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Administrative Resources

The Administrative Hat includes everything you need to run your business efficiently and effectively including:

If another department isn’t working well – it’s often because you’re missing something in the administrative department.  Look here first!  Remember it is just as important to work ON your business as it is to work IN your business.

  • Google Apps for Business Google Applications is a web 2.o solution for email, calendar and more. I've been using it for my business for about 9 months now and I've been very happy so far. I was using Microsoft Outlook, but when I would search for an email it would literally take 5-10 minutes. And with Google, without getting rid of any of my 10,000+ emails, it takes me under 5 seconds to find an email.
  • Systems Creation - Work Smarter, Not Harder Ever feel like a rat on a wheel, spinning and spinning and not getting where you want to go? A great way to get off the wheel is to set up systems that automate your business. Anything you do more than twice in your business will be easier, faster, and simpler to delegate if you systematize it.
  • The E-Myth Revisited The brilliance of Gerber's approach to systematizing your business has made a significant difference in my success and the success of my clients.
  • Working Smarter, Not Harder In February, we did a call for the Artists Marketing & Business Academy called, “Create Systems – Work Smarter, Not Harder” to begin to address one of the key mistakes artists make in their business. The essence of this mistake is to think of yo...

Organization

  • Ask the Organizer During the course of a given day, think about how many different ways you might be distracted from the tasks you have in front of you - a notification pops up in the corner of your screen letting you know you have a new email, your phone vibrates to let you know you received a new message on Twitter, the phone rings… and the list goes on and on. Let's face facts – we live in distraction oriented culture, where we're encouraged to be in near-constant contact with the outside world.
  • Ask The Organizer - An Interview with Joshua Zerkel, Certified Professional Organizer Do you ever have trouble getting - or staying - organized? If so, you're not alone - organizing your space, managing your time, and keeping track of your information can get pretty overwhelming. In this open forum Q&A call, members got answers to their most challenging organizing questions, problems and conundrums from Joshua Zerkel of Custom Living Solutions.
  • Daylite - More than CRM for Mac So, first let me say - I am not a Mac user.  However, I have a lot of clients who are, and so I have been looking for a CRM solution for my Mac clients.  One of my clients brought me this product and he is thrilled with it.  So, I wanted to pass it...
  • Feng Shui for Dummies What I love about this book is it takes a system shrouded in mystery and woo-woo and gives the reader a pragmatic and usable understanding so you can apply this to your own space.
  • Get Organized lack of organization costs in so many ways. We lose time looking for lost things. We lose energy as clutter sucks away our life force. We lose focus because each stray paper distracts us.
  • Get Organized Some of the greatest time management challenges aren’t about time; it’s a lack of organization! Some of the greatest financial challenges have nothing to do with money; it, too, is a lack of organization! And relationship issues? Don’t get me started!
  • Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life Karen is a friend of mine - and she's sure helped me with a few of my Feng Shui challenges!
  • Organizing From the Inside Out The Foolproof System For Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life by Julie Morgenstern I loved this book! I became so much better at managing my space which has freed up time and energy for other things. Amazon says: It's about time! J...

Finance

  • Cashflow Quadrant This brilliant look at the four kinds of business people had a significant impact in how I think about myself and my business as well as what I teach in Business Management for the Creative Mind
  • How to Manage Cash Flow for Your Art Business Do you know the number 1 reason businesses fail?  Cash Flow. Or to use business terminology, insufficient capital or operating funds. Knowing how to manage your finances (business and personal), manage your cash flow and plan your cash flow management...
  • Money Management: Building Your Financial Foundation Many of us think our trouble with money is that we just don’t have enough. If we had more money, our problems would disappear. But the vast majority of lottery winners are broke within 3 years. The problem isn’t the money – it’s how we think about...
  • Rich Dad, Poor Dad What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki I loved this book. It made me take a good hard look at my relationship with money, but even more so, how I thought about my business. Amazon.com:...
  • Secrets of the Millionaire Mind "You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if your "blueprint" isn't set for success, you're financially doomed." --T. Harv Eker I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to T. Harv Eker. He is a bestselling author and one o...
  • The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman When Suze Orman was 13 she watched her father dive into the flames of his burning take-out chicken shack in order to rescue his cash register. In that moment Orman learned that money...
  • Transitioning to Full-time With Your Art/Music Business Whether you're working a day job in the corporate world or teaching within your craft to sustain yourself, many artists and musicians dream someday they will earn enough to go full-time with their art. And just as many have given up on that dream, because it seems out of reach. Or because they tried to go full-time but ended up having to return to the day job, because they just weren't earning enough to sustain themselves and their family. I've worked with many private clients in different lines of work to make that leap from part-time to full-time in their businesses. And I've found that the process for success through this transition is similar no matter what business you're in.

Contact Management (CRM)

  • 1ShoppingCart But if you're like me and you want something that requires very little programming to customize the look and feel. And a system that offers all the bells and whistles you want and need from your shopping cart - this is a great solution!
  • 3x5 Contact Management System Back in the good old days, before such things as computerized contact management systems, salesmen created a physical contact management system.  I learned this system many years ago, while working in the Network Marketing world.  For those of you who p...
  • AWeber - email marketing at it's best! AWeber is a supercharged email marketing tool. Priced competitively, it allows for more targeted marketing than some of the other tools I've recommended.
  • CardScan I have been using a CardScan scanner for 5 years, and it's saved me literally hundreds of hours. I gather business cards where ever I go. And these cards used to sit in piles on my desk. Now, in a jif, I scan them into a database, add them to my newsletter list - and they become part of my network, instead of part of the chaos on my desk.
  • Constant Contact - Email Marketing Constant Contact's leading email marketing and online survey tools—supported by its expert personal coaching and support—help all types of small businesses and organizations create professional-looking email newsletters and insightful online surveys and begin a dialogue with their customers.
  • Daylite - More than CRM for Mac So, first let me say - I am not a Mac user.  However, I have a lot of clients who are, and so I have been looking for a CRM solution for my Mac clients.  One of my clients brought me this product and he is thrilled with it.  So, I wanted to pass it...
  • How to Build Your List with Elizabeth Edwards List Building might not be the sexy topic that Social Media is however “The List” is a key ingredient to the success of your business. Independent artist and small labels alike need a large list of raving fans if they want to be successful.
  • How to Manage Your Marketing - The Contact Management System Marketing is creating an environment in which people feel comfortable enough to buy from you,  over and over again. Sounds like a great idea, right? But what exactly does that mean in terms of day to day actions?  And how do you systematize creating ...
  • ifanz.com ifanz is a very cool resource originally developed for musicians, but really applicable for creative professionals in all walks of life who are building their career by building their relationship with their fans.  More than just a database and newslette...
  • Mining the Gold from Your Contacts This class will cover the heart of relationship marketing (pun intended). Making that initial contact with a prospective client, customer or fan is just the beginning of a long and beautiful and hopefully productive relationship. Knowing how to turn an initial contact into a relationship is a key success skill.

Team Management

  • An interview with Tiamo De Vettori – The Art of Outsourcing This month we interviewed the LA Music Awards’ Male Singer/Songwriter of the Year, Tiamo De Vettori, on The Art of Outsourcing – how to get volunteers to enthusiastically do the things that you don't like to do. He also touched on cross promotion – how to minimize your work and multiply your fan base, and on creative ways to make money in the music industry (and other arts fields).
  • Create and Maintain Your Team Are you sick of doing it all alone, but the idea of delegating to someone else overwhelms or confuses you? Do you have people working for/with you – agents, managers, assistants, web designers, etc. – but you’re unsure how to work with them? Or even worse, you feel like you’re working for them, not the other way around? Creating and managing teams takes a particular skill set.
  • Project Management – The Performance Results Description Tool The PRD allows you to visually link your goals to your daily activities as well as develop a working plan for how you'll reach those goals.
  • The ABC's of Building a Business Team That Wins Great champions in sports, business and even families have one thing in common. It's a legitimate secret weapon. It is something that lies deep in the genetic code of winning organizations. It appears when pressure is high, when the stakes are critical and when everything is on the line. They know how to work as a team.
  • The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard and Spencer Johnson For more than twenty years, millions of managers in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses nationwide have followed The One Minute Manager's techniques, thus increasing their productivity, job satisfactio...

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