Feeling overwhelmed?  Too much to do and not enough time to get it all done?  There is an answer!

It’s not uncommon to see large companies moving many jobs overseas in an effort to save money. They call it outsourcing. As a solopreneur who works from home, you can outsource, too!

As your business grows, you might very well find that you need help. Even when you are highly organized, there seems to be more and more work to get done. Instead of encroaching on family time, find a way to get all of your tasks handled without boarding the train to Looneyville.

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How many times do you have to go through icky situations before you finally admit something is not working and move on with the lesson learned?  Once?  Twice?  A dozen times?  *raises hand meekly*  Yeah, a dozen times, that’s me.

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Ever need someone to just hit you with a “fairy stick”?  Apparently I did!

I had a breakthrough this week (okay, I’ve had more breakthroughs than I can count this week, but I’m focusing on a particular one right now) in my Success Circle Coaching mastermind with Richard and the wonderful businesswomen in my group.

My question for the call was focused on when/how to know it’s okay to step up and claim authority or expert status on something.  Richard asked me how long I’d been working in my business (15 years overall, 10+ years professionally), and how many happy clients I had (hundreds).  Then asked me what number I was waiting for.

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Note from Michelle: I read this article in a newsletter I subscribe to and wanted to share it. Great analogy!

A couple weeks ago my family was vacationing in Aruba. My husband and I were having a great time lounging on the beach while the kids were building a huge empire in the sand. Even at 15 my son felt compelled to help out in this endeavor.

Later on we heard our youngest, Caitlin, sound pretty upset. I went over to see what was going on. I saw that Justin and Eveline were building an empire together. Eveline had asked Justin for help with her structure. She pictured what it was going to look like and asked for assistance. They both jumped in and started building.

Caitlin, on the other hand, was having fun just building as she went along, but had not come up with a design for her structure. She was upset when she saw that not only did Eveline have a better structure than her, but that her brother was helping to build it. She was upset to realize that her structure paled in comparison, and why on earth was Justin not helping HER?

In looking at this from a mompreneur’s point of view, I realized that she was upset, but failed to take any action from the situation. She just proceeded to get upset. There are many business owners who do the same thing without realizing it.

Sometimes we get upset that something didn’t work. We may feel like we failed. It’s important to realize what your idea of success looks like and to take action towards that vision.

Caitlin did not visualize what she wanted her structure to look like. In order to be successful, you need to know what success means to you. How do you know if you have reached success, if you don’t first outline what that means to you? Success means very different things to different people. How do you know if your business is what you want, if you don’t first visualize what you want your empire or business to be?

It’s also important to learn from your mistakes and take action through each step. Whenever top leaders make a mistake or realize that their business is not heading in the direction they envision, they take a step back and figure out what it is that they need to change to get where they want to be.

In Caitlin’s case she could have taken a step back and figured out why she thought her sister’s sand structure was better than hers. Was it really better, or was her sister just further along in building because she enlisted help from her brother?

Every once in a while it’s important to take a step back and observe what others in your field are doing. Are they doing something you would benefit from? Can what they are doing give you ideas on improving your own business?

Kimberly Reddington, Moms in Business Thoughtleader for Cereus Women, teaches moms how to turn their skills into a successful home-based service business and to find a balance between their business and their family. Discover Kim’s popular special report by visiting http://www.CereusWomen.com

Put your blog promotion on auto-pilot with these “set it once then forget it” promotional strategies.

Submit Your Blog to Blog Directories

Once you’ve requested a listing, you’re done!

http://www.blogcatalog.com

http://www.bloghub.com

http://www.blogarama.com

http://www.blogexplosion.com

http://www.blogflux.com

http://www.blog-search.com

http://www.blogbunch.com

http://www.iblogbusiness.com

http://www.quickblogdirectory.com

http://www.bloglisting.net

http://www.blogrankings.com

http://www.weblogalot.com

Ping When You Post

If you’re using Wordpress, it’s probably already set to ping rpc.pingomatic.com Add that to your ping list if it’s not there already. Ping-O-Matic will receive your ping then let lots of other sites know you’ve updated your blog.

If you can’t ping directly from your blog, try Feedburner’s Pingshot service at

http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/publishers/pingshot

Offer Your Readers an RSS Subscribe

Techno-savvy readers love RSS feeds they can subscribe to.

Your blog may have this built it just waiting for you to link to. You can also sign up with Feedburner or Feedblitz.

http://www.feedburner.com

http://www.feedblitz.com

Be sure to add the code to your blog once you’re setup so readers can subscribe.

Add Social Bookmarking and “Tell a Friend” to Your Posts

Sociable and Share This are two great plugins you can use to easily add social bookmarking and “tell a friend” capability to your blog.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sociable/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/share-this/

Just download, install, setup, and then the plugin of your choice will add the social networking icons to every post on your blog.

Connect to Social Networking

Using social media you can syndicate your blog content to reach your social networks.

If you Twitter, you can tweet your blog posts with TwitterFeed.

http://www.twitterfeed.com

If you’re on Facebook, try the Wordpress Facebook App.

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/facebook/

These five strategies take a few minutes to setup but once you’ve got them up and running they’ll promote your blog for you. Strategies 2 – 5 will promote your blog every time you post!

Would you like to reprint this article in your newsletter, or on your website or blog? You may! Just include this blurb at the end:

Work at home mom extraordinaire Michelle Shaeffer publishes The Muses Brainstorm, a weekly ezine with tips to help you balance, manage, and market your home based business. If you’re ready for inspirational guidance and bright ideas sign up free at www.thesmallbusinessmuse.com

By Christine Kloser

Have you ever wondered why some people succeed and others fail? Maybe you’re discouraged that your colleague’s phone is ringing off the hook and your phone hasn’t rung in weeks (or months). Believe me; I know what it’s like to be there. For years, I used to look all around me and see abundant success for others… and wonder if it was ever going to happen for me.

Deep down inside, my Divine Self, knew the answer was a resounding, “YES!”. But, on the surface, sometimes the situation seemed so dismal my human mind doubted that I’d ever see my dreams come true. I knew my doubt was part of the reason why I experienced challenges in my business, yet I didn’t know how to release it and surrender completely to my Divine entrepreneurial journey.

Then, I realized that I hadn’t yet DECIDED I was going to succeed. I hoped I would, I imagined I would, I prayed I would, but I hadn’t decided I would… succeed. Once I made this powerful decision to succeed, everything changed. My hope changed to belief, my imagination transformed into reality and my prayers fueled my actions.

If you feel like it’s time to put the power of decision to work for you, and your business… listen up. Here’s a simple 4 step strategy for making your Divine decision to succeed.

Step 1: Assess Your Situation

Before you begin any journey, you first need to identify where you are. In this step, you’ll set aside some time to reflect on your current situation. Then, you’ll look directly at your current circumstances, even if they’re unfavorable. A full evaluation of where you are (spiritually, financially and personally) establishes a starting point from which you can leap forward.

Step 2: Get Clear on What You Really Want

Next, once you’ve taken a look at your current situation, set it aside. And, allow yourself to create a clear vision of what you really want for your business, and your life. Don’t worry about “how” you’ll realize the vision; simply get clear on what it is. When creating your vision, it ought to be something that makes your heart sing; something that increases your energy when you think about it.

Step 3: Decide to Experience What You Really Want

Now, make the decision to experience your vision. Sometime this step will be a very subtle, simple shift in your being. Other times, this step will be a monumental moment that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. Sometimes it will be a private moment between you and God; while other times it will be a public experience when you proclaim to others what you’ve decided for your life. Whatever way your decision is made, one thing remains the same… from that point forward everything changes.

Step 4: Demonstrate Your Decision

No decision is complete without demonstrating your decision in the physical world. (Warning: This is the most common step where people stop.) Once you make a powerful decision, it lacks ENERGY until it’s backed by tangible action. Demonstrating your commitment to your decision by taking a specific action, is the most important (and sometimes the scariest) step to seeing your dreams become realized.

This four-step strategy is very simple to follow, but simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy. At times, making the decision to succeed can feel gut-wrenching, especially if it means having to let go of something you’ve been attached to for a long time (this happened to me when I decided to succeed). But, no matter what decision you face, when you follow this four-step strategy, your decision will propel you toward your dreams.

And, for those of you who’ve already made the decision to join me, Neale Donald Walsch, David Neagle, James Twyman and Marianne Williamson at The Freedom Formula Experience January 22-25 in Los Angeles, CA… I guarantee it will be the BEST decision you’ve ever made to learn how to consciously create your six (or seven) figure business next year!

If you haven’t saved your seat yet, it’s time for you to DECIDE!  (Especially since the payment plan expires THIS FRIDAY.).  Just go to: www.TheFreedomFormula.com/experience to save your seat today.

© 2008 Christine Kloser

Christine Kloser, best-selling author of The Freedom Formula, helps small business owners put soul in their business and money in the bank.  If you want to discover how to integrate more spirit into YOUR business, then you’ll want to get my F-R-E-E_ CD, “The Top 3 Ways to Tap Into the Biggest Trend in Business Ever.”  You can request this special CD by visiting www.FreeedomFormulaExperience.com.

Note from Michelle: Tessa Stowe’s newsletter is one I regularly read and highly recommend.  This article was great, and so true.  If you aren’t subscribed, there’s a link at the end you can click through to sign up!

©Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2008

If you have dissatisfied customers, will they keep buying from you? Probably not. If you have satisfied customers, will they keep buying from you? Maybe. But maybe not.

You are probably saying to yourself that, surely, if your customers are satisfied with your products and services, they will keep buying from you. That’s one of the reasons everyone says you must focus on customer satisfaction. But while customer satisfaction is important, it’s not enough to ensure your customers will keep buying from you.

To illustrate this, think about how many restaurants you have been to where you had great food, but you’ve never been back. They met – maybe even exceeded – your expectations with delicious, well prepared food and you were satisfied, or even extremely satisfied, with your meal, yet you have never been back.

If you yourself have been a satisfied customer who didn’t repurchase, why should you expect your satisfied customers to repurchase from you?

If you want your customers to keep buying from you, you need to go beyond customer satisfaction.

Continuing the restaurant example, there is a Chinese restaurant near where we live. Their food is usually good but, occasionally, Andrew, the chef/owner, has a bad day and overcooks the food. Even so, we keep going there and have been doing so for over 10 years. We would not even think of going to another Chinese restaurant in the area.

You see, every time we walk into this restaurant we are greeted with a big, welcoming smile by Cindy, Andrew’s wife. Cindy always takes the time to chat with us and to catch up on how we are and whether we have been on any holidays. She remembers what we tell her and then follows up with us the next time she sees us. All in all, every time we go to “our” Chinese restaurant, Cindy makes us feel special and we just keep on going back.

We are loyal to this restaurant because Cindy makes us feel good every time we go there and shows that she is interested in and cares about us. We feel like we belong, like it’s really “our” restaurant. It’s a simple formula, really.

So the key to ensuring your customers keep buying from you is to satisfy them with your products and services AND to make them feel good. They’ll then become loyal customers.

To make your customers feel good, focus on the experience they have when dealing with you. Do what you can to ensure that they feel special, they feel appreciated, and they feel you care about them, not just as customers, but as people.

If you can deliver this experience to your customers, you will build loyal customers. And loyal customers will keep on buying from you, even if they are occasionally dissatisfied with a product (as we are with Andrew’s occasionally overcooked food), because they enjoy the experience of dealing with you.

Think of ways you can give your customers a great experience when they deal with you. How can you make them feel good? How can you make them feel special? How can you show you care about them?

Get into the habit of doing at least one thing a day to show a customer you care about him or her. For example, you could send your customers cards – as a “Thank You,” on their birthdays, or just to say hello. The possibilities for making your customers feel special are endless once you start thinking this way. If you put systems in place, this can all be done with very little effort.

Focus on building satisfied AND loyal customers, and watch your sales grow.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

I take one of four approaches to something I cannot do, do not like, or don’t understand (any of these three reasons make it a “problem area” in my mind).

1) Learn it. I don’t deal well with failure so I just do whatever I have to do to improve.  Whether it’s research online, practice/rehearsing, or calling in someone else to teach me to do it, there’s a way if I really need to learn something.

2) Get backup. If there’s something that you absolutely can’t avoid, find a way to have a “backup” available when you need it.  I fill this role for my design partners for a cart I work with.  If they get stuck on a design or coding issue, they know they can email me and I’ll reply ASAP with a solution or help in the right direction.  The end client does not ever need to know they were stuck.  And when I get stuck with certain programming, I have a php expert who I can call in.  Knowing that you’ve got a relationship with someone, a colleague or even a paid by the incident support team, can be a huge relief when you need that help.

3) Outsource it. If it can be outsourced, then I’ll outsource it either to my VA or a hired temp for the specific project. Some familiarity though is needed on my part to outsource something, or else a very well established relationship of trust with the outsourcer, so I know whether they’re completing the task properly.

4) Don’t do it. It took me a while but I’ve accepted that option 1 cannot be the answer for every problem area.  There are a few specific services that I do not offer.  I could, and I know most designs firm do, but for various reasons I don’t.  For example, I do not do print logo design because I simply don’t like doing it.  I’ll be happy to help my clients get a logo done and I’ve got a list of reliable references to both great designers I’ve got personal experience with (like Cicily at www.augustafternoon.com and Laura Jane at www.chickenscratchstudio.com) and other options (like www.logoyes.com).  If the problem area is created by a product or service that isn’t essential, consider what would happen if you just didn’t offer it.  It might not be the end of the world.  In my case it’s helped me build valuable relationships with other great designers (who yes, technically are my “competition” but I don’t view my world in terms of competitive business but instead collaborative business benefiting everyone).

Sometimes these are combined for a problem area — like my monthly accounting statements.  I outsourced them until I found a system and learned to do it myself.  Now I can do it in less than an hour and I’m not wasting half a day every month so I moved from option 3 to option 1.

There are my four strategies for handling “problem areas” in my business.

Comments?  Want to share how you handle them or what works for you?  Feel free to post a note below in the comments section.