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To find balance in your life, you need to be able to figure out how to effectively manage your time.  Time is one of those things that can quickly be wasted.  Think about how fast the minutes tick by when you stop to check your emails or read your mail.  What about the unexpected phone call? Someone might ask if you have a minute, but that “minute” turns into twenty.

Another huge time stealer is meetings.  It is amazing that people love to go to meetings.  However, usually these people are not the boss.  Meetings can fill your day and take away from other important tasks that you need to attend to.  If you get in the habit of participating in daily meetings, you are looking at 1 to 3 hours of your day being taken away from you.

Determine How Much Meetings Are Really Costing You

Read the blog post, Put a Dollar Figure on Your Time, to calculate the value of your time. Multiply this number by the amount of hours you spend in meetings.  Now, you know exactly how much money these meetings are costing you.

Stop Having Meetings

Here’s a revolutionary thought – don’t have meetings if you don’t need them.  If you need to communicate with your staff, write memos to each person.  Use conference calls and email.  If you absolutely have to schedule a meeting, schedule it right before lunch or at the end of the day when people are anxious to leave the office.  Also, create an agenda for the meeting, so you can stay on track.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Success magazine recently posted a great blog about social media and how it will contribute to your success, as a business owner.  According to the blog entry, Why Social Media Aids Success, social media can help you read your customers’ minds – that has to be good for business!

Social media is still confusing for many people.  While you might understand the usefulness it has in connecting with your friends and family members, you might not see the relevance it has on your business.  However, many entrepreneurs swear by social media and are using it to grow their businesses.

The Success magazine blog had some great advice on how you can use social media to thrive in today’s economy.  Here are a few of those tips:

Get to know your customers. You can learn a lot by reading blogs and social network updates.  In a way, social media allows you to learn how your customers think. It can even help you discover new opportunities to better serve your target market.

Share information. Write social media updates and blog entries or create Web videos that would interest your customers.  If you write interesting content or create compelling videos, people will share them, which can help you reach a pretty wide audience.

Build relationships. Social media sites, such as Facebook, give you a unique opportunity to show your personality and expertise to your potential customers.  They will feel like they know you and will be more apt to turn to you when in need of your products or services.

There are a lot of benefits of social media and it is definitely a marketing avenue worth exploring.  Read our blog entry, Social Media Could Be Good for Your Bottom Line, for more information.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

There is a lot of hype about social media right now and as a business owner, you have to decide if it is worth your time.

Part of the big draw to social media is not only the potential to get in front of a large audience, but also its cost effectiveness.  If done right, social networking, which includes using such sites as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube, can be a great marketing opportunity.

Word of Mouth Advertising on a Larger Scale

Word of mouth has historically been one of the greatest ways to attract new business.  Think of social media as word of mouth advertising on a larger scale.  According to a blog posted on Mashable.com, How Small Businesses Will Use Social Media in the Future, “in-stream advertising, news feeds from Facebook, and user-generated content are all ways for a business to monetize a customer’s interaction with both their friends and the brand.”

Approach Social Media with a Purpose

You need to approach social media with a purpose – to increase the exposure of your business and to build relationships with potential customers.  That means posting interesting content and interacting with your prospects.  The trick is to share information without overtly promoting your business.  You need to build trust and show that you are the person to turn to when someone needs your particular product or service.

Will social media help your business? It’s worth giving it a try.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

It is always refreshing to hear of someone who never shied away from hard work, even at a young age.

Several months ago, The Washington Post profiled a man who did what he needed to in order to accomplish his goals.  Even though Payam “Peter” Tabibian might not be a billionaire, he has found major success in his life.

Nearly three decades ago, Tabibian and his family fled from Iran and eventually found themselves in the United States.  Tabibian appeared to have learned quickly that opportunity is never far out of reach.

When he was in middle school, he started his first business – selling candy bars to classmates.  By the time he was 14, he started working at Burger King. His work wasn’t glamorous by any means, as he took out the trash, washed dishes and cleaned the parking lot. That didn’t deter Tabibian, though.  He spent years working at several Burger King restaurants and became the youngest manager at the L’Enfant Plaza location.

Tabibian had a hectic schedule, by anyone’s standards.  He went to school during the morning, worked in the afternoon at Burger King and then continued with an evening shift at the grocery store. It is easy to conclude that his strong work ethic and drive are what eventually led him to success.

There is a lot to Tabibian’s story, including that he founded Z-Burger, which has two locations.  These restaurants are now grossing millions every year. Tabibian is a true example of where hard work and determination can take you in life.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Just about every motivational and business speaker will tell you the same thing – goal setting is crucial.  Hearing this message over and over again can get old quickly, but guess what?  It is immensely important that you create goals. According to John Spence, the author of Awesomely Simple, “goals are the ‘how to’ of your big picture vision/worthy purpose.”

If you view writing down your goals as some pointless exercise, you need to change your mindset.  Your goals will act as a step-by-step guide for getting from where you are at this moment to where you want to be in the future.  You might have an amazing vision of your future, but without clear direction (a.k.a. goals), it will never become reality.

Mr. Spence has a great whitepaper, Strategies for Success, which among other things, lists out the reasons why goals are so important.  Here is what he has to say:

- Goals tell you exactly what you should be doing now.
- Goals tell you exactly what you should be doing next.
- Goals help you decide what NOT to do.
- Goals serve as a way to mark your progress.
- Setting and reaching goals is a repeatable process – once you achieve one goal, you simply set another.

Goal setting is not a one-time event.  You need to revisit your list of goals on a regular basis to ensure that you are on the right path to achieving the future of your dreams.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Success means something different for each person.  While most people define success as being wealthy, powerful and famous, it is important to understand that these things don’t always lead to a successful life.  Even powerful billionaires are often unhappy.  Just because they have attained wealth and an abundance of possessions, that doesn’t mean they have achieved true success in their lives.

In his whitepaper, Strategies for Success, John Spence defines personal success as “when you live a life in which your core values and self-concept are in harmony with your daily lifestyle and behaviors.”  He goes further to describe success as it means to him personally: “having a set of deeply held personal values, a clear idea about the kind of life you truly want to live and the person you honestly want to be – and then getting up every day and actually being that person and living that life.”

What does success mean to you?

Don’t buy into the definition of success that is shown on TV and movies. You need to be able to define what constitutes a successful life in your eyes.  If success means having a lot of money and prestige and you are able to achieve these things, then great. You have found success in your life.  However, in Mr. Spence’s own words, if you are a “living example of the values you hold and your life is very close to what you hoped it would be – then I think you are extremely successful.”

Be sure to check out John Spence’s book, Awesomely Simple.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

You have to admit, the Yellow Pages is becoming non-existent.  How many consumers still await the delivery of this massive book, store it for months in the cabinet and reference it when they need to? Not many people.

In most locations, the Yellow Pages is a dying media. Many hotels don’t even carry it anymore. Instead, people are using the Internet and smartphones to find the information they need.  Everything that they are curious about, including products and services, can quickly be accessed online.  However, many business owners still insist on advertising in this book.

If you are going to pursue Yellow Pages advertising, there are some things you should do to help your ad stand out.  Below are the components you should include:

Interesting headline. Don’t waste this space with your company’s name.  Instead, create something that is catchy.

Compelling copy. White space doesn’t necessarily sell, despite what the Yellow Pages rep might have told you.  Create copy that speaks to the questions that are going through your prospects’ minds.

Irresistible offer. You need to create an offer that would be of interest to your prospects and it should be offered for free.  The goal is to make your prospects stop their search until they have received your free offer.  For more information, read the blog entry, The Secret to Getting the Phone to Ring.

By including these three items in your Yellow Pages, you will have a better chance of standing out from all the other pages of ads.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

It doesn’t matter what type of business you might be in, at some point you have probably had that fear that the phone would stop ringing or that no more customers would walk into your office or store.  If you are proactive and take the right actions, this fear will not become your reality.

Competition is strong in most industries, which means you are vying for the same customers as many of the other businesses in your area.  Everyone is shouting similar marketing messages that are basically saying – “Pick me! Pick me!” If you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to do the following:

1.    Attract your prospects’ attention amidst the hundreds of competing companies
2.    Get the prospects interested in you
3.    Encourage them to initiate the conversation with you first
4.    Stop their search for the product or service until they have heard from you

That might seem like a long list of things you need to do, but it can all be accomplished with an irresistible offer.

An irresistible offer is something that will get your prospects to say to themselves, “I would have to be a fool not to take advantage of this offer.”  The offer should be free and needs to be some type of interesting information that will help the consumer.  It could come in the form of a book, report, DVD or CD.  The goal is to make it interesting.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

You know these people – the business owners who gripe and moan that business is slow due to the economy or competition.  They have the “woe is me” mentality and sit back and endlessly complain.  They are not taking action, instead they are spending their time whining about business and talking about the good old days when business was booming.

Don’t be one of these people.

You are responsible for your own financial security.  If you need to take a moment to re-read that last statement, feel free to do so, because it is an important one.  It is too easy to get in the habit of blaming your own lack of success on some other person or issue.  Business owners often blame competition, customers and the economy for their slow business.

Joining the group of whiners can be enticing. It feels better to be able to blame someone else.  However, stay away from this “group whine” of despair.  In most industries, there are still business owners doing well, despite the slow economy and massive competition.  Successful entrepreneurs know that around the corner from every Wal-Mart, there is a thriving mom and pop hardware store.

Take responsibility for your own welfare by looking for the people who seem to get it and are flourishing in their businesses.  Once you find them, ask yourself, “what can I learn from them about how to achieve and maintain success?”

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Most profitable entrepreneurs and business owners have one thing in common – they are driven.  They possess that internal drive that causes them to work hard and search for ways to prosper their business.  Unfortunately, this same trait is what makes many people “burn out” and start to lose focus in their business and personal lives. They continue to work hard and take every customer/client who approaches them.  Soon, they find themselves overwhelmed, overworked and unhappy.

If this description resonates with you, don’t feel bad – you’re not the only business owner who lives this way.  However, it does mean that you need to make a change.  For example, are you more effective at work when you have piles of files on your desk and the phone is ringing off the hook or when it is quiet and you have time to focus?

To start the process of achieving balance in your life, you need to remember that your customers are not the masters over you.  You can control how they communicate with you and how many people you are willing to work with at any given time.

It really comes down to making a choice – is your lifestyle going to be centered around your work, or will it be the other way around? The latter option is what will bring more fulfillment and enjoyment in your life.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.