Mastering the task - one bite at a time

One of my favorite mentors in my life used to remind me when I was overwhelmed with a task at hand: "How do you eat an elephant Sarah? One bite at a time".

I'm sure that quote belongs to another person and forgive me please for not citing the correct author, but I do relate to the quote. I get overwhelmed as often as my clients do, but I try to pick the most important tasks and concentrate on the task at hand instead of something I "should be" doing. There will always be lots of work to do and we are all very busy people. One way to keep moving forward is to continue to master our software to learn easier ways to do the tasks at hand.

How to you master your software? One new task at a time, for example:

QuickBooks:

• Begin adding or organizing items - one hour per week
• Begin using just one additional billing method - this month
• Merge vendors (customers, items, accounts) that are duplicates - 4 per week
• Attend Success in-Formation http://www.successif.biz/ Free On line Q & A Session each month with a list of questions to ask - 90 min per month.

American Contractor:

• Begin using T & M Invoicing for one job this month - read help next Tuesday.
• Begin using Info Center by scanning in AP Invoices for just one job - starting on the 15th.
• Add your daily/weekly tasks to Fast Access in Command Center - one time, next Friday morning
• Schedule Night Auditor this month to reindex every Tuesday night - Schedule it tomorrow (takes 5 minutes to schedule it - read help for more info)

Windows:

• Name your saved files in a consistent fashion - begin today as often as you can.
• Organize your folders on a shared folder/eliminate duplicates in just one folder - 15 minutes each Wednesday after lunch.
• Schedule an automatic backup or contact a remote backup company this month so you don't have to worry about loosing data.
• Learn to connect to the office remotely - this month.

Microsoft Word:

• Make your tables attractive using Styles - one table at a time as you need them.
• Learn about QuickParts by reading help and creating one. - Next Friday afternoon.
• Add a commonly used document to your templates - this week.

Microsoft Outlook:

• Add a tag line about your business to your signature line - change monthly on the 10th of each month
• Delete your junk mail folder- once per week, glance at the emails quickly for non-junk, then delete.
• Categorize your contacts into logical categories to find contacts quickly-create or clean up one category per week.
• Add above tasks to Outlook to remind you, over time, you will be happy you did them, they will make your life easier in the long run.

Learning in the Now

Learning new software is a wonderful time to practice, living in the present.

There area many books out about "living in the Now" and "focusing within". I remember when I used to demonstrate software and I could feel myself "being in the zone". Time would go away while I was in a contractors office showing them a software program. I would focus on their questions and make notes and show them the software. I got very good at knowing my success rate by the time I left their office. I could feel the connection we had made, or didn't make in some cases. I could assess their needs and concentrate only on them. When this was happening, I lost track of time. Sometimes the demo would take 3 hours, sometimes 45 minutes. It really didn't matter, what mattered was that I was there at that moment, living in the Now.

Life is so busy, offices are so busy. It is very hard to do your present job as well as implement new software. It is especially hard if you don't have a plan of action for how it will happen and if you cannot focus on that plan. Your focused hard work will make your job easier in the near future.

Focusing within means giving attention to the task at hand and to yourself. Be good to the person who has to do this task "You". Give yourself time to read, concentrate in a quiet place, not answer the phone, just to breathe and relax. You deserve the chance to fully grasp what you are doing in the workplace. Someone at your office decided that now was the time to implement new software. Based on that decision, you can decide that "Now" is the time you will give your undivided attention to your needs in order to learn and perform this task.

As quoted in "The Power of Now" by Eckert Tolle, there is an Eastern saying "the teacher and the taught together create the teaching". I can say from experience, that a successful implementation are when both the teacher and the taught are focusing in the present moment.

Happy Learning!

Networking

I have always valued the benefit of networking. It is a challenge to decide what networking opportunities are the most time effective. There are a limited number of events per month I can manage to participate in so deciding which will benefit my business the most is a marketing decision I struggle with each month.

I am a member of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) and have been for 30 years, longer than I have done anything else, including raising my children.

My business is a member of two Chambers of Commerce, both Manatee and Pinellas Park in Florida. I am on the small business committee of the Manatee chamber which meets once per month for an hour in the morning.

When I was in Michigan I was a member of the Construction Association of Michigan and the Associated General Contractors. I have not re-joined any construction associatons other than NAWIC since being in Florida (now 3 1/2 years) but am considering making that move soon.

There are network associations popping up all over the place these days. They are private and local to your specific area. In these associations, the members refer the other members of the group to each other and everyone they know. Some groups have only one of each kind of company in an industry so your competition is not a member of the group at the same time you are. But...you cannot miss meetings, if you miss your meeting, another company, possibly your competitor will take your position. If I refer someone to one of my clients or a friend or my family, I want to know they are good at what they do. I don't want to refer someone just because I'm in a group that requires me to do that. I understand that the theory is to grow your business, but I'm not sure yet if these groups are for me, although I'm sure there are very skilled people in the group that I would be happy to refer.

With the Internet, we network no matter what we do. The world sees us, blogging, writing articles, what colleges we attended and who our friends are (my space, face book).

It is important to say what you mean and stand behind what you say. If we aren't sure of something, we must state up front that it is an opinion or we shouldn't say it at all. My mother taught me and I taught my children "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". I guess after all these years, this still holds true.

Oh and one more thing, Blogs are almost always "opinions"!

Happy Networking!

Document your Business Process

Every business needs to document the process of how things are done in their business. If you don’t state in writing what you what to happen within your company it just won’t happen, especially in the way that you expect.

Just like instructions to do a task, a business process states how things are to be handled at your company, in brief form. It doesn't have to be as detailed as a procedure or policy manual. Think of your business process as "the big picture" that helps to explain how your business functions. What you do in your business will determine how detailed the document is and what form it takes on.

It may take the form of a gantt chart or it could take the form of a flow chart. If that is too elaborate for you just put it in writing, it will be referred to often. It may become a jumping point for creating employee training instructions (saving you time every time you hire someone), company referral charts (where do we buy this, who do we call to refer that service, etc) and many more documents that together may be come your company policies and procedures.

Wouldn't it be nice if the next time an employee says to you "how do we do backup" you can just say "did you look first?" in the documentation!

For more information on "Documenting your Business Process" go to http://www.successif.biz/ and click on Articles and Links.

Marketing for a non-marketing professional

Marketing has got to be the biggest time drain on my business, along with keeping up with technology. I've been doing marketing work this week. Making changes to my website, talking to other professionals who can offer services that are compatible with mine, net working in general.

I try to market on a tight budget. It's tough to know what will work and what won't and just like any small business owner, it's 9pm at night and I'm still working.

I finally posted some articles on my website. I'm trying to offer free information so people can get to know me. Not just junk, but really good stuff. I need ideas for topics, please send some!

That's another subject: the web definition of an article. It's the big thing these days, "get your articles published on the web". Funny thing is, what "they" call articles are about 3 or 4 paragraphs. People don't have time to read much. It's amazing what a time warp you can get into when you get on the web, so articles are kept at a minimum. We all need time for our other life; reality: those who give you a kiss every now and then when you aren't pecking away at your computer.

A day in my life

Recently I spent a day with one of my new clients. I spent the day with them in their conference room along with their chief estimator, vice president and their controller. We looked at their new software and viewed screens within the software and discussed their current business process and how it would fit into their new software.

What we did in that meeting was so important to the success of this company.

• It was important that the meeting was attended by the key players and only those players (although there are times when all players should be involved).
• It was important that all of us dedicated that time to the meeting un-interrupted with no phone calls, only a break for lunch.
• It was important that the software was used as a guide for how things would be done and who would do what and what sequence of events would be followed.
• As the process for the implementation of new software was unveiled, notes were made about how to perfect the existing process in the future. IE: potential problems in the current process were uncovered that came up as a result of creating the new process.
• It was important that we documented the revised process right there in the meeting as a part of the meeting.

We all came out of that meeting with a clear process in writing of how their company would function using the software to it's fullest potential.

Keeping up with the Blog

I know it's been some time since I posted here and I appologize for the delay. Many companies decided that 2008 was the year to get new software and that thrills me, and it keeps me very busy. I am always happy to see the progress companies make when they implement new software. It's like cleaning out your house and repainting, sending all the old clothes to Goodwill, buying new furniture and appliances and learning how to finally program the DVD player, all at the same time. What a task, but how rewarding when everything is set up, organized and the employees truly understand why they are doing what they do and everyone understands how to read the reports.

January 26th my daughter married her sweetheart who is a wonderful young man and I couldn't be more proud. The wedding was in the hills of Texas in a beautiful large log cabin. The weather was perfect and the guests were even better.

So it's back to work, meeting with my peer group and working on my website and classes and helping clients understand the world of financial software.

I sure do love my work. I hope you do too!