Inner Diva Dilemma: You never have enough time. And it’s not for a lack of attempt at time management. You’ve tried Schedule A, System Z and every theory in between. The next person to recommend another time management book to you may very well find the book being thrown at them.

What There Is For You To Know:You can’t manage time. Time is a river. The old adage is true. And a river that’s been dammed or boxed in by human hands will inevitably someday break the artificial boundaries and run exactly where it most naturally runs. Your schedule is the same. Appointments run over time. You lose internet connection and can’t do email when you planned. Before you know it, your nice neat schedule is running wildly over the time boxes of 9:45, 10:15 and 1:30 that you were so hoping it would follow.

Go A Little Wild With Time: Back in 1993, I worked in Yosemite National Park and lived right next to the wild Merced River. Wow, was that thing alive! Just standing next to it, there was a life energy you couldn’t deny. The same is true of your schedule when you let the river of time flow naturally through it….

Try It On The Fly: You can keep the little time boxes of your schedule- just like you need a boat on a wild river, they provide a container and some guidance so that you’re not being tossed about willy nilly on the rocks. And…have a little giggle. Chuckle to yourself at the silliness of having thought these boxes would actually run the river. Instead, watch to see how the river runs them.

Now go for a ride. Holding the boxes loosely, follow your schedule as planned while watching where the river of time naturally wants to take you. When it runs wild over your scheduled plan, instead of seeing failure, take a moment to ask, “What’s the natural flow here?” Notice what happens easily in the natural flow and what falls away.

Tips For Troubleshooting: Some boxes are non-negotiable, like picking your kids up from school at 3pm. You can’t “just flow” with that box! Treat these non-negotiables as river markers. Then notice how the river of time wants to flow naturally from one marker to the next. And there’s no pressure to do this perfectly- each time you experiment with Wild River time, you’ll learn a bit more about the natural time river flow.

Let me know how it goes. This is just a taste of a big topic, so you’ll probably have some questions that I’m happy to answer!

This article written by Lisa Hunter of Inner Business Diva.  Find more great articles and get the free guide to Tame Your Never-Enough Cycle… End the seemingly endless cycle of constantly feeling behind!  Easy & practical tips that fit your high-energy, go-getting style. http://www.innerbusinessdiva.com/sexy-time-management/free-articles

Join Lisa (and me!) at the next Diva Business Day to relax, connect, brainstorm, and enjoy a day with other go-getting entrepreneurial woman.  Details at http://www.innerbusinessdiva.com/diva-business-day

Marcia Francois is a time management and business organizing coach who helps small business owners break out of overwhelm, make the most of their time and get important projects done. Visit http://organiseyourbusiness.com for your free 7-part audio series, 7 tips for time-strapped business owners.

With just a bit of work and creativity, you can transform your home office into a space that you feel energized by and enjoy spending time in.

Remove and Declutter

Give yourself permission to declutter your space and remove anything that makes you feel anxious or that you’ve been tolerating but don’t love.

Organize Everything

Take time to plan out what you need in your space, then organize it in a way that supports your needs. Arrange your various office furniture (desk, shelves, storage cubbies, etc) so it’s easy to access what you use most frequently.

Keep your office supplies and desk organized as well. You’ll save time, feel more relaxed, and enjoy your office space more when you know exactly where things are.

Artwork to Inspire

Beautiful things on the walls can lift your spirits or serve to keep you centered and focused.

You can often find inexpensive frames at secondhand shops or discount retailers. Just replace what’s in them.

Some ideas for budget-friendly wall decor include:
- your own photography
- artwork by your children
- recycled postcards or calendar pages
- inspirational quotes

Another great way to inspire yourself with wall decor is to create an inexpensive vision board or story board with items and photographs significant to your own personal journey and goals.

Create an Ambiance

Surround yourself with the scents and sounds that help you feel motivated and strong.

Consider these items for your office:
- candles
- incense
- reed or oil diffusers
- soft music

Add Life

Bring life into your home office space and you may find it improves your health and productivity. Live plants bring beauty into your space and clean your air. A goldfish (or other fish) can help you relax.

What are you waiting for? Create your home office sanctuary and make your space a place you love.

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.

Offer Your Readers an RSS Subscribe

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

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

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.

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

A marketing plan gives you a basic guide for your marketing for the year. By looking at your marketing 12 months at a time you can plan for seasonal promotions, work to combat any traditionally slower times for your company, and keep your business supported by always having at least one or two forms of marketing working for you.

With your marketing plan in place you won’t have a holiday or event sneak up on you and think, “Oh! I could have done a really cool promotion!”  Instead you’ll have your promotion planned and you can be ready to take advantage of holidays and other seasonal opportunities.

As you plan your year, choose a few marketing tactics per month and remember that some will require continued time commitments (blogging, social networking, your newsletter) while others are more of a one-time project (donating a book or working a charity event, issuing a press release).

Once you’ve put your plan together, be sure to review it monthly and look ahead so you’re ready for what you’ve planned.

Download the free “Quick & Easy Marketing Plan” template below and you can have a basic marketing plan done in less than an hour!

Click Here to Download the Free
Quick & Easy Marketing Plan Template

A business plan is a document that covers what your business offers and to whom, what your goals are, and how you’re going to reach them.  Think of it like a road map to get your business from where you are today to where you want to be.  It’s a strategic plan.  Sometimes this is called an “internal” business plan because it’s only intended for the business owner or leadership team to reference and not for outside investors.

Unless you’re seeking financing from a traditional source like a bank, applying for grants, or seeking investors, your business plan can be simple and easy to write with no need for endless pages of income projections, competitive analysis, and other (very interesting but time consuming) statistics and research.  So feel free to throw that out the window and just put together an easy couple of pages that will help guide your business through 2009.

( Note: If you’re looking to write a business plan to secure financing or present to investors you can find free templates and help on the SCORE website at http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html )

If you’ve already got a business plan, the end of the year is a great time to review it and see where you can update or change to reflect the goals you’ve already reached or any changes in business direction.

So, what should you include in your business plan?  Here’s an outline you can use to create your own plan in an afternoon (assuming you know your financial data, and with the end of the year and tax time coming soon, if you don’t, you may want to start compiling that).  It doesn’t have to be perfect or comprehensive.  Just put something down on paper and you can come back to it and keep revising as you have time. The important thing is to get started building that plan to reach your goals so your business knows where it’s going!

Description of Your Business
- Basic Business Info
- Management
- Legal Business Info
- What your business offers
- Who you offer your products/services to

Business Objectives: Just jot down a quick list of what you need to do to be successful, such as provide quality products, ensure good customer service, continue to meet the needs of your target market, etc.

Current Business Information: The basics about your business.
- You current business income and expenses information
- Your business assets
- Tools (computers, equipment, etc)
- Client database
- Newsletter
- Web presence & brand
- Other assets
- Current marketing strategies
- Business value

Business Goals: Where is your business going?
- What are your 6 month, 12 month, and 2 year goals?
- What are your income goals?
- What do you need to reach that income?
- X sales at $X each
- X new customers per month

Marketing Plan: How will you reach your goals?
- Product/service strategies
- Which products/services are your focus?
- Do you have plans to for new products in 2009?
- Marketing tactics planned for 2009
(We’ll talk more about the marketing plan section in next week’s newsletter.)

Business Future: A short description of where you want your business to be in the future

You’ll find that making time to figure out and write down your goals, then break them down into the necessary steps, will make them feel more “real” and “attainable” — and when you know exactly what to do to reach your goals, it’s easier to reach them.  You wouldn’t try to drive your car or pilot a jet blind.  So don’t run your business blind.  Make a plan!

Once you’ve completed a basic internal business plan, make at least two copies.  File copy one along with your other important business documents.  Keep copy two somewhere that you’ll see it and can refer to it frequently.  This way you’ll be reminded of your goals and keep working towards them.

If you need an easier way to stay organized, take a look at Ta-Da List.

I’m one of those list-makers.  Between my husband, two boys, one girl, a cat (Whiskers), the Russian Tortoise (Snappy), the ant farm, and plants I must remember to water (thankfully my Ficus Tree is fake), if I didn’t make lists, I might really loose it.  Lists and schedules and daily tasks are what keep me running.

Thanks to aforementioned two boys and one girl, my lists often disappear or get buried under beautiful Crayola masterpieces.

And in steps Basecamp!  I’ve just subscribed but I can already tell I’m going to love it.  The to-do list function alone will be a life-saver for me.  And you can get the lite version of the to-do list in http://www.tadalist.com free!  Give it a try.

I’ll be back with a Basecamp review after I’ve used it for a bit.  So far it’s looking good.