God's Financial Provision-Ask Him for Help

You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (MSG)

There is an amazing, incredible and all-encompassing promise in Philippians 4:19 (NIV) regarding provision: "... God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Note the first two words: "God will ...." It doesn't say, "He might meet your needs," it says, "He will meet your needs." It's written as a fact; God is staking his character and his reputation on it.

Then the Bible says, "God will meet all. ..." It doesn't say, "I'll meet some of your needs." It says all.

Now, understand that it doesn't say, "I'll meet all your greeds." There's a big difference between needs and wants. As a parent, do you give your kids everything they want? I hope you don't. You don't do that because you love them. And your heavenly Father loves you. He's not going to give you everything you want because if he did, you'd be spoiled to death.

He won't give us everything we want, but he will give us what we need. Then why do you have financial needs? Did God fail? Did he lie? Exaggerate?

No! With every promise, there is a premise; there are conditions and requirements. When God makes a promise, he says, "I'll do my part and you do your part." God's wisdom, his financial principles are clearly laid out for us in his Word. Although the Bible discusses many aspects of financial health, including principles of saving, spending, giving, investing and stewardship, over the next few days we're going to look at five specific conditions for financial stability.

First, ask for his help - Jesus says, "Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy." (John 16:24, NLT) Here's a good rule: Before you pay for it, pray for it. Give God a chance to provide before you go out and charge it. You probably depend more on your charge card than you do Jesus Christ.

• Why does God want me to ask? So he can give.
• Why does he want to give? So I can receive.
• Why does he want me to receive? So I'll be full of joy.
• Why does he want me to be full of joy? It's a great advertisement for Jesus Christ. Joyful Christians are a positive testimony.

Tomorrow we'll look at contentment, another condition for answered prayer

Increase Backlinks With Blog Comments and Wikipedia

ets get some backlinks for your site so you can start ranking for that term you always wanted and make some cash money.

In this blog post, we will be going over a two different ways to gain backlinks such as blog comments and Wikipedia links. These two methods work the best for sites with less competitive keywords in Google, the reason is because it takes some work to get these links.

Before I begin, I want to remind you yet again that you should focus on having your website content building the natural backlinks more so than working on building backlinks to an average website. When making a website, you should focus on content and then once you get great content you should start working on your link building campaign. Let us take a look at this image I made:

The chart reflects the traffic you will be building. As you can see, you wont be building much traffic at all at first, you would be focusing on the quality of the content and making your website better than the competition. Once you done with the content you will focus on building links. Since your links will be sending you a little bit of traffic your traffic will obviously will go up. Then once you get the necessary backlinks to your website you will start ranking for the search terms you are trying to rank for, and that is when your traffic will start taking off.

Once you website does start ranking for the search term, more and more people will find your website and see how great the quality of it is, and then they will build the links for you, and those are called natural backlinks. Sadly, you get the most natural backlinks once your site ranks for the keywords your after. Because people will search for the keyword, see your site, and then blog about your website or something along those lines. But, you will also be building natural backlinks from people stumbling onto your website the whole time.

I tell everyone this, focus on the quality of the content… then work on building backlinks. With that said lets get started.

Blog Comments
Blog comments are a great way to get backlinks to your website, heck I even sell them. But, they aren’t too powerful and you need a lot of them to make much of a difference. But if you just need like 200 backlinks to rank for a keyword than they are great way to get there. You should never rely completely on blog comments to help build backlinks, they tend to get less powerful over time.

A few things about blog comments:

• You need a lot to make a difference.
• Great for ranking for smaller terms.
• Sends less weight over time.

I personally use blog comments a lot, but only when my website is brand new. If you have a small term that you want to rank for that only needs a few hundred backlinks for your site, then Blog Comments are the way to go!

It’s pretty easy to get the blog comments, and I will be telling you the exact same way my comment writers use for my company. With blog comments you need to make sure that your website is very very related to the website you are commenting on. To find thousands of blogs to post relevant comments on, we use Technorati. To find a list of blogs about your niche, all you have to do is a search on Technorati. So, say you need comments about “apartments”, simply enter “apartments” into the search text box.

You will then see pages and pages of blogs talking about apartments (or whatever your blog is about). You then have to find blog posts that are related to your niche, that’s pretty easy, all you have to do is read the description about the blog post.

Once you find the blog post you want to comment about, simply go to the blog post, then read the blog post, and then make a decent comment about the blog post. Don’t make it too spammy looking so the blog admin wont delete your comment. A little trick I like to use so the admin won’t delete my comments is I make two or three blog comments per blog on different blog posts to make it look like I read over a his or her blog a little. On my own blog, I generally never delete comments from people that make a few at a time, they always seem to be readers of mine. I find that to work in a lot of cases. You should also use a web proxy when writing comments. I have gotten my own IP banned from Wordpress, and so have many other SEO experts I know. The best way is to buy your own cheap VPS and get like 29 IP’s and then put 3proxy on it. That’s the least stressful way to get proxies.

When you write your comments, make sure to save the blog post where you write the comments in a text file or something for later use, you may want to comment that blog post later to help boost your ranking a little.

Wikipedia
Good ol’ Wikipedia! These links help SO much! The links are nofollow, but I feel like Google gives special attention to outbound links on Wikipedia. When you get some Wiki links, you will be feeling the Wiki love.

But how do we get the Wiki links? It’s total pain! And to be honest, I fully haven’t mastered this yet. I don’t think I ever will. I only get Wiki links for my bigger sites that make me money. I don’t work on building Wiki links for websites I don’t really care to much about. It’s a lot of work, and most of the time your links will be taken off, so its a big pain.

The best way to get Wiki links is to put a lot of work into your Wiki account. Go over some topics you know and edit them a little bit. What you want to do is get some history behind you, get some trust behind you. When you first get your Wiki account, don’t just dive head into spamming wikipedia and hoping the mods won’t delete all your links – because they will.

When you first get your account, find some topics you know about and edit them. The amount of articles you edit is up to you, I think I have done only 20 articles in about 2 years time. So not much at all, but enough to get enough history behind me as I have about 8 Wiki links on that account.

Okay, after you edit some articles, you want to first find rare articles with a high page rank that don’t get edited to much at all. They take some time to find, but there out there. One way I find the rare article is I do a Google search on my niche, and then start at around page 5. I then look at the history and see when the article was last edited on, I try to find articles that where last edited around 2006 or before that.

Here is a Google search for the niche “apartments”.

Once you find your rare article, edit the content and then add your link somewhere on the page. I usually add mine to references. I also link to a subpage of mine, I think that linking to just the www.domain.com looks too spamy for wikipedia.

After you add your link its just a game of luck. Hopefully, the mods wont see your link and take it off. But, like I said before, Wiki links are a pain. However, once you get some they are worth it! Trust me.

Wiki link process review:

1. Edit topics you know.
2. Build your history.
3. Find rare article on your niche.
4. Edit the content and add your link in the references.
5. Pray the mods don’t take your link off.
6. Repeat.

Alright, I hoped you enjoyed this guest blog post. Now get to work building those backlinks.

Can you use Wikipedia to build backlinks?

There are thousands of people all around the world giving their time and knowledge to Wikipedia, “the free online Encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone”.

According to Alexa, Wikipedia is one of the twenty most popular websites in the world. As any webmaster knows better backlinks mean better search engine page rankings and better search engine page rankings mean more traffic. If you can edit the Wikipedia can you use it to create high-quality backlinks to your website? Why don’t you go to Wikipedia now and plaster links to your website all over its pages?

Hold on there for a moment! Wikipedia can drive traffic to your website via backlinks but before you go ploughing through Wikipedia pellmell adding links left, right and centre take a moment to consider how Wikipedia works.

Despite the fact that anyone can edit the pages on Wikipedia the content is almost always of a very high quality and very accurate. So it is reasonable to conclude that there are some underlying processes in place that help keep it that way.

Here’s how it works: no article on Wikipedia is ever complete, that is, it is always subject to further editing, improvement and development. All pages on Wikipedia contain a history – a record of every single change. When a change it made the date and time are logged as well as all changes made. You can either make changes as a guest or through a (free) registered account. If you make changes as a guest your IP address is recorded whereas if you use an account your username is recorded. Either way, if you make a change to Wikipedia you leave your mark for everyone else to see. Contributers to Wikipedia can also create a “watchlist” – a series of articles that they can track changes on (articles that they are interested in and / or have contributed to).

Given that all articles on Wikipedia are intended to be neutral and unbiased and the stringent change tracking in place if you edit an article such that it contravenes the ethos of Wikipedia you will find that it will quickly be removed. And given that all changes are attached to an IP address or a user account you can quickly build a bad reputation for yourself as a Wikipedia contributor if you keep SPAMming the site (more on SPAMming later).

Don’t be discouraged though, you still can use backlinking for the benefit of Wikipedia and your website but . . .

Wikipedia has a policy on external links

It is strict and here are eight points to bear in mind that will help you decide whether or not you should add external links to Wikipedia:

1. Don’t link to blogs, networking sites, forums or free hosted sites, sites that require logins or redirected sites

All Wikipedia external links should be to reputable web pages. Blogs, forums and sites that are hosted by free web providers (usually packed with ads and popups) lack the kind of credibility Wikipedia is striving for. Furthermore, you should ensure your content does not require registration or user login.

2. Don’t supersede an “official” page

If John Smith is a famous person and he has his own website johnsmith.com with his profile on johnsmith.com/profile.html then this is clearly the “official” web page for that person and a link to that page would be suitable for the Wikipedia article on John Smith. If you’ve written a profile on John Smith don’t try to supersede this article with your own as it will constitute SPAM. The same goes for the official websites and pages for organisations, business, brand names, et cetera.

3. Only link to something that is relevant in the long term

Although things change and are updated you should only link to articles that have a long shelf life. Transient information that will be out-of-date in a few days, weeks, months or (sometimes) years are not welcome on Wikipedia. Additionally, do not commit to supplying a web page as an external link if you plan to remove the page or change the structure of your website in the near future.

4. Don’t create an unbalanced point-of-view

Anything you link to must not be opinionated or biased towards a particular viewpoint. Your link should present facts in a clear and understandable manner.

5. Do your research

Although noone gets paid to write for Wikipedia the people that are inclined to do so are generally the more knowledgeable ones. So, if you are writing content with the intention of getting Wikipedia to link to it, do your research. Contributors will read the content their articles link to and if it is not accurate they will naturally conclude this reflects badly on their work and ergo remove your link.

6. Only link to accessible web pages

Accessibility takes on several forms. In this case you would want to make sure that your web page is written in legible HTML or XHTML and renders properly on all major web browsers. The page should not rely on third party plugins such as the Flash Player or an ActiveX plugin.

7. Always put your link under the External Links section

The Wikipedia linking policy states all external links should be under a heading External Links situated after the main copy of the article. You should not try to create your own custom headings or link from the main copy of the article.

8. Don’t SPAM!

This is the underlying principal for the previous seven points and is the most important. As far as Wikipedia is concerned SPAM can take several forms but the relevant one for this article is external link SPAMming, that is, adding external links with the intention of improve search engine rankings rather than for the benefit on Wikipedia.

Above all before you add anything to Wikipedia ask yourself, does this link benefit the article? If it doesn’t then sooner or later it will be removed. And even if it doesn’t it probably means it’s on a page that wasn’t worth linking from in the first place. If it does, run through the eight points detailed in this article. A final sanity check it to propose your idea for change to the Wikipedia talk page for that article – fellow Wikipedians will soon tell you if they think you should add your link or not.

Four Tried and Tested Ways to Build Backlinks

Link building is the bread and butter of online marketing. Without backlinks, you cannot rank high in the search engines for your chosen keyword. Consequently, you cannot get traffic, as a result of which, your revenue suffers.

But how can one build links? Here are a few tips and techniques that will turn you into a backlink guru:

1. Article Marketing
Article marketing is the tried and tested to build up links FAST. Popular article directories like EzineArticles and GoArticles are crawled several times a day by Google, so your article and links will get indexed pretty quickly. You can put in two links to your own website in your articles in most article directories. Make sure that the anchor text you use to build these links matches the keywords you want to rank high for.

2. Directory Submission
Website directories may sound like a primitive concept, but links from reputable web directories still carry a lot of weight in Google. There are a number web directories on the internet. Most are free. Some are paid. You can submit your website to these directories to get some link juice.

3. Social Bookmarking
In the past 3-4 years, social bookmarking sites like Digg.com, Mixx.com, Delicious.com have really mushroomed across the internet. These sites gather content from all over the internet. Social bookmarking is one of the best ways to get your webpages indexed quickly. Simply submit to your social bookmarking site of choice and wait for the link juice. Refrain from spamming these sites; it just makes for a spammier, dirtier internet.

4. Asking Others For Backlinks
This is the hardest part of building links that puts off most people, but can have some really powerful results. Do a Google search for your chosen keywords. Make a list of the sites you find in the top 100 pages. Note down their contact details. Send them an email (make sure its personalized!) asking for a backlink. In return, you could offer them an article, or a reciprocal link on your site. Many people will reject your proposal outright. A few will take it up. Follow up the ones who do and get some great link juice!


Let's Try It Guys!

When the Future seems Uncertain

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans ... to give you a future and a hope ... You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest." Jeremiah 29:11, 13 (LB)

No matter what the pollsters, pundits, and prognosticators claim, no one can accurately predict all that is going to happen this year, let alone in the next few weeks. Our best forecasts are just educated guesses.

Change is not only increasing in speed and intensity, but also in unpredictability.

The Bible suggests three timeless principles for facing an uncertain future:

Set goals according to God's direction
It's foolish to make plans without first consulting God. He's the only one who DOES know the future - and he's eager to guide you through it.

The Bible says, "We may make our plans, but God has the last word." (Proverbs 16:1) In other words, planning without praying is presumption. Start by praying, "God, what do YOU want me to do in 2010?"

Live one day at a time -- While you can plan for tomorrow, you can't live it until it arrives. Most people spend so much time regretting the past and worrying about the future, they have no time to enjoy today!

John Lennon once wrote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Decide to make the most of each moment this year. Jesus said, "Don't be anxious about tomorrow - God will take care of your tomorrows. Live one day at a time." (Matthew 6:34)

Don't procrtatsinate - DO IT NOW! - "Don't boast about what you're going to do tomorrow, for you don't know what a day may bring forth." (Proverbs 27:1)

Procrastinating is a subtle trap. It wastes today by postponing things until tomorrow. You promise yourself that you'll do it "one of these days." But "one of these days" is usually "none of these days."

What did you plan to get done last year that you didn't do? When do you intend to start working on it?

Who's In Love?

Please click on

the "so much in love" image
provided below to read a poem
from a person that is so
inspired
and

untitled

- just wanna share with you guys my talent in writing poems...created ko 'to June 2005 pa...hahahah...here it goes.

I think its really easy
But I was wrong
To think that I have everything
But to bad coz its you I adore.

At first, you are just a friend to me
But days pass by and i felt something new
Something that is so strong and I cant easily control
And so i gave up and let my feelings show.

The way I feel about you
Makes me really go crazy
But i don't want you to know
Because I’m afraid that there will come a time
That you will stay away from me.

I know that I cant escape from the reality
Coz this is real and this is what I feel
Actually, This is the 2nd time around
That I love someone real.

Now, i still don't know what to do
Especially now, that I’m falling in love with you
Maybe someday, this feelings will gone…
But please If you need me…
You know that I’m just around.

Graveyard Shifters Health Tips

Our bodies are affected by the light and Gravitational affects just like

the OCEAN, MOON and the EARTH. It is a powerful force.
If the ocean can rise and fall from the daily rotation and gravitational forces,
our bodies are surely affected also! HERE ARE A FEW TIPS FOR YOUR HEALTH.
DO NOT DRINK COFFEE, CAFFEINATED SODAS, OR SUGARY SOFT DRINKS,
These are poisons to your body even when you are on a regular schedule!
DRINK WATER AND LOTS OF IT! EAT NUTRITIOUS FOODS, NO CRAP! That means no processed foods,
EAT FRESH vegetables, fruits, etc. ONLY! YOU need to get at least ONE hour of sunshine a day.
THE SUN IS GOOD FOR YOU, do not believe the scare tactics of the sunscreen manufacturers.
YOU NEED TO GET VITAMIN D FROM THE SUN. IT HELPS REGULATE YOUR BODY CLOCK.
SET A SLEEPING SCHEDULE. How did you sleep when you were working a day job? Remember?
You would get up in the morning and go to work soon after you had risen from your sleep.
What time did you go to bed? 10,11,12pm? Then you got up and departed for the office.
I am sure you now come home and are up for several hours before you TRY to sleep.
Attempt this:

#1. You need create an area in your home that is DARK and Quiet. NO RADIO, NO TV. A SLEEPING AREA ONLY.

#2.After you come home from work DO NOT EAT A HEAVY MEAL, Eat something light if anything at all.
Do the things you used to do when working a regular schedule. Go dancing, play tennis, shopping. etc.
DO NOT GO TO SLEEP AS SOON AS YOU COME HOME. FORCE YOURSELF TO STAY AWAKE UNTIL AFTER 12 pm.
This is will help you reset your body clock.

#3. By 1 pm or sooner, start to relax and prepare to sleep, watch a movie, read a book,etc.
You should set a goal to be sleeping no later than 2pm. With that goal in mind, you should be
able to sleep until 10pm. or longer.

#4. Arise and prepare for work. EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST, EAT GOOD QUALITY FOOD! Do not use caffeine,
soft drinks or etc to boost your awakening. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the office.

#5. Try this for at least a week. You need to give your body time to adjust. Over 20 years your
body has been used to a totally different schedule. You can not expect to get used to this
GRAVEYARD shift quickly. Especially if you are eating poorly and using stimulants such as
coffee and soft drinks. STICKING TO A SCHEDULE IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THIS TO WORK..

Facebook Addict ka ba?

A recent study shows that Facebook overtakes daily activities like waking up, getting dressed, using telephone, or checking email. According to Dr. Michael Fenichel, a psychologist, ” The amazing thing is that, like cellphones, nobody seems to notice the vast amount of time and energy- at work, at home, and now while on the move-people are DEVOTING to Facebook. It has become a given.” Eventually he calls it Facebook Addiction Disorder or FAD.

How would you know if you’re a Facebook addict? Here are some signs:

1. You lose sleep over Facebook. In other words, 3 layers na ang eye bags mo for sleeping late.
2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. Your desire increases while your satisfaction decreases. Hmmm
3. You become obsessed with old loves or ex boyfriends or girlfriends you reconnect with on Facebook. At times, you’re just stalking sa buhay ng ibang tao or to simply gossip sa accounts nila. :-)
4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook. You get paid sa work to log on sa FB for an 8 hour job. Or if you’re a student, it keeps you motivated to level up your score sa Mafia Wars, Farm Ville & different surveys of the day instead of studying tomorrow’s lesson.
5. The thought of getting Facebook leaves you in cold sweat. If symptoms persist, consult your doctor!

The point of the matter is, we need help in controlling ourselves from being preoccupied in this kind of stuff. I would consider even Twitter, blogging, internet games, or anything or someone that pulls our attention as we tend to neglect other things which needs to be accomplished on time. Many of us are guilty on this. But what do we need to do? The word self control might help us overcome the addictions we have. Watch Joshua Harris and listen as he talks about self control in this wired world that we are living in.

Sycophant Ka Ba?

syc·o·phant
n.

A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people.

sycophantic
adj.

using flattery to win favour from individuals wielding influence; toadyish; obsequious

One of the most quoted poems during the month of love is Elizabeth Barret Browning’s “How Do I love Thee? Let me count the ways…”

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth
And height my soul can reach,
When feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Kung may iba’t-ibang paraan para ipahayag ang pag-ibig natin sa ating sinisinta, ngayon, higit kailanpaman, dapat na ipakita din natin ang pagmamahal natin sa ating trabaho.

Everyday, hundreds if not thousands of people are losing their jobs because of the global financial crisis. Ang balita nga ay milyon na ang nawalan ng trabaho sa Europe at America.

If you still have work. Thank the Lord for it. Value it and love your job.

How do you love your work? Let me count the ways by which you could show your love for your job.

1) Be present and punctual. Our presence and punctuality are evidences of being a responsible worker. Report for work on time and submit your reports and assignments even before the deadline. It is hard to rely on someone who is always not around. Mahirap bigyan ng trabaho ang taong palagi ring late dahil marami pang ibang trabaho ang maaanlata.

2) Be productive. Don’t just be present and punctual. Maaga nga tayo sa office pero puro personal stuff naman an gating pinagkaka-abalahan. Aba’y bale wala rin. Hindi naman yata fair sa kumpanya kung papasok lang tayo para magtinda ng ating mga sideline na pinagkakakitaan. Hindi masamang magkaroon ng dagdag na pagkakakitaan. Pero ilagay po natin sa lugar. Ang sideline, di dapat nakagambala sa ating main line of work. Are you contributing to the revenues of your company? Dapat lang. Be productive.

3) Be a player, a team player. Nurture strong relationships with your team members. That is one way of making yourself valuable in the company. Mahirap sibakin sa kumpanya ang taong marunong makipag-kapwa. Being a people-person is an asset. It is a trait that we should learn to develop. A good relationship with your team is a strong glue that will help you stick with your company. If you were to choose the people whom you will work with, will you eagerly choose yourself to be part of the team? Show that you love your work by being a team player.

4) Be perceptive and positive. These days, it’s an edge to be in the loop, to be informed and updated. Alam mo ba kung ano ang nangyayari sa paligid mo at sa iba’t-ibang panig ng mundo. Do you understand the potential impact of the global crisis in your industry? It is good to be perceptive. It is an advantage to know how to read and interpret the signs of the times. But don’t just be perceptive. Sa dami ng mga not-so-good news ngayon, it is imperative that we remain positive. Yung iba kasi, kapag nakakabalita ng bad news, sa halip na maging source of encouragement, doom at gloom pa ang hatid sa kanyang opisina. We can be positive because we have a BIG God who remains to be in control.

5) Being prayerful. Do you honestly take time to pray for your company, your boss, your co-workers, and your work? Prayer works! If you love your work, pray for it. Ipanalangin mo na magbukas ang Diyos ng maraming opportunities para sa inyong kumpanya. Ipanalangin mo ang boss mo na gabayan siya ni God sa paggawa ng mga desisyon para sa inyong organisasyon. Ipanalangin mo na mabawasan ang intriga sa inyong department at magkaroon ng pagkaka-isa lalo na sa mga panahong ito. Pray that you will always be a blessing in your workplace.

Do you love your work? You should, because many people are losing theirs. Make a conscious effort to value and love your work more. How can we show our love for our work? Let’s count the ways, 1) Be Present and Punctual; 2) Be Productive; 3) Be a team-Player; 4) Be Perceptive and Positive; and 5) Be Prayerful.

Tips on How to Work Smart, Not Hard

1. Assess everything that needs to be done. Before you plunge into it headfirst, remember that enthusiasm needs to be tempered with wisdom. Look over every aspect of the job, and allow yourself ample "pondering time" so that you can be sure that every detail is accomplished on time, and accurately.
2. Consider your materials. Don't take shortcuts, when possible, on the quality of your materials. Cheap materials are harder to work with, because they aren't as sturdy or nice. Because they're harder to work with, they take longer to bend to your will. Remember that working smart means thinking about these things - in most jobs, the materials aren't where the majority of the costs are. It's the labor - the time needed to complete the job - that costs the company more money. Using inexpensive materials where they are easily installed makes sense. Trying to save a few bucks but spending an extra hour or two because those cheap things didn't install properly doesn't make any sense at all.
   
3. Follow your plan and don't deviate from it - unless you must. Once you've assessed the job and come up with a plan, it's usually best to stick with the plan. However, things come up: a part doesn't fit, or it turns out it's not the best item for the job, someone gets sick, all sorts of emergencies can throw a wrench into your plan. Be prepared to think on your feet, and be resourceful. Nimble thinking is essential to working smart, especially when something goes wrong. Following a plan slavishly, in spite of new information, developments, or problems is just plain dumb. Be flexible and change if you need to.
4. 5
   Delegate to the right people at the right times. Make sure your team is well-ordered. If one person is faster, put him or her on the part of your task that will take longest. If one person is more skilled and accurate, put him or her on the part of the task that is most critical.
5. Work parallel. This means that there may be four or five, for example, components to your job. Let's say you are a design and display company creating a display for a county fair. Your client wants a combination of signs, banners, flyers, and brochures, along with a booth design. You set your best designer in motion to design the copy and look of things, but meanwhile, you assign someone to procure what essential supplies you will need. So far, you could be having one of your people contact printers to get pricing for the number of flyers and/or brochures your client wants, and another to take an inventory of what sign and banner materials you already have on hand - vinyl or paint colors, banner sizes, pre-cut blanks. This way, once the client meeting is complete and you have a good idea of what is going into the installation, you can match it to your inventory and see if there are things on hand that you can use to get started, while someone else goes and gets the things you still need.
6. Control clients by communicating properly. Many times, it's hard to work smart because your clients will insist that their job is a big rush. Instead of scrambling to get that job done, make sure your clients understand in the initial meeting what your normal turnaround time for their job would be. If you know you will need two weeks, don't let the client squeeze you into one week unless that client is willing to pay extra for the rush. Most businesses have more than one client, yet many clients forget that their job is not the only one you're working on.
   
   
   • Stick to your policies. If you charge extra to rush a job, don't deviate from that, ever. It's unfair to apply policies to some customers and not others. When one client comes in and is very pushy, feeling entitled to your undivided attention immediately, often, you can simply say something like, "Sure, we can rush the job for you, but I need to let you know that it will cost extra - probably as much as 50% more than the original quote, for the rush." It's amazing how quickly this type of client stands down, saying, "Oh, forget that - it's not that big a rush. We can wait." Just let them know that you are willing to rush their jobs, but by doing so, you must move other customers who were "in line" before them out of the way - causing you to run those jobs behind. Plus, you need different workers to complete different jobs, and rushing requires you to pay them overtime, rather than allowing more time to complete the job during regular hours. This is smart - it lets your clients know that you really know your stuff, plus it relieves your schedule or makes you more money.
   • Give one to three choices - never more. Handing a swatch book to a client and saying, "Tell me which colors you are interested in" is deadly. Too many choices will cause horrible delays as the customer peruses ALL possibilities, and later tends to second-guess every decision, wanting to see it now "In green?" or how about "In this chartreuse? It's just a shade different, but..." Oy. Instead, say things like, "Do you like this blue or this green better?" Lots of the jobs you do will instantly suggest certain tools, colors, approaches, materials, etc. You can also attempt to influence the client in the direction you think best for his purpose. Use your expertise to narrow down the critical choices right away: "We can paint, which will be expensive to fix when it weathers, about 3 - 5 years from now, or we can use 5-year vinyl, or 10-year vinyl for the letters. The best stuff only costs a few dollars more."
7. Never willingly trap yourself into accepting a bad job. You know when a job is going to be great. You also know when you get that "uh-oh" feeling that something is not right. A client or boss who pressures you into areas where you are not comfortable, either because it is an unreasonable expectation or because it's outside your scope needs to be aware immediately of your discomfort with the job as proposed. Make any misgivings clear instantly, and in front of others, if possible. If you are self-employed, declining a job like this is much smarter, even though it's so hard to let that money go when you depend on every job for your livelihood. Still, a client who doesn't pay because you didn't adhere to every jot and tittle of his demands (and some are just breathtakingly demanding) is not a good customer in the end, and if you work for hours and end up not being paid all or part of what you worked for - especially when you were sweating bullets over it the whole time - is not smart. And it's the hardest work you'll ever do.
8. Know when it's time for a re-bid. Don't make so many changes that you end up doing a much more complicated or expensive job than you bid for. Whether due to clients scheming to squeeze all they can from you for no extra money, or just due to their being unaware that such changes may alter the scope of the job so much that the original bid is no longer reflecting the actual materials used or work involved, if you allow yourself to continually be persuaded to "throw in" stuff, you're going to end up in the hole, and that's not smart. Instead, when you realize you're into new territory, stop work and draw up a re-bid, showing the entire job as originally envisioned, and overlay the scope of the new work. Let the client know that to proceed, it will cost $x more than the original bid. Or offer to stay on the job as originally bid, and stay with that price. It's the client's decision how much to pay. It's your decision how smart you want to be while you're working for him.
9. Work as hard and as efficiently as possible, and finish each job as quickly as you can. Hit every job with everything you've got. Getting it done quickly and efficiently - while you have the time - is much smarter than looking at the schedule and telling yourself you have three more days to get it done, and then going to a long lunch or off to play tennis or whatever. (Obviously, you can do this on occasion - it helps you stay fresher mentally if you allow yourself small rewards from time to time - but making it habitual means you are always leaving things until every second counts. Not smart.) You don't know what will happen tomorrow - you might come down with the flu. Figuring that you will need only one day to complete that job if nothing goes wrong and then sitting on it just because you can is dumb. If you end up getting sick, you might not even be well enough to finish on time, let alone early. Running out the clock on jobs when you don't absolutely need to can force a rush at the finish line, or worse, deprives you of opportunities you might not have otherwise.
   
   
   • Example: You're the self-employed designer mentioned above. Today is Wednesday. You have a big job due for Spacely Sprockets on Friday. You know the job will only take about 8 hours if all goes well. You could quit at 4pm and go to a ballgame with friends, leaving you all day tomorrow to finish so that the job will be ready for pickup on Friday morning. Or you could put your head down and work until 8pm today instead of your usual 6pm, finishing all of today's work and the Spacely Sprockets job today - the client can pick it up on Thursday morning, a full day ahead of schedule. You decide to sacrifice the ballgame and get the job done tonight. On Thursday morning, Slate Rock & Gravel Corp.'s rep comes in, panicked because he has a job which he needs finished by Friday - you've worked with him before, and he realizes he will have to pay a rush charge to get it done that quickly. You accept the job on a rush basis, knowing you have cleared your schedule and can easily turn this around in time during regular hours - you will work no overtime, but still receive rush pay. Had you gone to that ballgame, Spacely's job would still be sitting there, undone, and in front of this job, and you would have to work all day today to finish it, then be forced to pull an all-nighter to finish Slate Rock's rush job. But because you sacrificed your fun at the ballgame: You can call Spacely Sprockets on Thursday and let them know their job is ready for pick-up, plus, you can do the new job, be Slate Rock & Gravel's hero - and you can get his job to him by Friday! On top of that, you can even give Slate Rock a slight discount (from the rate he was willing to pay for the rush job), and still make loads of money you wouldn't have been able to make at all, had you allowed the Spacely Sprockets job to run out until the original Friday deadline, slacking until the last minute.
10. Recognize the point of 'diminishing returns.' The above steps do not imply that you should work yourself to the point of exhaustion. You need to protect your health and the integrity of your job. Working yourself to a frazzle constantly makes you prone to mistakes. When you're so tired that you realize it's taking you twice or three times longer to do a job than normal, you need to call it a day. Rest at least a few hours, and come back fresher, so that you can be strong at the end of the job. Learn how to power nap.
11. Finish strong. It's sooooo important! Being dead tired and sluggish at the finish line is not smart - it's foolish. Be sure that you are well rested at deadline time. On the day a client is expected to pick up his or her job, go over it with a fine-toothed comb - and this means checking the finished product against the original instructions, making sure they match up. Check it for accuracy and detail, make any adjustments, corrections or touch-ups well ahead of the time the client will arrive - if possible, have someone else double-check you. Making sure every last detail has been checked and re-verified will make you confident and calm when your client comes to pick up the job. You can present it proudly, knowing that everything has been done to ensure the client will be happy with the finished product. Your confidence spills over to the client, which also makes it easier to ask for that final payment - when you see the client smiling and appreciative of the work you've done for him or her. This works for any project you have to do in life.