I have been ensconced in this 5-day incredible event with mind-blowing geniuses around me every day.

2 weeks ago I wrote about how distraction = inefficiency.  This was just something I had observed in my own life, and wanted to pass on the ways that I figured out to try to be as efficient as possible. Many of you thanked me for these pearls of wisdom.  Well, you’re welcome!

So, yesterday I heard Eban Pagen speak about the very same thing.  He even went on to say that distraction and interruption are the #1 priorty in business these days -  both of these things = ineffeciency.

His suggestion is to get into a routine and do the same thing every day at the same time.
Make a schedule and stick to it.  There are times to answer emails, engage in social media, do sales calls, take meetings, do interviews, talk to your friends, eat, etc…  His experience is that ritual helps you focus. It takes away the need to wonder what you should do next that’s for sure!!

Eban suggests that the morning hours are the most productive hours to get the important work done.  I totally agree.   You have way less distractions, chance is on your side that there wasn’t time for too many things to go wrong yet, and you can concentrate and give the BEST part of your brain power to the most important stuff you need to work on.

We live in a world of information overload.  Our inboxes are full all the time, the phones are ringing off the hook, and unless you make a commitment to turn it all off to concentrate on the ONE thing at hand, you are going to get distracted and in turn, generate mediocre results or maybe no results.

Let’s make a pledge to each other to have the most result oriented week ever.  Send me your pledge and I will hold you accountable.

I pledge to turn off my email and phone every time I sit down at my computer to do anything other than answer email.

I pledge to write down my tasks, hour by hour on my calendar so I know what I am doing every minute.

I pledge to wake up at least 30 minutes before my children and take some time for myself every morning.

Popularity: 78% [?]

By Sarah Shaw

Some people think that just having a super cool product is enough to make people want to buy it. Maybe you have done your research and know your customer, packaged it super cute, posted it on your website, sold it to a store or two and are now waiting for the rest of the world to find you. Good for you for getting it done and out there……but now comes the fun….. and hard part.

I know that a lot of you are thinking, “What is she talking about? The hard part was actually getting it made!” Yes, I agree, that can be hard, fun, challenging, creative, and invigorating. But the sales part – otherwise known as getting buyers to want you is the second half of the equation.

Since I am a bootstrapper, and in the trenches every day just like YOU working on my accessory line, I am always trying new sales strategies as everyone needs to fill the pipeline ALL the time.

Here are my Top 7 ideas to get your product out there for FREE so that buyers WANT you.

These are ideas you can use over and over with new “launches” each week to keep your customers intrigued and coming back for more.

1. Take a photo of your product in use. People need to be shown how to use it. Even if it’s as simple as note cards, suggest sending a handwritten (gasp!) note to someone each week thanking them for something they did for you. Come up with ways to use the cards other than as thank you’s. With the ease of email, we need to remind people about these “old fashioned” ways!

2. Send this photo out in your newsletter. Instead of always trying to “sell” your customers something, give them ideas of how to use what they already have or start giving them the idea that they NEED to have it. TIP: I switched from Constant Contact to Rate Point earlier this year and they have an automatic feed of your newsletter to your twitter page. One less step and you can customize the tweet……and they are cheaper. And no, I don’t get referral fees from them!

3. Post this image with some great text on your website. Changing the images weekly gives people a reason to visit more often (and hopefully purchase) if they are guided there by a clever photo and ideas of how to use your product. You may catch them needing a hostess gift or birthday present……they will need to hear from you often to remember to buy from you.

4. Post the image with your clever text on your Facebook Fan Page. You can even ask your fans to share the ways they use their note cards. Or even ask them for the creative ways to reuse or repurpose cards they receive. This creates interaction on your page which in turn creates more visibility and drives potential fans to your page and hopefully to your website to purchase.

5. Twitter it – Facebook just launched an automatic update of your posts to twitter. It should be on your fan page. Easy to set up. How easy is that? One less step to getting the word out.

6. Post these ideas on your blog. NO brainer here right? If you are connected on Network Blogs it will auto update it to Facebook and twitter for you.

7. Other ideas: Poll your Facebook Fans, see what they like about certain products you make or are thinking of making. Find complimentary companies on twitter and FB and make friends with them. You might be able to do a cross promo with them and drive fans to each other. Be sure to tweet about useful info not just about buying your products. Retweet (RT) things you find useful. You can use the search functions on both FB and Twitter to find good matches for you.

Popularity: 74% [?]