I also mentioned it before that successful marketing is convincing people that your product is superior in five ways:

convenience, quality, consistency, service and price.

Our lives are full of other things that are more convenient. How much easier is it to watch TV than get the shorts and and drive down to the gym (or even worse, walk down to the basement). How do you convince yourself that your life has more quality balancing the checkbook than playing in the park with your kid? How can you be motivated to do all those things you need to do, when you know that in a week you will probably give up?

Look what we just did? We marketed ourselves OUT of being better workers, photographers, business men and employers.

So let us change the mind set. And the first and foremost weapon in your arsenal are cliches. Cliches are the average joes self marketing tool.

TIME IS MONEY.
A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE
ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS
ALL GUYS NAMED JOSH ARE MANLY MEN

But let us start with Time and Money.

You are in business, and by definition your goal is to make money. But you are also an employee, and by definition your goal is to spend money, steal staplers and pens, and deplete profits. I mentioned before in budgeting that you need to pay yourself and separate your paycheck from your business money.

The same is true with your time management. Once you start thinking of your business you are your own worst enemy. Because you (the employee) see money as something to spend. You (the employee) sees time as something to take for fun. Pay me and let me go to the movies and spend time with my family.

However, YOU (the boss) need to see money as something that needs to be come INTO the business not out. And TIME is something that needs to be regulated and saved as dearly as the pennies in your bank account.

Time is money.

For those of you still reading, I thank you for your patience-- this all comes together now.

As boss you need to show demonstrative results in time management to your employee (also you) how increasing work time equals more money for him and more time at home.

"What a minute Josh," you stammer, "I get how working more might equal more money but how does it equal more time? I am, by definition working MORE time."

Ah...but you are going to be working more efficiently instead of more wastefully. The Joshism is "WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER." Sell yourself that a few moments of IEE (Immediate, Efficient, Effective) and it will become abundantly clear that you will get more done, make more money AND have more free time.

Example day: You get up a 9am. Get the kids out the door. Clean the dishes, get the paper and have a coffee. You go to your "office" and check your email. You turn on your yahoo and check the FM board. You work on your wedding that you shot on Sunday till noon, then eat lunch. Go back downstairs work on the photos till 3, then go pick up the kids, kiss the wife while she cooks dinner and you help the rug rats with homework. You slip out to meet a new client for an hour and come home to watch American Idol and go to sleep.

That is a full day. But you could have made it an easier day. I guarantee you somewhere in there little details weren't mentioned that would free up a good two hours of your day to do something else during your working hours.

Like the commercial says, what would you do with an extra two hours work hours? Be honest, was the first thing in your mind something fun for yourself or something else you could do for work?

Ok.. as a BOSS how happy would you be if you found out that your employees were paid for 8 hours work but only gave you 6 hours work? How about if you learned you could have done a days work in 4 hours? (That means you could get two days worth of today's work into one of tomorrows work) What if there was a way to go to your employees, get them to be more IEE and convince them that it also means that they will have less stress, be happier at work and home, make them more money and give them more off time?

Think of that workplace.

No really stop reading for a moment and think of yourself as a boss talking to an office full of people and how you would sell that IEE concept to them.

done?

Good. Now why aren't you doing it for yourself?

There are only 24 hours in your day, just the same as everybody else's and you need to know how to use those 24 hours to your advantage. Don't ever think of things as a "time saver." You can't save time. You can only eliminate waste.

(note: see the importance of packaging. for yourself and clients. A time saver has little or no impact on the brain, but wasting time is very emotional. You might not want to be a saver, but you definitely don't want to be a waster...that is your hard earned time there. How dare someone waste it.)

Tools to be more IEE:

VISUALIZATION and ACTUALIZATION

If you don't know what you want, you can't get it. That is what the section of GOALing was all about. But now you must think smaller scale. You must MICRO-GOAL, and how you do that is by prioritizing. On the list of things that need to be done between now and forever, what is the most important. If there are multiple things that MUST be addressed today then make sure that just because it isn't highest on the list, that it still gets done.

1. Plan your day the night before. List and prioritize the objectives what needs to get done. Start with the the most difficult tasks first. This makes the rest of the day seem easier. It also sets up positive mind sets of accomplishment and success.

2. When you finish a goal do NOT take a break. Breaks are for needed time off DURING a project. You take a break in between projects and you loose momentum. Next thing you know that twinkie break turning into lunch a McDonald's, a trip to Walmart and then you working on the leaking faucet. Breaks are a distraction so be careful how you use them.

3. Set a schedule. Your mind hates the idea of clocking in. That is why you work for yourself. Well success, your body and the world LOVEs schedules and routines. You will find professional freelance writers, and gym enthusiasts do things in routines. Your body loves it. It knows that at a certain time is time to exercise or be creative, etc. Even Stephen King goes to work at 9am every day in his office.

4.. Write Write Write. If you write it down, it becomes real. It becomes a record. It becomes a contract (even with yourself). There is a lot to do in your life. Make your ideas, goals and schedules something physical and you are more likely to do them. This is the most effective way to get things done, plan your work and your life. This is also why I really push for paper over PDAs or electronic schedules. If you keep your stuff on your Outlook, print it out.

5. To Do lists are the lazy man's Kryptonite. Why? Because nothing is as effective a motivator as self-guilt. "What did you do today Josh?" "Oh I got a lot done." "Like what?" Then I look at my list and realize that I only got 2 out of ten things I could have accomplished done today. That means that I have to do that AND MORE tomorrow.

(note: Can you see now how "time management" can eliminate waste of time? If I had made my to do list more immediate action, worked more efficiently, I would have been more effective and had less to do tomorrow.)

6. Remove clutter. I mean literal and psychological. Organization not only increases efficiency, but it creates a clarity of mind. You'll be able to find things, save money because you won't have to buy what you already have hidden somewhere, plus you'll be less stressed.

7. Use the Right Tools. It's no good having the latest whiz-bang computer when the desk that you sit at is too small to accommodate it, or the chair has poor back support, or the lighting is dull causing you eyestrain and fatigue. All these factors heavily influence how you work. The word is Ergonomics. From Metacarpal tunnel syndrome to eye strain you need to spend the money to be comfortable at work. But do NOT make your office a home away from home. Home is where the employees live--- evil nasty creatures that spend all your money and steal the office toilet paper!

8. Answer phone call messages only at a certain time of day. Nothing can help a procrastinator than finding other things to do. And the phone is the office maven of procrastinators. I answer all phone calls directly after lunch. Everyone is at work on all coasts and I can get all the calls done at the same time and be done with the phone.

9. Schedule your transition time. There is the moment when you go from work to home. At the office that is the drive time. When you listen to Howard Stern in Traffic, or go have a beer with the boys. When you are self-employed you need that transition time too. Take advantage of it by doing something your work and home need you to do: exercise.

10. Resolve to do today what you wanted to do tomorrow. Make a catch-up list of tasks you have avoided or put on the "back-burner" and rank them from the most important to the least important. Resolve to do at least one task from this list each day.

Most of all BE MOTIVATED. Motivation does more for increased productivity than anything I can suggest for you.