Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am going to write thank you notes to my family and friends for all the lovely birthday gifts I was given.  This is one task that should not be put off, or I may never get another present again! 

Joel,

Thanks for the polls!!!   There is definately value in polls.

Now that I am self employed I wish I had a better understanding on crafting effective, unbiased polls as well as a comprehensive knowledge of micro & macro economics.  After all it would be wonderful to have the ability to poll specific variables in an effort to predict market trends and to customize marketing for a position to gain marketshares. 

My top priority thing today is to get my newlywed financial planning service "homework" assignments into Word so I can actually give them to clients when they sign up!  Yeah...that would be good, wouldn`t it?  It`s one of those things that keeps getting pre-empted...but not today!  That will get about 20 pieces of paper out of my stacks, too....bueno!

I`m also going to try to create an example of how things work....but that may be pushed until tomorrow or next week.

I live in Chicago so I am going to get out and enjoy the last few days of summer.

Steve

Since today, 23 Aug 06 is just about gone, this is for Thursday, 24 Aug 06.

I attended my monthly peer group meeting (Vistage) today and our guest speaker was a fellow named Jack Kaine. He doesn`t have a website you can check out but Google his name and you`ll find some helpful info on him. His expertise is "Negotiation Skills" and his topic today was Mastering the Art of Negotiating. I won`t try to recap his entire speech here (applause from the audience, I`m sure).

One of the many takeaways was his suggestion to keep a daily journal of your business life. I plan to start this on Thursday, 24 Aug 06 (BTW, only 4 shopping months until Christmas).

The journal will include entries such as:

• What went well today? And what caused this to work so well?
• What did not go so well today? And what willl I do differently the next time this same thing happens to make it go better?

I thought this was an excellent suggestion by Kaine. Great tool to go back and see what`s working and what`s not and reread notes on specific issues and concerns. I`m proof you can teach an old dog new tricks. I share for your consideration.

Have a great day!

R@

Richard,

Looks like you might have already taken this step... but for those who haven`t considered it, if you`re going to keep a journal why not make it a blog so others can offer insight into what you write. Might even be able to turn your blog into a marketing tool...

best,

Andrew

Andrew - excellent idea. Thanks for adding.

R@