How to Keep Your Body and Your Business in Top Condition
Sometimes the most painful part of running your own business can be the almost innumerable number of hours spent sitting at your desk. This might show up in a variety of ways. Your back may start to ache, or it could be your bottom. Some people may not notice it until they get home from work and realize they’re more stiff and sore than they think they should be. Or you might notice that your golf or tennis game is going downhill. I want to look at maintaining your health while running your small business from three important points of view: Ergonomics, Muscle tone, and Calorie burn. Be comfortable You’re probably familiar wit the term “ergonomic” but it bears review. The word was originally coined to describe efficient working environments, but today we generally use it to discuss work stations that are designed to provide maximum physical comfort and minimum physical stress. For office work, your chair, desk, keyboard, and computer monitor are the keys. Start with an ergonomic chair that gives you sufficient back support and allows your feet to rest flat on the floor. Your computer keyboard should be at a level where you can type while your arms are at your side with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Your eyes should zero in on your computer screen with your head in its natural position – no tilting up or down. This standard setup overlooks one important health consideration: the danger of prolonged sitting. Sitting is the new smoking, according to many health experts. If your work is primarily done at a desk, consider a desk that can be raised and lowered so you can frequently move to a standing position. Do a search for “desks that raise and lower” and you’ll get a lot of options. If you don’t want to invest in a new desk, Varidesk makes table top units that get the job done. Exercise breaks If you’re following my advice and using the Pomodoro technique to alternate your workday between focused work sessions and short breaks, you can use those breaks to work on your fitness: developing better muscle tone, flexibility and endurance. I came across these seven-minute workouts the other day and they are excellent. They would be easy to pull off in almost any office environment. They will get your heart rate up (always check with your physician before jumping into a new exercise program) and also tone up your muscles. Augment these changes to improve your in-office health habits with some good exercise on the weekends and a couple of mornings or evenings a week, and you’ll be good to go for the long term. If you’ve been following me the last few months, you know I’m a huge advocate for small business owners achieving “Outrageous Success.” However, if your health suffers while you build your business, it can be all for naught. The purpose of success is to enable you and your family to enjoy life and experience true fulfillment. Maintaining your health and vitality are fundamental to those goals. Image: “Computer Workstation Variables” by Berkeley Lab – Ergonomics, Integrated Safety Management, Berkeley Lab.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia...
read moreCast Your Vote for National Entrepreneurs’ Day
Do you know the old saying, “If you want something done right, do it yourself”? That captures some of the spirit behind entrepreneurism. Most entrepreneurs are individuals who see a better way to accomplish something or sense a need that is not being met. They set out to get it done and as they do so, our entire society benefits. Problems get solved. Productivity increases. Jobs are created. November is National Entrepreneurship Month and it seems right that we would honor the spirit of entrepreneurism and the individuals who are willing to take risks. I think the role of entrepreneurism in our country needs to receive greater attention. Celebrate the risk takers We have become much too accustomed to looking to Washington D.C. to solve our problems, even though experience has taught us that real progress happens when more of us are actively participating in the commerce of this country through the private enterprise engine that propels job growth and increased opportunities. Setting aside a month in the name of entrepreneurship is good, but we would be smart to increase awareness even more. There’s a resolution in Congress, H. Res. 401, that would create a National Entrepreneurs’ Day and it deserves our support. This special day would fall on the third Tuesday of every November. The idea got its start back in 2012 and while the president has proclaimed this event each year, there is a move to make it an official day. By going to the website you can “vote” and show your support for creating the day. You can also leverage your social media presence to inform others and urge them to visit the site and vote for the creation of a National Entrepreneurs’ Day. Introduce others to entrepreneurism Many other professions have their “day” and rightly so. For example, National Nurses Day is observed on May 6, the birthday of Florence Nightingale. The fact that we don’t yet have a National Entrepreneurs’ Day probably reflects the fact that grasping exactly what an entrepreneur does is more difficult than picturing the work of a nurse, or the other professions that are already honored. And this is exactly why we should make this day official. Anything we can do to improve awareness and understanding of entrepreneurs will benefit our entire society. If a handful of people catch the entrepreneurial bug each year by observing this day, we will all be better off in the long run. There may be a young Steve Jobs, Peter Drucker or Karren Brady out there who just needs to be introduced to the concept of entrepreneurism to get the creative and risk-taking juices flowing. Image: “Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (522695099)” by Joi Ito from Inbamura, Japan – Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia...
read moreSongs in the Key of Work
If you take a tour of any NFL locker room before the players get down to business, you’ll be greeted by blaring music and a lot of players wearing headphones. Chances are the music will be mostly a mixture of rap and country and western. Those are the vibes that professional linemen, receivers, running backs and d-backs find most suitable for getting them pumped up to do their jobs. But how about in your workplace? What’s the best music – if any – for your audible backdrop? Don’t worry, be happy If you’re in a factory setting, there is scientific research that says lively, upbeat music increases productivity. The study looked at workplaces where employees were involved in a lot of repetitive work, as in assembly lines. The music boosted productivity even when it was competing with machine noises. I know people who have supervised assembly line operations and back in the days of boom boxes, about half the workers brought their own into work and played the music they most enjoyed. Of course, if a fan of R&B was working right next to a devotee of C&W, it didn’t make for the most congenial working conditions. Management needed to pipe in music and ask people to leave their boom boxes at home. Mozart’s Office Suite Classical music has been often found to be good for the brain in work and study situations. In one study, radiologists listened to Baroque music in their reading room and they reported generally positive results and none said the music lowered their mood. David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, recommends classical music and has a long forum discussion going on his website. At one point, I think he even offered a CD of Baroque music selected specifically for the way it enhanced thinking. Allen’s advice is to look for classical music that has a tempo of about 60 beats per minute. Ambient music and noise Providing a low level of music can help create a good working atmosphere. Generally, the idea of having some level of music in the background is that it keeps your brain engaged on a basic level. Businesses have been using low-level ambient music for years. Brian Eno developed his Music for Airports recording back in the 1970s and it’s still available. Today, as more employees have strong video game backgrounds, those soundtracks and electronica may start to fill the background music niche. Also, white or some other shade of noise is great to mask sounds that can be distractions at work. For me, it’s classical music. However, a recent green room discussion before an appearance on Fox and Friends revealed widely varying tastes and I seemed to be outnumbered. Overall, Queen’s We Will Rock You got the nod. It may be a great tune for getting the energy up before going on a television show, but looping it at work probably isn’t such a good idea… What music best enhances your...
read moreCashing in on Information When You’re Not Google
The hot commodity today is information. Look at the most visited websites in the world and our thirst for information becomes obvious. Of course Google is at the top and Facebook is next. It’s critically important to fully understand and appreciate that one-two punch of most popular websites. Google is where we go to gather general information and ask questions. Facebook is where we share information about ourselves and get information about our families and friends. Two very different web portals offering different services, yet both are built on the foundation of information consumption. You aren’t Facebook, now what? Where does this leave you? I would bet that most of you sell something other than information. However, you need to find a way to take advantage of the consumer demand for information. Right now you’re offering your customers or clients a product or service; how do you weave an element of information into it? I’m certain you are familiar with all the tools you can use to pull this off: blogs, YouTube (number three most visited website, by the way), Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, podcasts, newsletters, webinars and more. Your next three steps should be: Defining what information you need to offer, Deciding which are the best vehicles to share your information, and Planning the best way to promote your information sharing. You and your customers are the experts who will best determine what information you need to offer. In some cases it might be obvious. Restaurants, for example, can share recipes on line. They can also hold cooking classes. Also, don’t forget the personal side of information sharing; some customers might be interested in knowing more about who you and your employees are. Know your customers If it’s not obvious what information you should be giving your customers, ask yourself this question: What issues do my customers have that are directly or indirectly related to the product or service they are buying from me? Also, chat up your customers. Find out what’s on their minds and what they would like to know more about. Ask them what websites they visit, what blogs they read. Deciding how to best share your information depends on the nature of the information. I recommend a two-pronged approach for most people. The first prong is for shorter bits of information offered more frequently. The second prong is for more in-depth information offered less frequently. The first prong is also used to promote the second prong. For example, establish a Twitter or Facebook account and share short bits of information. Also use it to announce new longer articles on your blog, your new podcast, or your new YouTube video. Of course, also use your website to promote both prongs. This keeps you top of mind and establishes your business as the expert in the field. These attributes lead to long-term growth and success. Because they don’t produce immediate impressive sales, many small business owners stop trying to provide information after a few months. Let your competitors make that...
read moreHave You Tried This Neat Tool to Slay the Paper Beast?
NeatReceipts portable scanner There are two things society has promised me that I have not yet experienced: flying cars and paperless offices. About once a year I scan a headline claiming that there’s a promising flying car in the works, but you can’t prove it by me. The paperless office, however, may be substantially closer to reality…well at least the “largely” paperless office. Cloud computing is playing a major role in transformation. People everywhere are using Google docs, Google drive and a parade of other efficient and affordable cloud services. On the front line in the battle to move our huge pile of paper to little zeros and ones that live in our data storage devices or up on the cloud is the family of Neat scanners, software and services. When life gives you paper… If you watch much television, you’ve seen the commercials for the Neat scanners. They take documents, scan them and turn them into searchable digital files. The software extracts critical information such as names, dates and receipt totals, so the Neat systems can be extremely useful for businesses. Anyone who has had to deal with filing expense reports or itemizing deductions for tax purposes will immediately understand what a time saver this can be. How many of you jam all your receipts into a single file folder and spent hours sorting them out (and trying to remember what they were for) when April 15 starts looming on the calendar? Recently I had to deal with a huge pile of contracts. I needed to review various revisions, etc. Do you know how much faster it is to search for words and phrases in a contract after it’s been converted into a keyword searchable document? Rhetorical question. Of course you do. A trio of scanners Neat has a lineup of products and services that run the gamut from purse-size to cloud-size. NeatReceipts is a portable scanner you can take on the road. The company also offers a desktop model along with a wi-fi enabled scanner that can send documents to the cloud without being connected to a computer. But it’s probably the software that’s really the most important part of the system. As I said above, you can turn all your paper into searchable documents and get them properly categorized virtually immediately. The software has another very cool feature you’ll probably find useful. You can “print” web receipts to Neat and the software will extract all the information and put it in your files along with the paper receipts that you’ve scanned. Plus, it’s compatible with other software you’re using, such as Quickbooks. Use your smartphone camera If we ever win the war against paper, Neat’s hardware products will become obsolete, however we both know that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. But the company is looking forward and has launched its Neat Cloud Service. Neat Cloud works with its Neat mobile apps. This lets you snap a photo of a receipt or document with your smart phone or tablet and have the information sent automatically to the cloud service and properly filed. Do you have any favorite paper-slaying hardware, software or services you’d like to...
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