by Jeryl Massini-Ryan | Apr 16, 2016 | Productivity, Self Care
Today I found myself guilty of violating one of my most important rules – to take care of myself. It happened so gradually that I barely noticed it. I’d started having a feeling in the back of my mind lately that something wasn’t quite right – my productivity was off, I was getting stressed out far too easily, things were NOT humming along, almost effortlessly, like they usually do. What I did today was this – I simply went and got a manicure and pedicure. It’s something that I do every two weeks. It’s not a luxury or a treat, it’s something that I consider a necessity because it’s something that recharges me. It relaxes me, I don’t think about any responsibilities while I’m there, I just relax and recharge – I take care of me. At least I thought I did this every two weeks. As I sat there today with my feet in the warm water, feeling the tension leave my body, almost dozing off – all of a sudden I sat bolt upright in the massage chair because I realized… I couldn’t even REMEMBER the last time I’d been there! How is that possible? This is something that I was absolutely militant about. This was time that I made damn sure that I took as part of my way of taking care of ME, the most important resource that I have! That says that I HAVEN’T been taking care of me. It absolutely SCREAMS it. And if I don’t take care of me, how can I take care of anyone, or anything, else? My home, my...
by Jeryl Massini-Ryan | Mar 6, 2016 | Productivity
While working with a client recently, I discovered a gem of a resource that they use and I was pretty blown away when I started interacting with them. It takes a lot to impress me, and even more for me to recommend someone to my peeps, so I had a “sit down” with them, in order to find out all about them, and then, after they impressed the hell out of me, to see if I could get a special deal for you guys. (Hint – I did!) So they’re called Ruby Receptionists and they provide an amazing service. Say you’re a one-person show and: You really need to give prospective clients a phone number, but you can’t man your cell phone all day. You don’t want prospective clients going to a voice mailbox, you want them to talk to a real person. You can’t or don’t want to hire staff to man the phones, but you do want people who call to get someone live and in person. That’s where Ruby comes in. They give you a toll free number (good for North America). They answer the calls that come into that number, in the way that you ask them to. (Good morning, Massini-Ryan Services, how can I help you?) Their coverage is 13 hrs a day, 5 days a week. What you do is let them know your availability and when they get a call, they’ll answer and ask the person to hold a moment while they transfer them to you, they’ll call you and tell you who is calling and why. Now you’re ready for the call –...
by Jeryl Massini-Ryan | Feb 26, 2016 | Productivity
PLEASE STOP DOING EVERYTHING YOURSELF! It’s the beginning of the year, a time to start fresh, right? Right. So I’d like to give you a tip for your business. It’s nothing earth-shattering, nothing new or different, but it’s one of the most overlooked things out there and most people don’t do it. Are you ready for it? You’re sure? DON’T TRY TO DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF! Yep, that’s it. Now I know you’re rolling your eyes – Okay, Jeryl, okay – we’ve heard that a million times – thanks so much for the “valuable tip”. Just humor me for a few minutes. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Go on! Now, draw a vertical line down the center of the paper, dividing it into two columns. Title the left side “Things That Make Me Money”. Title the right side “Other Stuff”. You know what comes next, right? Start writing. Write down every single thing you do throughout the day. If it’s something that directly leads to you making money – like holding webinars, doing Google Hangouts, creating content for a product, shooting videos, etc. – put that under “Things That Make Me Money”. If it’s something that does NOT directly lead to you making money – dealing with client and prospect inquiries, setting up campaigns in your CRM system, gathering info for reporting, going back and forth with venues for an event you might be holding, anything like that – put it under “Other Stuff”. Now, if you’re someone who really needed to do this exercise, I’ll bet the “Other Stuff” column is a lot longer than...
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