Managing Time? Easy Peasy!

Everyone wants to do it!

Managing time is one of those elusive things that’s the least-mastered. It’s also America’s “most wanted” skills in these times of lives-in-motion faster than a speeding bullet.

If only you had a couple hundred more hours in your day, you have a whole list of things you’d do.

Managing 200 or so hours daily might not exactly be feasible, though.

Here’s where I might suggest a Virtual Assistant might be of help.

But I won’t!

Finding solutions to DOUBLE your time management ways is simple enough, if you follow the ideas in this “two-part series”.

We provide some suggestions that you consider doing as soon as you finish reading:

1) Remove the chaff from the wheat

Time wasters are things that separate you from your regular schedule. You do them, even though they interrupt your train of thought and even though you really would not usually choose to do them.

Ridding these time wasters from your daily routine is critical to managing your time

• Email–Spending more than 30 minutes a day on email, collectively answering, reading, saving, filing, even deleting (unless it’s for your business) uses more time than necessary.

• Telephone–Listening to and responding to multiple rings alone with live calls more than 5 times a day, during the day, are a major time waster.

Oh, you don’t sit and count the number of rings before you pick up? What is it now, 2, 3, 10 at most?

Answering the phone interrupts the flow of what you’re doing; it kills your productivity. And, sometimes you might lose your place in your work and have to start over. Oh, the bother!

That’s it for today.

Stop back here Friday, to get the “rest of the story” on “easy, peasy” Time Management.

In the meantime, give these others a try.

Business Credit or Personal Credit

Most people today who want to start up their own businesses usually make use of personal resources to finance their ventures.

They either utilize their savings, loan money from significant others, or even use up their retirement funds.

Due to mixing their personal accounts with that of their business’ transactions, these people often risk utilizing their major assets for collateral, give personally guaranteed business mortgages, and so on. They often end up pushing their personal credits to the limit.

And whenever this happens, they are left to compromise their personal financial security.

It is sad to say, however, that a significant percentage of small firms operate through personal credit cards. What these people should actually know and should be doing in running their ventures is how to separate their personal credit and their business credit, and how life saving this can be, not only for the company, but for their personal assets as well.

The use of credit cards in small businesses is currently on the rise.

This protects the entrepreneur’s personal as well as business assets, and allows opportunities for better growth and organization to the company.

Personal Advantages in Using Business Credit

Through separating the personal account with the firm’s business account, one is able to protect private assets in case something goes wrong with the financial status of the company. In that way, one’s personal security (especially for those with families) would not have to be compromised.

In instances wherein a firm that goes bankrupt does not have corporate credit, one can be held responsible for any of the company’s expenditures both legally and personally. Separating accounts would require that one give added protection to savings and properties that one worked hard for over a long period of time.

Corporate Advantages in Using Business Credit

Owning a business credit could also improve the financial flow of one’s company, as well as help the company grow. One very good advantage is being able to save a lot of money.

By having a good credit profile for the company, business owners have the option of lowering interests for leases and loans. It also becomes easier for the company to add more employees, raise inventory and attain discounts for goods.

Aside from this, it keeps the company’s financial transactions organized because one can more conveniently keep track of the firm’s expenditures, which also gives an easier means to monitor accounting and tax transactions.

Most importantly, a company with a stable and reliable account would be able to attract more investors and would have a more organized cash flow system.

It is important for any person who wants to start a business to be smart and practical in handling finances. By using a separate credit account for that small company, one not only protects one’s assets, but one also increases the chance of the small business to grow and actually earn more.

Further, the use of such credit accounts will help one’s company to improve by saving much time, money and effort. This will even open opportunities for the business to gain the finances that it needs and develop the company’s credibility.

In conclusion, the smart entrepreneur who wants to succeed in business ventures and at the same time protect private resources will surely learn to separate his personal credit from his business credit.

I’m very excited

Yesterday was a very important day!

My blog, Kreative Ramblings, has now been transferred to its new host.

In addition, tech support searched for and found what was causing that blog to not load properly and for weird code to show up in my index file. Which also resulted in all kinds of strange stuff showing up on the Internet under my given name as well as my business name!

In case anyone wonders

I do not sell Viagra, histamines or other pharmaceutical products! Nor do I have any association with any Russian sites.

Come to find out a malicious PHP code had somehow found its way into my index.php file and it was including a file from a remote host’s server.

I learned two very important lessons with this, so angst and all, this experience has turned out to be a good one after all:

Upgrade your Wordpress

When new versions/upgrades of WP come out, install them as quickly as possible. And,

Perform regular backups

Wordpress has many plug-ins, and I discovered a Backup plugin is among them. Now, though, I have to figure out how it works.

Get Ready!

It’s that time of year again!

Time to start getting notices out for the upcoming Online International Virtual Assistant Convention (OIVAC).

This year’s event, the 4th Annual Convention, will be held May 14-16, 2009.It runs from 8 a.m. until 12 midnight, Eastern Time.

And it’s online, like always; you’ll be attending from the comfort of your home, your home office, your downtown office, if you have one. Attendees participate globally using their computer and the Internet.

You’ll save time, money, travel and lodging expense. All Seminars are recorded so if you miss a session or if it conflicts with one of the other classes you want to take, you will be able to download it at a later date.

To get a general line-up of the events, check out the OIVAC. Presenters have not yet been finalized; however, we wanted you to know about this event so you could include it in your May calendar planning.

The event also has awards, games, prizes and exhibits. The exhibits will be open 24 hours each day.

And, we have a “Blog Hopping” Tour, which has been loads of fun in the past. You can join the Tour by scrolling down here. . It’s a great way to get backlinks to your site…if you’re so inclined.

We’re back!

I’m pleased to say I’m back up and running.

Again, thank you to Mark Austin, Resell Rights Weekly, my web host.

I’ll be back a bit later to post on my regular posting cycle. In the meantime, these tips about foreclosure may be of interest until I can get my original post back.

Thank you to my readers for your patience.

Best regards,

Karen McGreevey

Technical difficulties

This afternoon I added a new blog post about “Maintenance Tips on Foreclosed Homes”.

Through an operator error (mine), I accidentally deleted my C:/public_html file. This then took this blog, “Clicking for Change” down into whatever recesses lost blogs go to.

Luckily, my web host was able to get this blog site back. However, as of yet, the blog post has not been retrieved. I may have to re-enter the post.

Another day!

Before my “miscabobble”, I do know I had received a comment. However, I had not yet had a chance to review it. Please accept my apologies for the delay.

Thank you to my readers for your patience while we’re getting this worked out. And a HUGE thank you to Mark Austin, my awesome web host master at, Resell Rights Weekly, for saving me from me.

Karen McGreevey

Bye, bye Fear and Anxiety

Everyone wrestles with fear and anxiety to some degree.

Many, however, have serious challenges in these areas, whether it’s fear of closed spaces, fear of bugs, anxiety over job interviews, or fear of rejection. These examples, of course, barely scratch the surface.

Fear and anxiety are huge problems in our society today. What can we do to overcome these barriers to success and happiness?

1. Strive to be Objective

To cure their fear of flying, some people have studied aviation. Why? By knowing how an airplane works, they are better able to manage their apprehension about flying.

Similarly, if you’re afraid of earthworms take time to study earthworms. What is it that attracts them when it rains? What kills them? Become an earthworm expert. The same applies to any fear, whether it’s fear of the sight of blood or fear of heights. The more you know, the less you fear.

2. Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

Eat right. Drink plenty of water. Exercise! Get plenty of rest. Take care of yourself. The healthier you are, the better you are able to handle challenging situations as well as the emotions that come with them.

3. Focus Your Mind on Positive Things

Read self-help books. Listen to relaxing music. Watch educational or positive programming. Keep your mind focused on constructive, positive information.

4. Serve Others

One way to overcome fear is to get your mind off yourself. Many soldiers decorated for bravery understand this. By taking their minds off themselves and putting it on their comrades, they were able to rise to the occasion and perform great acts of bravery.

Think about those soldiers who threw their own bodies on grenades to spare the lives of their fellow soldiers. THAT’s selflessness. Service will help you overcome fear and anxiety.

5. Help Others With Their Fears

Closely related with “serving others” is the technique of helping others work through their fears. You, of course, aren’t afraid of everything. There are a few areas I’m sure, where you have no fear.

And yet, there are some people who are anxious or even petrified in those areas; the areas in which you’re strong. Take advantage of this by helping people in those areas.

What if you’re afraid of the sight of blood, but you have no problem with heights. And you know someone who is petrified of heights. Take some time to help that person with their fear of heights. By doing so, you’ll find that some of the same advice you give can be applied to your own situation. In fact, your subconscious mind will act on your advice all along.

Do this enough, and you’ll see results.

It’s not easy to overcome fear and anxiety. But it’s worthwhile. And by employing these techniques, you’ll become a stronger person and in the process you’ll feel better about yourself.

And then there were none

Cultivate Strong Habits

With our fifth and last tip (for this go-round at least), we pose taking time for a healthy self-examination. Consider such things like the following:

How is your work ethic? Do you just put your time in, collect your paycheck, and go home?

Are you a hard worker?Or do you just do enough to “get by”?

Are you punctual? Do you take time off excessively? Are you dependable?

Are you trustworthy? Do you gossip?

How’s your attitude? More importantly…how would others (say your boss or co-workers) describe your attitude?

You’ll need to develop a solid work ethic, good time-management skills, solid people skills, and other professional habits, in order to enjoy success, particularly during tough economic times.

This step and the four we’ve posted in the days preceding this one, will transform you into the kind of person who can succeed during a recession.

Start making these changes today, and refuse to be a victim during these tough economic times.