Investing In What We Value

We must learn to invest our time and energy into what we truly value, not just what we have been taught to value.

There are two indicators which can determine what you value the most - where you are investing your money and time.

The question then is ... do these two indicators reflect your highest values?

Invest in what matters most today and you’ll feel amazing, on-purpose and satisfied.

DeCluttering Excuses!

Taking the time to declutter is not always easy but at times we can actually talk ourselves out of even starting with the following excuses.

Have your ever heard or said yourself:
“It’s alright for you to be organised but I live in a small house.”
“I don’t have the money to buy the boxes and containers to declutter”
“I don’t have the money to redo the room so everything fits”
“I need to buy another book case to fit everything in”
“I don’t have anywhere to put …”
“It’s going to make a mess”
“I don’t have enough cupboard space”
“I don’t have time"
“I don’t know where to start”
“The job is too big so I just haven’t started”
“I have young kids I have no time”
“I’m too busy”
“I’ll do it next week”
“I want to clean up first then I will …”
“I have too much stuff”
“I might wear it one day”
“It will be great for a dress up one day”
“I might lose weight and fit into it again”
“It might come back into fashion”
“I’m keeping it for the holiday house”
“I’m the only one that can do it”
“I have to go shopping to buy what I need first”
“I have all my stuff because I might need it one day”
“Its memories that I don’t want to let go of”
“I can’t get rid of my stuff; it’s worth a lot of money”

What other excuses have you said?

Decide to take ACTION rather than let the excuses distract you from getting yourself organised.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” list so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Tips to Tackle Clutter

Knowing that you want to start decluttering is one thing. The next is actually having an action plan. The following are some tips to help you tackle the clutter.

Decide where you are going to DeClutter
> Take a moment to decide what area you will tackle
> Perhaps even make a list of areas and then prioritise them so you are only focused on one area at a time and do not get distracted by other areas or spaces
> Set yourself a timeline to accomplish a number of areas for example “I will tackle the top three areas on my list over the next 4 weeks.”

Set a deadline
Before you even tackle the first space allocate your time. I will spend 2 hours decluttering my wardrobe. You will find that you will work hard and stay focused for the 2 hours

Prepare
Have the tools you will need for your decluttering project ready, I find the following useful:
> Cleaning cloth for dust, marks, scratches
> Vacuum cleaner
> Box, bag or container for:
o Rubbish
o Recyclables
o Charity
o Other rooms / spaces in the house
> Pen
> Paper
> Music
> Drink of water

> Comfortable clothes

Reward
Decide on a reward for completing your project. It does not have to be huge it may even be a phone call to a friend, 30 minutes to read a book, or a glass of wine but either way you have achieved something and it should be celebrated.

Map out your “How to” steps
> It is important to have a plan of attack for example, if you are going to DeClutter your wardrobe know your rules such as I will throw out anything I have not worn for 2 years, I will throw out anything that is too small etc.
> Also have a plan for how you will reset your wardrobe, will it be colour co-ordinated, or garments together then colour co-ordinated. Have the end in mind before you start.

Make yourself accountable to someone
To ensure you follow through on your projects, tell someone else about it, whether it is a work colleague, partner or friend. It helps your motivation and focus.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” list so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Clearing the clutter

Did you know that clutter can bring you down? Think about how you felt last time you cleared out a space that was bothering you. It is a real sense of freedom whether it is a whole room, wardrobe or desk. It is worth investing the time in clearing the clutter.

What is clutter?
Over time our homes, have a tendency to accumulate and collect all kinds of treasures, gems and keepsakes. Now we all know that one person's trash is another person's treasures, but our homes can only hold so much!!!

Our motto is “Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful”.

Of course, this process will not be done in one day, after all it took years (or if we are really good, months) to make it this way.

Start slow and take the time needed to follow through. You will find that decluttering is not as hard as you thought it would be.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Not-to-do lists

Lists, lists, lists I love them. I have shopping lists, weekly menu list, 2009 goals list, action items list, to-do list, birthday list, presents list, cleaning my house list and it goes on. The problem with all the lists is knowing what to do first so the idea when presented to me of a “not-to-do" list sounded sensational.

Author Michael LeBoeuf recommended the following for the not-to-do list:

• All low-priority items, unless you have successfully completed all your high-priority items.


• Anything you could reasonably delegate to someone else.


• Demands on your time from others that are either thoughtless or inappropriate.


• Any errand that, if ignored, will have minimal consequences.


• Anything you might have done for someone else that the person should be doing for himself or herself.
  

Wow – what a great idea. Think of the time you will save by not doing things. It will allow you to focus on getting the priority items done.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” or “wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

10 Tips for Starting the Business Year

So here are some suggestions for increasing sales and generating that revenue stream required to keep busy increasing and building relationships:

1/ Go through your ledger and find the top sales items and check that you have actually been paid for each of them. Now is the time to follow up those customers and send them a New Year wishes card [everyone does Christmas cards] and thank them for their support over the year.

2/ Any outstanding accounts justify a personal call from one of your top sales team (or you and your business partners) to talk about their business plans and only at the end ask if they could assist you by completing payments before the end of the month

3/ Identify the pattern of purchases of these items in previous good times and send out a special offer (not a discount) to them suggesting that it may be appropriate to start planning to restock or restore business developments now that there are new consumers coming back into the market

4/ At the same time it is important to break down the sales prospects on the basis of the level of risk that is represent as it is essential to maintain good control of risks, billing patterns, revenue collection and bad debt supervision.

5/ Have a sales meeting with your whole team at least once a fortnight so that everyone is aware of the items that make the greatest contribution to the survival of the business and encourage everyone to cross-sell related merchandise and services.

6/ Draw up a sales flow chart that ensures what works and what can cost sales performance, including following up on customer inquiries, prompt attention to orders, inventory management and thank you notes to customers who are vital contributors to the business success.

7/ Go through advertising and promotion material and break it down into three categories – will this bring new business, reinforce repeat business or merely build brand recognition and then apply the rule that the first attention is on repeat business, the second is on new business and brand promotions can wait until next financial year.

8/ Focus sales and marketing efforts on main stream lines that directly impact upon customers lifestyles, and business development activities so that you aim to build a customer relationship and not just another one-time purchase.

9/ Make sure that all staff take a little extra time with credit card payments, using the time taken to ring up the order to make sure that the signature on the card matches and asking for cash when a card proffered has been maxed out.

10/ Ensure that you keep your bank manager aware of the efforts that you are making to keep the business growing and keep your family aware that now is not the time to go out and spend as they are vital members of the sales team for the next few months.

Dr Colin Benjamin is Entrepreneurship and Strategic Thinking Consultant at

Marshall Place Associates, which offers a range of strategic thinking tools that open up possibilities for individuals and organisations committed to applying the processes of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Contact: CEO Dr Jane Shelton.

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do or wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.