Goal Setting Investments
December 26, 2010 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page, Wright Ideas
- Image by khteWisconsin via Flickr
The goal setting process is about identifying what obstacles are between you and your goal and getting access to the resources needed to bypass those obstacles. Some of the resources we need to reach our goals are time, money, and energy. By focusing on how we can leverage our current time, money, and energy we can create more for when we need them most.
People usually talk about spending money at the store or spending time with their family. The spending mindset is all about the expense in terms of time, money, or energy. When people talk about investing they expect something in return over the long term, not just the momentary pleasure of eating, being entertained, or hanging out. The investment mindset is about the return in terms of time, energy, or money.
When people want to have more money they often start by eliminating excess spending. This is an attempt to reduce the expenses. The trouble with eliminating expenses is that there is a point where no more expenses can be eliminated. If we have a fixed income, there is only so much money we can keep even if we eliminate all our expenses.
The question you should be asking yourself when investing rather than spending is “what is my return on this investment?” Return is profit divided by investment. In other words return is how many more dollars do you get back for every dollar invested.
For example, if I invest $100 in a piece of art and am able to sell it for $100, my return is 0% — I only made back my one dollar for every one dollar I invested. If I am able to sell that piece of art for $150 I made a 50% return — I made back my original $100 plus fifty cents on each dollar I invested. If I decide that I need to be rid of this art piece because it is taking up too much space and I sell it for $50 I had a negative 50% return on that investment — my pay out was $50 less than the original $100 I invested.
Using the principle of return on investment let’s look at typical spending. If I spend $100 on a new TV and get $0 because of it, I have a return of negative 100% — I lost 100% of what I put in. The same applies to our time and energy. The time spent in front of that TV is generating me no pay out and therefore is a 100% loss of that time.
How is this different if rather than spending the time I choose to invest it? I invest the $100 and the several hours a day towards my goals. I may be able to turn that $100 into $200 or $1000. I may turn those few hours into weeks on the beach. I may even notice that my energy level is higher because I’ve invested in something meaningful to myself!
By focusing on investing our time, money, and energy into areas where we will see positive returns, such as our goals, we are able to leverage the original resources and the newly created resources. These resources can now be used to reach other goals more quickly and easily. By choosing to invest, rather than spend, our limited resources we are creating a positive spiral and making our lives match our dreams.
Visit http://SixStepsForChange.com for more on goal setting and more importantly, goal getting and find out how Native American wisdom, good business sense, and NLP are helping more people create the life of their dreams.
Keeping Small Business Websites Beautiful
November 16, 2010 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page, Wright Ideas
- Image via Wikipedia
Keeping Small Business Websites Beautiful: making a tough job easier with updated Content Management Systems
by| Thomas Swanson|Content-Manager & SEO Consultant at SmallBox Web Design
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. I’m not sure how to tweak this old saw to make it express the import
ance of replacing outmoded Content Management Systems for small businesses with Web 2.0 solutions…but the analogy is there. To use another slightly corny metaphor: if your small business is still fiddling around with graphics and updates on a static HTML or ‘brochure-style’ site, you may be polishing the brass on the Titanic. That ship has sailed.
The economic downturn and the slow crawl to recovery has been a galvanizing and sometimes frightening time for most of the small businesses that I’ve talked to in the past few years. Sales tend to decrease as the personal incomes of your clientele takes a hit, credit is harder to come by, assets and holdings get soaked as the market jackknifes. On the other hand, downturns can concentrate talent, passion and commitment just as they tend to force innovation.
During this last downturn there has been a kind of revolution in Content Management Systems that has been especially critical for Non-Profits and small businesses. This shift in the way that websites are managed has been about putting the power to control a company’s web-presence into the hands of ‘normal’ managers and employees—not just tech-guys and web-contractors.
As envelope-stuffing and e-mail blasts become less effective as stand-alone strategies for small companies to capture business, search engine optimization as well as fluid, easy-to-use, easy-to-update websites become more important.
Updates to CMS on small business websites can also dramatically change daily operations , transforming daily struggles into smooth, almost automated side-work. One company told us that we’d shaved off half of the hours previously required to manage their registration and reduced in half the number of phone-calls and e-mails that they received about their outreach program. Nora Spitznogle, the Director of Operations at Second Helpings, confessed that at the start of the project she, “couldn’t tell the difference between a wire-frame and a wire-hanger,” but she explains that Smallbox took the time to make sure that she was comfortable with the process. By the end of the project, her ability to manage and update the Second Helpings site had definitely been ‘revolutionized.’
How does this CMS transformation work in laymen’s terms?
Try to imagine the difference between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ models of page and content organization and being like the difference between a collection of numerous Microsoft Word Documents and a single Microsoft Excel Document. If minor thematic or informational changes need to be made in your collection of Microsoft Word documents, you’ll need to change them one by one. You might have to hire a guy to do this. Either that, or you’re likely facing an organizational nightmare that’s going to suck hours out of your work week and take a toll on your psychic-energy and morale. If you change one cell in an Excel document, on the other hand, the corresponding changes that need to be made happen automatically. By rough analogy, this is kind of the way that Web 2.0 works for you.
At our web-design business we have to wake up and go to work in the community every day just like everyone else. Small business is an important part of the culture and quality of life in the community that we belong to. Part of our job as web-designers is to help you make it easier to make life a little better. A new CMS for your website is likely to be a part of that process as our century speeds up.
Guess Who is ON!
January 11, 2010 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Featured Articles, Wright Ideas
This week I am back in the studio for the first time since October! I’ll be interviewing the ladies from Sniffle Buddies and the Guys from Biddingbar.com I am celebrating 10 years on the “air” with my TV show. Officially, everything is seen by cable and not broadcast from a tower anymore so almost nothing is ON THE AIR anymore!
These two are very different business that came into being because of a real need seen in the market and two companies that really care about the people they serve. Whether you watch it on TV, online or on iTunes, be sure to check out this show!
To subscribe on iTunes, just go to iTunes and Search for Wright Place TV. It’s free and you will always have the new shows.
We are booking our February 2010 Shows!
Events: I hope you are joining me for live shows at the Leadership Summit in Ontario California. Lisa’s Events are always a great place for networking and learning! Read more
