Improve My Business

Courtesy of our friends at 825Basics, this post:

Technorati Tags: communication, efficiency, managing your time, Time Management

Here are two timely articles from Inc. magazine:

One on what to do if you lose your computer; and a more generic page on computer security - both with the time to read…

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that we’ve had tons of changes lately at McDonald Consulting Group.  Our staff has moved on to more ‘fun’ things (crushing grapes in the Pacific Northwest; starting a family and winning the grand prize - an adorable little baby girl; starting college in a state far, far away), leaving me here to build a different team.  I’m back to using contract help to meet my client demands, and that takes a bit more time than working with employees.  Contract help isn’t here every day, and therefore doesn’t know my ’shorthand’ - when I say “I’m going to go to Buffalo NY”, Barret would know to set up flights, hotel, airfare, etc.  My virtual assistant (VA) may intuit that also, but may not know which hotel chain, airline, or car rental company I prefer (all things being equal).

The same goes for contract consultants - I have to spend more time explaining who this client is, what we can do for them, what we should expect from them, and how to interact with them.  It’s in my best interest, from a customer service perspective, to do so; but dang! It’s time consuming!

During this time intensive phase, I’ve had to let some things slide.  One of them?  This blog.  So although we were really good about having posts written in advance that would launch when they were supposed to, we used up our ‘cushion’ and ran out of materials.  And when I did have some free time, it was usually late in the evening, and I selfishly/wisely decided to spend it with my family (which is why I still HAVE a family)…

OK, so now, for the first time in months, my head is slightly above water - no meetings today, proposals are off my desk and in the hands of future prospective clients, and I can see my desktop again.  [Yes, verified that it is a brown desk...]

As soon as I post this, I think I’ll lay out some future blogs - may even follow some of Chris Brogan’s blogging tips (and if you’re in business and NOT reading Chris every day, you’re missing out…)

So, what should you do when you find yourself in a similar situation?  Despite your best efforts, and best intentions, you’re behind on a project.  It may not be mission critical; but still may be something you feel badly about allowing to languish…

When you find yourself derailed, the best thing to do is to get back on track.  Don’t moan about all the lost time; don’t complain about the fact that it will take some discipline to get back on a schedule; and don’t delay out of embarrassment or a feeling of overwhelm.  Just start doing it.  Now.  Like I am.

If you’re like me, a road warrior, you will appreciate this new traveler site from Chris Brogan entitled Man On The Go.  Although not every post resonates with me like his main blog does, I still find it useful to pick up tips (and disagree with enough of the posts to realize that I have my own definite travel preferences, as my blog comments indicate).

Chris provides reviews of places he’s gone (hotels, and the services like limos he’s used to get there); product reviews; and also helpful travel tips (in one post he shows you how he unpacks when he gets there…)

For the occasional traveler, there still may be nuggets that will interest you… but probably not as much.

Technorati Tags: travel

Today I want to point out two great posts made by Professor David Dornfeld on his Green Manufacturing Blog (http://green-manufacturing.blogspot.com/). The posts are about low hanging fruit for manufactures to improve their environmental impact without expending a ton of resources. The posts draw on research that Professor Dornfeld and his students will be presenting later this year at a green manufacturing conference and have some great advice for smaller manufactures who want to decrease their environmental impact but can’t spare the resources to role out a huge environmental campaign. The first post can be found at http://bit.ly/8AXCLf and the follow up can be found at  http://bit.ly/5legqq. I hope you enjoy the posts as much as I did.

Technorati Tags: Business, enviornment, improvement