BUSINESS BLOGGING

I often wonder what it is I should really be blogging about - certainly not very private things?Business things are good, but then - what would be of interest or not to those of you out there.....that's the burning question.

So, in my usual style of individuality - the following is what's currently on my heart.

Today, Shari made a statement that made me wake up and take note - "we're not like you, we have other conversations, not just work conversations". Wow.... I must be becoming a real dreary, work-a-holic indeed.

I began to think about and analyze this statement - can I talk about things other than work issues or do I find myself in this horrid place of being a "work-talker" - how boring?

Well, I am sad to say that work is a primary topic of conversation in my daily life, no matter the day or time.......now that's really not on and very, very sad.

The next step is - how do I make a positive change in my conversations in the future? This may prove to be a challenge for the following reasons:-

1) I am the sole person in my company - Harmie and Shanie.com cc so work is a primary function all day every day.

2) I work from home - so I don't get all that much outside conversation - my phone calls are generally work related.

3) I work on a number of voluntary committees so again "work" is the topic of conversation.

4) I haven't achieved the fine line balance in life as a "one man band" between work and play.

There are probably many more 'negative" contributors to my problem BUT there is also hope. From TODAY I'll be getting a life outside of "work" - somehow, somewhere and soon.

ANY SUGGESTIONS OUT THERE AMONGST YOU READERS?

CHALLENGES OF RIGHT NOW

Life throws challenges at us all the time - we lose loved ones, babies get born, schooling has to be done, jobs need to be found, churches change, companies go under, companies start up, people get retrenched, people survive disasters, disasters happen and so the list goes on and on.
My recent challenge is having too much work for one person but not enough work to employ someone else to help. I suppose if you are an entreprenuer you'd be saying "take the leap Shan".... "it's a risk you need to take Shan".... and all those other bold statements BUT one needs to have a plan -I think...... before taking the leap - I am conservative you see and having been recently bitten by a compnay owing me money and going down the tubes I have become quite reserved really.
My main priority it to stay out of debt but sometimes you have to go into debt to grow your business.....so it boils down to -"should I or shouldn't I" ......oh I don't konw the answer really and I haven't given it too much thought BUT I'll speak to someone who is wise in these affairs and try and find a way forward.
Of course I don't want to turn away business at all but if you are at your maximum output level what do you do?
Anyway... food for thought I suppose and having to think is always a good idea. Why do they say "think outside the box?" Can't we just make the box bigger??????

EARLY DAYS OF CHECK LISTS

I was very young, around 8 years old when my mom started introducing the concept of using a check list to keep track of things to me. As I grew older I started to appreciate the effectiveness of using a check list as a control tool in my life and I have been a HUGE check list user since. As a mother I tired to instill in my children the basic fundamentals of using check lists as a control tool in their lives - it worked. They both use check lists in different ways but they do use them. Now I'm a granny and I have started introducing check lists to our little granddaughter of 8. I start with a favourite - drawing up a check list for a dinner party to beheld. Using the dinner party topic is a great way to introduce check lists to little ones and big ones since it is fun and you don't get much opposition. It's a mindset that needs to be developed within them and the younger it is done the better for them - when they get into the work place they will be in control of their job function from the start. Our little granddaughter's first dinner party check list was about three words - ice-cream, tablecloth and candles but after discussing that there is a bit more to it than those three words, we went onto something a little more detailed. Now when asking her to put a check list together her mindset is correct from the start. - it may not be mature yet, but she now knows to group things and define things under each main heading that she has given. IF LITTLE ONES CAN DO IT .......... WHY DO ADULTS REVOLT AGAINST IT, when check lists are a wonderful tool to be used to make a person reliable, meet deadlines, operate with integrity and in general be known as someone highly efficient and professional........I JUST DON'T KNOW!

TIME MANAGEMENT

Time management is a very important function within the work environment. The old saying "time - use it or lose it" still stands firm today - you cannot go back and use time and you cannot go forward and use time - you can ONLY use the current time, so it is important you use it wisely and make use of pro-active planning to use furture time effectively. To ORGANIZE your time you need to know 2 specific things: 1) How much work is there to do? 2) How long do I have to do it in? Once you have established these two things you need to prioritise correctly considering time taken to do each job function and how important each job function is. Time management brings about a measure of respect within the workplace. People will know and be confident in your meeting of deadlines and giving excellent service - internally and externally, everyone will be satisfied. Isn't that just worth the effort in getting your act together and time managing effectively? The question you must answer then is "time - am I going to use it or lose it?"

RE-GROUPING

A constant thing one has to do these days within the work environment and the home environment is to re-group. By this I mean:
1) Analyse
2) Prioritise
3) Attack
4) Monitor
The fact that communication is so fast these days between emails, facebook, cellphones, twitter, linked-in and everything else it has become HIGHLY important to re-group on a consistant basis or you will drop catches.
Sure hope you are re-grouping .......!!!!

YOU HAVE THE TOOLS - HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK FOR YOU

A dear colleague of mine from The Media Mogul company and I were chatting on the way back from a good business meeting this morning, about how to market my type of skills - admin systems for office efficiency, considering RISK and COST management. Nikki came up with this wonderful idea - "YOU HAVE THE TOOLS - HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK FOR YOU"..... Well! my mind went absolutely ballistic -now why didn't I think of that because actually that is what it is all about: (of course that's why we have marketing boffs like Nikki around).
Companies - they are always on a cost saving drive EXCEPT when it comes to the computer packages they use. Somehow, the mindset of companies is not "what have we got and how could we make better use of it" BUT rather "this package doesn't give us what we want, let's just buy a new one"......................needless to say, that's the end of the cost saving exercise that they all embraced so well.
Companies need to start thinking about making better use of what they have, which most times is adequate for their needs. I have ALL these strong skills just waiting to be used..... call me...

RISK MANAGEMENT

Dirty words.... that's what the two words "risk management" are!! Well I am assuming this because clearly businesses do not risk manage much anymore, and one would think that in this day an age of the state of the worlds economy they would actually pay attention.
Daily I am surprised by companies big and small that do not manage their risk.
A person I met this week said the only "budget" companies look at these days is their BANK STATEMENT ... my immediate thought was WOW, that's a bit harsh, but then when I thought back to the various companies I have been reviewing lately this is an actual fact - frightening indeed.
You know what always surprises me is the fact the companies big, medium or small have NO idea how much money they are losing because their employees are not functioning well due to lack of basic admin skills. When I'm talking losing money I am relating this to productivity, efficiency, errors made, time management, organisational skills and customer satisfaction - ALL these factors can be translated into monetary values...the question is - "DO THEY EVEN KNOW HOW TO GUAGE WHERE THEY STAND WITHIN THE ADMIN SECTOR OF THEIR BUSINESS?" - the answer in 99% of the cases would be NO. How sad. Just imagine how much more profitable they could be!!