Getting Organized With Inspherio!

It’s time to get your business organized with Inspherio - the most advanced business management program for Event Industry Professionals.  Inspherio provides solutions for businesses of any size, no matter if you are a one person operation or a full crew with many employees.  No other tool allows you to manage your entire business from one place - even employees and payroll! 

The exclusive Enterprise Version of Inspherio is leaps and bounds beyond any other program on the market today!

No other program offers a Truly All-In-One Solution, allowing you to:

• Schedule Your Employees & Assign Them to Events
  No more wasting time on an antiquated scheduling process
• Give Your Employees Account Access with Individual Login Information
  All your company information in one central place
• Automate Your Payroll Process & Track Expenses Intuitively 
  Eliminate that shoe box full of receipts & tax info
• Gather All Event Info From your Clients Automatically Add it to Contracts in Real Time
  Inspherio eliminates redundancies wherever possible
• Create Contracts in the Cloud & E-Sign Them From Anywhere
  Always Be Closing, no matter where in the world you are
• Generate Comprehensive Reports at Tax Time & Throughout the Year
  “Planning Your Success” is our motto, but can also Measure Your Success

With Inspherio, you are not alone.  Our customer support team is always available to offer heroic help whenever you need it through phone, email, & chat support.  Just give us a call at 704.234.6000 or email us at support@Inspherio.com with any questions you may have.

These are just a few examples of what Inspherio can do for your business. Join Inspherio Now to checkout the above features and more!!! Get started for Free!  NO Credit Card required to check it out!

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10 Things to Stop Doing Now

Photo Credit: J E Theriot

The following article was written by Jeff Haden & originally appeared in Inc. 


Happiness--in your business life and your personal life--is often a matter of subtraction, not addition.  Consider, for example, what happens when you stop doing the following 10 things:

1. Blaming.

People make mistakes.  Employees don't meet your expectations. Vendors don't deliver on time.
So you blame them for your problems.
But you're also to blame. Maybe you didn't provide enough training. Maybe you didn't build in enough of a buffer. Maybe you asked too much, too soon.
Taking responsibility when things go wrong instead of blaming others isn't masochistic, it's empowering--because then you focus on doing things better or smarter next time.
And when you get better or smarter, you also get happier.

2. Impressing.

No one likes you for your clothes, your car, your possessions, your title, or your accomplishments. Those are all "things." People may like your things--but that doesn't mean they like you.
Sure, superficially they might seem to, but superficial is also insubstantial, and a relationship that is not based on substance is not a real relationship.
Genuine relationships make you happier, and you'll only form genuine relationships when you stop trying to impress and start trying to just be yourself.

3. Clinging.

When you're afraid or insecure, you hold on tightly to what you know, even if what you know isn't particularly good for you.
An absence of fear or insecurity isn't happiness: It's just an absence of fear or insecurity.
Holding on to what you think you need won't make you happier; letting go so you can reach for and try to earn what you want will.
Even if you don't succeed in earning what you want, the act of trying alone will make you feel better about yourself.

4. Interrupting.

Interrupting isn't just rude. When you interrupt someone, what you're really saying is, "I'm not listening to you so I can understand what you're saying; I'm listening to you so I can decide what I want to say."
Want people to like you? Listen to what they say. Focus on what they say. Ask questions to make sure you understand what they say.
They'll love you for it--and you'll love how that makes you feel.

5. Whining.

Your words have power, especially over you. Whining about your problems makes you feel worse, not better.
If something is wrong, don't waste time complaining. Put that effort into making the situation better. Unless you want to whine about it forever, eventually you'll have to do that. So why waste time? Fix it now.
Don't talk about what's wrong. Talk about how you'll make things better, even if that conversation is only with yourself.
And do the same with your friends or colleagues. Don't just be the shoulder they cry on.
Friends don't let friends whine--friends help friends make their lives better.

6. Controlling.

Yeah, you're the boss. Yeah, you're the titan of industry. Yeah, you're the small tail that wags a huge dog.
Still, the only thing you really control is you. If you find yourself trying hard to control other people, you've decided that you, your goals, your dreams, or even just your opinions are more important than theirs.
Plus, control is short term at best, because it often requires force, or fear, or authority, or some form of pressure--none of those let you feel good about yourself.
Find people who want to go where you're going. They'll work harder, have more fun, and create better business and personal relationships.
And all of you will be happier.

7. Criticizing.

Yeah, you're more educated. Yeah, you're more experienced. Yeah, you've been around more blocks and climbed more mountains and slayed more dragons.
That doesn't make you smarter, or better, or more insightful.
That just makes you you: unique, matchless, one of a kind, but in the end, just you.
Just like everyone else--including your employees.
Everyone is different: not better, not worse, just different. Appreciate the differences instead of the shortcomings and you'll see people--and yourself--in a better light.

8. Preaching.

Criticizing has a brother. His name is Preaching. They share the same father: Judging.
The higher you rise and the more you accomplish, the more likely you are to think you know everything--and to tell people everything you think you know.
When you speak with more finality than foundation, people may hear you but they don't listen. Few things are sadder and leave you feeling less happy.

9. Dwelling.

The past is valuable. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of others.
Then let it go.
Easier said than done? It depends on your focus. When something bad happens to you, see that as a chance to learn something you didn't know. When another person makes a mistake, see that as an opportunity to be kind, forgiving, and understanding.
The past is just training; it doesn't define you. Think about what went wrong, but only in terms of how you will make sure that, next time, you and the people around you will know how to make sure it goes right.

10. Fearing.

We're all afraid: of what might or might not happen, of what we can't change, or what we won't be able to do, or how other people might perceive us.
So it's easier to hesitate, to wait for the right moment, to decide we need to think a little longer or do some more research or explore a few more alternatives.
Meanwhile days, weeks, months, and even years pass us by.
And so do our dreams.
Don't let your fears hold you back. Whatever you've been planning, whatever you've imagined, whatever you've dreamed of, get started on it today.
If you want to start a business, take the first step. If you want to change careers, take the first step. If you want to expand or enter a new market or offer new products or services, take the first step.
Put your fears aside and get started. Do something. Do anything.
Otherwise, today is gone. Once tomorrow comes, today is lost forever.
Today is the most precious asset you own--and is the one thing you should truly fear wasting.

_______________________________________________________________________

As Jeff explains in this article: the most important part of beginning something new is taking the first step.  
Inspherio is here to help you take that first step to improve your business.  You will be able to manage your business with just one tool, which will reduce your stress and work load, so that you can focus on the things you love.  Inspherio helps you eliminate excessive paperwork & gives you more time to actually Achieve your goals for your business!  

Check Out our Free Trial to Learn More!

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Getting Appy Doesn't Make You Happy

Photo Credit: JHaymesisvip

The amount of information that we have at our fingertips can be startling.  Thanks to our trusty smartphones, We can now find the answer to anything in just minutes, Instead of a brain we just use Google, and we've got pages of apps for everything to keep us informed & entertained.  

This progression of technology is a great thing and a lot of this new tech has the potential to transform your business for the better, however it could also leave you dazed and confused if it is not used correctly.  

Apps are a great example of this.  Many small business owners are made to think they are tech savvy because they have downloaded  pages of business related apps.  While many of these tools are useful, they can actually be a hindrance on your business by keeping your business compartmentalized into multiple programs on your smartphone.  Eventually, your business records will become quite a mess because your business data is divided into all these apps.  

Due to this App Overload, many business owners are using a different app for each business function: 
- One for Receiving Payments
- One for Invoicing  
- One for Expenses
- One for Income
- One for Trip logs
- One to Sign Forms
- One to Schedule Appointments
- One for Scanning Docs
- And The List goes On.....

By choosing to use a different app for each business function, your business will most likely experience a serious slow down due to the amount of time you spend disengaged & glued to your phone.  Not to mention the fact that your business image is now shifting from a confident professional to a texting teenager.  

What Is The Solution?

Many of the apps in the marketplace are good tools, but it would be better if all of these functions could work together in one place.  That's what Inspherio is for!  Instead of using dozens of apps and other programs to manage your business, you can just use one All-In-One program.  Inspherio offers the ability to manage your business from start to finish.  From adding a lead, to generating year-end tax reports Inspherio can do it all.  

To see for yourself, you can start your Free Trial today!

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What Successful People Do With the First Hour of their Work Day

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk

The following article was written by Kevin Purdy and first appeared in Fast Company

Remember when you used to have a period at the beginning of every day to think about your schedule, catch up with friends, maybe knock out a few tasks? It was called home room, and it went away after high school. But many successful people schedule themselves a kind of grown-up home room every day. You should too.

The first hour of the workday goes a bit differently for Craig Newmark of Craigslist, David Karp of Tumblr, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, career writer (and Fast Company blogger) Brian Tracy, and others, and they’ll tell you it makes a big difference. Here are the first items on their daily to-do list.

Don’t Check Your Email for the First Hour. Seriously. Stop That.

Tumblr founder David Karp will “try hard” not to check his email until 9:30 or 10 a.m., according to an Inc. profile of him. “Reading e-mails at home never feels good or productive,” Karp said. “If something urgently needs my attention, someone will call or text me.”

Not all of us can roll into the office whenever our Vespa happens to get us there, but most of us with jobs that don’t require constant on-call awareness can trade e-mail for organization and single-focus work. It’s an idea that serves as the title of Julie Morgenstern’s work management book Never Check Email In The Morning, and it’s a fine strategy for leaving the office with the feeling that, even on the most over-booked days, you got at least one real thing done.

If you need to make sure the most important messages from select people come through instantly, AwayFind can monitor your inbox and get your attention when something notable arrives. Otherwise, it’s a gradual but rewarding process of training interruptors and coworkers not to expect instantaneous morning response to anything they send in your off-hours.

Gain Awareness, Be Grateful

One smart, simple question on curated Q & A site Quora asked “How do the most successful people start their day?”. The most popular response came from a devotee of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who pitched the power of mindful first-hour rituals long before we all had little computers next to our beds.

Robbins suggests setting up an “Hour of Power,” “30 Minutes to Thrive,” or at least “Fifteen Minutes to Fulfillment.” Part of it involves light exercise, part of it involves motivational incantations, but the most accessible piece involves 10 minutes of thinking of everything you’re grateful for: in yourself, among your family and friends, in your career, and the like. After that, visualize “everything you want in your life as if you had it today.”

Robbins offers the “Hour of Power” segment of his Ultimate Edge series as a free audio stream (here’s the direct MP3 download). Blogger Mike McGrath also wrote a concise summary of the Hour of Power). You can be sure that at least some of the more driven people you’ve met in your career are working on Robbins’ plan.

Do the Big, Shoulder-Sagging Stuff First

Brian Tracy’s classic time-management book Eat That Frog gets its title from a Mark Twain saying that, if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, you’ve got it behind you for the rest of the day, and nothing else looks so bad. Gina Trapani explained it well in a video for her Work Smart series). Combine that with the concept of getting one thing done before you wade into email, and you’ve got a day-to-day system in place. Here’s how to force yourself to stick to it:

Choose Your Frog

"Choose your frog, and write it down on a piece of paper that you'll see when you arrive back at your desk in the morning, Tripani advises."If you can, gather together the material you'll need to get it done and have that out, too."

One benefit to tackling that terrible, weighty thing you don’t want to do first thing in the morning is that you get some space from the other people involved in that thing--the people who often make the thing more complicated and frustrating. Without their literal or figurative eyes over your shoulder, the terrible thing often feels less complex, and you can get more done.

Ask Yourself If You’re Doing What You Want to Do

Feeling unfulfilled at work shouldn’t be something you realize months too late, or even years. Consider making an earnest attempt every morning at what the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a graduating class at Stanford to do:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

“Customer Service” (or Your Own Equivalent)

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark answered the first hour question succinctly: “Customer service.” He went on to explain (or expand) that he also worked on current projects, services for military families and veterans, and protecting voting rights. But customer service is what Newmark does every single day at Craigslist, responding to user complaints and smiting scammers and spammers. He almost certainly has bigger fish he could pitch in on every day, but Newmark says customers service “anchors me to reality.”

Your own version of customer service might be keeping in touch with contacts from year-ago projects, checking in with coworkers you don’t regularly interact with, asking questions of mentors, and just generally handling the human side of work that quickly gets lost between task list items. But do your customer service on the regular, and you’ll have a more reliable roster of helpers when the time comes.

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Apple Maps for Your Business

Photo Credit: deerkoski

It has been a wild ride for iPhone users over the past week.  Apple released the highly anticipated iPhone5 along with the newest Apple mobile software: iOS6. 

Much to Apple's chagrin, the most talked about iPhone feature is one that is no longer there.  Apple made the decision to replace the iconic Google Maps tool, with their own Apple Maps. 
With misplaced landmarks, This new tool was immediately met with frustration and has been fodder for many late night talk shows over this past week.  "I've got an iPhone5, and Apple Maps says I'm in Norway" shouted Stephen Colbert in his opening bit this week. 
The frustration has been so prolific over the past week, that Apple CEO, Tim Cook issued an apology on September 28th, stating "We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better."
Google is rumored to be developing a Google Maps app for iOS devices, but it will not be ready for some months to come.  In the meantime, millions of iPhone users have been recommended to use other mapping apps such as Bing, MapQuest and Waze. 

What Does this mean for your business? 
This means that about half of your potential customers are now going to be using Apple Maps or another mapping app.  If you rely on your customers finding you at a physical location, you will need to ensure that your business location is mapped correctly in these applications. 
The new Apple Maps relies heavily on Yelp for business information, and it even links directly to your yelp page from Apple maps.  This means that if you haven't really used Yelp, or if you have some very poor reviews published there, you will want to balance that with more relevant information, photos, reviews, etc. 
Apple Maps also uses Localeze and Axiom to provide the basic name, address, and phone number of your business listing.  Use these sites to verify your accurate business information.



To manage your entire business with ease, you can use Inspherio.  From your incoming leads to Year-End Tax reports, you can manage everything in one place!  Get the First 30 Days Free to try it out!  No Credit Card Required.

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