Delegating All Those Pesky Tasks

Isn't it about time you had a virtual assistant to handle all those pesky tasks that take up your precious time and energy? Surely you should be spending your time and energy doing the things that are going to be more valuable. Don't delay hire a virtual assistant today!

What's On Your Business Card?

Having got back from a day's seminar and networking opportunity yesterday - I returned with a number of business cards. Now you'd think that the idea of a business card is to provide your details in one easy to read format. Have a thought when you get your business card designed and printed.

Readable print. I'm not yet in need of reading glasses although I'm starting to find I need longer arms these days but some of the print is so teeny, weeny on some of these business cards that you need a good light and a magnifying glass to read it.

Contrasting colours. While you might think that shiny silver looks good, light coloured writing on silver doesn't - again, I need to get out the reading glasses and angle it just right so I can read the letters and numbers. The same applies to light colours or where there's not much contrast between the text and background - it's difficult to read.

Photos. If you're going to have a photo on your business card, there's no harm in smiling. I think a passport-like blank stare isn't a good look, although at least it does serve as a prompt for when you next meet the person.

I like to write on the back of business cards - notes, comments, when we met - but glossy surfaces make this difficult to do - I've noticed this on my own cards. Worth considering when I next get them printed.

Manchester Stop-Over

I was up in Manchester yesterday at the IFA Adviser08 exhibition. I travelled up on Monday afternoon and booked an overnight stay for the night. I'd searched various hotels, some of which were right by the Manchester Exhibition Centre and varied from the reasonably priced, basic room to the more upmarket, expensive options. Although Manchester has plenty of hotels to choose from, I decided that rather than stay in an impersonal, hotel and as I didn't need to be there on the dot of 8.30 when the event started, that I'd find a B&B somewhere close by.

After a few phone calls - it's half term up there this week, so some weren't taking bookings, I found the utterly delightful Birtles Farm B&B. It's situated on the edge of Tatton Park within a short drive from the M6 and only 20 minutes from the centre of Manchester. Down a long drive, it's a working farm and the farmhouse is crammed full of warmth and character. No clean lines and white walls here - all wooden rafters, uneven floors and walls, wonderful dark wood doors with old fashioned latches and a lovely double room with everything that your average business hotel would have but in much nicer surroundings. OK, the tiny ensuite shower room might be a bit smaller than most and if you were six foot you'd have to duck through the door but it had everything I needed and more. There was a TV, wireless internet access, tea & coffee making facilities, a fabulously comfortable bed with loads of pillows, a sofa to relax on, soft towels, a cupboard with proper hangers. Downstairs was your own guest lounge and the dining room, where a good hearty breakfast was served the following morning. Better than the usual Tuesday breakfast I'd be having if I was at my local Chamber meeting.

I'd highly recommend it if you need somewhere to stay in the area and it will certainly be my first consideration if I need a place to stay again. If not for a business stop-over in Manchester (it took me 30 minutes to drive into the centre of Manchester or I could have hoped on the Metro from Altrincham and that was in rush hour(, then it's ideally placed for Manchester Airport or for a long weekend break. There's plenty to see in the area and it's just on the edge of the wonderful Peak District and there are walks from the front door.

Selling Like Hot Cakes

Amazon has almost sold out of copies of Time Management For Dummies. Not surprising as the price has now dropped still further. There's one last remaining copy in stock, as I speak but I'm sure more will be arriving soon. It's been dipping in and out of the top 100 for the last couple of weeks, which is encouraging and hopefully helping to raise it's profile and subsequent sales.

If you're thinking of buying a copy or recommending it to others - do use the link on my website, as that will also enable me to make a contribution to Cancer Research.

I'm taking a stock of books with me for tomorrow's IFA Adviser event.

Blog Action Day - Poverty And The Girl Effect.

Well, if you didn't know about it you might have missed it too but the 15th of this month was Blog Action Day. One day for hundreds of bloggers to post about one specific topic. Last year it was the Environment, this year it was Poverty.

When many of us are feeling the pinch as prices rise on food, fuel and the cost of living, there are many more who are far worse off than we are. As a result of several Blog Action Day blogs I read on Wednesday, I came across this:



Take your time to have a look around The Girl Effect website to find out more. It makes interesting and humbling reading.

October Newsletter - Getting Published

My latest newsletter is just out. This month's main article is about getting your own book published.

Several people have asked me about the process of writing the Dummies book, presumably with a view to getting their own book published either for business or personal satisfaction. If you want to write a book, start writing. Anything will do, newsletters, articles and your blog. ...

If you want to read the rest of the newsletter, just sign up on my website and you'll receive the latest issue and free Power Time Tips.

Yeah! I'm On The Best Seller List

Blink and you'll miss it but just noticed that Time Management For Dummies has just come up as #100 in Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Self Help.

Off to do a little dance round the room.

Shopping Around - Petrol Prices

If you're looking to save money then it certainly helps to make sure that you're not paying over the odds for your fuel - especially as it's been rising rapidly over the last few months and now costs about 30% more to fill your tank each week.

I usually fill up at my local Asda, as it always has the cheapest petrol in the area and seems to drop it's prices before the others. The other two local petrol stations are a couple of pence per litre more, which isn't a big difference and not worth making a journey out of my way to fill up but I passed a petrol station this weekend that was charging almost 10p per litre more than what I was paying. That amounts to an additional £4-£5 every time you fill up. Multiply that over the course of a year and that's over £200 - just on fuel.

Check the Petrol Prices website for your local area.

Do You Believe Everything You're Told?

Well apparently some people do and such is the power of rumours and chinese whispers, helped along by the apparent authenticity that the internet can now provide (or not) to say nothing of what gets published in the tabloids, that someone suffering from a sore ear has decided that this is due to overuse of the mobile phone ... because apparently the signals from mobile phones can boil an egg.

Well, after I'd picked myself up off the floor - I thought I'd check out where this crazy story came from and a quick Google provided this.

Amazon Bestseller

... most authors will admit to checking their rankings more frequently than is good for their mental equilibrium - so says a Times article on getting your book in the Amazon bestsellers list.

You won't catch me doing that! Well, OK, maybe just a little bit ... only every hour when I'm working, because that's how Amazon calculate their bestsellers.

It hasn't made it into the top 100 so far. My ranking peaked at 3889 has hovered between 10-30,000 on most days but dropping slowly but surely down the rankings as it competes with new releases like Warren Buffett's book, the usual clutch of cookery books and autobiographies from the likes of Paul O'Grady, Dawn French and Julie Walters.

Other then encouraging you all to buy on one particular day, it's going to be hard to compete with all the other books out there to get Time Management For Dummies into the best seller list along with Eat That Frog and two of Mark Forster's books which are top of the Time Management best sellers slots.

However, a quick check on the Wiley Authors site and I'm delighted to see that it's already sold over 1000 copies since it's release a month ago!

Not bad! :)