This is one area I really struggle with. Particularly as I work from home my business is always ‘there’ and I don’t really switch off.  This has very much been the case over the past 6 months as my business has grown the whole “switching off” idea just doesn’t work.

I have my laptop and my iPhone and it is too easy for me to check my emails and make sure I am not missing anything on Facebook and Twitter.  Even if my laptop is off my iPhone is there.  Sometimes I find myself responding to emails at 11pm on a Friday night and I have even been accused (although not proven) of checking my phone at 3am when I wake up  through the night (ok ok I am obsessed!).

I am also a mother to a very energetic two year old so the balancing act between being a mother, wife and business owner is difficult.  Generally my routine is all based around my son.  I cram as much work in when he is asleep and once again as soon as he is asleep at night. I do this so I can get everything done. And not even that, I love my business and it was I love to do so I don’t really find it work.

But the question is “when do I get ‘me’ time? Or when can I spend sometime with my partner?”

Quite simply I dont!!  And I can’t stand that. As I said I love my business and it is the reason I do what I do. But I do hate that I feel completely exhausted all the time and that I don’t have time to spend with just my husband.

So this is something I am going to work on. I am making it my mission to stop (not every night let’s not get ahead of myself here) but at least two nights during the week to ensure I get ‘me’ time and also to make time for my husband.  So that means no checking emails, no social networks and no checking my iPhone at ridiculous hours of the night.  It is going to be difficult but I am going to do it!

I would love to hear your thoughts at how you manage the whole work/life balance.

This post was originally posted on the Central Coast Biz website on the 31st January 2010. Click here to see the original post.

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Twitter landing pages are a customised homepage for those who come to your site via Twitter. I loved the idea so decided to create my own Twitter landing page. There are so many benefits to having a Twitter landing page.

Customise the information followers see

Your Twitter description is only 140 characters long and you have limited information you can include about who you are and what you do. So why not elaborate on your Twitter landing page?

You can give your followers a run down on who you are, what you stand for and information on the types of services you offer.

People are time poor

The majority of business owners are time poor and probably don’t have the time to search through you website to find out more about you. Twitter landing pages save your followers time. All the basic information they need about you and your business is right there in front of them instead of having to go searching through your site.

Create a special offer

You can use this page to create a special offer specifically for your new followers. Or you could include an e-book for them to download as a thank you for following. I really love this idea of an e-book on this page and it will save you from having to bombard followers with auto DMs, a practice that is loathed by the majority of tweeters. Make sure your e-book is relevant to you and your business and something that adds value for your new followers.

Promote your blogs

The majority of Twitter landing pages use of the page to further promote their blog. If you do decide to use the page to promote your blog be sure to include only relevant and useful links, you don’t want to include a link to every single blog post you have ever written.

Easy to analyse statistics

Twitter landing pages allow you to track incoming traffic to your site more efficiently. As this page is only coming for Twitter it will give you a better understanding as to how much traffic Twitter is generating for your website. If you aren’t using Google Analytics or any other website monitor I would highly recommend doing so.

You can be as creative as you like with your Twitter landing page just be sure to let your personality shine (and don’t forget a picture of you!)

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Twtvite assists you to promote your event, allow others to retweet the event, and also manages the RSVP’s. You can even create a hash tag for the event which is posted whenever you tweet or retweet the event.

I use Twtvite for the monthly networking lunches that I organise and just love it!  It has made organising the event much easier I am able to track RSVP’s and also see who is retweeting about the event.  Twtvite even provides attendees with a map for the venue and allows you to input the event into Outlook.

I would love to hear about more Twitter tools, particulalry for managing events.

Cheers
Nicole

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It was absolutely fantastic and very inspiring to meet the people who you tweet with everyday.  The lunch was an opportunity for everyone to network in a very casual and informal environment, ie. no pressure and from the feedback seen on Twitter it seems like it was a success! Everyone thought it would be a great opportunity to meet on a regular basis.

And so CCBiz was born! The new CCBiz (or Central Coast business) website will be coming very soon! CCBiz’s aim is to provide informal (and low-cost) networking for small businesses on the Central Coast, whilst also creating a network to support one and other in business. The site will include a blog with small businesses owners contributing and commenting on their profession, details of upcoming events, a business directory and much more!

We have a number of businesses already involved in getting this up and running and we have such a broad range of skills between everyone. Stay tuned for more details… we will be launching www.ccbiz.com.au in the coming weeks.

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