Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Power of Focus

What do you do if your car goes into a spin?
Back when my younger sister was doing her police training, she took part in a defensive driving course. She told me that if your car is in a spin, you focus on where you want to end up and your hands will follow. I already knew this, I told her...
A few years before I was coming down a steep mountain road in the rain and I lost control of the car. I came around a curb too fast on this unfamiliar road and suddenly the car was spinning precariously close to the edge of the cliff.
As if fate had intervened, a few weeks before this event someone had told me what to do in such a situation - and today I am doing the same thing for you.
This person had told me - you put your foot on the brakes very slowly and you rest your eyes on a clear space. At the same time I was remembering this, I was already applying the brakes slowly. My body simply followed the memory as it rolled out in my head, as my sister repeated a few years later.
I had 3 friends in the car with me that day. One of these friends was very calmly giving me the same advice that I was already remembering. And the other two sat frozen, gripping their seat, not knowing that this spin could be brought back under control quite easily.
It was a surreal moment but one that provided me with an opportunity to realise something that has always served me. I knew as I applied the brakes slowly that there was no danger. I knew how to take control back over the car - not because I'd done it before, but because someone had guided me. Self-preservation kicked in and I followed that guidance.
And every time my life has seemed to hit an emotional tailspin, or a mental blockage, if not a precarious situation like bankruptcy, I've known what to do... apply the brakes slowly and focus on a clear space to come to a standstill! That is, don't stare at the cliff edge and freak out!
So, why, when it comes to money and business do most of us do the exact opposite of what we should?! We focus hard on what we don't want and we create it.
To me, running a business is no different to that unfamiliar, mountain road. You are going to make mistakes, and you are going to have to regain control when you do. If you don't, you will give up on yourself long before you've discovered the power of focus.
Knowing how to overcome danger is one of life's true gifts. It is simply about removing your focus from what you don't want and the resulting panic, and focusing on the positive outcome you truly desire. This is what all those Law of Attraction teachings are about.
What I want to highlight today is that these teachings are not some outer-space principles that don't work for you. If you are in enough danger and there is enough self-preservation in play, they will work. You WILL focus hard on the outcome you want.
It plays out in our minds - just as that switch to survival happened that day in the car. I simply focused on what I wanted. And it happened.
The problem is that only half of you wants to succeed, the other half is busy thinking about how much love you get from others when you are failing.
It is a part of our evolution, an unfortunate part, that we have been raised to see that gaining love from those around us is often about staying small like them. It's about not wanting, not having and being small...
But let's get real! You will step away from the smallness if you have enough motivation. And more often than not, being a business owner, having a calling to help others, having to fight for abundance are all tools the universe and the soul will use to make sure that you step up to the plate.
The more lack you experience, the more you will eventually kick it up a notch and tell yourself 'that's enough of the smallness, let's just get on with it.' And as you turn towards success, that focus brings the actions and outcomes that you need.
Are you there yet?! Or do you hear yourself saying that you've already spent too much money, or that you've never done the right thing? From that space, you never will. If you feel that you can't have the success you desire, you wont. It really is that simple. We are simplistic in nature. And that's why saying the opposite of failure also works.
True success comes from the power of focus. And right now, as we near the end of 2012 we are being asked to get back to our original goals - to refocus on them with a laser light intensity and to ENSURE that we survive through this focus.
But here's a question - do you even know what your goals are, or are you just doing things in an effort to feel fulfilled or important or loved? There is always a danger, if we are pushing too hard, to fall into a tangled space of unfocussed actions!
Right now, it is to time to step back from your business and ask yourself what you really want. Are you creating that? Or are you just doing things that kind of, maybe, sort of feel OK? There is a big, big difference between a laser light focus on a goal that is important to us, and 'just' being a business owner.
So, are you willing to take another step forward on a loose and tangled pathway that is making you feel ill at ease with yourself? Or is it time to retreat, rest and rethink? I can assure you that resting and rethinking are far from the end of the dreams within you. They are in fact the very beginning of their fulfillment.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

How to Improve Your Cash Flow

One of the most difficult things in any practice is how to keep the bills paid while you are waiting for your money to come in. This is especially true of practices that are relying on health insurance or employee assistance program payments. Some will say that you should just take self-pay clients to resolve this issue, but this is difficult to do particularly when you are first starting out. Also, just because clients are "self-pay" doesn't necessarily mean that they are good about paying you! Here are some things that you can do to improve your cash flow.
File your claims daily
The quicker you can get your claims out, the faster you will get paid. If you can't do so on a daily basis, then I would suggest no less than once or twice a week.
File insurance claims electronically
If you are filing paper claims, you can expect to get paid in about 6-8 weeks. This is assuming that there are no errors with the claims. In that case, they are sent back to you (if you are lucky) so that you can fix the problem and resubmit the claim. Sometimes you don't hear anything at all and you have to call to find out the status of the claim(s) only to be told of the error, or worse, that they never received the claim. Now you have to resubmit and wait another 6-8 weeks! Also, keep in mind that when you file in paper you usually get paid in paper (although there are some exceptions to this). This means having to go to the bank to deposit your checks. Compare this with filing claims electronically where you can expect to get paid on average in 10-14 days and the money goes directly into your bank account. Also, when there are errors, you are able to catch them a lot sooner. If you don't have a practice management system that allows to you do so, or if you don't have one at all, I recommend you invest in one (more on this later).
Accept credit/debit cards
Think about how you pay for things these days. How often do you have cash or your checkbook on hand? If you are only accepting cash or check payments then you will hear, "I forgot to bring my checkbook", "I forgot to stop at the ATM" or "Can I pay you next week?" more than you should. You can significantly reduce this by accepting credit or debit cards. This also allows clients to use money from their health savings account (HSA) which are typically accessed by a debit card. Some practice management systems have the ability to integrate with credit card merchants, which means you don't have to manually enter the payments into client ledgers separately if you had a stand-alone credit card machine.
Accept payments on your website
Once you are set up to accept credit/debit cards you can create a link on you website that allows clients to pay online. So next time you hear "I forgot" you can tell your client to make a payment through your website when they get home (no more excuses). Just one more reason to have a website if you don't already.
Accept payments by phone
To do so you need to be able to accept credit cards. Our system also allows us to accept phone payments by using a client's checking or savings account number along with their bank routing number. Clients can also pay by credit card over the phone. Set up a separate voice mail box on your system so client's can leave their payment information. When they call and get your voice mail one of the options now is "If you would like to make a payment by phone, please press 2."
Credit card authorization on file
We created a form that client's can fill out at the onset of treatment where they authorize recurring charges to their credit or debit card at a frequency that they specify (e.g., each visit, monthly, until a certain date, etc.). If you have their authorization on file, then you don't have to worry about a forgotten wallet or purse.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Corporate Coach Hire - Impress Your Clients

There are many reasons for hiring coaches of different sizes and both corporate firms and individuals are doing this either for enabling the guests to visit their corporate party or any other event in their homes. When it comes to corporate world, many organizations are offering their existing and potential customers corporate days out as an informal method of finalizing deals or for celebrating the day of signing of contracts. This has probably become an essential act by smart business minds to show their customers that their firm is thriving even during the recession period prevailing in the economy.
Since business gatherings can show off the spending capacity of corporate firms to their customers, they take every step to ensure that the event becomes a grand success. As such, firms are focusing even on the mode of transportation used for enabling the guests and even staff to visit the place of gathering. Here comes the role of corporate coach hire service providers, who offer the best vehicles for enabling people to visit the venue of event.
These service providers offer chauffeur driven and executive coaches that can offer a great impression among the clients about the organization. They offer a wide range of vehicles with different seating capacities and organizations can select the vehicle based on the number of people, they wish to take to the event. Since the vehicles are offered with well-trained drivers, safe travelling can be assured. They offer luxury vehicles with as minimum as four people travelling capacity to as high as 61 seater capacity in such a way that a large group of people can reach the place of corporate meeting with utmost comfort.
Firms can get quote from the website of the corporate coach hire service providers and most of the service providers are offing online quotes in such a way that they can compare the cost of different service providers and can arrive at a decision with respect to the best service provider. The vehicles operated by them can also be viewed from their website in such a way that a luxurious vehicle that can offer a great impression in the minds of clients can be selected.
Here, it is essential to select the best service providers in such a way that a safe and luxurious travel to the corporate event for not only the employees of the organization, but also to the clients can be ensured.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Useful Tips In Caring For Your Home And Home Appliances

Your property, whether you own it or not, plays a huge role in your families happiness. If your property and appliances are in a state of disrepair you can be sure your mood and relationships will follow suit. If you own the property it's even more vital that you maintain your property and appliances because the home will be both your biggest asset and liability.
A lot of homeowners think that home repair, maintenance, and renovation will cost them a small fortune. That's why they have the tendency to just do half-baked repairs and wait until they can undertake a major renovation. This is certainly the wrong way to go about it. If you wait until something major is wrong with the structure, you'll end up with even bigger expenses. It's better to address the problem as soon as it occurs. It's not just with your facilities like the plumbing, electricity, and heating. This also applies to your home appliances.
So my major tips on avoiding expensive repairs on the home and appliances.
First take preventative steps. With appliances and utilities this included yearly checks or servicing. This allows you to fix small issues before they become expensive problems. These servicing calls are usually relatively inexpensive and can stop expensive repairs down the line.
Secondly regularly clean appliances, gutters and carpets. This includes for appliances like washing machines decluttering any back up of fluff and dirt from the pipes.
Finally have a plan. Don't leave the servicing and cleaning to chance as it won't get done. You need to have dates set one year in advance for the cleaning and servicing tasks.
An alternative to all of this is to set up a contract for each appliance and utility. Usually these plans cover you for labor and parts in the event of a breakdown. This can take the stress out of the maintenance and is easy to budget for. It should be noted this is usually the slightly more expensive option but it does smooth out the payments and subsequent financial pain.
If you do need a repair store there are some tips to follow.
First ask friends and relatives for recommendations. If they're not forthcoming use the internet to look at review sites to compare prices and levels of service and customer satisfaction. It's also worth choosing a repair business that is both insured and bonded. If possible also try to select a business with some form of track record.