What’s Your Vision?
How do you see your year shaping up? What is your vision for your business, and your personal life?
Sometimes we get so overwhelmed with the running of our businesses and lives that we forget to plan, and to focus on our goals. This is when creating a vision board helps to gather thoughts and determine goals.
I did this vision board very recently, and am amazed by its powerful message.
I wonder, have you, dear reader ever created a vision board? And if so, what do you think about it, and what impact did making one have on you?
A Visioning Structure
Where is your business headed this year? What are your goals, and how are you planning to achieve them?
I attended a networking event at e-Spot the other day. These events usually attract anywhere from 4 to around 20 people. I love such small group events, which allow us to learn so much about each other’s business. Every time Grace Attard, coach, owner and proud founder of e-Spot, comes prepared with an exercise for us.
This time we were asked to do a ‘Visioning Structure.’ The exercise left me with a strong vision of my business, and my goals. Grace has graciously allowed me to share the visioning structure with you.
Think about each of the following sentences and fill in the blanks (not every sentence is necessarily applicable to your business.)
- …my company is known for
- …my organization is doing
- …my clients are saying
- …my suppliers are saying
- …the market the company serves counts on my company for
- …my company is changing lives by
Once you have completed the sentences, choose ONE business action that you have not been doing, and which would help you realize our vision. Then, commit to doing this one action repeatedly.
My action for this year is to invest in continuous education.
What is your ONE action that would bring your business close to your vision?
Reflections
Christmas has come and gone, time spent with dear family and friends, but also of reflection. Reflection on the past year, of achievements and sorrows, of wonderful times and of milestones reached. So much has happened.
I started the year being enrolled in AssistUs Virtual Training Program, graduated in May and found myself asking ‘now what?’ I have reached my goal, I graduated, but how do I get clients? What to do and how to do it? Should I network, write letters, advertise, all of the above?
I decided to listen to my Inner Self. The decision was twofold: networking and subscription to AssistU’s Registry program.
When I talked with my first potential client contacts I was so very nervous. Was I possibly going to start working with any of these contacts? Would they want ME? How long would it take before I would start bringing in money and how would it be to actually do what I learned? Would I be able to run my own business, did I have the discipline needed? Doubts were showing up, but I was determined and ignored them as much as possible.
I was delighted to partner with my first two clients within days of each other, and I am delighted to have found wonderful people to work with. Reflecting on the past months makes me realize how blessed I am. I am capable of running my own business successfully, and I have wonderful, appreciative clients.
On the home front I am blessed with a great husband, a wonderful home, and good friends. 2010 has been a truly amazing and fulfilling year for me. My hope is that the coming year will continue to be one of growth for all of us.
What are your reflections on 2010, dear reader? What are your hopes and dreams for this coming year?
Please …. Use Your ‘bcc’
Most people complain about being swamped by email and by mass mailings. Jokes, invitation to attend workshops, special deals, blogs subscriptions, newsletters and many more make their way into our Inbox, and we feel totally overwhelmed.
There is one thing that annoys me more than everything else: receiving an email that has been forwarded many times, which results in me having to scroll down and down through many email addresses before I finally get to see the intended message. Do I really need to see all these addresses? Do I care who else has received this same message before or at the same time? And … do I really want to receive these kind of messages?
The first golden rule of email sending to a group of people is, don’t do it unless it’s an important email. But, if you really feel you must send group mass emails, here is what to do:
- Once you have selected the names of the persons you want to send your email to, you might see a long list in your ‘To” field. Highlight all the names and email addresses; right-click and select ‘cut’ from the pop-up menu;
- Paste the names to the address section of the ‘bcc’ field;
- Send your message.
Or, you can insert the names into the’ bcc’ directly, and save the copy and paste step.
You might ask ‘Why would I want to do this?‘ Let me ask you, if you are in business, would you give away your contact list? Of course not, but that’s exactly what happens when you include everyone in the ‘To’ or ‘cc’ field.
- I try to be very selective about who gets my email address, and do not like it to be available to just everybody. If all addresses in an email to me are put into the ‘To’ field, everyone who received the message as well has also received my information;
- By using the ‘bcc’ field we respect everyone’s privacy;
- Using the ‘bcc’ field is a great anti-spam, even an anti-virus precaution. Some viruses ‘harvest’ email addresses from your address book or computer cache, increasing the viruses snowball effect.
So, I beg you, if you don’t do it already, please start using the ‘bcc’ field.
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