a personal note from Cairene

teleseminars, workshops & events

did you know?

The last opportunity to take the full series at reduced tuition begins September 2. Participate in all four teleclasses, plus four Get-in-Gear sessions, for only $425 (or two payments of $215). Learn everything you need to know - step by step - to smooth the administration of your business. This is the last opportunity to take the full series this year, so register now and get ready to hit the ground running in 2009!

Teleclasses and workshops can be customized. If you would like to take a class (or the whole series) with a small group of colleagues, courses can be tailored to the challenges you share in common, on a schedule that works for your group. All it takes is four like-minded people. Interested? Please contact me for more information.

All teleclasses and workshops include individual support between classes, an online forum for participants and graduates, and private consultation with me following the course to address individual challenges - and results are guaranteed.

The True Discipline of Time Management
This workshop is for right-brainers who have used left-brained approaches to time management with more frustration than success. If you are tired of trying to force your activities into boxes on a calendar and “discipline” yourself to conform to a schedule, but still need a system that helps you stay organized and get things done, then this is the course for you. Learn how to work with your unique sense of time and create your own personalized time management system - one that is flexible and resilient, energizing and sustainable, synergistic and satisfying.

• 3-week teleclass begins September 2, 1-2pm - $95 [details & registration]

Growing Beyond Going It Alone
This workshop is for the solopreneur in transition. If you are on the cusp of your next stage of growth and have begun to realize you no longer will be able to do everything yourself, but don't know what to do to prepare (and it's all feeling a bit scary - maybe more than a bit), then this is the class for you. Learn to evaluate your schedule, activities and income - and the relationship between them - according to specific criteria, and how to use that information to plan your next steps. Gain the information and skills you need to move confidently through the changing administration of your business as it grows.

• 3-week hands-on workshop begins September 9, 4-5pm - $160 [details & registration]

Your Business Manual
Business Operations Manual: sounds awfully bureaucratic, doesn’t it? But even creative solopreneurs need to document how they do business. Rather than making it all up as you go along (or continually reinventing the wheel), by outlining your procedures, policies and standards you will be more consistent and efficient in your actions, deliberate in your choices, and focused on your goals. A lifesaver in situations when you are unexpectedly unable to work, your business manual is also an indispensable tool when it comes time to delegate activities to others as your business grows.

• 3-week teleclass begins September 2, 7-8pm - $95 [details & registration]

Get-In-Gear Fridays
Finish what you’ve been putting off! Join GiGF and have some fun tackling the bottom of your to-do list. Whether doing away with your most odious tasks once and for all or devoting uninterrupted time to a special project, you will be propelled by the humor, support, accountability and momentum that comes from working with a group of like-minded people. Free yourself from the stubborn and neglected to-do’s in your life and experience the resulting lightness of mind and heart - join a session soon!

• sessions offered every other Friday - $15 [details & registration]

get in gear > Prepare Your Business For Kindergarten

In some ways, our businesses are like our children – we’ve nurtured and cared for them since infancy and are understandably very protective, deeply involved and passionately devoted to their success.

But like a child, sooner or later, your business will grow beyond infancy and dependence.  It will learn to walk and talk, eat and play, and all sorts of other things on its own.  Next thing you know, it’s the first day of kindergarten and its time to let go a bit.  It’s time to bring other people, people who offer things you can’t provide, into the life of your business so it can continue to grow and thrive.

When I talk with solopreneurs about getting administrative support for their businesses, I am surprised how often the objection is, “But I like doing everything myself! Besides, I’ve been able to pull it off pretty well so far.” Rarely has anyone making this objection struck me as a micromanaging control freak – just someone who really cares about his or her business.  Nor has anyone making this objection seemed blind to their need for help someday.  So what’s going on here?

If you are such a person, one or more of the following worries probably underlies your reasons for not delegating more (and sooner):

1. You are afraid you will choose the wrong people to help you.
2. You are afraid you will lose money.
3. You are afraid you don’t have the necessary management skills.
4. You are afraid to let someone else see how you do things.
5. You are afraid of working on the big picture of your business.

Just like a helicopter parent hovering over a child’s every move, giving in to such fears prevents the healthy maturation of your business.  It looks and feels like protection and caring, but it keeps your business from growing as it should.

So, practice letting go before it’s time for your business to go to kindergarten.  Metaphorically speaking, hire a babysitter and go to the movies.  If that goes well, try daycare a couple times a week.  If that goes well, leave your darling with grandparents and take a long weekend.  In other words, get for help with small tasks and projects then build on those experiences.  Test your fears and learn what you need to do to avoid them,  It may turn out that many of your fears are unfounded.  If you’ve practiced, when that first day of kindergarten comes around, you might still be a bit nervous, but you won’t be in tears and unable to leave the school building.  Even though a similarly big step, you’ll be ready to bring a virtual assistant, bookkeeper, or other support professional into your business with confidence.

get in gear > practice getting help
Practice developing a healthy mindset around getting support so doing everything yourself doesn’t become a habit that’s difficult to change.  Because sooner or later, if your business succeeds at all, you won’t be able to do it all alone (and, trust me, it's a lot harder to learn new behaviors when you are in overwhelm).

Need help getting help? Learn how to eliminate your fears and gain the necessary skills and information to get the support your business needs in Growing Beyond Going It Alone.  The hands-on workshop begins September 9.

talk back

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recently on the blog

• It IS a Small World | what does six degrees of separation mean for your marketing?
• A Victim of Stereotyping | know thyself
• Know the Value of What You Delegate | how to get the results you expect from support
• All You Need Is Love | if life is mostly maintenance, you better love what you are taking care of
• Expecting More From Myself | are expectations the surest path to disappointment?

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An archive of past issues of the Get In Gear newsletter can be browsed here.

Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Cairene MacDonald.
© 2008 Cairene MacDonald, Third Hand Works. All rights reserved.

Cairene MacDonald
Third Hand Works
PO Box 31113
Portland, OR 97231
info@thirdhandworks.com

Third Hand Works | unconventional workflow strategies for unconventional people
administrative guidance for creatives who want to succeed in business and still be themselves