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23,000 thriving small businesses use Infusionsoft. Discover how Infusionsoft, the only all-in-one automated sales & marketing software built exclusively for small businesses, has helped them manage their leads, grow sales, save time and stay on top of it all.

In an increasingly busy and chaotic world, stability has become a precious commodity. How do you find stability in a market that can change in the blink of an eye where the skills you learn are obsolete as soon as you’ve mastered them?

Pam Slim, award-winning author, business coach and creator of the blog Escape from Cubicle Nation believes she has some of the answers.  

Your body of work extends far beyond your resume, she says. You are everything you do in life. For an individual, your body of work is everything you create, contribute, affect or impact. It is the story of your life and everyone you’ve interacted with along the way. For a company, it is everything they have contributed during their history, whether it is their products, services, idea or values.

What's your business plan?

In 1845, a British expedition commanded by Sir John Franklin boldly set out in search of the Northwest Passage, a fabled sea route around the top of North America. The expedition was plagued by logistical problems from the very start.

The crew had little experience with the arctic. Other than Franklin, few among the officers were arctic veterans. Disregarding the advice of the native Inuit, crewmen were outfitted in uniforms far better suited to winters in Southern England. 

In May, the expedition set sail from England never to return. Studies over the years have concluded that hypothermia, starvation and lead poisoning, along with inadequate clothing and supplies, lead to its demise.

While few of us have our hearts set on being arctic explorers, the fate of the Franklin Expedition serves of a poignant example of the importance of proper planning. It has been said that if you don’t know how to get there, it doesn’t matter what road you take.

You’ve tossed and turned all night. You’ve counted so many sheep you’re pondering whether to start up a farm. Just when you’ve finally drifted off, you hear the sound of the alarm clock going off. As you pull back the covers and put your feet on the floor you feel like an extra in an episode of ‘The Walking Dead.’

There's an important meeting today with some potential new clients. You need to be at your charismatic and problem-solving best. As you’re about to find out, lack of sleep can make a challenging but achievable task seem almost overwhelming.

You’re not alone.

Nearly one-third of adults report getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night, according to a National Health Interview Survey. And the habit seems to start young; a similar survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found only 31 percent of high school students report getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

Time.

Why do we hate it so much? We spend it  indiscriminately. We waste it. Sometimes, we even try to kill it. Then when we run out of it, we complain there’s not enough of it to go around. It’s the most precious resource we have. With time, new relationships can be forged from the ashes of old ones. Entire fortunes can be made, lost and made again. 

Time. We don’t get it back. Ever.

So what are some ways to manage this most valuable of resources? 

Be proactive. You’re rarely confronted with a full-blown crisis that erupts out of nowhere. Almost every problem starts small. By anticipating them, you can deal with them with a much smaller amount of effort. Examine your processes and look for problem spots, even if they seem inconsequential. What may take you only a few minutes to solve now, can frequently take hours or days to solve later. It may seem like a hassle to replace a leaky water cooler sitting near the electrical cabinet, but that’s nothing compared to the nightmare of your company server taking one last water-logged breath and then dying. 

Facing the end of a year and the beginning of a new one always makes me reflective. Ever since Dom & I saw the movie (ok, several years ago), "Bucket List," with outstanding actors Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, I ponder my own bucket list every December.

If you're not familiar with the term, it's a list of things you absolutely want to do before you die. For many people, writing a book is on that list; for others, it might be as grand as a trip around the world or as altruistic as being a Big Brother/Big Sister.

Our incomparable peak performance coach, Lee Milteer, often talks about the importance of taking care to keep balance in your life. As part of that concept, she challenged us to write our Bucket List and accomplish one thing from that list as soon as possible.

It is just about the middle of November as I look my office window at the turning and falling leaves realizing that the first half of the second month of the last quarter of 2013 is just about history and that got me to thinking: how have I been doing on my Q4 plan?

How are you doing on your Q4 plan?

The first question is “Did you make a Q4 plan?” That is, did you sit down and look at your 2013 goals and see how you measure up to those goals?

Joomla + Infusionsoft = WOW!

Our brand new product to integrate Joomla and Infusionsoft is out of beta testing and launching really soon so watch for more information.

If you have a Joomla website (or if you need more functionality than WordPress provides) and you want to offer a membership component that integrates with Infusionsoft, slick and smooth, keep an eye out here and check back next week for more details!

Forget old-school, dried up advertising methods!

Andrew Davis, best-selling author and former television producer, believes he has a better way for you to spend your advertising or marketing budget.

His idea is quite simple: create great content and engage your audience. Then use that content to leverage sales. Content brands build relationships. Relationships build trust. Trust drives revenue. It’s an approach Sesame Street and Walt Disney have used for years to drive millions in product sales, and Andrew believes it can work for small businesses too.

He has a five-step approach that’s already producing some great results for small online businesses.

In a competitive market, sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference between merely satisfying a customer’s needs and thrilling them so much that they’re bragging to their friends about your products. In other words, you want them to say: “Wow!”

According to Scott Martineau, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at Infusionsoft and author of Conquer the Chaos: How to Grow a Small Business without Growing Crazy, there are four steps to wowing your customers.

• Step 1 - Create a culture of Wow! Customer service starts at ground zero. You need to talk about it from day one. You need to emphasize and teach it to your employees at every opportunity, and when you’re evaluating new employees, you should look for people who love to serve. Wherever possible add incentives for employees to go above and beyond. In a crowded field of competing companies, people will remember the small, personal touches far more than they will another advertising campaign.

Infusionsoft is getting ready to do another Implementation Accelerator on June 18-20, 2014 in Chandler AZ.

If you want to get more done in 3 days than you ever thought possible, then this is the place for you!

To find out more, check out the description by clicking HERE.

To start the registration process click HERE.

As an added bonus, Kerry and/or I will go with you if you want us to help you get the most out of it. Just let us know.

Kerry and I have done this before and I can tell you it is hard work, but the results are amazing. Highly worth the blood, sweat and tears!

Hope to see you there.

P.S.To see the descriptive PDF, click here. And to start the registration process click here.

For many creative people, ‘process’is almost a dirty word. Flexibility and spontaneity are swept into a mindless void of dull and boring routine. Do the same thing over and over again, all day, every day. 

An organized process doesn’t have to be some gremlin lurking in the dark. In fact, it can keep the gremlins from knocking at the door of your business. By developing a system, routine tasks can be done quickly and smoothly, freeing up valuable time and energy for more important things. It can also save your business some money.

Consider the case of a major film production. Expensive actors are already on the set, props and scenery have been built, and the production crew is ready to shoot. Time is money, and every second counts. One of the major reasons films go over budget is inefficient use of time on the set. Since a skilled production crew is often paid by the hour, the last thing a director wants is a costly delay or even worse, having to shoot the scene again months later. 

Many of you know about our recent launch (Fall 2013) of JoomFuse, the slick new app we created for Infusionsoft users to integrate with their Joomla! websites. JoomFuse totally and silently manages memberships and member access for the Joomla! site owner who has Infusionsoft.

So... drumroll please!!

JoomFuse has been accepted into the Infusionsoft 2014 Battle of the Apps contest -- and we've made it to Round 2 of the judging!!

If you are a JoomFuse client -- please, please go right now to the Infusionsoft Marketplace and give us a great review. We need your help for the judging! (Thanks in advance !)

If you are NOT a JoomFuse client - and you want a hands-off membership integration between your Joomla! website and Infusionsoft - you can sign up for JoomFuse at joomfuse.com.

Either way, we appreciate your support. Keep your fingers crossed and check back here or on www.joomfuse.com for Battle of the Apps updates!

For more about JoomFuse, go to joomfuse.com.

All of us at Zacaw Enterprises wish you and yours a happy, thoughtful Thanskgiving. This is something we came across about Thanskgiving and want to share with you:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre

It’s time to step up on my soapbox and rant a little about a topic that keeps rearing its ugly head lately. Maybe you’ve tripped over it too?

Business etiquette. I know, I know, you’re probably groaning and thinking - Really?? Yes really.

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

Do you answer an email or call from a prospect or client or vendor in a timely way? Or put it off and ignore it for whatever reason?

Do they respond to you or do they ignore you?

Ever contact a prospect after a lengthy valuable consultation only to have them vanish into the ether?