However, are multitaskers really more productive? The reality is, this skill is vastly overrated. This is because the human mind is made to focus on no more than one to two tasks at a time. Whenever you try to do multiple things, your effectiveness goes down dramatically.

This is supported scientifically. Each task will end up taking longer, and you will make more mistakes as well. The fact is that you are never more effective than when you just focus on only one task.

However, what if that isn’t possible for you? After all, a lot of business owners wear many hats. Some have to handle the advertising, product development, and customer management all themselves. What’s the solution to multitasking in that scenario? Here are two ways:

1. Batch activities

For instance, don’t pick up the phone throughout the day. Instead, have a set time each day that you handle all your calls. Answering the phone during the day causes a dramatic decrease in production, because you are constantly being distracted from the more important tasks.

And for some activities, batching can even save you time. For instance, instead of doing your company errands sporadically, get them done at the same time each week. This will prevent you from making multiple trips. This will save you time, in addition to reducing distraction.

The kind of things to batch include all your routine tasks like checking email, phone calls, tracking cash flow, and so on.

2. Outsource your work

Many tasks can be easily given to others. And the fewer tasks you have, the easier it is to single task.

For instance, let’s say you make handmade soaps and lotions. There are only so many hours in the day and at some point, your income is going to level off if the whole operation is dependent on you.

Not only is your income limited, but your effectiveness at making them will be as well. This is because you also have to focus on marketing, customer management, and other day-to-day tasks.

This produces a tremendous temptation to multitask. However, when you outsource the customer management and marketing, you can then produce a lot more of your handmade soaps and lotions. This will give you more time to focus on the important activities of product creation (a.k.a. Doing What You Love), which is why you started your business. The fewer activities you have to focus on, the easier single tasking will become.

The bottom line is, multitasking does not work and is a myth. Even if you don’t have the money right now to outsource anything, focusing on just one task at a time will result in maximum effectiveness.

You’ve probably heard from me already about How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times, the book in which I am a co-author. Let me tell you more about it though, because if you purchase the book within the next 24 hours, you’ll get a powerful free bonus. (And did I tell you that the proceeds from the book go to charity?)

I want to tell you the reason that I chose to be in this book, and to write about a very personal story from my life. These are challenging times and I really believe that your ability to handle fear is one of the most important skills you can master. This book of the best ideas of 22 amazing experts will help with exactly that whether the issue is little scary moments or the big, mind-numbing
fearful events.

http://www.HowtheFierceHandleFear.com

Now, here’s the offer good for today only:

If you buy your copy of “How the Fierce Handle Fear” from Amazon.com within the next 24 hours you’ll also get exclusive access to the complete audio collection of the groundbreaking “Fearless Fridays Telesummit”. This was the recent event featuring over 30 amazing speakers offering their best tips on handling fear.

Just go to http://www.HowtheFierceHandleFear.com for details on how to get the recordings. Once you get the book, let me know how you like my essay, okay?

I’m so excited to be a published author again! And proud to be contributing through this project to Frank McKinney’s Caring House Project Fund which provides needed help to the desperately poor and homeless throughout the world.

Warmly,
Janet

P.S. – I would love for you to share this link with your family and friends. Getting a grip on fear will help us all to move out of these challenging times and on to the better ones ahead.

http://www.HowtheFierceHandleFear.com

Here are three tips to make it happen:

Get involved in groups

Many people think Facebook is an untargeted site, because of the wide range of users. However, there are many niche-specific groups you can join.

This enables you to target people who would be interested in your product or service. There is no sense in trying to network with people that would not benefit from the service or product you are selling. However, please keep in mind that you need to network with others and not always be a “walking” billboard for your business.

Get involved in the community

Once you’ve identified the groups you want to join, then you can engage in conversations with people. Developing trust is one of the most important things for effective Facebook networking.

If people believe you really want to help them, you are much more likely to “sell” them something. Most businesses make the mistake of ramming their sales message down others’ throats without asking what their customers want. This is a dead giveaway they are just in it for the profit and are the walking billboard I described before.

Instead, you want to get involved in community discussions and answer people’s questions. When you do this, they will come to view you as an expert, and therefore trust what you have to say more.

Don’t expect anything in return. You should look to benefit people even if they never buy your service or product. If you genuinely want to help people, profits will be an inevitable by-product.

Have a good profile

This is the golden rule. All that effort you put into answering questions is for nothing if your profile is not effective.

One very important part of your profile is having a blog that provides valuable content. Then you can add a link to your site at the bottom. Again, just focus on providing good free content. Don’t try to sell them anything here. Leave that for your site. You want your blog to benefit your readers even if they don’t buy what you are selling.

Developing trust is key. People can instantly tell the difference between somebody who wants to sell them something and one who wants to help them. So the key to making money on Facebook, like anywhere else, is providing good, free information.

Facebook offers plenty of income potential, so implement these three tips and you will see results soon.

Do you want to receive more social media tips, hints and tricks? If so, sign up for my weekly business tips, Biz Tips for Entrepreneurs and Solo Business Owners, which will be delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. As an added bonus, you will also receive my free ebook, Biz Tips The Book: Entrepreneur Edition as my way of saying thank you.

Please know that your information is safe with us. We will never rent or sell your information. Period.

This is great news for you if you have a business that is marketed online – and you know every business should be marketed online these days!  The experts interviewed include Dan Morris of LettersfromDan.com, Karon Thackston of SearchEngineGuide.com, Susanne Myers of AffiliateNichePacks.com and Lynne Terry of ClickNewz.com.  Some really huge names in the world of internet marketing.

Whether you are new to keyword research or already know about it, you will get new ideas from this information packed recording. It’s the kind of resource you will want to keep for years and pull out again and again as your business grows.   Don’t hesitate to get your copy, it will be available for a short time only – once the workshop ends, the clock is ticking on the product!

Keyword Research is the key to getting qualified traffic to your site.  Don’t let lack of understanding stop your ability to make money online.  A small investment will bring you big returns – check out the details here.

This is a big event with a big goal… to raise over $10,000 for children with fatal heart diseases. We’ll be paying for the surgery for at least 7 children! Donations during the giveaway are up to you, but please don’t miss the opportunity to get a wealth of free business-building information.

Many of you know I am at the Niche Affiliate Marketing Workshop this weekend in Atlanta and this giveaway is a learning exercise for that event. The giveaway lasts from August 20 to August 27, 2010.

Here’s what you can get:

reports, software, ebooks, memberships and powerful information in not only online business development, but also in self help and personal improvement

And this is material from some of the biggest names in online marketing…

Willie Crawford
Kevin Riley
Kathleen Gage
Jeff Herring
Ellen Britt
Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins
Maritza Parra
Nicole Dean
Denise Wakeman
Dan R Morris
And me, Janet Slack…

Hop on over to the site and find the info you need to get business results, make a contribution if you are moved and get into action.
Here’s where to find it all:

http://nams4kids.com/go/539

This offer only lasts this week, so jump in!

Don’t under-estimate the great feeling you’ll get knowing your donation saves children.

Social Media Examiner says that only 37% of businesses are gaining customers and sales from their social media efforts. …

Are you?

Social Media Made Easy is coming at just the right time to get you ready to grow and profit all through the fall.  The next session of the 4 week webinar training starts on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 4:00pm ET.  And to celebrate the end of summer and back to school season, this session only is on sale at 20% off!

If you’ve been marketing on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and are not happy with your results, now’s the time to learn what you have been missing.  This class will give you both strategies and tactics for success.  Recent graduates have raved about the class and would tell you to get in and get going.  Join us now – the next session isn’t on the schedule until at least November…..  Get the details and register today!

A call to action can take many different forms. Do you want the viewer to click on a link, click the “buy now” button, watch another video, or take some other step? Know what you want from your viewer before you even create your video so everything you do points to that desired end result.

Some people believe that if you push your message on your audience, they will resist any kind of “sell” and turn away. While you want to avoid the used car salesman approach, remember that when you have the solution to your audience’s problems, you’re doing them a favor by sharing it with them.

Your call to action can take many forms. Here are some examples:

- Click here to download your free copy of Biz Tips for Entrepreneurs.

- Click here to find out how to boost your business with Social Media!

- Schedule a consultation with me so we can work together to fulfill your business destiny.

- Click here to find out how you can build your business and brand using Facebook.

- Fill out the form below to sign up for our free teleseminar.

The logistics of creating a call to action within in a video will vary depending on the type of video you use, the location of the video and the rules of the site where you are hosting your video. Here are some ideas:

Mention in the Video – You can include a call to action within the video itself. Create the video to capture the attention of your audience, give them the information they need and then tell them what action to take next.

Text Within the Video – Another way to tell your viewers what move to make after the video is to add it across the screen of the video. This text can be a link to your website or an explanation of any other action you’d like them to take.

Clickable Video – By using ‘Flash’ software or YouTube’s video tools, you can create video that, when clicked on, can link the viewer to the desired page.

Make Use of Video Descriptions – You can add a call to action within your video descriptions. If you have uploaded a video to a hosting site, check the rules as to how you can link to your site and how promotional your videos and descriptions can be.

The most important part of your call to action is ensuring it fits with what your audience needs. When the call to action matches the exact needs of your audience, taking your recommended next step will be a natural next step for your viewers.

You don’t want to promote this page at the expense of your main moneymaking site. However, if your site is ranking, than why don’t you try to get ranking for your profile or page.

However, don’t just focus on SEO for Google. Facebook has many internal searches itself. It’s basically a massive search engine, although most people don’t think of it that way. Therefore, you want to get ranked within Facebook as well as Google.

Fortunately, the same tips that work for ranking in Google also are effective for Facebook. Here are five of the best:

Use your keywords in your title

Make sure to include your target keywords in your title. Many people don’t think about this.

Also, many users just include as many keywords as they possibly can. This is known as “keyword spamming” and it will probably hurt your chances of getting ranked.

Make sure you have a title that is interesting to human readers. If it’s not, people will view you as a spammer and avoid your page.

Use the keywords in the vanity URL

The URL you choose makes a big difference. This is known as a “username” on the site. The URL will change to reflect the username you pick, in the format http://facebook.com/yourusername. You want to go after the same keywords here that you did in the title.

Use the keywords in the “about” box

The “about” page is going to include most of the content on your Facebook profile. Therefore, it’s very important you get your primary keywords listed here, as you won’t have a chance to put them in other places.

Try to include the main keywords towards the beginning. You want the search engines to see them as soon as possible.

Get inbound links

Doing a traditional link-building campaign is a good idea. In other words, get links from directories, blogs and forums. However, another great strategy is to get more “likes” for your business page. This works because Facebook automatically puts links to your profile from your business profile page. So the more people “like” your page, the more links you will have.

Stay up to date

One thing you might want to do is continually read updates on the algorithm Facebook and Google use. This lets you know what they are placing the most weight on, and will help you focus on that for your page.

The bottom line is, Facebook SEO is very similar to traditional search engine optimization. Use these five tips, and you will see an increase in your rankings in both Facebook and Google.

The average millionaire today has been bankrupt three times. This means they did something wrong the first two times. It was only by falling down and getting back up that they achieved their dream. If they had given up after the first two failures, they would have never succeeded.

So how do you overcome those failures and turn them into successes? Here are four tips to make it happen:

Learn from your mistakes

Thomas Edison once said there is no such thing as failure, just eliminated options. Every time you fail, you know one more strategy that doesn’t work. This just means you are that much closer to finding one that does.

So the key is to throw as many options as you can up on the wall, and see what sticks. And do it as quickly as possible. As Dan Kennedy says, “fail fast.”

Be objective

Many people are extremely attached to their business. So if something doesn’t work, they instantly become discouraged. However, when you look at things in an unbiased way, you will see more clearly where you went wrong, and how you can fix it.

You might want to hire a business coach like me. This is because coaches are outside of your business, and therefore will look at it more objectively than you can. It will cost you some money, but it could be worth it.

Remember why you started the business

This could be the most important point of all. Without having a clear reason why you have your business, you won’t have much incentive to keep pushing yourself.

Staying focused on the prize is how to keep going in the face of hardship. You might want to put reminders around you to keep you motivated. For instance, if you want to have enough money so you can spend your time volunteering, put a picture of those you want to help on the wall.

Surround yourself with others who have achieved success

Trying to achieve success on an island will not work. Being surrounded by people who’ve achieved their goals is very important, because they can keep you motivated when the going gets tough.

The bottom line is, your success all depends on how you respond to failure. If you implement these four tips, you will use failure as a launching pad for success.

What is a Favicon?

Favicon stands for ‘favorites icon’ and they’re little icons or graphics associated with a website and generally positioned to the left of the URL in your browser bar. Generally favicons come in a few basic sizes including:

16×16 px
32×32 px
48×48 px
64×64 px
and 128×128 px

So How Do You Get These Little Icons to Attach Themselves to Your URL?

Well the easiest way to get one is to first use a Favicon generator. These handy little tools will help you convert an image, or your logo, into a favicon. You can also create your own favicon from scratch by drawing it with an icon drawing program.

The new icon will be saved as favicon.ico.

From that point you will save the icon on your computer.

Next, upload the saved image to the root directory of your web space. If you have a webmaster, send them the image so they can upload it into your root directory.

The last step is to add a line of HTML to the header of your web pages. You’ll want to position it between your <head> and </head> tags.
It’ll look something like this. <link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://www.yoururl.com/favicon.ico” />

This identifies your favicon to web browsers so they can display it whenever someone visits a page on your website.

The last step is to visit your URL in your browser and make sure the favicon is there. If not, double check your html for errors.

So Where Can You Find Favicon Generators and Icon Drawing Tools?

There are many free generators available online. Simply search using the terms “favicon generator” and you’ll find a number of them. Some of the more popular generators are:

www.favicon.cc/
favicon-generator.org/
www.favicongenerator.com/
antifavicon.com/

And if you want to draw or create one yourself from scratch simply search for “favicon drawing tools” or “icon drawing”. If you have Photoshop, you can use Photoshop to create a favicon too.

Adding a favicon to your website is a wonderful way to brand your business. And it’s simple and easy to do. Have fun with it, research other favicons on your favorite websites and your competitors and get creative.