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09/13/2007: "Time-Wasters and What To Do About Them."

People. They're the #1 time-waster. If you let them, they'll eat away each precious, productive hour you have in your day.

Dan Kennedy's site says about Dan, "He is never in his office, never takes incoming calls and new private' clients are asked to submit information by fax before getting a telephone appointment with him. He's militantly resistant to having his time wasted and has 'fired clients' on occasion for doing so."

Let's take a lesson, dear reader.

I've had people call me on the phone and ask me about some free ebook or product on my site. Now, isn't that rude? But, people are rude. They only care about themselves. People (big people) are just children in a big body. They have the childish desire to immediately meet their needs. This is a secret we in advertising know all too well. (Read Vance Packard.) And we feed to that need every day.

Now don't tell me you can't do anything about it. You can. I know, because I do something about it. The first thing you need to do is set down with a pen and paper. If you think better at the word processor, use it. I personally need paper. I'm old and like the feel of paper and pen.

Now, write down the type of phone calls you get that are truly unwanted and that waste your time. For example, I got calls from all the free trade magazines I take. My mistake was putting my "real" phone number in the application for these great magazines.

I also got calls from vendors. I hate that. They use all sorts of pretenses to get to you.

Then I had clients call me at unexpected times. Now, I allow clients to call me if their contract calls for it. But not whenever their heart desires. They have to arrange in advance for the call.

So here's how I solved these problems and how YOU can solve them too.

I got a free voice mail phone number from Private Phones. This is a great service. You get a choice of phone numbers anywhere you like. You can record your own message and you'll be informed when you get a call. They'll notify you by email or on your cellphone or both. And you'll not be bothered once!

DON'T ANSWER YOUR PHONE UNLESS YOU WANT TO! IT'S A TIME-WASTER.

You can return the call or ignore it. You can even block the caller from future calls. You're in total control. Now, I have no financial interest in the company. I just happen to love the service.

You will probably want a private number plus free voice mail to give out to "select" people like your spouse or lover or clients. So you need a real phone you can answer that you know will be a call you really want. For that you go to SkypeIn. I use them and highly recommend the service. It's just $60 per year for your own phone number. You choose the number and location you want. Again, you're in control. There are no extra fees.

Give the free voice mail (throw-away) number to all vendors and to anyone who will hound you with stupid, unwanted phone calls --- like the folks who give you free magazines. They can notify you by email. They don't need to call you and they're a waste of time.

The numbers you put on your Web site are up to you. You do not have any obligation to put your home phone number on your site if you work from home. You can use Private Phone for this if it fits into your work. If not, you can use a separate phone line. You can also use a separate Skypein number. But keep one line for calls you absolutely DO want.

Most people give their cell number out to everyone. That's a mistake. Again, the adolescent grownups will call you on your cellphone if they want to talk to you. They don't care that their call could wait or that they could send you an email. Your cellphone should be for urgent calls. Cellphones are a major waste of time. Very little is so damn important that it can't wait for you to get comfortable and talk on a real phone. And if they make you feel important, consider this: everyone, rich and poor, has a cellphone. It no longer is the domain of the rich. Children have them, for god's sake.

Try and get people into the habit of sending you an email to schedule a phone appointment. You want to make the appointment at a time that's good for you. You want to have all your notes and necessary information handy and you want all your ducks in a row when you talk to a client or someone about business. Don't let people give you a surprise call asking for a price or quote or anything else.

I used to have rude people call me wanting free advice. They would take up hours of my time. I quickly learned that I was being used and now I charge $500.00 per hour if you want to talk to me about your problems.

Don't answer your phone. It's really that simple. Use voice mail and pick up your calls twice a day. Answer them once or twice a day --- at YOUR convenience. And don't have call waiting. It's rude and it's unnecessary. No one is so damned important that they need call waiting. And you'll offend someone when you do use it.

Time is your most valuable commodity. You have only a limited amount of it. If you let people rob you of your time, you are a big loser.

Take my advice. It's based on experience. Take measures now to save your time. You'll find you get more done and make more money. And that's a very good thing.

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