Dave Crenshaw's Blog, page 48

Happy 4th of July!

No official video this week due to the US holiday.

No matter where we live, we can all be grateful for the freedoms we have that allow us to be entrepreneurs and spend time with loved ones.

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Protect Your Business Focus Like a Fortress

As a business owner, it’s not hard to imagine yourself as a heroic general. If you were at war, you would be awfully suspicious of anyone bearing gifts—Trojan horses—from outside your walls.

But Trojan horses show up in business all the time, too.

Watch this short two minute video to find out what they are and how to defend yourself against them.

Action Steps:

Ask yourself how well you protect your business against distracting, focus-shattering opportunities.
Rate yourself on a scale of 0-10, where 0 is a complete basket case and 10 is a 100% fortified business machine, impervious to distraction.
I would love to hear about your latest experience with this kind of Trojan horse in the comments section of this post.

Principles:

Opportunities arrive in shiny, irresistible packaging. Usually the argument for them has something to do with making more money.
You end up losing money when you pursue these opportunities because they turn your attention away from your core competencies.

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Work-Life Balance: Balancing the Life Part

It’s hard to throw a rock in business without hitting someone saying something about work-life balance. But that’s only the half of it. Even business owners who balance life and work perfectly have problems. Why is that?

Watch this short, two minute video to find out.

Action Steps:

Think about how you balance your personal and family time. What’s your ratio? Is it 20/80? 50/50? 80/20?
Think of one action you can take to restore your balance.
Share your ratio and action in the comments section. Let’s talk about it.

Principles:

Even if you balance work and life perfectly, you might be neglecting either your personal time or your family time.
You neglect yourself when you spend all of your time with your family. And you neglect your family when you spend too much time pursuing your hobbies and interests. Neither one is healthy.
Balance means more than just work-life balance. Successful business owners balance their personal and family life, too.
If you have a good work-life balance, but still struggling with either personal or family problems, use the same tactics to balance your personal and family life.

The post Work-Life Balance: Balancing the Life Part appeared first on Dave Crenshaw | Helping Entrepreneurs Triumph Over Chaos.

Work Life Balance: Balancing the Life Part

It’s hard to throw a rock in business without hitting someone saying something about work life balance. But that’s only the half of it. Even business owners who balance life and work perfectly have problems. Why is that?

Watch this short, two minute video to find out.

Action Steps:

Think about how you balance your personal and family time. What’s your ratio? Is it 20/80? 50/50? 80/20?
Think of one action you can take to restore your balance.
Share your ratio and action in the comments section. Let’s talk about it.

Principles:

Even if you balance work and life perfectly, you might be neglecting either your personal time or your family time.
You neglect yourself when you spend all of your time with your family. And you neglect your family when you spend too much time pursuing your hobbies and interests. Neither one is healthy.
Balance means more than just work life balance. Successful business owners balance their personal and family life, too.
If you have a good work life balance, but still struggling with either personal or family problems, use the same tactics to balance your personal and family life.

The post Work Life Balance: Balancing the Life Part appeared first on Dave Crenshaw | Helping Entrepreneurs Triumph Over Chaos.

Three Productivity Apps You Don’t Know, but Should

Some internet apps are useful. The catch is you have to know about them first. What about some of the more obscure services out there? Do you know what you don’t know?

Watch this short video to find out about three of my favorite productivity apps that you likely haven’t heard of yet.

Action Steps:

Give these apps a try: PhraseExpress, Eyejot and Xmind.
Found any good apps that you use at your business? Share them with me in the comments section.

Principles to Learn:

Do you ever feel like Twitter and Facebook were designed for teenagers who have too much time on their hands? That’s probably not far from the truth.
Even small time gains can add up to entire workweeks saved each year.
Some, not all, internet apps are useful. The trick is finding out about the helpful ones, the apps that will help you run a better business.

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What is your business cause?

Your business needs to be about more than money. With a business cause, your business becomes vibrant and meaningful. Without a cause, you run the risk of becoming a Scrooge, emotionally isolated and alone with your money.

Watch this short video to find out about the causes I support with my business. Then comment and share what causes you support.

Action Steps:

Comment on this page and share what business cause you support.

Look for causes that are aligned with your company’s values.

Do more than give money. Get yourself and your employees personally involved with your causes.

Principles:

Small businesses need a cause that is greater than making money.
I support entrepreneurial causes because they are a “hand up” instead of a “hand out.”
When you support entrepreneurs who become successful, more often than not they give back to their communities in some way. Your charity multiplies when it’s directed at helping entrepreneurs.

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Get Out of Debt to Get More Time

You try to avoid debt, as much as you can, right? As a smart person, you know it’s costly to pay that interest every month.

But are you trying to avoid time debt? Odds are, you’re often paying up to a one thousand percent interest rate on time, and not even realizing it.

Watch this brief video to see my tips to get out of this time-debt trap.

Action Steps:

What activity do you “borrow” time from the most? Share on this page.
What suggestion would you add to help people “stay in budget” when it comes to time?

Principles to Learn:

The truth of time is there are only 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour. Yet people try to fight this truth.
Committing to doing things without scheduling time in your calendar is like spending time on a credit card.
Happiness comes from spending five minutes less than what we have. Misery comes from attempting to spend five minutes more than what we have.

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Four Entrepreneurship Lessons from Captain Kirk

James Tiberius Kirk. Rebel. Leader. Friend. Captain.

…entrepreneur?

Yes, believe it or not, there are powerful lessons Captain Kirk can teach every small business owner. Watch this brief video as I outline four of those lessons. Then please share one lesson that you see, as well.

Action Steps:

Today, do something to boldly go where no entrepreneur has gone before.
Comment on this page and share other lessons in entrepreneurship you can learn from Captain Kirk.

Principles:

Often, successful entrepreneurs seek to make their own rules to the game of business.
You don’t need to do it all. By finding other highly skilled team members, you can compensate for your weaknesses.
Humor is a powerful ally to entrepreneurs. You can use it to smooth out the inevitable ups and downs of owning a business.
Bold action is the hallmark of many successful entrepreneurs.

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The Myth of Multitasking is Alive and Well

If you’re like most people, the myth of multitasking is alive and well where you work. It’s not as simple as refusing to multitask and reminding yourself to focus. There are obstacles in the way, and the biggest one lives inside of you.

Find out the biggest obstacle standing between you and a more focused life in my new brief video.

Action Steps:

Ask yourself, “What’s keeping me from breaking free of the myth of multitasking and becoming a more focused person?”
Share your answer using the comments section below.
When you hear someone say they’re “busy,” ask them what they’re accomplishing.

Principles to Learn:

Your ego is not your friend. What’s good for your ego isn’t always good for business.
On its own, being busy accomplishes nothing. There is a difference between being busy and accomplishing something worthwhile.
When you ask someone what they’re accomplishing, you will help them shift their focus from how busy they are to the results they produce.

The post The Myth of Multitasking is Alive and Well appeared first on Dave Crenshaw | Helping Entrepreneurs Triumph Over Chaos.

Pirates and Business Plans: Have Ye a Map?

You wouldn’t leave home without knowing where you’re going. Printing directions, using GPS, or taking a paper map are essential first steps for any road trip.

Your business is a much bigger journey than a road trip. Running a business is like taking a road trip to another galaxy. You wouldn’t step foot on a space ship without knowing the way, would you?

You may already have a business plan, which is great for showing to loan officers and investors, but do you have a way of making small course corrections as you run your business?  Find out how to chart a safe course in this short video.

Action Steps:

Create a one page document with your Most Valuable Indicators, as well as a sense of what is most valuable to you at your business. If you need help with this, my new book, The Focused Business , has a step-by-step process to help you create your business map.
Post your map in a prominent place, where you will be reminded of what’s important to you every day.
Review your map daily. Take a moment and decide if there are any small course corrections you need to make. Use your business map to remind you of what’s most important at your business.
Revise your map on a quarterly basis. You will be more mindful of the larger course corrections you need to make in order to achieve your long-term goals when you take time to revise your business map.

Principles:

As a business owner, you’re like the captain of an ocean-going vessel. Sometimes the course is treacherous.
Adventurers use maps to take some of the risk out of their journeys. As a business owner, you must create a map to know where you’ve been, as well as the corrections necessary to keep your business on course for success.
A business plan is not the same as a business map. A business plan is a long term blueprint for how your business operates. A business map is an essential tool for keeping your business on course in the short term.

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