THE DIARY OF A HUSTLER

If you have not read my post on the benefits of using postcards and greeting cards in your business as a follow-up tool, then you should check it out before reading this post.  You can click here to find that post. 

In this post I suggest that the automated card system you use has 3 features to make your cards effective.  Here they are:

1. Effective Cards Are Personalized

Personalize your cards. You should use the recipient’s first name in the card. Don’t simply use a mass-produced, generic message. Begin your message by addressing them with their first name.

     2.     Effective Cards Are Handwritten

The main, personal message in your cards should be handwritten.

Think about it…

What feels more personal to us when we read a store-bought card? The generic message printed on the inside of a card or the hand written note jotted down underneath it?

Now fortunately with today’s technology it’s possible to create a “handwriting font” of your own writing. So you don’t have to worry about the time it takes to “hand write” dozens of cards.

      3.     Effective Cards Are Personally Signed

Personally sign each and every card with your signature. After all, personal messages are personally signed.

Again, if you are trying to build a personal relationship with the reader of your card you need to sign the card with your own signature.

Of course there is a way to add your signatures to your cards digitally.

The sytem that I use effectively does these three things and the things I discussed in the 7 ways to use cards  post.  Your card system shouldn’t be expensive.  There is a real company behind the system, of course, who actually mails out the real card that you create, but you shouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg.  The company I use is very reasonable and user-friendly.  You can check them out if you like or you can feel free to contact me for more information if you need to.

ttyl, Na’sia

My motto: Learn, teach, inspire, and you shall receive all that your heart desires.

In previous posts, I have discussed the importance of leveraging time and the benefits of leveraging knowledge and education.  Another lever to success is technology.

Technology Leverage

Finding technology leverage is all about thinking about how you work, and using technology to automate as much of this as you can.

Depending on your needs, technology can help at all levels.  I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the power of technology.  At a simple level, you might find that all you need to keep you in touch with home and work is a laptop computer. Or you might need a personal digital assistant (PDA) to help you conveniently maintain files and such.

If you’re a slow typist, voice recognition software can help you dictate documents and save time. Tools like Google Desktop Search (http://desktop.google.com) can help you manage and find documents in such a way that you no longer need to file digital documents. And Google itself provides a great, quick way of finding relevant information online. 

At a more sophisticated level, you may find that you can use simple desktop databases like Microsoft Access to automate simple work processes. If you do a lot of routine data processing  you can find that this saves you a great deal of time. 

If you do a lot of email marketing, you may find autoresponders such as Aweber and GetResponse to be extremely useful.  These tools allow you to write unlimited emails in advance and set a time and date that you would like them to be executed.  It’s like having your own personal assistant, but better. You do the work one time and the system does the rest!

If you have a clientele base, a good way to stay connected is to use an automated card system. Greeting cards can be used for a variety of purposes, such as thanking a customer for a purchase, updating your customers on new offers and specials, or reminding them to renew a subscription, to name a few.  Depending upon how large your consumer base is, an automated card system could save a huge amount of time while maintaining a personal relationship with an unlimited amount of people.

 You only need to set up a process once with tools like these- afterwards the process will be executed the same way each time, by whomever initiates the process.

There is software to solve almost every problem.  Some of these can automate or simplify tasks that are otherwise very time-consuming.  Websites, web-based catalogs, online store fronts can give clients easy access to up-to-date product information, and help them place orders simply and easily. Blogs and email-based newsletters help people stay in contact with thousands of people quickly and easily. All of these use technology to provide tremendous leverage.

(I will continue to add more so check periodically for more suggestions)  Here are a few ways that I have learned to leverage technology:

Automated card system:  This system is an incredible way to automatically send cards and gifts to an unlimited amount of people at once. So suppose you already have a clientele base and a group of customers have made a purchase.  You can send a real greeting card to that group to personally thank them for their recent purchase.  You can even use this system in your personal life as well. If you are the type of person who sends cards and gifts to friends and family, you don’t have to ever worry about forgetting another important day.  Simply enter their information, create the card, select a gift if you choose, and tell the system the date to send it. I am sure there are many companies that provide this service.  The company that I use give you a free gift account so that you can check out the quality of the cards and the cards are very reasonable.  I think the highest amount you will pay for a card is $1.50.

Lead capture pages:  These pages are set up to give away something valuable for the exchange of some information, usually a name and an email address.  This is a great way to create a list of people who are already interested in your offer (afterall they wouldn’t provide their info if they weren’t). So you have not found just any lead, but a rather hot lead.

Autoresponders:  These are systems that send emails automatically. If you do a lot of email marketing, campaining, or newsletters, this is a must have. Popular autoresponders are Aweber, GetResponse, and Oprius. They all do pretty much the same thing. Some have better features than others. Oprius allows you to create a lead capture page with their system, which is pretty cool.  They are not that expensive, usually starting around 16 bucks a month.  Depending on your needs, you can choose from various packages.

Online meetings:  Use the web to conduct online meetings and trainings with systems such as Gotomeeting and Gotowebinar. This is ultimate leverage. You do not have to meet in person with your team or staff. You can conduct a full training or meeting using this site and meet with people regardless of their location. They give you a 30 day free trial too which is always a plus.

 Social Networking and Bookmarking Sites:   Sites such as Twitter, Digg, and Facebook is one of the best ways to leverage technology.  I will provide specifics in future posts, but I am learning that these are the best ways to bring traffic to your business. Twitter seems to be the most efficient because of the nature of the site.  It seems that it is designed for marketing yourself.  Again I will get into specifics in a later post, but if you are already using these sites or other social networking platforms, it would be wise to take advantage of free exposure.  If your goal is to get your clientele up or drive people to your information sites, you should think of these types of sites as being part of a community. Make a good impression, provide value and solutions to people in your community (don’t pitch to people), give something that make people want to check you out further.  When used correctly, this is one way to leverage technology and your time.  Everything that you post has the potential to be seen by massive amounts of people without you having to leave your home.  Network wisely.

ttyl, Na’sia

My motto: Learn, teach, inspire, and you shall receive all that your heart desires!

“I would rather earn 1% off a hundred people’s efforts… than 100% of my own.”

These are the words of Jean Paul Getty, an American industrialist and founder of Getty Oil Company. In 1957, he was named the richest living american (you can always learn from the wealthy).

So what exactly does he mean by this?  He is describing the concept of leverage—-Achieving Much More with the Same or Less Effort

To do a push-up, you could do it the regular way, the “girlie” way, or using a tool, such as the Perfect Pushup, bars, or an exercise ball.   I personally use the Perfect Push-up and the ball.

Which approach is wiser? Will you succeed without using leverage? Maybe depending on your upper body strength. But you can do so many more on the exercise ball and do it so much more easily!  And the Perfect Pushup device allows you to target different muscles all while putting in the same amount of effort!  In this case you are leveraging your strength by using a device.  The results are: more easier pushups accomplished and more muscles targeted than the normal pushup.

So what has this got to do with your life and career?

The answer is “a whole lot”.   In fact, you should apply leverage  to every area of your life, when possible to maximize your success.  Without leverage, you may work very hard, but your rewards are limited by the hours you put in. With leverage, you can achieve much more.

Some Key Levers of Success : Time, Knowledge and Education, Technology, Financial

How do you work SMARTER and not HARDER?

In this post, I am going to focus on the leverage of Time (yours and that of other people).

Leveraging your time is a key component of success.  Since we only have 24 hours in a day (5-8 in which we use to sleep) leaving us with 16-19 left, we only can accomplish so much with our time.  And if you are trying to build a business along with working a full-time job and raising a family,  such as myself, it seems like there is never enough time!

I am learning that in order to leverage my time I must do the following:

1. Practice effective time management- for me this means having a plan. I plan my day out either in my head or in writing (I stick to it better if it is in writing because I can see things getting acomplished).  But either way will do, as long as there is a plan of the day in place.  I will shut my phone off when I am working (which drives my family and friends crazy) but hey, I am a long-winded person and talking will become a distraction.  Time is so precious… it waits for noone and you can never get it back once it is gone.   I hate wasting time.   I try to take advantage of every hour of the day.  Tip 1. Eliminate the activities that are not helping you to reach your goal for the day. Tip 2. Use technology to automate everything that you can!  Read more about how to do this on my leveraging technology post.
2. Put everything into perspective-   It is so easy to get wrapped up in unnecessary activities that will not give you a great return on your investment.  For example, online marketing requires  networking, but it does not require spending hours aimlessly viewing pics or chatting on facebook (I’m guilty).  It is so easy to spend an hour  or more checking your email, IM, facebook, myspace, twitter, blog stats and everything else(I’m guilty).  For those of you who are new to online marketing, if you don’t take any other advice from me please listen to this: Find a way to control and monitor your networking and information seeking.  It is so easy to get caught up reading material that is not helpful toward your daily goals.  If you come across something interesting, bookmark it and save it for another time so that you will not become distracted.  Put a limit on how much time you will spend on everything and focus on that task for the duration of that time, check it off at the end, and move on to the next task.
3. Set short term and long term realistic goals-     Be very clear on what you want to accomplish every day, by the end of the week, month, year, and in the next five years. Ultimately, you are creating a blueprint for your long-term success. Dreams and ideas are great, but what good are they if not acted upon? Then, they are just intentions.  A person can have the best intentions in the world, but if action isn’t taken, it’s useless.  Setting small goals is like a road map to success. It is important to note that your goals and timeframes should be realistic so that you won’t feel like a failure.  For me, if something isn’t completed, I come down hard on myself by either getting frustrated or disappointed that I wasn’t able to reach my goal.  Sometimes I have to demand less of myself in the timeframe given or admit that what I am trying to accomplish will take a little more time than I expected.  So set goals, write them down, and now it’s time for action!
4. To leverage your time, you cannot and must not procrastinate! “Procrastination is like masturbation, you are only screwing yourself.”  Sorry to be so expressive, but hey sometimes we need to hear that in order to really get the point.  Procrastination is something that I struggle with, but I find that the best way to handle it is to do what you don’t want to do first.  Get it over and done with.  That is why many people exercise in the morning…it is over and done with and you can move on with your day (unfortunately my schedule doesn’t afford me this luxury).  Procrastination can eat away at your time and leave you feeling awful that you haven’t accomplished anything.  I have literally thought about how many things I needed to do for so long that the day would be nearly over and I hadn’t did not one thing!  I have gotten much better, but sometimes that nasty habit creeps up on me.   A great book tovercome procrastination is “Eat That Frog.”  It is on my must read list.

Okay so I have talked about some ways to leverage your time on your own, but now let’s look at how you could use other people’s time to leverage your time.

1. Learn how to delegate work to other people-  Of course you have to make sure the person is cut out for the job and if they are Great! I love when my mom helps me grade papers, while I am doing lesson plans… This is leverage at its finest.  If you can find help… use it!
2. Train and teach others-  When my students master a concept, I use them to teach other students who may be still struggling.  If you can train or teach someone to do something, it can pay out for you in the end because now you have a qualified person to either help you with a task or move you to the next level of what you are doing.
3. Outsource- Even the smartest person do not know everything.  And if you don’t know ask right?  Well in business, it could sometime be wise to hire people with the experience to do them more efficiently.
   Money that you invest in leveraging other people’s time is usually well spent.  If you are trying to create a website for your company, it might be better for you to pay someone to do it, so that you can focus on other things.  It depends on your needs. For me, I like to learn all that I can so that I can do it myself and this could be a double edge sword.   It is important to distinguish when to use someone else’s expertise and when to learn something for yourself.

Remember that it is normal for us to take on the world and be self-reliant, but this will limit you to achieving only those things that you can do by yourself which could be a complete hinderance to your overall success. 

Check out my other posts on leveraging of knowledge and education and technology resources.

ttyl, Na’sia

My motto: Learn, teach, inspire, and you shall receive all that your heart desires!