Here are a few of the things I’m going to do:

1) Rate my daily activities as high, medium, or low in the realm of brainpower. This gives me a good sense of what needs to be done in the morning, when I am most productive. I also figured out what hours of the day I work most effectively, and will schedule the “high brainpower” activities for that time.

2) When energy runs out, take it as it is. I’ve decided that when I’m not feeling 100%, I’ll take a quick 15 minute time out or break to rejuvenate myself, rather than slogging through activities. I’ll return to my work refreshed and ready to hit the ground running!

3) Create boundaries. I have set time for business and non-business. Last year I let these two bleed into each other. My goal is to stay disciplined – turn off the phone and computer during non-business time.

4) Touch things once. Rather than read an email and then go back to answer it a few hours later, I’ve decided to implement a rule whereby if I read an email, then I’ll respond right away and get it done rather than waste my time later by re-reading it.

What are you doing to make your year more effective? I’m always up for suggestions!

During dinner, we also met a PowerSmart plug-in, who gave us great pens with a few energy saving tips for around the home or office.  A few of my favourite tips were:

• unplug chargers when not in use
• turn off your monitor instead of using the screen saver
• turn off your computer when not in use

These are all so simple and easy to do, but somehow we usually forget about them! I know after attending unplugged, I’m going to make more of an effort to reduce my energy consumption.  I’ll report back in to you all soon!

Here are a few more energy conservation tips for those of you looking to make a difference around your home or office:

• Guides and Tips from BC Hydro
• 7 Ways to Save Energy
• Ten Simple, Energy Saving Tips and Projects

Have you made any changes around your home or office to conserve energy? I’d love to hear any of your tips!

P.S.: If you did attend unplugged on the avenue, you can take their quick survey here: unplugged survey.

Here are a few simple, effective steps to make your business greener:

• Reduce energy costs. Turn off unnecessary lights and equipment when not in use, consider using motion sensors or automatic timers to make this easier.

• Increase virtual communication. Instead of mailing a hard copy document or report, e-mail it; encourage online meetings or conference calls to save travel costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

• Use environmentally friendly products. Replace toxic cleaning agents and non-recyclable products with environmentally friendly ones, such as biodegradable knives and forks, earth-friendly hand soap and cleaning products, and recycled paper for all necessary printing.

• Recycle. Almost everything used in business today is recyclable: paper, old or broken electronic devices, ink and furniture.

Here on Vancouver Island, customers, clients and employees want to know about your green success! Most people will be happy to learn they’re dealing with a responsible, environmentally conscious business. Post on your blog or website what you’re doing to be environmentally friendly, or make it obvious when clients walk into your premises.

To inspire and encourage local businesses to achieve ambitious conservation targets, the Westshore Chamber of Commerce is hosting unplugged on the avenue on Wednesday, March 16 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm. The public is invited to visit cafes, restaurants and bars on Goldstream Avenue to enjoy an evening of appies, dinner and drinks by candlelight and acoustic music. I know I’m looking forward to attending!

Introducing eco-friendly practices into your business can save money, while creating happier customers and contributing to a healthier planet. If you want a few more tips on becoming environmentally conscious, check out the BC Hydro PowerSmart Workplace Conservation Awareness page.

I think the key is to recognize that every new step leads to another comfort zone; once you’ve raised your rates, where do you go from there? Try different approaches to the dreaded cold call, think of new and creative ways of making concise and memorable presentations, focus on bringing added value to the work you do at little or no expense to yourself.

Planning to achieve goals that make you stretch will release you from the fear of leaving the comfort zone.  How have you jumped out of your comfort zone lately?  Make a splash… or even a wave and show the world what you’ve got!

Delegating brings so many positives to your business – for one, you will learn more about your employees when you plan them into your work schedule and delegate.  Start by looking at everything you have to do over the coming weeks and decide what you can hand off.  What holds most people back here is fear that certain jobs won’t be done to your satisfaction and you’ll have to redo the task.  Start small and you and your employees will grow into the work that needs to be done.

Personally, I find delegation works best when I give clear directions with set time lines for completion.  This practice help employees understand your vision.  Train yourself and your employees to use a feedback system; this way setbacks are not surprises and successes can be recognized quickly.
When you delegate the tasks that don’t absolutely need to be done yourself, it will free up your time to land larger clients, network with more people, or work on business development. Remember, practice builds confidence!

Here are some of my favourites:

ABT = about
BFN = Bye for now
BOL = Best of Luck
BTW = By the way
G2G = Got to go
IDK = I don’t know
IMHO = In my humble opinion
IRL = In real life
OH = overheard
ROFL = Rolling on the floor laughing
TTYL = Talk to you later
TY = Thank you

Did I miss any?

Here are some of the best tid-bits of information I soaked up last night:

• Believe in yourself: “Sure Fred Astaire was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did, but she did it backwards and in high heels!”
• Relationships are the core of great leadership: build relationships with clients and colleagues
• Be true to yourself, be the type of leader you strive for
• Network, network, network: the more people you know, the more opportunities there are to seize
• Communicate and deliver messages effectively
• Lead a life of continuous learning; this way, you’ll never grow old

To say the least, we all had a great time and met many fascinating women in the community.  Here’s a picture of four of the board members (Karina, Teresa, myself, and Lauren):

When I started clocking my time, I decided to implement the following three tactics:

1. Define work hours.  When working any other job, you would take a break every 4 hours, so why not do it when self employed?  I’ve found I work so much better when I stop to take a quick walk around the block or make myself a cup of coffee.  Working from a home office, it’s easy to feel the guilt of needing to work all the time, so setting defined “work times” helps to create a work-life balance.

2. Start with the least enjoyable.  It’s easy to say “oh, I’ll get to that” or “ugh, I’ll do that later” about tasks you really don’t want to do, that’s why I start with those first thing in the morning.  I feel so satisfied when I finish tasks I’m dreading, feeling energized and excited to get on with the day.

3. Control the e-mail.  For many entrepreneurs, checking e-mail obsessively is the biggest time waster.  Think of all the different places you’re inundated by email: BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod, and most of all the computer.  I used to get e-mail forwarded to the mail application on my desktop with a loud “ping” when I received a new e-mail, which I checked each time I received a new e-mail.  I’ve moved my e-mail to be received on-line and set times during the day when I check and respond to e-mail.  I’d say that this task has cut down on the most time wasted during the day.

So, how are you improving your productivity? Any tips you want to share?

Give them a voice: there is little more irritating than having absolutely no control over your environment. If someone on your team works more directly with customers than you do, ask the team member how client care could be improved. When there is a problem to be solved, put the problem on the table for collective discussion. Ask. Listen. You make the final decision.

Celebrate! Don’t do anything to put the company into debt, but do celebrate the big and little wins. Have everyone come together when a new client has signed or a project is completed. Take in the moment and give appropriate mention to those who contributed to the success.

Give thanks! An act of appreciation often only takes a few minutes, but is remembered so much longer. The gesture doesn’t need to be HUGE, but when it is out of the blue and a surprise, it is much more memorable. Randomly call the team together and give out a gift card for itunes, a restaurant, or a beauty treatment.

Create goals: whether you’re in sales, marketing, or anything else, we all need business goals. You do have a business plan, right? Create goals that are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time framed. This keeps all team members on the same page and well informed or where you’re at and where you’re moving to.

Building a solid team is no accident, it takes gratitude, a vision, and shared passion.