It’s becoming more and more difficult to sift the nuggets of true knowledge from the mountains of data thrown at us from all directions. Of course, we do this to ourselves to a certain extent, because in this age of unlimited access to information through the Internet as well as all the traditional sources, most of us try to take in just too much. No wonder we feel overwhelmed.

But if you are an executive or manager, there’s one way you can cut down on this data dump: stop the flow you get from your own people in the form of e-mail messages, memos, reports and presentations.

I’m not suggesting you refuse to accept any information from your people, but honestly, haven’t you ever received a half-inch-thick written report when you only wanted the salient facts or the main figures?

Have you ever sat through a monthly financial presentation in which your people stood in front of a slide covered in figures, turned around and read them out, and then — just in case you missed anything — gave you a copy of the slide as a handout? The message of these presentations generally is, “Here’s what the budget said we would do, here’s what we actually did, so here’s the shortfall or surplus.”

Just think of all the time this took, both for the people who laboured mightily to put it together (sweating bullets as they did because they dread the presentation to much), and also for you to listen to it. And did it really help you? Or did it simply add more data to the dump?

Fixing this universal problem not only saves companies money, but it also has the potential to cut down on workplace stress at all levels. But it won’t fix itself. If you don’t speak up, you’ll listen to these presentations and read those long-winded reports every month till the end of your career!

Helen Wilkie is a professional keynote speaker and trainer specializing in workplace communication. Visit and sign up for her free monthly e-zine “Communi-keys”, and she’ll send you her free 40-page e-book 23 Ideas You Can Use RIGHT NOW to Communicate and Succeed in Your Business Career

When you decide to build an Alarm Company from the ground up, there are many considerations that one must take into account. As there are few places to turn where all the needed information is under one roof, you may find yourself speaking to many experts in individual aspects of business and alarm company operations. After a great amount of information is gathered, you can then begin to put the puzzle together.

The inherent problem with this approach is that the information taught by one was not designed to flow with the information taught by another, and you end up putting out many fires, at a time that you should be learning how to prevent them.

Begin by asking yourself some of the following questions:

Do I join an alarm dealership program or run an independent alarm company?

How will I set up administration for the daily operations of my alarm company?

What should I pay all the crucial positions?

How does the paperwork flow from sales, to alarm install. to administration?

What numbers should I target and expect?

How is my alarm sales department structured?

How is my alarm installation department structured?

How do all of these positions get managed productively?

What equipment should I sell and install?

What is normal industry pricing?

How do I find potential customers?

How do I efficiently convert these people into clients?

Who does the monitoring of these alarms?

How do I hire for all the necessary departments?

How do I train them and make them accountable to success?

I have only begun to scratch the surface of all the things that need to be considered when opening an Alarm Company. Set yourself a consultation with an industry expert that can help you decide on the complete structure. This way your chosen path will have continuity and flow, while saving you time getting to where you are going as a competitor in a complicated but lucrative venture.

Matthew Francis Alarms@expertsknow.com

Matthew is a 22 year veteran of the alarm industry. He has served as an installer, salesman, licensed alarm company owner, monitoring station designer, promotions and marketing director with one of the worlds largest security dealers. He now works as a consumer advocate, teaching consumers how to buy or get systems for free (without being taken). He also consults alarm dealerships on how to market to the educated consumers that today’s alarm dealer is finding. He is committed to being unbiased.
His web site is http://www.expertsknow.com

Scenario One

During a recent presentation, a business owner was given the following challenge. If 10 of his 100 employees were asked to name the top 3 organizational goals for the current year as they perceived them to be, would he receive the same 3 goals from everyone or would he receive 5, 10 or even 25 different goals? The business owner shook his head and thoughtfully responded, “No, I am sure that I would receive more than 3 goals.” He was then asked to consider what these misdirected actions from his employees were costing him in terms of missed opportunities.

Scenario Two

At another presentation, a business owner was asked if she set goals? She responded quite enthusiastically, “Of course, I set goals.” She was asked a follow-up question: “Can you state with 100% conviction that your employees know how to consistently achieve both their personal and professional goals?” After a few moments, she replied “No.” She was then asked how this lack of knowledge potentially affected her bottom line?

Scenario Three

A president of a company was asked: “Have you ever seen behavior inconsistent with your strategic plan?” He quickly answered “Yes!” A second question was asked, “What did you do about it?” “Well, we sent them to training and within 6 months we had to send them back again?” A new question was then posed to the President. “Are these performance failures a result of a lack of knowledge or skills or due to poor attitudes and habits?” The president immediately said “Why bad attitudes and poor habits.” Again, the facilitator asked another question: “What are all these re-do’s costing your company?”

Scenario Four

During the annual meeting, the CEO of a manufacturing company informed her executive team that she wanted to achieve a 10% growth during the next 12 months. The VP of Operations made plans to purchase new manufacturing equipment for some new products while the VP of Marketing & Sales began to implement a plan selling existing products. The CFO decided to cut budgets to capital improvements and marketing. All three executive team members believed that their actions would help achieve the 10% growth.

These scenarios shared four critical success factors (CSF’s) that impede all organizations from achieving consistent results: communication, goal setting and goal achievement skills, attitudes and alignment.

Critical Factor #1: Communication is the key to unlocking the potential within businesses as well as individuals. When the goals are in alignment with the vision and consistently communicated from top down, then performance excellence is much more likely to happen. Inconsistent communication contributes to missed targets and lowers the performance for the entire organization.

Critical Factor #2: Goal setting and goal achievement are learned skills. Unfortunately, many presume that these skills are acquired during the K-12 educational experiences through the “Osmosis Process.” Also, these skills are not actively taught in the corporate setting. Yet, consistent goal achievement or the results are what every organization seeks.

Critical Factor #3: Attitudes drive behaviors that result in change. Many companies focus on trying to change negative behaviors because they are experiencing negative change. However, when the negative attitudes are replaced with positive attitudes, those attitudes will drive positive behaviors creating positive change. By failing to address negative attitudes, new trends, changes or initiatives, the result is wasted resources creating a negative drain on the “KASH Box.”

Critical Factor #4: Alignment is necessary to ensure that the desired results are achieved. Performance excellence happens when the strategies, systems and people are working together to build loyal internal customers that drive loyal external customers. The much heard adage about “Getting everyone to row in the same direction” is true, but probably should be amended to include the following “by using the same paddles.”

When these four CSF’s work together, results happen quicker and create a culture of working “smarter and not harder.” The following questions may help you to achieve the consistent results that you desire as you work your strategic plan:

1. Do I know with 100% accuracy that every employee can clearly articulate the top 3 goals for the organizations?

2. Does every person within the organization consistently sets and achieves all of his or her personal and professional goals?

3. Does everyone within the organization at ALL times consistently demonstrate positive attitudes?

4. Are the strategies, systems and people in alignment to build loyal internal customers?

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she builds peace and abundance by connecting the 3P’s of Passion, Purpose and Performance through process improvement. Her ROI driven process solutions affect sustainable change in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation with a variety of industries. She aligns the strategies, systems and people to develop loyal internal customers that lead to external customers. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential:Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for June 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please call Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 or email leanne@processspecialist.com if you are seeking amazing results.

Copyright 2005 Leanne Hoagland-Smith, http://www.processspecialist.com

Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

In a recent article in “Investors Business Daily”, it was revealed that outsourcing has become more than just an easy way to cut costs. It has become a strategic tool that gives businesses flexibility and access to skilled personnel.

Since the advent of the Internet, and the rush to get online, companies have turned to outside professionals for services and solutions. Hiring a full-time IT technician is costly and not an efficient use of resources. Outsourcing allows companies to focus on their core businesses while gaining access to skilled labor when they need it.

* Outsourcing is a way to boost revenue
* Outsourcing is a way to cut costs
* Outsourcing eases labor shortages
* Outsourcing cuts payroll costs
* Outsourcing allows companies to focus on core competencies
* Outsourcing reduces or eliminates some capital expenditures

Outsourcing also allows businesses to change their corporate culture. If companies have renegade groups that are costly, ineffective, or difficult to manage, that group can be outsourced. This enables employers to change their workplace environment on-the-fly.

Still, most companies outsource projects in order to reduce costs and to gain outside expertise. A survey by “The Conference Board” indicated the following “Top-10″ outsourcing objectives (numbers are approximate):

* Reduce Costs (40%)
* Access to Expertise (38%)
* Improve Internal Service (37%)
* Focus on Core Business (34%)
* Maximize Resources (27%)
* Internal Flexibility (25%)
* Improve External Service (24%)
* Changing Customer Needs (20%)
* World Class Standards (15%)
* Continuous Improvement (15%)

When deciding to outsource your packaging, the real litmus test is whether outsourcing adds value. Does it really reduce costs? Is the investment in in-house training and machinery too great? Does outsourcing a service give you access to people with greater skill sets or companies with more resources available to them?

Bottom line: outsourcing your packaging service needs is about more than just saving money. It is a strategic option for savvy businesses and entrepreneurs.

Thomas Bacon has been involved in the contract packaging industry for more than 35 years. He is an author, speaker and owner of Aaron Thomas Company, Inc., a packaging service company with locations in Los Angeles, Memphis and Chicago. His articles on contract packaging are available on www.Packaging.com and through various media outlets.

Its seems like work life balance is an issue with growing importance these days, as more and more parents change the traditional family settings and move into different working patterns, new, unfamiliar problems in balancing work and life rise, and work life balance suddenly becomes an important subject.

Work life balance is all about managing the time you got with them things you want to do, ask every successful manager and she will tell you that you have time enough to do everything you want to do, as long as you prioritize and fully understand what it is that you want to do in your day. work life balance is about setting limits and truly understanding how much each and every detail in your daily routine is important to you and to your goals.

A lot has changed in our work patterns in the last decade that many people in the western world do not hold on to what was once considered the “family values” with parents working from home, or splitting work between an office and the home office, family duties, tasks and activities are shifting and changing into a much more flexible and unpredicted setting.

Prioritizing starts by simply understanding that there is way too many things you want to do, and that you can not fit all of them into one day, or some time one week. Work life balance, for many of us, is really about balancing work and family, prioritizing draws a clear picture, sometimes its not a nice one, sometimes you need to give up a lot of your favorite things by prioritizing, but eventually, as your work life balance skills improve - you will benefit from this. Prioritizing is the first step to better work life balance because it starts the process of understanding the activities limit on a daily basis.

Delegating work is another work life balance tool, this is something you can use to deal with growing tasks and not having enough time to manage everything. Managing time is the same as tasks management, and both are in fact the basics of work life management, in the daily routine everyone can do a little something for this life balance, family life can improve significantly by better work life balance, and that’s exactly why all the members of a family can contribute to it.

One more thought about work life balance, if you think about it unplanned days pass very quickly, the planned ones can move as fast as the unplanned, but in the end of the day you feel more satisfied, and you know what you did. Understanding the time you got available and figuring out what you want to do with it is a great challenge, as with all life work balance challenges, going to bed at night and realizing you have done 90% of what you planned to do, and that your day had the structure of work and family activities you wanted will make you feel good and strong, some even say that it will make you sleep better at night.

Start thinking about work life balance in your life today, balancing work and life is not so hard and it is something most of us need, you will enjoy more quality time with your family and less personal stress if you start thinking about your work life balance. Good luck.

John Furnem is a dot com veteran, specializing in personality psychology he has written articles and held seminars for stress management & Work Life Balance. John currently writes Work Life Balance articles for ZupaTips.com

Since technology is, advancing time management strategies if all ready constructed should be modified accordingly. Technology has come a long way since its early beginning in the 80s. Nearly every business today is upgrading computers, software, and hardware, and so on to keep up with the times. If we have our own business and upgraded, we know that the prices of software, hardware and computers has changed also.

Nowadays we can get computers for less than $500 if we search the market thoroughly for the best prices. Time management is essential for business transactions, family, entertainment, goals, and so much more. When we develop a time management scheme that works smoothly to reach our goals, it makes our life much easier. Managing time is not always easy since times change dramatically, and in some instances every day. Most of us are aware that when we purchase a computer it is all ready outdated once it hits our desk.

Therefore, we need to know which computer can benefit our business best, and at the same time get prices that match our budget plan in our time management scheme. Computers should have at least 512 RAM or DDRAM to run smoothly in business transactions. So when you are purchasing a computer for business relations, make sure the RAM is sufficient, as well as the CPU since it plays a role in Speed. The hard drive should be at least 80 GHz to operate the average small business. Hard drives are relatively inexpensive nowadays, so if you find a good price on a computer, you can always upgrade later. Software is also important in business relations and time management. If you buy software that does not coordinate with other programs, you will run into conflicts, which waste time and money.

If your computer is conflicting with other programs, then it often leads to difficult situations. You should also include Virus Scanners, Spyware, and Adware Programs, since nowadays everyone is attacked at some point in a year. Other types of software that could benefit your business are Microsoft Outlook, which has features and tools for storing files, managing files, and storing important information, keeping your files organized.

There are a variety of software’s on the marketplace specifically designed for businesses of all sizes and the prices start low in some instances and go up in other cases. Depends on the size of your business, so be sure to get what you need, and not what you want since budgeting is a part of reaching your goals. Remember in some instances we can’t avoid saving, since generic programs may waste our time when they fail. It might be wise to purchase a program that is a bit more expensive. This may save you time and money in the long run.

You might also want to search for a program that makes backing up large files, or a number of files easier. Backups can take time if you have a hard drive full of files. Storage mediums are available in case you want to back your files up to disc or tape and store them in a safe area. Some business owners include in their time management scheme a well-developed plan for backups. Some businesses store files on a central computer stored outside of their office. This not only provides a securer source for saving your data, it also provides a solution if disaster hits your building.

Software programs that cut cost and spares time are the best programs to purchase. Be sure to clean you computer regularly, since space is essential in time management. If you store files on your computer and rarely clean it, it will backup your hard drive and your computer may crash. In addition, you can purchase affordable software that can help keep your computer clean and running smoothly. Programs such as Window Washer makes it easy to clean files that are no longer used, as well as rummaging and cleaning files that are fragmented. Any program that works to manage your time and save you money is worth the cost. Be sure you keep up with technology advancements, since some software programs when outdated have no technical support available.

For more great free resources on how to manage your time visit Gabae Time Management.

Also for more informative articles on time management visit Gabae Time Management Articles.

When we are little kids one of our major goals is to learn to ride a bike. We are so determined to ride that bike that no one can stop us! Scraped knees, skinned elbows, are all the learning curve, no matter how much you get hurt everyone keeps telling you to get back on the bike until you get it.

What a fantastic way to start your life - setting a goal and having everyone behind you cheering you on until you achieve it! Too bad as we continue to travel through life we start to develop limiting beliefs.
Have you ever wanted to go on that vacation, go for that out of town job, go for that raise, lose those extra pounds, quit smoking, go back to school to get your degree, volunteer more, or simply just make some free time for yourself? I know you have had some type of goal for yourself that you did not achieve because of someone saying that you can’t, something came up to sidetrack you, or you just quit because you started to believe yourself that you can’t achieve it.

Unfortunately, we start to listen to what the people in our lives are saying and stop listening to ourselves. When we go to do something new - that voice pops in your head (hey sometimes it’s your own mothers!) saying what are you doing?

Though it is hard to get rid of those “limiting voices” in your head, it is possible.

Goal Setting Excercises:

•The first step is to write down 5 goals that you would like to achieve and put them on index cards. You can start out with some small, easily attainable goals like - I will have one hour of free time to spend each week just for myself, some medium sized goals like I will change around my work schedule so I can spend more quality time with my family, and then long term goals like I will retire in 5 years.

•Duplicate your index cards so you have a few sets of your goals. Maybe one set in your night stand, one by your computer, one in your car, one at your office, etc.

•Read them over at least twice a day. The more you read them the more they will become apart of your thinking.

•Make it happen! Remember you are responsible for your results. There is no one else to blame for goals not achieved!

•Reward yourself for reaching your goals!

•Always make more goals for yourself!

Happy Goal Setting,

Erin Karlsen

Erin Karlsen is a home business coach. She can teach you how her and her husband were able to quit their day jobs and enjoy life!
http://www.enjoyyourlifenow.net

As a leader, if you’ve looked around you and wondered why some leaders seem to have all the time in the world, while you’re feeling stressed and under the hammer, perhaps you need to lead the lazy way instead.

The Oxford University Press defines Lazy as:

1. Unwilling to work or use energy.
2. Showing or characterized by a lack of effort or care.

Both of these are very good definitions of what the lazy leader should be; unwilling to expend useless energy and characterised by a lack of effort. Unfortunately, the definition is somewhat limited in vision for true leadership.

As a lazy leader myself, I often have a basic desire to sit back and relax. Now I could just stop…

…and at some level I have achieved it; but apart from some nice white space, what have I really accomplished? Well, I stopped typing, leant back for a second and breathed deep. I avoided a little bit of work and conserved a tiny amount of my energy for that nap a little later. This does sound at least a little like laziness, and certainly not the characteristic of a leader.

At another level though, my conscious mind is doing a whole different set of things; I may have stopped writing for example, but my brain is asking a series of awkward questions. Can I get away with leaving white space? Will the browser format it out? Will you keep reading and will you, the reader “get it?” So despite being lazy on one level, at another level I’ve just bought a whole mess of pain and worry — if I tried to extend this to far, the analogy really breaks down. No matter how lazy a leader I choose to be, I doubt I could get away with an article that consisted of nothing but white space!

At my blog http://lazyleaders.blogspot.com, this is the kind of subject I regularly ponder. I hope you see from the above example, that, in and of itself, laziness really won’t get you anywhere, however the desire to be lazy can.

Consider a successful Partner I know in a major professional services firm. He is young, up and coming and making lots of money. Many people respect him for both his work ethic and his administrative abilities; he is unusual in that not only does he bring the work in, he also does the administrative work necessary to ensure it is billed and collected too. To most of us, this looks like hard work, but from him I learnt one of the key lessons of successful lazy leadership. Simply put, this is that “Being lazy is sometimes hard work”

In fact, his exact words went something like this:
“If you hate administration, then you have two options do it right first time so it never comes back to bother you again or ignore it and do a poor job and have it come back to you time and time again.”

If you can understand this and how it relates to the definition, you are on your way to a new level of laziness, and I hope better leadership as a result.

Terry Rook is a Senior Manager in a large professional services organisation. At http://lazyleaders.blogspot.com he is taking his own original observations on leadership and how to improve your life, and that of your team, through being lazy.

Last week, as I was standing in the checkout line of my local grocery store, I found myself staring at the dozen or so magazines on display. As I gazed upon the various photos and headlines praising or trashing the celebrity du jour, I got to thinking.

What kind of celebrity would Socrates be if he were alive today? How would we treat him?

In what way would he ask his questions in the 21st century? He never wrote much of anything–we know his ideas mostly through the work of his student, Plato. Would he give speeches? Would he have televised debates? Would he have his own talk show?

If so, who would be his guests?

Socrates was famous in his day. He was loved and admired for his ideas and his relentless questioning, and he was despised for the same things. Like all celebrities, he had his fans and he had his detractors.

Socrates himself said, “I am utterly disturbing and I create only perplexity.” He understood his role as a provocateur, but he also had the best of intentions. He simply wanted to give people the opportunity to question themselves in order to become better humans.

Well, there are a lot of celebrities who push our buttons, but we don’t tend to think of them as philosophers!

What if we did? What if we could separate the thoughts from the thinkers? We tend to dismiss the whole package–the persona–instead of taking a good look at revolutionary or inflammatory ideas. We marginalize our radical thinkers.

The rapper Eminem is a radical thinker, though many would say he is just plain radical. In his way, he is true to himself. He has broken through to mainstream consciousness because he touched a nerve–and got a lot of press.

Would Socrates be a rapper today? Would he be a professor? A performance artist? How would we regard him?

He was notoriously unattractive. Would photographers surround him, taking photos to sell to the tabloids? Would we care about him if he didn’t make it on the cover of our favorite magazines?

At first glance, it may seem that we are sorely lacking in philosophers today. Perhaps we have an outdated idea of what a philosopher looks like. Not all philosophers have beards!

Do you think of Eminem as a philosopher?

Do you think of Julia Butterfly Hill, the environmental activist who lived at the top of a massive tree for two years, as a philosopher?

Do you think of Rush Limbaugh as a philosopher?

Well, they do think. They do question. They provoke discussion and argument, and they are passionate about their ideas. That makes them a lot like Socrates.

Who inspires you today? Which thinkers make you think?

What is it about them that appeals to you? Is it their ideas or the way they are presented?

We’ve become quite savvy about packaging. We expect professional presentation. We discount the ideas of those who don’t look the part of a thinker. Of course, there are exceptions. Albert Einstein could pull off that wild-haired look. Bill Gates isn’t known for his sartorial splendor. Some might argue that Stephen Hawking is actually more compelling and impressive because of his physical challenges.

Whether we admit it or not, we each have our own biases about the appearance, age, sex, nationality, or religion of the thinkers of today. What are yours?

I’m afraid Socrates would need a good public relations team in order to be heard amidst the cacophony of thought-mongers today. The prescribed process for publicizing your ideas now goes something like this: write a book, get a publisher, do tons of interviews and book signings and readings, and cash in. It helps immensely if you appeal to the mainstream culture, or if your book manages to stir up a bit of controversy. Creating buzz is what gets thinkers noticed today.

Socrates was good at creating buzz, but he would face a lot of competition in the 21st century thinkers market. I like to think that he would find a way to be who he was and that we would appreciate his gifts.

Think about what you read, what you listen to, and what you consider worthy of your attention. As you do so, remember Socrates.

There are loads of passionate thinkers in our world today. Look for the ones who aren’t shouting from the rooftops, and consider those who turn you off completely. Expand your view of what a philosopher is. In the process, you’ll become a better one yourself.

About The Author

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse. Her course, Massage Your Mind!: Defining Your Life Philosophy, has inspired thinkers in over 70 countries around the world. She is the publisher of the Friday Mind Massage, a free weekly ezine serving up a satisfying blend of clarity, comfort and comic relief. To learn more, visit http://www.massageyourmind.com or http://mindmasseuse.com.

maya@massageyourmind.com