The concept of time management remains an enigma for many and it’s understandable. On any given day, we start with 24 hours and within that time-frame process through personal and professional needs, tasks, projects, responsibilities, priorities, and everything else. There are days when we feel very accomplished and others when we feel completely defeated. It can be a continuous see-saw of productivity versus ineffectiveness.

Rather than monitor the minutes and attempt to control every single factor, I suggest a new approach where the focus is on the end result and one’s productivity levels. The goal is to examine life as a whole and consider time from a more broad perspective as it relates to how you live your life or your living style. The approach is called Timestyle, or time management for your living style.

Below is a snapshot of the Timestyle approach to time management, also known as the 5 P’s of productivity.

1. Keep your eye on the prize – In order to get to the bottom of your time management struggle, the first step is to identify why this is so important or what is the intended goal. Most commonly, people want to feel ‘better’ or ‘less stressed’ however that is only part of the prize. Keep pushing yourself to define ‘better’ and ask how being ‘less stressed’ will improve your life. For many clients, tears will roll down their cheeks when they hit on the prize – this is a good sign.

2. Manage your priorities – When asked, most people will say they have eight to ten priorities. The very definition of a priority is the primary or main concern at any given time. In my opinion, it’s almost impossible to have nine main concerns, at any one moment, and still do them well. The challenge is to narrow the priority list to three or four and focus on those. Narrowing the list allows for greater focus and intensity, thus improving your chances of success. If narrowing down the list is too scary, consider this phrase: for now. Simply work on those priorities, for now, and feel free to define ‘for now’ as needed.

3. Plan, plan, plan – If ever there was a secret weapon in the time management war, planning is it. Success levels increase with an element of planning in one’s life. Chances are, if you are habitually late, easily misplacing items and unable to complete projects, it may be because there is a failure or reluctance to plan. Planning saves effort, time, money, and rewards you with less stress and more time to do what you truly want to be doing. When planning, it’s important to do three things:

• Practice T4T. Plan for today and the next 4 days, or 4 tomorrows.
• Start small.  If planning is a foreign concept, focus intently for a short time, 5 to 10 minutes. A lot can be accomplished in a few minutes.
• Note the change. What is different with the advent of your new planning strategy? Are supermarket visits less frequent? Are you early to appointments? Less stressed? More productive and organized?

With practice, planning skills will develop quickly and become second nature. Eventually, planning one month, a year and even five years into the future will become the norm.

4. Identify partnerships – Admittedly, this is where clients push-back the most. The initial reaction is partnering costs extra money and is inconvenient. I’m here to challenge that notion.

Partnerships come in many forms and the goal is to get you focused on doing that which brings you pleasure and value. If running errands or grocery shopping are major headaches, then order groceries online and pay the nominal delivery fee. Find a dry cleaning service that picks up and drops off – again, the delivery fee is nominal and you’re able to do what you’d rather be doing

Be creative with your partners. Get family members involved – there’s no reason one person needs to do the bulk of the work. Even small children can learn to hang their coats and carry in their sippy cups from the car. Visit a recipe website and have weekly menus delivered to your inbox. Shopping lists are often included and you will know ahead of time precisely what’s needed for the week

Professionally, outsource the projects or work you struggle to complete or dislike. Create systems and streamline your workload with templates. Remember, partnerships come in many different forms.

5. Practice. As with any new habit or regimen, it takes practice for the routine to take hold. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote in his best-selling Psycho-Cybernetics, it takes 21 days for a new thought or activity to stick.

On second thought, perhaps the last ‘P’ ought to include patience and perseverance as well.

By: Stacey Vulakh

Quiz.. Which social media does Women In Consulting have a presence on?

A)     Blog

B)      Facebook

C)      LinkedIn

D)     Twitter

E)      YouTube

F)      All of the above

If you answered “all of the above” you are correct.  In case you are not sure how to access our social media or what type of content you will find, here are some details:

Blog

The Women In Consulting blog publishes articles to help you run your consultancy or small business.  Topics include how to manage clients, work/life balance, social media tips, tax laws affecting small businesses, and more!

How to access – http://blog.womeninconsulting.org/

How to subscribe – Opt in to receive articles via RSS feed or by email by clicking on the icons on the top right side of the page

Facebook

The WIC Facebook page now has 930+ members.  Like the page for helpful articles, WIC meetings, WIC blog posts, to collaborate with the WIC Facebook community, and for periodic special events.

How to access – http://www.facebook.com/womeninconsulting

How to follow – Click the “Like” button at top of the page (and help us reach 1,000!)

LinkedIn

WIC has a LinkedIn Group and recently launched a WIC Company page.  The group has 1,900+ members.  Join for vibrant Discussions, WIC events, and WIC blog articles.  The page provides information about Women In Consulting and WIC Pro Bono team members.

How to access – Group: Go to the LinkedIn search box, select “Group” and enter “Women in Consulting”; Company page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-consulting-wic-

How to join – Group: click “Join Group” (and help us reach 2,000!); Company page: click “Follow Company”

Twitter

The WIC Twitter community has over 1,200 followers.  Follow WIC on Twitter for relevant articles, WIC events, WIC blog posts, and periodic special events.

How to access: http://twitter.com/wiconsult

How to follow: Click “Follow” (and help us reach 1,300!)

YouTube

WIC recently launched a YouTube channel.  Here you will find videos about WIC, videos with WIC meeting speakers, and more to come.

How to access: http://www.youtube.com/womeninconsulting

How to follow: Click “Subscribe” (and be among the first to subscribe!)

And, a quick shout out to the Pro Bono volunteers who run the social media day-to-day: Blog – Cheryl Chow and Karmen Reed, Facebook – Leilani Yau and Juliet Travis (with Eve Murto helping while Leilani is on maternity leave), LinkedIn – Kathryn Gorges and Kay Lawton (with Eve Murto joining team soon), Twitter – Birgit Johnston and Tracy Sestili, and YouTube – Beverley Bird.

If you haven’t already, join WIC’s social media communities and take advantage of all they have to offer.  And let us know if you have ideas or suggestions!

By: Rachel Melia

We’ve heard it time and time again: in order to be successful in business, it’s important to take risks.  This is one aspect of business that took me especially long to embrace.

Why? I was born and raised in the US, however my first full-time job was in Japan.  So my earliest work experiences were those that followed the famous proverb “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down”.  At the time there was not a lot of innovation, creativity, or outside-the-box thinking as a young employee, but the desire to fit in was apparent in everything from workplace etiquette to clothing styles.

Upon returning to the states, I soon observed peers advocating for themselves.  Making an effort to stand out. Taking risks. For me this kind of behavior took some practice: taking risks and knowing it’s OK to do so.

Good news is that two FANTASTIC leaders within WIC, Francine Gordon and Kathy Klotz-Guest, are leading a workshop THIS Friday, May 20, that will allow participants to stretch, discover, learn, and gain confidence around risk taking. This is not your normal sit-and-be-lectured-to format; Francine and Kathy have some exciting exercises and surprises planned for all.

In the end, I expect we’ll ALL walk away having exercised our risk-taking muscle, and knowing that the potential upside of risk taking FAR outweigh the downside of failure.

By: Lisa Strand

Are you blogging?

If you answered “No,” read on.

If you answered “Yes,” read on.

Why? Because if you have your own business, you should have a blog. No excuses. (I’ve personally run out of them. Starting a blog is one of my 2011 business goals.) And, if you already have one—a blog, that is, not an excuse—you want it work as smartly as you do by drawing more readers, positioning you as a thought leader, improving search engine results, and generating new business.

Having a blog and doing it the right way is critical.

Consider the numbers:

• 51 percent of daily Internet users read a blog at least once per month and over 60 percent will do so by 2014 (Technorati)
• 62 percent of self-employed people say they have much greater visibility in their industry because of their business blog (Technorati)
• Companies with a business blog attract 55 percent more website visitors and have 434 percent more indexed pages, which leads to better search engine results (HubSpot).
• More than 43 percent of US companies will market via a blog by 2012, up from 34 percent in 2010 (eMarketer)

On March 1, the WIC workshop, “Business Blogging: From the Essentials to the Exceptional,” will have something for everyone, no matter whether you’re “blogless,” a newbie or a seasoned pro. This is a dual-track workshop, meaning you’ll choose either the novice track or the advanced track. In less than four hours, you’ll learn how to get your blog on the right path. That’s a wise investment of time and resources.

Presenter Jerry Bates of FittingSites.com will show new bloggers how to set up a visually compelling, SEO-friendly and “sticky” WordPress blog with all the right features. You’ll learn how to think like your visitors and get tips for creating clean page layouts. Jerry will show you how to tap into the hidden potential of WordPress, use your blog in novel ways and integrate external services such as YouTube and Google Apps.

Speaker Ann Evanston of Warrior-Preneur will work with experienced bloggers who want to take their blogs to the next level. She’ll cover the pros and cons of a blog versus a video blog versus a website. You’ll receive insights and tips for keeping content fresh, pumping up your profile as a thought leader, video blogging, and how your blog plays into social media. Ann will also focus on the all-important issue of how to drive more traffic to your blog, which was identified as the number one challenge in a recent ProBlogger survey.

Don’t let this great opportunity pass.

Register now for the workshop and take advantage of the early-bird discount, which ends on February 15.

By: Michelle Gouldsberry

Join us on Thursday night, 10/21, at the WIC general meeting for a fun scavenger hunt. From 6:00 – 6:30pm,  you can team with two of your friends to seek answers hidden around the room to some tough questions for a chance to win some prizes. Along the way, you’ll learn more about WIC and the pro bono experience. Make sure to stop by the Pro Bono table to learn about the many opportunities to power your business growth by becoming a pro bono team member in 2011. Then stay to learn to how to grow your business from top-earning consultants. See you there at the Quadras Conference Center in Menlo Park on Thursday!

By: Deborah Hoard

Why do people volunteer? Simply because they love the work, and are passionate about an organization. People volunteer because they want to make a difference in their community, their world, and they want to help others succeed. Volunteering makes people feel good, it balances their work and personal life, and feeds that creative part of the soul.

I’ve been a part of Women in Consulting for at least eight years or more, and seven of those eight years I’ve been a volunteer board member. WIC has been successful at feeding my creative soul. If you’re part of WIC, you know that this is a tremendous organization with some of the most talented and vivacious women in Silicon Valley and in the Bay Area, hands down. While I’ve continued to find new ways to volunteer to this growing organization, I’ve also had two children, published a book, worked with some great technology companies, and have been part of some very innovative projects at Women in Consulting. When I look back at all my volunteering efforts, I’ve learned that I’ve been allowed to hone some very important skills that are critical to the success of any business.

Below, I’ve outlined five key volunteer skills that I think are beneficial to help you drive your business, increase partnerships and help you become a more effective leader, consultant and businesswoman:

1. Collaboration
When you volunteer, you end up collaborating with many people to reach a common goal. Collaboration is a large part of what makes an all-volunteer organization successful and it helps to keep all members involved in important decisions. Women are great collaborators and the more you collaborate, the better team-player you can be for your clients and your future clients. Collaboration skills are an excellent way to meet new people, friendships and work with more clients. People who collaborate are effective leaders and tend to listen more. They also tend to do well in any organization, regardless of size because they respect others, and they
inspire individuals to work together to reach new levels of success.

2. Support
When you volunteer, you have an opportunity to gain a new support network. In a volunteer role, you’ll meet other like-minded individuals who are passionate about helping an organization grow and you may find that your new volunteer colleagues are perfect candidates to not only support you in your project efforts, but they may also be perfect candidates to help give you some feedback on that next new venture or client proposal in your own business. You also learn that as a volunteer, sometimes you are playing a larger support role and sometimes you are receiving the support. Whatever the case may be, the support you discover you have can allow you to be inspired to continued volunteer efforts and motivate you to open new doors to client projects that you may have not considered before. Mastering the the many facets of how support can help a project or organization can make you a more understanding consultant, business partner and business professional.

3. Innovation
Innovation drives technology companies and it also drives volunteer organizations. Without innovative ideas and processes, things cannot progress. New members bring new ideas and unique ways of thinking and this is important in the growth of an all-volunteer organization. What’s especially great about volunteering is that if you have an innovative process idea or technology, there’s most likely an opportunity to push the envelope and try out your ideas. At Women In Consulting, we’ve always tried to tap into the most cutting-edge processes and tools to motivate and inspire our members. Some of our greatest new ideas have come from volunteer efforts and many of them are new volunteers who aren’t afraid to try something new. Innovation drives growth and it helps to drive businesses to be the best they can be.

4.Building Relationships
When you volunteer for an organization, you build relationships with new colleagues, potential partners and possibly your next customer. I’ve known volunteers who have changed their career focus because of a volunteer they’ve been inspired by or worked with. Relationships matter in the business world and you have an incredible opportunity to develop new relationships with people who share your same values and work ethic when volunteering. I’ve met many new people in my volunteer years, some of who have become my closest friends and colleagues and some have become mentors that I still turn to for advice and suggestions. Relationships you develop while volunteering can last a lifetime and can be a wonderful source of reference and testimonial for you with your potential and existing clients.

5. Creative Problem-Solving
There’s never a shortage for creative ideas in an all-volunteer organization! When I first started volunteering with WIC, I realized I had some good, solid ideas that could help the organization grow and prosper. I remember making a small suggestion that turned into my first volunteer project. When you find creative solutions to a problem, people want you to lead and they are eager to watch you lead. This is what WIC is about-if you’ve got an idea to change something, you will always have an opportunity to use that creativity in a volunteer role. You may not get the chance to be creative with all your existing clients, but when you volunteer, you may get to try something new that allows you to explore your creative problem-solving skills. You also may get the chance to lead and solve problems in a part of a business that you haven’t explored before, making you more well-rounded and adaptable for prospective clients and customers.

I challenge you to explore the many benefits of volunteering in your career and find ways to give back to your community. Once you’ve started down the
volunteering path you’ll realize that many of the skills you’ve been wanting to develop in your career may be in your own backyard and available to you today.

For information on how to volunteer with Women In Consulting, contact WIC’s Membership Director, Deborah Hoard: dhoard@get-net-results.com

By: Sherry Prescott

Why do people volunteer? Simply because they love the work, and are passionate about an organization. People volunteer because they want to make a difference in their community, their world, and they want to help others succeed. Volunteering makes people feel good, it balances their work and personal life, and feeds that creative part of the soul.

I’ve been a part of Women in Consulting for at least eight years or more, and seven of those eight years I’ve been a volunteer board member. WIC has been successful at feeding my creative soul. If you’re part of WIC, you know that this is a tremendous organization with some of the most talented and vivacious women in Silicon Valley and in the Bay Area, hands down. While I’ve continued to find new ways to volunteer to this growing organization, I’ve also had two children, published a book, worked with some great technology companies, and have been part of some very innovative projects at Women in Consulting. When I look back at all my volunteering efforts, I’ve learned that I’ve been allowed to hone some very important skills that are critical to the success of any business.

Below I’ve outlined five key volunteer skills that I think are beneficial to help you drive your business, increase partnerships and help you become a more effective leader, consultant and businesswoman:

1. Collaboration
When you volunteer, you end up collaborating with many people to reach a common goal. Collaboration is a large part of what makes an all-volunteer organization successful and it helps to keep all members involved in important decisions. Women are great collaborators and the more you collaborate, the better team-player you can be for your clients and your future clients. Collaboration skills are an excellent way to meet new people, friendships and work with more clients. People who collaborate are effective leaders and tend to listen more. They also tend to do well in any organization, regardless of size because they respect others, and they inspire individuals to work together to reach new levels of success.

2. Support
When you volunteer, you have an opportunity to gain a new support network. In a volunteer role, you’ll meet other like-minded individuals who are passionate about helping an organization grow and you may find that your new volunteer colleagues are perfect candidates to not only support you in your project efforts, but they may also be perfect candidates to help give you some feedback on that next new venture or client proposal in your own business. You also learn that as a volunteer, sometimes you are playing a larger support role and sometimes you are receiving the support. Whatever the case may be, the support you discover you have can allow you to be inspired to continued volunteer efforts and motivate you to open new doors to client projects that you may have not considered before. Mastering the many facets of how support can help a project or organization can make you a more understanding consultant, business partner and business professional.

3. Innovation
Innovation drives technology companies and it also drives volunteer organizations. Without innovative ideas and processes, things cannot progress. New members bring new ideas and unique ways of thinking and this is important in the growth of an all-volunteer organization. What’s especially great about volunteering is that if you have an innovative process idea or technology, there’s most likely an opportunity to push the envelope and try out your ideas. At Women In Consulting, we’ve always tried to tap into the most cutting-edge processes and tools to motivate and inspire our members. Some of our greatest new ideas have come from volunteer efforts and many of them are new volunteers who aren’t afraid to try something new. Innovation drives growth and it helps to drive businesses to be the best they can be.

4.Building Relationships
When you volunteer for an organization, you build relationships with new colleagues, potential partners and possibly your next customer. I’ve known volunteers who have changed their career focus because of a volunteer they’ve been inspired by or worked with. Relationships matter in the business world and you have an incredible opportunity to develop new relationships with people who share your same values and work ethic when volunteering. I’ve met many new people in my volunteer years, some of who have become my closest friends and colleagues and some have become mentors that I still turn to for advice and suggestions. Relationships you develop while volunteering can last a lifetime and can be a wonderful source of reference and testimonial for you with your potential and existing clients.

5. Creative Problem-Solving
There’s never a shortage for creative ideas in an all-volunteer organization! When I first started volunteering with WIC, I realized I had some good, solid ideas that could help the organization grow and prosper. I remember making a small suggestion that turned into my first volunteer project. When you find creative solutions to a problem, people want you to lead and they are eager to watch you lead. This is what WIC is about-if you’ve got an idea to change something, you will always have an opportunity to use that creativity in a volunteer role. You may not get the chance to be creative with all your existing clients, but when you volunteer, you may get to try something new that allows you to explore your creative problem-solving skills. You also may get the chance to lead and solve problems in a part of a business that you haven’t explored before, making you more well-rounded and adaptable for prospective clients and customers.

I challenge you to explore the many benefits of volunteering in your career and find ways to give back to your community. Once you’ve started down the volunteering path you’ll realize that many of the skills you’ve been wanting to develop in your career may be in your own backyard and available to you today.

For information on how to volunteer with Women In Consulting, contact WIC’s Membership Director, Deborah Hoard: dhoard@get-net-results.com

By: Sherry Prescott

Roughly a month ago, Women in Consulting’s (WIC) Web team launched a new website. Now launching a new site can be a time-consuming and daunting task for teams whose primary focus is maintaining an organization’s website. But when you’re doing it as a side gig — and pro bono yet! — it adds a whole other element to the picture.

I’m beyond grateful to the efforts put forth by WIC’s online marketing team to create such a fabulous new site for WIC and its members. They poured their creative juices, along with some blood, sweat, and tears (maybe a few curses, too) into this project — and the resulting site is proof of that. It incorporates new tools and communication vehicles. It makes it easier to find information. And it better reflects WIC’s image and personality. It also gives us room to grow — and with all the hard work that other WIC teams are doing (more on that later), this is a very good thing indeed.
What’s New
Here are just a few of the new site components, in addition to the new look and feel and navigation structure:

• Revised home page:
  • Better highlights the latest news and events
  • Incorporates WIC’s various social media endeavors, with quick access to latest Tweets and blog posts, as well as links to our Facebook , LinkedIn , and Twitter pages
  • Sponsorship and banner ads
• WIC Community Toolbar, a handy Google-like toolbar that puts the consultant directory and WIC blog posts, articles, news, and events just one-click away
• New Programs & Events section that describes the various programs that WIC offers, along with a complete calendar of events

If you find anything amiss or that you’d like to see done differently, send your input to webmaster@womeninconsulting.org. The team welcomes all feedback.
With Much Gratitude 
The following are the people to thank the next time you see or talk to them:

• Gabriela Martinez, designer extraordinaire and WIC’s brand chair
• Tiraporn Olsen, programmer and CMS guru
• Roan Bear, resident Web technical guru and WIC’s Web technical chair
• Angi Roberts, CMS entry and chief problem solver, working late into the night to make sure all the content was in the CMS tool and that it worked
• Karilee Wirthlin, CMS entry and Angi’s partner in crime in making sure all our T’s were crossed and Is were dotted (and this wasn’t her first time doing this for WIC — she drove the last WIC site launch)
• Melissa Stacey, Linda Popky, Jean Lombard, and Gabriela Martinez, content reviewers who have other WIC responsibilities but were kind enough to lend a hand

See, I wasn’t lying when I said at the January meeting that it takes a village to run WIC. It takes one just to launch the website! Thanks to everyone who made it possible!
More Things to Come
The Web team isn’t the only group working hard to make WIC the best it can be for members. Other teams are equally hard at work. I will periodically post other program highlights to WIC’s blog, so stay tuned!

By: Avery Horzewski

I just heard last night about a California state proposal to begin to require companies to withhold three percent of all monies paid to 1099 independent contractors.  MANY organizations are opposing this for the following reasons:

• Extra costs for local governments to enforce the withholding
• Extra costs for businesses to administer the withholding
• This is not incremental revenue for the state…just accelerated revenue

These are some good reasons…but I have a few more that impact me personally…

• I use subcontractors and pay at least 10 subcontractor invoices each year…I would need to do accounting/reporting/payment on each of those to the state (monthly? quarterly?)
• This is a double-hit since I would be receiving three percent less on all of my own project invoices, even though I’m already required to pay 70% of my estimated state taxes by June 30th for at least the next two years

Any of you who are independent contractors and 1) pay estimated taxes and/or 2) hire subcontractors/1099 resources will also be impacted.

The California Chamber of Commerce, California Special Districts Association, and others are encouraging anyone in opposition to this proposal to write letters to your California Senators and Assemblyman.  See this link to get the info you need to identify who to write to, including their mailing address.  See a sample letter/template to inspire your creativity (you’ll need to ‘make it your own’ since this is a template for businesses/CEOs to send).

Hearing about this proposal makes me realize that I need to stay much more informed about legislative issues that impact my business…good sources of information for small businesses and independent contractors: California Chamber of Commerce, National Association for the Self-Employed, and National Association of Women Business Owners.   We all need to stay informed!

By: Jen Berkley Jackson

As my term as president of Women in Consulting comes to an end this week, I find myself reflecting on all the incredible experiences I’ve had throughout the last two years.

We celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2008 with not only a gala event, but a new look & feel for our website and a new blog. In 2009, we expanded our social media presence to include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

We expanded the reach of our organization, with strong and vibrant satellite groups in San Francisco, the East Bay and North Bay/Marin, as well as the South Bay and Peninsula.

We created a mentoring program and offered workshops to help consultants grow profitable businesses.

We expanded our Leaders Network to provide a venue for seasoned consultants to meet and exchange thoughts and ideas with their peers.

We expanded our profile in the community–partnering with a wide variety of organizations and associations, including the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, the Association for Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), FountainBlue, Astia, IMC NorCal, NorCAL BMA, and others.

We provided benefits to our community from groups like People OntheGo, SD Forum, Cubes & Crayons, Vertical Response, MarketingProfs, Egnite, WeMeUs, Zoomerang, and PR Newswire. And we continued our partnership with Million Dollar Consultant Alan Weiss and the Society for the Advancement of Consulting.

We held silent auctions to benefit Girls for a Change and collected donations for the Georgia Travis Center in San Jose.

Not only did we offer a top-notch set of outstanding speakers for monthly programs, but we launched teleseminar and webinar programs as well.

We continued to offer outstanding value to members and affiliates through our renowned mail list and other resources.

In fact, through the worst recession in nearly a century, we grew our community to be nearly 500 strong–with our ranks of full members swelling by nearly 40% this year.

And we did all this as an entirely volunteer run organization, with over 100 consultants taking on pro bono consulting roles for WIC.

Why, in a time when many organizations are struggling or even closing their doors, is WIC thriving? Because in addition to everything I’ve already mentioned, one of the most important things WIC provides is a strong, collaborative community–a place where consultants can come to learn as well as to socialize, to build their businesses as well as to connect with colleagues, to share experiences and develop referrals, to grow as individuals as well as part of a bigger whole.

For all of these reasons I feel extremely lucky to have had the privilege of guiding this organization over the last two years. And I feel extremely confident in turning over the reigns to the extremely capable and passionate Avery Horzewski to take WIC to the next level.

Thank you to all of you who are a part of WIC. WIC is community and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with each and every one of you. Here’s to more wonderful WIC happenings in 2010 and beyond!

By: Linda Popky