photo by Michael Filion

I’ve got too much to do!  There’s never enough time to get everything done!

I am feeling overwhelmed!

I’m hear that kind of thing a lot from business owners (and everyone else) – I was going to do a new post on time management, but I thought a better approach might be to pull together some good posts from the past and share those instead!

There are a lot of great ideas here – they won’t all work for you, but if you find just 1 or 2 things that resonate I guarantee you’ll start getting more done.

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What’s your engine like – you know, the engine on your business?

When you have an engine on your business – a big engine, one that can really crank up the RPMs, you are going to make some noise…and you’re going to create a wake!

With your engine really cranked up, there’s no telling how fast you can get moving and you’ll definitely build up a lot of momentum.  It’s true that you might run the risk of crashing into rocks but having that momentum, that speed, that control over the engine is also what enables you to safely steer the boat.

Think about businesses you might know that don’t have an engine (or don’t use it).  They float around – pushed by the currents, the wakes generated by other boats, even the wind moves them around.  In fact, without an engine, those boats really are at risk for running into the rocks – they don’t have any way to steer and they certainly can’t build up any momentum to run upstream at all!

What’s the engine like on your business?

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Photo by azrainman

It’s not necessary to change.  Survival is not mandatory!   – W. Edwards Deming

If you’re not actively marketing your business, you’re at a dead end!  Even if you’re doing a bit of marketing here and there, if you don’t have an online presence…if people can’t find you online – you’re at a dead end!

I had a great discussion with a business owner today who had seen a handout from one of my recent workshops.  One of the bullet points that really caught his attention (and made him noticeably uncomfortable) was the following:

• You should have 5 to 10 active marketing strategies at any given time.

His comment (and I’ve heard this from plenty of other business owners) was “I’m not big enough for a marketing department and I don’t have the time or money for even 5 strategies”!

It’s not necessary to change.  Survival is not mandatory!

As a small business owner, regardless of whatever your business is, you are first and foremost in the Marketing business.  See the marketing assessment below to find out how your Marketing business is doing.

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   Photo by dpstyles

A new client of mine strongly recommended Patrick Lencioni’s “The Five Temptations of a CEO”, so I moved it to the top of my list and finished it this past weekend.  If you’re not familiar with Patrick Lencioni – he’s the founder of a leadership consulting company called the Table Group in San Francisco and author of 8 books, numerous articles and a highly sought after keynote speaker – in short he’s an impressive guy with some important ideas to share.

The Five Temptations is his first book – written about 10 years ago and although it’s not as big a seller as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, it clearly establishes him as someone to listen to when it comes to business and leadership.  He describes the book as a Leadership Fable – it’s set in a story format and shows the application of his ideas to a real world situation (and make it’s a lot more interesting to read).

So what can you learn from the Five Temptations?

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