February 22nd, 2010 by Stephanie Rising
The strategic integration of coaching, branding, and marketing creates a unified means of helping you to achieve growth in your business or career—and the personal fulfillment that comes with it.
Canyon Concepts focuses exclusively on establishing collaborative relationships that empower our clients to:
- make informed, measurable decisions about their business or career;
- create a powerful company brand; and
- implement thoughtful and effective marketing techniques that capture market share.
Your aspirations are always central to our service offering. Your growth is our objective.
With extensive in-house services and a network of professionals who offer additional support to meet your goals, Canyon Concepts is prepared to accelerate your business.
All services are offered in person or remotely. Telecommuting is offered for coaching and all marketing services.
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July 27th, 2010 by Stephanie Rising
When flight attendants are debriefing passengers on what to do in the event of an emergency, they always tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping another person. View time in a similar way—you can’t really be of help to others if you are over committed, exhausted, and even testy because you don’t manage your time. You need oxygen!
Here’s 3 key time management survival tips:
#1 Combine. It’s a good idea to keep your business and your personal commitments on one calendar. It doesn’t matter if it’s work or personal—all of it comprises your life.
#2 Be realistic. Start by thinking about what you’re doing and how long it really takes. Beginning your sentences with “if” is usually an indicator that you’re about to kid yourself. “If traffic isn’t bad, I can make it in 10 minutes.” “If I don’t linger over coffee, I can probably finish breakfast with my best friend in 30 minutes and still make that meeting.” Just accept that traffic will be terrible, you’ll love chatting, and plan for the extra time—it will do wonders for your blood pressure.
#3 “Wiggle.” Wiggle room is essential, and I recommend setting aside an hour a day. I like to end my day with an unscheduled hour, so if appointments or projects run long, I have time to wrap things up without having to spend the evening at work.
Check back next week for 3 more tips that make life more sane!
Tags: Business Coaching, Career Coaching, General, Time Management
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July 13th, 2010 by Stephanie Rising
We’ve discussed some of the physical and mental elements of organization, but what is often overlooked is the role of communication in creating efficiencies. When collaborating with a client, there are a few critical considerations to make to ensure a smooth, successful outcome.
#1 Set expectations. We’ve all been there at least once—you heard the client’s desire, worked diligently to produce that outcome, and pitched the final product or service to them with eager anticipation only to be told that’s not what they were expecting. Consequently, it takes more time than budgeted—and therefore more money—to make sure the client is ultimately happy. How did that happen?
A common contributing factor is that we don’t take the up-front time to properly set the client’s expectation for how their project will proceed and the outcome from that process. A couple of ways to overcome this is to 1) outline in writing your step-by-step process for completing their request (remember—process can be different than contract terms); and/or 2) schedule a kick-off meeting (not to be confused with the sales meeting!) that gives you extra face time. A little rapport and understanding now can spare you hours of hair pulling later.
#2 Try a visual. Many people are visual learners. Part of setting expectations may involve a work flow chart, a time table for various deadlines, a rough sketch of your ideas, and so forth. As we well know, talking doesn’t always register—but images tend to make a more lasting impression and therefore can do wonders in driving a point home.
#3 Honor your “radar.” If a client is unable to communicate their expectations to you, and you sense that no amount of meeting or hand holding is going to change the fact that they will be a “moving target” throughout your relationship, seriously think about whether they’re worth taking on.
Remember: Part of creating efficiencies in your business is working with clients who are reasonable and therefore profitable. So speaking of expectations, it’s perfectly OK for you to expect to work with clients who respect what you have to offer.
Tags: Business Coaching, General, Marketing
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July 6th, 2010 by Stephanie Rising
Last week, I blogged about physical clutter = mental clutter. Similarly, physical movement = mental movement, and here’s where your two brains come into play:
- The “left brain” is responsible for things like logic, details, words, mathematical functions, privacy, conserving, organizing, and maintaining the status quo.
- The “right brain” is responsible for things like intuition, seeing the big picture, music, motion, images, spatial functions, interacting with people, creativity, and change.
I’ve had several requests recently for tips on how to function more efficiently, and one of the best recommendations I can make is take your right brain for a walk. Running a business and serving clients requires a tremendous amount of concentrated effort, much of which is spent on processing details. To make sure you don’t get too bogged down in analytics—which affects productivity and your ability to see things holistically—you need to make sure you’re engaging your right brain.
The next time you’ve worked for a long stretch on one project, get up and walk around (easier said than done in Tucson’s summer heat, but even around the office helps). Stand for a few minutes in the sunshine and watch the clouds, or listen to some music in your office while stretching. Those kinds of activities engage the part of the brain that needs light, motion, sound, and spatial stimulation. You’ll return to your next task with renewed clarity and energy, both of which are key to functioning optimally.
Tags: Business Coaching, General
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