As I stood at the gas pump the other night, shivering as I had forgotten my coat for the cold night time temperatures, I had a moment of insanity. My intent was to put $15 worth of gas in my car. As I neared the $15 dollar mark, I pulsed the handle a few times to hit $15 exactly. When the pump read $15.01, I decided to try for $16. When the pump read $16.01, I aimed for $17.

By the time I reached $18.01, I was frustrated, slammed the nozzle back where it rests, grabbed my receipt and got in the car.

Yes, insanity. Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

As I got back in the car, I stopped to ask myself why hitting an even amount was so important to me. Why did I try to make it even every time I pump gas. It’s the way I’ve always done it. But why?

Because that’s how it used to be.

Follow me?

Growing up, my parents paid cash for gas. Always. Hitting the exact dollar amount was what they did so as to not have to worry about change. When I got my license and car, there were no debit cards and often times, I was scrounging together a few bucks to put gas in my car. In cash. Hitting the exact amount was important. It might be that there was no extra change to go over.

So now that I have a debit card and hitting the exact dollar amount isn’t as important, why do I continually attempt to make it even?

Because it’s ingrained in my behavior.

The same is true for how you run your business.  I’m not saying that just because you’ve always done it one way, you should scratch everything and start over, but what is there is another way to do something?  Just because your predecessor at work did something one way doesn’t mean that it can’t be changed.

If something works, don’t break it.  But is there something that’s working fine that could potentially be better?  Is there an area of your business that’s surviving but could be thriving?  How many things are you just doing because that’s the way it’s always been?

Take some time to think about things you’re doing because they are ingrained, the added stress they might be causing, and then plan a change.

Change isn’t a bad thing. To quote Winston Churchill, “there’s nothing wrong with change, if it’s in the right direction.”

What direction are you heading?

Are you moving forward or are you stuck spinning your wheels?

Pulled from the Archives…

Saturday was a beautiful, abnormally warm March day in Southwest Virginia. The kids and I decided that we would plant some fruit, vegetables, and flowers. We decided on porch plants because I do not have a green thumb and we wanted to start with something small and idiot proof. I have yet to keep a plant alive, even the ones that people swore I couldn’t kill.

It’s not that I don’t like plants; I do. I think they are beautiful. I love to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. But for whatever reason, this whole watering thing baffles me, and I completely forget to water them.

We repotted Matthew’s third grade project, his over sized cabbage that will grow to be more than 40 pounds. We also planted strawberries, tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and sunflowers. But here is where I struggle. When I woke up this morning, there sat 7 pots that just had dirt in them – no buds, no blooms, and no sign of life.

As a society, we have come to expect things instantaneously. We have microwaves to cook meals faster, online banking to expedite money transfers, and email to eliminate the time it takes for a letter to make it through the Postal Service. As a whole, we want things now.

Our businesses are no different. We send out a direct mail piece and we want something from it immediately. We submit an article and expect the traffic soon thereafter. We submit our press release and expect some kind of coverage within a day or so. We hang out our open sign and become disappointed when we don’t have some sort of bite right away.

Here is what we fail to realize, and I’m just as guilty as the next guy. With our businesses, we must plant our seeds, nurture them, and provide them what they need to flourish before we will see the results – the fruits of our labor.

The next time you feel discouraged because you have put so much time and energy into your business and have nothing to show for it, stop and smell the roses. Then realize that they weren’t planted yesterday.

I asked a question on Twitter yesterday:

Do you believe that you are born an entrepreneur or do you think that you can learn it?

The answer?  Most all think that some people are born with it but that it is something that can be learned.

Fine.

I can accept that.

The reason I asked?

My son came home with a box of 50 candy bars to sell for band.  He makes 50% of the profit and what he makes is applied to the cost of his field trip at the end of the year.

He called and asked if he could sell them outside the gas station across the street.  I told him I didn’t care as long as he asked the manager.  In my mind, I was saying, “Really?  Because it’s like negative 50 outside and you want to go sell candy bars?”

To me, the $25 he was going to earn was worth paying so as to not have to go out and peddle things people don’t need.

But my son, age 13, is not the average 13 year old.

When I arrived to the house, I glanced across the street and saw him decked out like Nanook of the North, a box of candy bars in his hand.

What’s more?  There was a smile on his face.  I stood and watched him for a moment, noticing, that he was saying hello to every customer that walked by him as they entered the store.

I was proud of him for braving the cold to earn money for his trip.  I certainly wouldn’t do it.  Not wanting him to be discourage at his lack of sales, I took the three younger kids over and let them each buy a candy bar.  That way, he wouldn’t get skunked.

I took him some pizza and a little TV tray to put his candy bars on.  He was still smiling.

No sooner did I start on my second piece of pizza, the door flew open, and with rosey red cheeks he stated, “I’m sold out.”

“You sold 50 candy bars in 45 minutes?” I asked, astounded.

His sister, who had gone along to “help” shouts, “Some guy bought all of his candy so he didn’t have to stand in the cold anymore!”

“How many did you have left?” I asked.

“Forty-two,” he said.

Yes, you read that right.  A kind citizen bought $42 worth of candy from my son because he recognized that my son was going above and beyond what most 13 year olds would do with a box of candy to raise money.

My son never asked me to sell it at work.  My son never asked me if he HAD to sell it.  My son immediately spotted an opportunity to sell the candy and acted on it.

Because of that, he was rewarded.

“High achievers spot rich opportunities swiftly, make big decisions quickly and move into action immediately. Follow these principles and you can make your dreams come true.”  Robert H. Schuller

Today, he brought home another box of candy.  His goal is to have his trip completely paid for.

While he knows that someone buying 42 candy bars isn’t the norm, he also knows that standing outside the gas station in the cold will yield more sales than asking Mom to take them to work.

Was he born with it?  Has he learned it?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I do know?

Watch out for that child in the future.

He gets it.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on Handshake 2.0.

Now if only my daughter had the same mentality…

I have a confession to make. I am notorious for meeting people, liking them, and then when they realize what I do and that I could help them, I end up giving away my services…for free. I have this uncontrollable urge to help people, especially when I know it’s something that I am good at and enjoy doing.

Now I don’t do this all the time, but occasionally I will, and I will tell you why. It comes back to me tenfold.

For example, we just adopted a Great Dane. In my search for information on this mini-horse breed, I came across a Yahoo! Group for local Great Dane owners. I joined, sent my welcome message introducing myself and Napoleon, and the owner of the group noticed my signature line and contacted me for possible help with my services. We were on the phone for at least two hours. I liked her.

So when we finally got around to talking business and she told me she needed a sales letter written to send out locally, I told her I would do it for free.

I didn’t think twice about it.

We have chatted a few times on the phone, and we have met at our Great Dane get-togethers, and I did her sales letter. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. But here is what happened that I was not expecting.

She’s telling people about me.

That’s right. I’ve gotten new clients by referral from her, and all I did was spend two hours on her sales letter. Not a bad trade, eh?

I didn’t do this letter for her with the expectation of something in return. I honestly didn’t. My boyfriend, my coach, and my colleagues love to get on me about giving my services away, and I can see where they are coming from. However, I’m a firm believer that what goes around comes around.

This is just one example. I also had a colleague that wanted her blog template to look just like her website. I was almost sure that I could do it, and before I knew it, she sent me the information and hired me to do it.

So I did it. It was a lot of trial and error, since I was dealing with a programming code that I was not an expert in writing. I worked with it until it was just right. When it came time to bill her, I simply dropped her a note and said, “It’s on me. I’m just tickled that I could actually do it.” And I was. I didn’t expect anything from her.

Yesterday, the FedEx man came, and I now have 12 brownies from Fairytale Brownies. (Well, I HAD 12…there are only 9 now!) But again, I wasn’t expecting anything. I was just pleasantly surprised when I got a package in the mail and it wasn’t my birthday or Christmas.

And I’m sure when the conversation comes up and people ask her how she got her blog to look like her website she’ll say, “Heather at Valley Virtual Assistants did that for me.” Even if she doesn’t, that’s okay with me. I felt good helping someone out, the brownies are delicious (and hidden where no one can find them), and I’m content with how I do business.

Let’s be honest. We’re not non-profit organizations, and many of us rely on our customers and clients to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and clothes on our backs. We cannot afford to give the farm away, but we can give a few bales of hay away, and we can choose who should get them.

About the Author:

Heather Jacobson doesn’t pay for marketing if she doesn’t have to. Discover how she does it and claim 10 free marketing tips at http://www.10freetips.com

Balanced life…is that an oxymoron? Life is just that…LIFE! You never know what’s going to come your way, but as a business owner, spouse, parent, friend, etc. you must attempt to find that balance.

Running your own business can take a toll on you if you aren’t careful. I like to call it between a rock and a hard place. Why? Answer this question…what’s more important — the kids that want attention or that 5 o’clock deadline for a client? Toughie, isn’t it? That balance is what I couldn’t find and it almost cost me everything.

How to find balance

Set limits

For me, I run a part-time Virtual Assistant (VA) business in addition to a full time career. I decided that I wanted to work no more than fifteen hours a week. Then I scheduled that time on a calendar I created specifically to make sure that I was staying on target. I also decided that I needed time off. Therefore, I set aside Friday nights. I don’t work on Friday night, period. If the kids are with their dad, then I spend time with my boyfriend, and on the Fridays that I have kids, its pizza and a movie night. I now look forward to Friday nights where as before I dreaded them immensely.

Prioritize

What can you give up? I have problems with the word “no”. If I’m asked to join something, I join; if I’m asked to do something, I do it. It doesn’t matter if I know I don’t have the time or not! I went through the “extra curricular” activities that I had and deleted them from my schedule. There were two local organizations that I didn’t particularly enjoy but felt that I needed to attend their meetings and felt guilty when I couldn’t. I determined that I wasn’t getting anything out of going and that attending the meetings were more of a hassle than they were worth, and freed up some time.

Do you have clients that aren’t “meshing” with your ultimate goal? My very first client had work that needed to be done during the week. Everything was honkey dory until something unexpected came up and then I would have to scramble to either do it myself, or find someone else to help me at the last minute. I finally had to re-evaluate the situation. I was able to find another VA that could take on his work, and there was a HUGE part of me that was sorry that I had to do that, but another part of me felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders.

Household Chores

If your family is anything like mine, they believe that mom will do it and take care of it – I allowed it to happen. If I was particularly busy with work things, it didn’t get done and no one seemed to care. I CARED!! I didn’t want to live in a pigsty, and I wanted clean clothes, and dishes in the cupboard instead of having to wash something in order to use it! DELEGATE!! Your children can help! Your spouse can help!

Amazing concept, isn’t it?

With my family, I sat them down and explained the situation to them: “I enjoy my business and the money that I receive is for us. I can’t do it alone, so I can either give up my business and the vacation, remodeling, and so on that it will pay for; or, you all can pitch in and help around here.” I can tell you that none of them were happy about this, but they realized that I wasn’t just doing this for me.

Make it fun for your kids to help! I gave my kids checklists of things to do every morning before school and every evening before playing. As a reward, if they help me out with some of the chores, they get some of my time in the evening. (I’d give it to them anyway, but this way, they feel like they are allowing me to have some free time with them. They feel good about helping me.)

Put a set cleaning schedule into place. I’m not a great housekeeper. I went online to find suggestions, advice, ANYTHING that would keep me on track. I found FlyLady and Organized Home. Neither of them worked perfectly for me, but I was able to take some of their ideas and make them work for me. I gotta tell ya, FlyLady’s biggest challenge is to “go shine your sink” and I’ve accepted the challenge, and I now LOVE walking into my kitchen!

Dinners

Darn kids…I just fed them yesterday and they’re hungry again today! Every day, from 5:00pm to 5:30pm I would spend my entire drive trying to figure out what I was going to make for dinner. We need easy meals, and most of ours came from a box. They are okay for awhile, but then….

GET A CROCK POT! My boyfriend got me an awesome crock-pot for Christmas. It’s what I asked for. I used it all of twice and used the frozen crock-pot meals. I then had an epiphany! What if I planned my meals a week in advance and shopped for what I needed, and made them in the crock-pot? (I’m a slow learner, I know!) So, I went online and found recipes that I was pretty sure the kids would eat and that were easy to throw together. I made my list and went shopping. The first night I made a crock-pot meal, we walked in the door (I had set the table when I came home for lunch) and ate! What a concept! No whining about being hungry and the question “when’s dinner?” for 30 minutes while I try to prepare!

Something else I’ve recently implemented is having the kids cook one night a week. You may laugh, but those PB&Js are the best meals, because I don’t have to make them!!

“Me time”

As a full-time employee, girlfriend, mother, friend, and business owner, I rarely got “me time”. For a long time, I saw my VA work my “me time” as it was work that I truly enjoyed. However, work is still work. It wasn’t relaxing, and many nights kept me up until after midnight. There was a time that I read in the evening before I went to bed, or watched TV. I finally realized that I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was “managing” everything else except me.

I started reading again, and I scheduled reading time. I now read almost every night. I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure and decided that I was going to do that at least once a month. I also joined an online class through Barnes and Noble University. The only cost for the class is the book. The class itself is free. I love to learn, so this suits me just fine. I’m taking a forensic science class, and I love it. Some nights, that’s my reading time.

For once, I’m taking care of me, and doing things for me and it feels great!

It takes time….

We still have some kinks to work out in the system, and things still come up out of nowhere and throw us all off, but we regroup and get it all back together. Are there some weeks that I’m working more than 15 hours? Sure! But I make sure that all the things I need and want to get done are done first. I’m not going to pass up that extra money unless I can realistically fit it in.

Am I fully balanced? No, and I never will be. However, in one month’s time, everyone at my house seems to be happier. No one person or thing is being overlooked, or if it is, it’s not for very long. The house is cleaner, we’re eating better, and we’re spending more time together. I still have everything that I want and I’ve really not given up anything that I can’t live without.
About the Author:

Heather Jacobson is the owner of Valley Virtual Assistants, a virtual assistant business catering to solopreneurs who need assistance with their marketing efforts and the author of Making Dollars Out of Cents:101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer. For more information, please visit http://www.heatherjacobson.com