Proposal Writing

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Many of my clients have to create [tag]proposals[/tag] - or they want to. Unfortunately, many of us have little experience with propsal creating, which leads to 9-10-15 hour days in front of the computer trying to smash out the latest proposal. Laura Ricci of Laura’s winning ideas has been featured in [tag]Inc[/tag] and [tag]Fortune[/tag], and has this to say about burnout:

The brain works by creating pathways for specific projects, like your last proposal. [tag]Communication[/tag] is passed between cells along these synaptic pathways by electrical charges. The gap between cells has a conducting property. Think of it as a gel that holds a charge, similar to a battery.

Synaptic pathways wear out

When the synaptic pathway is fired continuously, like your last proposal, the gel loses its charge after awhile. Communication slows and takes on static. By the time you notice a slowdown, burnout has already occurred….
Breaks are the only way to prevent this problem from slowing down your progress and ditching your proposal’s winning edge.

Make sure everyone on your team takes breaks. Meal breaks should include REAL FOOD, not fast food and last at least 40 minutes each. Your body needs time to redistribute fluids back to the brain after getting your digestive track lubricated and working. A walk around the outside of the building, a break for a snack of fresh fruit, a few minutes of music, a 20 minute nap. The proposal must not be discussed, reviewed, thought of or otherwise intrude during breaks. It takes awhile to get used to breaking for dinner and talking about anything BUT the proposal, but you can do it!

I think this is relavent to all projects, just not proposals. I know I occasionally find myself bundled up at my computer for numerous hours at the whim of my latest brain child - and then when I return to it after a break, it seems much of the project is jibberish.

Solo service professionals generally don’t have the support system nearby to notify when it’s breaktime, but we can just as easily set up our scheduling software to ping us when it’s time to break. This will save us the time and immeasuable heartbreak that occurs when we push our minds past their limits, and they spit gunk out at us.

Posted in Business, Solopreneur-ship | 1 Comment »

Monday Microsoft Tip

Here’s your weekly [tag]Monday Microsoft Tip[/tag]

Edit Two Parts of a Document in [tag]Microsoft Word[/tag]

Have you ever wanted to make sure your introduction and conclusion match up? Usually, if you’re comparing the beginning and end of a document, you have to scroll back and forth, up and down, forgetting the sentence structure halfway there and having to go back… it’s a mess, isn’t it? I know I certainly hate doing it that way.

Next time, though, instead of doing it the *hard way* - use the built-in feature [tag]MS Word[/tag] gives you to display two different parts of a document at once. To do this, click the Window menu and click the Split option to display a dividing line in the current window. Now, you can look at both the beginning and ending of the document, without that nasty scrolling.

Even better, just press F6 to switch between the two new windows

Until next time…

~E

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Monday Microsoft Tip

Here’s your Weekly [tag]Monday Microsoft Tip[/tag]

[tag]Microsoft Excel[/tag] [tag]Keyboard Shortcuts[/tag]

F2: Edit a cell’s contents.

Ctrl-1: Open the Format Cells dialog.
Ctrl-Page Up: Move to the next sheet in the workbook.
Ctrl-Page Down: Move to the previous sheet in the workbook.

Ctrl-Shift-”: Copy the value from the cell above into the current cell.
Ctrl-’: Copy the formula from the cell above into the current cell.
Ctrl-R: Fill contents of active cell into selected cells to the right.
Ctrl-D: Fill contents of active cell into selected cells down.
Ctrl-`: Toggle between showing cell values and formulas in cells.
Ctrl-$: Set selection to currency format with two decimal places.

Until next time…

~E

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Internet Neutrality

[tag]Congress[/tag] is pushing through a law that would permit large telephone and cable companies, like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, to control what you do, where you go and what you watch online.

Visit the URL below to check out what’s at stake and send a message directly to the Congress:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet

Are you wondering why this is so important? View this tutorial on Internet Neutrality (No download required)

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Monday Microsoft Tip

Here’s a new ritual to help your week - Monday Microsoft tips - 30 seconds to increased productivity in the MS Office Suite. Let’s begin!

—————

AutoFormatting 101

I love auto-formatting - I attribute my speediness in word to auto-formatting. There are quite a few you can begin using right now so you can stop wasting your time searching for special characters:

Characters Symbol

(c) ©

(r) ®

(tm) ™

You can also create arrows - by typing < -- <== <=> –> ==> you’ll get different arrows.

You can create unordered (or bulleted) lists by beginning a line with an * (asterisk) and ending the line by pressing the Enter key. Alternatively, you can create a numbered list by typing 1. at the beginning of a line, and ending the line by pressing the Enter key.

You can create a table by simpling using plus signs and hyphens. Try it by entering a plus sign, then a few hyphens, then a plus sign, another few hyphens, and ending it with a plus sign (+—+—+) and pressing enter. This will give you a lovely table with the cell borders where the plus signs were. (In my example, a one two-column, one row table). And, since this is word, you can add rows easily by going to the cell on the right and pressing tab.

More next week!

~E

Posted in Monday Microsoft Tips | 1 Comment »

Holiday Auto-Recovery

Why do holidays always put me behind on my [tag]blogging[/tag]? I should learn, with wordpress’s ability to schedule posting to blog ahead of time…

Anyway, catching up, there are a few very interesting things in the blogosphere:

1. Everytime Mark Silver writes something, I hear his voice. I don’t know why… but he has this to say about rebranding oneself:

“…‘[tag]rebranding[/tag]’ yourself has to do with the vulnerability of seeing the people you want to care for intimately, standing on a platform of a simple message and vision of what is possible for the individual, and in creating a strategy for their care, comfort and guidance that they can rest into… If you are struggling with this, instead of searching for the answers, start searching for the question. It is my experience that questions are always twinned with their answers. If the answers for ‘branding’ or ‘identifying’ your business aren’t soothing your heart- try changing the questions. Ask your heart for the questions, instead of the answers.”

Poignant.

2. Seth Godin sez:

“If you market like a peasant, always a supplicant, always aware of your low station in life, you’re more likely to earn attention. Yes, you need the confidence and perhaps the bearing of a king. But the best marketers today appear to be those that accept the fact that they have no birthright, they weren’t awarded the right to attention. And, who knows, over time, they might earn their way up the ladder–to king.”

3. Andy Wibbels has done an awesome job promoting his Go [tag]BlogWild![/tag] Book - numerous teleclasses leading up to ’sales day’ - then having a ton of friends and affiliates promote the book. In Blogwild! Amazon Book Publicity Campaign Report Out, Andy gives the low-down on how this Andy-extravaganza helped amazon rank, sales, and more. I can’t wait to see what else he puts in the public eye as he’s promoting this book. I love the transparency in the whole operation - very bloggerific.

5. Suzanne Falter-Barnes has parnered with Andy Wibbles to discuss the idea that blogs are making websites obsolete.

9. You market automatically with a blog. But not with a conventional website. Every single time you post, systems like Typepad send out a little message to the directories that you’ve put up a new comment (called ‘pinging’.) And other systems, like Feedburner, advise folks by RSS feed or email that you’ve posted. So you generate automatic traffic.

10. You can make a lot more friends with a blog. You go on their blog and comment on their posts. They drop by your blog and comment on a post. You like their stuff and put them on your ‘blogroll’ - your list of friends. They do the same. Incoming links are set up to your site and theirs. That increases your search engine traffic … and makes life more fun.”

They have some points - they do - but as a consumer and a blogger, I don’t see websites leaving us anytime soon. Theoretically, while blogs are easy to create/maintain/update - people are still more comfortable with websites. I certainly would have a difficult time buying my essential services from a blog. Perhaps it will work for the non-traditional business (whatever that may be). For now, I’m not betting on blogs taking over the world.

More possibly later

Posted in Blogging, Business | No Comments »

Outside the Box

Today I’m shopping. Catching up on a month of undershopping, I’ve got very little time to find gifts for all the holidays/birthdays/etc coming up. In my quest for a fathers day gift, I found Fathers day gift Baskets from GourmetGiftBaskets.com

Now here’s some ingenious thinking. So often I’ve found mysellf getting my father some ties, maybe a sweater, a golf club or two… nothing of this caliber. Maybe because it’s so easy to fall back on the ‘usual’ [tag]father’s day[/tag] [tag]presents[/tag] that I’ve stopped looking for cutesy new ideas.. but this is the kicker!

From the website: “This golfing gift basket is filled with delectable gourmet treats elegantly arranged in a six-can Golf Bag Cooler. Inside Dad will find 3 Solid Chocolate Golf Balls made in a smooth creamy white & milk chocolate. He’ll also find a matching golf mug, with award winning coffee, cookies, and mints.”

How can we package our services to make a one-of-a-kind deal for our clients? How can we help our clients celebrate holidays better?

Posted in Customer Service | No Comments »

My problem with most e-commerce sites

They fail us miserably. I was looking today for some airsoft guns (paintball guns), and came across Zephyr Paintball, which has some pretty decent deals.

My problem, why it fails miserably, is in conversion and consumption. Zephyr tells me nothing of what I would want an airsoft gun for - or why I should choose zephyr. They’ve assumed that by my being there, that I already know what those types of guns are, that I’m good at paintball, and that I’m going to buy no matter what.

I would sure love to know how to keep my equipment in good working order, what I should be aware of when shooting my paintball gun, and more techniques I’m obviously not aware of.

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Small Business Owners: Are you buried in administration?

Is this you:

• You’ve figured out what your next income stream is going to be - the only barrier is finding the time to create?
• You spend too much time on things like updating your website, formatting your newsletter, scheduling appointments, and other things - when you would rather be finding new clients?
• You’ve got the idea for your book - but you haven’t found the time to just start writing?
• You’re ready to hire an assistant, but don’t know where to begin?

Then the Prepare for a VA(TM) e-course is for you! This course is designed to give you the knowledge you need to find the perfect virtual assistant! In this course, you’ll discover:

• How much time you’ll save by delegating those mundane administration tasks;
• How to delegate like a pro;
• How to budget for a virtual assistant;
• Where to find a good VA;
• What a VA can do for you;
• And More!

“I didn’t think I had the time to take a course like this, but I signed up anyway. After reading through the first lesson, I was hooked - I knew this was the place where I could figure out how someone can help me. In going through the different steps and processes outlined in the course and worksheets, the small amount of time I invested in learning about my business has helped me find assistance in less than two weeks! I can’t thank you enough, Erin, this course is awesome!”
Rob S., Consultant

You have the opportunity to take this e-course absolutely free! Take a minute to visit http://www.prepareforava.com/ to sign up now! Remember, this isn’t designed for you to find generic, one-size-fits-all assistance. This is created so you can find that perfect assistant who’s the expert you need.

“Before taking the Preparing for a VA e-course, I was intimidated at the thought of a virtual assistant. No one had taken the time to explain to me how the relationship works, and how to actually find a good VA. I thought maybe you could find one on a contract site, and then hopefully you find a decent one…
After taking this course I now realize what I need to do to get a VA - to find one that is suited for my business, and has the skills I need. I’m no longer afraid of getting bamboozled by some fly-by-night operation. Thank you, Erin!”
Susan P., SEO Expert, Author

Visit http://www.prepareforava.com/ to sign up today!

Warmly,

Erin Banister
http://www.prepareforava.com/

PS. I have an iron-clad guarantee: if you’ve done all your assignments and you still aren’t happy with the course, I’ll gladly refund your money with a smile. So take the leap now, and rest assured that you’re in good hands.

Posted in Business, Promotions | No Comments »

Are you ready to blog? Blogwild! Small Business Book Hits Bookstores Today

“[tag]Blogs [/tag] are revolutionizing all kinds of industries but perhaps none more so than [tag] small business marekting [/tag] . [tag] Andy Wibbels [/tag] gives you everything you need at your finger tips to launch a successful [tag] small business blog [/tag] .” - Steve Rubel, Micropersuasion.com

Andy Wibbels’ new book just came out: [tag] Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging [/tag] . As part of the book launch promotion, if you purchase the book on April 6th through Amazon.com (only $12.97), you’ll receive $50 off your choice of Six Figure Blogging , Easy Bake Weblogs , RSS Essentials or Business Blog Basics . This is a great opportunity to grab this hot new book as well as an online course to ensure your success. Buy the book now over at GOblogwild.

“Andy cuts to the chase. You get the facts on business blogging, and some good recipes to boot, in a great easy-to-read format. The book is worth keeping next to your desk filled with page flags to remind you of the great tips he has in there. Any business book that makes you laugh is more than worth its weight in gold!” - Tris Hussey, Qumana

” [tag] Blogwild! [/tag] is about the future - your future. If you’re a small business owner and want to stay competitive, start blogging now. It’s going to be the definitive book on [tag]blogging[/tag].” - Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients

Kickstart your blogging now - in less than 120 minutes Andy will show you how to set up a blog and help you with your blogging gameplan. And, with a $50 rebate to his online courses, this book is absolutely a STEAL!

Posted in Blogging, Promotions | 1 Comment »