Let’s face it. The Internet can be a dangerous place. With so many easy avenues for just about anyone to publicly flaunt or display their personal voices like blogs, it’s also easy for people to be callous about what information is posted.

As entrepreneurs, this can be a problem. People say to make your blog personal, share information, build relationship with your readers but what kind of relationship? Where do you draw the line? On one hand, you want to be approachable and open to your customers. On the other hand, you value your privacy. Ah, the dilemma.

There is no right or wrong answer but there are a lot of things you can do to protect your privacy. While much of it is common sense, sometimes they are easy to overlook during our every day course of business. So let’s review what you can do.

Who’s Blog Is This?

For many entrepreneurs, our business is our life. We are so passionate and immersed in our business that we sometimes forget the business is or should be a separate entity. This is not saying you should be cold and talk business all the time; you should more or less bring some personality into the blog. The point here is, if you take time to step outside of “The business is me” mind set, you’re more likely not to let slip personal details.

Business Information Only

Set limits for yourself what information to share besides the obvious like mailing address and telephone numbers which should be different from your personal one. Consider things like:

What pictures are you willing to put up?

If you’re comfortable with putting out your own picture, it can help build your credibility but what about pictures of you and your family?

Would you share your children’s names and ages?

What information about your spouse or other family members are you willing to put out?

What about your past?

When going on vacation should you post it on your blog? Telling people your offices will be closed should suffice.

Set a sort of agreement with yourself. Generally, it’s a good idea not to discuss your personal life in your business blog. For example, a post about an idea that came to you during Father’s Day barbecue is OK, but if you tell people the barbecue was at Mary’s house who lives out in ABC town and accompany it with a picture, that *may* be a bit too much information. Write just enough to give people a brief background to set your story. Everything else is overkill.

Consider drawing up an employee blogging policy even if you don’t have employees. Think of how you’d advise an employee and apply it to yourself. And when you do have employees, you’ll already have a blogging policy in place.

Review, Review, Review

Because blogging is so easy to do, sometimes we tend to hit the post button too quickly. I’ve been guilty of that. Try to adopt a review-before-publish rule. I sometimes leave my posts overnight so I can see it with a fresh eye the next day.

Review each post to make sure you’re not giving away too much information or information that used collectively with other details you’ve already put forth, could be used against you or jeopardizes your privacy. It would be a good idea to keep a short review checklist you can pull up each time you make a blog post.

Sometimes in blogging you may find a lot of grey areas. The best way I know to deal with what information you should put out is to check yourself each time you post. After a while, you’ll develop a knack of what you can comfortably share and still come across as personable and frank, yet keeps your private life under wraps.

About the Author

Blogger, entrepreneur Lynette Chandler enjoys helping small business owners with their blogs. She authored an e-course to help new bloggers start their blog right from the beginning. Grab yours at Blogging Starter Pack Blog.

Your elevator speech is a verbal business card or billboard.  In order for it to be effective it must be compelling.  You want it to draw in the prospect yet leave them wanting to know more.

It is one sentence, two at the most, and serves as your benefit statement.  Your elevator speech needs to be just what its name implies, short enough to share on an elevator ride.

It should provide clear, jargon-free information about who you are, what you do and what’s in it for the prospect.

Craft your elevator speech when you have a crystal clear picture of your business.  Simply stating your industry and title is too vague.  You must be able to articulate the main problem your specific type or business focus solves for your target market.

You must also know your target market and what motivates them. For example, when I was networking with financial planners, I tested a few elevator speeches to see which got the best response.

The one that worked well was “I partner with new financial planners who want to blow their numbers out of the water.”

The one that flopped was “I coach financial planners so that they can effectively market themselves.”

The latter describes what I actually do with them, but that language is not as appealing to them as the other statement because they tend to be competitive and driven to win.

What to Include in Your Elevator Speech

1)  Your name

Oddly, some people forget to put their name in their elevator speech.  You are promoting yourself, so be sure to state your full name clearly.

2)  Who you work with or who your product is for

Identify your target market.  Being this specific won’t eliminate buyers, it will make it easier for people to refer you business.

3)  What’s the benefit they get if they buy what you’re offering

You can state either the end result or share the problem that you solve.

4)  What is your product or service

Most elevator speeches work well without mentioning the actual product or service, because most of the time people buy the benefit.  Sometimes it is necessary to include.  If it is, do so without going into detail or listing the features of what you offer.  Come up with a succinct and attractive way to state what you sell.

What Not to Include in Your Elevator Speech

1) Your title

In most cases your title doesn’t tell people much about what you do.  It wastes words and time.  If they are interested, they can see it on your business card.

2) Pricing

Never include what you charge in your elevator speech, but do be prepared to discuss your fees if asked.

3) Features

Features are not benefits, but many professionals confuse the two.  Features are things the product or service has, such as a new car’s features might include anti-lock brakes, a lighted mirror on the sun visor and six cup holders.  The features may provide benefits, such as safety or comfort.  In your elevator speech, focus on the benefits.

4) Packaging

Unless your packaging is what makes your product or service unique, such as video conferencing, then leave it out of your short description.

Formula for Composing a Great Elevator Speech

Your Name + Target Market + Benefits
or
Your Name + Product/Service + Target Market + Benefits

Example 1:

I’m Tracy Manning.  I facilitate virtual teams to maximize their productivity.

Example 2:

I’m Jonathan Smith.  I guide at-risk teens to develop their sense of self-esteem and stay in school.

Example 3:

I’m Jane Doe.  As a room designer, I partner with new homeowners who want to their new home to feel like a summer cottage in England.

Example 4:

I’m Jason Horn.  Carpet Layers International specializes in quality installations for property owners with round staircases.

Take note of the strong verb used in each of the examples.  You will want to choose an equally impactful verb for your elevator speech.

I suggest using the formula to create a basic elevator speech and then spice up the language.

Once you’ve crafted a couple of elevator speeches you’ll want to test them out to see which gets the best response.

After you’ve identified the winner, the key to using it effectively is to practice, practice, practice.  Say it out loud in front of a mirror until it flows comfortably off your tongue.

Your elevator speech describes who you are and what you do professionally.  Take pride in it.

(c) 2009 Leah Grant Enterprises LLC.

About the Author

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE?  You may, as long as you include this entire blurb with it: New Business Mentor Leah Grant publishes Startup Success, a weekly ezine. If you’re thinking about starting a new business or are in the early phases of entrepreneurship, subscribe now for tips, articles and resources at http://www.leahgrant.com

Many people coming online and deciding to sell affiliate products never sell a single product. The reason is glaringly obvious, and it’s not the unfortunate affiliate marketer’s fault.

Think about any job that you’ve ever held in the offline world. What happened? You were hired and told when to report for work.

When you showed up for work you were entered into training. Depending upon the job, you spent weeks, sometimes even months, with a trainer guiding you and looking over your shoulder.

Compare that with your typical affiliate program that the complete newbie can join.

You fill out an affiliate registration form and are handed an affiliate link. With some affiliate programs you are also directed to an affiliate resource center.

With a few of the better affiliate programs, you are also directed to some affiliate training videos. The affiliate training videos are the exception rather than the rule.

Affiliate marketers are basically left to figure out what works all on their own.
It’s really not much better for new people coming online who decide to launch their own product.

They come online and read over and over again that you really need you own product. So they decide to create one, perhaps putting it on Clickbank, or a somewhat better option - decide to use the Rapid Action Profits script.

These new product owners understand that they need affiliates, so they put a link to an affiliate signup page somewhere on their site. They often stick this affiliate program signup link in the worse possible place - right on their salespage where it distracts buying customers.

As a side-note, a better place to put your affiliate signup invitation is on your download page, or you can tell your new customers about your affiliate program in a follow-up email. What better person to recruit as an affiliate than a satisfied customer who actually knows your product?

These new product owners sign up affiliates, give them their affiliate links (and a few tools) and then wait for the orders to come flooding in.

When the orders don’t come surging in, the new product own wonders what he did wrong, and concludes that affiliate programs really don’t work.

The problem in both of the above cases is simply a lack of adequate training for affiliates in what works in promoting affiliate products.

The sad part is that there is lots of information available on what has proven to work for top producing affiliates. I, as a super affiliate, have written over 1300 articles on the topic of ecommerce. Many of those articles outline techniques that work flawlessly for me.

For the product owner or affiliate program operator, there are entire affiliate training programs in a box. One that I looked at recently included 52 weekly autoresponder training sessions. It even included video lessons to SHOW the struggling affiliate how to do many things.

Each of the weekly lessons in that “affiliate training program in a box” taught a skill that the aspiring affiliate marketer needs to understand.

If you are an affiliate program owner and wants to check out that “affiliate training program in a box” it’s at: http://WillieCrawford.com/TrainYourAffiliates/

Seasoned marketers and copywriters understand that marketing is not guessing. It’s testing until you discover what works, and then USING those things proven to work. Seasoned marketers and copywriters understand that they are often WRONG as far as what they think will work. Only the market decides what will work. That’s why they don’t experiment, but instead stick with the “tried and true.”

If you are a new (or unsuccessful) affiliate marketer, your solution is simple - learn and stick with what’s already proven to work.

If you are a product owner with an affiliate program that’s NOT producing, your solution is simple - train your affiliates.

When you train your affiliate, they will experience success selling your products, and having finally figured it out, will double their efforts in promoting your products.

Like any other paying job in the world, affiliate marketing does require training. Make sure that you’re not overlooking this critical element of the online marketing puzzle!

About the Author

Willie Crawford is a leading Internet marketing and traffic generation expert. His favorite method for generating free website traffic is distributing videos, audios, articles and press releases using the automated distribution service at http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.com

What are you focussing on achieving in your business in the next 90 days?

Do you have any idea? If you don’t then you better come up with a goal or outcome otherwise you may find that another 3 months has passed you by and you’re no further ahead than where you are right now.

When you’ve got a clear focus, you can easily say ‘no’ to activities and people who distract you.

Simple things like turning email and mobiles off, closing the door, working elsewhere and only having what you need to on your desk all help to stay focussed, however there’s often other areas that take you off track. ..and that you can be completely oblivious to!

John’s Story

One of my new clients told me he gets to his office by 8.30 a.m. each day and rarely gets home by 8.30 p.m.

This had severely impacted on his health and family life. He was stressed to the max and his wife and kids barely see him. He has ‘no time’ to work on his business which has put a ceiling on his profitability.

Here’s some of the reasons why he was ‘working’ long hours:

John was leaving his office door open all day and he let his team interrupt him constantly. He’s a ‘nice guy’ and doesn’t like to say ‘no’. He found it was easier to get his work done after everyone else went home.

His family life was very important to him, yet he didn’t plan to be home at a specific time… there was no clear focus on his finishing time.

John didn’t use a diary to plan his day. He used his telephone to remind him of his appointments and that was all the planning he did!

..and that’s just for starters!

So now he is:

• Closing his office door and allocating specific times of the day to be available to his team. He’s also arranged for a regular weekly team meeting to improve communications within the office.

• John has decided 6.00 p.m. is a reasonable time to be home, so he’s now got a clear time focus on when he needs to finish up for the day.

• He’s bought a diary and structured his working day. John has a plan to follow and just needs to follow his own plan.

Making these three simple changes to start with will have a major impact on John’s business and life.

The Final Word

It sounds so simple… and it is. Having a structure and clear focus (plus consistent action) will determine how and where you spend your time and the results you achieve.

Make sure the direction you’re heading this year is where you want to go!

About the Author

Lorraine Pirihi, The Productivity Queen, is founder of www.productivityqueen.com, and creator of “The Productivity and Profit System ™” … the proven step-by-step program guaranteed to free up your time, organise your systems and master your marketing so you make much more money and have a life!

To receive your. F.R.E.E. CD “How to Boost Your Productivity and Your Profits and Have a Life” valued at $47 by mail and weekly how-to articles to increase your productivity and your profits, visit www.productivityqueen.com.

As a business owner, you know that one of the keys to a successful year is promoting your business. No matter what size your business is, marketing and promotion need to be addressed. Marketing has become a daunting task with the increasing number of online start-up businesses.

And now, along with the traditional offline marketing methods, there are many online marketing tools and methods available.

Online Marketing is also known as Internet Advertising, web marketing, web advertising or e-marketing.

There are many benefits to marketing your business online. Here are a few.

Lowering Your Costs

A recent eMarketer article sites that “in the wake of the global economic downturn, marketers worldwide are shifting more of their budgets into cheaper, more-measurable categories. In most cases, that means online.”

Your marketing budget is only so big and online marketing can stretch it even farther for you. TV and radio spots are expensive, printing costs for corporate and product brochures are expensive and traditional mailings cost not only in materials and postage, but deplete the environment as well. Why not direct potential customers to your website for information on products and services? Your website is your brochure, a marketing tool available 24 hours a day to prospective customers. Your revenue potential will increase while your costs diminish.

Offline marketing ads for newspapers, TV and radio are for a limited time and you pay for the time slot and space. In online marketing, your ads potentially can stay up longer and over time you end up paying less. Using article marketing, you could either write an article yourself or pay someone else to write it. When that article is distributed online, it stays on the Internet for many years. For a small cost, you’ve placed a marketing proposition that stays around indefinitely, pointing potential customers to your website and your products and services.

Compared to traditional marketing or telemarketing, email marketing costs very little. These targeted messages go directly into the homes and offices of your potential or existing customers.

Reaching a Larger Market and a Targeted Market

The Internet allows people from all over the world to do business with each other.

From another recent eMarketer article, (http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006988) in 2009, more than 65% of Americans are Internet users. They’re not only checking e-mail and Twittering, they are shopping for products and services.

With traditional media, your ads are restricted to a specific location for a limited time. When you promote your business online, you reach a larger audience than you would ever be able to reach otherwise since your marketing activity is not restricted by location. More potential customers always equal more sales opportunities.

Online marketing allows you to target specific demographics such as age, location, gender and income levels and in many cases allows you to track the behaviors of these groups as they interact with your online marketing.

It can also bring a branding campaign to life in a new way. This unique consumer interaction with your brand can leverage emotional links to your brand. Instead of a brand talking to a customer, your customer can interact with and experience your brand. This is intelligent brand marketing. You can influence people at the perfect time - their time, right when they are looking for information, comparison shopping and possibly buying.

Flexibility and Tangible Tracking

Online marketing can include email, newsletters, blogs, microblogs, podcasts, video and social media sites. All of these outlets have the ability to be flexible. An ad placed in a magazine or newspaper can’t be changed until the next submission. With online marketing you’ll know very quickly if a campaign is working and you can change wording or graphics and adapt product information to match changing market conditions.

The Internet also removes any guesswork from measuring campaign results. Using web analytics, you can measure the number of visitors that a campaign brings to your website, how long they stay and the average number of pages they visit. This important information along with the flexibility, allows you to improve the conversion of your campaign and to increase your return on investment.

Instant Conversion Ability

Online marketing allows you to convert a shopper to a customer instantly. A potential customer reading a traditional newspaper ad does not have the ability to click a mouse and buy your product or service immediately. Offline marketing involves more time and money to convert a shopper into a sale.

Online ads allow direct response. Consumers can click to learn more about a product, sign up for a newsletter or RSS feed, or buy right then and there. This will in turn create a database for you, which, with email marketing, will allow you to reach people who have already expressed an interest in your product or service. And online marketing allows you to sell to anyone, anywhere and at any time. You’re not restricted by time, geography and location considerations.

Internet marketing includes strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click marketing (PPC), article marketing, blog marketing, online brandcasting, social media marketing and many more interactive marketing services.

While these strategies may seem daunting at first, with a little research, you can use some of these tools to help you optimize your website and increase web traffic. Or, if you have it in your budget, there are companies that specialize in many SEO services.

There are many benefits to both online and offline marketing. A mix of the two might be just what your business needs to grow.

About the Author

Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat (http://www.Brandsplat.com/), the only online marketing and advertising company employing Brandcasting, the most effective way to brand your company on the web. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. The approach is simple, highly effective and affordable. Learn more at: http://www.Brandsplat.com/ and http://www.brandsplatblog.com/

Even if you’ve got the simplest job on the planet…

I don’t care if you’re washing dishes or flipping burgers.

Heck, even if you’re a roadside fruit seller…

All of those jobs are much more complicated than making money from Clickbank.

I know that for a fact…

Let me tell you a story about how I found that out…

About 8 weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge into Clickbank.

I’d always heard that it was easy to get started, and I had some free time so I thought I’d finally give it a shot. I mean, I’d had some success online in the past, and I thought I was finally ready.

So I just sat down one day at my kitchen table, fired up the old laptop, and started searching the Clickbank Marketplace for products to promote…

I went through the same basic number crunching I always go through with new stuff - I mean real basic - I’m talking kindergarten math…

And after about an hour I’d found a few products with good commissions, so I decided to pull the trigger and start promoting them…

But I didn’t take it seriously. I just grabbed a couple of free templates for landing pages, and fired up a couple of Adwords campaigns…

Boy, they were some ugly templates… and right then I figured I’d already blown it.

So I sat back and waited…I figured I’d put a couple hours in, may as well give it a fair shot…

It was incredible.

Everytime I hit the “refresh” button, I had another 2 or 3 sales…

I couldn’t believe it…I’d heard Clickbank had some decent products … but it’s not like they were converting at 15-20% or anything…

So I tried again. Found new products. Put together new landing pages.

And guess what happened?

You got it - The money kept coming in. Floods of it. Clickbank was spraying cash like a broken fire hydrant…

So I tried again…new products, new landing page, new keywords, the whole 9 yards…

But the commissions just continued to mount up…

After a few days of watching my stats spin like a slot machine, I decided to look into things a little further.

So I began analysing my competition. The guys promoting the same products as me, the ones using the same keywords…

And man, was that an eye opener…

I found that most Clickbank affiliates are making huge mistakes…errors that drastically reduce the conversions of the vendor’s site!

But That’s Not Even The Worst Part…

The worst part is that almost every Clickbank affiliate is dropping the ball with their landing pages.

And they’re doing it so badly that it’s pushing their cost per click through the roof…

If you’re using Adwords to promote Clickbank products, chances are you’re paying at least double what you should be. Even right now, as you read this page.

Scary huh?

And that’s what got me thinking - seeing all those guys wasting money while I massacre their ads and shut down their businesses made me realise something:

Almost everyone has the wrong idea about affiliate marketing. Think about it…

..Just about everyone gets their marketing skills from Internet Marketing (IM) products. I’ll bet you’ve bought a few of them yourself, haven’t you?

I know I have.

You’ve probably also realised that a lot of the time these products - especially ones put out by the so-called gurus - don’t quite give you the whole story.

Sure, they’ll give you some hints and a rough framework. But after that, you’re on your own.

The training wheels come off, and suddenly your “business” sucks money out of your wallet like an industrial vacuum cleaner.

And man, that hurts. You’ll probably need to take on a day job just to finance the business!

Really, when you think about it, everyone learning from the same gurus is the main problem.

Learn more at my website shown below…

About the Author

Written by: Brandon Weavers. Wanna know more? Check out: http://www.ClickBankMoneyMaking.com/

You’ve seen the commercials and read the news advertisements for telephone service using your computer: very cheap monthly fees; make all the calls you want; keep your telephone number forever; and voice quality as good as a landline. You’ve heard the claims and you’ve heard the term “VoIP.” Here’s the scoop.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and it does what the name suggests - it transmits voice data using IP packets over the Internet. It is also called Internet Telephony. It’s easier to understand VoIP if you know a little about our telephone system - PSTN (the Public Switched Telephone Network) and a little about the Internet.

Your traditional landline transmits calls through copper or fiber cables in the ground or on telephone poles with a cable connected to your home. When someone makes a call, one continuous route is made between the two phones and the information flows continuously in this loop. As you know from paying your bills, the longer the route, the more expensive the call.

VoIP works a little differently. It works using the Internet, which is a packet-based network. Packet-based just means that instead of sending one continuous string of information, it sends out smaller packets of information.

With VoIP, your voice is converted into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. There are three ways that this can be done:

1) using a VoIP telephone;

2) using a computer with speakers and a microphone; or

3) using a regular telephone with a VoIP adapter. Because the IP packets are tiny by comparison, unlike downloading files, this all happens in real time, just like your regular phone.

Advantages of VoIP

Because VoIP provides services through the Internet, once you have the equipment in place there are a number of benefits.

The main reason for VoIP’s popularity is its cost advantage. With regular phone service, you usually pay a monthly flat fee for your local calls and a per-minute charge for long distance calls. Internet connections are charged using a monthly flat fee only. Because VoIP doesn’t charge a per-minute fee for long distance, you wouldn’t incur those charges. If you make long distance calls, VoIP most certainly will save you a lot of money. If you used the Internet for both your data traffic and voice calls, you could get rid of one monthly payment.

The other cost advantage is that since it uses a broadband Internet connection, it efficiently uses the existing infrastructure you already use with your computer. There is only minimal software and hardware to buy.

Disadvantages to VoIP

There are a few disadvantages with VoIP. A major one is QoS or Quality of Service. Since there are packets carrying your voice information instead of a continuous flow of information, there could be delay problems, weird sounds, echoes and noise. VoIP quality depends on many factors - your broadband connection, your hardware, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the destination of your call, just to name a few.

While VoIP has made substantial progress over the past 5 years in terms of Quality of Service, it still has a way to go.

Another disadvantage is that in the event of a power failure, you will lose the ability to make and receive calls unless you have a backup battery for your computer. With traditional phone service, the cables are directly linked to the phone lines and the phone company provides power independently of your home or company’s electrical power system. Thus you normally do not lose a phone signal due to loss of power with traditional service.

Another criticism of VoIP service is its historical problems with 911 emergency services. With traditional phone service, the 911 system can identify the location and number of the call because it is connected and routed locally. With VoIP, you are calling through the Internet and the actual signal may travel substantial distances before being routed to a local 911-service center. Thus geographically, the 911 system might have trouble identifying your location. Most VoIP services today include what is known as enhanced 911 service. This is a process by which the signal traveling through the Internet carries with it a physical address for the calling location. At present VoIP equipment providers may charge an additional fee for this service.

Businesses that may want to use VoIP to save money need to consider any security issues that exist. This is because with VoIP, information is sent through the Internet. Just as with any computer connection, it is possible that a hacker can intercept the information being transmitted. It is important to investigate the VoIP equipment provider’s network to determine how they route data, what firewalls or other protections are afforded for security purposes.

If you are ready to look into VoIP for your phone or fax service, you can visit electronics retailers, large discount retailers and search online for information. There are a variety of VoIP providers at present. The equipment that is used, the cost of the equipment, the cost of accessories, and the cost of any enhanced services can and should be compared.

You should purchase the system and use the provider that you feel would work best for your needs in terms of how many phones you want to connect to the system, what type of security you require and the cost of purchasing the equipment and the service.

You may want to use a telecom management service for a cost analysis to see if VoIP will be a good fit for your company.

VoIP is still a new technology and hopefully there will be more and more improvements and innovations in the coming years.

About the Author

With more than twenty-five years of experience in planning, implementing, managing and consulting on telecommunications projects, Nermine Shaker has generated tens of millions of dollars worth of savings for her clients. She is a Partner at The Sygnal Group, a Telecommunications Management Company that offers unbiased reporting, analysis and implementation of telecom strategies to businesses of all sizes. http://www.SygnalGroup.com

The Wall Street Journal reported that people lose as much as six weeks a year just searching for information. Can you afford that kind of time loss? No one can. Yes, you can work in chaos—but you are going to lose time and focus. You will work more efficiently when your workspace is clutter free. Start by committing yourself to a clean desktop. You cannot think about big ideas if your desktop is full of action items. Here’s how to make your office clutter free right now.

1. Move (or move out) Keepsakes. Keepsakes can be just as distracting as stacks of work—and they need to be dusted! Move half of your keepsakes out of your office. Cindy Arlinsky, founder of Organizing Matters suggests moving the remainder of your keepsakes off your desk and onto walls or shelves.

2. Move the Tools. So what else do you keep on your desk—an electronic pencil sharpener, paper clips, and a stapler? Gayle Goddard, The Clutter Fairy, says, “If you have a bunch of office tools on the desk that you use less than once a day, get them off the desk. Put them in a file cabinet or on a bookcase or in a closet.” Keep only your most essential office tools on your desk.

3. Create Color-Coded Action Files. Give each one of your work projects a color-coded action file. Use your desk drawer for these action files. “That one drawer is prime real estate that can be reached while you are sitting in the desk chair. That drawer should be used for your current action files,” says Gayle Goddard. “That way whatever you are working on currently is immediately accessible while you work, and can be easily put away at the end of each day to clear off your desk.”

4. Create Project Shelves for writing and work projects that need more space than a file or two. Each book I am writing gets a shelf. That way, I can keep a project notebook, research materials, and research books visible and in one place. I’ve now added shelves for clients and other work projects. It keeps the information off my desk (and floor) but still in sight.

5. Hello Notepad. Is your computer hard to see because you’ve covered it with real and electronic sticky notes reminding you to call the doctor? STOP! Organizer Cindy Arlinsky says, “Jot down phone numbers, order confirmations, travel data, and other urgent information in ONE spot. You’ll save time retrieving information and minimize clutter.”

6. The Magic Twenty. Set aside 20 minutes at the end of each day to clean up your office. Deal with the emails in your inbox. Put away project files and tools. Toss extra papers. Return dirty dishes to the kitchen. Then shut down the computer, turn off the lights, and close the door.

A clean, well-organized office will make you more productive. Besides that, you’ll have reclaimed the time you used to spend searching for information. With that extra time, you’ll be able to take on more work or even take a vacation!

About the Author

Right Now! Coach Rochelle Melander supports people in writing to transform their lives and businesses. If you’re ready to establish credibility, make more money, and market your work by writing a book, blog, or Web site, get your free subscription to her Write Now! Tips Ezine at http://www.rightnowcoach.com

Take it from someone who often has to rescue someone from mispronunciation or suffer silently when someone reads my last name out loud for the first time: There is huge value in having a name that people can look at and have no doubt about how to pronounce.

That’s why I shook my head sadly when I saw the following line in a magazine ad:

“Vovici [vo-vee-see] - the future of online surveys”

For English speakers, pronouncing the company name “Vovici” is totally unintuitive. One uncertainty would be bad enough, but it actually has four trouble spots for someone seeing the name and trying to pronounce it. The “o” could be long or short, the first “i” could be long or short, the emphasis could belong on either the first or the second syllable, and the “c” could be pronounced either like an “s” or like “ch,” as in Latin.

But if you instruct people how to pronounce it, as in this magazine ad, isn’t that OK? No, not unless you have the budget to make that pronunciation famous through radio or television ads. You’ll constantly be fighting several handicaps.

1. With a name that’s hard to pronounce, fewer people will say it. Most people hate making mistakes, dislike being corrected and therefore would feel embarrassed to be tripping over pronouncing a six-letter company name. So, many will simply avoid saying it. That means fewer people will recommend the company to others in conversation. People might even go so far as to avoid situations in which they need to confront their uncertainty about the name’s pronunciation - like avoiding the company’s sales reps.

2. A name that’s hard to pronounce is also often harder to remember. That means less impact from many of the dollars spent on marketing. It will cost more to get the same results than with a name that’s easy to pronounce.

3. You need to spend considerable time and energy on the issue of pronunciation rather than on what the company does. Very often you also need to explain the derivation or meaning of the name, not just how to say it. For instance, Cuil, the name of the search engine, looks like a nonsensical and unpronounceable combination of letters to most Americans. “Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge,” says the company on its About page. Strangely, they do not say there that it should be pronounced “cool,” though they do so in their press releases.

4. People won’t know how to spell an unpronounceable name. And on the web, that is disastrous. If someone overhears buzz about a new search engine called “cool,” they are going to look it up at cool.com or maybe at kool.com. Not one in a billion would look for it at cuil.com unless they were previously clued in.

Saddling your company with a name that you need to instruct people how to pronounce means putting it at a distinct disadvantage. Spend a little more time and selectivity in naming to give your organization the comfortable boost it deserves.

About the Author

Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that brainstorms creative business names, product names and tag lines for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with an appealing and effective name or tag line, download a free copy of “19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line” at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm

How do you deal with technologies that are supposed to save you time and money, but often don’t?

Technology is a double-edged sword when it comes to making life simpler and saving time. While it may do both of these things, there is a dark side. As working women, we feel compelled to fill that newly-saved time with even more things to do, thus complicating our lives rather than simplifying them.

Before you purchase any type of new technology, ask yourself, “Do I NEED this item?” Or “Do I WANT this item?” If I purchased every piece of technology that I WANTED, I’d need a new building in which to store it all!

Women have to be careful when we bring anything into our lives, but technology requires even more caution. There are several reasons for this:

• Technology is costly.
• Technology usually becomes obsolete as soon as you get it home.
• You may not be getting everything you need.
• You may be getting way more than you’ll ever need!
• There may be learning time and ongoing maintenance involved.

A working woman’s dream is to lead a balanced life, both personally and professionally; therefore, you need to do your homework on the technology that you are considering. As a Certified Professional Organizer®, I know that all systems are not meant for everyone. Don’t just think of the day that you buy it…think of it one, two or three years down the road. Is it worth the investment? Can you see yourself growing into or out of it?

On the other end of the spectrum, don’t waste an exorbitant amount of time debating whether or not a product is going to be just “perfect” for your situation. Striving for perfection is exhausting, squanders time, and probably drives those around you crazy! We just bought a new LCD TV. I did so much research, that by the time we made the purchase, I couldn’t remember the features that we wanted in the first place. My poor husband was a tad more than frustrated!

You need to take your daily routine into consideration; there is no one-size-fits-all solution with technology. Just because a colleague or friend recommends a new “toy” to you doesn’t mean you should buy so you can say that you have the latest “cool” device out there.  Be sure it fits into your life.

Look logically at the long-term effects of your purchase…and if it will save you some time, buy it, but refrain from filling that saved time with another task. Look at it as newly found time to spend with loved ones or to relax for a while by yourself.

To buy or not to buy? For working women who love technology, that is the question.

About the Author

Patty Kreamer, Certified Professional Organizer(R) and owner of Kreamer Connect, Inc., provides speaking, coaching and consulting services to businesses and organizations who value effective practices that will leave their people being more efficient, empowered and proud of their accomplishments.

Do you want to be a much more organized person? Patty’s groundbreaking books, “…But I Might Need It Someday!” and The Power of Simplicity are available for purchase at www.ByeByeClutter.com. Or if you prefer a “baby-steps” online/workbook-based course, check out the Clutter Rescue Course, which will transform
a life of clutter, wasted time, frustration and overwhelm to one of power, simplicity and organization.

If you’re looking for a fun, dynamic, and effective speaker, or if your company would benefit from a productivity coach or consultant, Patty is available in person, by teleconference, webinar and phone. Email her directly at patty@ByeByeClutter.com or call her at 412-344-3252.

Patty can also be contacted via Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Plaxo/Pulse, or her blog. For useful tips, sign up for her free monthly e-newsletter at www.ByeByeClutter.com.

(C)2009 Kreamer Connect, Inc. Permission granted to reprint this article as long as the text and by-line are not changed. Complete text must be reprinted intact with all links made live.