If you would have told me last fall that I would now be the proud owner of an Apple iPhone 3G, I probably would have laughed. From the commercials I saw, it certainly looked like a cool, whiz bang phone, but my Windows Palm Pilot was working just fine thank you. Then, I didn’t see the need to take time to exit out of my existing phone contract and spend extra bucks just to buy another “phone”.

Isn’t funny how we often don’t know we need something until we finally have it?

AT&T did some fairly brilliant marketing just before Christmas and that led to a note one day from my boyfriend that said…”If you were to get an iPhone, would you want it in black or white?” Naturally, I was intrigued. It seems that AT&T was offering existing current customers an offer to add a line and purchase the phone at some ridiculously low price (seriously, under $100) if the deal was done by Christmas. Figuring I had nothing to lose – I could always return within the allotted time and go back to my other phone – I gave it a whirl. Within minutes of having it in my hot little hands, I was hooked.

Now that I’ve really had some time to play, here are the top 5 reasons I can’t live without my iPhone:

1. Email that is instant on. The Palm was a bit of a pain when it came to downloading email. I had to take the time to log in, download mail and then try to read it on a screen so small as to make it painful to try and read anything. I love that I can quickly check on messages in the morning without having to ramp up my laptop, the bigger screen makes reading messages pretty easy, and I admit that it’s nice to be able to check mail during the day if I feel so inclined.

2. Shazam. I’m a fan of movies and music. It wasn’t unusual for me to get excited about a movie soundtrack, promise myself that I would search it out on the internet so I could buy it, but then forget all about it later after the movie ended. Truth is, my attention span can be pretty short sometimes:) Shazam takes this into consideration, because this funky little app gives you immediate gratification. Here’s how it works. When you hear music that you like you simply hold the phone up the speakers so Shazam can “listen” and capture a clip that it then uses to find the music on iTunes. Once found, you can immediately download the music to your iPod application. Sure, it costs $.99 but who cares? Instant gratification is worth the price of admission.

3. Twitterrific and Twitter Trend. These both have to do with Twitter, which is why I chose to combine them. I love that I don’t have to go to my computer to “log into” Twitter. Twitterrific lets me keep up with the stream of tweets at my leisure. I can easily see what people are talking about, read cool articles, watch video’s or roll my eyes when I see yet another MLM email from someone who doesn’t get it. For a quick read on the top trends, I turn to Twitter Trend. In a few seconds flat, I can zero in on the hottest topics in Twitter Land.

4. Phone Flix. Until yesterday – seriously! – I pretty much never updated my NetFlix account. My super cool boyfriend basically set it up and managed it for me, because I was just too lazy to stay on top of it. Plus, I knew he’d do it for me anyway so… Anywho, during the Atlanta snowstorm yesterday as we were hanging out, I decided to give the Phone Flix app a try. It was SO easy! I didn’t even have to log in…I’m guessing Mark set that up for me too:). I was in my account in seconds and had fun moving movies around in my queue and scheduling new ones to arrive.

5. Dog Whistle. I love my dogs, Shorty & Murphy, but darn it…they have an uncanny ability to know just when I’m jumping on the telephone for an important call. They can be quiet as little meeces all day long until that very second when I dial my call. Enter Dog Whistle from AugWare. After tuning to the right frequency – the one that catches the attention of your dogs – this nifty little app emits a whistle every time the dogs bark. Now don’t get me wrong…there are many times I WANT them to bark but NOT when I need to be on the phone.

Well, there you have it. Barb’s 5 reasons why my 3G and me will never be apart.

I am a huge fan of Brian Tracy! Through the years, I have learned so much from him about how to get clear on my goals, priorities my work and use a system that let’s me gets things done quickly and easily. I hope you find his article below as helpful as I did.

Have Everything At Hand
One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is for you to have everything you need at hand before you begin. When you are fully prepared, you are like a cocked gun or an archer with an arrow pulled back taut in the bow. You just need one small mental push to get started on your highest value tasks.

Clear Your Workspace
Begin by clearing off your desk or workspace so that you only have one task in front of you. If necessary, put everything on the floor or on the table behind you. Gather all the information, reports, details, papers, and work materials that you will require to complete the job. Have them at hand so you can reach them without getting up or moving. Be sure that you have all writing materials, computer disks, access codes, email addresses and everything else you need to start and continue working until the job is done.

Make It Comfortable
Set up your work area so that it is comfortable, attractive and conducive to working for long periods. Especially, make sure that you have a comfortable chair that supports your back and allows your feet to sit flat on the floor.

The most productive people take the time to create a work area where they enjoy spending time. The cleaner and neater your work area before you begin, the easier it is for you to get started and keep going.

Assume The Position
When you sit down, with everything in front of you, ready to go, assume the body language of high performance. Sit up straight, sit forward and away from the back of the chair. Carry yourself as though you were an efficient, effective high performing personality. Then, pick up the first item and say to yourself, “Let’s get to work!” and plunge in. And once you’ve started, keep going until the job is finished.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, take a good look at your desk or office, both at home and at the office. Ask yourself, “What kind of a person works in an environment like that?”

Second, resolve today to clean up your desk and office completely so that you feel effective, efficient and ready to get going each time you sit down to work.

Visit Brian Tracy International

I’ve been pondering this question a good bit in the last few weeks. It’s on my mind because I am refocusing my business and working to align what I LOVE with what I DO. Frankly, I think this is a good exercise for anyone who recognizes that they aren’t quite living their dream life.

Throughout my career I’ve always been regarded as professional. Not a bad thing at all of course. Still, I know that many times I haven’t been as authentic or as truthful as I wanted to be. My fear was that I would somehow tarnish the professional image I worked hard to create. What’s a gal to do?

My prior blog is a good example of how I was more focused on how I’d be perceived instead of just saying what I really wanted to say. Would I say something controversial that companies who might hire me wouldn’t like? What would someone think if I misspelled a word or if my grammar was screwed up? Geez, that just leads to one big BORING blog site. Ultimately, writing a good blog is like being a really good sales person. You work to build the relationship and you just can’t do that when you sanitize everything you say! A good read on this particular topic is Naked Conversations by Scoble and Israel.

A colleague just “reintroduced” me to Michael Port. In the early phases of starting my business, someone told me about Michael. I think he was doing some things with Coach U or Coachville at the time. Not positive the place, but anywho… I watched his recent MSNBC interview last night and subsequently went to his website. Well done – you should check out Michael’s work. While I was at his site, I read about one of his programs – the Think Big Manifesto – and these few sentences of Michael’s express perfectly my feelings about the professional versus authentic thing.

Most people operate from only a fraction of who they are and what they are capable of. Why? Because it can be confronting to express yourself boldly in the world!–Michael Port

Amen to that! It can be frightening to step out on our own – doing and saying exactly what feels right for us. I’m not talking about being a jerk, but I am saying that most of us probably end up “holding back” for any number of reasons. And I think that when we play big it invariably makes other people uncomfortable.

Here’s to being real!

Having a strong network is tantamount to success. That holds true whether you want to secure the next promotion, close the big deal or land a new job.

As I have talked about in other posts, keeping your network healthy and well tended is as important when you don’t have a job as when you do. If you don’t think so, just talk to a few folks who’ve found themselves displaced with no network to fall back on. Being out of work AND trying to build a network at the same time is no fun at all!

If you are your own paycheck then it goes without saying that networking is vital to keeping the funds flowing in. An important point often missed by solopreneurs and business owners. If you aren’t networking then you aren’t growing.

Even if you don’t like the idea of having to go to networking “events” remember that there are lots of ways to network these days. Social media tools like Twitter provides a very different way of getting to know others outside of your world.Your network is kind of like your garden. You need to plant new seeds, water and nurture them as they grow, and you need to be sure to weed out the dead stuff when necessary.

As we are poised to move into another New Year, now is a great time to ask these 5 things:

1. What seeds do I need to plant to build and strengthen my network in order to grow my business or move my career to the next level?
2. Who are the people in my network that I need to spend more time with to build a stronger relationship that will benefit both of us?
3. What technology do I need to learn in order to extend my network reach?
4. Who is on my contact list that needs to go?
5. How can I expand my network doing things differently than I do today?

Remember to keep your network and your networking fresh. If you tend to your garden it will tend to you!

Yikes, it is early as I write. Our darling dog, Murphy – an adorable and mischievous 2 year old black lab – gave us a 5:30 wake up call this morning. Who knows why. Murph does things for his own reasons, not mine or anyone else’s. As my boyfriend and I are fond of saying, “It’s Murphy’s world and we just live in it”. Even his brother, Shorty gets worn out sometimes, but more to come on the adventures of the black and tan brothers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m usually an early bird, but on this particular Friday – the day after Christmas- I have no particular place to be. Sleeping in, just a tad, would have been nice:)

Christmas was just plain fun, and I’m happy to say that I am now the proud owner of several new technology toys. In my possession is a brand spanking new IPhone 3G, an Eee PC and a Snowball for podcasting.

The gifts were fun for two reasons:

1) I do love technology. Not just for the sheer geekness of it all – even though I am a closet geek – but I absolutely love what it can do for us used in smart ways.

2) I firmly believe that how we promote ourselves, build our networks, and expand our potential customer markets to sell more of our products and services requires the integration of technology into how we work.

I have a particular passion for both the art of the sale and technology, and I totally believe that if you happen to be of the old school sales mindset who believes that nothing helps you close a sale like a face to face meeting, you are bound to find yourself irrelevant in relatively quick fashion.

Here are 3 reasons you need to integrate technology into your daily sales process:

1. You can build a much larger network.

A potential client of mine (I ultimately decided they weren’t the right client for me) actually said that “because their reps sold to people outside of their geography, they didn’t need to network locally”. I think that’s completely stupid and that comment is perhaps a good indication of why their sales team will end their year at 30% of quota. One critical element of successful selling is networking. Even if your particular sales geography is not where you live, you still need to be out in the community meeting people. It’s good for the company first and foremost. More importantly, you just never know who you will meet who can connect you to the client you want to reach.

The truth is these reps aren’t networking online either – equally stupid. If you are selling to people who live outside your sales geography, do I really need to explain why you have to be online? These folks need to get a clue.

2. It’s not who you know, but who knows you.

Competition on practically all fronts is fierce. The way to get yourself known outside your itty bitty circle is to be online. Participate in blogs, appropriate business forums, write articles, network with other people, create podcasts…whatever it is you need to find a medium that works for you and get yourself known. Don’t get hung up on whether you can write well or not. If articles aren’t for you then spend time daily answering and posing questions in groups liked LinkedIn and others. Not only will you grow your own knowledge of trends and issues in your industry, but you have the opportunity to position yourself as a knowledgeable expert. Of course, that means you need to take the time to craft well thought out answers.

By the way, these days a lot of your potential clients will Google your name to find out more about you. The more you are seen in cyber land – provided you don’t present yourself as an idiot out there on the lunatic fringe – the more credibility you have with them.

3. Buying decisions are no longer made just by the boomers.

While the boomer generation may be more used to meeting with you in person or on the phone, the younger workers live online. As more and more of them become the key decision makers, you better be there. If you aren’t using – or at least aware – of the technologies they are using to ask for advice on everything from finding the right job to the right product or service to buy, you’re dead. Sales is about building relationships, which essentially means being able to relate to others. If you can’t speak the lingo of this new world, how can you expect them to trust you enough to want to buy what you have to offer?

Regardless where you are on the knowledge scale of technology, commit yourself to learning something new every day. Read books, listen to audio casts, watch YouTube videos, put up a Facebook page, start a Twitter account, create your own blog…whatever – do something, get going, have fun!