I almost never work on the weekends. And I rarely work in the evening. So, then, how do I manage to remain a thriving solopreneur? How do I get my work done on time and under budget? Simple (mostly) through good productivity practices.

I have a number of processes that help me keep a stable and productive workflow. Yet I’m always looking for better and more efficient ways to run my business.

So is Ben Yoskovitz. But he wants to help all of us with our productivity. That’s why he’s instigated (sorry Ben, couldn’t resist) the Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project Meme.

Ben kicked it off by tagging Alister Cameron, Adam Kayce, Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki, Andrew Wee, David Armano, Tony Clark, Mike Sansone and Chris Cree. As of tonight, Adam and Andrew have responded with some solid tips. I’d love to hear from everyone else Ben’s tagged.

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Did you hear that there’s a new magazine specifically for us bloggers (and podcasters)? Yeah, that’s right. Blogger & Podcaster officially launched its first issue a few days back.

I’ve poked throught the first issue, which features our good friend Robert Scoble talking about podcasting (nice article, by the way). There’s also excerpts from a pretty nice discussion between Chris Pirillo, Technorati’s David Sifry and Tim Bourquin, founder of the Podcast and New Media Expo on the social media’s influence on our modern lives.

I found a bunch of other good articles as well from people like Leo Laporte, Rob Walch and Shel Israel, among others. I enjoyed the magazine very much.
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As far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. When I was 3 years old, I told my parents I was going to be a firefighter so I could “make people’s houses not burn down.” Around 10 I decided I wanted to be a doctor so I could help sick kids. By the time I was on my way to college, I was set on being a surgeon.

Well, I never did go to medical school. The awakening to alternative medicine when I was a freshmen at Purdue made sure of that. By the end of my second year I left college to pursue studies in alternative healing.

The next ten years or so was an amazing adventure. I studied various forms of healing, supporting myself as a website designer along the way. I eventually opened a healing practice and saw clients regularly. Sometimes the results clients got were nothing short of miraculous. Other times, the healing caused them turmoil – as though they didn’t want to accept change in their lives. Either way, within a few years, I was burned out.

One thing my healing work and my studies gave me was the sense of constantly looking inside myself for the meaning in things. It gave me the tools of self-reflection; tools I could use to look back at my life and see that I’d always wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. I know I didn’t want a private healing practice any longer. What I did know was I wanted my work to have meaning – to me and to my clients.

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UPDATE: I am no longer participating in this meme.

We all want more traffic, right?

Well, I’ve been watching my friend Garry Conn participate in Dosh Dosh’s Ultimate Technorati Favorites Exchange. Gary has seen huge traffic increases. As have a number of other bloggers.
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If I’m honest with myself (and you), I’ve failed at more things in my life than I’ve succeed. Yeah sure, if I look at my life over time, nothing’s really been a failure. I’ve succeeded at number of things from sports to business, mountain climbing to blogging.

But when I look at each, individual event – each day or moment – I’ve failed far more than I’ve succeeded. I mean, just something simple like not wanting to worry – I’ve failed at that a number of times today alone.

So what is failure? In general, failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. Basically, failure means having things not turn out the way you want them too.

Is that a bad thing? I think not. As a matter of fact, I think it’s quite necessary.
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That’s right, eMoms at Home just turned 1. Boy do they grow up quickly.
How does Wendy celebrate? By giving away gifts, of course.

As Wendy says:

…what better way to throw a birthday bash than to create an opportunity for all of you to make more money, get more traffic, and have more fun with your online business?!

I couldn’t agree more.

She’s got lots of prizes she’ll be giving away all throughout the month of April. Look at what week 1 winners received.
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Do you use ‘click here’ as link text on your site? I have. And I would say almost every one of my clients over the past nine years has too.

But why? Why do we think that we need to tell our readers to click here?

I guess we believe that click here will make it clear to our readers that this is a link and that behind the click here link is something they want to read. But does it? Really?

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I’m always intrigued by Guy Kawasaki. While I know he’s controversial – and outright disliked by some, I still find amazing value in what he says.

Guy’s perspective the core of a successful businesses is to make meaning. He says, “…those companies that are fundamentally founded to change the world, to make the world a better place, to make meaning are the companies that make a difference. They are the companies to succeed. My naive and romantic belief is that if you make meaning you will probably make money. But if you set out to make money you probably won’t make meaning and you won’t make money.”

I happen to agree with Guy on this point. It’s something my good friend Adam Kayce and I were just talking about this morning.

Take a look at this short (two and a half minutes) video of Guy talking about the three ways to make meaning with your business.

He cites the three ways as to make meaning as:

1. Increase the quality of life
2. Right a wrong
3. Prevent the end of something good

I’ve been thinking about this all morning in relation to where my business is now AND where my business is heading. Now I’m looking at my business from the stand point of all three points.

How about you? Does you business make meaning? How? Could it do more?

Kristie T asked an interesting question the other day: Are you making a living, making a life, or making a difference?

It’s clear for me that I’m interested in making a difference. But her question got me thinking…How do I actually make a difference through my business? Boy, that seems like a big question.

But if I begin with Kristie’s definitions, I think I can take the breadth of this question and get it into a post without writing a novel. Here’s Kristie’s definitions:

• Making a living is about doing something for the money
• Making a life is about creating a business that supports the lifestyle you want to live
• Making a difference is about giving your best to others in service and getting back tenfold

Well, I’m certainly not in business just to make money. I also think that her second bullet point about making a life is really the same as the first. I mean, after all, we work to make money to have the lifestyle we want. Otherwise, we’d have no motivation to strive for more.

Author David Maister writes that making a difference means sometimes struggling “to do what’s meaningful and not just what’s pragmatic.”

Ah, yes, do what’s meaningful. Or, another way to put it – do what is full of meaning.

So, what’s full of meaning for you?

As if you haven’t gotten enough of me lately with My Absolutely, Gotta Get Goals and Are You Fully Expressed in Your Business. Now I’ve got my first interview.

Amanda Harris from The Blog World posted an interview we did a short time ago. Mainly she asked me questions about problogging. Yet, I don’t consider myself a problogger so I got to answer the questions in a more unique way.

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