by Scott Howard | Mar 7, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Both the $10 an hour employee and the $100 an hour consultant have the same 24 hours each day. Today, let’s take a quick look at the difference as we continue digging into 17 Ways To Increase Your Business Profitability.
#8: Get Out Of Your Business and Into Your Community More
and
#9: Spend More Time In Your Business
These are not contradictory tips, they are simply both sides of the same coin. 
I know some people who are so buried in their own business they have no idea what is going on around them. They could be described as loners and the tough part is that they lose perspective.
I also know business people at the other end of the spectrum that are neglecting their business and spending time doing everything to avoid facing tasks that need their attention.
Only you or those close to you know where you are on this scale. Take time to look and make changes.
by Scott Howard | Jan 1, 2016 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
About a month ago, I was having a conversation with my friend Randy Clark via Twitter about how this year has just flown by. Randy is a few years older than me and he put his elder wisdom to work and explained a couple of things and inspired me to write this for the new year…
It’s true that time is a predictable and consistent measurement, 2015 had 365 days, divided up into 12 months, or 52 weeks with an extra day left over. Just like 2014 and 2013. (2016 is a leap year with 366 days.)
We can measure a week as 7 days. Each day has 24 hours. Each hour has 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds. All of this is accepted and predictable. 
But why does time seem to zip by the older we get? Maybe it’s because we are having more fun, but I doubt it. Maybe it is because we are busier, but that’s not applicable to all of us.
Think back on when you were 10 years old. Time seemed to last longer than now that we’re older. What Randy pointed out is that the longer we live, each day is a smaller percentage of our total life. Randy and I are both over 50 so I’ll use the comparison of being 10 years old versus 50 years old.
One month in a 10 year olds life is 1/120 of his life. One month in a 50 year olds life is 1/600 of his life. If you do the math using days, the difference is even bigger, proportionally speaking.
What I haven’t figured out is how when you are in an auto accident, everything seems to move in slow motion. If you know that answer, let me know.
In the meantime, Happy New Year and welcome to 2016 already!
by Scott Howard | Oct 20, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
Random thoughts from the weekend about the 168 hours each of us have each week:
I get invitations to all kinds of things that I could do.
Sometimes it’s an event that sounds like fun, it might be thought provoking.
Sometimes it’s an opportunity to hang out with people, sometimes it’s something that I can do sitting in a comfortable chair in my living room.
The opportunities to do something are out there. Even if you live in Nowhere, and you can connect to the internet, you have opportunities to do stuff.
I find myself saying no to more things than I say yes to. Last Friday night, as I was talking with my wife Kathy about our expectations for the weekend, one thing we easily agreed on was we were not going to hang out with any friends or family on Saturday night. We planned on saying no ahead of time and we stuck to it.
Oh, we had fun. We had dinner out at one of our favorite places and enjoyed ourselves. In order to do that, I had to say no to 6 other things that I was invited to do.
By saying no, you get to say yes.
Yes to the things that are important. Yes to the things that are special.
Yes to peace and quiet. Yes to silence.
Yes to doing what you deem important and no to the stuff that you have decided is not as important.
Priorities change. Heck, my weekly work to do list can flip upside down and everything, well almost everything can be pushed back a week or two when things bubble up to the top of the urgent side of things.
But in order to handle those shifts, you need to know what to say no to, so you will know when to say yes.
by Scott Howard | Oct 26, 2011 | The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
No, change that. Do what you can in the next 45 minutes. I bet there is something on your to-do list that has stayed there for days, weeks, months, or longer.
Is it follow up with a disgruntled customer? Is it send a hand written thank you note to a happy customer? Is it a follow up email? A phone call?
If you wait until you have the time to do IT, it may be too late. And as someone said, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
A friend of mine keeps a small notebook with him everywhere he goes and writes down stuff he needs to remember, or do. He has 10 years of these spiral bound notebooks. A former CEO of mine does the same thing, except hers is leather bound.
Commit to doing this once a day, and watch your life transform.
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