• Have you blocked time on your calendar to get tasks done? Have you noticed that if it isn’t scheduled, it doesn’t get
  done? Your calendar is a great tool and will work for you if you use it!
• Have you decided what you need to work on for your business? What time have you reserved each week to work on your business?
• What impact do you want your business to make in your community? Do you have a written Mission Statement?
• Have you identified the pain points for your target market? Can you state how your products or services are the answer for their problems?
• Are you spending too much time in front of your computer, mistaking that for taking action and building your business? Your #1 job is to be cultivating relationships with customers and potential customers.
• How do you show that you care? If customers and potential customers don’t know that you care, they won’t be loyal.
• Is your pricing where it needs to be?
• Do you give your services or products away for free? “Free” is not valued. If you don’t value your products or services, why should anyone else?
• Where does your marketing focus? On features or results?
• How do you engage with your customers on a regular basis? Do you have a schedule for making those connections?

There you have it! Important questions to kick off your Monday.

The post 10 Questions to Start the Week… first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.

Does your desk look like a hurricane came through? Today is National Clean Off Your Desk Day, so I took a look at my own work space and realized that I like working at a clean and orderly desk! But sadly, my desk does become a collection of information, papers and disorderly piles of stuff and to-do’s. When our desks are disorderly piles of stuff, we waste a lot of time looking for things we need to move forward on a project. Keeping an orderly desk will save you many minutes.

Here are a couple of tips that I’ve found helpful for keeping my desk clean (some of the time):

• Take everything off your desk and take 15 minutes to sort through the stuff. Create file folders in some system that will work for you. Resolve to keep that file system going.
• Put stuff away – pens, notes, bills, etc.
• Clean all your electronics. Get rid of dust, fingerprints, crumbs.
• Enjoy the look of a clear desktop.

Make it a practice to take 5 minutes at the end of your workday to clear off your desk so you come in to a clean desk in the morning. You’ll get more work done.

The post Clean Off Your Desk! first appeared on Lane Business Consulting.