How Much Time Do You Spend On Social Media

An interesting talk from Lee Cottier on "Social Media vs Time Management".  http://is.gd/75EcG

Links in nicely to this month's newsletter and to a talk I heard on Radio 4's Today programme this morning discussing comments made on a Twitter account by a Labour MP. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/default.stm

We all know about Social Media but how aware are we of protecting our image in such a public environment?

Telegraph: Business - "Time to be smarter in business"

"A busy schedule can leave you rushed off your feet at work ..."

Read the rest of the article at the Telegraph Online.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/technology/smartthinking/6408167/Time-to-be-smarter-in-business.html

Saturday Times Article: "It's never too late to learn how to be punctual"

A few of my time tips appeared alongside Emma Cook's article on being late and being a busy Mum.

Read the full article on Times Online.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article6867652.ece

Top Tip For Working With Journalists

One tip I was given several years ago, at one of Joanne Mallon's workshops that I've never forgotten, was "If a journalist contacts you respond immediately".

Journalists are nearly always working to tight deadlines (maybe they could use some time management!) - they need something submitted within a few hours or a couple of days if you're lucky, so be ready to respond.  If they leave you a message or send you an email - get back to them as soon as you can or they'll have moved on to the next available person and your opportunity will have been lost.

Magazines are often planning what goes into print two or three months in advance, so you many be responding in the Summer to something that goes in to the Winter editions.  I've recently submitted an article which won't be out until December, even though the deadline was two weeks ago.  Newspapers often print more quickly - especially if they're looking for comment on current news.

I get called every couple of months and I'll always call them straight back or if they email me and there's a contact number, I'll call them rather than just reply by email.  It's resulted in many of my articles being published in national publications.  Not all of them always make it - copy changes and articles get dropped but the opportunity is there if you take it.

Prima Magazine: "Squeeze An Extra Hour ..."

The November issue of Prima magazine features one of my time tips in the article "Squeeze An Extra Hour Out Of Every Day".

I only found out about it when @businessmum Tweeted that her tips were in Prima and it reminded me to check if mine had made it ... and they had, although I think my original article was for Prima Baby!

Mums In Biz on Working Lunch

If you're following me on Twitter you may have seen that Mums In Biz appeared on Working Lunch yesterday. It was quicker than expected so I didn't get much notice and have a chance to let people know.

However if you want to take a peek at Nicky Chisholm of Mums In Biz, in action at her recent seminar, you can view it on BBC iPlayer for the next 7 days.
Working Lunch

Nicky's slot doesn't appear until 22 minutes in. There are some great bites with some of the other Mums businesses there - especially Galia from ChocChick. You can catch a fleeting glimpse of me at the back of the room - the BBC team had left before my afternoon slot and you can also see the Time Management For Dummies book poster in the background if you look carefully.

The TechGuys - Radio Interviews

Hot foot from a day of radio interviews up in London with Tim Fairs from The TechGuys. A really early start for me, meaning that I was up at 5.00am, train at 6.00am and sitting in their offices at 7.45 ready for interviews to start at 8.30. Too early for even me to have breakfast at that time.

This is part of a media campaign for The TechGuys with this month's focus being Rage against the machine - how and why people get frustrated and waste time waiting for their machines. It's quite worrying how many people find 2 seconds is too long to wait for a response - 56% get frustrated if it's after 10 seconds. I know everyone's busy these days but really - 2 seconds?! Mind you, when all that waiting time - booting up, opening files, loading websites means 2 out of 5 of us spend over 30 hours a year waiting - that's a fair amount of time. Almost a working week's worth - unless you're working more than a 35 hour week.

We were well looked after by the Markettiers 4DC team, who are running the campaign - we got breakfast ordered for us after the first interview, fruit smoothies and then lunch, with tea and coffee throughout the day, if we wanted it.

Although the interviews were set up pretty much back to back throughout the day they only lasted a few minutes each, so it never got to intense and we had a few minutes between sessions. Tim and I were in the studio, facing each other with Rupert and Jo in the gallery next door behind the glass - pressing buttons and connecting us as each station called in, queuing us in to each interviewer. Questions were geared around the services The TechGuys offer to improve the efficiency of the average computer and my input on reducing frustration and using rather than wasting time.

Most were being pre-recorded for later broadcasting either some-time that day or later in the week. A few of them we were 'live on air'. A variety of radio stations from commercial to local BBC - including Brighton's Juice 107.2. The day went very quickly and I'm looking forward to hearing how it went and what finally made it on air. If anyone happened to catch one of the interviews - let me know.

Look out for a time saving techie tips article in the next couple of months.

Zest Magazine article

I finally made it into Zest magazine.

Having been interviewed several months ago, I've been reporting the pending publication in my newsletter for a couple of months but as with most publication dates, things were moved around and delayed. It didn't appear in either the September or October editions.

I was in W H Smiths this morning and grabbed a copy of the November issue just on the off-chance - and there it was on page 22. How satisfying to see something I've contributed to in print.

TES: The Easy Way

I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago by Steven Hastings for my tips to ease teachers back into work after the school break. It didn't take long - we only spoke for a few minutes

His article appeared today and you can read it on the TES website.

The Easy Way

Better Business Focus - June 2007

My article on Limiting Beliefs has been published in the June edition of Better Business Focus.

You can get the latest version and sign-up for a free trial on the Bizezia website.

Read some of my other articles on Time Management on my website.

Better Business Focus - April 2007

My article on Handling Paperwork is being used in the April edition of Better Business Focus.

If you're interested in an internet-based monthly magazine that is personalised to your firm, underlining your credentials as a specialist business adviser. It will strengthen your clients’ confidence in your firm and demonstrate that you are a progressive and innovative organisation, willing to go that extra mile…

You can get the latest version and sign-up for a free trial on the Bizezia website.

Read some of my past articles on Time Management.