As I was viewing some videos this morning, I came across this and wanted to share it with you. It’s about 10 minutes, but certainly worth the time.

I’m being asked by clients, friend, and connections how to create the buzz around their business that will [...]]]>

Secret of Your Success in 2010!

As I was viewing some videos this morning, I came across this and wanted to share it with you. It’s about 10 minutes, but certainly worth the time.

I’m being asked by clients, friend, and connections how to create the buzz around their business that will allow them to build the client base they are wanting.  I’m hearing stories about people spending $ 100’s of dollars per month, on marketing activities that are not fruiting them any monetary results.

I believe Napoleon Hill touches on the major principles behind any successful business, project, venture, these principles can even be applied to married and parenting.

Hope you enjoy as much as I did! Who wants to rock the house in 2010? Happiness Chick

What type of connector are you for your world?

It’s very exciting to start off this new year with such great people who have joined our Staff, who are taking our classes, and those who are saying such wonderful things about us to your friends and associates.  We truly appreciate you!

I was cruising around the internet this evening and found two video’s about Tribal Leadership and how the world and how we operate with one another, due to social media, the internet and vital it is for us to connect people to one another and not “hoard” our resources, but to be mindful and responsible with our connectedness.

This is a very comprehensive list of Top 10 Outsourcing Trends

by Amit Mullerpattan is VP (Product) at www.p2w2.com.

1.  The “Outsourcing Life” is hip

Popularized by the best seller The 4-Hour Workweek, more people are realizing that they can get their work [...]]]>

Top 10 Outsourcing Trends for Small Business Owners

This is a very comprehensive list of Top 10 Outsourcing Trends

by Amit Mullerpattan is VP (Product) at www.p2w2.com.

1.  The “Outsourcing Life” is hip

Popularized by the best seller The 4-Hour Workweek, more people are realizing that they can get their work done by someone else even if they are a solo entrepreneur.

How to benefit from this trend:

• Re-examine what you consider to be activities only you or your employees can do.
• If not the entire activity, can some parts of this at least be outsourced?
• Be prepared to invest some time up front in training your outsourcing partner.

2. Have we met? Not likely!

Trusting people you never meet face to face is gaining acceptance.  Use of Skype conversations and social networks like Facebook and Twitter exemplify how people who have never met strike up relationships with each other.  These media are increasingly becoming the means for small businesses to reach out and establish trust based relationships with their outsourcing partners.

How to benefit from this trend:

• If you are a vendor, establish a presence on the networking sites of your choice – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. to create an online brand presence.  Make it easy to be found and for customers to get to know you.
• Evaluate which mode of communication gives you the best results. Also take into consideration where your customers are located and how they prefer to be contacted. Sign up with Skype, or other email and Internet marketing tools.

3. More power for the hour – new ways to price services

Payment schedules structured to incentivize success are gaining popularity.  Two common types of payment methods are “Fixed Price” (where the vendor takes much of the risk – this is often highly conflict prone) and “Time and Materials” (this gives the vendor flexibility in defining scope but is expensive and asks the buyer to micro-manage).

How to benefit from this trend:

• Split your project into 2 parts:  the part that is well defined and unlikely to change, and the part that needs to change as you see results of each phase.
• “Fix Price” the well defined part, while agreeing upon an hourly rate for the rest.

4.   ”We need to talk”

In real estate the mantra is “Location. Location. Location.”  In outsourcing the mantra is “Communication. Communication. Communication.”

Operational structures that clearly define responsibilities and establishing ways of communicating play an ever more important role in successful outsourcing.

How to benefit from this trend:

• When you outsource a project, establish a routine of daily or weekly status review calls based on project size.
• The duration of the calls again depends on the nature of your project, but typically 1 hour or less works best.
• This is important especially when you are working with a new provider.

5. Taking the relationship to the next level - outsourcing ongoing processes

Small businesses are opening up to outsourcing ongoing processes, in addition to projects.  Task (or project) outsourcing (e.g., file my taxes) is primarily a one-off activity while process outsourcing (e.g.,  manage my accounting) requires a relationship approach.

How to benefit from this trend:

• For the projects you are outsourcing, see if some of the activities you do before and after the project can also be done by your outsourcing partner.
• When outsourcing processes, evaluate providers for a strong understanding of the legal and regulatory issues associated with the process they would manage.

6.  Jigsaw Puzzle Outsourcing

Both clients and service providers are building the skills needed to successfully execute geographically distributed projects.

How to benefit from this trend:

• When outsourcing a project focus more on who can get the job done best.
• If other factors like location, cultural affinity, time difference etc. are concerns for you, share them with your outsourcing partner.

• Discuss how the risks that come with these factors can be mitigated and find a solution that both parties feel is fair to them.

7. Let’s collaborate!

Tools like Basecamp, Zoho and Google Docs enable collaboration across continents cheaply.  You no longer have to worry as much about whether the client or the service provider have the same software applications installed, and in what form you are going to deliver work.

How to benefit from this trend:

• Decide what collaboration tools you need, and pick the one that best fits your needs, and does not confuse you with too many bells and whistles.
• Coach your outsourcing partner on how to use the tool most effectively, if required.

8. Pushing the frontiers of complexity

Services that are critical and complex like legal services, management accounting, and employment training are being increasingly outsourced globally.

How to benefit from this trend:

• Take a second look at specialized services that are the most expensive in your business — these are areas you might consider outsourcing.
• Start small, and send out chunks of it to lower cost providers who can do the simpler components of the task for less.
• Expand the relationship as both sides become more confident in handling the additional complexity.

9. Offshore or Homeshore? The choice is yours!

Small businesses are maturing to look at a variety of factors before making the outsourcing decision.

How to benefit from this trend:

• Evaluate if your outsourcing partners can train themselves on some of the cultural aspects if they belong to a different geography.
• Offshore only those tasks that are well defined. For tasks that need your input several times a day, choose a provider who can work in your own time zone.

10. Just tell me when it is done!

Small businesses appreciate vendors who can support them through the project execution process.

How to benefit from this trend:

• Evaluate how much time you and your employees are ending up spending on finding providers and on assigning and tracking their tasks. This could be another service you could outsource to an outside agency.
• Look for strong communication skills and experience in setting up processes that produce results.

To read full article, click here

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Sometimes when it all gets so big or we get overwhelmed, it’s easy to settle in life for [...]]]>

What can Vision and Power give you?

This video truly exemplifies what we do as business owners and people when we get to a place in our lives where we really have to stretch and believe in the “unbelievable”…

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Sometimes when it all gets so big or we get overwhelmed, it’s easy to settle in life for what we see around us or what others tell us is possible. What I personally know to be true and what I’ve seen to be true over and over in my 41 years of experiencing life is this….

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If you can conceive of it, it IS possible to create right now or your mind wouldn’t be able to wrap a vision around it.

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More often than not, we must be wait for God/Universe to line up the elements, people, groups, and individuals to make our vision happen. Each with their own life, perceptions, and overwhelm.  No vision is implemented by 1 person.

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All this lining up to make YOUR Vision possible, takes a “minute”, especially in the FREE WILL ZONE we live in.    So, what do we do?  WE  get impatient, we listen to those who are “scared” for us and turn away from the very ACTIONS that are creating the momentum for Vision,

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And what are we really doing in the GRAND scheme of things?  Leaving  God/Universe holding onto our Vision waiting for US to SHOW UP AGAIN!!

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Here’s the kicker…IT’S NOT JUST OUR VISION WE ARE HOLDING UP NOW…IT IS THE VISION OF ALL THE PEOPLE, CIRCUMSTANCES, AND ELEMENTS THE UNIVERSE LINED UP WHILE WE WERE FOCUSED…and we know this at a deep level, so not only do we feel guilty about bailing on OUR vision, but we feel guilty about bailing on other’s. No vision is built by 1 person.

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And for what?  Only for us to be STILL dreaming about it years later?

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I heard a great speaker, Lisa Nichols one time talk about the “NO MATTER WHAT” attitude, and I believe that is the real secret when we are so ready…so tired of being unhappy, so tired of this unquenched thirst in our soul we say THIS TIME…NO MATTER WHAT.  I labeled this, STAND ON MY HEAD AND STACK BB’S phase. It’s where we are willing to lose everything in order to have the life we believe in our soul we should be living.  This NO MATTER WHAT ATTITUDE…is our POWER, that add ROCKET FUEL TO OUR VISION

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When that happens,  when we are 100% willing to face the fear are we OPEN enough to truly RECEIVE our Vision….
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For me, the word “mastermind” evokes thoughts of rich politicians in a secluded hut discussing “the plebs” whilst burning $100 notes. I’m not sure why that pops into my mind but it just seems like a very old concept, even though it’s only been [...]]]> 11 Tips for Modern Day Mastermind Groups

David Turnbull on 25th May 2009

For me, the word “mastermind” evokes thoughts of rich politicians in a secluded hut discussing “the plebs” whilst burning $100 notes. I’m not sure why that pops into my mind but it just seems like a very old concept, even though it’s only been around since Napoleon Hill coined the phrase (which is only about 72 years ago). Luckily, masterminding isn’t like that (at least not with my experiences) and still remains the best way to:

* Think of awesome ideas
* Stay motivated and on track
* Learn from people who know more than you
* Add some social interaction for us sole business owners

For the last few months myself and a couple of friends have been meeting up every 1-2 weeks (it’d be more frequent but 1/3 of the group still has quite a lot of shifts at his current job…) and casually share our plans and thoughts about business. We don’t outline anything we’re going to talk about before we get there (although individually we have a vague idea) nor are we in any rush to finish the meeting. We just hang out at a friends place and then maybe finish off the night with some Thai food (which is luckily only a short walk down the road).

This is where mastermind groups are going as whole.

Some people still follow the format of having powerpoint presentations, a hired out room full of 30+ people and an overall restrictive environment, but I think one of the amazing things about being individuals in business is the fact that we don’t have to go through that much trouble.

We show up at a fuzzy time (between 4pm-5pm is generally the rule we follow), chat for a couple of hours whilst writing some notes down occassionally, get the Thai food to eat, and then hang out down at Manly Wharf for another 30-60 minutes.

Doesn’t that sound awesome? Because it is.

This is where we get Thai food.
This is where we get Thai food. Much quieter when we get there though.

I’m not saying this to show how awesome we are though (okay, maybe a little), so here are some practical tips gained from my experiences:

1. Smaller mastermind groups allow for more personal interactions and are less likely to cause conflict.
2. Don’t focus meetings on any individual. Everyone should get equal attention each time you get together. This means its less of a problem if a member doesn’t show up too much.
3. Have a cool down period after the bulk of masterminding is done. Go to a local restaurant or just starting blabbing on about random things.
4. If you don’t look forward to a mastermind group you’re doing it wrong.
5. A notebook is a handy tool to have with you even if you don’t plan to write anything down.
6. You should feel 100% comfortable with the people you’re masterminding with. Our mastermind group is made up of people I was at school with every day for 6 years. We’d even hang out at recess + lunch and just talk about this kind of stuff.
7. Bring your expertise to the table. I’m the guy that can make websites (and damn good ones at that). Work on making yourself useful to the group as a whole – it’ll make you and other group members feel better.
8. Share your “secrets”. If you don’t trust your mastermind group enough to keep your secrets secret then you have a problem. Sharing your secrets signifies trust and will give everyone else the chance to help you.
9. Mix it up. Don’t let meetings become monotonous. We get Thai food and that adds diversity. But we also randomly wandered around the beachfront whilst talking about business stuff. Little things like that make it even more fun.
10. Have a rough idea of what you want to talk about, but let ideas flow freely.
11. Try to hold meetings at a time where no one has any committments for the rest of the day. This gives everyone the chance to share their thoughts and ideas.

Summary? Mastermind groups rock.

Hope you enjoyed!

The Happiness Chick