Part Three - Chapter One
Author Roy Primm wrote: Getting more done with less is an art, It’s a quality requiring much heart, But I must confessHow I turned failure to success Was to work both hard and work smart. I’ve heard two schools of thought when it comes to achieving maximum success in a minimum amount of time. The first school is to work hard, long hours; nose to the grindstone and burning the midnight oil. I’ve heard many people say that is the only sure way to achieve lasting success. I previously mentioned that famous influence Gary Vaynerchuk is an advocate of this style of success. While I love his messages and think he is an amazing person to study, I am not sure if I think this method is for everyone — especially those who have the knowhow and capacity to do it smarter. But I am sure you know many people who have worked hard for years and have yet to achieve what most people would call success. In fact, you may be one of them. I was one of those people. I discovered many years ago that hard work alone is not a guarantee of success. If it was, you’d see more millionaires. The other school of thought says to work smart, not hard. The work smart philosophy says, “less is better”. Delegate and use other people’s time, money, and hands as much as you can. They say this is the quickest way to success. With so much talk about working smart, many people especially those new to running a business and young people, are starting to get the impression that good old-fashioned hard work went out with the horse-and-buggy. They feel hard work is no longer required to achieve success. After all, we now have computers, e-mail, and cell phones. I must admit they both have their benefits and their limits. Through experience, I’ve discovered that the best way to achieve maximum success in a minimum of time is to work hard at working smart! Yes, working hard at working smart will give you the best of both worlds without the limits each one has by itself. When you work hard at working smart, you’re maximizing your potential to the fullest. You have your pedal to the medal and you’re going full speed ahead - but you’re doing it in the most efficient way possible. Here are seven quick and easy ways to help you work hard at working smart every day. If you take the time to make these tips a habit, you’ll find yourself achieving your goals much quicker. 1. Work hard at being more adaptable to changes. Remember that every change that comes your way gives you an opportunity to move ahead of those that won’t or can’t adapt to sudden change. In life, they say the only guarantees are death and taxes. I would like to add a third item and that is CHANGE. Try to be the first to learn and adapt to new changes in your industry, in new technologies and new techniques. “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” Francis Bacon 2. Work hard at looking for shortcuts in everything you do. Always be alert to easier more efficient ways of doing your routine task. Can you cut out, reduce, speed-up or combine steps without sacrificing effectiveness? Don’t fall in the habit of doing routine task with a routine attitude. Stay alert to the possibility of doing it in a different way. Think outside the box if it can save you time, money, or frustration. 3. Work hard at thinking ahead as much as possible. The best chess players always think one move ahead. You should try to do the same. Prepare yourself mentally before you act physically. This alone will help you avoid wasting time and making costly mistakes. The best athletes establish the habit of anticipating their next move ahead of time. The best quarterbacks know what they’ll do if their primary receiver falls down. 4. Work hard at finding working hard at working smart role models. Always be on the lookout for people who work hard at working smart. Here’s a hint: they’ll usually be the people who do more in less time and with fewer sources of money, time, or people to help them than others. 5. Work hard at learning quickly from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. You’re smart if you can learn from your mistakes, and you’re intelligent if you can learn from others’ mistakes — but you’re wise if you can do both. Learn how to fail constructively. You learn constructively when you ask who, what, when, why, and how questions. For example, next time who will I consult with first? What did I do wrong? When did I do it? Why did I do it, and how can I do better next time? 6. Work hard at finding ways to wisely multi-task. What’s most important about multitasking is knowing when to multitask and when not to. Routine tasks are perfect for multitasking. But detailed, risky, and dangerous projects should not be. 7. Work hard at keeping current on the latest technology related to your task. Allow technology to help you work harder at working smarter. Whatever your task, there is a gadget, software program, or tool that can help you do it more efficiently. It is my hope that these seven tips will inspire you to think of more ways you can work hard at working smart. The benefits and satisfaction will be well worth your time and effort. Running a business can often stretch you to the limit, so to be effective at doing what you do best, it's imperative to look at what tasks you can either delegate or outsource. Delegating This is an interesting word. For some people it means completely letting go of their responsibilities and getting someone else to do the work. Now that's all well and good providing that you train that person on how you've been handling those tasks. Show them how it's been done first. For many business owners and managers, delegating means completely abdicating all responsibility for a particular task to somebody else without showing them how. They expect that person to know how to do it immediately. Well, forget it. No wonder you often hear people say, "I tried to delegate that task, but no-one was as good as me at doing it!", or, "I just couldn't find the right person who was capable of taking on those responsibilities". That's an interesting comment. Often people are given responsibilities for which they have had no training in and are then expected to know how to carry out those duties. A great example of this is when a person is promoted to manager/team leader and they are automatically expected to know how to manage themselves and their people. Coming in From the Outside How about the new kid on the block who comes in to take up the reins in a position, which has already been vacated? They're expected to run the department or business as if they've been working in the company for the past three years! Be sure to instruct the new hire with their responsibilities and tasks, enabling them to take on the position quickly. Outsourcing When your car needs to be repaired do you spend hours trying to fix it or see a mechanic who takes two hours? Do you do your own tax return or have an accountant prepare it for you? If you need a new assistant, do you place an ad in the paper, spend hours interviewing people or have a recruitment company do all the groundwork and send you the top three applicants? Why waste your precious time on tasks which will do exactly that…waste your precious time. Time is money! Use the Experts Use the valuable input of experts who can take away the stress and hassle and carry out the tasks in a fraction of the time it would take you. Sure, you have to pay for it, but isn't it better to work smarter, not harder? Why spend hours on tasks which are not your specialty? Identify what you do best and then delegate or outsource the rest. In fact, if you truly feel you are good at what you do and are happy to share that, why not teach someone else those same skills, then you could really leverage yourself. If you are business owner, this will allow you more time to work on your business rather than in it. A Word of Caution for Business Owners Be careful about who you get your advice from. I know of many small business owners who listen to the advice of their personal assistants, spouses, and relatives on how they should run their business although those people have never been in business themselves. By all means get feedback from your people, however if you really want to work smarter, not harder, then invest some money into a business coach or someone who has already run a successful business so that you can avoid costly mistakes and have someone else offer a fresh perspective. Being too closely involved can give you a tainted view. Write down all your responsibilities and the tasks that you undertake. Tick the tasks which someone else could realistically do. Then write next to it either the name of the person or type of person/company who can do this for you or offer some expert assistance or support ie. bookkeeper, printing company, personal assistant, coach. To work smarter not harder, always look at who else can do this work/task. Always look at lightening your load so that you can spend your time doing what you do best. Many online business owners struggle with working too hard for not enough return. Even when the returns are good, the hours can be gruelling. As a father and husband, I can't afford to be sitting at my computer 24/7. I chose to run an online business because I want to be home with my kids, but at home glued to a computer screen isn't like being at home. Even if you don’t have a kid or a spouse, a business should not become your entire life. It's a recipe for burn out and a dismal life that revolves around a computer. At first, building your business and working really may seem exciting, but then you look up and realize there's nothing else in your life. So, how do you work smarter and not harder? In other words, how do you make more money with less personal time invested in your business? To me, it comes down to four key points: 1. Value Your Time: You need to set and limit your working hours. You probably run your business, so you can stay home with your family and have more freedom. Well, being a prisoner to your computer doesn't do either of those things for you. When you limit your work time, you are more productive. If you have only three hours to get work done, you are more likely to stay focused and do what you need to do. If you have set aside the whole day to work, you'll probably slack off and hang out at forums, check your stats endlessly, or find other distractions. 2. Leverage the Strength & Time of Others: Don't think of yourself as a solo entrepreneur...think of yourself as a team. You can leverage the strength and time of others by: Outsourcing: Never try to do it all yourself! Partnering with others reaching the same target market as you: Your competition doesn’t need to be your enemy. Make them your partners instead! Recruiting and training an affiliate force: Just setting up the script for your affiliate program isn’t enough…set up a stellar program instead. Being part of a mastermind group: Share business strategies and experiences. “You may find someone in the group that is a perfect fit to work on a project with you.”Stephanie Burns 3. Implement Passive Income Models into Your Business: Outsourcing and having your own well-managed affiliate program are ways to generate passive income. Other ways to add more passive income to your online business are:· Join affiliate programs: You don’t have to fulfill all the orders and provide customer support yourself. Learn search engine optimization (SEO): Search engine optimization is an excellent source of highly targeted traffic for your website. Just think, people enter a keyword phrase for something they want and voila, they find you. Implement pay-per-click strategies: Just like with search engines, you can get high targeted traffic to your website, but you have to pay for it. But setting up a cost-effective and profitable campaign can do wonders for your business. Try AdWords of Yahoo Search Marketing. Use autoresponders: Effectively automate your follow-up process with your prospect and customers. Backend sales & upsells: When someone is already going to buy from you once, they are likely to buy more. Make sure you make extra offers. 4. Embrace Technology: This one might be tough for some non-technical people. Honestly, I'm not very technical and I get intimidated by technology...but I do know that if I can automate something in my business, it saves me time and money. That's why I have a programmer on hand to help me with stuff like this. I don't have to implement the technology myself. I just use it to my advantage in my business. Some uses of technology can include: Autoresponders Shopping carts Membership sites Automating content addition to your sites Making customer/prospect management easier and more profitable Customer feedback, comments, reviews Affiliate program Tracking advertising and split testing Please, prioritize your work! Your business, family, and friends will thank you for it!
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