Improve My Business

I’ve recently returned from a business trip in South Africa (I was a keynote speaker at an occupational health and safety (OHS) conference there) and the trip was truly a life-changing experience. I was a bit apprehensive about going there on my own; and since I didn’t want to be traveling more than I was working (2 days in each direction for a 3 day conference) I added on a safari at the beginning of the trip (so I could time zone adjust, rather than go at the end of the trip).

I found out several things about myself, and thought I’d share some of that here with you both today and in the next several posts.

Lesson #1: When something is new, it’s usually interesting.

I drove 4.5 hours from Johannesburg to Ladysmith to start the safari. Before departing on the trip, I thought the long drive would be a good opportunity to write some blog posts, start working on a presentation that would be due soon after I returned from the trip, etc. I dutifully packed my laptop in my small bag that was to accompany me in the seat rather than be stowed in the rear of the van. I had my camera, too, in case I came across anything I wanted to snap.

Fast forward 4 hours, and almost 100 pictures, later… I found the drive to be fascinating. Parts of South Africa in the winter reminded me of California (everything is a golden brown); other parts reminded me of a former vacation in Zion National Park; and other parts were purely South African in nature, and in the future other sceneries like this will remind me of “my first trip to South Africa”.

Lesson #1A: Make whatever you’re teaching interesting or relevant.

If you are trying to get a new concept across to others, it may be a bit scary to them (uncharted territory). If you can make the concepts interesting, or help them relate it to something that they are already familiar with (this looks like the rock formations in Zion!), then they will become more comfortable with the concepts quickly. But don’t be afraid to introduce new concepts into the mix (this is pure South African!) as it will also give your intended audience something to carry away with them.

Lesson #2: It’s not always about the destination; sometimes it’s about the journey as well.

I spent 4 hours talking to Thamba, my driver. I learned about typical South African life – family, housing, jobs, training, schooling – during our conversation. I also learned about controlled burning – the practice of burning the thick and inedible thatching hay in order to stimulate growth of new green shoots, which are edible by livestock. Accordingly, there were controlled burns going on all around us during the drive.

Lesson #2A: the more interesting you can make the journey, the better the journey will be.

Although I was ready to get out of the vehicle after 4.5 hours, I didn’t consider that portion of my vacation to be ‘wasted’. The more interesting you can make the delivery of your message, the higher the probability that the message will be heard, understood, and absorbed. Make the delivery of the message as important as the message itself. Can you use graphics, visuals? Do you have an audio portion? Do you engage the listener? Whatever you can do to make the message heard more easily, the better received the message will be.

Technorati Tags: living your life, preparation, Streamlining, travel

You can’t build a skyscraper on sand; you can’t build a business on memory.  - Mary McDonald

OK, this probably isn’t the most deep, philosophical  quote you’ve ever seen - I admit it.  But it DOES emphasize the importance of having a good foundation for your business.  Everyone from Michael Gerber to Tony Gattari to Ragen Chastain emphasize the importance of implementing a solid system for your business.  Whether it’s organizing your business to allow you to work ON the business rather than IN the business, writing a policy and procedures manual so that each person can exactly duplicate the work that needs to be done (think franchising level of detail), or setting aside 1 hour a week to do your admin hour (organizing, filing, etc), you need to spend time working on implementing a system that works for you and your organization.

If you haven’t already, click on the link for Tony to see a quick video on the importance of systems.

Technorati Tags: business building, efficiency, preparation, systemizing, systems thinking

As summer plans get underway, what improvement techniques can you consider?  What will make a difference to your company (or you)?

1)  Shopping for the best lodging rate - this can be done by using an aggregator site that compares hotels for you; or you can go to a favorite brand and shop them.  However, look at ALL rates when booking - often the ‘best rate’ doesn’t take into account pay-in-advance pricing, corporate discounts, or discounts for groups such as AAA or AARP.

2)  Flexible pays off - if your travel plans are flexible, and you are flying, many airlines now allow you to see up to 3 days before and after, and compare rates.  This is great if you can control your destiny (can pick your own travel dates).

3)  Ask the hotel to service your room less - many hotels tell you that they care for the environment, yet still change out towels daily although they state that if they are “hung up” they will not.  Spend an extra minute to provide feedback to the housekeeping management staff that you’d like them to honor that (if you don’t mind using the same towel for a few days in a row - since all I do is towel off a clean-from-the-shower body, I never mind…).  Ditto for changing sheets daily.  I don’t do that at home; why do I need it on the road?

4)  Do you really need to lug the laptop?  When traveling remotely, clients will often provide a workstation (complete with computer) for me; so a USB flash drive is really all I need to be productive.  Hotel business centers often have 2-3 workstations available for evening work, and even have a great printer in most cases.  So consider whether the “less is more” mantra can be applied to your carry-on, and leave the laptop (unplugged) at home.

Technorati Tags: preparation, Streamlining, travel

Do you feel guilty for taking time to think?

Thinking is important; really important…so why are we embarrassed when we are caught thinking? Thinking is not the same as daydreaming. Deep, productive thought cannot always be accomplished while multi-tasking. Just because you are not typing on your keyboard doesn’t mean that nothing is being done.

I think we are harder on ourselves then we realize when it comes to taking time to think. In fact, we actually stop ourselves from thinking when that little voice in our head says, “You need to get busy!” We’re so used to jumping when we hear our inner voice that we don’t even challenge that thought. Try answering that thought with: ‘Hey, I am busy, I am thinking and you (voice) are interrupting!”

When you let your thoughts be interrupted by the notion that you need to get busy, the outcome is potentially dangerous. Here are some reasons why:

• Incomplete thoughts lead to unforeseen problems
• You can lose your ability to complete a thought before acting (getting trigger happy)
• You will be stumped when someone asks you if you’ve “thought this through”
• You can miss the obvious better solution
• You depend on others input so much that you’re really just copying their thoughts – losing your originality
• It becomes your habit to rely on crutches to help you with your thoughts (Google, spell check)

So, I’m suggesting you take some time to think, fight the urge to look busy and see how your quality of work improves.

Technorati Tags: preparation, quality, working smarter

How many times have you heard this tip “Lay out everything you’ll need for the next day before you go to bed”?  Obviously, not enough if you are not doing this easy task right now.  Organizing the night before allows you to get all those pesky ‘to-dos’ floating around in your brain out of there, before you go to bed.  It also allows your brain to continue working on that item like Santa - making a list and checking it twice - so that if you DID forget something, you’ll remember it (I keep a pad of paper next to the bed so if I remember something after I’m in bed, I jot it down/get it out of my head before trying to sleep.  So far, it’s fooled my brain enough that I can then doze off…)

The upside is that you can sleep 10 mins later in the morning [so now all of you who know me know why I REALLY do this...]

Blogging from Shanghai,

Mary

Technorati Tags: preparation