From the category archives:

Business Strategy

How Do You Spend Your Time?

by admin on April 6, 2010

I have been somewhat disorganized lately.  Our insurance business has been a little slow, which I think is causing this disorganization.  When I (and others) have too much time on my hands, it is easy to find ways to waste the extra time rather than make it productive.  I have spent the last couple of days re-organizing how I will spend my time.  I read on chrisbrogan.com today, where he is re-drawing how he will spend his time.  It feels nice to be on the page with someone who has put some thought into this process.  To me, it is important to spend a little time thinking about the most productive ways to spend your time.  Due to the speed with which business and work flows can change, it is important to evaluate your time at least once per quarter, if not more often.

Email:

How much time are you spending on email?  I spend a lot of time on email, yet much of that time can be shifted to non-peak business hours.  That is to say, that every email does not need an immediate response.  In fact, many emails don’t need a response within the same business day.  I have decided to make an immediate judgement on emails as they come in and determine whether they need immediate response, or whether I can work them from home at night.  This began today, and I already have a few to respond to this evening.  I think I’ll be okay.

Reading:

It is important to spend some time each day to determine what is going on in your world (local news, profession-specific news, world news).  I sometimes imagine everyone sitting around reading their local newspaper or Wall Street Journal.  Needless to say, times have changed and the consumption of news/information has felt that change.  The problem arises in that the information is so readily available and so vast, that if you don’t watch out, you can spend too much time each day “staying informed”.  If you don’t believe me, log the amount of time you spend each day on the Internet reading news (including sports, entertainment, fashion) and you will probably be amazed at just how much time you are spending. 

Even though the information is readily available, I have decided to carve out a few minutes in the morning, a few in the afternoon, and some wrap up time at night before I go to bed.  I don’t think I will miss anything major.  I do get Washington Post email updates, afterall, so I’m sure I will be informed of any news that would be immediate for me to know.

Business Contacts:

How much time do you spend each day reaching out to potential business partners?  If you spend too much time on non-essential reading and emails, then you are losing valuable contact time.   I like to pick up the phone and contact people.  When I don’t have the time to pick up the phone, I go to Linked In or Biznik and look how my connections are connected to everyone else.  I found a couple of old contacts today and reunited with them.  It was nice to connect.

Take some time and log what you are doing each day.  Is it productive?  Is it wasteful?  Maybe you are better than the rest of us, but if you go through this process at the very least you will confirm your productivity.

CWH

collinharbour.com


Bookmark and Share

{ 1 comment }

New Beginnings

by admin on March 21, 2010

Baylor Men’s Basketball is in the Sweet 16!!!  This may not mean a whole lot to you if you have not followed Baylor sports over the last decade, but let me see if I can refresh your memory.  In the summer of 2003, one of the Baylor basketball players went missing and after all of the cards were on the table, it was discovered that another player had killed him and that there were several other problems with the program, including coaches playing for players, ignoring drug use by players and etc. etc.

The team was essentially non-existent when Scott Drew was hired to run the program in 2003.  Sanctions (self imposed and NCAA) included a couple of seasons without post season play and scholarship limitations.  Or, as one writer put it,  ”The program was broke – ethically, morally, athletically. A player was dead, a teammate charged with his murder, their coach exposed in a cover-up.” (David Teel, Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia)

Fast forward to the 2009-2010 basketball season.  Baylor was picked to finish 10th in the Big XII.  After a strong non-conference season, the conference play had it’s ups and downs but the Bears were awarded with a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament and as of today, they are in the Sweet 16.  

Why am I writing about this, you may ask?  Because it is a great story of new beginnings.  The Baylor Basketball program was done just seven years ago.  There was even talk about whether or not the program would ever be allowed to play again–or even discussion about a “death penalty” type scenario.  Yet, the program fought back.  They hired a new coach, he implemented his recruiting program, he implemented his system and here we are in 2010 . . . with a Sweet 16 appearance.

Think about your business or personal life and the times when you felt like you were down and out.  What did you do to pull yourself or your business out of this situation?  Did you implement a new program?  Perhaps you scraped and crawled and took each step day by day.  Maybe you set small goals and achieved them each day, week or month until you were out of the miry pit in which you had found yourself.

In my life, I find myself down from time to time.  When I do, I set goals.  Most of them are easily attainable, and some of them stretch me quite a bit.  Once I start to get back in the groove, I begin to enhance the reach of my goals.  I encourage you to do the same thing.  There is something in your life, whether it is in your business or personal life that needs improvement.  Set goals and start to work your way out of it. 

Collin W. Harbour

collinharbour.com

Share


{ 2 comments }

Social Media Strategy For Churches

March 12, 2010

Should your church have a social media strategy?  Should your church (or you) have a Twitter account? Should your church (or you) be on Facebook? If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, it is time for you to do a Google Search on social media strategy.  Many businesses and individuals are realizing the power [...]

Read the full article →

Social Media for Insurance Agencies

March 6, 2010

Over the last few months I have spent a considerable amount of time “enhancing the web presence” of one of my businesses in Texas. Much of this time has been spent on the intricacies of getting our website, www.spinstx.com, to move up in the rankings of the search engines. I have done this by registering with various local search sites, industry specific sites, blogging, updating content, and the list goes on and on. Through this process, I delved more deeply into the “Social Media/Networking” arena and have learned a few things in the process.

Read the full article →

A Place To Get Work Done

March 4, 2010

I have an office. It is for my insurance business. Many of our customers want to know they are dealing with a bricks and mortar operation, even though it is not absolutely necessary to have a location in the insurance business. From time to time, I need to get away from the office to do my work. This might seem counter intuitive, but it is true. I have found that getting out of the office to get work done is an effective method of managing my time. The key is finding the right location.

Read the full article →

Creating Value in a Commoditized World

March 1, 2010

Much has been said of creating value for clients. I trained at a company that focused on values based selling. This company does not monopolize the idea that focusing on value is a key differentiator in winning the deal. Competition is fierce and will only get more fierce moving forward. With the economy tightening daily, it is important for businesses to determine the value they bring to their clients and devolop sound methods for articulating this value. Displaying value is not enough as clients also expect you to deliver on that value proposition.

Read the full article →

Social Media as a Small Business Strategy

February 18, 2010

Social Media is a big deal. If you don’t believe it, you are living in a dream world. Millions of people flock to social media sites each day. As a small business owner, you need to develop a small business strategy that fits your business, your time and your needs. As a definition of small business, I will focus on companies with 10 or fewer employees here, though I know that small business encompasses a much broader range.

Social Media/Networking is growing exponentially at this time. You’ve heard of Facebook and Twitter and you’ve probably heard of LinkedIn. But have you heard of Plaxo, Ning, Fast Pitch, Merchant Circle or Biznik? I have, and I have spent a vast amount of time in each of these networks. Social Media is a way for you to participate in the conversation related to your interests and industry. It is a way for you to network with others and advertise your business. I have read many places where “social media is free.” Let me dispel that notion immediately. This is not the case as some social media sites require a premium for some of their services. Even so, the dollar cost of social media is essentially nothing for the basic services.

Read the full article →

What to do at the end of the day?

February 17, 2010

Daughter is asleep. Wife is asleep. I’m watching the Texas – Missouri basketball game. I have caught up on my reading on selected articles from my Google Reader. I have read and posted feedback on the blogs and articles that I found relevant. Now, what should I do? According to Gary Vaynerchuck, now is the time to Crush It! (I just completed his book of the same title. I do recommend it, especially since I like short books).

Read the full article →

Wasting Time And Getting Sidetracked

February 10, 2010

As a small business owner, you are probably thinking, “Harbour, I don’t get sidetracked and I definitely don’t waste time. I’m busy all day every day and focusing on business growth.” I hear you. I think the same thing all of the time. I am too busy to be bored. However, there is some free time in your day. If you logged each 15 minute interval of your day, it is probable that you will find some wasted time. The focus of this bit is to determine what to do with that time.

Read the full article →

We Are At War Here – Small Business Differentiators

February 9, 2010

My business Partner (father in law) and I were in a meeting today with a marketing representative from one of the great companies we represent (Sidebar: I am a partner in Property and Casualty Insurance Agency in Dallas, TX). We were discussing the speed with which data transfers and how quickly we need to respond to requests from prospective customers for insurance. I could spend a lot of time (but I won’t) discussing how competitive our industry is, but I don’t know that I could convince you that it is any more competitive than your industry. Anyway, my partner made a comment to the marketing representative. He said, . . . “On each deal, we’re at war”.

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries