I have more and more clients who have a book inside of them, dying to get out. In fact, two of my clients have set deadlines for when their first book will be PUBLISHED! This is so exciting!

But it made me realize that if they are coming to me for help that there must be many more people who are just letting that book dream die inside them.

I never seriously considered writing a book until I had an unrelated conversation with my coach. I had mentioned that I needed a process for my business. She pointed out that I HAD a process that I take my clients through, helping them go from a business idea to the success they always imagined. She said, “put it down on paper. In fact, why not turn it into a book?” That was the birth of my first book..

What must YOU do to start your book? Here are must-do steps:

1. Write a short summary of your idea. What do you want to write a book about?
2. Create an outline. What aspects do you want to address? Putting a rough outline down on paper will help you start considering how you want to craft it.
3. Consider everything you have written, or will write, as potential material for your book. I learned that many of the articles I had written were exactly the things I worked with my clients about! So, not only was I able to use old articles as parts for my book, but every NEW article I wrote, I also considered how to adapt for the book.
4. Determine if you will self-publish or find a publisher. It all depends on the size of your market and popularity of your topic which you will choose. I knew my market would be small, so I never even considered finding a publisher. And I LOVED doing it all, myself! I learned so much and enjoyed the learning curve.
5. Get support. Ok, resources: Definitely get Peter Bowerman’s book, “The Well-Fed Self-Publisher”. I tell EVERYONE who wants to write a book to get this and read it. It became my bible. Dan Poynter is also a name to check into for self-publishing topics. I found the YahooGroups listserv Self-Publishing invaluable!
6. If you choose to self-publish, this means YOU will be the publisher. Beware of companies that claim they will help you self publish. These are considered ’subsidy publishers’. To learn about these, read Pete Masterson’s article on Subsidy Publishers.

There certainly are more specific steps, but this is where to start. If you imagine it, you can make it happen! And that means having a book released for 2010! It just takes planning with the vision.

Margie

Author of “Just Jump: The No-Fear Business Start-up Guide for Health and Fitness Professionals“

The theme lately has been towards getting you ready for the New Year. Today we will discuss your time, which probably also needs cleaning up!

Do you end many of your days wondering why you didn’t get anything done? Do you have all these great ideas, only to find you never take action on many of them? Do you feel you’re spinning your wheels and going nowhere? Then you need to sit down and read this blog!

Many of my new clients suffer from “Not enough time syndrome”. The first thing I do is have them print off a schedule I provide them with. You can find something similar. All you need is a form that has blocks of time open for every hour of the day, for a full week. Here is one as an example: http://www.newschool.edu/uploadedFiles/Jazz/Academics/blsched.pdf. Mine includes the entire week, and starts at 3am and goes until midnight, but you should get the point. If you would like a copy of what I give my clients, send an email to margie@meg-enterprises.com (copy and paste), and I’d be happy to send it to you.

Then follow this strategy:

• Shade out all of your personal time. This includes family, sleep, self-care, meals, commuting, etc.
• Shade out any work time, if you have a job. If you have clients, shade out the time you allow to see them.
• Shade out any other time that requires your attention on a regular basis. This might include meeting friends for lunch or meetings, etc.
• Look at what’s left over. This is the time you have to work ON your business! This is the time you have to create new programs, develop new services, and work on building your business.

For some people, yes, they have very little time. But not one person has NO time! Even 15 minutes a week is ‘time’! And if you know you have those 15 minutes, and that’s all, if you plan how you will use it, suddenly, you can find yourself moving forward!

Another popular strategy that people recommend is to keep a ‘time log’. This would be similar to a food log in order to find out what you eat. The problem many people have with this, though, is they often forget to LOG in it! And, trust me, trying to remember what you did at 10:30-10:45 this morning, when it’s 6pm is going to be impossible, unless you had an appointment or phone call.

Before you can move forward to create the business you imagine, you have to identify the time you have available, and then plan how best to take full advantage of it.

Now, take the time to make this happen!

Margie

As I prepare for 2010 by purging old listserv messages I can live without, it dawned on me that those messages all represent mini communities in the online world. Neighborhoods, if you will.

Think about it: Although you may still have a world of friends, clients and colleagues that you visibly SEE in person, we all now have a virtual world of friends, clients and colleagues that we may never have met in person, and may NEVER meet in person. But they are friends, clients and colleagues, none-the-same.

I remember the first time it dawned on me that I had a ‘virtual’ reputation, too. It was in 2005, when I introduced myself to the speaker at a functional nutrition workshop. I was a bit awestruck by this very accomplished woman who was ahead of her time. And she knew who *I* was! Blew me away. But also made me realize how easy it is to create a name for ourselves, too.

Are you cultivating your relationships? Are you ‘getting out there’ like you should? Do you have all the clients you want? If you answered no to any of these questions, where can you go, who can you communicate with, and what can you do to put yourself out in the world of the ‘virtual neighborhood’?

Margie

Ever since reading David Allen’s book, ‘Getting Things Done‘, I have been working on cleaning out email folders. Granted, that was months ago!

However, I then made a physical move and also had a few technical changes. What a perfect opportunity to strive for getting those emails and folders cleaned out. And I DID it, too!

But why is this important and what role does it play in opening up your business for new opportunities? Let’s take a look.

Cleaning the office

Do you feel cluttered and out of control at times? Hm; most of the time? Look around at your work space. If it’s cluttered and disorganized, this leads to increased stress and wasted time. Stress decreases not only productivity but creativity. The less creative you are, the less productive you are, and the less likely are you are to catch opportunities or think of amazing new ideas to grow your business! Wow, all that from a messy office! So how can you start organizing your work space, now, before the New Year hits?

Cleaning out email files

As I said above, I made a move from one location to another. Although I now have my old technological system back in place, that still prompted me to purge all old email folders of listserv messages I had saved. I have clients who do this, too: Save emails from 2 years ago, just in case! Well, if it’s a listserv message, it’s probably in a system like YahooGroups. Learn how to search archives and let Yahoo store those messages! Why is this important? Have  you ever lost a message? Imagine the great feeling of your inbox saying “zero”, so you can then quickly address new messages that come in. Wow, will that increase your image of being organized and prompt! And it will help you quickly catch that new email that comes in from a potential contract that wants to know if you can meet in an hour to discuss……

Cleaning out hard files

But this doesn’t just apply to email! What state are your file cabinets in? I have been meaning to clean out my school folders. Not my school folders from my MBA program, which I just graduated from in March, 2009, but my folders from my dietetics program I graduated from in June, 1990! Yikes! Can you relate, again? Oh, you can’t get rid of THAT folder! It has studies on all the fat soluble vitamins! ……… from 1980!!! So, my next project, before the end of the year, will be to purge those files. Why is this important? Same reason: Once I purge those files, this makes room for what’s to come! And if I can better organize what I intend to start doing, more of those intentions will turn into realities.

The year 2010 will be the start of many new things to come. We will begin the climb out of the Great Recession, and you want to be poised to take advantage of not only new business opportunities, but new relationships! If you are bogged down under piles of papers and emails, though, and stressed over staying on top of things, you are not at your best. Imagine feeling light and free at the turn of the New Year! It will show! So, start purging the ‘old’ to make way for the ‘new’ so when those opportunities present themselves, you will be able to see them, think about them with a clear mind, and FIND THE EMAIL!

Margie