Since I began my journey into self-employment, I have been working out of our spare bedroom. While the ten-foot commute has certainly been convenient, it also has come with some unanticipated challenges. Time management and motivation has been one of the biggest issues for me. It is oh-so-easy to wander out of the office and […]
Tag Archives: Business
Comments Off on A New Venue for Collaboration: Coworking
As a facilitator, I am always pushing my clients to put announcements and reports into a memo and reserve their F2F meeting time for the things that people in groups do best: generate ideas, make decisions, solve problems, plan strategy. So I am always interested in new methods for ideation and problem-solving. Daniel Pink’s blog […]
Comments Off on Let’s Trade Problems!
I was really tickled to come across this list of Improv Tricks That Will Make You a Better Business Person. One of my declarations – “Don’t work at it, play with it!” – comes from the life lessons I’ve learned from years of studying, practicing, performing,and teaching improv. Stop for a moment and think of […]
Comments Off on Business Lessons from Improv
I’ve been working on a piece of homework assigned during a presention by my Australian buddy Donna McGeorge at the 2011 IFVP Conference. One of her recommendations to us was to make a list of fifty declarations: statements that we know, through our professional expertise, to be absolutely true. This list can then be turned […]
>My friend Kathy (names changed to protect privacy) asked for help in dealing with conflict in one of her project groups. As she told me more about it, I doodled a rough map of the relationships between each of the individuals as well as the different organizations involved in the project. It has been my […]
Comments Off on Visual Problem Solving: Analyzing Conflict
>If you follow all the network marketing gurus, you have joined several different kinds of business, service, and networking organizations in order to develop relationships that will lead to more clients. As I finished 2010 and planned for 2011, I made a Network Map to evaluate how effectively my groups have generated new clients over […]
Comments Off on Visual Problem Solving: Network Maps
> I spent a good chunk of last week at the annual conference of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners, a creative bunch of folks who help businesses document meetings, capture ideas, and solve problems using graphics. I am relatively new to this practice (you can see examples of my graphic work here), so it […]
Comments Off on >Graphics Jam
>On Friday, about twenty GoLocal business members met for breakfast. The GoLocal campaign is all about promoting the benefits of purchasing local products and services, and of course we all want local consumers to patronize our businesses. We also need to examine our businesses’ buying behaviors, and maximize our own opportunities to Shop Local. We […]
Comments Off on >Mapping Our Buying Habits
>I started my facilitation & consulting practice working with cohousing communities scattered around the state, doing a LOT of driving. Over the past year, I have been working to grow my business locally. Some facts about going local: Buying from locally owned businesses keeps money circulating in the local economy THREE TIMES longer! Small businesses […]
Comments Off on >Pro Local!
>Whether you are an entrepreneur promoting your business or an activist promoting a cause, success depends upon the ability to present your message with confidence and ease. Memorizing speeches or preparing PowerPoint slides can only take you so far. When you run into a potential lead or client in an unexpected place and time, you […]