While this year has been an interesting election year, I must admit I’m not thrilled with anybody. In fact, last week on twitter I mentioned we should just chuck the current nominees and start all over again. (Maybe FL and MI will count this time)

Well my prayers are finally answered… okay we are not chucking the current candidates but finally somebody step up to the challenge. It’s even somebody I know. Somebody I can stand behind 100%.

Evidentially others feel the same way I do… the word is getting out on twitter on what a great president she’ll make… many saying she’s got their vote… She’s definitely got my vote. What say you? Check out this news video

I’m going to reveal a secret from our Flip Your Time System…

The top money making activity you can do… develop relationships.

When you Focus on Relationships you increase your opportunities. Today the internet, through social networking, makes it easier to reach out and connect with people.

Yet so many entrepreneurs view social networking as a waste of time.

Bottom line…. Social Networking is a money making activity… when done correctly.

The days of building a huge list and blasting your followers relentlessly with one sales pitch after another are gone. Business are built on relationships. Always will be… When you focus on relationship first, you don’t need a huge list.

Social networking starts out slow because.relationships take time to develop. So you may become discourage when you don’t see immediate results . Once it kicks in, the opportunities and results explode.

When you learn to maximize your social networking time, you can build those relationships without it taking over your day.

All the checks I ever received in my life came from relationships. It relationships that produce more results and with more results you are able to buy more time. Ironic huh… you invest time in relationships to gain more time. Sounds like a time flip to me.

While you have more time… you develop even better relationships… better relationships produce better results which allow you to buy even more time.

Wednesday June 25, I’m hosting a special preview teleseminar where I’ll share 5 Secrets to Maximizing Your Social Networking Time to Increase Contacts and Cashflow which you can attend for free as my guest.

These secrets are from my upcoming "Social Network Formula Workshop"

You are just 1 relationship away from an incredible opportunity. But must willing to change your mindset about social networking is a money making activity and start focusing your attention on developing your very best relationships.

• Is social networking taking a big chunk out of your day?
• Not seeing the results for the time you put in?
• You learn great strategies but don’t have in your day to do them?

You are not alone…

I hear it often… Social Networking takes time. A lot of time. With all your other business activities, you find yourself feeling overwhelmed.

You hear about all these wonderful success stories, yet nothing seems to happen which leaves you feeling frustrated.

Every day it seems like a new network pops up on the radar

• You fill out profiles… more time out of your day. 
• You checking your friends’ updates… taking even more time (a lot of time you have a lot of friends). 
• Creating network presence takes time (uploading photographs, updating status, posting etc.

Staying active in a social network can turn into a full-time job…

How Would You Like To Get Control Over Your Social Network Time?

Social Networking is High Performance Marketing activity and one of the best things you can do to gain new customers and increase your cash flow.

Join me Wednesday June 25 at 7:00 pm EDT
(That’s 6:00 pm Central, 5:00 pm Mountain, 4:00pm Pacific.)

…Where I’ll share with you
"Five Secrets to Minimize Your Social Network Time"
from our upcoming Social Network Formula Workshop.

You can use these 5 secrets right away to increase your results without turning networking into a full time job.

Just fill out the form below to reserve your seat for this free Teleseminar… and don’t forget to share your biggest Social Network Challenge.

Looking forward to hearing you on the call

This week on twitter @QueenofSpain and @DaveTaylor started a lively conversation about where are the women speakers at conferences. Last year at Blog World all the keynote speakers were men.

Over the past few years, I hear more and more women complaining about the same thing.

I like to make a few disclaimers before going any further….

1. Nothing against guys. I’m married to one for almost 24 years. He is totally awesome.

2. Some of my best mentors are guys and I’m eternally grateful to them. I wouldn’t be where I am today if they didn’t take me under their wing and shared their knowledge.

3. My top clients are guys and I wouldn’t be in business without them.

With that said I too have become frustrated with the "good ole boy network" that appears to dominate the internet.

According to eMarketer women now outnumber men using the internet and The US Census bureau posted these figures on women business owners:

6.5 million -The number of women-owned businesses in 2002, up 20 percent from 1997. (The increase among all businesses was 10 percent.) An estimated 916,768 such firms had paid employees, with receipts of $804 billion.
$940.8 billion - Receipts for women-owned businesses in 2002, up 15 percent from 1997.

Those are some pretty impressive figures. So I decided to quit spending money on "good ole boy network" products and services a couple of years ago when I encouter the following:.

When I visit a web page and see nothing but guy testimonials or guy speakers, it says two things to me

1. Your product doesn’t work for women or your service isn’t for women.

2. You don’t need my money.

The earlier days of the internet didn’t give you much of choice. Let’s face it, guys were the earlier adopters. They were the one with the information. I learned a lot from them. But the demographics of the internet is changing.

Today there is no excuse. There are some very powerful and knowledgeable women on the internet including:

Deb Micek
Mari Smith
Denise Michaels
Alexandria Brown
Lori Morgan-Ferrero
Terri Levine
Melanie Benson-Strick
Anita Campbell
Penny Haynes
Donna Fox
Loral Langemeier
Stephanie Frank
And there are many more…

So why are women still being ignored?.

Here is my opinion and feel free to share yours

1. Habit.

Guys are just in the habit of looking within their circle of buddies for speakers, testimonial etc. I don’t think guys realize the subliminal message they are sending to women. At one of our Toastmaster meetings, a guy gave a speech on exception people. All people in his speech were men.

When it came time for his critique every women notice the male dominance of his speech. He lost 50% of his audience. His response… he wasn’t even aware of the message he was sending. He was also very grateful for the insight.

2. Bottom Line

If you promote an event virtual or real world with more women speakers, will people pay to participate?

Can women draw in the money or is it just perception that only men can draw in the big bucks?

Are women showing their support by spending their money for women dominated events?

Next week Adam Urbanski, of www.themarketingmentors.com/, put together a series of teleseminars featuring the top Social Networking experts.

Surprise… Surprise… all 5 speakers are women…. Kudos to you Adam.

This series is free… It’s a no brainer to sign up and attend.

I’m going to propose a challenge to all you women out there… put your money where your mouth is… upgrade and get the transcripts.

I believe women need to start supporting each other more not just emotionally but with purchase power. Men have supported each other monetarily for years.

Disclaimer: I make NO money promoting this!!!!!

Yes I did buy the transcripts to show support for my Coach Deb Micek and my mentor Mari Smith. I know these two will be sharing some incredible information and I can’t wait to here the other speaker too..

So Join us… The Contact to Contracts Seminar http://snipurl.com/0624

One time in your life you mastered this powerful word… in fact it was your job and remains the job of every two year old. Saying NO!

Going back to saying "No" establishes a boundary to keep other peoples agenda from interfering with yours. You take back control over what you want to do and when. So many of us already find our lives jammed full of stuff to do, you’d think it would be easy to say no.

That two year old soon learned that saying "No" produced a negative result while saying yes got positive results. Many of us grow up to be people pleasers, Saying yes just feels easier than saying no.

We want to avoid the confrontation and anxiety feelings we experienced at that young age

Manipulative people know this and use it to get their way.

"No," is a commendable response. Don’t equate No with rejection… saying ‘No’ doesn’t mean you don’t like the person; you’re just refusing their current request.

When you say, "Yes," when you want to say, "No" you will feel resentful throughout whatever you agreed to do. This causes stress that can show in many ways, lost energy, discomfort, headaches, shoulder tension and restless sleep. You could avoid these symptoms saying "No" in the first place. Life creates enough stress. Why add more?

5 Easy Ways to Say No

1. Start your sentence with the word, "No."

It’s easier to keep the commitment to say, "No," if it’s the first word out of your mouth.

No I’m sorry, my plate is full right now and I wouldn’t do a good job for you.

No, I’m not available (no need for details)

2. Think It Over.

Ask for time to think it over. It maybe something you want to do but need to do but you time to make sure it will fit in your schedule. Perhaps you’re not strong enough to say no right now… this gives you time to mentally prepare yourself to say No. Remind yourself that the decision is entirely up to you.

3. Just Say No.

That’s right just say it. "NO"… no explanation need. You can add "no thank you" if warranted.

If someone asks for information you don’t want to give. Say No. especially those annoying cashiers/clerks asking for phone number, email address while you’re checking out.

Say No to the telemarketer disturbing your dinner… better yet, don’t answer the phone.

A campaign in the 1980’s realized that saying No can keep off a destructive path… You probably know it as the "Just Say No to Drugs" campaign. You’d find big posters in school, subways, billboards, in fact all over. Start your own campaign. Make your own posters with the words "Just Say No" and put them up.

4. Blame it On…

We love to blame other people for our problems so why not blame saying "No" on somebody else…

No, my doctor said I need to start taking it easy (great one to for preserving your personal time).

No, my accountant said I did that one more time (great for unreasonable customer demands)

Don’t use a name, unless that person really said it… keep the "blame" person generic.

5. Act like a Parrot

Especially good for the "manipulator" attempting to guilt you into a yes and/or someone using the "wear them down" method

Example: Request to go for a cup of coffee

"No, I can’t have coffee with you"

We won’t be gone long

"No, I can’t have coffee with you"

You deserve it… you’ve been working hard

"No, I can’t have coffee with you"

Come on I’ll pay

"No, I can’t have coffee with you"

Learning to say "No" naturally takes practice. Start with saying "No" to something everyday.

Time management really is a problem for a lot of entrepreneurs. They have so much they do themselves — everything from the mundane to the important and it can simply overwhelm you.

Make the most of your business hours, using these 7 fast time management tips to help you manage your business day.

1. Create an action list that goes one step further.

Whether the night before or first thing in the morning, make a list of what you want to accomplish that day. But make the list useful by prioritizing it according to what has to be done and what can wait. Rank your actions by priority… when needs to completing first, second etc.

2. Bundle your tasks.

You can bundle certain chores together. for example set aside a time block to return and make all your calls That will help you avoid task jumping

3. Don’t forget the children.

If your children are home during the day, plan around them. With thoughtful planning, you can juggle children and a business in the same day.

4. Just do it.

Don’t procrastinate over something you need to do and stress out about it, just do it. Usually the time spent stewing and brewing is often longer and more stressful than just digging in and getting the job done.

5. Plan around you peak time.

Are you a morning person? Use that time for more creative duties, such as writing or business planning, product creation. Save your sluggish time for stuffing envelopes, emptying your email box, filing and other less brain-taxing tasks.

6. Carry work with you to take advantage of time gaps.

Bring materials with you. If you need to wait 10 minutes before an appointment, you can punch out a quick thank-you note to a customer on your laptop, or even just update the status of all your current projects.

7. Include relaxation or activity break.

Forget the superman syndrome of trying to function on all cylinders from daybreak to dusk. Make down time part of your overall time management strategy. Even a few minutes spent staring out the window can recharge your batteries.

You’re Wasting Your Life!

You are programmed to live, on average, 74.3 years.

Here, with the help of experts, we total the hours, weeks and years you’ll squander during your lifetime.

And that includes the time spent reading this article.

Seeing doctors 49 hours
Waiting to see doctors 64 hours
Blowing your nose 6 days,
In the bathroom 7 years
In the shower 3 months
Toweling off 14 days
Shaving 5 months,
Applying deodorant 3 days
In meetings 3 years
Due to interruptions 4 years
Due to pointless interruptions 3 years
Reading and disposing of e-mails 7 months
Making internal phone calls and sending internal e-mails 1 year
Opening junk mail 8 months
On hold 2 months
Staring at a computer screen 1 year (my computer is more like 3 years)
Waiting for a computer to boot up 16 days
Surfing the Internet 9 months
Waiting for elevators 3 weeks
Procrastinating 11 months
Cleaning the hourse 1 year ( I believe this is much longer)
Taking out the garbage 19 days
Watching commercials 2 years
Reading the paper 2 years
Doing laundry 3 months
Watching the news 10 months
Tying your tie 12 days
Looking for lost stuff 1 year
Time you’ll waste sitting in your car commuting to work 8 months
Stuck in traffic 4 months
At stoplights 6 months
Trying to find a good AM radio station An eternity
Miscellaneous Grocery shopping 10 months
Waiting in lines 5 years
Worrying 5 years
Speaking 2.5 years

Do you know any interesting stats? feel free to include them in the comment section

Time management in reality is activity management. How you manage your activities makes all the difference.

Only 20% of what you do will produce 80% of your results. I’m talking about Pareto’s 80-20 Rule… which goes against traditional time management methods.

The 80-20 Rule or Pareto’s Principle was discover by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. He noticed a natural imbalance that greatly effect everything in this world… your life… your business… everyday.

He noted that 20% of the worlds population enjoyed 80% of the wealth but soon discovered this law of nature appears everywhere.

Just think…. only 20% of what you do produces your desired results… the other 80%… may not count for much… waste of your time and efforts.

A Simple Time Management Strategy

Time management is simply the process of identifying and concentrating on activities that are important to you, and identifying and eliminating activities that can be dropped.

Traditional Time Management focuses on cramming and adding stuff into your day. It feeds the employee mentality need to always appear busy working hard at one’s ‘real’ job. Not a good idea for the solopreneur.

When a business experiences success, the owner starting drowning in the Multiplicity of Stuff Syndrome. The solopreneur really feels the effects of this syndrome. Not only are they the CEO (chief executive officer) of their business… they are also Chief Everything Officer.

They spend more and more of their time on that 80% that isn’t producing results or profits.

Adding the Blonde Factor to This Simple Time Management Strategy

Divide All Your Activities Into Four

1. high-profit activities
2. high-reward activities
3. low/no profit activities
4. low/no reward activities

20% of your time devote to the high profit/high reward activities - Working ON your business

80% of your time devote to the low-no profit/low-no reward activities - Working in your business

Following this strategy enables you to continue growing your business profits while dealing with day to day stuff of running your business.

	Ann Rusnak - The Time Diva Entrepreneur Time Strategist
Ann Rusnak, guides frazzles, frustrated solopreneurs to gain more control and confidence. Discover how you too can get control over the clock with her free tips and strategies at http://www.Just15Minutes.com Connect with me at: Twitter Facebook