time

Refer to older posts…

7 tasks to delegate for your blog

Published 3 September, 2010 | By TashWord

Some time ago I wrote a post about building blogging skills based on a list by Chris Garrett (on a blog that is no longer live unfortunately).

One of his tips was to delegate, and this was picked up in the comments of that post so I thought I’d list some ways delegation can help your blogging:

pay someone else to write some or all of your blog posts
have regular guest bloggers in your blog. For example, I used to have a web designer include articles in my newsletter.
use RSS feed to collect some relevant material to add to your blog (similar to a guest blogger but totally automated!)
write the posts yourself but get someone else to enter them into the software, adding keywords, categories, etc
have someone else manage your blog and website – software updates, adding new graphics, collecting stats, etc
finding ideas – have someone else research topics your readers are interested in so you have a list to work from when it is time to write
outsource multiple tasks so you have more time for blogging – think about your bookkeeping, filing, writing, graphics, negotiations and sales

While it isn’t something to delegate, I would also suggest keeping a notepad or computer document handy to note ideas at any time. Any time you think of something to blog about, write it down so you don’t have to spend time with bloggers block – and you don’t face the frustration of knowing you had the perfect idea yesterday…

How do you ensure you have enough time for blogging?

Posted in blogging | Tagged blog, delegate, time, write | 1 Comment

2010-11 is almost here!

Published 2 June, 2010 | By TashWord

Do you think it is time to prepare for a new financial year – or are you going to wait until July to work on your tax and accounting obligations?

I always plan to be organised so I can submit a tax return in early July, but it is never quite that smooth in reality. My bookkeeper needs time to enter all the data from June, I need my super fund to send me a deduction letter and so on.

However, I really do look at my accounts now so I can maximise this financial year – thinking of deductions in July won’t help much!

Here are some of my tips on keeping accounting issues under control in June/July:

have regular data entry for expenses throughout the year- or get a bookkeeper!
keep a document going all year to note down anything that may go into your annual report (i.e. note down any significant changes or events so you don’t have to remember them when you starting writing the report) This will also help a lot if you outsource the report writing
if website pages/attachments need to be updated for 1 July (e.g. for legislation or price changes), prepare them in advance – even if data is unavailable until late June, you can have everything else ready to go
book your accountant/tax agent early so you can choose a date that suits you
get someone to help you if you are stuck entering a lot of data (e.g. for new depreciable items or household accounts if you are home-based) – it’s much quicker if one person reads out the data while the other types it
check your online bank access – many will show the year’s interest instead of adding up each month’s or waiting for a printed statement
review your payroll records now so you have all the information when sending out PAYG statements
automate any regular payments – this can be useful all year, but taking the time in April/May to schedule payment of memberships and subscriptions due in June can save time and the stress of forgetting
prepare communications in advance (blog posts, newsletter information) so those tasks are out of the way for a month or so
have a good account filing system as well as your actual accounts – I use a display folder with a plastic envelope per month plus some extras (‘to be entered’, ‘pending’, etc) – and avoid changing it at this time of year

How else do you make your accounting and tax tasks quicker or easier?

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged financial, july, june, time, year | Leave a comment

Take 30 minutes…

Published 28 December, 2009 | By TashWord

If you suddenly found yourself with an extra 30 minutes, what would you do with your time? Would you waste it, fill it with the ordinary or do something different?

Chris Brogan and many people in his blog community gave some ideas on filling an unexpected half hour in order to make use of their ‘spare time’. Some of my favourites on the list are relaxing (meditating, walking, etc), a quick burst of filing or tidying, give some recommendations/referrals, contact people on a personal level (it can be a business contact, but chat to them instead of always focussing on what has to be done) and catching up on some reading/learning.

Moving on from that list, I like the idea of making half an hour a day for these sorts of tasks. Maybe start your day with them, lift the ‘low’ times around lunchtime or finish off the working day, but make a time to do some little tasks.

[Tweet “Schedule time for the little ‘care for me’ tasks”]

Why? Those little tasks can be very important – to your calmness, clarity, happiness, productivity, relationships and creativity. And doing them regularly for a short time will keep things under control.

I’m going to give it a try, now that I’ve been inspired. Could you benefit from making 30 minutes a day, too?

Posted in bit off track | Tagged little, plan, tasks, time | Leave a comment

Generosity isn’t just money

Published 14 February, 2009 | By TashWord

Last week I wrote about generosity killing mediocrity and I wanted to add that I don’t think generosity only involves money and things.

Sharing information is also generous

Generosity also doesn’t have to be about sacrifice or ‘doing without’ on your part either. I believe it is about contributing and benefiting someone else – the focus is on who you are helping rather than on you. Obviously, the more you give, the more generous you are being but we all have to work within our own constraints.

You can be generous in many ways, even as a business. Here are some examples of non-monetary generosity:

by giving someone your time – for example help at a working bee
by sharing your expertise – for example I share tips in this blog and in my articles and speak at workshops and conferences
by providing a free service – for example, I want to find a Victorian business and help them rebuild their documents after the bushfires
giving a smile and nice messages when dealing with people – it takes little effort but can mean a lot
arranging something, such as a fundraising event or a networking function
sharing resources
by promoting something. For instance, referring someone to your client’s website, linking to a charity or reviewing a book
networking – I don’t mean just going to networking events but helping people you know connect with each other as relevant and forwarding useful/interesting things to those in your network.

With the bushfire appeal high on the minds of many Australians at the moment, thinking of ways to be generous may mean we can give more than our finances alone will allow.

*image courtesy of 123rf

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged expertise, generosity, giving, money, network, time | Leave a comment

Have you recently resent that?

Published 24 November, 2008 | By TashWord

Sometimes, I really wonder how people learn English as a second language – it can be so tricky! For instance, the letters s and c can sound exactly the same but using the wrong one can totally change the meaning of a word, such as in recent and resent.

Recent: of a similar time to the present – not long ago or far into the future.
The recent rains have helped our water supply.

Resent: to send something again.
I resent the email after he said he hadn’t received it the first time.

If English isn’t your first language, do you find learning such words difficult?

Posted in Monday Meanings | Tagged English, meanings, recent, resent, similar, time, words | Leave a comment

Beyond the call…

Published 6 November, 2008 | By TashWord

I recently read a post by Melissa about being sick and running your business and it made me smile. I think I can safely say I went beyond the call of duty for one of my clients last month, on the day Melissa wrote that post…

I spent the morning in hospital in false labour and the afternoon doing errands. By late afternoon, I was in full labour with painful contractions and received a request for an urgent client newsletter mailing. So I spent the early evening preparing and sending out an email in between major contractions – and then went back to hospital for my son’s birth!

Aside from my dedication to client’s :), managing business during personal health issues is a serious topic for business owners. Do you struggle on and hope you’ll get better but risk making yourself worse? Do you tell clients you’re sick and delay their work? Do you get help from somewhere?

As professionals, we want to fulfill promises to clients and deliver on time and to a suitable standard. As people, we need time to recover from illness and time to rest and care for ourselves. It is when these needs clash that we struggle.

The ideal is to prepare for such issues, rather than find ourselves unable to deal with it (imagine being so sick you can’t even warn clients things are running behind…) What ways have you prepared your business for your unplanned (or planned) absences?

Posted in About Word Constructions, business info & tools | Tagged business, Clients, health, illness, sick, time | 2 Comments

Supplier control

Published 3 October, 2008 | By TashWord

Sometimes suppliers and clients don’t agree on the best way to do something – that is natural and understandable. But if the client is paying for the work, I believe that the client has the deciding vote.

I have had situations where a client has insisted I do something a particular way against my better judgment as a professional writer. A few times, I have done what the client asked for and an alternative version the way I think it should be done and given both versions to the client. In all these cases, once they have seen it in context, the client has agreed with my version. Other times I have just done what the client asked.

But what happens when a supplier decides their way is correct, or at least better, and just implements it without even telling the client they are making that decision?

For instance, if a client asks for certain paragraphs to be in italics in a brochure their designer may disagree and not use italics. The client, trusting the designer to do as asked, doesn’t notice this omission until after the brochures are printed and is rightly upset because those paragraphs were quotes and need to look different.

A much more professional approach from the designer would have been to say “I don’t think italics is a good idea as they are harder to read” and then discussed it with the client.

Clients do not appreciate loosing control of their own projects, nor the suppliers who take that control. And once you do something like that, the client is likely to double check everything you do for them which is a waste of their time and goodwill – and not likely to get you more work or any referrals.

As a supplier, you can disagree with a client but you should never presume to control the project contrary to your client’s request. Remember, if the final result is not up to your standard because the client insisted on doing things a certain way, it reflects more on the client than you – their name is on it, not yours. Just don’t add the project to your portfolio!

Posted in business info & tools, writing | Tagged Clients, control, disagree, professional, request, time | 1 Comment

Boundaries between home & work

Published 21 August, 2008 | By TashWord

In a traditional job setting, the difference between work and home is fairly clear and easy to see – until you start bringing work home anyway! But when you run a business or have a remote job, it can be harder to spot the difference – and harder to manage things.

Of course, the big question is HOW to manage time! I think the simplistic answer is to set boundaries to maintain control.

From talking to various people, I see two main groups of at home workers – those who get distracted from work by the need to tidy the kitchen, hang out the washing, vacuum the floors and so on, and those who work a lot and find it hard to manage much of the house stuff at all. Which group do you fit into? I have no trouble (well, generally speaking!) getting on with work but end up working too hard and letting the housework slide…

Here are some of my ideas on creating boundaries between business and home, but I’d love to hear your suggestions, too…

physically separate your working space from your living space as much as possible – if you are sitting in your work space, don’t do home things and vice versa. My article, separating your home office, may give you some new ideas
separate phone lines if you can – then only answer the business phone during business hours, and the home phone during personal hours. Before you assume this is too expensive, consider a VOIP phone as this is much cheaper than renting a second landline
tell clients your expectations/limitations – for example, “We work 10 to 4” or “we don’t answer phone calls in busy periods”. Kylie of Tilda Virtual went further and actually sacked a client to gain back control of her business and family boundaries!
set clear business hours and stick to them most of the time – if clients see you work outside those hours, they will start expecting you to do so. If you do work out of your usual hours, make it clear it is unusual or mask the fact – sometimes I work late at night but program the email to go to my client the next morning so I am not advertising the fact of when I did the work.
if possible, use a different email address for friends and family than for business. Set up filters for incoming emails and just concentrate on business emails during business hours.
learn to say no to clients or extra work – or at least say it won’t be done straight away. Know how much work you can deal with in a day/week and refuse to overload yourself
if you have people visiting you during the day, try putting a sign on the door that says “Business in operation – please call back later for a personal visit” so people can see you are serious about your business hours. If you want, you could leave a pencil and notepad by the door so they can leave you a message

Sometimes it seems impossible to make those boundaries, but the reduced stress and lost time is well worth the effort. Good luck with it!

Use your words and time wisely!

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged boundaries, business, Clients, email, home, home workers, house, ideas, manage, office, phone, separate, space, time, work, work at home | 3 Comments

Clutter free and productive

Published 23 July, 2008 | By TashWord

One of the conference workshops I attended last week was called “Working in a clutter-free, productive place”, run by Natasha Crestani of Inspired Honey. It was fantastic!

I must say I agree with the premise that less clutter makes it easier to concentrate and to find things, both of which make you more productive when you try to work and function. But when you get busy, it can be hard to manage the clutter.

If you tend to hoard things and surround yourself with clutter, I believe you have to be ready to let go of things or it won’t happen. But even organising your clutter will make a difference if you can’t actually lose much of it yet.

Some tips I got from Natasha – either directly or by thinking about what she said – are listed below and hopefully one or two will help you be more productive in your business/office!

develop a system for incoming paper – use that system on new things even if you still have piles of old papers lying around
reduce unnecessary papers entering your office. For example, add a ‘no junk mail’ sign to your letterbox, open all your mail next to the recycling bin so unwanted papers never reach the house/office and don’t print off emails/web pages/etc unless you really need to
make regular time to declutter or sort – it’s much less intimidating to tidy for 5 minutes than to sort a desk hidden under stacks of paper
get some sorters, document trays or upright file holders and aim for nothing lying loose on your desk when you aren’t using it. Even two or three semi-sorted piles of paper makes things easier to find than one huge pile or paper strewn everywhere
have a notebook to write notes in – notes from meetings, ideas that come to you, phone numbers, references to check, and so on – rather than using lots of scraps of paper that you can never find when you need them
have a recycling bin in your office so paper can go straight into it when you are finished with it
if something comes to you that can be sorted very quickly (like in less than 5 minutes) deal with it NOW as that is quicker than having to reassess it and do it later
use lists – getting clutter out of your mind is just as important as getting it off your desk!

What systems will work in your oficce and situation depends on you, your business and what resources you have so the bad news is that there is no magic bullet to fix clutter and disorganisation. The good news is that you can change things and become more productive 🙂

As a busy writer, I admit that sometimes my desk and office got out of control and were hidden under piles of paper. Since Natasha’s workshop, I have reduced clutter and it feels great! I am implementing new systems, too, so I will never lose my desk again!

Still, I would love to hear your business/office organisation tips so please add them as comments…

Posted in bit off track, business info & tools | Tagged business, clutter, clutter-free, desk, office, organise, productive, reduce, space, time | 7 Comments

Timing a media release

Published 8 May, 2008 | By TashWord

A media release is generally an announcement of something you consider newsworthy enough the media may tell your story. So when do you tell the media?

There is no simple answer, but there are some guidelines depending on what type of release you are sending out.

If your release is announcing something that has happened (e.g. “we won an award”)

send it out ASAP

If your release is about an upcoming event (e.g. “our school fete is on the 9th May”)

don’t send it until you know all the important facts (especially dates, times and place, or the name, address and URL of a new business)
send it early enough for the media to use it. For example, if the local paper is printed on Tuesday don’t send the release on the Tuesday afternoon immediately before the event. Note that some media outlets have a much longer lead time than others – some magazines need things months in advance. Likewise, consider their time requirements before sending it too early – a local paper or website doesn’t need to know about a small event 3 months in advance, they’ll just forget it if you tell them too soon!
include a release date. That is, at the top of the media release, write “Not to be released until 1 June 2008” or similar so the media know it is advance warning

In addition, if your release is about the launch of a new website

don’t send the release until there is something on the website! Sending the media to ‘coming soon’ page won’t impress them and it is less likely that they will publish your story. The site doesn’t have to be complete, but have a welcome page that introduces the business/site, some contact details and has a look that complements the final look – this is much more professional and enticing. If the site is near completion, you may even send the media a link that shows them what the site will look like even if it isn’t yet available at the final URL

If your release isn’t time critical, then you can send it at any time of course! But I would question its newsworthiness if it really has no time frame attached..

The timing doesn’t have to be hard – just use a little common sense really.

Happy writing!

Posted in business info & tools | Tagged announce, date, event, lead, magazine, media, paper, release, time, timing, website | 1 Comment

Welcome!

eBooks to read

Pages of note

Useful resources

Recent Posts

Categories