I recently read an article on small businesses and what stops them from being successful – half way through it hit me…These problems could be described as parasites – things you don’t even realize are killing your business. Little by little they waste your time and keep you from doing the things that actually make you the success you deserve to be.

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Parasite # 1- Demanding Client(s)…

If you are a business that values your customer – you give great customer service – you bend over backwards to do everything possible to make them happy and give them an experience that will bring them back for more.

In fact 99% of my business, in the past 5 years, have been repeat customers and referrals.

I am proud of that.

Even so, that doesn’t mean along the way I have not run into what I call the demanding client.

When I was a young company, I was just happy to have anyone that needed my services. I didn’t care how difficult or time consuming they were. I would do the design project as we had discussed, but then suddenly, they were not happy with something we had been developing for weeks – thing that were great last week needed to be changed.

Now you may be thinking that is great – more hours more money – NOT!

I work on a per project basis, my clients are mainly small businesses or start up companies that could not afford me if I were to charge per hours, so we have an agreed upon project price. Looking at this scenario you can see that I was working for less than minimum wage – the more time I would give the more they would demand. I realized after having a few of these types of clients I had not communicated with them effectively. I didn’t have a written – contract that explained in detail what I would do for a given amount.

Lesson learned I started to set boundaries and write contracts that were much more detailed.

The communication got better and the clients knew what to expect and things ran along much smoother. Happy customers – even happier business owner

Parasite # 2 – Unreasonable Client(s)…

My motto,

Under promise – Over Deliver

How many of us have seen or heard the ads – make 20 billion dollars in 3 hours – solve all your problems in life with just 3 easy steps…. You get my point, if it sounds too good to be true – it is.

I always try and give my clients 110% – I will not nickel and dime them to death. I will help them with marketing advice if they need it etc.

However, ever once in a while I have a client that will not adhere to our contract.

They are just plain difficult – expect the impossible, and I found myself in the difficult position of having to say things like – we didn’t agree on that, or look at the proposal we outlined, or (fill in the blanks)…

What do you do when this happens to you?

Be up front, if you feel it is not worth your time – refund the money and move on – or refund a portion of their money (if it is for a service rendered) and quit doing business with them.

It is not worth the time when you have someone who does not respect you or your business – and if you cannot find a solution cut your losses. Do not continue to hit your head against the wall – you are losing business with people who want what you have to offer because you are trying to do the impossible.

Important point:

First of all, I hope you have structured your business so you take a deposit for services rendered. I personally have my client’s pay 50% up front and 50% upon completion.

If it is a huge project, I will take 50% up front, 25% once we have an agreed upon design – and 25% upon completion.

This protects my clients from worry because they know if I don’t live up to my promises, I will not get a full payment – it protects me because I know they are serious and have paid me a portion of the agreed upon fee.

Luckily, I don’t have clients like this anymore. I can tell by the initial consultation if it is a client I want to work with.

Don’t be afraid to turn down a client if you find they are not a fit – you will benefit in the long run and so will they.

Parasite #3 – Time Wasters…

You’re a business owner that is trying to be frugal. Times are a bit tight so you think you need to do everything yourself.

Even when you don’t have the slightest idea how to do it…

After all you are smart – why not learn how to do a website – design your own marketing material – and keep the books?

ARE YOU CRAZY?

Seriously, stick to what you do well – don’t waste your time trying to learn things that should be done by someone who knows how to do it right and in a fraction of the time. You don’t need to hire the most expensive person, just a professional who knows how.

The time it takes you to learn how to do these things – could be time you are spending finding clients, marketing, networking doing what you do well.

The old adage is true, time is money. So don’t waste your time learning to do something that should be left to professionals.

In fact you may even do more harm than good to your business. An example may be something like putting up a website that is less then professional and portraying a poor image.

Or not hiring a CPA to do your taxes when you know nothing about what exemptions you can take for a business – so you end up actually losing out on tax exemptions simply because you have no clue about financial matters.

In my case I am not a programmer – I can do some minor programming – and I know where to get java scripts I can use etc. But I hate the heavy duty stuff – and it would take me forever to learn something I am not talented at and I do not like.

If I have a client that needs something I cannot do I hire it done by a professional – and I outsource it.

I know it will cost me a lot less to have it done by a programmer because it will take them a fraction of the time – and they know more than I will ever care to know. On top of that, it will cost my client a lot less because I will not spend hours trying to figure it out.

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The bottom line is – it is important to recognize time wasters when you run your own business.

A lot of things (you may not even realize) can waste your time and pull you under making your business less than successful – and in time drain you of the enthusiasm and excitement you had when you first started the dream of developing your own financial security.

The thrill of developing a business from scratch and seeing it come to fruition is amazingly satisfying and to be able to learn from others will put you on the fast track to success…

Just remember that nothing good comes easy – but everything good will come when enjoying the fruits of your labor!

Pamela Jacob  owner of Artista Design

For my list of free places to advertise your site go to:

http://freeadvertising.artistadesign.com/

Men assume that I am older than the age I have posted on my online dating profile. At least, that’s the discouraging news that one man passed along to me when we met for a glass of wine.

Apparently, so many men and women lie about their age online, that it is commonly assumed that you are “fudging”. I’ve been told that many viewers automatically add at least several years onto your age, or maybe just round up to the next milestone. Does my 56 get rounded up to 60? Read the rest of this entry »

Do men sabotage successful women? I think some do. I think some men just can’t understand the essence of this very common phenomenon.

Much has been written about the new generation of young men – the “millennials” as they are called – that they have been coddled by over protective mommies of my generation; that they have been helicoptered and micromanaged to the point of perennial adolescence and now are ensconced in “Peter Pan syndrome” for the long haul. It is said that their female counterparts are soaring ahead in education and career, even in this down economy.

But what of the mommies? Do we “ baby boomers” fight off male angst while our daughters tackle apathy? Read the rest of this entry »

I recently read a letter online that a distraught middle-aged woman had written to a life coach. She said she had been happily married for seven years to a well known “relationship expert”.

She said they have filed for divorce and her life is now unrecognizable from the life they had for many years. The woman is over 40 now and is depressed and crying every night, wondering why her husband discarded her, why she didn’t see it coming, and why she didn’t recognize his narcissism before it was too late. Read the rest of this entry »

Be the perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect friend, perfect boss, perfect hostess… the pressure to be perfect is everywhere in a woman’s life.

Is the road to happiness paved with perfection, or are women somehow being deceived?  Martha Stewart has built a phenomenally successful empire around perfectionism.  I think it’s harder for women since Martha came along.

It’s exhausting just to think about the “P-word”.  We think that everyone knows that perfection is non-existent.  If that’s true, then why is it so difficult for many of us to stop tilting at windmills?
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How many times have you found yourself frustrated in conversation with your mate trying to explain something important and walked away shaking your head in frustration saying to yourself, “He just doesn’t get it!” Your shoulders tense, your brows come together in that little crease and the tension headaches continue.

Well knock it off. He just doesn’t get it in your language.

We all have different languages and ways of interpreting love and affection based on our upbringing, gender, personal belief systems, and other life experiences and filters. The key to successful communication in relationships however is not assuming that just because something makes sense to you or is something that you enjoy, it must make sense or be something your spouse enjoys too.

You may be wondering what the heck successful communication has to do with improving your relationship and your health. Here’s the scoop. Studies done at the Institute of Heartmath have shown that stress and different emotional states affect our autonomic nervous system, hormonal and immune systems, heart and brain. Quite simply, they’ve proven that negative emotions impact our health in a negative way, and positive emotions impact our health in a positive way. While we occasionally do experience emotions on our own, they are more often than not the result of a successful (or unsuccessful) experience with someone else.
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My life took a drastic turn in 2010. All my worries and fears came true – my dad passed away and less then 4 month later my mom was gone. They had been divorced for years and yet they passed so close together.

As baby boomers most of us are going through one of two stages: trying to help our aging parents or watching them slip through our fingers like sands in an hour glass, totally helpless to do anything to stop it.

As much as I loved my father, (and I was a daddies little girl) their is really nothing like a mother. She was my my cushion from the world. Anytime I had a disappointment or a set back she was my biggest supporter. It has been unbearable having to go on without her – We would talk every day sometimes twice a day.
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Women don’t think twice about brushing these kinds of guys off.

Men don’t give certain personalities a second thought.

Too often a day in the life of the dating world goes something like this: you meet someone, have a few conversations over the phone, go out once and then never see that person again.

Sound familiar? Chances are while you were on your date you discovered a personality that you know you just can’t deal with. It’s not that your date was creepy or malicious; you just know that a long-term relationship with that person won’t work out.
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We all know the health benefits of going to a Fitness Center. We’ll even make sure to schedule time in our busy lives for exercise. Yet most of us are quicker to hit the gym before hitting the sheets when it comes to taking care of ourselves. However, taking time to self pleasure, or huffing and puffing your way through a sweat-inducing sex session may be far more beneficial to your overall health than the time you spend on the treadmill.
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Currently, there are more than eighty illnesses identified and labeled ‘auto-immune disease’ in which the defensive mechanisms of the body turn on the body, itself. These range from over 20 million Americans stricken with Type 1 diabetes to an estimated 400,000 with multiple sclerosis to a few thousand per year in some of the more esoteric illnesses. Rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus; the list goes on and on. They can range from annoying to immediately life threatening and you have probably never heard of most of them. The truth is that whether you realize it or not, you know someone whose life and lifestyle are being manipulated by one of these diseases as you read this.
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