The Solopreneur Life®

From the UnCollege Manifesto: 12 Steps to Self-Directed Lifelong Learning

Larry Keltto — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:01:26 +0000

Several months ago, at the encouragement of a good friend and fellow solopreneur, I read the UnCollege manifesto, written by Dale J. Stephens. If I could recommend only thing for you to read, it would be the UnCollege manifesto.

Today I re-read the manifesto, and I want to share this list from it.

12 Steps to Self-Directed Lifelong Learning

1. Always carry a book, pen, and paper

2. Teach others

3. Keep a to-learn list

4. Start something — a Web site, company, organization, movement

5. Find and be a mentor

6. Set your homepage to Wikipedia:random

7. Live abroad and learn a new language

8. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you

9. Think, write, and publish your ideas

10. Always ask “Why?”

11. Practice unlearning to challenge your views

12. Become an expert

The Solopreneur Life’s “Friday Bits” #42

Larry Keltto — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:27:35 +0000

In my occasional “Friday Bits” column, I write about standout solopreneur-related information that I want to share with you. And today’s column is extra special because it’s the first time I’ve published “Friday Bits” on a Tuesday.

When Talent Meets Humanity

It’s not often that a Web site blows me away. Well, I found one today, and it represents the work and considerable talent of Catherine Orr, a documentary storyteller. I especially liked “Born Into Coal.”

Catherine’s work is compelling to me for several reasons:

• Composition — every frame would be an excellent photograph.

• She has the ability to recognize interesting human stories.

• Catherine is indeed a storyteller, a fine one.

• But her greatest skill is the ability to gain the trust of her subjects. You can’t make the documentaries she makes without building a strong relationship with the people whose stories are being told.

Noteable Web Site

It’s already been a good week for discoveries. I found LettersOfNote.com, which the site says “is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.” (And when you’re at the site, consider how and why a Web site dealing in old letters is so compelling.) There’s treasure everywhere you look at LettersOfNote.com. Here are three beauties:

• “To My Old Master,” in which a former slave, Jourdan Anderson, writes a letter in response to his old master, who had asked Jourdan to return to work at the master’s farm. Read the entire letter.

• “The Tiger Oil Memos,” “from the offices of the now-defunct Houston-based Tiger Oil Company come a total of 22 enormously entertaining memos; all sent by, or on behalf of, the firm’s incredibly amusing, painfully tactless, and seemingly constantly angry CEO — Edward ‘Tiger Mike’ Davis — to his staff.”

• “I’m a Lousy Copywriter,” written by arguably the most celebrated ad man in history, David Ogilvy.

Cool Tool

If you do business internationally, you will REALLY appreciate TimeAndDate.com, which contains the must-have information that all travelers need. Thank you to Jill Chivers for pointing it out to me.

Are You Using Unpaid Interns?

If you’re using unpaid interns — and I hope you’re not — then you need to read this article about unpaid interns who are raising legal questions regarding their employment. If you’ve looked at any job boards in the past year, you know that the issue of employers abusing interships is/was a ticking bomb.

If I Had Had More Time, I Would Have Written a…

You’ve mastered the art of elevator speeches. You’re a whiz with 140 characters. Now boil your life down to six words. I dare ya.

Mega Traffic For a Sewing Blog

Here’s an article from ThinkTraffic.net about a woman who attracts 380,000 pageviews to her sewing blog. (If traffic is important to your biz, I highly recommend subscribing to the ThinkTraffic.com RSS feed.)

Two of the NFL’s Best Minds

If you enjoy the National Football League, I encourage you to listen to Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan’s weekday-afternoon program, “Moving the Chains” on Sirius Radio 88. Tim and Pat have the best radio show — by a longshot — in the game of football. But be forewarned, they really dig into the fine detail of the sport: “3 techniques,” “Cover 2′s,” “Mikes,” “3-4 ends,” “G Power,” “Y curl,” “Omaha! Omaha!,” and more.

Tim and Pat are yet another example of people who have wedded their in-depth knowledge to a rabid, narrow, underserved niche that can’t get enough information.

5 Killer New WordPress Plugins

Are you like me — a lover of WordPress plugins? Here are five new ones, featured in a recent article at Remarkablogger.com

Shameless Plug

If you’re an aspiring or new solopreneur who wants to build a solo business that aligns with your values, consider my coachsulting services.

In the NFL and In Solopreneurship: Winning and Losing Turns on the Strength of the Gameplan

Larry Keltto — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:13:19 +0000

In his book, Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How Watch Football By Knowing Where to Look, (Amazon Affiliate link) Pat Kirwan explains how a National Football League team constructs its gameplan each week.

Every NFL team has a playbook that’s about as thick the Manhattan phone book (Manhattan, New York, not Manhattan, Kansas). The playbook contains roughly a thousand offensive plays, and each play has variations, based formation.

So theoretically, every team has several thousand plays that could be used during a game. But not all the plays are included in the gameplan each week. Take a guess at how many plays are in the gameplan. Is it 200? 100? 75? The answer: about 40 plays.

You Are What Your Record Says You Are

How do the coaches boil the playbook down from thousands of plays to a few dozen?

The team’s coaches base the gameplan on dozens on variables: injuries to key players; weather conditions; the number of days the team has for practice; the plays that the team performs well; plays that other teams have used against the week’s opposition; whether the game is played at home or on the road; how individual players match up against the players from the other team; the ability of the players (especially the quarterback) to process information quickly while playing in the game.

During the days leading up to the game, the players practice what’s in the gameplan. The gameplan sometimes is pared down even further, based on what happens in practices.

As the week comes to an end, coaches and players must have confidence in the gameplan. If there’s uncertainty, then the chances of winning the game are reduced greatly.

And then the game is played. A team either wins or loses. The win-loss record defines teams, players, and coaches. The NFL is a results-driven game and livelihoods change, based on whether or not you win.

Can You Build Winning Gameplans?

As solopreneurs, our task is very similar to that of the football coaches: develop a winning gameplan for the challenge ahead.

There are thousands and thousands of resources at our disposal as solopreneurs. But we can’t use all of them — or half, or a third, or a quarter — to achieve our goals.

We have to make wise choices, based on the conditions we are facing, and we need to have supreme confidence in the gameplan, once it has been constructed.

Make no mistake, solopreneurship is a results-based game. Did I reach my goals for this month (did I win)? If I did, that’s great. If I didn’t, then why not? Was it the gameplan or the execution that failed? Or both? How should the gameplan be changed, going forward? Do I really know what changes I need to make?

These questions have to be asked — and answered — or else the losing will continue. (Tough questions are rarely asked after a victory, but that’s a story for another day.)

What Would a Solopreneurism 101 Course Look Like?

Larry Keltto — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:16:47 +0000

Have you ever said: “I wish there had been an entrepreneurism class when I was in school”?

It’s a comment that I hear frequently from solopreneurs of varied educational backgrounds, including liberal-arts graduates, law-school grads, tech-school grads, and even people who studied ministry.

I’ve even been told by colleagues that I should build a Solopreneurism 101 course. I think it’s an intriguing — yet daunting — idea; I would have to invest a huge amount of time and energy in building the course, and I’m not yet convinced that people REALLY want something like this.

For now, I need your opinion: what subjects would you want covered in a Solopreneurism 101 course?

Please leave your comments below or send me an email with your thoughts.

Finally, here’s a quote from Dennis Ray, “Liberal Arts for Entrepreneurs”:

A liberal arts education might be viewed as a metaphor for entrepreneurship. The humanities suggest that the entrepreneur is an artist. History might see entrepreneurs as the true revolutionaries of technological, economic, and social change. A liberal arts education is rich in metaphors that are capable of capturing the multifaceted life of an entrepreneur. A course in film or the theatre might suggest that the entrepreneur is a stage or film director, while a course in physical education might reveal the entrepreneur as a coach…Undergraduate entrepreneurship education should not be viewed as a narrow careerist pursuit, but as giving new life to the traditions of a liberal arts education.

Featured Soloist Barbara Austin: “Don’t Jump Into It Without a Plan”

Larry Keltto — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:25:49 +0000

This is The Solopreneur Life’s “Featured Soloist,” the purpose of which is to give all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Today we meet Barbara Austin. If you would like to be the “Featured Soloist,” please send me an e-mail, Larry@TheSolopreneurLife.com.

Barbara Austin

Name of solopreneur:
Barbara Austin

Name of business and city:
CreativeGem Designs | Liberty Hill, Texas

Web site address:
www.creativegemdesigns.com

Type of business:
graphic design (print, web, and branding services)

When did you officially go into business?
August of 2010

Why did you start your own business?
I had been freelancing on the side for several years, so when I was laid off from my day job in June of 2010, I knew I would be much happier growing my freelance business than looking for another job. I love graphic design, and enjoy the flexibility of being my own boss, so it really felt like the right thing to do.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
I read My So-Called Freelance Life by Michelle Goodman. I was pretty clueless about things like taxes and legal requirements, so I needed that basic overview of the ins and outs of self-employment.

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
For the first six months of being a full-time business owner, I had no marketing strategy. I basically just threw money into whatever looked promising: things like Facebook ads, sales letters, and even t-shirt advertising — most of which didn’t work very well. It took a while for me to learn that in order to have a healthy influx of new clients, I needed to have a marketing plan. Nowadays, my strategy is a combination of in-person networking, content marketing, and social media.

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are you doing to try to solve it?
I’ve always struggled with budgeting my time effectively, an issue which has at times caused me to fall short of my earnings goals. I’m learning to be deliberate about how many hours I spend on client work, versus marketing and other tasks. It’s best if I start out each morning by diving right into a client project for an hour or two, and save checking email or Twitter for later. I end up spending much less time on those smaller tasks, because I’m eager to get back to that project that is already in progress.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
To continue improving my online marketing, and expand my client base beyond central Texas. Even with my local clients, most of the business is conducted through email and phone, and many of them I have never met in person. So it seems natural that with email, Skype, and all the other ways of communicating over the internet, that I can serve clients in other states as well.

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
At that time, I hope to have built my overall marketing strategy to run as a well-oiled machine, with only routine maintenance required. I also hope to outsource some of my administrative tasks, such as copywriting, to other freelancers or virtual assistants, in order to free up more of my time for design work, and be able to grow my earnings to six figures.

What are your main software programs?
For design, I use Adobe CreativeSuite 5 (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Flash). For everything else, I use Microsoft Office 2010 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access).

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
Don’t jump into it without a plan. Take time to brainstorm and conduct research, and develop a business idea that is not only viable, but that you’re passionate about. If you don’t love what you do, you’ll be unhappy, and you won’t have the motivation necessary to make your business a success. Create a solid foundation from the very beginning; get whatever legal or financial help you need to setup your business properly, and craft a unique brand image that will set you apart from your competitors.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
Absolutely! I’m able to make a living doing what I love, and live a much more flexible lifestyle than I would working a regular job. My daily commute takes only seconds, I set my own schedule, and best of all, I shape my business to be what I want it to be, not what someone else wants.

If you could start your career all over again, what would you do differently? Why?
After college, I was unemployed for a long time before getting my first job. If I had known that I would ultimately choose to start my own business, I could have used that down time to take some classes on entrepreneurship, since that wasn’t covered in college. All the things that I’ve figured out by trial and error, I could’ve learned ahead of time, thus saving myself a lot of trouble.

Golf-Swing Tips and Small-Biz Advice: They’re Irrelevant

Larry Keltto — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:25:48 +0000

Some of you may know that I’m a geek when it comes to the golf swing. One of my favorite golf-swing experts, Jim McLean, frequently says that most golf instruction has absolutely nothing to do with whether the golf ball will be struck well.

If you doubt him, compare Jim Furyk’s golf swing to that of Doug Sanders. It’s astounding how two swings that are so different could produce pro-level results. And it proves that most elements of the golf swing (stance, grip, backswing, tempo, follow-through, etc.) aren’t fundamental to success.

So why is there so much golf how-to info out there — magazines, TV shows, infomercials, DVDs?

There are two explanations that I can see:

1) The people writing the instruction material don’t understand the subject.

2) The desire to produce content that can be sold to golfers.

The sad thing is golfers read these tips, spend time and money implementing them, and their ballstriking doesn’t improve.

The same is true of advice for solopreneurs. Nearly all of it has nothing to do with solo-business success.

Just like Furyk and Sanders, the methods of successful solopreneurs vary tremendously. They differ on: how much they work, where they work, when they work, how much they delegate, how they market, how they strategize, how they sell, how well-designed their Web sites are, whether or not they blog, how often they blog, which social-media platforms they use, whether they use social media at all!

I could go on and on, but you get the point: Nearly everything you read in the realm of advice is either about the author’s personal preference or it was written for entertainment. Hey, we all like to be entertained, but just know that what you’re consuming isn’t important to your business.

I’m not saying this to criticize anyone. I’m saying it so you won’t waste your time implementing every tip you read. I’m saying it so you will concentrate on the fundamentals and trust your methods regarding everything else.

Who Snaps You, and Your Solo Business, Back To Health?

Larry Keltto — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:43:59 +0000

If it wasn’t for my chiropractor, Dr. Nick McGregor, I’d be walking on all fours. Seriously. I can’t imagine the pain and discomfort I’d be in if it weren’t for the adjustments I’ve received from Nick over the years.

There are times when I have minor aches — the kind I can resolve with stretching, yoga, or sleep. When I won’t be able to heal myself, I know it: I feel a lack of strength in the affected area; I sleep poorly; I’m not able to perform simple daily tasks; getting dressed is a challenge. At times like those, I don’t hesitate to schedule a chiropractic appointment because I know my condition is not going to get better on its own.

There are times when we as solopreneurs fall out of alignment. Our physical symptoms can be: anxiousness, fear, severe lack of confidence, unhappiness, lethargy, dread, or even depression.

How do we get ourselves into such predicaments? There can be many causes, but fundamentally it’s because our work is out whack with our values, goals, skills, and personalities.

For example, I’m at my best when I’m working one-one-one with solopreneurs, when I’m delivering solutions that I know will help their businesses. But there was a period of years when I was doing the opposite. I was editing a magazine, there was very little interaction with readers, I wasn’t an expert with the subject matter, and it didn’t feel like I was impacting people’s lives in a significant way. The client loved my work and paid on time, but I was miserable.

Falling out of alignment can be prevented, but it’s not easy.

Prevention requires that our businesses reflect our originality, point of view, and gifts. Prevention requires that our tactics and strategies line up with how we derive power and energy. Prevention requires that we use business models we can execute without ruining ourselves. Prevention requires that we know what our clients/customers want and need.

My experience has taught me that falling out of alignment is inevitable for all solopreneurs. But the most successful solopreneurs recognize that they need (and they have) a Dr. McGregor — someone who understands them, knows their histories, and can snap their solopreneur businesses back to health.

Women-Owned Small Business Opportunities in Federal Contracting

Jennifer Adeli — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:29:18 +0000

By: WinBiz Proposals, LLC
Author: Jennifer Adeli, Owner and Senior Proposal Manager
@WinBizProps and @SoloBizAdventur

Even in today’s environment of reduced and slower federal government spending, there are still plenty of opportunities for small businesses to grow, while serving the taxpayer and improving constituent services at the same time.

Jennifer Adeli

One of the recent initiatives is the Small Business Administration (SBA) Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) set-asides. This is also known as the 8(m) program. This program became a regulation in early 2011, but the broader WOSB community is still learning about it. In a nutshell, the federal government now has a requirement to award 5% of its contracting dollars to WOSB/EDWOSB firms.

What Is the Purpose of the WOSB Program?

The Federal government has both prime contracting and subcontracting goals for small businesses. More specifically, the Small Business Act requires 23% of Federal prime contracts dollars shall be awarded to small businesses, with individual prime and subcontracting goals for certain identified small business groups. Starting in 2011, the Federal government must now award 5% of its prime and subcontract dollars to women-owned small businesses. In addition, each Federal agency negotiates annual small-business goals with the SBA that presents, for that agency, the maximum practicable opportunity for small businesses. The goal attained by the individual agency is then used to calculate the government-wide small-business goal, including the individual prime and subcontracting goals for the identified small-business groups, such as women-owned small businesses.

This means that across the entire government, the goal is 5%. However an individual agency may have a higher or lower objective, based on their mission. I would expect that government agencies in industries traditionally heavily populated by women (think healthcare, education, etc.) may strive for higher goals; while agencies in more male-dominated industries (think defense, energy, etc.) may have lower goals.

Now while the agency may set an individual goal lower than 5%, that doesn’t mean that a WOSB in that industry shouldn’t push for set-asides. As a matter of fact, if you own a company that sells services in a male-dominated agency, there is a good chance there are not many other WOSBs; you could find a less competitive environment for those dollars, even if the percentage of total spending was lower.

5% Doesn’t Seem Like That Much — What Is the Magnitude We Are Talking About Here?

Not including mandatory spending (e.g. Social Security), the 2012 federal discretionary spending budget (e.g. the various departments, such as Agriculture, Education, Defense) is approximately $1.34 trillion. Five percent of that total spending is about $67 billion!! That $67 billion has been earmarked for WOSBs to improve the opportunities for women-led companies in federal contracting, and to improve economic development for women-owned businesses across the economy.

What Government Projects Are Eligible For the WOSB Set-Aside?

So now you are thinking, “that sounds interesting, but what my company does probably doesn’t relate to this. We do {insert service} and I don’t think that the federal government would buy that service from me.”

Actually there are 83 industries eligible for the WOSB set-asides, and are defined by their 4-digit NAICS code. These are as wide-ranging as Residential Building Construction (NAICS 2361); Software Publishers (5112); Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418); Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416); Outpatient Care Centers (6214); and even Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (7115).

So don’t discount the opportunity to work with the federal government; there is a good chance that if you sell it, the federal government is buying it. And now with the WOSB set-aside, there are more opportunities to win that business in a more efficient manner.

Eligibility Requirements For the Program

To be an eligible WOSB, a company must:
• Be a small business that is at least 51% percent unconditionally and directly owned and controlled by one or more women who are United States citizens.

• Have a woman manage the day-to-day operations, make long-term decisions for the business, hold the highest officer position in the business and work at the business full-time during normal working hours.

To be an eligible EDWOSB, a company must:
• Be a WOSB that is at least 51% owned by one or more women who are “economically disadvantaged.”

• Have an economically disadvantaged woman manage the day-to-day operations, make long-term decisions for the business, hold the highest officer position in the business and work at the business full-time during normal working hours. A woman is presumed economically disadvantaged if she has a personal net worth of less than $750,000 (with some exclusions), her adjusted gross yearly income averaged over the three years preceding the certification less than $350,000, and the fair market value of all her assets is less than $6 million.

Generally this means that you can’t game the system, by being the majority owner on paper, but having no direct involvement in the day-to-day operations.

There Are Government Contracts Awarded Every Day That Are Not WOSB Set-Asides. How Do I Know Which Ones Are?

There are a number of steps that have to happen for a contract to be an 8(m) set-aside.

First, the work must be within those NAICS codes mentioned above. Second, the government must have a reasonable expectation that two or more WOSBs will submit offers that meet the requirements of the acquisition. This is sometimes referred to as the “rule of two.” Finally, the anticipated award price of the contract cannot exceed $5 million for manufacturing contracts and $3 million for all other contracts.

Regarding the “rule of two,” this is an important point to make. When the government is unsure about the ability of the marketplace to meet a set-aside goal, they often release a test solicitation — usually a Request for Information (RFI), Sources Sought notice, or a Draft Request for Proposal (RFP). In that release, they request the marketplace to provide information about their services, their company profile, and their ability to meet the specific requirements of that project. This is the government’s way of testing the waters to see if they can get at least two proposals and therefore have a fair and open competition.

So it is important that WOSBs regularly respond to these requests, so that the procurement office knows that there are capable WOSB companies that can meet their needs. If the government doesn’t get enough qualified interest, they can designate the procurement under another set-aside or in a full and open competition.

I’m Interested — Now What?

There are certification requirements to become part of the WOSB program, however they are straight forward and online. You can choose to use either a Third Party Certifier, or can self-certify on the SBA website. The SBA has a great PowerPoint presentation on getting started — click here to download. You can also visit a local SBA office for advice and assistance.

Once you are designated, it’s happy hunting! Start with Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov) which is the official website for most (not all) government contracts. You can search by set-aside type, government agency, or NAICS code. Currently there are more than 20 WOSB opportunities that have been posted in only the last 90 days in a wide variety of services and locations.

Useful Links

• SBA Official WOSB page

• NAICS code descriptions

• SBA District Offices

• SBA Women’s Business Centers

• SBA Online Courses for Government Contracting

I Nearly Fell For This Small-Business Scam

Featured Soloist Nea Joy Justice: “My Fallback Position Is My Resourcefulness and Commitment”

Larry Keltto — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:30:19 +0000

This is The Solopreneur Life’s “Featured Soloist,” the purpose of which is to give all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Today we meet Nea Joy Justice. If you would like to be the “Featured Soloist,” please send me an e-mail, Larry@TheSolopreneurLife.com.

Nea Joy Justice

Name of solopreneur:
Nea Joy Justice

Name of businesses:
Self Improvement Saga Blog and You Turn Life Coaching

Web sites:
self-improvement-saga.com and youturnlifecoaching.net

Type of business:
I am a Transformational Life Coach, Professional Blogger, and Network Marketer

When did you officially go into business?
March, 2009

Why did you start your own business?
I always had an interest in working for myself, but in my 20s I became truly tired of being just another name on the payroll. I wanted to create my own schedule, to have a lifestyle that permitted frequent travel, to do work that made a difference, and to live without the fear of corporate downsizing. After being laid off from a job for the second time, I decided it was a sign that it was time for me to follow my heart.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
I made sure to blend the line between work and play as much as possible. In other words, I built my business around my passions and the things that I feel good about. This made all the difference in the world because I don’t have the stress of having to do a lot of tasks that I dislike. I love my work.

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
I didn’t understand the importance of networking and operating outside of my introverted tendencies. This was not a big deal when I became a professional blogger, but it caused a great deal of delay in attracting clients when I became a life coach.

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are you doing to try to solve it?
Before people invest in something, they need to want it; and before they want it, they must know its value. This creates a huge challenge for marketing life coaching, a service for which many people don’t have a point of reference. What I’m doing about this is concentrating on building relationships. Instead of marketing life coaching, I market myself as someone to connect with. From there, I educate my connections on what I do and how truly life-changing life coaching can be.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
Certification by the International Coaching Federation is the ultimate seal of approval for a life coach, so I’ve committed to earning that honor this year. In fact, I’ve completed most of the requirements, so I am well on my way.

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
My mission for my business is igniting joy through transformation. In alignment with this mission, my five-year goal is to offer a range of value-added services that will complement life coaching and aid in the process of helping people to transform their lives. I’m studying a variety of energy healing practices, which I will definitely offer as a service. I also plan to offer NLP, EFT, and Shamanic practices for deep emotional cleansing.

What are your main software programs?
WordPress (for my sites and blogs), Microsoft Open Office (for documents), Mozilla Thunderbird (for email), Skype (for virtual coaching), Lavasoft Adaware (for anti-virus protection)

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
My main piece of advice is to become and remain well-connected. Working for yourself and by yourself has its perks, but success is difficult to come by without a solid network of people to advise, refer, motivate, and support you.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
I am absolutely glad that I’m a solopreneur. I love the freedom to chart my own course and the opportunity to do what I truly love.

If your business should fail, what is your fallback position?
I have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems and several years of experience in that field. Those qualifications afford me the opportunity to get a job in Information Systems or to fix individual’s computers for money, neither of which are my passion. I honestly think that my best fallback position is my resourcefulness and commitment. I prefer to do whatever it takes to stay on my path even if times get rough.

To Stay Productive Beyond January, Use Signs

Larry Keltto — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:27:26 +0000

In last week’s Blog Talk Radio interview with productivity expert Claudine Motto — How To Stay Productive Beyond January — she said that productivity for solopreneurs often falters after the first month of the year because we lose sight of the new goals we have set.

I told Claudine that recently I printed and placed next to my computer a copy of Stephen Covey’s “quadrants” as a way to help me prioritize my time. The small sign is a humble (yet powerful) motivator.

“We need to see the things that remind us of what is important and what isn’t,” Claudine says. “Otherwise we let the day drive what we are doing, rather than our own proactive goals or priorities.”

To keep your goals in the front of your mind, I have a simple, inexpensive suggestion: signs.

Champions Use Signs

If you walk into the lockerroom of any successful athletic team, you will see motivational signs posted throughout the facility. (Faith communities are another example of organizations that use goal-oriented signage effectively.) Examples from sport are:

• What did you do today to beat [fill in blank with name of biggest rival]?

• Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. (George Halas)

• Don’t make excuses, make improvements.

• Play like a champion today.

• Success is a choice.

• The best way to predict the future is to create it.

It’s common, too, for teams to have a theme for the season and use it on signs, t-shirts, etc.

Where To Find Meaningful Quotes

If you have a tendency to lose sight of your goals, try posting a few signs — maybe two or three to begin with. The signs don’t have to be fancy; printing them on a piece of 8.5 by 11 paper is fine.

Start by looking within yourself for quotes that will motivate and inspire. Examine your mission statement, vision statement, list of goals for the year, and any other foundational documents for the words that describe why you became a solopreneur. If you have a blog, go back to some of your favorite posts for nuggets of wisdom.

There are many online sources for motivation and inspiration, too. One of my favorites is ThinkExist.com. And don’t overlook spiritual sources — holy books can speak to some of your most important (but easily forgotten) goals.

Do You Use Signs?

What do your office signs say? Please leave your comments below.