Grow My Business

Don’t Just Say It, Get To It!

September 9, 2019 By Marylee Leave a Comment

How often have you started a great idea and then it goes by the wayside?

Maybe it’s your next diet plan or a way to grow your business. You just don’t get to it.

My fallen to the wayside list has been pretty static for years. Eating better, exercise, and creative activities. Of course, there have been countless business ideas, but fortunately, they evolve. Some go on my current list, and some get discarded. I don’t worry about them so much.

For myself.

But many of my clients have backburner ideas, and the burner is overflowing. Like when you put a pot of sauce on the stove and leave it to do something else and it boils over. It creates quite a mess, right? Our brains can hit that boiling point when we have too many unfulfilled ideas taking up precious space.

Does This Sound Like You?

You start a new project with the best intentions and something interrupts your flow along the way. The interruption could be anything from a client crisis to the next shiny object or something mundane like the invoices that need to go out.

You know it’s an excellent idea, and you promise yourself you will get back to it soon. But there it sits; on the backburner; again.

What if the woman in the picture at the top of this page said, “I can’t do it” in the middle of her leap?

Don’t Just Say It – Get to It!

What are you going to do?

Choose your favorite idea, task, or project — the one that will make the most significant impact on your business.

Lock it into your calendar.

Carve out the time to work on it. Book the time like you would a client appointment.

Start the work.

Lay out the tasks that need to be done and start chipping away at them.

And Like Nike says, Do It!

If you genuinely believe in this project, commit. Stay focused and do not allow anything else to rob your attention away from your goal.

What’s New in Your Business?

September 2, 2019 By Marylee Leave a Comment

We’re coming towards the end of another quarter. Are you ready for it? Have you accomplished everything you wanted to do?

I am writing this as we have hit Labor Day – well, at least in the U.S. and Canada. But you can apply this tip to any time of the year. It might be after a holiday or vacation. It could be once you come up for air after a distraction – either another project or something personal in your life that has taken your focus away from the business.

I look at any of these calendar events as the start of a new year or at least a new and potentially significant fresh start. I grew up with the new school year starting after Labor Day and that was a meaningful new beginning. In business, September is sliding us into the final quarter of the year and the holiday season.

What Can You Do?

I think of it as a terrific time to create our next step plans. You can launch a new product or escalate conversations as kids go back to school before the holiday mindset entrenches itself into our clients’ psyche.

September is also an excellent time to start planning for the next year. Will next year be the time you achieve significant growth in your business? Or if you are in a service-based business, will you finally look for a way to stop only making an income based on dollars/hour?

Could it be when you start something that you know it will make a massive difference in your business?

What Happens at Networking Event?

You go to a networking event and someone asks, “What’s new?” I rack my brain for something new. New sneakers, an upgrade to my house, a new … anything?

What If?

What if your answer could be something new and terrific in your business?

Right now, mine is this blog, Got A Minute and my growing list of sunrise followers, beachcombers and women searching to grow their business while aiming to work far less than 24/7.

What project might you take off that back burner and commit to getting it down as you move through this next quarter of the year?

Go All In

August 5, 2019 By Marylee 1 Comment

Recently I was talking with my friend and colleague, Rebecca Livermore, Professional Content Creation. Rebecca’s passion is to assist business owners create quality content and to help bloggers and writers be successful in a full-time writing career.

Rebecca excels in managing her time, publishing quarterly courses and books. She recognizes and encourages her followers to excel in marketing strategies.

Rebecca will often take on a project and when needed, reduce work in other areas to “Go All In” on the new project. She has found that new tasks requiring more learning time take more of her concentration and focus.

Go All In Project Focus

Rebecca was curious if Pinterest would enhance her marketing strategy. Deciding it is a good fit, she knew she would need determined focus to become adept and to systematize it in her business.

To keep her followers from wondering where she was, Rebecca sent out an email describing her Pinterest goal and telling them not to be surprised when they did not hear from her for the next month. As she described her process, she explained she was going “All In.”

She took several highly rated Pinterest courses to build substantial expertise in Pinterest. Armed with this information, she will update her Pinterest account to the highest standards recommended for businesses. She will also prepare enough content to fill her queue for the next few months. This way, when she returns to her regular work plan, she will be ahead of the game and be able to measure the ROI to see if it pays off of if she needs to alter her course of action.

I admire Rebecca’s ability to focus and her Pinterest project is an excellent example of establishing a method to add something new to our business plan and doing the best we can to be successful in managing our precious resources of time and money.

Where Do You Go From Here?

I strongly urge all business owners to take a project-based approach to anything new.

Determine the length of time you will allow yourself to complete the project.
That means, of course, you need to set a goal. Rebecca’s goals are to establish her Pinterest profile and boards and fill them with enough quality content to be distributed (by Tailwind) for the next two to three months – all in one month.

And then for us semi-retirees

For those of us living a semiretired lifestyle, starting new processes, learning new technology or creating a new product requires this kind of dedicated focus. We cannot think that we can ‘just’ do it all.

What business project have you completed where you used an “All In” approach? I would love to tell your story in an upcoming Got a Minute Post.

Leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

Do You Chart Business Growth?

August 1, 2019 By Marylee Leave a Comment

Three weeks ago, I sent a survey to my Potted Desert followers (a side hustle hobby.) I discovered that they want more from me saying they would buy anything I put out. How could I ignore that?! What kind of growth opportunity have I been neglecting?

Immediately, almost without thought, I shifted gears to look at this as a real revenue-producing business rather than a little pocket change from book sales. Instantly, I increased my intention, attention and monetary goals.

Growth in 3 Weeks

FB likes +104 (7.5%)
FB group +55 (18%)
Email list +24 (10%)
Several FB page posts had organic reaches of over 5k with one topping out at 13k!

It’s Not a Coincidence

I know it wasn’t luck. I kicked up my Facebook posts from a couple a week to 13 in 18 days or as I say, almost daily. I posted links to blogs, images with captions embedded through Canva and a few shares from other pages. I also shared these posts to FB groups with similar interests and only had one group admin ask me for original content, not post shares.

Holding my first Q&A session on FB Live, I had 29 active participants and an organic reach of 400+.

I changed my list email pattern from twice monthly to weekly and in the first two weeks received more replies than ever before.

In this short amount of time, I did not attempt to monetize my work. It was more about setting the stage to get people to start commenting, responding and clicking. With encouragement, I am seeing the engagement increasing.

Soon, I’m going to try sharing my short content to LinkedIn to see if you can take a product aimed at the personal life and translate it into more followers. Pinterest will come later.

What does this mean for your growth?

The processes I am developing are transferable to any business. It’s a matter of choosing your focus. As much as I like to think I can do it all, I know I must fit the new work focusing on the Potted Desert into my current semiretired schedule. Otherwise, I would be quickly back to working 40 hours a week or more. Therefore, I did not try to squeeze it into my already full calendar.

I changed my focus, especially my marketing energy, away from my coaching practice to Potted Desert.

That doesn’t mean I’m not seeking new business clients. Not in the least! My method has just changed to walking my talk and working with existing relationships. You don’t need to spend hours on social media to do that.

Two Takeaways

Focus on the One Objective that is most important to you and work your marketing energy towards that one thing. Go all in.

Keep track of your numbers to ensure that there is a good return on investment (ROI) of your largest commodity – your time.

I use a spreadsheet to track my ROI. I’d love to know what tool you use to show what creates your most positive growth?

Marylee posts almost weekly Got a Minute business tips based on ten years of helping other business owners and her previous business, The Contained Gardener which as a $.5M company, she sold after 15 years of growth.

From Business to Hobby and Back

July 25, 2019 By Marylee 4 Comments

Got a Minute?

Tips for Busy Business Owners

I sold my container gardening business and created The Potted Desert as an educational forum and community for desert dwellers who garden in containers. It was a hobby.

However, I thought it likely that some of my 3,900+ followers might own their own business. So I created a survey to discover their gardening needs and quietly invited them to join me in the business side of my life.

I was right. About 15% of the respondents requested to receive my lead magnet, ”10 Tips for Business I learned from my Garden.” 65% of the respondents checked they are retired, so the 15% was a good return.

Then I got a major wake up call, 60% of my garden followers said they want everything I created! And I was clear with them that there would be a cost to my offers.

Why am I not capitalizing on this market? That’s what the experts say about raving fans, right?

I have shifted my gears somewhat, increasing my attention to The Potted Desert and working smarter in my coaching practice.

I’m not advocating for you to run two businesses, ever. And especially not when you’re looking to work fewer hours or semiretired.

The lesson here is to talk to your clients and followers. Be sure that what you think they need is what they want. Look for other ideas of meeting their needs that capitalize on your experience and expertise. Learn from how you treat a lucrative hobby and apply it to your business

The potential silver lining may expand your income and service without working harder.

Talk, ask, survey and most of all, Listen.

Increase Client Value One Sale at a Time

June 25, 2019 By Marylee 2 Comments

Client Lifetime Value or CLV can make or break your business.

CLV represents the total amount of money on average a customer spends in your business during their entire relationship with you.

A low CLV translates into more time spent finding new clients increasing your acquisition costs.

To secure the highest CLV, look at your product/service and how you package it. Create a sale that is far more than one product.

For example,

In my container gardening business, I sold a design and installation and provided them a “free” month of plant maintenance. This led to additional services of biweekly maintenance and seasonal replanting. Additional pots and upgraded plants were gently suggested over time easily raising the CLV over five figures.

The same planning can be applied to any landscaping or gardening business including consulting and coaching practices.

Beyond the Honeymoon Phase

Once you make a sale, the person is now your client and while they know and like you, you’re in the honeymoon phase and you want to work on the trust factor. Wow them with your product and service. Be there for them. Return their phone calls first.

Key to Increasing Client Value

The next step, if you haven’t already done this, is twofold.

First, add them to your “sold clients” email list.

Use your regular biweekly emails to help them have added success and/or enjoyment with what you delivered to them. Now you are building on their trust.

Secondly, nurture the relationship even more. Through your emails segmented to the sold client list, utilize a “Keep in Touch” system where you plant more seeds of ideas, shower them with appreciation to make them feel special.

The goal is to keep your clients coming back for more. More help, more advice and additional service equals a greater lifetime value and more money in your pocket.

This email is part of the “Got a Minute” series focusing on increasing sales with existing clients.

Grab Marylee’s free guide to grow your business 10% by upping the game with your current clients.

Is Your Email List a Key Marketing Strategy?

June 13, 2019 By Marylee 4 Comments

Is email marketing a significant part of your business growth strategy?

If not, it should be. I don’t care what kind of business you own in. If you have customers or clients, you should have an email list within an automated system.

Startups established businesses and side hustles all need an email list system.

Why?

It’s the easiest way to maintain and use a listing of clients, potential clients, colleagues, vendors, and admirers.
You own the list. No one can take it away from you.
It’s a systematized way to stay in touch with everyone.
You can segment the list and customize your messages to specific groups.
Your email list is part of your Keep In Touch System. (KITS)

You may not have any idea what you would say to your email list – today. However, if you don’t have one, someday you will be kicking yourself. Even those of you who have a side hustle business will benefit from an email list.

What’s Your Excuse?

Don’t tell me you don’t have time or money. I set up a free account on MailChimp for a client in less than a half hour. A restaurant owner, we made an invitation to receive notices about upcoming events and specials that fit in the check presenter and in one day had 100 guests on the email list.

Start Now

No list?

Start one now. It’s never too late. Even for us Baby Boomers.

Have a stagnant list?

Send out an extra hello this weekend

Need some help? You know where to find me. Facebook or email me at marylee@maryleepangman.com. It all works. I love talking business so give me a shout!!

And BTW – Email marketing is not dead!

This email is part of the “Got a Minute” series focusing on increasing sales with existing clients.

(Sometimes I mention products that I recommend and they may contain an affiliate link.)

Grab Marylee’s free guide to grow your business 10% by upping the game with your current clients.

#1 Method to Work On Your Business

February 23, 2019 By Marylee 2 Comments

Do you struggle with making time to work ON your business? As entrepreneurs, we wear so many hats; there are always too many tasks required of us to keep the business afloat.

In my first years as a solopreneur, I did everything. From sales to marketing to delivering my service, to admin and bookkeeping. Did I leave anything out? It’s a relentless job to keep balancing all the plates at once.

I love planning though. I constantly seek out time to work on my business, making new plans, how to grow, how to become more efficient, how to make more money. I sometimes will get extremely frustrated when I don’t feel I have time to work ON my business.

Sound familiar?

Before we go any further, let’s be sure we are on the same page concerning the difference between working IN your business and ON your business.

Working IN Your Business (WIB)

Working IN your business takes up most of the day both for you and if you have any, your employees. IN your business tasks are needed to keep the business moving forward, getting customers or clients, delivering your services or products, keeping clients satisfied, keeping track of the millions of details of running a business.

Examples of IN Your Business Tasks

Delivering your service or product
Creating the product
Answering questions
Paying bills
Sending invoices
Putting out fires

As a startup or solopreneur business owner, we do wear all the hats. If you are not able to outsource any of these regular tasks, time to work ON the business becomes more difficult – although not impossible.

The BIG Picture

Working ON Your Business (WOB)

WOB is the big picture stuff, the growth efforts, making significant changes to your business model and its growth. To me, working ON my business is the fun part. Yes, I love working with clients, but as I said before, I love to plan and see what happens when I implement my ideas.

Examples of Working ON your Business:

Setting goals
Creating systems and processes
Writing marketing content
Making sure things happen

Our businesses are not a J.O.B. They are part of us. Our dreams come true, our passion.

It is imperative to make the time to think and plan beyond this moment a priority. What part will the business play in your future? How will it help your dreams come true?

Create your WOB Time

We can’t wave a magic wand and make time for working ON your business appear. Even when we say, I will do this WOB task today; other tasks will intervene. The squeaky wheel, you know?

Schedule WOB Time on Your Calendar

The same way we commit to a client appointment, we must schedule time on our calendar and commit to it. I was working with one of my coaching groups recently, and we decided that the value of an hour for WOB is $500.

Would you throw away an opportunity to make $500? My clients wholeheartedly agreed assigning the value of $500 to each WOB hour would help them commit.

We also talked about large chunks of time versus short bites of 10-30 minutes. If we divide our tasks into small bites versus larger projects, each one will fit into an opening we schedule on the calendar.

If you commit to just one thing each day, the bites will get done, and the projects will become more manageable. By doing this, we develop a sustainable daily habit of working ON our business.

Making a Shift from WIB to WOB

Some of my clients find they need time to shift their mindset from their client sessions to a very tactical, strategic way of thinking. Therefore, they prefer to schedule longer WOB productivity sessions and book either a half or full day to work on their businesses.

As long as they schedule it.

Others are more successful in chunking down their tasks and fitting them in smaller blocks of time on their calendars. Many (with my urging) complete these projects at the beginning of the day. I have found if I don’t complete scheduled WOB work first thing in the morning, it usually is pushed aside.

The important thing is to plan the time for the $500 WOB task and put it on your calendar. Once you are in the groove, maintain your focus to complete the task started.

Make the Best Use of your WOB Time

Do you ever sit down to work on a project and find yourself wasting the first 30 minutes trying to figure out what you should be doing? Those hours add up.

Your first task each year, quarter or month is to plan your goals for the upcoming period. I advise people to create their Vision, 3 Year and Annual, Quarterly and Monthly goals. I know this seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it.

From these goals, you will quickly know what your next WOB priority is, and you will be able to begin as soon as you sit down.

A Shift in Lifestyle

Moving into a semiretired lifestyle, my love for planning has paid off.

If I hadn’t thought about the future of my first business (The Contained Gardener) early on, I would not have built this small company into a $1/2M company that became attractive to buyers. After 15 years, the company sold to another local business (for more of my story, visit my About Me page. Put aside some time though as it’s a long one!

Without that sale, I would still be working IN my business full time+ and probably not very happy with it. Living in the desert for 20 years had become wearing on me, especially with the possibility of a future home on Kauai dangling like a carrot in front of me.

Now my challenge is to maintain a plan that works with fewer hours a week, generates income and meets my professional goal;

To build and support a community of mature women professional service business owners who desire a semiretired lifestyle and are frustrated with being shy of reaching their financial goals.

Summary of Your WOB Action Steps

Make Sure You Commit to the Time

Use your annual plan as a guide to know what your next project is.
Schedule time on your calendar and commit to it the same way you commit to a client appointment.

It’s that important.

Options for Scheduling Your Time:

1. Use large chunks of time so you can shift your mindset to a very tactical, strategic way of thinking. Book a few hours each week to work on your business.

1. Chunk down your tasks and fit them in smaller blocks of time on your calendar every day. Complete each mini-project at the beginning of the day.

AND

1. Hold yourself accountable. Find a reward that works. Don’t have your second cup of coffee until you finish. Or put off a favorite activity until you complete your task at hand.

Working on your business should not be a chore. I look forward to my WOB time as it is a fun part of my day.

Don’t get lost in putting out fires 🔥.

Have fun doing the things that were part of the reason you started your own business.

Would your rather digest these tips in a minute?

Follow my Got a Minute Series on Medium.

I usually post a new tip each Monday.

It’s all about growing your business. From Start-ups to Semiretired – It works.

How to Fire Clients From Facts, Not Feelings

August 13, 2018 By Marylee 6 Comments

Old Typeset Letters A through D for ranking clients — Photo by Diomari Madulara on Unsplash

We all have them. Clients we hate taking calls from.

Why do we avoid some clients?

Is it their manner? They take to long to do, decide, or pay? Their purchases are too small and they aren’t likely to increase their budget with us?

How do we decide what to do with them? We hate to lose the business, and we don’t want to get a poor reputation for not helping someone or worse yet if someone feels we don’t accept them because we are too busy.

I don’t have a quick fix for you but rather a system to rank all of your clients. Then when someone is a drag on you, you have a resource from which to make a decision.

We can talk about choosing your clients on another blog. Right now I want to talk about the value of your current clients.

🔜 Grab my free Google spreadsheet to track your client’s ranking and schedule an hour to set this system up.

Measurable Qualities of Clients

🔘 First Year Sales
🔘 Total Lifetime Sales
🔘 Length of Time with your company
🔘 Clients as Referral Sources
🔘 Timely Payments

🔘 First Year Sales

The first number we calculate is the total of all sales the client buys in their first year with you. Use the calendar year, January – December to track this even if the client starts late in the year and continues into the next year.

To come up with a ranking system for this, calculate your average first sale with a client.

In my previous gardening business, the average first sale was $2200. This had grown from $1,750 which is a good trend. I’ll use these numbers for examples as I had 15 years of data providing me with a valid baseline.

🔜 In the 5 point ranking system, create five ranges of first sale amounts.
For example, this is the value I used in the gardening business:
1. $500-$1000 (Set the acceptable lower limit of your sales)
2. $1001 – $2199
3. $2200 – $4000
4. $4001 – $7500
5. $7501+

🔜 Place these ranges in your Google spreadsheet in Column C replacing the Red Numbers.

🔘 Total Lifetime Sales

As it says, this is the amount of money the client has spent on your products or services since their first purchase. When evaluating a client, I feel we don’t put enough weight on this number.

Create your ranking for this by looking at your current and past client lifetime sales totals. Find the average as you did above and create ranges again. My average lifetime sales figure was $18,000. Therefore, I set the number within the middle range (#3) and then set the other ranges based on my Total Lifetime Sales figures.
1. $5000 – $9,999
2. $10,000 – $14,999
3. $15,000 – $24,999
4. $25,000 – $34,999
5. $35,000+

🔜 Place these ranges in your Google Spreadsheet in Column D replacing the Red Numbers.

🔘 Length of time with your company

Length of time with your company is self-explanatory. You do need to decide if you track this in years or months depending on the typical buying patterns of your clients.

Set up a chart with a range of time that is indicative of the history of your best clients, your middle clients, and your shortest term or sporadic clients.

For instance, my top ranked clients were with me for 10+ years. They receive a 5.

Then I set the following chart:

0-1 Year – 1

2-3 Years – 2

4-6 Years – 3

7-9 Years – 4

10+ Years – 5

🔜 Place these ranges in your Google spreadsheet in Column E replacing the Red Numbers.

🔘 Referral Source*

You want to track three kinds of data in this. First is the number of referrals they give you each year. The second is the number of these referrals resulting in a sale. The final number is the dollar value of sales from your clients from that referral source.

Use this ranking for this category:

Referrals:

1-2 Referrals
3-5 Referrals
6+ Referrals

Referrals resulting in a sale

1-2 Referrals
3-5 Referrals
6+ Referrals

Referred Sales Value:

Use the same sales ranges as in the First Sale ranking above. Eg.

$500-$1000
$1001 – $2199
$2200 – $4000
$4001 – $7500
$7501+

*This number is also significant to track from your non-client referral sources such as strategic partners, vendors, pr and advertising and networking.

🔘 Timely payments

Give the client from 1 to 3 points depending on how timely their payments are.

1 – Constantly have to follow up and chase after the money

2 – Usually pays on time but you do have to send a reminder bill

3 – Client always pays on time

The ‘Ole Phoof’

About a year before I sold my container gardening business, I had a call from a potential client who lived in a high-end community. I went up to meet with him and his wife and found them to be a nice couple, both of whom were retired professionals closing in on the century mark. The stories they could tell!

They accepted my proposal for a few new pots and redeveloping a dozen older, large pots and planters.

We discussed the design, they gave me my standard 50% deposit and away I went.

Installation day went well, however, there were a lot of questions and some concerns about irrigating the pots. We got everything straightened out with no apparent problem.

I returned to complete the post-installation checkup and everything was growing nicely. But he was not happy. He said the flowers on the balcony were not flowering and he wanted to be able to see flowers from his chair.

I realized that he was partially blind and he could not see the smaller blossoms of mixed colors. He needed larger blossoms of bold single colors that would mass into a huge bouquet of color discernible by his limited vision.

Usually I pick up the second check when I do the followup visits. But he did not want to give it to me because of the lack of color.

This is understandable but the change he needed represented less than 5% of the entire job and so far he had only paid 50%. I tried to get part of the final payment but he would not budge.

We replaced the flowers in two pots and sent the final bill. Two weeks later my Operations Manager called about the payment and he told her he wanted me to come back up. I really did not want to go because I felt there was going to be another complaint or confrontation.

I made the appointment, blasted my favorite singalong rock music on my drive to their home and emboldened myself to turn the visit into a positive experience.

Upon my arrival, they welcomed me with a glass of ice tea and invited me to join them on their balcony. After a short amount of time filled with chit chat, he pulled a folded check out of his shirt pocket and handed it to me with a twinkle in his eye. He said, “Thank you for giving me the garden I wanted. I just wanted you to come up for your money so I could thank you in person.”

I had been ready to put him in the category of “Do not accept” meaning not to offer or accept any more business from him. But the ‘Ole Phoof’ turned out to be a really great gentleman with a fabulous story. He just wanted to make sure he got what he wanted. I can’t blame him for that.

But what if I had cast him aside? His total sales ranked in my mid-level clients with a healthy lifetime sales potential. That and meeting a couple who inspire me to strive for a long healthy life were worth the period of angst that I went through.

Now for the more difficult qualities of clients as they are entirely subjective.

4 Unmeasurable Qualities of Clients

🔘 Likable

🔘 Amenable

🔘 Communication and Accessibility

🔘Likability (Rank each client on the 1 to 3 scale with 3 most likeable.)

Talk about subjective! Let’s hope you can rank this quality as honestly as possible. If you have staff, what do they think? What is it about the person that you don’t like? Can you live with it or would you rather not have this person in your life – ever.

The one good thing about this system is that a client normally is not fired on this factor alone.

🔘 Amenable (Give 1 Point for each item checked. )

__ Are they ready or willing to take action

__ Open to advice

__ Willing to listen?

🔘Communication and Accessibility (Give 1 Point for each item checked.)

__ Are they a good communicator?

__ Do you have a clear path to communication? I.E., Do you know how to consistently reach them?

__ Do they get back to you in a reasonable amount of time?

▶️ Totaling Your Points

Add up the total points for each client. The spreadsheet will do this for you and insert their Ranking of A -D.

The maximum number you will have is 38. Once you have each client’s points, the spreadsheet will categorize them according to this chart:

A 30-38

B 25-29

C 16-24

D 1-15

So what does this mean?

Maybe those D clients are not worth your company’s or your time and energy.

I suggest you find a way to ease them out. You can talk to them honestly that you don’t feel you are the best company to service their needs, that as you have grown or you are only working with clients that are of a certain size or level.

Be sure you can give them a referral of who might be a better fit for them.

The goal now is to cultivate your C clients into B’s and grow your B’s into A’s. However by no means, should you accept any D level clients.

Want some help? Grab my free Google Spreadsheet to track your client’s ranking. And comment below if you have any questions or stories of your own to tell!

Semiretired Lifestyle – A Choice

August 7, 2018 By Marylee Leave a Comment

Anticipation. Will the day let me down?
Is that part of my semiretired lifestyle story?

There wasn’t a predawn. Maybe sunrise will be better as there is a nice layer of clouds.

Anticipation. Will sunrise let me down today? There have been so many great ones… Wait! As I write this, the northern sky is pinking up.

My anticipation grows. Like a child waiting for Santa Claus, I often feel this way in life. Will the sunrise be spectacular? Will the waves crash near me causing me to scramble back from their onslaught?

North is still winning over east.

Anticipation & A Semiretired Lifestyle

I’m still waiting for the sun to clear the thickening clouds. There is potential as I write this.

It’s difficult to divide my attention between the surf, the clouds, and my writing. I hate to think of leaving, but I have a client project that needs my undivided attention which means I should start soon after the sun greets the day.

I long for carefree days where I can stay at the beach until I am done.

That’s part of the semiretirement quandary. If the work you do is autonomous within your deadlines, you can fully choose your working hours.

However, if your work is 1:1 customer or client based, there will be times when you must work by their clock.

I would like to transition my semiretirement work to a more autonomous style with few very select, client projects. The rest of my time can be devoted to my writing and publishing blogs, future books and online self-learning programs. If that is, I still choose to do each of these!

That’s the clincher in a semiretired lifestyle. You get to choose. It may take a while to get there but I believe the anticipation is worth it.

How to Fuel Your Fire 🔥

July 1, 2018 By Marylee Leave a Comment

Morning routines including coffee, exercise, writing, reading… we’ve experimented and learned about the importance of a morning routine.

Have you committed to one?

My morning routine has evolved over the past few years. It has needed to be flexible as I travel, living a semi-retired nomad style in different time zones with various schedules of necessity.
I do my best to keep it as regular as possible.

Here’s my desired routine:

Rise
Stretch
Drink water
Make coffee
Go outside for sunrise
Journal
Write my ”Future as Reality Statement”
Draft a blog
Make breakfast

Today, no one is going to be home for a few hours. I brought out my new lapel mic to try out. I wanted to send a Voxer message to my coaching group and try the mic on my iPhone. When I am home, my morning routine takes place on the beach, and I need the mic to overcome the sounds of the waves.

I experimented with it before I started my journal. After recording my message on Voxer, I shared it with the group on Facebook, and one of my clients replied. I engaged a little with her.

I admit this could be dangerous as the tendency is to get pulled into Facebook and lose track of time. I was mindful of this and quickly began my journaling process.

Adding the Fuel

However, when I started writing, I noticed how excited I was. I couldn’t wait to get started and move on. I even wrote,

Maybe it’s engagement, maybe sharing, succeeding in trying something new ( the mic,) I know it feels good. I wish I could have from 6-10am every day to write and move directly into productivity.

The take-away

I don’t have the exact answer now. Perhaps to explore different routines and see what is the most inspiring. Or, consider varying the exact routine depending on my needs of the day, my location and even welcoming influencers of the moment.

You have to get into my head to understand what I mean by that last statement. An influencer might be my partner’s agenda, an early morning engagement, something I recently read or heard or even the weather.

It’s important to be true to ourselves while maintaining a degree of flexibility.

The important thing is our morning routine, or any routine needs to play a role in our life that supports our goals. Health – both physical and mental, life, growth, business, and prosperity all come to mind.

My morning journal spurs me on towards the day and figure out questions I have about focus and direction. Today was unusual because the experience gave me both of these but also increased my motivation to accomplish something significant today.

Even on a Sunday.

Where Did the Time Go?

March 24, 2018 By Marylee Leave a Comment

Time Wasters. Those things that break our train of thought.

Time Wasters take us away from what we are doing

or should be doing.

Inefficient work habits

Redundant tasks

What about distractions?

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we have more than one thing running through our minds at most points of the day. No wonder we can’t multitask!! We are overloaded to the max!

Where did the time go?

We all know that email can be a great distraction. A time waster? Absolutely.

Read this very fast — a virtual post

You are working on a project —creating your invoices for your clients. Certainly a priority activity. You see an email come through. Perhaps it is an important email from a customer who has a question. We have trained them that we are available 24/7 with all of our electronics that don’t seem to have an ‘off’ switch.

You open the email and think about their question. You decide you need a little more information, so you go out to your browser to get a little insight into how to form your answer. It will only take a minute. Then you will get right back to your invoicing. You have to bring in the money right?

While you are searching the web, you stumble upon a posting about how to streamline your invoicing process. You think that looks interesting. I hate invoicing so let me at it. You scan through the information and it asks a question about how you currently track your customers. You leave the window to return to your accounting program to find out and then when you go back to the article, which is actually an ad, you find the original search you were conducting to answer your client’s question.

You slap yourself in the head and say, that is the reason I was on the internet. So you say, let me finish that and get that email out and then I will come back and look at the new invoicing idea.

Then the phone rings. You answer it and take care of the caller and look at the clock. You say to yourself, “Where did the time go? I was supposed to have my invoicing done an hour ago.”

If you aren’t careful, you will blame the entire loss of time on the ‘interruptions’ caused by your customers. They are very needy.

What Can You Do?

What could you have done to safeguard the priority task of getting your invoicing out? Turn off the email for that hour? That is the logical answer. You need to be true to yourself and your priorities, to keep those time wasters at bay.

From time to time, I am going to talk about time wasters. I would love to include yours. What would you say is the most disruptive time-wasting activity in your business today?

#1 to do for your business in Jan

January 11, 2018 By Marylee Leave a Comment

There are 21 days left in January. That’s 504 hours and 30,240 minutes. More than enough time to create your 2018 Goals, plan and this month’s to do list.

Now don’t be rolling your eyes at me. I’m not going to ask you to go on a 3-day strategic planning retreat. Can you give yourself an hour? Take .2% of the time remaining in January and plan your year?

I’m not going to bore you with 1,000 words convincing you that planning your year is a good idea. You’ve probably been seeing every hotshot out there providing you with the why’s and how of planning. I can tell you though, that my experience with business owners who don’t have a plan – well, they might as well head out in a boat with no map. You get the drift.

Let’s dive in.

Give yourself an hour with paper or your computer, laptop, tablet or cell phone.

If you created a plan last year, pull that out. (Hopefully, you can access that in a minute.)

Step 1 Write or review and edit your Vision

Your Vision is about you. We are not creating a business vision or mission statement that you hang in your business’s lobby or place on your website. This is about what you want for yourself, your lifestyle and for you in your business.

It shows the intersection of personal and work.

Think about where you see yourself in the next 5-10++ years. Think about your health, finances, lifestyle leisure time, passion and what you accomplish, do, be…

My Vision

Over the last two years, I have transitioned my business to part-time as I decided to be semiretired. My vision statement reflects that and projects out more than the 5-10 years I just recommended. It’s fine to determine the time frame you want to focus on now. It all depends on your reality at this moment.

Marylee’s Vision

Coach, write, blog and publish which keeps my mind active and engaged.
Help Baby Boomer Businesswomen create success and satisfaction in a part-time business and semiretired lifestyle well into their “golden years.”
Live a Long healthy, active life past 100 years with my life partner, socially engaged and playing badminton at a reasonable weight.
Protect my time so that I maintain a well-balanced calendar. Travel extensively and enjoy retirement 100%.
Always maintain my integrity.

Your Turn

Take some time to start drafting your vision. You don’t have to get it right the first time. Your vision will evolve. Try answering some of these questions:

- 1. If you could have anything you wanted, what would that be?
  2. What do you love doing more than anything else?
  3. What is most important to you in terms each of the following parts of your life: health, spiritual, business or career, family, social relationships, financial security, and fun.

Your vision statement does not need to look like mine. It shouldn’t. No one is watching so just write it.

Step 2 Your #1 Goal for 2018

Next, keeping your Vision front and center, write your one key business goal for 2018.

- - What is the most critical thing you want to accomplish in your business this year that will make a giant impact towards your vision?

Marylee’s First Try – 2018 Really Big Goal (RGB)

Here is my first stab at my 2018 RGB

Streamline my “work” so that I still have a way of sharing my passion for business but generate a method to add passive income. With our travel schedule starting Dec 2018, I won’t have time for much 1:1 coaching through 2020.

How will I know I have accomplished this? That’s the problem – it is not measurable. What I wrote is the essence of what I need to do in 2018 so that I can travel freely in the following years.

Let me try again:

In 2018, create, sell and run a yearlong group program of at least five members which includes a live monthly group session, workbook, self-study activities and 1:1 coaching. Record the components of the program and produce a self-study program which I will begin promoting in September 2018 to launch early January 2019.

Better?

Your turn.

What is the most critical thing you want to accomplish in your business this year that will make a giant impact towards your vision?

You’ve heard of SMART goals, right?

Once you have your goal written, compare it to each of these points to make sure you have it all covered.

I prefer looking at Relevancy first. Because if it is not relevant, then what’s the point?

In my example,

The program I run this year will become an online self-driven program next year targeting Baby Boomer Businesswomen moving into semi-retirement. Relevancy – Check!

Specific – Run one program. Create an online application from it. Promote and Launch. Check!

Measurable – Numbers and dates – Check!

Achievable – This is a hard one. Can I do this with limited hours this year? I would like to think so. Since I am using a living, breathing case study to create the new program, I think it is doable as long as I maintain consistent work each month. Check!

Time Bound – I have each type of activity that I need to complete for this project in my calendar. Check!

How does your goal measure up? Check it against each of the standards of writing SMART goals.

Step 3: Your WHY

I bet you’ve heard others talk about your Why. Your Why will evolve from your vision statement. Think of it as your Guiding Light. It is the heart and soul of why you do what you do. Your Why is the reason you get up in the morning and get to work. even when it’s hard.

Many of you will have a financial commitment as part of your goal. If that is the case, to get to the heart of your Why, you must keep digging deeper. You might say, “I need more money.” Or, “I need more money to pay my bills.”

This answer is one that suggests going out and getting a job. Really.

Dig in. Why do you want more money? I would venture to say that most of us want more money. But why? For what? What will an increase in our bottom line do for our life? What do you want?

Entrepreneurs have a calling for more. It can be because you want to help others, your family and yes, yourself. But Why? Each time you write the answer, ask yourself “Why?” again.

Step 4: Plan Your First Quarter

To reach your 2018 Goal, what do you need to complete this first quarter? Again, write SMART goals for this quarter. Here there probably will be more than one.

Next, break your 1st Quarter Goals into monthly steps and tasks. Again, this is an evolving document as you will need to add to it as you discover steps you need to take that you had not thought of before.

I use a spreadsheet to chart all of this out. Some people use a task app, some a calendar and some of my clients use Kanban. Whatever works for you. If you want a simple spreadsheet, contact me and I will share a Google doc with you.

That’s it!

What? We aren’t going to plan the rest of our year?

Nope! I guarantee you if you plan the entire year, it will change. You have your vision. More importantly you have your Why. Your Guiding Light. I rather you get to the meat of this quarter and do the work.

Next Steps To Do:

- - Start
  - Do something every day towards your RBG
  - Ask someone to hold you accountable
  - Keep an idea file for things you know you will need to do next quarter
  - Put a reminder on your calendar March 15 to plan Quarter 2. Before you celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

Want a little help in figuring any of this out? I offer a free, no sales, Give Me a Break session where we can sort some of this out.

Schedule one today and I promise you will leave with a clear head and a firm grip on your next step.

Your #1 Task in a Blink

January 4, 2018 By Marylee Leave a Comment

What’s the #1 challenge for small business owners? Time? Not getting enough done? Too many balls in the air? How do you focus on one thing?

I agree these have been the top of the problems that have kept me up at night in my decades of entrepreneurship. Oh – and not enough money – right?

When we search for anything related to time management, you can find all sorts of tips and tricks to organize and manage your time. Much of it comes down to focus. The anti-shiny object method.

My Daily Focus

I start each day on the beach 150 steps from our home on the north shore of Kauai. After being mindful of my arrival, I write my journal. Meaning I look around for conditions, people and most importantly, where I want to sit.

Today it is Windy! On days like this, I describe the ocean as messy. But one of the surf apps wrote, “Surf is expected to be rather jumbled/sloppy for most spots with the swell mixed and onshore NE Trades.”

Messy or jumbled/sloppy. Hmm, much like my brain most mornings!

It’s not cold, but I am bundled up against the wind. Reports say the surf is 7-9′ and tomorrow will be up to 15′-20′. That’s not high for our north shore winter surf but with the ocean so “‘messy” and noisy, it demands my attention as the sunrise approaches the horizon.

There is a moment between wave sets when a quiet pool of water rests before the last crashing wave withdraws back into the sea. It’s a moment when the ocean catches its breath. If you watch patiently, you will see a turtle pop its head up for a breath of air. It’s nearly impossible to take a picture as that breath is so quick, it’s like trying to catch a photo of lightning. The turtle’s location is random and it takes tremendous luck or incredibly fast reaction time to locate him and snap the picture.

The submerged turtle is only 30 feet from me and I often miss him. (If I miss him, how do I know he was there? I will see him a bit later and if he comes up once, he will come up often.)

So how come when I am writing my journal, something can catch my eye miles out on the horizon without me looking?

I have seen the spout and tail of a whale, a stand-up paddler, the mast of a small fishing boat or cabin of the coast guard ship that is so far out that my camera can barely pick them up. But there is enough break in the horizon that they catch my eye, even when I am not looking for something.

I am sure there is some logical scientific reason for this. The more you learn about me, you will quickly discover that I am not going out to do a great deal of scientific research. And this question is such that I don’t even know how to ask Alexa, Cortana or Google! Maybe we can agree that there is such a phenomenon.

Does this say something about our ability to focus far exceeds that of a camera or telescope?

When I look out on the water’s horizon, it is a long uninterrupted line. Anything, no matter how distant breaks that line.

Coming Into Focus

The view of the distant horizon reminds me of the saying, “Can’t see the forest for the trees” as used concerning business. We get so immersed in all the balls we are juggling every day in our business, we cannot begin to look at the big picture. We tend to be reactive in solving day to day crises and completing daily checklists. To turn this switch to becoming proactive and strengthen our planning and decision making, you need to go out to the broader view of the whole forest, i.e., your business and it’s health and plan for growth.

I’d like to think that my view of the ocean horizon is just the opposite. As a planner, I tend to continually take in the whole picture, see all of its components at once. In my daily morning view of the ocean, I see the cloud formation (is it going to rain?), the size of the waves (will surfers go out today?), the surf break (is my sitting space in danger of being submerged?) and is the tide coming in or going out (are there going to be many shells?)

All of this happens in a blink of an eye.
When I notice a line break on the horizon, my focus zooms into that singular item like a high-speed distance camera lens. It captures all of my attention while I still have the morning’s big picture in my memory bank.

Try applying this experience to your business.

Start the day by taking in the big picture of your business, your overriding goal or vision. When you have a clear goal, this will become comfortable as you practice it each day.
Narrow your focus to the one single task that will move your business forward.
Do this task today as in NOW with all of your drive and focus.

Grow My Business

How often have you started a great idea and then it goes by the wayside?

Does This Sound Like You?

Don’t Just Say It – Get to It!

What are you going to do?

What Can You Do?

What Happens at Networking Event?

What If?

Go All In Project Focus

Where Do You Go From Here?

And then for us semi-retirees

Growth in 3 Weeks

It’s Not a Coincidence

What does this mean for your growth?

Two Takeaways

Got a Minute?

For example,

Beyond the Honeymoon Phase

Key to Increasing Client Value

Is email marketing a significant part of your business growth strategy?

Why?

What’s Your Excuse?

Start Now

This email is part of the “Got a Minute” series focusing on increasing sales with existing clients.

Grab Marylee’s free guide to grow your business 10% by upping the game with your current clients.

Working IN Your Business (WIB)

Examples of IN Your Business Tasks

The BIG Picture

Working ON Your Business (WOB)

Examples of Working ON your Business:

Create your WOB Time

Schedule WOB Time on Your Calendar

Making a Shift from WIB to WOB

Make the Best Use of your WOB Time

A Shift in Lifestyle

Summary of Your WOB Action Steps

Make Sure You Commit to the Time

Options for Scheduling Your Time:

Would your rather digest these tips in a minute?

Follow my Got a Minute Series on Medium.

We all have them. Clients we hate taking calls from.

🔜 Grab my free Google spreadsheet to track your client’s ranking and schedule an hour to set this system up.

Measurable Qualities of Clients

🔘 First Year Sales 🔘 Total Lifetime Sales 🔘 Length of Time with your company 🔘 Clients as Referral Sources 🔘 Timely Payments

🔘 First Year Sales

🔜 Place these ranges in your Google spreadsheet in Column C replacing the Red Numbers.

🔘 Total Lifetime Sales

🔜 Place these ranges in your Google Spreadsheet in Column D replacing the Red Numbers.

🔘 Length of time with your company

🔜 Place these ranges in your Google spreadsheet in Column E replacing the Red Numbers.

🔘 Referral Source*

🔘 Timely payments

Give the client from 1 to 3 points depending on how timely their payments are.

The ‘Ole Phoof’

Now for the more difficult qualities of clients as they are entirely subjective.

4 Unmeasurable Qualities of Clients

🔘 Likable

🔘 Amenable

🔘 Communication and Accessibility

🔘Likability (Rank each client on the 1 to 3 scale with 3 most likeable.)

🔘 Amenable (Give 1 Point for each item checked. )

🔘Communication and Accessibility (Give 1 Point for each item checked.)

▶️ Totaling Your Points

So what does this mean?

Anticipation & A Semiretired Lifestyle

Adding the Fuel

The take-away

Time Wasters. Those things that break our train of thought.

What about distractions?

Where did the time go?

What Can You Do?

Step 1 Write or review and edit your Vision

My Vision

Marylee’s Vision

Your Turn

Step 2 Your #1 Goal for 2018

Marylee’s First Try – 2018 Really Big Goal (RGB)

Your turn.

In my example,

Step 3: Your WHY

🔘 First Year Sales
🔘 Total Lifetime Sales
🔘 Length of Time with your company
🔘 Clients as Referral Sources
🔘 Timely Payments