The Perfect Blend

How to run a small business and stay sane.

by Karen Leland

Social Bookmarking for Your Small Business Blog

"If you write it, they will come." Well at least that's what all those small businesses that start a blog in the hope of driving hoards of potential customers to their site anticipate will happen. Read More

Bust Your Bad Small Business Eating Habits

Are you the type who walks by a Dunkin' Donuts shop without so much as a sideways glance - but find yourself in the Monday morning meeting intensely reaching for a sugar-glazed cruller? Most of the small business owners I know are so busy running the shop, that when it comes to eating on the job, their intestinal fortitude flies out the window. Read More

How To Tell Your Small Business Story

I recently gave a talk to a group of new authors on how to promote and market their books. Instead of taking the time and expense of providing handouts (not to mention all the trees saved), I decided to create a SlideShare presentation and offer it, post-conference, to the participants. Read More

Sound Bites for Small Business Success

If you think sound bites are just for movie stars, politicians and the pundits you see on TV, think again. In today's get-to-the-point-centric world, your small business spin has power.

I was reminded of the importance of this during a coaching session I had last week with a group of women entrepreneurs. Read More

Website Designer Woes

If I were the type of person who named my weeks, this past one would have been declared "Web Designer Week." I've been juggling the redesign of my own website, working with a web designer on the creation of a client's new small business website, and engaging in an ongoing debate with another client about the effectiveness (or lack thereof, in my humble opinion) of their web developer's abi Read More

Your Small Business Brain and Decision Fatigue

Last week I read an article in The New York Times Magazine titled: Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? My immediate reaction was, "Doesn't everyone?" I don't know of one small business owner who is not burdened with a multitude of choices - hourly. Read More

Mobile Devices and Meetings

A few weeks ago, I was off site at a small biz client's office facilitating a marketing strategy session. At the start, everyone in the room was constantly checking their cell phones for email messages, texting and attempting to be both in the meeting and working— at the same time. Read More

Creating your ideal client profile

A few weeks ago, I did a post on identifying bad clients and knowing when to fire them. In the emails and comments that followed, many of you mentioned the flip side of the coin - building a business based on ‘ideal' clients. Read More

Using QR Codes for Small Business Marketing

Seven years ago, entrepreneur Rico Elmore was on vacation when he failed to find a pair of sunglasses that would fit on his not-so-small noggin. Elmore's hefty head experience left him with an ah-ha moment, and today he is the proud proprietor of Fatheadz Eyewear, a company that makes oversize sunglasses and extra wide eyewear for folks with large heads. Read More

Would a Virtual Assistant Work for Your Small Business?

Virtual Assistant… the mere utterance of these words can make a small business owner ecstatic or apoplectic — all depending on their experience with this increasingly popular administrative help.I won’t bore you with the details, but my first foray into the world of VAs was fraught with every mistake you can make and left me gun-shy about reaching out for such help ever again. Read More

Two Work-From-Home Danger Zones & How to Beat Them

True confessions. A few days a week, I go to work in my pajamas. Being a member of the estimated 30 million US workers who ply their trade from home at least once a week, I’m just not required to don my casual business clothing on a daily basis. Read More

Bad Clients and When to Fire Them

"What are you, stupid? I just explained that to you." No, that's not a line from a novel about a bad boyfriend, but a real comment from a former client. He was replying to me when I respectfully questioned his reasoning on a marketing message he was using in his small business branding. Read More

The Challenge of Hiring Linksters

Hopefully after reading last week's post on why taking a holiday is good for both your soul and brain synapses, you will have picked a date, agreed on a location and made plans to take some time off. In order to make your holiday as productive as possible, here are just a few expert ideas for how to prepare to go on, and come back from, your holiday - stress free. Read More

Not Taking a Holiday Is Bad for Your Brain and Your Business

In exactly 12 days, I will be going away on a 10-day holiday. The thought of this impending time off from the daily grind of work exhilarates—and worries me.

On the pro side is the anticipation of rest, renewal and relaxation. Weighing in on the negatives are preparing to go in the first place and a heavier workload when I return. Read More

Note-Taking 2.0

I am, by all accounts, a rabid notetaker. Read More

3 Small Business Clients And When To Fire Them

It really comes down to the classic 80/20 rule: Twenty percent of your clients will cause you eighty percent of the grief in your business. Smart small business owners know how to identify trouble clients straight away, head off problems early on and, when necessary, cut their losses. I learned this lesson once again, only recently. Read More

This Year Is The Perfect Time To Turn Your Passion Into Profit

It's risky starting a small business. No arguing about that. If you're already out of work in this tough economy, however, and you have a little money saved so you don't need to worry about your lights getting turned off, this is a perfect time to start one. Many large businesses; Microsoft,Google and General Electric being three examples, were all started in recessions. Read More

I Yam What I Yam

There are certain holiday foods that grab a hold of us (traditionally speaking) and won't let go. They form a habit out of our favorite recipes and if they're missing from the feast, well something just doesn't feel right. It might be a particular cranberry sauce that graces your Christmas table or potato latkes for Chanukah, cooked just the way your grandmother used to make them. Read More

Are You Ready To Practice Mindful Eating?

Getting old is a bitch. But the upside of our downward intestinal fortitude is that it has required us to become more mindful eaters. So when I ran across the work of Susan Albers, I was intrigued. Here's her take on the practice of mindful eating. Read More

Is Your Computer Sick? Six Steps To Keep It Healthy

I can only describe this past week as computer hell. A Malware invasion that crashed my Wordpress site - yup. An Email program snafu that banished over 200 of my messages to never, never land - you bet. A freaky bug that wouldn't let me delete an errant email - of course. Top this all off with the fact that my last back up was over a week ago (I know, I know) and you have a recipe for technology turmoil. It seems like everyone from small business owners to multinational moguls to working moms, spend as much time fixing issues on their computer as they do working on them.

As someone who is constantly striving to blend the commitments of work, family, friendships and creativity, I'm always interested in the latest on the psychology, biology and sociology front.

In her new book Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life(Harmony Books, 2009) bestselling author Judith Orloff MD, offers some great new solutions for dealing with emotions in our hyper-tense world. Read More

Time Management For Twitter

Revolutions, celebrity passings and political head-scratchers aside, left unchecked, social media can become a big, huge gaping black hole worthy of a scene in the latest "Start Trek" movie. "Step away from the iPhone, Mr. Spock; just step away." Read More

Could Your Friendships Use A Summertime Spruce Up?

If your relationships with your pals are in need of a little summer time spruce up, check out this expert advice on how to de-clutter your friendships, before a good friend goes bad. Read More

This Summer Try A Staycation

If the soaring prices of gas have got you down, and the desire to simplify has you got you fired up - be it ever so humble there's no place like home. Enter the staycation - a vacation you take in your own home town.For a successful stay at home family vacation try these top tips: Read More

Take A Time Management Tip From Pez Candy

Most people today approach their to-do list like it's a box of chocolates (and not in the somewhat endearing Forest Gump "lefe is leke a bax o' chokolates" way). No, we take a small nibble out of a caramel cream and dump the remains back in the box or grab a bite of a chocolate-covered cherry and then discard it to its holding place next to the
English toffee.

What Color Could You Use More Of?

Do you think you need more red or blue in your life? Although the current economic crisis might prompt you to say, "Please, anything but red" faster than you can clip a coupon, there's new research that shows that the colors red and blue each have a distinctly different impact on the brain. Read More

Karen Leland is the co-author of Watercooler Wisdom and many other books.

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About The Perfect Blend

As authors, entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporate workers we are facing more complex choices, and a greater diversity of decisions, than ever before. The Perfect Blend offers real world insights and practical solutions for working smarter not harder; making branding, social media and marketing a sane part of your day; communicating about who you are in the work domain with more clarity and authenticity, and managing your life and business with greater balance.