What I Learned Down the Shore

Hello Everyone - This past weekend at My Mom's House in Avalon Manor, New Jersey, taught me a few great lessons. These lessons were so great that My wife and I both took Monday off to see if there were any other lessons to be learned! Here is what I learned:

1. Not being "Down the Shore" sucks.

2. If I have a laptop, internet access, my Droid phone, a dictation device, access to my cloud-based server and paper & pencil I can work from anywhere.

3. No matter where I am, my clients can access me. (That's a good thing!)

4. With technology as a tool, you can increase your quality of life and even improve your business.

5. Nobody knows me at my Shore Church so I don't get asked to volunteer for anything.

6. Mundane tasks such as cleaning out your e-mails, organizing your contact database, synching devices, etc are all better if you do them while sitting outside under an umbrella on a dock on the bay with a gin & tonic.

7. Recharging your batteries is critical to success. To prove this so far today I have driven home from the Shore, went to a Delco Chamber Board Meeting, visited a retainer client just to touch base and helped him with a challenge, stopped by my Church and said a prayer for those in need, signed a new client (Woo-Hoo), converted an existing client to a retainer client (2x Woo-Hoo!) and developed 2 web pages for a current project. All this by 4PM!

8. You only live once so live well.

There is so much you can learn by taking time to reflect, recharge and relax.

Until next time - Pete

My Birthday Blog

Happy Birthday to ME!! Today is the day. I am 45. Odds are I am half way through my life and if you count in 5-10 final years of dementia and incontinence, I probably only have about 30 lucid years left! The thing is, I was supposed to be a millionaire by now. Last time I checked my portfolio, that was not the case. So it's time for my half-time review. What has happened that has kept me from this goal and what can I do to reach it by 50? (Since 50 is the new 40, I will technically beat my goal by 5 years!) So I weighed my life's pros and cons and am definitely happy with my life as the pros outweighed the cons.

Pros:
Wonderful Family, A Son who beat Leukemia, hundreds of loyal friends, a great Church Home, My own Company, which is in it's 8th year, a Family Shore Home, flashes of decent musical ability, and a great charity - Tommy's Gifts for Kids.
Cons:
I need to be in better health if I am going to reach 90! I am not a millionaire. I am not close to being a millionaire.

Is being a millionaire THAT important. No. It is not. But I DO want to be able to provide for my children and wife, pay for the kids' college, buy the home that I will spend the rest of my life in and I want to never need the phrase "overdraft protection" in my life again!

How will I achieve this?
By continuing to give customers a great value and great service.
By being more consistent with maintaining rate integrity and collections.
By consistently reviewing my monthly, quarterly and annual goals.
By keeping my priorities in order.
By just plain continuing to work my ass off.

So Happy Birthday to me and thanks for checking in.
Future Millionaire,
Pete

Summertime!

Summer's here and the time is right for dancin' in the street! The time is also right for preparing for the Fall business surge. Most businesses experience a lag in the Summer and a big bump leading into the year's end. So what can you do now to best prepare yourself for the busy season? Here are a few tips:

1. Update your website. Making frequent changes to your site will help with search engine optimization and keeps your content fresh.
2. Organize your contacts. Prioritize your contact database by category and importance. Make sure to reach out to clients who have used your products or services previously at this time of year and see if they need you again this year. Remove dead contacts and clean out your e-mails!
3. Start a blog! A blog is a great positioning tool and a great way to reach out to potential clients. Linking your blog to FaceBook, Linkedin and twitter will optimize the effectiveness of the blog.
4. Clean out your files, desk and office space. Reducing the clutter in your life will make you a better organized and more efficient professional.
5. RELAX!!! Even if you don't have the time, MAKE the time to relax, recharge and have some fun. You only live once and there is no substitute for the value of spending time with Family and Friends and enjoying some quiet time of reflection.

So enjoy the rest of your Summer and if I can help you with anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Bless me Readers!

Bless me readers for I have sinned. It has been 6 months since my last submission!

The good news is that I have been very busy. When you are a one man show, sometimes you can't do anything but the jobs. So that brings me to this blog's topic. The sin that is "deviating from the plan". I had every intention of learning more about Search Engine Optimization and sharing my wisdom. But then I landed a number of great projects and I was juggling tasks like a circus performer!

So how do you do your job but still carve out time for your branding (such as this blog & networking), growth (such as cold-calling & RFP's)and company maintenance (such as bookkeeping, invoicing and collections)?

The answer? Caffeine. Copius amounts of caffeine. Sometimes you have to suck it up and pull an all-nighter. Which I have been doing a lot of lately. I told all my clients I was taking a vacation day and I cleaned house. Literally. My desk is back in order, I made 50 phone calls to past clients looking for new business. (That worked to the tune of about $2300 in business!). I got my collections in order and reviewed my quarter 1 goals. I threw out dead files (into the recycle bin & re-used the file folders). I made changes to my website and I updated my samples page.

Now my next challenge is to grow. To have a studio space and to hire someone. This will be a step back to take a step forward and I can't afford to do it! So how do I make this happen? Tune in next time and see what I have done! Have a great Summer! I hope we speak again before it has ended.

-Pete