stories, people will remember those stories
versus all the facts in the world. "FACTS TELL, BUT
STORIES SELL." They should want to get involved in your
business or purchase your product because all of the
success stories that you told. People love to be part of a
winning team. Storytelling keeps people tied into you and
your presentation. I always say when in doubt during a
presentation, tell a story in order to bring people's
attention back to you. When I present, I ALWAYS tell many
stories because when I was first introduced to direct
sales, what perked my ears was a story of a young lady who
had a lifestyle I wanted. The personal story of her
lifestyle is what made me decide to get involved in the
business. In that business, I went on to build an enormous
organization and all I did was tell my story and tell the
company's story over and over!

Combining the key strategy of storytelling along with the
correct mindset, you can achieve your wildest dreams!

Find your WHY and Fly!

----------------------------------------------------
John shocks millions globally by exposing the truth about
how to achieve monumental life success despite the labels
that society has placed on you. Through his award winning
live seminars, power-packed training programs, live
tele-classes, weekly ezine and website
(http://www.FindYourWhy.com), John Di Lemme has made
success a reality for thousands worldwide.

Pre-Job Interview Thinking - Knowing What You Want

Pre-Job Interview Thinking - Knowing What You Want
Question - "When have you been most motivated?"

This question is more than an interview question; it is a
question that you should be asking yourself before the
interview. When have you been most satisfied in your work?
When did you feel like you were making a difference or
making a contribution? Basically, it's about knowing what
you want.

A simple exercise that will help you answer this question
will also help you look inside yourself to think about what
you want "more of," and what you want "less of" in your
next job. People usually perform at a higher level if they
are satisfied with the work that they do - and as a result
are more motivated to give 100% - plus.

Exercise to Find the Answer

An exercise that will help you with the answer to this
question as well as assist you in looking inward to
determine when you were working at your fullest potential
is a simple one. Begin by making a list of the tasks at
your last job - the tasks that you were particularly proud
of, or were energized by. In other words, "when your job
turned you on." Think about the last time you were so
involved in a project or task that you woke up thinking
about how you could improve the situation. Write those
experiences down and try to determine what the factors were
that were satisfying for you.

Let's say you were a "Project Leader." The tasks list would
read something like - "Led a team - Coordinated and
monitored project progress - Assured the flow and
completion of work on schedule - Monitored expenditures and
budget."

What were the stimulating tasks of this job? Was it the
leadership aspect? Or, was it the challenge of coordinating
the details, and people? Was it completing the project on
time or below budget? Were there customers involved
(internal or external) - if so, is that what you found most
challenging? What didn't you like, and hope that you will
do less of in your next job?

After you have written this list for your current job, try
doing the same thinking about previous jobs. If you
recently graduated from college, use the classes that were
most stimulating and interesting for you, or the projects
you worked on with teams.

By making lists of motivating experiences from your last
two or three jobs, you will hopefully begin to see patterns
of projects and tasks that stand out. Analyze what you did
before. Do you want more of this type of responsibility in
your next job? The answers to these questions will give you
the answer to the motivation question as well as
possibilities for fulfillment in future jobs that have
similar responsibilities.

Take this list of motivating experiences and script an
answer to the question, "What motivates you?" Scripting
answers prepares you and also makes you sound more
confident.

The Perfect Answer

There is no such thing as the "perfect" answer to this
question. Your answer will be individual and based on your
own experience and analysis. It will reveal to the
interviewer and to yourself what you thrive on in your
work. Even if you are not asked this question, your
pre-interview thinking, analysis, and scripting, will help
you be more focused and in control of want you want in your
next job. Knowing what you want will make you feel more
confident about finding the right job.

----------------------------------------------------
Carole Martin, America's #1 Interview Expert and Coach, can
give you interviewing tips like no one else can. Get a copy
of her FREE 9-part "Interview Success Tips" report by
visiting Carole on the web at http://www.interviewcoach.com

Font Basics for Branding Your Small Business

Font Basics for Branding Your Small Business
There are many components of a brand identity: logo, color
palette, font choice, and the Visual Vocabulary. There's a
lot of information available about the use of logos,
colors, and Visual Vocabulary, but not much on the
effective use of fonts. So, here's some information on the
creative, practical, and technical aspects of fonts.

Font basics

A font is a set of all the letters in the alphabet,
designed with similar characteristics. This is also known
as a typeface.

Fonts are usually designed to include several style
variations. This can include styles like light, regular,
bold, semibold, ultra bold, and italic. Some fonts also
include "Expert" versions, which are fonts that include
fractions and mathematical symbols.

Font families are typically packages of fonts that include
all of the different versions of a font. Using fonts with
large families will give you a wide range of fonts to use
in your materials, for variety and emphasis.

There are many basic classifications of fonts. Four of the
most common classes of fonts are:

- Serif fonts, which have little "feet," called serifs, at
the ends of the lines that make up the letters. Some
examples of serif fonts include Times, Palatino, and
Garamond. These fonts are more traditional, elegant, and
old-fashioned.

- Sans-serif fonts don't have those feet. "Sans serif"
means "without serifs." Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, and
Helvetica are some of the most common sans-serif fonts.
These fonts are more clean and modern.

- Script fonts are calligraphic or cursive fonts. Brush
Script and Nuptial Script are two common script fonts.

- Display fonts are decorative and often used for logos or
headlines.

There are other types of fonts as well, including
handwriting fonts and all-caps fonts. However, the four
listed above are the most common and useful in business
communications.

Creative font usage guidelines

Each type of font has certain characteristics that
translate into that font's personality. A font might be
serious or light-hearted, traditional or modern, legible or
decorative, or any number of other personality traits. The
traits of the font that you use in your marketing materials
and business communications should reflect and enhance your
company's brand.

Your company should have designated fonts to use in the
following situations:

- A logo font, which is typically not one of the fonts that
come installed on Windows machines: it should be more
unique and interesting. Some logos will have two or three
different fonts in them. If this is the case, then consider
using one of those fonts as the secondary font as well.

- A secondary font, used for headlines, sub-headlines,
taglines, special text such as graphics and captions, and
decorative text such as pull quotes, which are the large
quotes that are used decoratively in articles and
documents. This can be the same font as is used in your
logo. This is typically an interesting and unique font as
well. This may also be used as the font for your contact
information in your stationery, depending on its legibility.

- A tertiary font is optional and may be used when the
secondary font is not always legible, for mid-length texts
such as pull quotes and contact information.

- A serif text font, for lengthy printed documents. Printed
materials are more easily read if they are in serif font
rather than sans-serif font.

- A sans-serif font, for shorter printed documents and
on-screen use. Text on a computer monitor is easier to read
in a sans-serif font than in a serif font.

- A website font, which may be the same font as is used as
the main sans-serif text font, depending on how that font
translates for online viewing.

All of these fonts should have similar or contrasting
characteristics. Choosing fonts with similar
characteristics will make your fonts match and create
consistency throughout your documents. Choosing fonts with
contrasting characteristics will build visual texture and
interest into your materials. For example, you could pick
all thin, sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Frutiger to
create a harmonious, matching suite of fonts. Or you could
pick fonts with contrasting characteristics to create
greater interest, such as using a serif font like Palatino
for the headlines and then using a sans-serif font like
Verdana for the text.

Each piece of marketing material or document created should
have a maximum of three or four families of fonts on them.
(A font family includes all of the bold and italic
variations of a particular font, so using bold or italic
effects does not count as additional fonts.) Using more
than three or four fonts is confusing, and it looks
unprofessional.

Practical font usage guidelines

Fonts can require special consideration when you send
materials to a professional printer for reproduction, use
them on your website, or send Word documents to others.
Here are some basics on using fonts and preserving their
appearance in these cases.

- In printed materials, it's easier to read long blocks of
copy that is set in a serif font. Sans-serif fonts are
usually used in print for short blocks of information, like
headlines, pull quotes, or bulleted lists.

- When sending your materials to be professionally printed,
make sure to address your desires regarding the use of
fonts. You can either include the fonts with the files you
send to the printer (which might be considered a copyright
license infringement), rasterize your artwork (convert it
to pixels, so the font data is no longer needed), or
outline your fonts (creating shapes out of the fonts, an
option that's available in most vector art programs such as
Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand), so that they
can be printed accurately. Outlining the fonts is the best
way to guarantee that your fonts will remain accurate and
sharp.

- Online, in websites, emails, and HTML newsletters,
sans-serif fonts look the best: they're clean, clear, and
easy to read. There is one other trick to online font use:
you have to make sure that you use fonts that will be
installed on the computers of people reading your site.
Otherwise, your text will appear in the default font
selected by their browser, which is often Courier, a very
plain font. That limitation does leave you with several
fonts to choose from, though, including Verdana, Arial,
Tahoma, and Trebuchet MS.

- Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it's
best to use them in limited quantities, such as for
headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to
use on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.

- Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is
the difficulty in controlling the size and appearance of
those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don't offer precise
sizing control and need to be used several times throughout
each HTML document, so making changes can be
time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS,
to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to
make site-wide font, size, or color changes with one simple
alteration.

- In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the
fonts that you use for the text will be available on the
recipient's computer. Good fonts to use are the standard
fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial,
Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino,
Courier, and Trebuchet MS.

- In order to insert a small amount of customized text-such
as your logo, tagline, or address information-create an
image of that information and to place it in the header and
footer of the page.

- Another way to preserve the appearance of text is to
export your document as a PDF file and send it to the
recipient; PDF files embed the fonts into each document so
that they can be viewed on any computer and still look
right.

Some technical info about font file types

When you purchase fonts to use on your computer, you'll
often be given a choice of buying a Post Script, True Type,
or Open Type font. Here is a brief explanation of the
characteristics and problems with each of these formats:

- Post Script fonts are considered industry standard and
are therefore preferred by professional printers. There is
a format of Post Script fonts available for Macintosh
computers and another format available for Windows
computers; those fonts cannot be shared between Macs and
PCs.

- True Type fonts are often found on Windows machines.
These fonts do not print as well as Postscript fonts.

- Open Type fonts are the newest type of font. They are
cross-platform compatible, but many fonts aren't yet
available in this format.

With this information about the creative, practical, and
technical aspects of font usage, we hope that you can make
font choices that will enhance your brand.

----------------------------------------------------
Erin Ferree is a brand identity and marketing design
strategist who creates big visibility for small businesses.
Through her customized marketing and brand identity
packages, Erin helps her clients discover their brand
differentiators, then designs logos, business cards, and
other marketing materials and websites to reflect that
differentiation, as well as to increase credibility and
memorability.

http://www.elf-design.com

Make Money without a Website - Yes it can be done

Make Money without a Website - Yes it can be done
Have you always thought you need a website to make money
online?

Do you have a traditional business and no website and with
no inclination to get one?

Did you know you don't have to have a website to get a web
presence. Whilst is is highly advantageous it is not
necessary.

There are many business owners that are letting the power
of the internet pass them by simply because they feel
scared, confused and have the theory that they must have a
website.

There are many people out there that are not really very
familiar with the internet but would like to tap into the
lucrative affiliate money making system. When you decide to
make money as an affiliate you get a unique website name
with your affiliate code embedded which in theory give you
your own website you don't have to maintain just promote.

You don't have to have a website to do any of these
things....

Here is how you solve your problem.

- Utilise classified sites. There are hundreds of
classified sites out there that will suit your business.
Classifieds online are just like those you find
traditionally in the newspaper. The difference is you can
either pay a small fee to post or post for free. Most
classified sites are free with an option to pay for more
prominent listing online. Classified sites can be used
regardless of having a website or not. If you are acting as
an affiliate for a product or service you can usually post
your affiliate website. I recommend if you don't want your
business to be global or it is impossible for you to offer
your service globally look for classified sites that are
geographically located. There are plenty of sites that
cater for cities and regions within the city.

- Utilise managed mailing lists. Mailing lists are great
because you are sharing information with people who are
looking for your information. These people choose to be on
a list and choose to get emails. You don't get done for
spamming and you don't have to purchase leads. The best
thing of all you can send emails to thousands of people in
one click. You can utilise managed mailing lists for as
little as $12 a year.

- Join online forum discussions or blogs. You will be
surprised what you will learn from others. These are a
great form of online networking and can often bring in
business.

Classifieds and managed mailing lists are the simplest of
online promotion you can use. If you have a website you
will be best to have it submitted to the search engines.
But for those who don't you will find you will get
enquiries using these services. Just a big word of advice -
you must have an email address so people can contact you.
To ensure you don't get spam to your real email address
when listing grab yourself a hotmail or yahoo email account
for free - it will save heartache later.

----------------------------------------------------
Katherine Quirke is an Australian based business
entrepreneur. She has worked in the IT industry for over 10
years and owned a number of businesses over the last 20
years. Sharing her knowledge has become a passion and she
now spends much time mentoring and assisting businesses
worldwide. Further information may be referenced at:
http://www.yourbusinessresource.info

Are You Setting the Conditions for Business Success?

Are You Setting the Conditions for Business Success?
Creating a stellar organization involves setting the
conditions to help people do their very best work. You
could say that your team's or your company's success
depends on designing the circumstances under which people
can function most effectively. The better you set the
conditions, the more profitable your business will be!

Two areas that deserve attention in this regard are
1) your ability to observe the results of interactions and
relationships in your organization, and
2) how well your business can shift to becoming
system-dependent instead of remaining person-dependent.
Each aspect plays a critical role in ensuring the long-term
success of your team, department, or enterprise.

------------------------------------------------------------
Are You Carefully Observing Cause and Effect?
------------------------------------------------------------

Your business success requires you to observe and fine-tune
a series of cause-and-effect relationships within your
organization. To accomplish this goal, however, you'll need
to be on the lookout for clues that indicate that something
may be amiss.

That's because no matter how well you think you may have
set the conditions for success, you won't know for sure if
they're set correctly until you carefully monitor how they
are shaping or influencing what people are doing, saying,
and feeling.

The conditions can be very obvious ones -- such as those
established via company policies to guide personnel
development. On the other hand, many cause-and-effect
relationships aren't very obvious. In some situations,
you'll need a keen sense of awareness to detect their
effects.

When the conditions aren't ideal, you'll see certain
symptoms, such as people stumbling over obstacles and
frequently hearing confusing or unclear messages from
management. If you remain blissfully unaware of these areas
of confusion, they can dissolve the morale and the bottom
line of your organization like corrosive acid. If that
happens, people can't do their best, and the organization,
business, company, operation, or team won't achieve its
goals.

------------------------------------------------------------
Are You System-Dependent?
------------------------------------------------------------

Great results generally arise from well thought-out systems
and procedures that give personnel a consistent and
coherent structure to work with, yet also provide people
with the latitude to "wow" customers as needed.

Perhaps you have at least a few stellar performers in your
organization who don't cease to amaze your management,
colleagues, and customers. (Or, maybe that performer is
you, wearing every hat in your solo enterprise!)

It's great to have such competent and talented people on
board, but what exactly drives their success? Is it their
own unique way of doing things that almost no one can
imitate? Or is it expertise and knowledge built around a
repeatable formula laid out in your systems and procedures?
The difference can mean the long-term success or failure of
your business. Why is that?

It's easy to guess. Let's say Ms. Star Performer or Mr.
Know-It-All gets a better offer down the street, has a bad
illness, or goes on an extended vacation. Suddenly that
font of wisdom on whom everyone depended disappears at the
drop of a hat. Who can competently fill in or take over? If
there are no systems or procedures in place to explain how
the work gets done, it may be a moot point.

Similarly, when employees have to guess everything as they
go along, inventing their hand-offs to other people and
groups, it shows a lack of system dependence. In good cases
or in bad, being person-dependent rather than
system-dependent can vastly limit your company's potential
to succeed.

In conclusion, by monitoring cause-and-effect in your
organization, and also depending on systems and procedures
more than individual star performers, you'll lay a
foundation for a sustainable operation that can produce
satisfying, long-term results.

----------------------------------------------------
Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning
"Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" program.
She helps people "discover and recover" the profits their
businesses may be losing every day through overlooked
performance potential. To sign up for more free tips, visit
her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com

5 Steps to Find the Perfect Virtual Assistant for Your Business

5 Steps to Find the Perfect Virtual Assistant for Your Business
If you have recently come to the realization that you can
make better use of your time and earn more profits by
focusing on the income earning aspects of your business,
you are not alone. More and more entrepreneurs are
choosing to outsource their administrative duties to a
Virtual Assistant. But how do you find the right VA for
you? Putting your trust in a complete stranger to care for
your business' administrative functions is tricky, and in
some cases even risky business. You want to be sure that
you are able to trust that your assistant isn't taking
advantage of you by over-billing and that he/she is not
disclosing any of your business' confidential information
to others. You also want to be sure that your VA is a
skilled, reliable professional that will make your business
a priority.

The vast majority of Virtual Assistants are business owners
much like you. If they have any knowledge of the business
world at all, they realize that your business success
correlates with their business success. But, in this
industry, as in many others, there are opportunists that
one would like to avoid. Blindly hiring VA and then
trusting that person with your business is not generally
the best approach. The following are some tips that should
help you select a capable VA for your business needs:

1. Examine the VA's website. The site should enable you to
determine a few key details. Is the text free of spelling
errors? Is it properly formatted and well written? If so,
this is a good indication that the VA operates their
business in a professional manner and is detail oriented.
Visit the "services" page to see if they can carry out most
of the tasks you need performed. The "about us" page
should give you an idea of the VA's background and
qualifications.

2. Ask a friend or colleague about their VA. More people
than you think are using the services of Virtual Assistants
these days. Ask around to see if anyone you know either
uses a VA or knows someone who uses a VA. Talk to that
person to see if they are happy with their Assistant's
work. If other people are happy with his/her work, this is
a good indication that you will be happy as well.

3. Ask any potential candidates for a free consultation to
discuss the possibility of working with them. During the
consultation, discuss the VA's professional experience, but
remember, this is not a one way interview. The Virtual
Assistant is a business owner and will also be asking you
questions about your business to see if he/she wants to
work with you. Be sure to discuss their billing practices.
Will they track their time for you so that you can see the
hours they have spent on your work? During this
consultation, you should be able to evaluate whether the VA
is intelligent and articulate and whether you are able to
easily communicate with one another.

4. Ask for references. If you have time to check
references, it's a good idea to do so. As with any
potential contractor, checking with businesses the VA has
worked with, will allow you to ask an objective individual
for their opinion of the Assistant's work.

5. Start on a per project basis before retaining the VA's
services for a longer term. This will provide the best
indication of their skill level and how well you work
together. Some VA's offer discounts on first projects to
encourage you to use their services on a trial basis.
While not all VAs offer such deals, it can't hurt to ask.
Always take advantage of these offers before agreeing to a
long-term working relationship.

Some other things you should look for in a Virtual
Assistant are superior customer service skills, prompt
replies to your phone calls or emails, and a work schedule
that is commensurate with your own. Having said this, it
is important for you to remember that a Virtual Assistant
is a business owner. They have other clients and may not be
available at all hours of the day or night. If that is what
you need, you should probably consider hiring an employee
instead.

Finding a qualified Virtual Assistant will provide you with
the freedom to focus on making your business more
profitable. The right VA should provide quality work in a
relatively timely manner and will undoubtedly increase your
productivity. The approach to finding the perfect VA
suggested here is a structured one that should increase
your probability of gaining an Assistant, with whom you can
enjoy a lasting and mutually successful working
relationship.

----------------------------------------------------
Kelly Sims is a Virtual Assistant and President of
Virtually There VA Services. To find out more about
virtual assistance and how using a Virtual Assistant can
simplify your life, visit her website at =>
http://www.virtuallythereva.com . While you're there,
don't forget to sign up for her free monthly newsletter
providing useful information that enhances and simplifies
the lives of busy entrepreneurs.