Take Excel to the next level for your business.

For all of you who use Excel in your business (and I know a lot of you do), here are some killer tips to make your Excel sessions go a little quicker and more productively.

I have tried them, and have found they add at least 10% to your business productivity (and I’m more conservative than most people).   Any business owners/entrepreneurs who use them and believe they have an impact (or not) on business, let me know.

Until next time, work smart.

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Really do believe that all homeworkers and home businesses should be/will be using Bing in a big way soon.   However, every home business owner should take a look at this before they get too serious or precious about it.

Bing is incredible news for small businesses.   The sooner you get involved the better, but watch this and do your best not to laugh.

Until next time, work smart.

http://gizmodo.com/5302987/bing-the-fastest-way-to-google

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Your home business just needs to be functional in that first week...

Okay, here is the second post in the series that looks at how you are going to survive the first week in the life of your home business.   And in this one we are going to look at the issue of office furniture for your home business.   While the subject is vast, and there are zillions of websites out there that cover home office furniture and organisation with high levels of detail, here we are talking about your first week.   Your home business needs to survive that short period, so this post is going to look at basic functionality, nothing more.

The most important thing you can do in those first seven days is separate your new home business from the rest of the house.   This means taking the clear decison to section part of your living space off, so that you effectively lose square footage to your home business.   Do not compromise on this, no matter what.   Either create space, or reduce the value of what you are trying to do.  

Your laptop or PC takes centre stage.   Give it a space that is uncluttered.   Give it a central position.   Respect the fact that this is the key tool in your home business.   This is the tool that makes you money.  

If you can afford an inexpensive desk (and if you have done any kind of planning for your business you will have factored this in) then place your laptop or PC on it and resolve, there and then, to keep it tidy.

Then hook up a telephone and place that on the desk too.   If you are going to go all techie and have telephone conversations over the Internet, good for you.   This is definitely the way of the future.   But for now, don’t assume that your clients have that technology.   Instead, buy a cheap phone, and get it hooked up.   The phone is almost as important as your computer.  

So far then, we have a desk, a computer, and a phone.   There are only two things that you now need to make sure that you have before you can confidently say that you are ready for your first week.   A desk lamp, and a pad of paper to jot down stuff on.

Make sure all of this stays tidy, and then get to work.   You can worry about adding more stuff to your home office later.   For now, focus on pure functionality.  You can work (with the computer), at all hours (with the lamp) and you can stay organised and contactable (the pad and the phone).   Everything else will fall into place.

As long as you have devoted some space in your flat/house/garage/Googleplex to your home business, you can’t go wrong.

Now get to work.

And until next time, work smart.

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When you work from home, time is a lot more precious than it is when you work a nine to five, white collar job.   And getting things done becomes a serious matter.  

To address this, there are hundreds of products out there that are designed to help you organise your life.   You can buy a PDA, for example.   Or you can buy and install one of the thousands of software applications out there that help you to get organised.   This is all well and good, and some people even thrive off this kind of organisation.   It makes them feel better.

However, it is very easy to be the most organised person, without getting things done.   You can have all the software, all of the fancy, flashy hardware, and still be rushing around, tearing your hair out when a deadline looms.   This is because there is a big difference between being organised, and being focused.

To illustrate all of this, let’s take a typical example.   Let’s say it’s a Monday, your nice home business is up and running, and things are starting to get really exciting.   You have a few great clients, and regular work.   Things are going well.  

Then one of the clients asks you to meet them for lunch.  

You know they are going to talk about some extra work they want you to do, so it is pretty important that you accept.   Then, you realise that you have to tidy up your taxes today, because if you don’t you are going to get a whopping great fine next week.   Oh, and you have to pick up your sister’s daughter from school later too.   And that new carpet you ordered still hasn’t arrived yet.   You really should get on the phone to those guys.

There’s a webinar at eleven about expanding your business.   The guy who is running it is someone you respect.   You don’t want to miss it if you can help it.   And your friend is in town for just two more days before they head back to Europe.

And on top of all that, if you don’t take that DVD back to Blockbusters, you might as well buy it.

Lots of stuff to do, then.

So you head over to your PC and input this great big scary schedule into your special and very shiny organiser software.   It will then remind you when you have to have each task completed.  

Or you tap it into your PDA.

Does this mean you will get things done?   Of course not.   Does it mean you will get the right things done on time?   In the right order?   Before you get in trouble?

No.   No way.

All this fancy organisation will do is help you to make a list.   It might give you a list that is nice to look at.   And if you have bought the right software it may even send a reminder to your mobile device, so that you are really freaked out about that DVD.

You see, being organised is easy, to a point.   However, unless you start to get things done in a sensible and ordered way, your jobs are just going to keep piling up.

Six Things.

The reason why people get bogged down in their to-do lists is simple: they put the wrong things on it.   Rather than calmly and rationally prioritising the stuff that comes into their lives, they just stick it all on The Great Big List and plough through it.   This gets things done, but not well.   And sooner or later, they will miss something important, simply because it entered their to-do list too late, or it was wrongly placed on the list.

To make sure that you organise yourself properly, you have to firewall your head so that only the truly important stuff is floating around in it.   This means taking your list of things to do and then making a proper to-do list.   The way to do this is to focus on just six things a day.

There is only ever a need to focus on six things.   That’s six reasonably serious things a day.   I’m not talking about the small stuff, like watching your favourite TV show, or spending time on Twitter.   I’m talking about that lunch date with the client, or the hour you need to spend canvassing.   That’s stuff that needs doing.     These are tasks that can go on your to-do list.

Your to-do list need only ever have six things on it a day.   Your brain, as it flits from moment to moment, needs a steady focus.   If you keep adding things to the list, this means more and more stuff just will not get done.

Every time a new task comes up, ask yourself if it is important.   If it is, then ask yourself if it needs doing today.   Ask if is it so important that it must be done today, whatever happens.  

If it is, then stick it on your list.

Do this five more times, allocating space on your list of six things until no more space is available.  

If more stuff comes into youur head, get the firewall working.   Screen the new task.   If it does not pass the test, then leave it for tomorrow’s list.   If it passes your firewall, either make room for it on your list by bumping something less important off or merging it with one of your six things that is connected.   But don’t have more than six things.

Then you have got a non-scary list (because there are only six things) and a do-able list (because there are only six things).

Simple, right?

Practise this.   The more you do it, the better you will get.   Soon, you will be able to prioritise everything like a pro, so that you will only ever have six things to do every day.   And when you get to the end of each day and you’ve achieved the six things, you will feel calmer and more in control.

This is most definitely the best way to organise yourself.   It works, and it keeps you calm and focused.        

Firewall your head.   Keep the small stuff out, and focus on the six things.   You will not only get a lot more done, you’ll also get the right things done.

Until next time, work smart.

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