This morning at 6:30am instead of pecking away at my computer or sleeping which is what I’m normally doing at that time, I was at the gym doing many squats, hammer curls and painful things with a medicine ball.

As I was getting in position to do my first set of dumbbell rows, my trainer mentioned how the exercise would work my back and my abs which I thought was funny since I’m pretty sure I don’t have abs anymore.

She assured me that I still do, and that they’re just hiding there behind some fat just like everyone elses. She said, “It’s up to us to determine how much fat stays in front of our abs.” (That’s exactly what I was doing at the gym this morning doing a boot camp style workout – I’ve determined that I want to see more of those muscles.)

While I was driving home, I kept thinking back to what my trainer said. It’s true that for the most part, our skeletons are all basically the same – bones covered with the tissues and muscles and stuff. It’s how an individual maintains their body that determines how much junk gets stored in the trunk.

Then (because I think in blog posts) I realized that most of our businesses probably have some “fat in front of their abs” if you will. Something that’s built up gradually and is slowing down how efficiently we work.

My business just lost an entire belly roll after I moved from hourly pricing to charging a flat rate per project. I love this model because:

a) my clients know exactly what they’ll pay – no surprises if I go ‘over’ because I won’t. It’s a flat rate.

b) I don’t feel like I should be billing for time I spend playing with my kids.

c) I don’t have heart palpitations if I can only bill for a couple hours on a hectic day.

As I continue to define my ideal client, my business’ metabolism improves because I’m doing work I love for people I love working with. When I’m working on projects I don’t enjoy, I can almost feel my business running more sluggishly.

These are just a couple of examples but the truth is, I think sometimes we get lazy with our businesses, just like we do with our healthy eating and fitness goals.

When something’s not working in your business and you continue to let it go without doing anything about it, it’s kind of like stuffing your face with potato chips every night and wondering why you keep getting flabbier.

My copywriting business is so new, it hasn’t had time to develop a gut yet, but we’re not at abs of steel status just yet. That will come with a consistent effort, just like if I keep meeting with that evil trainer woman every morning I will see results and God willing, I’ll live longer and better for the effort.

How about you? How’s your business’ gut?

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I worked as a waitress while I was in college and one of the women I waited tables with was a hard core fitness buff. She ate really healthy, was a runner, and was basically the picture of good health. This girl was full of energy and I liked working with her a lot, but eventually I moved on from that job and well…you know how it is. You lose touch with people.

Before I got married, I spent a lot of time at the gym and sometimes I would see her there because we both worked out at the same place.

When I got married, she appeared in the receiving line and said she just wanted to slip away to see me on my wedding day. I’m sure she doesn’t realize how much that meant to me, but it was a really cool thing for her to do.

Eventually we became Facebook friends and many of her updates involve a peek inside her healthy lifestyle; just got back from a 15k run, can’t wait to get out for a run…that type of thing.

I revived my gym membership last summer and one day I met her there and she told me that she was doing some personal training. I thought that sounded very cool and the idea of having a personal trainer stayed in the back of my mind.

Last week, with a hint of spring in the air, I decided I need to get serious about exercise (nothing to do with wanting to look great for my upcoming 30th birthday) and I thought about her.

Slowly over the years, without even meaning to, she had become branded in my mind as a fitness expert who could help me reach my goals.

There are lots of personal trainers around here and the only person I was remotely interested in working with was Annette because I think she knows her stuff and I know, like and trust her. Most importantly – the last thing I thought of was what she charges because I already knew I would work with her. We’re going to get started at 6:30 on Monday morning.

This is relationship marketing at it’s best but I don’t even think she meant to attract a client this way.

There’s a rule of marketing that says you have to ‘touch’ a lead at least seven times before they feel like they trust you enough to work with you and I think this is a great example of that. This story sums up the importance of networking at places like Facebook and Twitter for business because you’re in your potential clients’ faces all the time, subtly building your case for why you’re the expert in your field.

Things like writing articles, blogging and social networking are hugely important when it comes to building trust with your potential clients and they’re all things you can easily delegate if you don’t have time to do them.

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Yes, in case you’re wondering, I have noticed a theme in my posts of late. Seems as though I’ve been talking “dirty” for a week now, but I can’t help it. I’m not the type of blogger who can write posts ahead of time, I’m a spontaneous girl and it’s just kind of a coincidence that these entries share a common theme.

Anyway…

I drove to the local convenience store today to get some milk. The smell when I walked in…well…if you live in a rural area and are used to the smell of horses and other farm fresh aromas…well you know what I was smelling. It happened to be a very busy day at Clow’s Red & White (Bobby Clow’s to pretty much everyone on PEI) and I had the pleasure of waiting behind some hungry farm workers lined up for hot soup.

When I was next in line, one of the men said to the woman behind the counter, “You’re gonna have to mop the floor after we leave!” (It really was pretty dirty.)

The clerk rang in the gentleman’s lunch, smiled and said, “Bobby used to say he loves having a dirty floor because that means there are people in the store!”

I smiled at a memory of Bobby and could see him saying such a thing. It reminded me of when my mother says she never minds doing dishes because that means we ate another meal.

The kind of attitude shared by Bobby and my mother is the kind of attitude I think we should all have – in business and in life. Instead of looking at something as an inconvenience or a nuisance, try to find the blessing.

I’m going to try not to complain about my millions of emails because that means people are getting in touch with me.

I’ll try (really hard) not to gripe about the time I have to spend invoicing because that means I have paying clients.

I’m going to try not to swear under my breath when I step in a sticky puddle of apple juice or smoosh a graham cracker under my barefoot because that means I have beautiful children here with me and can afford to buy snacks for them.

I could go on all day with this, but I want to hear from you. What’s your dirty floor? Do you have a “pain” that you can turn around into a blessing?

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I still think of myself as a newlywed. A newlywed with two children, a mortgage and a minivan but still…my husband and I have been married for only five years and we’re still figuring everything out. For example, it seems as though my husband can’t read my mind!

Keeping with the spring cleaning theme from Friday’s post…let’s talk about chores.

Because I am a work at home mom, and a busy one at that, I need help on the chore front. When everything gets piled up, I get overwhelmed and can’t focus on anything. If I have to keep walking past a basket of laundry begging to be folded or looking at a TV covered in sticky finger prints, I go a little nuts. “Why am I the only person who sees these things?” I ask myself. “Am I the only person around here who can hang up a frickin’ winter jacket?” I wonder.

The funny thing is, I’ve noticed when I ask my husband to fold some laundry or hang up a coat he just says “sure” and does it.

Hmmm.

For the past few months I’ve been *meaning* to create a schedule of chores to hang on the fridge so that each Mann in our house knows what chores he or she is responsible for. That’s work in itself so it hasn’t happened yet…not until today, I should say.

Enter: Chore Buster. The coolest website ever for dividing up chores. You register for a free account, enter the names of people who do chores in your house AND their email addresses so they can be emailed their chores daily or weekly.

Then you enter your chores. You can even pick which days of the week they’re to be done, how often, how hard the chore is and who should NOT do that particular chore.

When that’s all done you’re left with a handy sheet you can print off and hang on your fridge to keep you on track of who does what everyday.

I hope this makes the chore division around here a little more even and maybe even a little more fun. Until Mr. Mann starts reading my mind of course.

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I love living in Eastern Canada where we have four distinct seasons in a year but the best part is the transition from one to the other. Today is officially the first day of spring and I couldn’t be happier to be moving out of winter.

Spring is a fresh new start and a symbol for new beginnings.

Most of us do an annual spring cleaning of our homes, but what about our businesses?

I’ve been getting a ton of requests lately from people wanting to clean up their website content. I think at this time of year we start to evaluate the way we’re doing things in our businesses and it’s a great idea to start by freshening up your content.

• Have you had the same copy on your website since 1998? It could be time for a makeover.

• Are sales where you want them to be? Maybe your message or offer needs to be tweaked.

• Do your website visitors spend 15 seconds on your home page and then leave? Your copy must not be compelling enough to draw them in. Or maybe there’s no strong call to action so they don’t know what you want them to do.

I think it’s more common for people to reevaluate their website design than their content. But it doesn’t really matter how pretty your site is if people aren’t sticking around long enough to contact you, or aren’t drawn in enough to download your free report.

Besides your website content, do you have an info product that needs to be updated? Are your brochures, business cards and other marketing materials outdated and stale? A call to a copywriter could be in order.

Let’s not forget the other areas in your business that might need a scrubbing. How are your systems and processes? Has your business grown but your procedure manual hasn’t? What about your marketing practices? Do you need to start a blog with the arrival of spring? How about your social networking plan…do you have one?

That’s probably enough to chew on for now, but it’s a great time to roll up your sleeves and get dirty while you clean up your business.

You know how good it feels to have your walls wiped down and the dust bunnies removed from under your fridge? That’s what it feels like to have your business deep-cleaned. Kind of like you get rid of some mental clutter along with the physical clutter.

What do you think? Where will you start with your business spring cleaning?

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