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.

Has your e-book publishing produced enough results to make it worth the effort?

[MEMc] Well…what a question…ha! All of these things are so tied into one another that it’s hard to say what does and doesn’t make a profit. All of my teacher e-books are not exactly big sellers, but they were already created as physical books, so having them now as e-books should only generate income, but they took awhile to update and convert…so it’s hard to say. I am getting ready to have the Top Ten Productivity Tips as an e-book and I’m hopeful that this one generates an income… Lots of my other products that are available electronically are probably not yet in the black given how much time and energy I put into creating them.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to “STOP IT!” as Bob Newhart would say. 

But here is the thing….there are a jillion reasons to have electronic products, including ones that are free (as you know, I have TONS that are free). People come to my site, download something (they give me their contact info since I use http://theshoppincartmegginrecommends.com) and then I can contact them in the future and they may buy something later. I begin to build relationships with people through my various products. I have several speaking engagements this fall and next spring that are related to people who have gotten my free stuff for YEARS and they are finally getting around to hiring me to come to their university. It’s so interesting how that happens…but it’s not a speedy process, especially in terms of money showing up in your bank account.

SO, I think part of what you will have to decide is how much time and energy you have, how much $ you need to generate and how quickly, and what the options are for doing that. Having electronic products are one of the ways to get your name out there, but there are many others, too.

There are definitely reasons to have “e-books,” and making money is one of them.  It can’t be the first reason – but it can be a major reason – especially as you become more and more well known and as you have a better reach into your market.

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.

I am not sure what the latest statistic is, but I believe that it is that at least 65% of people in the United States are within 2 paychecks of losing their home.  WOW!  That is a scary thought.  Regardless of the exact numbers, most people in the world do not have any “money pockets” (which is not the same as ‘money bags.’  The purpose of this article is not to get into social commentary about people who do not even have jobs or what that situation involves. It is for people who are working and need to attend to whether they have pockets of money for emergencies and for making great spending decisions.

 It’s a must-read for all women, not just women in academia.  Order it today (and then get your friends to read it, too).  Wish I’d had it to read 25 years ago.  Let’s just say it would have paid for me to buy thousands and thousands of copies.

This book will wake you up.  I only wish it had been available at the beginning of my career. 

The authors also have a new book, Ask for It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want and it is also worth reading. 

————————–

If you love having books arrive FAST, be sure to sign up for Amazon Prime…free 2-day shipping for one flat rate each year (and you can have 4 family members all using it.  Such a bargain for those of us who want books NOW vs. later!)

Experts are fairly evenly split on this – because there are arguments and experiences on both sides of the issue. In this article, I’ll share reasons to and reasons NOT to include your price in your materials (including on your website).

Reasons to include your price:

1. If you have a very high price and you have more clients than you can handle, then include it, because it will help drive some folks away.             

2. If you have a very high price and you know some people are intrigued and actually more interested because the price is high (this is called prestige pricing), then they will be even more interested if they know you have a high price. They will be attracted by the exclusivity.             

3. If you want people to contact you who are truly interested and won’t be driven away by the price (whatever it is), then they might as well know ahead of time what it is. That way, you don’t have people who are only shopping on price, but are shopping on value, “fit,” etc.             

4. If you are proud of your price, that is, if you want people to know, “By jove, this is my price and I’m proud to have people know that this is what I charge and can command in the marketplace.” For example, for me to do a full-day of office organization in my local area, I charge far more than many other professional organizers charge. I’m proud of my price – and also know that advertising it in my materials will address #1, #2, and #3 above.             

5. Include your price if it is absolute (set in stone) and you would be playing games not to include it. This would be for lower-priced items (books, materials, teleseminars, etc.) There’s no sense to act like it’s a secret. Imagine going to amazon.com and having them not tell you what the price is until you check out. It would be irritating to say the least.

Reasons NOT to include your price:

1. Some people shop on price and if they are thinking about what you charge (and whether that seems high or low to them) then they may reject what you’re doing before any further investigation.             

2. If you know that your product or service needs more discussion than what your marketing materials can offer, then you want people to contact you for more information–and that allows you to learn more about them, too. Then, and only then can you give them the appropriate price. The idea would be that you help “sell” them on what you are doing and also begin to develop a relationship with them – and determining your ‘fit.’             

3. You can’t include your price if there is not an exact price. So, for example, I don’t have an absolute daily fee for speaking because it depends on a variety of factors. I tend to give people a range (both on my website and when they first inquire) until I can gather more information and then give them a firm price.

So, you can see that there are reasons to – and reasons not to – include your price.

And, to make sure you are productive in your personal and professional life, you’ll want to access the resources at

**http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meggin_McIntosh

Do you truthfully believe those of us without PhDs, a university teaching career, an established speaking reputation, and published books can actually draw a large enough audience for teleseminars and webinars to even cover the costs of producing them (i.e., shopping carts, Adobe subscription, etc.)? And I am not being sarcastic here.

This is a question that so many people have and I’m VERY glad that you asked it.  This may be a long answer, so get ready, readers.  (and you may need to scroll down a bit)

1.  Yes.

Oh, you wanted more than that…Maybe an explanation as to why the answer is yes (and why the answer would also be ‘yes’ to those who wonder if they are ‘worthy’ of being a speaker if they don’t have a boatload of credentials).

1. First, you can start out ‘cheap’ with teleseminars, which I usually think is a better place to start than a webinar.  You can get a free conference line (I use www.allfreeconference.com) but there are a bunch of others – and you can just do a Google search for free bridge lines and find more listed).  Nearly all services will also record the call for you.  There are limits of course to these services, e.g., if you had the free bridgeline service record the call, as far as I know, the only way you or others can access it is to call back in to a special line.  And guess what, I have taken a BUNCH of teleseminars, especially in the ‘earlier’ days where I knew that if I couldn’t be ‘live’ on the call, then I had to make sure I called in within 14 days or whatever the cut-off time was.  If I wanted the information, then I made sure to call in and get it. 
2. People want information.  We are a hungry, hungry nation (and world) and of course, I mean hungry for information that will either help us make money, relieve some type of pain or stress, provide an answer when we need it, know how to raise our children or get along with a spouse/partner, or any number of other topics or concepts that anyone can come up with.  If you have information (and YOU DO!) then there is someone who wants to learn it from you. 
3. Just like car salesmen say, “There’s an ass for every seat,” there are learners for every topic.  I see articles, for example, on EzineArticles.com that I think, ‘Wow.  Not only do I not want to know about that, I can’t imagine who does.’  Yet, they are getting readers for their articles.   It’s the same with infomercials, TV shows, radio shows, magazines (hello!  How many crazy genres of magazines are there?!  I wouldn’t buy some of them, but then neither do some people buy the ones I buy, either).  For your teleseminars or webinars – and the incredible knowledge you have to share (and I can say this because I know exactly who wrote the question) there are a multitude of learners.  Note:  I think others who are reading this could think the same thing about whatever their special areas of expertise and interest are.
4. Learners, by and large, really don’t care whether you have a credential.  They care about whether you can help them.  Certainly, having advanced degrees, various certifications, awards, books, and so forth might intrigue some people – but if you don’t deliver the ‘goods,’ then those things don’t matter.   If you can solve my problem, then that’s all I care about. 

So, with these things being said, it becomes a marketing issue doesn’t it.   I think I’ll do a second post about Prep H as a reminder to everyone….

But to answer your question, can you be successful with teleseminars and webinars.  Absolutely.  Spend what you need but don’t spend more than you have to.  If you’re trying to decide what is worth spending money on, I’d start with a decent headset if you’re doing teleseminars (Plantronics has wonderful ones but so do others) and AudioAcrobat ($19/month) so you can record your teleseminars.   But you can still get started without these things.

Heavens knows you have knowledge, skills, and expertise that others do not have and they won’t get it if they don’t learn it from you.  Please don’t withhold what you know.

One aspect of being an entrepreneur is about turning time into money.

What is one thing you can do TODAY that will turn your time into money?

Please post your comments.

• One suggestion I have for you is to keep a time log for the rest of the week.  From the time you get up until you go to bed, write down every single thing you do (at least every 15 minutes).  Put a $ sign next to any of the activities you’re involved in that are earning money for you or that look like they will result in money before too long.
• At the end of the week, look at what was not earning you any money or isn’t leading to the earning of money.  Let’s figure out how to minimize those activities.

Thoughts on this?

Posted by Meggin | 8/11/08

For those of us who work primarily with schools, what are some options we have for making money during the summer months? Especially if money is still a concern, this could be a stressful time. Personally, I think I’m going to be okay, however, going a couple of months without any leads could put a damper on the confidence level. I may try to market so a few businesses in the area for programs about workplace bullying.  Also, it is possible that I could get a few speaking engaements at colleges.  Any other ideas or suggestions?

Posted by Billy Simms (originally on the Help Desk) | 4/29/08

Response:

This is a GREAT question and I’ll put some ideas here and it will also be a super one to talk about on this week’s (and upcoming weeks’) Doctor Is In calls. 

This has the potential to be a long answer, so I may just write a little bit each day until I get it finished, but I hope the rest of you comment and keep prompting me for more ideas….

1.  Summer school presentations

Summer school sessions will be starting by early to mid-June and will continue throughout most of the summer.  Contact the principals who are in charge of the various summer schools in your area and offer the type of workshops, presentations, consulting that you can do for them.  I think this is an untapped area.  These teachers need support as they work through the summer, possibly with some difficult situations, and when they, as teachers, have had very little break.

2.  Camps

Look out, it’s camp season coming right up!  There are camps that are as short as a few days and the ones that last for 2 months and there are camps of every type and in every state.  Do a Google search and see what you can find out.  The camp counselors and the children/young adults could use ideas, support, presentations, etc.  Don’t delay if this sounds interesting to you. 

3.  Colleges & universities

This (like many of these) has several possibilities.  You could do something for students.  You could do something for faculty.  You could do something at a “Kids University” that is a special summertime event.  You could do something for staff at the university/college.  Get on line and find out what is happening this summer at the colleges & univerities near where you live (or where you’d like to go).  Start making contacts.  Definitely think outside the box on this one (that’s a tired phrase…but you know what I mean).

4.  Churches

In the summertime, many churches and other religious groups have the equivalent of “Vacation Bible School.”  So I’d explore that option.  There are many that volunteer their time for things like this, but having a professional come in and do something is a special treat, so check into that option. 

Also with religious organizations, there are always singles groups, parent groups, other folks who want to learn–and you can be there to teach them (and charge for that).

5.  Year-round schools

Since many parts of the country now have year-round schools, summer takes on a whole new meaning.  You have schools that are closing out one year in May or June and starting the next one in June or July (or August).  Pretty much, in the “year-round-school world,” there’s always an opportunity for workshops and training and organizing (or whatever it is that you do).  I am doing a back-to-school workshop for a school in June and another for a different school in July.  You can, too. 

Since we have some organizers who are members of MEMc, I particularly want to talk about summer being a PERFECT time to talk with teachers, principals, and others about getting organized for the upcoming school year.  They are a little more relaxed and so think about contacting your local schools for this.   

6.  Open enrollment seminars

• Choose one of the topics that you speak about and offer some “open enrollment” sessions.  These could either be for a fee or as a way for you to let people know about what you do.  You could offer them as “samples” of your other work and you can use them as a chance to showcase your knowledge and some of your products.

7.  Product sales

• Use the summer to really ramp up sales on your products…and remember, you don’t need to only sell your own products.  You can sell other people’s products, too.  This could include books, booklets, seminars, CDs, on-line programs, etc. 

More coming soon….

 Teleseminars

1. Parent groups
2. Community groups

More coming soon.