There are people who have difficulty delegating because they want to rescue everyone, not burden them, and handle everything themselves. This can be exhausting for them and does not honor talents of others in organization. It is a good idea, if possible, to replicate yourself in organization. Train someone to fill your shoes before it is needed. You can then delegate to this person without having to manage them.

You can delegate to yourself until a later time, but make it a specific allotted time. Don't just move item to your next list, then next, etc.

Outsourcing is also a great way to delegate when there is a project that requires special knowledge or resources and there is no appropriate expert within organization. When a project is outsourced, you no longer own responsibility for it and can move on to other tasks. The last action choice for an item on your list is to dump it. The dump items are items that may be reappearing continuously on your list, and are not getting done. They may be things you think you should do because "it's always been done that way". If you know a better way, use it. You can simply stop doing some of these things and see if others notice omission. You might be surprised.

Definite dump items are junk snail mail and unsolicited email. The 3D system works very well with email. Respond immediately, delegate it to yourself if you need to work on a response, or hit delete key.

Another thing, which must be dumped from your day in order for you to be effective, is interruptions. Inform those around you when you are not to be disturbed, use voice mail, set aside time to receive and return phone calls, etc. Plan to have unscheduled time daily to handle any unexpected and important items that may arise.

So, not so secret keys to handling your To Do list are - keep your goals in mind, be effective vs. efficient, set up systems that work for you, do complete work, and get rid of time and energy drains. Take time at end of each day to review and ask yourself if you are closer to your goals.

Occasionally, offer your customers something free with an order. Give them a "buy three-get one free" deal. Maybe you have a bunch of some product sitting around that won't sell. Well, why not give one away with every order over $25 or $50, or whatever. Send them a free pen with your business name and website address on it with their order. Make them feel like they are important to you... because they are.

Consider putting out a newsletter. Get others, or experts in your field to write for it. Encourage people to pass your newsletter on to their friends. Bravenet has a great free email newsletter program you can sign up for. You can find a lot of places on Internet that offer free articles for you to publish in your newsletter. Here are a few to start with:

http://www.articlecity.com/index.shtml http://ezinearticles.com/ http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/mainarticle.cfm Be honest in your dealings with your customers. Be friendly. Send them a thank you email, and follow up with them at least once to see if they re satisfied. Offer them updates to your site, and to notify them of sales.

Offer them as many features as you can. Here are 2 gift certificate sites that will allow you to offer gift certificates to your customers:

http://www.giveanything.com/ www.GiftCertificates.com Always have your company name, physical address and your email address accessible to customer. It makes them feel more comfortable to know that you are a "real" business, and that they can write to you if they need to. Consider putting up your picture for them to see. This makes you real to them, and not just another faceless website. Do anything that you can think of to make your potential customer feel welcome, safe, and valued. It will really pay off in end.