“Light
tomorrow with today.”
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Fireside Chat - a personal
note from Teresia & Sonia
Hello Sassy and Savvy
Woman!
You’re a woman on the move, with big
dreams and strong ambition, and we’re
behind you 100%. It’s important to us
that you find success, that you achieve your
dreams and build a business – and life!
– that you truly love.
Experience has taught us that if you want
to see big results, there
are three key “business success habits”
that you must do on a consistent basis:
- 1. Planning
your day, week, month and year (which we
talked about last month. To review planning,
click here.)
- 2 . Blocking
your time – our focus for this months
newsletter
- 3. And tracking
your progress, which will be a future topic.
These habits may not be exciting but they
are critical in creating a strong
foundation for your business. When
you practice them on a regular basis, you
can avoid the most common entrepreneurial
pitfalls and move ahead much faster on your
goals and objectives.
Ready to leave the harried, stressed-out
life behind and get a firm grip on your
business? Read on… we’ll show
you how!
Don't miss this month's
"Savvy
Conversation," a *fre'e* conference
call that will help you learn and utilize
the powerful tool of setting boundaries!
JOIN US and other like-minded business
women on Thursday, September 20th at 8
AM PST to dig into the details of how
to build a thriving business with the
standards and boundaries that let you
soar. Click here
for more details, and to register!
In this issue:
feature
article
Feature Article: Blocking
– The
art of making an appointment with yourself
If you’re like us and the many entrepreneurs
we’ve coached, it’s so easy
to get wrapped up in a project or opportunity.
The next thing you know, your schedule is
off track, things start falling through
the cracks, and you lose your grip on the
pace of business.
That’s why it’s so important
to plan your time – and stick to your
plan! It’s the key to success in the
entrepreneurial fast lane.
If you want to stay on top of your business
and move ahead quickly, you must be deliberate
in how you move through your workweek. Remember
back in June we talked about the 4 critical
activities? The key activities that help
you work on your business and ensure you
are getting the results you want.
Here is a quick overview of the activities
we talked about.
- 1. Money-making activities: directly related
to increasing your bottom line – networking,
cultivating referrals, doing billable work,
etc. (60+% of your work hours)
- 2.Preparation and strategizing: preparing
for and following up on your money-making
activities – research, planning, etc.
(about 20% of your work hours)
- 3. Super service – activities that
add a little extra value for your clients
(10% of your work hours)
- 1. Administration – paperwork,
behind-the-scenes tasks (no more than
10% of your work hours)
(To review this topic in more depth review
our June newsletter click here.)
If any area gets neglected or gets too
much attention, your business falls out
of balance and your results decline. So
how do you make sure you always stay on
track, giving each area the right amount
of time and attention?
The key to successful time management is
to plan ahead and “make
an appointment with yourself” –
block time for each area into your calendar.
For example, if Friday afternoon is a good
time to handle admin for the week, book
it into your calendar so nothing else gets
in the way. If you have a presentation coming
up next month, schedule specific hours to
prepare for it. When you take the time to
plan and block in your activities, you intentionally
drive the business ahead instead of struggling
to keep up with it.
To get the most value from your planning
and blocking, get specific on what you will
do with each block of time, based on your
top priorities in each area. For example,
which money-making activities will bring
the biggest payoff? Get them on the calendar.
How can you make the best use of your strategizing
time? Schedule those ideas. If you want
to find a new assistant next month, make
sure you calendar reflects time to pursue
that.
This takes discipline! Sometimes it feels
like time spent planning isn’t very
productive or profitable, so people tend
to skip it, thinking, “But there are
so many other things I need to get done!”
Sometimes they hesitate to block out their
time because they want to be available to
clients as much as possible. But planning
and blocking your time helps you make smarter
decisions and spend your time on the things
that truly matter most (not just the ones
that feel like that in the moment).
When we are clear of our priorities sticking
to our blocked time becomes easier. Last
month we encourage you to block in time
each month to review the previous month
and get clear of your priorities for the
following month.
Blocking in your “monthly review”
can make the difference between a productive
month verses a month of busyness with no
tangible results.
* send in your sassy
breakthrough to get your complimentary “debrief
tool” to guide you in your monthly
review. Read this month's breakthrough here.
People who plan and block their time on
a regular basis are more at choice about
what happens when, so they waste less time
and energy reacting. Blocking positions
you to keep your momentum and be proactive
about things, saving you time and stress
as you set up your schedule to best serve
you and your clients.
Here’s the bottom line: If you want
to take your business to the next level,
planning and blocking your time can make
the difference between good results and
downright fantastic results.
A
Sassy Breakthrough: Julie Jones
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Another Sassy Breakthrough!
Julie Jones
 “If
you met me a few years ago, you might
have felt sorry for me. I was in the
middle of a divorce, deep in debt, struggling
to launch my editorial business, and
I had 90% custody of my active one-year-old
son (who still wouldn’t sleep
through the night!). My work hours were
insane – an hour or two in the
early morning, another hour during naptime,
more work after he was in bed for the
night – and I often fell asleep
at my desk… only to wake with
a start and push on. I always had bags
under my eyes, and I must have caught
every cold virus in the Western hemisphere.
My formerly fit body dropped 30 pounds
in three months. At a time when I desperately
needed my wits about me, I was foggy-headed
and frazzled.
“Fortunately, I came across some
Sassy & Savvy information on time
management. While part of me insisted
that I didn’t have time to stop
and plan, another part knew that this
information was a ray of light in my
dark little cave. So I sat down with
the sassiest and savviest woman I knew
– dear ol’ Mom – and
tried to figure out how to make my life
work again.
“I really had to go back to the
basics, starting with my sleep hours.
I was living on 4-6 hours a night, broken
into 2 parts, and Mom was having none
of that. “Do you know how much
better you’d feel if you just
got a full night of sleep every night?”
I knew she was right, but I still had
to force myself to do it. Somehow, when
you’re stressed and scattered,
frantic action seems like the only option…
but it’s not.
“Once I got my sleep hours in
line, we looked at my work week. I printed
out a weekly calendar and blocked out
time with my son first; he’s my
top priority. Then I made an agreement
with a neighbor to take turns watching
each other’s kids. That gave me
some larger chunks of time to work.
I picked one evening a week to do business
planning, three evenings for work, one
night for my social life, and two nights
to relax. What a difference that made!
Instead of bouncing from task to task,
having a plan gave me a few extra sanity
points. Then I divided my work into
tasks I could do with my boy around
(i.e. administrative work) and tasks
that required my full attention (i.e.
writing). It took a little time to get
in the swing of my new plan, but once
I did, my productivity went through
the roof!
“I had to learn it the hard way,
but now I am a huge fan of planning
and blocking out time. It was the one
thing that made the most difference
for me back then, and now, four years
later, I’m still doing it religiously.
It has become a critical piece of making
my life work. I’m proud to say
that my business is now thriving, my
life’s in order, and my son and
I are both healthy and happy.“
Be an
inspiration to other women and share
your own Sassy Breakthrough!
If you've experienced some inspiring
success and you'd like to be profiled
in the Sassy and Savvy Newsletter, we
want to talk to you! Have you had a
win in dealing with your tolerations,
raising your standards, setting boundaries,
or managing time? Then send an email
with a brief description of your breakthrough
to stories@sassyandsavvywomen.com
, and we'll be in touch!
The incentive:
In service of supporting you to become
masters at managing your time when you
share a sassy breakthrough we will gift
you with the template of the "debrief
tool", a powerful tool in
supporting you in planning and blocking
your time in the most efficient way
possible. (We will be discussing this
strategy more in our next savvy conversation
call).
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Savvy
Steps: Hitch up your pantyhose and get moving!
- Step 1:
Make an appointment with yourself
to do some planning and blocking. Schedule
time to plan and do monthly reviews each
month for the rest of the year.
- Set 2:
Use that appointed time to plan and block
out the coming month. When will you make
time for each of the four critical activities?
- Step 3:
Get specific. Plug in your top priorities
in each area.
As you adjust to this new way of working,
notice what (if anything) gets in the way
of following through with your plan and
staying on track, and ask yourself how you
can prevent his from happening again.
Give yourself some time to adjust to this
new approach. Once you get used to it and
see the results, you’ll feel sassier
and savvier than ever.
Featured
Tools & Resources
 Double
or Triple Your Income While Playing in Your
Comfort Zone
Want to spend more of your day doing what
you love – and be paid well for it?
We want that for you too! Learn how to build
a foundation for a thriving business that’s
based on your own natural abilities, your
Comfort Zone. The Double or Triple Your
Income program includes audio recordings
and an ebook with notes and action exercises
designed to help you implement the concepts
and step up to the next level of professional
satisfaction and success. Click here.
Savvy
Conversation - October 18th - 8am PT/11am
ET
Savvy Conversations:
Next free coaching call on October 18th
at 8 AM PST
Don't miss this month's
"Savvy Conversation," a *fre'e*
conference call on business
success habits: the glue that holds your
business together. JOIN
US and other like-minded business women
on Thursday, October 18th at 8 AM PST to
dig a little deeper on the power of planning
and blocking your time. Click here
for more details, and to register!
Have you
checked out our Savvy Mastermind teams?
Let go of the “Lone Ranger”
mentality and experience the magic of being
part of a mastermind. Join a Savvy Mastermind
team, click here.
Watch for more upcoming developments from
the Sassy and Savvy Women! We are building
one amazing community, full of top-notch resources
and high-caliber guidance for the self-employed
woman.
And we're hard at work on our powerful
new book: Sassy
and Savvy Self-Employed Women: The Ultimate
Guide to Leverage Your Business and Love
Your Life. If you'd like to preview
a chapter, click here!
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