This word, small, has continued to stick out at me in different places.
The word, small, appeared when I went to the bookstore, when I noticed a book called Power of Small, by Robin Koval. The focus of the book revolves around paying attention to the small details in your business. By doing so your business will run better and your customers will be more receptive to your services.
This in turn made me think about how in even tough economic times, entrepreneurs tend to think of expanding their services, instead of concentrating on paying attention more to details.
So ask yourself-
Where can you create better customer service leading to customer loyalty? Is there a service you can do faster, easier, more effective than your competition?
What can you do small in your business to result in big rewards?
I would be delighted to receive feedback on ideas, thoughts, and comments on this subject.
I invite you to get to know Laurie Reaume (the winner of the “A Mom in your Life” contest) conducted by KBP and Folkheart Press.
How long have you been writing?
Beginning around age seven, I liked to make up short stories, first on grainy
dotted-line penmanship paper with a fat pencil, then on my mom’s ancient manual
typewriter. I wrote several humorous pieces for a sixth grade publication. In one,
my narrator was Madge Nation. There’s such freedom in letting the Muse carry a
story line on a magic carpet ride to who-knows-where. If stuck waiting for an
appointment, I’d rather have a pen and paper than something to read. I’ll practice
word-thrift and write haiku, jot a pithy post card to a friend, or perhaps observe
my surroundings to catch some overheard conversation, notice how many things are
purple, or describe someone’s hands using ten adjectives.
Describe your genre of writing and tell us about any awards or honors your
work has received.
I compose creative nonfiction and the occasional poem. Every night before sleep I
write in a gratitude journal. I’ve written articles, essays and poems about
environmental stewardship, music making, vegetarian cooking, my lingering Midwestern
accent, garden joys and nuisances, nature wonderings, and dear friendships. I’ve
been published in GreenPrints magazine (http://www.greenprints.com/) and locally in
Sonoma County, California.
What motivated you to enter the “A Mom in Your Life” personal essay contest?
I’d written “Germination” to my mom for Mother’s Day and wanted to honor her publicly as well.
Have you shared your essay with your mom? If so, what was her response?
Yes, my mom, Joyce Reaume, is delighted by my tribute, readers’ comments that
acknowledge her love, and the essay prize box of chocolates!
Congratulations again Laurie for winning our contest and for letting my readers get to know you a little bit better.
This morning while I was taking my daughter to school, I happen to look up at the sky and noticed the clouds. Some of them where whimsical looking, dancing in the sky resembling arrows pointing in different directions.
This started me thinking again about directions, paths and goals.
I start reading, Suzy Welch’s new book, 10-10-10 and I am glad I did. Before I read the book, I thought the focus of the book was about achieving and accomplishing goals in 10-10-10 (10 minutes, 10 months or 10 years) however, to my surprise, the focus was about making decisions.
You see the premise of the book is about when you make a decision to think about the consequences in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. And it doesn’t have to be 10-10-10. The point of the 10-10-10 is really about, immediate future, near distance, and far distance future and how you will feel and what could possibly happen based on the decision.
This was a good time for me to purchase this book, because like many entrepreneurs, I was feeling like I have been pushing so hard to get things done, enjoying what I do, but not feeling fully happy with my life balance. And so I started thinking about decisions to restructure things in my life and how those decisions would feel in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years.
It really did help me too. While I did work on Saturday, I felt happier because I was updating my services to reflect a new sense of purpose and direction in making decisions.
This is one of the things I really enjoy about books, it helps me, reminds me of goals and how I wish to achieve them—what are these based on?
For instance, in the book, Suzy writes about this man who had worked an overnight shift and he didn’t like it much at all. When someone asked him why he did it if he didn’t like it, he mentioned he was doing it because it would provide him with a early retirement, money for his kids to go to college and a nice lake house to reside in when he retired. Well, a year later, he passed away in a car crash. He was basing all his current decisions on his retirement years and not living for the present.
And the book isn’t about just being willy nilly about the present and spending money because you don’t know if there will be a tomorrow for you, however it is about using the 10-10-10 as a tool to help gauge the decisions you make to create a better life you wish to live.
From reading this book (I haven’t totally finished it – about 1/2 way through), I have adjusted my services and realized I want to write more. I have been wanting to write for quite a while, and have started but I want to make it more of a priority. I enjoy writing, it makes me happy. Writing this post feels really great, I will more connected.
I enjoy working with authors and sharing their books with others online. I am going to niche my online visibility services to working with authors whose books are either business based or in the mind-body-spirit genre.
So next time you have a decision to make, think about this, what would the consequences of the decision be in 10 minutes, 10 months or 10 years?
I would love to hear back from you and let me know if this helped at all in your decision making process. Please feel free to leave a comment.
This week I had the pleasure of talking with author Tina Forsyth, author of Online Business Manager. We discuss how she choose her book topic, how long it took her to write, and one key tip for all writers and soon to be authors.
Interview with Tina Forsyth:
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