(My previous employment status was also self-employed)

Many things have changed in this 10 years, especially in the way of technology.  But I guess that is really an understatement – things are light years ahead of where they were in that area and continuing to change at a most rapid rate.

But as they say, some things stay the same, and that’s what I’d like to talk about today.

One of the things that has definitely stayed the same is ‘effective time management’.  I guess in any job this is important but I feel more so in a self-employed capacity as there is no-one watching over the shoulder to ‘crack the whip.’  If it’s got to be it’s up to me!!

So let’s have a quick look at some beneficial time management approaches.

One of the best habits I think anyone can develop is to start the day early.   I find this so beneficial as I can sort through personal emails, relax over a coffee and newspaper and get out of the way things that would otherwise interrupt my day.  I then have no guilt if these things have been dealt with early.

There are always some small little jobs that need doing, like a brief response to an email, which could be done immediately but we think “Oh, I’ll do that one later.”  NO, definitely a bad idea.  If you know the answer get it out of the way and do it immediately before you have a pile of little jobs that grow up in to a mountain that could have been totally avoided.

Do not spend time procrastinating – this is such a huge time waster.  If something needs doing, just do it. The secret is to not let your mind start wandering around the issue, try and cut those thoughts off before they are roaming freely.  Before long a new habit of just getting on and getting stuff out of the way can be developed.

And those jobs that we hate doing and do anything to avoid?  They actually build up emotional stress that slows us down and drags us down.  Put a time in the diary everyday when one of those jobs will be addressed and just stick to that time slot no matter what. You’ve no idea how good that is going to make you feel!

I know I have plenty of room for improvement and would do well to keep this “blog” in front of me.

Self-employment is great especially if I keep up with the self-improvement as well.

It has been said that it is more important to work on ourselves than our business  -  that way results just begin to flow. And Yes, I have proved this to be correct. Self Improvement, or success education, may be a never ending job but once started it can prove to be the most rewarding job of all.

Happy Self Improvement to all!

I’ve been retired for about 10 years and coming back in to ‘business mode’ has been heaps of fun but wow, how things have changed!

When we sold our business emails were just starting to be accepted as a way to communicate and we hadn’t even seen the need to develop a website.

But now, who doesn’t have a website? And they are so sophisticated and provide so much information, as well as being a whole industry in their own right!  Who saw that coming?!  Well, some smart cookies sure did!!

But I have been told by the experts that a website is now seen as ‘static’, a blog must be incorporated in to it to make it more ‘real time’.

Evidently, some people like to read other people’s blogs and then some of the other people send these on to more of the some people, or the other people, I’m a bit confused here, but anyway,  extra people get to read it and that’s how word gets around.  ‘People’ are sending it around all the time.

We can put out all sorts of updates about our business, our life, our dreams, the world, and who knows where these will end up.  Kinda cool but kinda weird, but that’s just how it is now. Blogging is seen as a serious business.

So as I have gone from knowing NOTHING about Social Media to now utilizing its intricacies to market my business I thought I’d include for your interest this message from Richard Branson on Social Media   –  now he is a guy who knows a bit. (I wonder if he has a blog?)

So if you are interested check it out:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/218098

He explores how the use of Social Media can define a company’s future success.

So happy blogging everyone, just do it!!