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Easy, Inexpensive Email Newsletter Marketing Brings in Business! |
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Does email marketing work? A few months ago, a large restaurant chain asked me to work on a contract - they were ready to hire me, they just wanted to know my fees!
When I called to ask how they heard of me, they said they'd been getting my "Away-From-Home Health Trends" enewsletter for years.
I use Constant Contact for my enewsletters because you simply pick a template, type your text into the established boxes (add more as needed), insert images (they have wide selection, or you can add your own), and voila!...A beautiful newsletter in just an hour or two.
Want to get 60 days free to try out Constant Contact (without giving your credit card)? Register here. |
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Greetings! ,
Over the holidays, my daughter and I went to the local craft store looking for a fun project. She knew exactly what she was looking for, so her decision was made in 5 minutes.
Me? I went up and down the aisles, completely overwhelmed with all the choices...and walked out of the store empty handed.
That's decision paralysis....when too many choices overwhelms us. No wonder our clients say to us, "Just tell me what to do...what to buy...what to order."
Do you ever find yourself suffering from decision paralysis in your business? Then, read more below.
Oh, and if you enjoy this enewsletter, would you please forward it to your colleagues? 
Dr. Jo
407-852-9171
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Decision Paralysis |
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Whether you're trying to clear off your desk, or make an important business decision...if you've ever struggled too long to make a decision, you're suffering from decision paralysis. I'm no stranger to decision paralysis, but from my experience (and others), here's a reminder list that I use:
- Keep It Simple. If you know me, you know that I can get very excited about things. I get these wonderfully creative ideas, and if I don't catch myself, I can easily get distracted from the task-at-hand. Of course, sometimes it's good to go off in a new direction, but sometimes it's not. How can you decide? It helps to have a clear business mission. For example, I write and speak about managing stress, eating out healthy.... So, when I hear of a reporter wanting a quote about school cafeteria menus...I don't respond. While it's easy to get caught up with "getting quoted", I only spend time working on things to promote my business.
- Slush Shuffle. I know, I know. Everything you read about paper management offers advice such as, "Delegate, Act, File, Trash" but let's face it, sometimes those decisions are just too difficult. When my dad (a retired IBM executive) can't decide what to do with a piece of paper, he throws it in the bottom drawer of his desk. When that fills, he moves to the next drawer up. When that fills, he opens that bottom drawer to clean it out. He finds out that by that time, the conference has past, the information is no longer of interest to him...and in 5 minutes, the pile has been trashed. This procedure is helpful, because just in case you NEED that paper, you know exactly where it is. Try the Slush Shuffling system - and get them extraneous papers off your desk!
- Mind Dump. Trying to make a decision in your mind, is stressful. Get all that information out of your brain, and onto paper. Start writing down all the things that concern you or list the pros vs cons. Does something stand out for you? Now, when you're having trouble sleeping (just worrying about the pending decision), remind yourself that everything is written down - and just let the thought go.
- Go Left Brain. Sometimes the pro/con list is just too simple for the situation you're dealing with. Try setting up a table. For example, if you have three job opportunities, list them on the left. Then, set up columns labeled "compensation", "flexible time schedule", "how much the work interests me", "stress level", "commute", and so on. Then give each a score of 1-10 (or 1-5). Average them up to see which is the best decision for you.
- Take A Break. Stop beating your brain over a decision at your desk - get away! My best ideas come to me when I'm out in the fresh air, taking a walk.
- Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe. I recently put money into my SEP retirement plan and then had to make a decision regarding which fund to invest. I narrowed it down to a few five star funds, and reviewed the reports, but since I can't predict the future, I struggled over the decision for weeks. Finally, I pretty much did the eeny, meeny, miny, moe...and made a decision. I decided that there's really never going to be enough information (especially about their future performance) and that I just needed to do something. There's only so much analysis that one can do! Aaah, what a relief!
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Quote of the Week
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A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory."
-Arthur Golden,
author, from "Memoirs of a Geisha"
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Any questions? Please send them my way and I'll try to answer them in a future newsletter! Dr Jo
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