3 Business Killer Syndromes - Are You Contaminated?

By Connie Cantillo

Are you contaminated with business diseases that you choose not to recognize or maybe even worse, you just don’t know you have them? Through my years of experience in the corporate world and now as a business owner myself, I found that there are at least three business diseases that many entrepreneurs or solo professionals are contaminated with, but do not recognize or simply choose to ignore. These three major issues are like diseases that slowly can kill any business.


Syndrome #1 - “Yes, No Problem”:
In your rush to get your one man business to a profitable level you often, if not always, find yourself accepting every single project from every single client. New prospects quickly are accepted because you need the “money”, right? Well, even though you think your business is being successful it actually is getting very sick… you are getting physically and emotionally sick. Before you hit this stage you need to stop for a moment, step back, put your business and your personal life on a balance and analyze what is happening. Your analysis will provide you with the pros and cons of saying “Yes, No Problem” to every project and every prospect. Most importantly, your analysis will also provide you with the solution or solutions you need to implement to avoid your business from dying of this disease.

Syndrome #2 – “I Don’t Have Time”:
Do you find yourself pronouncing these words once too often? If so, that means you have the “Time Management” disease. You probably haven’t realized that your time management skills need to be reviewed. How much time are you putting into each of your daily activities? Take one day and write down a journal of each activity jotting down the time that you start it and the time you end it. At the end of the day analyze each activity and the length of time you dedicated to it. Is it worth that much time? Is that activity taking up time that is better used on a productive activity or on your family? Your analysis will help you determine where your time should be best allocated.

Syndrome #3 – “I Can Do It Myself”:
Yes, you know how to do it so you think you should do it, right? Wrong. One of the most important skills an entrepreneur should quickly learn is to delegate. You, as a business owner, should be doing ONLY those activities directly related to the core of your business. Everything else can be done by someone else. How to determine what to delegate? Simple. Make two lists. On one list you will write down all the activities that are revenue generating – those that make the money. On the other list you write down everything else. That second list is what you will have someone else do. If you follow this procedure your productivity will increase tremendously. You will feel free and with more energy for yourself and your family.

You may have also noticed that the three syndromes I mentioned above can all be easily cured with applying one simple solution: OUTSOURCING. If you outsource your non revenue generating activities, you will be able to always say “Yes, No Problem” because you will have the necessary support to accept more and more projects and new clients; your Time Management skills will be sharpened and most important, you will be able to give time to do what you really love to do: taking care of yourself, your family and your business.

Do what you love, it really pays off!!

7 Tasks that Decrease Your Productivity

By Connie Cantillo

Having your own business is an experience that many feel very excited to go through; however, few are those that actually succeed. The difference between one who succeeds and one who fails is having the ability to actually perform ONLY those tasks that increase your productivity. Here is a list of 7 typical tasks that are NOT revenue generating however, many business owners tend to spend a lot of time on them or simply ignore them missing out on possible business opportunities.

1. Business Cards Management:

All the business cards you receive during networking events need to be responded to via e-mail and entered into a follow up system. Thanking those you met builds relationships that will turn into business or referrals in the future. Following up with these new contacts and adding them into your e-mail/contact system will keep these new relationships strong.

2. Translations:

More and more people from other nationalities are very anxious to learn from others around the world. If part of your target market speaks a language other than yours or you want to expand your target market, you want to make sure your original message reaches them in their native language in the same tone and the same ideas you are speaking to them in.

3. Proofreading:

Business owners today are realizing that you can write your content on your own, however, it is wise to have someone else proofread your writing. While conversational writing is the most modern and best way to communicate to your target market, it is just as important to make sure there are no typos in your content. Even if you read and reread what you wrote, typos are most likely missed by the writer, but easily caught by a pair of fresh eyes.

4. Agenda Management:

Even though managing your agenda seems to be very easy to do, it can become very time consuming. For example, if you are a speaker, getting your speaking engagement contracts signed, payments received and finally confirming the event on your agenda takes up precious time you can be using to prepare for the engagement or to get more engagements on your agenda.

5. Travel Arrangements:

Today it seems to be very easy to get your travel arrangements done, however, searching for the best options available and coordinating hotel arrangements, ground transportation, car rentals, etc. uses up a good chunk of your time.

6. Teleseminar Set Ups:

Setting up teleseminars is easy, but time consuming when you add up all the bells and whistles that need to fall into place for a successful teleseminar.

7. Blog and Web Site Maintenance/Updating:
The only thing you should do as a business owner for your blog and website is write your content.

This is just a small list of tasks that can be outsourced or taken cared of by someone different from the owner of a business. Outsourcing is one of the essential systems or strategies that every business should have in place if it is serious about being successful.