Q. Do you have a recommendation for an online meeting scheduler you like?

Meggin’s Answer:

I really like www.TimeTrade.com – I’ve just started my second year using that and I like it.  The more coaching clients I have, the better I like it!  It saves the back and forth jillions of emails to get things scheduled.  There’s a yearly fee but I think it’s something like $29…so a bargain.

For meetings, I have been using www.Tungle.com and I like that because you can get a bunch of people scheduled.  It’s working well for various MasterMind coaching groups or other meetings I’m trying to schedule.

Hope that helps!

I have written articles about dealing with physical clutter and electronic clutter, both of which can cause you and your businsss significant problems. But in this article, I want to give you 5 tips for dealing with your money clutter. Do not discount the wisdom in these brief, but brilliant suggestions.

1. Determine exactly how much money you have. You may already have an Excel spread sheet that shows this – or you may be in the situation that far too many Americans are in (I can’t speak for the rest of the world) and that is that you have have essentially no idea or you have a rough idea only. What I am telling you here is that you need to know EXACTLY.     This will take some time, but it is the first part of clearing your money clutter. How in the world can you expect to be a business owner (a successful business owner) if you have no idea exactly how much money you have? Take the time and do this within the next week. Make it a priority.

2. Reconcile your business checking account. If you do this regularly, then this will be no big deal. If, however, you have never reconciled your business checking account (which I have heard repeatedly from people when I ask them about this), then expect this process to take some time. Depending on your familiarity with your accounting system (e.g., QuickBooks) and your understanding of how to reconcile, and consider hiring someone to come in and help you with it. Do not just turn it over to someone. It’s your money and you need to have a hand in getting a handle on the “clutter.”

3. Invoice all of your customers whom you have not already invoiced. It is hard to get paid when you do not send out invoices. That seems like it shouldn’t need to be stated, however it is staggering the number of small business owners who never invoice customers for services or products already delivered. It may be because you don’t have a bookkeeper who helps you take care of this or it could be because you “forget” that you need to invoice clients. Or, it could be that you are uncomfortable with acknowledging the value that you deliver.

4. Follow up with any customers or clients who have been invoiced but haven’t yet paid. That is money just waiting to come back to you, but you may have to track it down rather than leaving it in the “pile” of money clutter. Be strong. If you have delivered the “goods,” you are asking for what is rightfully yours and it is your responsibility as a business owner to clean up this clutter.

5. Pay any outstanding invoices or bills that you have. Part of your money clutter may be that you are not living up to your end of the money flow equation. Pay your outstanding bills and if you cannot pay them in full, acknowledge that and get something worked out NOW with the business or service to which you are in arrears. Clean up the clutter.

I want you to take these five steps over the next five days and see what happens for you.

Money clutter. Have you ever thought about that concept? I’m sure you’ve thought about – and maybe dealt with – your physical clutter because you know that it can take a tremendous toll on your productivity.

But what about money clutter? Any possibility that you need to deal with this, too?

Let’s explore a few ideas related to money clutter. Apply the ones that resonate with you.

1. Go through your office, your wallet, your briefcase, you desk drawers, your car (or anywhere else that you know such things get tucked) and find all the gift certificates, gift cards, and other such items. The next step, which needs to be done promptly, is to use them, extend them, or give them as a gift to someone else who will use them. Money needs to be in motion.

2. Go through your office, including any stacks of unopened mail with the intent of getting rid of clutter and of finding money that is just lying around. When I have worked in people’s offices to help them get organized, I don’t think there has been even one time where we haven’t found one or more “surprise” checks. Sometimes, the amounts are small and other times, the amounts are stunning. Frankly, the amount you find doesn’t matter while you’re doing this. What matters is that you are paying attention to your money and not just casting it aside (which is really what you’ve done when you’ve let it just lie around, hidden and untended to).

3. Take an inventory of all the subscriptions that you pay for and what their renewal date is. Either set them up to automatically renew or put a reminder in your tickler file to cancel. This includes magazines, domain names, software services, online subscriptions, memberships in groups, etc. We added all these over long periods of time and ultimately, we don’t cancel them and have an extraordinary amount of money flowing back out the door each month for unused and unwanted items or services. It’s all money clutter.

4. Make sure you are paying yourself each month – or even each week. This does not mean taking money out of petty cash. It means you are cutting yourself a paycheck. You are running a business, right? Business owners get paid.

Do you think this won’t make a difference? Try doing all of these and see what happens. You are costing yourself and your business tremendous stress and money by having money clutter that is unresolved.

When you have been stuck with particular challenges in your life and business, you need to generate creative solutions. If you are really ready for some unique ways to bring those ideas forth, consider using graphical options and sensory prompts.

As far as graphical, try out these two ideas:

1. Mindmapping is one of my favorites and there are a multitude of resources you can find about how to mindmap and what its benefits are. I won’t go into that in this session. I just wanted to remind you about the idea if you haven’t mind mapped lately.

2. Use drawings and symbols - even in “high level business meetings.” If you need to demonstrate the power of that to others, use this idea, which I learned from Grace McGartland.

• Have everyone describe his/her dream vacation – and encourage everyone to provide as much detail as possible and as many aspects of that vacation as they can. Provide one minute.

• Then, ask everyone to draw a picture of their dream vacation, being as detailed as possible and including as many aspects as they can. Again, provide one minute.

Now, which of the two exercises is going to result in the most information? The second one – and you’ve now made your point. As Arthur Koestler said, “True creativity often starts where language ends.” Use that to break through old patterns of thinking.

Energizing the senses is a magnificent way to prompt new ideas. Consider this one, which is one of my favorites:

1. Use a forced “synaesthesia” activity. Synaesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. It’s a true condition – and for this suggestion, I am suggesting that you use a technique that, when I thought of it, reminded me of Synaesthesia. So, I just called in “self-imposed synaesthesia.” Not sure it’s too catchy of a name, but it’s what we’re using!

2. Anyway, use sensory words to ask people about some of the challenges you are currently working through. For example,

• What does our staff reduction smell like?

• What does the gossip in the staff room feel like (tactilely, not emotionally)?

• What does our new budget sound like?

• How does having 2 new projects added taste?

• When you think about helping get our candidate elected, what colors do you see (or sounds do you hear, or tastes do you experience), etc.?

What you are doing is jarring people out of their normal mode and it’s quite incredible what can emerge from this kind of questioning and experiencing and thinking. Try it!

Alan Alda said:

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.

What “signs” you are HEEDING?

My guess is that there are many readers (and authors!) who have gotten speeding tickets in our lives. In essentially every case, we knew what the speed limit was – we saw the sign – but we didn’t heed the sign.

In the part of the country where I live (Reno), when there are high winds, they will put up signs to indicate that high profile vehicles likes semi’s and RVs should not be on certain roads. Most drivers heed those signs but the ones who don’t often get flipped over by the wind.

Seeing signs – i.e., noticing signs – and HEEDING signs are two different things. In this article, why don’t we explore a sign that you need to see and HEED, i.e., “lane closed.”

Lane Closed

Hmmm. Consider a few options related to this sign:

1. Is there a lane in your life that has currently been closed? Maybe a job, a project, a client, a company, a department, a college, an income stream, a relationship, a vehicle, a travel option, a way of living, a type of being?

2. Is the lane closure a permanent or a temporary one? Usually when we see these signs on the road it is related to a temporary closing but in life, some lanes are closed now and forever.

3. Take a few moments at this point to make note of one or more lane closings that you have encountered lately – and how it is affecting you. In particular, think about the net effect. You can notice both the downsides and the upsides to the lane closure – and see if you can arrive at the net effect of the change.

Welcome back…did you notice that I closed out that last prompt with the word “change”? A lane closure is a change and sometimes we just need a bit of warning that it’s going to change and then we’re fine with it. It’s the surprise lane closures and changes that give us more trouble.

So, in life, do we get a warning that a lane is going to be closed? Sometimes we do.

Sometimes you’ll see cones to guide you that something is about to happen. The bright orange cones are an indicator, at least in the United States,that we need to pay attention. Often when a lane is going to be closed, the orange cones will start to be placed in such a way that they slowly insinuate themselves over into our lane – thereby guiding us into the lane where we need to be since the lane with the cones in it is going to be closed up ahead.

Orange cones help us to focus on the change. We ignore them at our own peril (and often the peril of those around us if we are darting back into traffic with no regard for what is happening).

So in your business, what are your orange cones?

We are going to jump right in. Move. Locomote. Propel yourself. Act. Vary. Go forward. Go somewhere. But move.

“You can’t steer a parked car.”

I tried to find whether this was a quote so I could acknowledge somebody, but I found it in about 10,000 places. This must be one of those statements that a whole lot of people’s parents told them when they were learning to drive, but I never heard it until recently.

“You can’t steer a parked car.”

I love this statement and the concept that it conveys for us who are in business. When we (or someone around us) is stuck in fear, negativity, malaise, hopelessness, sadness, or any of the other damaging (over the long term) places that we can get to, then we need to move. Please note that this is not about a time of sadness after a death or a segment of a day where you feel despondent or negative. This is about getting stuck in place that is not indicative of any kind of engagement in a promising pursuit.

“You can’t steer a parked car.”

You can’t get out of the “bad” place or the “negative” place or the “scared” place or the “problem” place until you move – even just a little bit. You don’t have to floor board the gas pedal to be able to steer, but you have to at least turn on the ignition and take the car out of park. You can gently, oh-so-gently take your foot off the brake and start to roll. Now the car isn’t parked and you can actually steer it.

This is what you can do metaphorically as well. And please know that this is definitely an idea that you can share with an individual who is struggling. Just get the person to take his or her “car” out of park.

Consider a small business owner who just is not going anywhere. She isn’t failing. She isn’t growing. She isn’t doing anything. She talks about closing up shop and only says it half jokingly. She wishes she had more clients but has a million reasons why she doesn’t. She goes to seminars and trainings and then goes back to her office and can only compare herself with the other people she is meeting and finds herself coming up short. She is stuck. Here is what you might say to her – in whatever way your relationship suggests:

1. Take the car out of park and put it in drive.

2. Make a list of 10 ideas that you have learned (or whatever number seems like the right number – it could be more or it could be less). Anyway, make a list of 10 ideas you have learned. You might serve as the scribe while your friend says them. You want her to keep talking and so you can just keep writing.

3. After you have the list, ask, “On this first idea, could you start _____?” Or, “I’m seeing this idea you listed about what you learned. What if we ______?” The idea is to help the person focus on small actions that could be taken. You can’t steer a parked car. When you’re stuck, your car is in park and you ain’t goin’ nowhere…bleh, I say.

If you’re trying to make some changes in your life, if you are trying to go in a different direction or however you would describe it, be clear that you cannot make change or go a different direction if you’re not moving at all. Hello?! You can’t steer a parked car.

Are you ready to take a bold action? Could you be more productive if you were more bold?

“Fortune befriends the bold.” ~John Dryden

Is bold a word you use to describe yourself, your behaviors, your thoughts, and your actions? If you haven’t imagined yourself as bold – up ’til now – What do you need to be bold about? Here are ten prompts to consider:

1. Do you need to make a bold claim? What statement do you need to pronounce to yourself or others?

2. Do you need to set a bold goal? Why have you been holding back?

3. Do you need to make a bold break? Maybe from a relationship, a job, a marriage, a city, a lifestyle, a role?

4. Do you need to have a bold conversation? You already know the answer to this, don’t you? You have a person with whom, if you had a bold conversation, it would change everything for you (or for the person).

5. Do you need to engage in a bold cause? Look around. What troubles you on the deepest level in your neighborhood, your community, your organization, your country, your world? Do you want to get involved in solving that?

6. Do you need to make a bold physical change in yourself or your environment? If you could, what would you do and why? Decide if you want to take the steps you need to take.

7. Do you need to deliver a bold testimonial? What or who do you need to stand up for? How would you go about delivering this bold testimonial?

8. Do you need to offer a bold alternative? Please, don’t hold back! Every situation needs alternatives to consider. If you have a bold alternative way of thinking or acting or responding, offer it so that it can be considered.

9. Do you need to make a bold decision? Fear often holds us back from making the bold decisions, but we know perfectly well what those decisions could be. What is yours?

10. Do you need to find a bold friend and accountability partner? It’s possible just to set something up with a MasterMind group, a special friend, or a trusted family member. You can also hire a coach who can be your bold friend and accountability partner. This person could also help you take action on any of the previous nine prompts.

See if one of these questions helps you think about an area where you want to be more bold. What could open up for you if you were more bold?

 After a few minutes of light rain and a cool breeze, my wife decided to head to the car to watch from warmer confines. I stayed in the stands, watching the game and talking more with my new friends. At one point, as I turned to say something, I noticed the wife looking over my shoulder and behind me.

 I turned to see her husband standing behind the stands, back to us, hands on his knees. It looked to me like he had a bloody nose, as he leaned forward and I saw what looked to be drops of blood hitting the dirt at his feet.

 His wife asked, “Do you need to go to the hospital?” At which point I realized I didn’t know the full story. I looked at her and asked if he was going to be okay. She said, “I don’t think so. He just had surgery this week.”

 She stepped down from the bleachers and walked to him, placing her hand on his back and speaking softly into his ear. I watched anxiously, waiting to see any sign of whether he was going to be okay. In all honesty, I also wondered to myself whether I really wanted to get involved, not knowing the severity of what was happening or whether I was even equipped to help.

 As he turned toward me, I realized there was something terribly wrong. Blood was rushing from his mouth, and it looked like he was having a hard time breathing. His wife turned to a man standing nearby, asking if he would help her get him to their car. I realized that was not a good idea, and he wouldn’t make it that far based on what I was witnessing.

 I jumped off the bleachers, looked at the other man and told him to call 911. “He’s not going to make it to the car,” I said. “He needs help right now.”

“A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.”

 I went to him and braced under his arms, leading him to another set of bleachers not being used. I held him up, positioning him over a large garbage can, and he continued to lose what looked to be massive amounts of blood from his mouth. As I held him up, I knew that I couldn’t let him fall or he would choke to death on his own blood. Then I noticed the line of staples from just under his left ear, down to about mid-throat. (In the stands I was sitting to his right, so I never saw the staples.) I found out later that he had just had surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes, as well as his tonsils. What happened is the wound inside his throat opened, and that area is so vascular, that the blood was literally flowing from his throat and mouth. And I had no idea how to stop it.

 At that moment, his son, who had been playing baseball, came over to see his dad. He was crying and calling out to him. I asked his mother to keep him and the other boys back from the scene. This was not something they should witness.

 She came over to us, telling him 911 had been called. He seemed to wave her off as though he was telling her he was going to be okay. She said, “You’re a critical care nurse! What would you do?”

 I was so far out of my element at this point, all I could think to do was talk to him, and help keep him as calm as possible. With every gasp, he was losing more blood, his hands and body shaking, his heart beating at a frantic pace – I could feel it as I held my hand on his back. I continued to speak calmly, “Help is on the way. Stay with me. I’m right here, and I’m not going to let you fall.” Inside I was anything but calm. I was scared to death that this poor man was going to bleed out right there in my arms. I felt so helpless.

“You can’t relate to a superhero, to a superman, but you can identify with a real man who in times of crisis draws forth some extraordinary quality from within himself and triumphs but only after a struggle.”

 When the first responders from the Fire Department arrived after what seemed like hours – it was probably 10 minutes or so – I was feeling incredibly relieved. “They’re here,” I told him. As they approached, I stepped back, giving way to the experts.

 Suddenly everything went white and I couldn’t hear anything going on around me. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. I knew I was going to pass out. I braced myself against the bleachers, struggling to gain composure. I didn’t want to become part of the problem! That poor man needed their help, and I didn’t want to distract any of their attention from him.

 I was able to regain my bearings, and by that time the ball game was over and the boys were standing around watching the scene. I said good luck to his wife, told her I’d pray for them, and took my son Trevor to the car. Once in the car, the emotion of what just occurred overwhelmed me. I sat there and cried and had no idea if I had done the right thing. Was he going to be okay? Why didn’t I do more?

 Fast forward two days to the boys’ next practice. I was anxious as I drove Trevor to the fields. I didn’t know the names of the people I had helped, and had no idea if the husband was okay. As we parked the car and walked to the field, I was surprised at what I saw.

 There, standing on the field talking with the coach, was the couple from two nights before. They turned and saw me, and the man walked over and we embraced. “I am so happy to see you!” I said as I hugged him tightly. He thanked me for what I did the other night, telling me he had no idea who was helping him, but that my voice helped him maintain whatever composure he had, and remain calm enough to not lose control of his accelerating heart rate.

 I won’t tell you that I did anything heroic. Not even sure it was the right thing to do at the time. What I can tell you is that I did the only thing I could. I did my best to help another human being in trouble. Thank God, all worked out, and he is recovering. Oh, and their names are Dave and Janelle. And we talk at every game!

Kevin Ciccotti, CPCC, ACC, has been a student of peak performance, interpersonal communication, and human behavior for more than 25 years. He was trained at The Coaches Training Institute, the world’s largest in-person coach training organization. Kevin also trained with the Robbins-Madanes Center for Strategic Intervention, founded by world-renowned human performance experts Anthony Robbins and Psychotherapist Cloe Madanes. The Center specializes in understanding how individuals make decisions and interact with their environment based on a variety of factors. He is certified by both CTI and the ICF, and adheres to the highest of ethical standards in the coaching industry. Kevin was named 2011 President-Elect of the Nevada Professional Coaches Association.

 If you are ready to take action to create a more extraordinary life for yourself, then call Kevin today at 775-750-4008 or email him at Kevin@thecuttingedgecoach.com.

This is one of those times that it will be worth printing and posting these ideas so that you have the questions as ready reminders:

1. Is what I am doing right now the best use of my time? If you are in business, then you better make sure this is a question you are asking yourself throughout your day. You need to make sure you know what the “best” use of your time is or this question is of no value. If you’re not sure, hire a coach to help you figure it out.

2. Is part of my day – everyday – spent working through my strengths? If it’s not, you are not only not very productive but ultimately, you’re not going to be very happy.

3. Do I gain satisfaction from what I do? It’s your life. Why would you work at a job that doesn’t provide satisfaction?

4. Am I appreciated for the work that I do? If you do great work and you aren’t getting appreciated, it’s time to take a look at why you aren’t. Maybe your colleagues and boss need a little encouragement to make sure people feel appreciated. Or, maybe you work in a toxic environment and it’s time to get out.

5. Is at least 80% of my time spent with people who are positive (vs. negative)? You can change your percentage even higher (I do), but at least, get to 80% if you’re below that now. You may have to add more positive people or remove the negative ones to get to this percentage, but do so, regardless.

6. Have I expressed my gratitude today? My suggestion would be to express it out loud to individuals and internally to yourself and out there…to the Universe.

7. Am I drinking enough water? Note: If you are thirsty, the answer is no. Recently, I heard that we all need to drink 1/2 ounce for each pound of our body weight. So, that’s a starting point for you…(and me).

8. Who is my ideal client (and am I working with that person)? I know, this is two questions – and they are essential questions to ask and answer.

9. Am I paid commensurate with the value I provide? Talk to your boss, get a different job, or if you work for yourself, see what changes you need to make so that they answer is a resounding YES!

10. If my house were paid off, every loan I owed were paid, I owed no money on credit cards, and I had health insurance guaranteed for life, would I still keep doing what I’m doing?

Answer these truthfully today and everyday. Make any changes that seem to be warranted. It really is YOUR life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5321006

It’s A Cow

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful fall day here in Missouri. In fact the last two weeks have been filled with picture perfect days complete with sunshine, soft breezes and cool nights. (I just realized I started last month’s newsletter talking about the weather too! Not sure why. I promise it won’t happen again.) Because of the mild weather, our front door was open with only the glass storm door between us and the outdoors. My daughter, Doran, and I were catching up on shows we DVR’d over the last couple of weeks while our Yorkie, Dexter, was resting on the couch beside me. All of a sudden Dexter goes into a berserk barking frenzy, pounces up on the back of the couch and starts pawing the window pane with agitation. I tried to grab him and shush him while I asked “What’s he barking at?” She looked out the front door and calmly replied, “It’s a cow.”

Yesirree, there was a cow coming down our street and as we watched it skirted around Doran’s car, darted into our yard, did a little shortcut over our shrubs and sidewalk before it headed north on an adjacent street. I am no stranger to cows; I was raised on a farm and have had more than my share of cow experiences so it wasn’t a scary thing. It was a ‘where did a cow come from’ thing. As we stood in the yard watching the cow continue its great adventure a family in a golf cart zoomed by as the children exclaimed, “Cow on the loose, cow on the loose!” I assume the cow was apprehended, read its rights and as we speak serving time for its mad dash for freedom!

I saw a life lesson in this experience. Just when you think everything is calm and peaceful a cow comes along out of nowhere and takes you by surprise! Okay, maybe for you it isn’t a cow; it might be a recession, or a flat tire on the freeway, or the boss you really like gets a better job and leaves, or the furnace needs replacing, or you or a family member has an unexpected emergency, or you lose an important client to a competitor, OR? You get the idea, things happen that we can’t control. In fact, most of the things that happen to us we can’t control, but we can choose our reaction.

So how do you react to unexpected occurrences?

-Do you panic?

-Do you blame someone else?

-Do you ignore it and hope it turns out okay?

-Do you take charge and start barking orders?

-Do you make a plan but never execute it?

We all deal with the unexpected differently but I suggest the following as a good start:

1. STOP Take a moment for your senses to assess the situation before you react. That means no emotional outbursts, anger, or drama. For instance, I stopped instead of running down the street after the cow! Okay seriously, give yourself a minute before you do something you regret and/or react in a way that makes the situation worse.

2. BREATHE Take a few deep breaths. Breathing allows you to de-stress and take control of your mind so you can react more rationally. Oh boy, I wish I could take back all the times I skipped this step and said or did the wrong thing! It doesn’t have to be a public demonstration; just pause and breathe till you feel it is right to continue.

3. THINK After one and two you are now in a position and frame of mind to make a plan, prioritize your actions and figure out how to set those actions into motion. Remember to ward off negativity while you think so you don’t spiral back into a stress mode.

If I can do this you can do this!

Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter is a free monthly, or whenever Darla can get it out, publication for clients, friends and subscribers who want to be more creative, energetic and productive in their life and work.

Darla Arni is a Speaker, Artist and Author of:

Full Plate, No Fork New!

30 Ways to Share Creative Energy at Home

Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter

Co-Author: Life Compass for Women

Co-Author: 66 Secrets to Less Stress

P.S.  Darla and I were teachers together in the late 70′s and we’ve been friends ever since (and we have the same birthday!)