For myself, learning to say “no” was next to impossible. Such a small word, but I wanted to please no matter cost to me. But focusing on your goals may help. You must be convinced that you and your priorities are more important – that seems to be hardest part in learning to say “no”. But it does get easier when you simply can’t find time and refuse to be derailed for that hour or that day.

In Malaysian culture, only gods are considered capable of producing anything perfect. Whenever something is finished, a flaw is left on purpose so gods will not be offended. Of course some things need to be closer to perfect than others but perfectionism can be a form of procrastination. Shed stress of always being perfect.

Gaining control over your business (and personal) life, means gaining control over your calendar. Eliminate trivial tasks or those that do not lead to your long-term goals. Focus your efforts where they count. Managing your time requires an understanding of where your time is going, outlining your priorities, and defining a time budget and plan, even if it means changing some behavior and monitoring results.

© 2004 Esther Smith

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Esther Smith publishes a weekly Newsletter, Partners-For-Profit. Her websites: http://thepermanentventure.com and http://moreonlinecash.com offers proven resources for all home businesses. She also does freelancing: writing, editing and/or proofreading. mailto:editor@thepermanentventure.com

7. Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security, relief, freedom, happy, satisfaction, fun, etc.

8. Ask people online to review your web site. You can use comments you get to improve your web site or you may turn reviewer into a customer.

9. Out source part of your workload. You'll save on most employee costs. You could out source your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc.

10. Combine a product and service together in a package deal. It could increase your sales. If you're selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it.

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