Posts Tagged ‘Time’
…the end of the rainbow.
Keep going. If you're one of many who are searching for that inner-passion so you can share it with the world, keep going. I gotta say, it's worth finding. And, if it's taking some time to find, it may be that the time it takes makes the realization that much sweeter. I'll add this: Remember to enjoy the journey of discovery, too! Open your eyes and mind like that 5-year old looking for an adventure (the looking is an adventure in itself). My passion is ideas. I love seeing ideas move from mind to market; to go from valuable to one person to valuable to many. I love the creative process ("We can do THIS, oh... and we can add this to it and that! AWESOME!"). In my own journey as I moved from idea to idea (and not really prospering, being in a state of perpetual starting), the TIME and the frustration of my apparent lack of progress finally led me to create SelfEnterpriser.com and the corresponding talk show, Up In Your Biz! So now, I'm spending my time getting to know others around my local town of Bellingham, Washington; learning about their ideas and how they've turned their passions into business. As I'm doing such, I'm absorbed into that unique essence that every city or town emits. As I get to know the people running the businesses in town, I get to know the town. Coffee shops and intersections are already (after just my first week of video shoots) transforming into landmarks that remind me of the new friendships and interactions I'm creating. So, thanks to those who encouraged me to search for my own unique abilities and passions. Thank you to the business owners of Bellingham for allowing me to get to know you. This is a real joy. More than ever before I can say about being a Self Enterpriser: It's a spectacular life. --Dave C. Image Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theslowlane/ | CC BY 2.0
Stack It!
I'm a big fan of STACKING. Stacking is whenever you're accomplishing multiple objectives thru one task. It's not multi-tasking; that would be trying to accomplish multiple objectives by taking on multiple tasks at one time. Some examples of Stacking: Objectives: Exercise and Time with Family Playing tag or touch-football. Objectives: Reading, Relaxing, Hygene Taking a bath with book in hand. Objectives: Learning, Pooping. Hopefully, this one is obvious. (Yes, take your math tutor to the crapper with you). Some other examples of Stacking that I'm currently practicing: I want to find programs for communicating with my current and future project teams as well as with our company's clients. So, I'm using Google Wave to keep track of my weekly and daily objectives (while branching off with others who use Wave now and then). I'm using ManyMoon.com to schedule the items from my Wave with my calendar. I'm using Tumblr.com to create a group-site for the members of the improv course I attend. Just some simple tips for being more efficient. Okay, gotta wrap this up. My math tutor just arrived. "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave Charbonneau Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/potaufeu/ / CC BY 2.0
Project Update #4: AnthemVirtual.com
Okay, I can succeed with just those two items: A weekly plan and daily plans. I'm balanced because my plans include my body, mind, heart, and spirit. There's one more concept I came up with to help me keep my sanity. As this is a project launch that is essentially a new business launch, there are a lot of LITTLE THINGS that need to get done; and right now I'm the only one responsible for doing them. My motto has become "Get Going NOW, Tweak Along the Way". This means that the website won't be perfect; the process may not be totally smooth at first. That's okay. Keep moving. Otherwise, I'll get lost in the details, fall behind schedule, and find plenty of excuses to stall my progress. I created in my Wave, beneath my two weekly objectives, a TweakBox. In here I put anything and everything that needs to get done, but isn't priority. If I was budgeted for it, many of these tasks would likely be outsourced. This box allows me to, at a glance, see what needs to get tweaked and when I have a moment between peanut-butter sandwiches and playing tag (again, stacking: Family time with exercise), I can get some tweak time in. Now, there's an even more important role this TweakBox plays: It allows me to DUMP my thoughts as they arrive in my head regarding things that need to get done. Now, these thoughts don't cloud my productive time; they don't cheat me out of sleep or strive to raise my levels of anxiety. Writing things down puts you in control of the tasks. Having my TweakBox gives me permission to "do them when I can". After creating the TweakBox, I added a DailyBox, a WeeklyBox, and a ReadingBox. In these, I place the tasks that need to be done every day, or once or twice each week; as well as what books I want to read that apply to my work (right now it's "How Did That Happen?"). Again, I don't have to THINK, instead I FOCUS on the priorities, and I SNEAK in the Box-stuffs when I can. I'm about 5 to 7 days behind where I want to be in my 90-day plan... which feels like three months behind. This is good, only because I use the "pressure" to stick to the tasks before me. Make promises and keep them. It's a pretty simple plan. Kawasaki's book with some tactics from Ferriss, and the foundation of Covey, these help me format those promises in a way that keeps me in control of me, so I can move effectively forward in creating value. If you want a copy of my GoogleWave outline, email me at Dave@SelfEnterpriser.com. I'm happy to send you a copy, but don't want to make this post any longer than it already is. What's next? The value's been created, this week a system is being put in place to ensure consistency in that value; and marketing that value will begin (marketing, meaning making it easy for others to exchange dollars for that value). Tools: Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave C. Photo [...]
Project Update #3: AnthemVirtual.com
Let's see... I'm on day 29 of the AnthemVirtual.com launch. Many reasons for delay keep cropping up and begging me to call them excuses. However, this little drummer-boy is marching forward. I've been feeling overwhelmed with my acting-role of SuperDad. At the end of every day I found myself with feelings of great dissatisfaction, that I didn't get near enough completed. I finally found myself saying (okay, I was screaming), if I only had 3 hours of actual productivity every day, oh what I could do. Going back and forth with my wife, trying to figure out her work schedule with mine (hers is making money), along with the kids' schedules and the kids getting sick (seems each of them had something unique). On top of these "normal" abnormalities, there's an issue of chronic fatigue that comes into play in my frustration, too. Okay, enough of the Real-world (I only share to shout out to you and myself that there are no excuses good enough to stop me). Here's what I ended up doing. First, I realized that my 'night-owl' tendencies could serve me well. I have 3 hours from 10PM to 1AM every day. Viola! An instant 3 hours. Just what I was looking for, right in a time-slot that my fatigue rarely kicks my butt and the children are sleeping. Okay, next I needed to ensure that these three hours were PRO-DUC-TIVE! This meant I needed to have an absolute plan for things that were my absolute priority. Get this plan written down (long before the production period was to start; like the end of the previous work-day). Once things were written down, all I had to do was keep the promises I made (borrowed from Stephen Covey's '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'). As long as I'm making promises based on my priority objectives - to myself and others - then I do all I that is humanly possible to keep those promises, prosperity naturally follows (of course, tweaking priority objectives when needed). Create A WEEKLY PLAN using Google Wave (no other collaborators, just me). a. Plan should cover four areas: Heart, Mind, Spirit & Body (the PC in Covey's PC/P concept) b. Plan should cover top TWO major accomplishments for the business for that particular week (based loosely on Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Workweek. If these are the ONLY 2 things accomplished this week, it will be a fantastic week for the business). Create a DAILY PLAN within the same Wave a. What are the TOP TWO accomplishments for the next business day. b. Any sub-tasks that need to go with this? I don't want to use anything more complicated than Wave, tho there are many project management programs out there; and I'll be using a project management program within AnthemVirtual. However, I want my Weekly Plan / Daily Plan to be very simple. As well, I chose Wave instead of a simple Google Doc only because I wanted to familiarize myself with Wave a bit more as I'll soon be using it to track communications between the company and our Clients [...]
An Email Worth Remembering
Found this email in my inbox this morning. (I wish I remembered who sent it to me?) +++++++ Dave - I wrote a blog post that I think you are gonna go bananas over. This is the link --> http://bit.ly/PhotographicMemory A huge challenge entrepreneurs have is remembering those fleeting thoughts of genius. Great ideas constantly get forgotten when a pen and paper aren't handy. I mean, just think about all those lost thoughts you had in the shower. Any who, this is a method I use to remember everything from the "honey-do" list to rattling off stuff when I am on TV. It is an amazingly powerful method. I think you'll get tons of value out of it and never forget a thing again: http://bit.ly/PhotographicMemory Enjoy! And, I can never say this enough... I am wishing you a tremendously successful 2010!!! - Mike, the author of this thingy-dingy-do-thingy http://3.ly/amazon The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, 239 Myrtle Avenue, Boonton, NJ 07005, United States Email re-printed without permission (tee-hee).
Blog Building Tools: PicApp.com and Creative Commons
Earlier, I wrote about LazyFeed.com, a site to keep you informed on just about any subject in real-time. A great tool for bringing ideas to your readers quickly. Oh-so Useful LINK: View article here: http://selfenterpriser.com/?p=559 Today, I suggest you also check out PicApp.com - especially if you're writing about current events such as new-stories or entertainment. PicApp is a site that allows you to access and use select GettyImages (and perhaps others?). It's easy to use: simply do a search for your topic, select the size of image you'd like to use, copy and paste the embed code onto your blogsite's HTML editor. Oh, did I mention it's FREE. Free is good (wait, it's 2010, is free still good? Ok. Just checking). These are photos that news-papers might pay $70 per image, per week (citation requested). That gets really expensive really quickly; as, perhaps, could a lawsuit for using others' photos without permission. Oh-so Useful LINK: http://PicApp.com One other source that I use often at SelfEnterpriser.com is Creative Commons Search. This site allows you to search for content that others have made available for commercial or artistic repurposing. Be sure to give credit where credit is due, as that's part of the deal. Also, I like to leave a "Thank You" in the comments section where the original photo is found (when using Flickr, anyway). In addition to being nice, you may also gain a visitor or three to your website. For a sample of the 'thank you' I post, check out the photo I borrowed for the panel cartoon entitled, Speed Reading. Oh-so Useful LINKS: http://search.creativecommons.org/ Original photo with my 'Thank You' posted in the comment section Speed Reading Panel Cartoon SelfEnterpriser.com is committed to getting ideas from Mind To Market on the cheap. No need to spend like a government bureaucrat - just be yourself, be honest in your dealings, and you'll naturally attract those who want to connect with you. Using such principles, business seems to flow simply and predictably. May your 2010 be your best year yet! "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave C.
