Article Contributed by Karen Kobelski

It’s all the rage to talk about green cities, green businesses, and green policies. It makes sense in the big picture to take care of the planet we’re on. But what does “going green” really mean to the average small business owner?

Fortunately it’s not all about expensive equipment and complex retooling. Many green practices are just about using what we have more efficiently. And greater efficiencies translate into reduced costs and an improved bottom line.

Suddenly the small business owner has something to get excited about!

The Easiest Way for Small Business Owners to Go Green

The easiest way to get started on a green program is to look at your energy consumption as a source for potential savings. Most small businesses consume more energy than necessary. Reducing your energy bill gives that double benefit you need, conserving not only natural resources but financial resources as well.

U.S. businesses consume energy in a variety of forms: liquid fuels, natural gas, electricity, coal, renewable fuels (including solar, wind, and ethanol), and nuclear. For most small businesses, electricity tops the list. For others, it’s gasoline. Energy costs of all kinds have been rising faster than most sectors of the economy.

But there’s good news…

There are new and innovative means for using energy more efficiently and new sources of energy are being developed. The Energy Information Administration estimates that total expenditures on energy across all industries peaked in 2009 and are now coming down rapidly as renewable sources become more popular.

The two simplest pieces of advice for conserving energy are to turn off the lights and to turn off your computer (or computers) at night. According to a study commissioned by Sun Microsystems, Inc., only 42 percent of workers turn off the lights and only 34 percent turn off their computers when work is done. If they did, according to Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying by David Bach and Hilary Rosner, $43 billion in energy costs would be saved and CO2 emissions would be reduced by 32 million tons. Again – going green and saving green.

That was easy, right? Now consider these:

7 Ways Small Business Owners Can Reduce Their Energy Consumption and Their Energy Bills…

1. Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. A 25-watt compact fluorescent bulb produces about as much light as a 100-watt conventional bulb but uses only one-fourth of the electricity. And if you’re thinking they are too expensive, you probably haven’t checked lately. It used to take a year or more for compact fluorescents to pay for themselves. Now many pay for themselves in energy savings in the first month. After that, it’s pure profit.

2. Turn off your lights at any time during the day when you aren’t using them for 15 minutes or more.

3. Set your computer to go to sleep automatically during breaks.

4. If you charge electronic devices, unplug the adapters when you’re not charging the device to avoid continual bleeding of power.

5. Set your thermostat lower by a few degrees in the winter and higher by a few degrees in the summer. Even small changes can make a difference. For every 1 degree reduction you make in the winter, you can save 3 percent in total energy use.

6. Consider getting a programmable thermostat to reduce energy output overnight.

7. Keep blinds open to reduce the need for artificial light in the winter and closed on warm days to reduce the load on your cooling system.

We haven’t even moved beyond the simple steps, and already you’re saving some serious money. Put these ideas into practice, and then sit down with your power bills after a month or two to see whether it’s been worth the modest effort. Odds are you’ll see real savings and start looking for next steps.

About the Author
Karen Kobelski is the general manager of BizFilings – a leading online provider of incorporation services. Karen has more than 20 years of experience leading professional services teams and has spent the past 7 years leading incorporation and registered agent organizations. Now, get her free Guide to Incorporating Your Business at http://www.BizFilings.com. To get your free guide just click on the Learning Center.

So what do when you ARE stuck at a plateau, more specifically a business-growth one? Well the below 3 keys should put you on the right track to busting through.

1. Are you ready to grow? The first thing you need to look at is your mindset. A lot of times the reason why you’re stuck is because you’re just not ready to grow. It could be any number of things. You’re hiding out. You don’t want to be more successful than your spouse and/or parents. You’re afraid people won’t like you if you’re too successful. Only evil capitalist pigs are successful. You get the idea.

If you have a block like that standing in your way, it really doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do you’re not going to bust through your plateau.

So how do you know if you have a block? Well if you haven’t done any self growth work, I suspect you probably have a block or 2 lurking around. It’s nothing to feel ashamed about — it’s very common. In fact, I would venture to say every entrepreneur, even the most successful ones, encountered a block or 2 in their business growth. It’s just the successful ones had a way to get around it.

One place to start is by doing a little journaling. Take a piece a paper and draw a line down the middle so you have 2 columns. In one column, write down all the reasons why you want to break through this plateau and reach your goal. Then in the second column, write down all the reasons why you DON’T want to reach your goal. Yes, something will bubble to the surface if you don’t brush this off as being silly. And whatever bubbles to the surface will give you the next clue as to what you have to do to get rid of the obstacle.

The other thing you can do (which is my fave) is to hire a coach. Coaches are great for helping you get past your blocks.

2. Do you know what you need to do to grow? You can get past all the blocks you have, but if you have no idea what you need to be doing to be successful, then you’re not going to get very far.

Some of my most successful partnerships are with clients who have their mindset in order and they’re looking for copywriting and marketing expertise. When that happens, look out! Their businesses end up taking off in a really big way.

So how can you tell if you’re in this camp or if your mindset is blocking you? Well, I agree, it can be a little tough to do on your own — there are clues (which I can spot when I’m talking to people but it’s more difficult to explain). One clue is you’re ready to do what it takes to make your investment back. You might be really worried or scared about making this investment in yourself, but you feel confident you’re going to follow through and do what needs to be done. If you feel like you won’t do it, or it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re only going to get X people buying because that’s all you ever get, then you have a mindset block.

Another way to know is if you feel like you’re ready to step out in a big way and this is the next step.

3. You’re in that “uncomfortable” space right before you’re going to breakthrough your plateau and you just need to go a little further. What happens to water at 212 degrees F? It’s turning to steam. What happens at 211 degrees? It’s still liquid.

If you know you’re doing what you need to do to be successful and you haven’t broken through your business plateau yet, it could be you’re about to and you just have to keep doing what you’re doing. You’re at 211 degrees and you just need a little more umph to make it to 212.  (This one is probably the most frustrating of all. I was here so I know what you’re going through. It’s like you’re at Mile 23 of a marathon — which is 26.2 miles — you’ve done all this work to get to mile 23, you just need to walk 3.2 more miles and it’s some of the hardest miles you’ll ever walk. But keep going, you really are almost there.)

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.  She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.  To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.

What you’re supposed to do is put your mask on first then put the masks on your children. That order. You, then your kids.

Why? Because if you pass out while trying to help your kids, you’ll help no one, least of all yourself and your kids.

Which is the point of my article today. Are you putting your clients’ needs above your own?

Now good customer care does require us to go above and beyond the call of duty. And sometimes we do have to work late or on weekends to help a good client out. That’s not what this is about. What this is about is if you’re consistently doing everything for your clients and nothing for yourself.

Let me give you some examples –

1. You’re never not available. Clients or prospects can call you anytime of the day or night and you’ll answer.

2. You don’t take a vacation (a real vacation) again because you want your clients to be able to get in touch with whenever they want.

3. You don’t spend anytime growing your business — the only time you do any sort of marketing is when your business is down. Otherwise you put your client work first. (Note — this can extend to other business tasks as well, such as getting your invoices out or doing your filing.)

This last one probably doesn’t seem so bad. “But I’m working on my clients’ projects, I can’t possibly spend time on my business when they’re paying me to work on stuff for them.” While on one hand that sounds good, it really isn’t.

Think about it. If your business is a mess because you never spend anytime on it — you’re late collecting on your invoices because you don’t send out billing, you’re stressed about cash flow and where your next client is coming from, etc. how can you possibly be taking care of your clients at the highest level possible? Only when you have your own house in order can you fully take care of your clients’ needs. (In other words, you have your oxygen mask on instead of being on the brink of passing out.)

And it’s the same with the first two as well. You need to take care of yourself first, and the only way to take care of yourself it to give yourself a breather every now and then. You need some time off to take care of you — else what good will you be? Do you think your clients really want to be working with an exhausted, stressed out version of yourself or do they want to work with someone who is excited and passionate about what they’re doing, even if it means they can’t reach them 24/7 and have to give them some unplugged time every now and again?

Look if this is you, don’t feel bad. I made all these mistakes myself when I was first starting out as a freelance copywriter. But over the years I realized the better I took care of myself and my business, the better I took care of my clients. That sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. Because I take time off, I’m healthier and have more energy. Because I treat my business like I would my one of my clients, I feel like I’m in integrity with the marketing principles I teach, plus I can share with my students and my clients what is working RIGHT NOW. I teach real-world tactics because I’m right there in the trenches with them.

I invite all of you to take a look at your relationship with your clients. Is there something you’re doing for them you’re not doing for yourself? Do you think it may be time to change that?

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.  She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.  To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.

A few weeks ago I decided to go to the movies with a girlfriend. We chose Prince of Persia.

As it happened, it was opening weekend so I hadn’t seen the reviews. However, I was a little worried about seeing it. The previews made it look sort of muddled and I was a bit puzzled by the choice of Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead. (He never struck me as the action adventure type hero.) Worse yet, it was based on a game.

Yee gads. Why did I agree to see this movie again?

Needless to say I walked into that theater with VERY low expectations.

So imagine how happy I was when the movie DIDN’T suck. Yes I know, it got some bad reviews. But truly, if you’re looking for a light, mindless, action-packed summer flick, Prince of Persia delivers. (And I was also pleasantly surprised at Jake Gyllenhaal — talk about some nice eye candy.)

The interesting part about all of this is I think my impression of that movie is higher than it should be. Why? Because my expectations were so low and the movie beat them so significantly — thus my overall impression is that it’s a good movie.

Now, let’s take another movie where I went in with HIGH expectations and the movie DIDN’T deliver. Like The English Patient. Won an Academy Award. Everyone was buzzing about it. I found it slow and terribly depressing. I also didn’t quite get why the Kristin Scott Thomas’s character would have an affair with the terribly depressing Ralph Fiennes’s character when her husband seemed like such a charming fellow. (This was before I saw the Seinfeld episode where Elaine fell asleep during the movie and was ostracized about it. Happy to know Elaine and I have something in common.)

So my overall impression of The English Patient is that it wasn’t a very good movie at all. Despite winning an Oscar. Because it came in so much lower than my expectations.

(And if you take this one step further, it certainly seems like I’m saying The Prince of Persia is better than The English Patient. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t go there.)

So what does all of this have to do with you and your business? Well, let’s take a look at your client and customer expectations.

If your customers and clients are hiring you or investing in your products and service with high expectations, and you aren’t meeting them, their overall impression is going to be they had an unpleasant experience with you. Even if your offerings are better than your competition, they’re still going to be disappointed.

But if your customers and clients come in with slightly lower expectations, and your products and services blow those expectations away, they’re going to be thrilled to death with you, tell all their friends and associates about you and maybe even write a newsletter article about you.

This is why it’s so important to underpromise and overdeliver. Especially now. Because people are becoming more careful with their money so the last thing you want to do is leave them with a sour taste in their mouth after doing business with you.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business. To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com.

Slow and fast.

Most people end up growing their business slowly. Now there’s nothing wrong with slow. It’s not easy to grow your business period, so even growing your business slowly is better than what a lot of entrepreneurs do.

So let’s talk about fast. Another way to view growing your business quickly is by taking a quantum leap, which basically means you leap frog ahead versus taking your growth one step at a time.

Taking a quantum leap means transforming your business quickly. It means going from $200,000 to a million in a year. It means seeing opportunities fly to you effortlessly.

So if you want a quantum leap, how do you get one? Here are 3 steps to get you started:

1. Think big. Taking a quantum leap isn’t going to work if you’re thinking small. So the first thing you need to do is make sure you’re thinking big. And, maybe even more than that, make sure you’re READY for your business to BECOME big. If you’re not comfortable or if there’s some blocks or obstacles around you growing your business to its fullest potential, you’ll never have a quantum leap.

2. Invest in yourself. There are different ways to invest in yourself. Do you need to build a team? Hire a consultant? Maybe you need to take time to go through a program or information product. Or you need to hire a coach or get into a coaching or mentorship program to move yourself ahead.

Money is a form of energy. And when you invest in a program or hiring a team, that could be the catalyst you need to move you forward in a big way. Because now you’ve put your money where your mouth is (so to speak). You’re taking yourself and your business seriously by investing in yourself.

So how do you know what you need to invest in? You know. You know right now what you need to invest in to grow your business. Whether or not you do it is another story.

3. Failures means you’re moving in the right direction. What?? I can hear you all saying. Here’s the thing. If you design your life and/or your business around never making a mistake, do you REALLY think you’re stepping outside your comfort zone? If you’re trying to never make mistakes, then there’s no possible way you can ever have a quantum leap. Quantum leaps require you to think differently than you have before, to try something you never have. And when you do that, you may end up having a failure or two (or ten) along the way.

Successful people don’t like failure anymore than you do. But they know if they don’t get out there in big way and try new things, they won’t be as successful overall, even though that means risking failure as well. It’s a choice they make because they know the payoff is worth it.

One way to deal with failure is to look beyond it. Focus on the end goal, where you want to end up. Then, when the failures happen, you’re not as concerned with them because you’re looking past them to the where you want to be.

But the biggest part of taking a quantum leap is just to do it. Take a deep breath and jump. And believe the net will appear.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.  She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.  To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.

Article Contributed by Cyndi Lundeberg

Purchasing new equipment which satisfies eco-friendly concerns might be a business investment most companies are uninterested in making. While purchasing new equipment might prove an expensive undertaking, some green business technologies might actually end up saving your company money. One of these green technologies is a POS system developed by Panasonic System Networks of America.

In adhering to the company’s eco-ideas initiative, Panasonic developed the Lite-ray pos system based on the previous Stingray workstation and recently earned the United State Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Energy Star qualification for the eco-friendly system.

The Lite-ray point of sale systems reduce energy and therefore carbon emissions, by eliminating the need for a fan. Because the system better performs per watt and therefore uses less energy, purchasers of the system can enjoy cost saving benefits.

While not only being green, this new system comes with all the traditional necessities businesses come to expect from point of sale systems while providing new revolutionary initiatives as well. Lite-ray is powered by an Intel Atom processor and supports both Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems, making this pos system ideal for all businesses including retail markets.

Lite-ray also offers users customizable options from receipt printing to credit card storing options. To ensure the security of saved information, the system is equipped with not only a back-up and recovery system but also comes with a 3 year warranty.

Hopefully, inventions and upgrades of business technologies will follow suit of the Lite-ray system, therefore encouraging businesses through cost saving benefits to be more green, which will be for the betterment of all.

About the Author

Cyndi Lundeberg is a writer based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as phone systems & voip service at Resource Nation.

Well, if you’ve been in business any length of time, you already know it doesn’t work like that. (No matter what “promises” or “hype” you might have seen.) It’s never that easy. But there’s no question it IS possible. (My client list is proof of that.)

So how DO you succeed online? Well let me share 3 secrets to get you started.

1. Know what you’re highest payoff activities are. The successful entrepreneurs I’ve worked with know exactly what they should be focusing on each day. They know what they’re strengths are and what’s going to bring in the most money. That’s what I mean by highest pay-off activities. They know what’s going to bring them the biggest bang for the least amount of time.

So how do you figure out what your highest pay-off activities are? Start by making a list of your strengths and weaknesses.

Now look at your strengths. Out of those skills, what brings you the most money in the shortest amount of time possible? What you might want to do is make a list of activities and evaluate how much money you make versus time spent, then you’ll have a better idea what bring you the biggest bang for the least amount of time.

2. They DO their highest pay-off activities. Ah, yes. It’s not enough to actually know them, you need to actually DO them. And, better yet, you should organize your day around your highest-payoff activities. That way, you know you’re spending as much time as possible on your highest pay-off activities.

3. They delegate out or delete their weaknesses. Without a doubt, the successful entrepreneurs I know spend little to no time trying to “strengthen weaknesses.” What they typically spend their time doing is strengthening their strengths and outsourcing (or just plain dumping) their weaknesses.

Why do they do that? Because they make more money when they spend most of their time doing their highest pay-off activities. And they can’t spend their time doing their highest pay-off activities if they’re busy strengthening their weakness or doing low pay-off activities. We all only have 24 hours a day, so you need to know how best to use that time so you can become the biggest success possible.

Now, you may have noticed these aren’t specific for the Internet, these are general success strategies. I did that on purpose — if you master success habits that work online, you’ll master success habits that will work in pretty much any other situation. Next time I’ll share specific tips you can use online to be successful.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.  She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.  To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.

After all, you choose to do a spring cleaning because stuff accumulates. Whether it’s dust or dirt or junk mail or clutter or just “stuff” in general, it’s good to take some time and get rid of it all. Then you can start fresh and clean.

Your business is the same way. Whether it’s piles of old files that need to be thrown out or relationships that are no longer serving you, sometimes it’s good to take stock on what’s working and not working in your business, clean out what’s not working so you can open up the space to more of what you DO want. And yes, this sounds sort of woo-woo, but it actually does work.

So ready to get that “spring clean feeling” in your biz? Here are a few places to get started:

Environment –

1. Get rid of your stacks. File them, toss them, delegate them. Do something with them, but just get rid of them.

2. Clean out old client files. This works like a charm. The moment you clean out old client files, whether that means filing them into long-term storage or tossing them, you’ll discover new clients starting to contact you. I first discovered this when I was a freelancer — every time I wanted new clients one of the things I did (along with marketing and picking up the phone) was clean out my old client files. And it worked!

3. Get rid of the clutter in your office. Are there things that need to be mailed (for instance, books you borrowed from people and need to be returned)? Or do you have things you really need to donate? Box them up and ship them out!

Relationships –

1. Are you in relationships that are no longer serving you? Maybe you’re in different places or one of you has changed and it’s no longer a good fit. Be honest here. And be thorough. Look at your friends, associates, biz partners, JV or affiliate relationships, clients (yes even clients) and team members. If something isn’t working (and yes, you know it’s not working, your gut has probably already zeroed in the relationships you need to take a closer look at) then you probably need to move on. (Or at the very least, change the relationship.)

2. Difficult conversations. Are there some difficult conversations you’ve been putting off? Maybe someone owes you money or didn’t live up to some other promise? Maybe they did something you don’t agree with? Whatever it is, spring cleaning is a great time to get that cleaned up so you can move forward.

Habits –

1. Are there things you’re either doing or not doing that you know would move you forward? Maybe you want to start exercising regularly, meditating, journaling, or just getting your ezine out each week? Or maybe you’re wasting a lot of time on things that aren’t serving you or moving you forward in your business? Take a look at what you’re doing on a daily basis to see if that’s helping you or hindering you.

None of these tasks are necessarily things you’re going to enjoy, but once you do them, you’ll be amazed at how good you’ll feel (and how much energy it frees up for you). And don’t be surprised if you start seeing a flood of things you want come pouring into your business.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.  She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.  To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.