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Working out of Your Home- Ideas for Parents.

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

My colleague, Stephanie Calahan, is a business and productivity expert. She often has new and creative ideas; this post I’m sharing below has ideas for parents who work out of the house. The  ideas come from Stephanie as well as some of her colleagues, and there are so many good and new ideas, I wanted to share more widely.

The full post is here, but for now, here are a few of the best suggestions:

When is it time to work? Try music as a signal. This tip is from Stephanie herself.

  • If Mom has classical music or new-age jazz playing, she is trying to concentrate and interruption would not be nice.
  • If mom has club music or other up-beat music blaring out of her office, it is ok to interrupt because her creative time is interruptible.  Heck!  She might even stop and dance with you through a song just to get her blood flow going again!
Let your child participate in your business-from Stephanie, too:
  • When you make your child a part of the business, they can grow empowerment and pride for what you do rather than feeling like it is stealing their parent away from them. 
  • In the full post , you’ll read ideas for kids of different ages and what they can reasonably handle. Shredding, “working” at the same time, website book marketing and more.
Kay McGuire (www.mcguiresorganizingservices.com) and mom of 4 suggests the following:
“Create a special box just for that child.  In it, put snacks and special toys.  Explain that the only time that he/she can play in the box is when Mommy is on the phone and he/she is quiet as a mouse.  When you explain this, do some role playing.  Maybe even show him/her how to tickle lock his/her lips when Mom is on the phone.  You may even have a special chair where she can sit.  This way if you need to keep an eye on her, you can.”

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Posted in Back to School, Home Office, Interviews and Guest Posts | No Comments »

Smead Product Review – Viewables

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Smead’s Viewables – I have wanted to  try these file tabs for a long time; they solve a file drawer problem I have. A nice surprise showed up recently – Viewables, from Smead - because Smead occasionally asks professional organizers to review their products. I like them and will stick with them. Here’s the problem I had with my files and how Viewables solves it.

The first picture shows how I see the files from where I sit, with Viewables now making it so much easier to see what I have.

I wanted a solution for this drawer, which holds current, non-client files: my workshops and presentations, two organizing associations, QuickBooks file of receipts, my book, CEU tracking, and in the back, my current personal files. I’m in this drawer a lot when I’m not on the phone with a client or at their home or  office.

The tabs are viewable from any angle, and in a font size larger than average, helpful because I’m not right in front of the files. I have a top-down view plus a front view.

Color code if you want; the software lets you choose font size and color. Very simple software. I didn’t color code for  organizational purposes, but I love having color around me, so each tab has a color.

Very sturdy tabs. The tabs stick up higher than a typical hanging  file tab, but they clear the desk drawer above.  I can’t imagine these wearing out. Plus, you receive a plastic sheet you cover each tab with, for more protection from wear and tear. And plenty of extra tabs and labels.

They’re not as easy to implement as a simple label maker, but that’s okay, for this small, often used set of files – and worth of it because of the angle I sit at, vis a vis the drawer. Otherwise, I’d  have them on a desk stand (visual clutter and distracting) or have  to kneel in front of the drawer each time to see and find my file. Protecting my knees is a good thing, as I get older.

 

View from the front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side and top both say the file’s name.

LOVE the top view!

 

 

 

 

 

I’d definitely use these again; they solve the issue of the angle, are very sturdy and are more fun to  implement, too.

If you want to get some files into better shape, this might be a fun excuse to do so!

If you’re not sure how you want organize your files, and would like to collaborate on best ways for you to find what you need, when you need it, please reach out.

It feels good to know that your important  documents at home or your business  files are useful, and that your “paper life” (because we all have some) is in order.

And then, let’s talk about email and pc files…”Organized enough.”

 

Direct link for Smead Viewables: Click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Financial, Home Office, Inside My World, Papers | 2 Comments »

Fire Up Your Biz: Enrich Your Life!

Monday, January 9th, 2012

I’m on board as a featured expert!


When Life Interferes:

Making it through Life’s Transitions as a Business Owner.

Stephanie Calahan, coordinator of the telesummit and founder of Calahan Solutions, Inc. in Bloomington IL. has gathered 20+ internationally renowned business coaches and productivity experts, including me!

“We are passionate about sharing our decades of wisdom to guide you in increasing your business success so that you can reclaim your health, wealth and happiness.” Stephanie LH Calahan

So why is this so important for you? We’re living through a truly amazing time, and never before have so many people been called to own their own business and blaze a path to their dreams.

With this shift, we need powerful mentors – inspired communicators who model this new way of BEING.

 

Just the facts

FREE Fire Up Your Biz – Enrich Your Life Telesummit starting on January 18th through February 28th, 2012.

Three experts a week for six weeks.

My topic is  “When Life Interferes: Making it through Life’s Transitions as a Business Owner.”

In a hurry?  Go here for all the details:  http://www.fireupyourbizenrichyourlife.com

Sneak peak at the topics

  • Time Strategies for the Busy Entrepreneur
  • The 3 Surprising Keys that Open the Door to Small Business Abundance
  • From Procrastination to DONE!
  • We’ve Got To Stop Meeting Like This: How to Run Meetings that Actually Get Things Done
  • Mindset Matters: Secrets to a Powerful Mindset
  • Solopreneur Motivation Secrets: Create the Work Environment and Results You Want
  • A Busy Family’s Guide to Getting Organized So You Can Live Your Best Life and Still Enjoy Your Family
  • How to Overcome your Mental Money Barriers, and Break Free to Success
  • Networking for Success
  • Top Tech Tools for Busy Business Owners
  • 5 Keys to Social Media Success: Do it Right, Stop Wasting Time and Get Results!
  • Passion Management: How to Juggle/Prioritize all of the Passions We Have
  • Get the Right Support for Your Business, Inside and Out
  • Get Time and Tasks Managed Quickly
  • Five Secrets to Streamline Your Work Flow
  • Unlock the Secret to Achieving Your Profit Goals
  • Depressing Desks and Psychic Debris: Cleaning up the Work Space by De-cluttering the Head Trash
  • Conquering Your Fear with a Knockout Punch
  • Conquer Email Overload
  • When Life Interferes: Making it through Life’s Transitions as a Business Owner

 

Reserve your place at NO COST with 24 hour Replay access by clicking HERE.

Can’t make the calls?

Or, you want to access the information whenever YOU want? Then we have something else for you…

THE FIRE UP YOUR BIZ TOOL KIT – Only $97 per person
This includes 20+ hours of content-rich and inspired conversations with the expert guides from FIRE UP YOUR BIZ – ENRICH YOUR LIFE (MP3 Downloads & Action Guides)
PLUS  Over $900 in Valuable Bonus Gifts

Register now and order THE FIRE UP YOUR BIZ TOOL KIT Package! 

PS from Stephanie directly: The sessions are ALL ANSWERS and no fluff, meaning, we will give you solid actionable, innovative strategies, processes and tools that can take your company to the next level –not a big sales pitch.

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Posted in Classes, Home Office | No Comments »

Bouncing Back with a Butterflies Box

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Been a grouch or a grinch lately? How do you bounce back from a tough day, a difficult conversation, that feeling we get sometimes as people or business owners that it’s just so … hard, sometimes. Here’s one of my ways. My “butterflies box.”

Each time I receive a compliment from  client, or a testimonial from a workshop host – anything positive – I print the comment, fold it up, and drop it in the box. Down day and I start unfolding and reading those messages.

 

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting,

small but approachable,

butterflies lead you  to the sunny side of life. 

And everyone deserves a little sunshine. 

~Jeffrey Glassberg

 

 

I’m happy to say it is overflowing right now; you don’t see the pieces of paper next to the box due to photo cropping!  Occasionally, I’ve let a client know about this, and next  thing I know, they’ve invented their own version.  I will admit that with Twitter, my compliments organizing system may need some upgrading!

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Posted in AD/HD, Harmony at Home, Home Office, Inside My World, Inspiration | No Comments »

Keeping Track of (and Decluttering !) Passwords

Monday, December 12th, 2011

A reader’s question:  Any suggestions for organizing one’s myriad log ins and passwords?

As with other organizing answers, I’m going to start you off with some questions, so you find what works best for you and is sustainable.  Here are some considerations and then some experts’ solutions after that.

All sites are not the same. You have banking sites, store/catalog sites, blogs, YouTube, software sites. Consider how important the site and the password are. Banking versus blog, for example. Is your credit card information in use or any other financials? I know that some of my colleagues use a different, financials-only password (different  far more complex than other passwords). And some people keep one PC exclusively for use with financials. So what are your thoughts on this front?

If you have a list or the passwords are written down somewhere, go through them and declutter. How many are you actively using? Are there ones you remember, so you don’t need to write them down? (But are they secure enough?) When you review them, you may find fewer to keep track of than you think you have right now. And if you’re going to type these into a tracking mechanism, let’s reduce the time waste of tracking what you’re not using and later on, looking through unused passwords to find the ones you really need.

Consider your privacy and your comfort level with paper versus technology used at your computer versus out in the cloud. How much do you trust all of this? That’s where your tools should be, in your comfort zone.

And based on your answers, here are some options for you to think about.

Offline but at your desk: Use a document or a spreadsheet, but only kept offline from your regular PC (only saved to an external hard drive or separate usb/thumb drive just for this purpose.)

Go to the cloud: LastPass  is a product recommended by The Time Management Ninja  (and CNET and Lifehacker, too.)

Creating the password: Somewhere recently I read of the idea to come up with a structure, just one, for the password framework. Then you use a few different characters for each required password. You memorize and don’t write down the framework. this keeps framework and unique characters separate, because you can write down the characters. They mean nothing without the framework. (I was sure I’d saved the  source of the idea, but even people with the title of organizer are not always on the ball.)

Old fashioned mobility and privacy: a small paper notebook (unlabelled).  Picture at right: from www.SeeJaneWork.com

Or the Internet Password organizer from Organized AtoZ, owned by a professional organizer.

Creative award: From Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, reprinted from from one her blog readers. You make your passwords related to your goals and dreams so that you stay mindful of your dreams and goals. Because you’re using words associated with your goals frequently, the belief is that repetition and mindfulness help those dreams come true or those goals get accomplished. This could be combined with the “password framework” idea.

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Posted in Habits, Home Office, Time Management | No Comments »

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