Just like any other award, there are rules to be followed, and here they are:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award

Thanks, Liz!

2. Paste the award on your blog

3. Link to the person who nominated you for the award

Meet Liz here: http://sortit.ca/about-sort-it/

4. Nominate 7 bloggers and post links to the 7 blogs you nominated

This was actually two separate steps in the original instructions, but I’ve taken the liberty of streamlining. I didn’t think anyone would mind.

The blogs I’ve nominated have three things in common: all of the bloggers are Canadian, I knew each of them before I starting reading their blogs (in some cases, long before they started blogging), and the blogs are not 100% focused on business (because I thought it might be hard for them to fit something like this into their editorial calendar).

1. zoeSocial – Zoë and I met at a networking breakfast a couple of years ago and were drawn together by our common passion for social media. Be sure to check out her About page. It will really make you question your own, I promise you!
2. Mom in Work PJs – A fellow virtual assistant, Rachel is also what’s sometimes referred to as a “mommy blogger.” She blogs about things that make life easier, healthier, and more enjoyable, and has a regular feature called “Spotlight on a Mompreneur.”
3. Canadian Army Wife – I met Jacki at  POC Conference many years ago. She’s one of the nicest and hardest working people you’ll ever come across.
4. Teatime with Tina – Tina and I go way back to when we were both professional organizers. She now blogs about one of my favourite topics: food!
5. Cute Canadian Princess – Scott and I used to work with Brenda (see random fact #4 below) but she now lives in Australia. This is her personal blog.
6. Penguins, Pot & Other Stuff – Another former co-worker, I think Tony has been blogging longer than anyone else I know.
7. Four Monkeys 4 Me +1 – I met Tiffany on the bus to Toronto for the She’s Connected Conference last October. Despite being practically neighbours, we haven’t really stayed in touch. I guess an empty-nester and a mom of four-soon-to-be-five don’t have a whole lot in common…

Some of them haven’t blogged in a while, so I hope this nomination will inspire them to start again!

5. Post 7 random things about you.

I thought this might be difficult, since I’ve written similar posts in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, but then I thought, surely there is more to me than just those 26 facts! So, if you’ve managed to read this far, you may be interested to learn that:

1. After driving a PT Cruiser for many years, I’m the proud new owner of a Hyundai Elantra.
2. I recently joined a book group, with two women I’ve known since I was seven years old, and three friends they met in their twenties. Since I became a member, we’ve read The Dolphin’s Tooth, Rebecca, On the Outside Looking Indian, Loving Frank, and The Irresistible Henry House.
3. My favourite Facebook page is Vintage Toronto. Although I haven’t lived there since 1982, I grew up in Etobicoke and I really enjoy seeing the old photos and how things have changed, as well as reminiscing about my earlier years.
4. Most people know that my husband works with me at Organized Assistant, but not so many know that this is the third time we’ve worked together.
5. I enjoy doing Cross Sums puzzles (also known as Kakuro).
6. I love to make my own soup. Most recently, I made Mixed Vegetable Soup.
7. And finally, my big announcement! I’ve just launched a new website called Organized Bloggers, which will be a blogging community for the organizing industry. If you’re looking for help organizing your home, your office, or some other area of your life, or if you’re a professional organizer or productivity consultant with knowledge to share, I know you’re going to love it!

If you’re one of the people I’ve nominated for a Beautiful Blogger Award, I hope you’ll play along. And if you do, be sure to post a link to your post in the comments section so we can learn more about you!

The post Beautiful Blogger Award appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

Do you know what I’ve got that they don’t?

1. I get to set my own schedule.

Even though I generally work 9 to 5, it’s because it works well for me, and not because it’s company policy. I wake up early and while drinking my first coffee, I get my work organized for the day, before I’ve even showered, had breakfast, or walked the dog. I can’t even remember the last time I needed an alarm clock to get me up! And if putting in a couple of hours on the weekend is going to make my upcoming week easier, that’s okay too – because it’s my choice.

2. I don’t have to buy an extensive wardrobe for work.

No, I don’t work in my PJs, contrary to popular belief. I rarely even work in track pants, though it’s nice that I have that option when I feel like it. But I can dress casually and comfortably, and because I’m not out with people every day, it’s no big deal if I tend to wear the same things most of the time. Saves me money too!

3. You can’t beat the 10-second commute!

On mornings like this, I admit to being a little smug when I see other people out scraping the ice off their car windows. Weather is never an issue for me, as I don’t have to allow extra time for poor visibility or road conditions. In fact, I don’t have to allow for travel time at all! Not using my car every day really cuts down on my expenses as well as meaning I can keep a car far longer than most other folks.

Read about the fourth and biggest thing I love about being my own boss, along with answers from 20 other entrepreneurs.

Do you run your own business? What do you love most about it?

The post 4 Reasons I love running my own business appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

… looking at a brand new calendar or notebook and wondering what is going to fill those blank pages

… moving to a new place and putting everything exactly where it needs to be

… signing up for a course to learn a new skill

… entering a new relationship (personal or professional)

And really, who hasn’t, at some point in their lives, dreamed of leaving it all behind and moving to a new place where no one knows anything about you or your past?

So, when Linda Samuels asked me “What becomes possible with a fresh start?” for a blog post she was writing, I told her that it’s all about eliminating clutter and keeping only things that are important to you. To me, the answer was clear, and I expected that others would respond similarly. When I read Linda’s post, I was inspired and delighted by the wise words offered by Linda’s other colleagues, and I think you will be too.

Read Is Hope in the Equation? and join the conversation!

On a personal note, I just have to share that as I was answering Linda’s email, reading her post, and now writing this one, John Lennon’s beautiful song, (Just Like) Starting Over, has been going through my head non-stop. If you find it going through yours now, you have me to thank.

The post Starting Fresh appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

Unfortunately, a lot of people who are using social media to promote their businesses aren’t going about it effectively. Some are so annoying you want to scream. Some are so unprofessional you have to laugh (and not in a good way). And others are so clearly clueless that you almost feel sorry for them.

Business writer Heather Chaet asked social media experts to identify the biggest social media mistakes that small business owners make, and how to fix them. Read my answer, along with nine others, in the Bank of America’s Small Business Community.

What’s the worst mistake you’ve seen on social media?

The post How NOT to Use Social Media appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t days I don’t want to work. Success does have its price – when your services are in high demand, you can’t just say, “I’ll get to it when I get to it” or they won’t be in demand for much longer!

When I have an off day, it’s easy to blame a client for being too demanding, or my Internet service for being too slow, or the workers outside for being too noisy, but I know that ultimately, I’m responsible for my own happiness and my own attitude. So when Mike Michalowicz, author of The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field, asked about bad business habits that make you hate your company, I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

Read my answer on Mike’s Blog, along with 39 others. There’s lots of excellent advice there, and I’m sure something will resonate with you and hopefully inspire you as you plan for 2013.

How about you? How do you stay in love with YOUR work?

Image courtesy of magerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post How to Stay in Love (with your work) appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

Accepting guest posts allows you to:

• Offer your readers a different viewpoint than your own
• Provide your readers with information above and beyond your own level of expertise
• Keep your blog active when you’re too busy to write
• Free up your time to work on other projects
• Update your blog more frequently
• Expose your blog to a broader audience, as guest bloggers promote their posts to their own networks

Now that I’ve sold you on the benefits, are you wondering where to find bloggers who might be a good fit for your blog?

There are a number of options, including:

• Check out websites like My Blog Guest, ContentBLVD, or FizzNiche
• Do an online search for experts in a particular topic you’d like to cover in your blog
• Post a notice on your site inviting readers to contribute to your blog

These are all good strategies, but I’ve got a favourite of my own. To find out what it is, read the post I recently wrote for FizzNiche.

Do you include guest posts on your blog? Where do you find your guest bloggers?

The post How to Find Guest Bloggers appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

Ruth Martin of Maplewood Virtual Assistance definitely fits into the latter category. Her blog, The Naked VA, offers an in-depth look at our industry, providing valuable insight both to aspiring VAs and to entrepreneurs who may be in need of a virtual assistant. To provide a broader perspective than just her own experience, she regularly interviews other virtual professionals, and I was recently honoured to be featured on her blog.

Read my interview on The Naked VA.

If you have a question you’d like me to answer, whether it’s about the VA industry, my own business, or something else altogether, please leave a comment or send me a message, and I’ll do my best to answer it.

The post Take a Peek at The Naked VA appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

Although the tools change, one thing that remains constant is the importance of focusing on the conversation rather than shameless self-promotion.  I was recently asked by FizzNiche, “What is the trick to posting updates on Twitter that both promote and engage?”

Read my answer and get a feel for what’s in my Twitter Guide.

The post Twitter: Social Network or Personal Billboard? appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

Here’s what I told her:

Sometimes things go wrong due to your own actions or failure to act. Instead of giving up, think of what you can do to prevent it from happening again, then do it – immediately.

Please visit Linda’s blog to read 7 more tips for bouncing back.

Illustration © Steve Young – Fotolia.com

The post Successfully Bouncing Back after a Setback appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.

With a quick glance, you’ll probably only notice the clean new design (based on my favourite Builder theme), but there’s more here than meets the eye.

1. My original blog was created on a platform that didn’t have an export option, so that old content was just sitting out there in cyberspace getting dusty. I discovered quite by chance that the site was being phased out, and as a service to their users, they made it possible to create a backup which could be imported into WordPress. As a result, this blog now goes back to the very first post I wrote, in November 2006. I was surprised to see that I wrote some pretty good stuff, even back then!

The two blogs had different categories, so I had to consolidate them – you’ll see an updated category list at the bottom of the page. I didn’t take the time to check each post individually, so I apologize in advance if anything seems misfiled or if there are any broken links. If you happen to spot anything like that, please let me know and I’ll be happy to fix it.

2. I also imported some recipes I’d posted on a site that’s being shut down, placing them in a new category called Repeatable Recipes, just like my Pinterest board with the same name. If you subscribe to my RSS feed, you may have already had a sneak peek!

3. Speaking of Pinterest, I’ve created a page to show you what I’m doing there and on other social media sites, and another page all about my other blogs. This replaces the Lifestream page on my old blog, which never worked quite the way I wanted it to.

4. The site has been moved to a premium WordPress hosting service, so I think you’ll find it much faster than before. It also means I can spend less time on maintenance and more time blogging!

While working on my blog revamp, I took some time out to attend WordCamp Toronto, where I learned about some great WordPress tools and techniques that I’d have loved to implement right away, however, it’s time for me to move on to some other projects. You can be sure there will be more enhancements to come – a good website is always a “work in progress” after all!

Thanks for sticking around! I’ll be back again soon with some more news.

Photo © Renata Osinska / Photoxpress

The post Welcome to the NEW (and the old) “From the Desk of Janet Barclay” appeared first on From the Desk of Janet Barclay.