Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Addiction


Hi. My name is Jacki Semerau, and I'm addicted to blogs. (You say: "Hi, Jacki.")

I'll admit it! And based on all the people I follow on Twitter, am friends with on Facebook, and all the other fun social media stuff I follow, I know I'm not alone.

For me, Seth Godin's blog has to be my all time favorite that's directly related to my business. But then there are the fun and silly blogs, like the Funny Video of the Day blog.

So please....share with me. What are your favorite blogs? Because I need to feed the addiction! (And so does the woman to the left...clearly she is suffering from Acute Blog-Deficiency Syndrome.)

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Deadlines are a Girl's Best Friend

I have to admit, one of the things I thought was fabulous when I first became self-employed was a lack of deadlines. No one needing this, that, or the other from me. I finished things on MY terms!

Of course, contact with clients, setting appointments, following up, etc...those were all a given, because they were fun AND they were the money-making activities. And of course, once hired for a marketing project, I was all over the deadlines! But everything else? I became like a Jamaican..."No Worries, Mon!"

Then I noticed a trend: all the fabulous ideas and projects that would take my business to the next level were never getting done. I chalked it up to the "not enough time in the day" theory, and was content to consider myself too busy. "Things will slow down, and THEN I'll get these important yet non-urgent items taken care of."

Last week, I had someone close to me encourage me to set a deadline for something I wanted to do, needed to do if I were to take my business to the next level. They even offered to hold me accountable for that deadline, which is exactly what I needed!

I'm proud to say that I met that deadline, and I felt great! So I started setting deadlines for other non-urgent yet important tasks. I'm suddenly finding that there actually IS enough time in the day. It just needed a deadline to reveal itself....and a third party accountability partner to hold me accountable!

If you're self-employed, an entrepreneur, an independent contractor, or a freelance professional...find someone that will hold you accountable to your deadlines, and watch your business take a leap forward!