Start your summer off by attending my upcoming course, DECIDE to be Organized: Achieve Results at Home, at Work and in Life through Pace University’s Professional Development Program.  You’ll learn the skills and tips so that you can actually have some time to relax this summer!

This event is open to the public, so come join me. Click here for details and to register.

Too often seen as completely separate efforts, organizing and decision-making skills amplify the power of each other when properly combined. In this entertaining and engaging talk, I will share valuable tips on how to effectively organize your time, space, paper and possessions by practicing good decision-making techniques, creating a system that works, and integrating the system into your life.

Topics include:

• Sobering statistics about how disorganized we are as a society
• What is clutter?
• Decluttering tips and tools
• Benefits of being organized
• Changing behavior
• The DECIDE method

Plus, as an added bonus, there will be an interactive Organizing Vision Drilldown session, during which I will provide tips, ideas, and strategies that will solve challenges while motivating and inspiring you into action. If you’ve never seen me in action, this is your chance to come away with great new ideas that will help you achieve results at home, at work, and in life!

The Details:

Date: Saturday, June 16, 2012
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Pace University Midtown Center
551 Fifth Avenue at 45th
New York, NY
Tuition: $195 (includes all materials)

Click here for details and to register.

Are you Ready to…

…kick your business into high gear?

…create the business model you’ve been striving for?

…stop working so hard and, instead, work smarter?

…charge what you’re worth, and reach the levels of income you’ve dreamed of?

If you answered YES, then you cannot miss this!

Join me on June 13^th at the Kick-Butt Business Bootcamp hosted by the NAPO-Baltimore Chapter in Baltimore, MD. This event will be open to all NAPO Members.

I will also be offering 2-hour laser VIP Intensives the afternoon and evening of June 13th, and all day Thursday, June 14th, for those that want more personalized attention and a targeted business butt-kicking!

What do you get when you combine an attorney, mediator, trainer of entrepreneurs, business coach to organizers and other entrepreneurs, and an owner of a successful organizing business? You get a Kick-Butt Presenter that you can’t miss!!

During this bootcamp, you will:

• Go through an in-depth business building assessment to get really clear on what’s going on in your business and where YOU need to be putting your attention.
• Make some powerful mindset shifts that will have you think and act like a 6-figure business owner.
• Leave knowing exactly what to do, with a clear plan to take YOUR business to the next level.

Topics include:Define Success/Your Role in Your Business, Passion/Unique Areas of Brilliance, Marketing/Unique Selling Proposition, Ideal Client/Target Market, Multiple Streams of Income/Leverage, Outsourcing/Delegating, Accountability Checks/Tools, Business Systems/Operations Manual.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for years, join us for some invaluable expertise for your business!

Bootcamp Details:

• Date: Wednesday, June 13, 2012
• Time: 9 am – 12:45 pm
• Location: Hilton Garden Inn Columbia
  “Columbia Room – East & West”
  8241 Snowden River Parkway
  Columbia, MD 21045
• Bootcamp Registration Cost:
  Early bird rate:  $139
  After May 21^st:  $159
  Registration closes on Friday, June 8^th.
  Limited to 45 participants. First come, first served!

SPECIAL OFFER! Add on Private Coaching with Lisa:

Additionally, I will be offering one-on-one, targeted 2-hour private coaching sessions after the bootcamp ends to assist you in applying everything you learned in a focused way to YOUR business. My process with clients is like a laser beam to help you blast through issues holding you back, come up with a solid plan, and give you the tools to implement, so you know that in 2 hours, you can experience a huge shift.

One-on-One Coaching Details:

• Coaching Location (across the street):
  Redhead Companies
  6011 U-boatniversity Boulevard
  Ellicott City, MD  21043
  Suite 210, Redhead’s Meeting Room
• Discounted Coaching Cost for Attendees: $300 for a 2-hour, private session (regular rate = $400)

See all details and registration information here: http://www.napobaltimore.org/kick-butt-business-bootcamp/

Come join me and network with other professional women at these two upcoming events. They are held in two different areas so depending on where you live, you don’t have to miss out.

On Tuesday, May 15, 2012,  I will be sharing tips on how to be an Organized Professional Woman with the Professional Women of Putnam County from 6-8:30.

The single most important characteristic that separates organized people and organizations from disorganized people and organizations is decisiveness. Too often seen as completely separate efforts, organizing and decision-making skills amplify the power of each other when properly combined.

I will share valuable tips on how to effectively organize your time, space, paper and possessions by practicing good decision-making techniques, creating a system that works, and integrating the system into your life. This presentation empowers participants to discover their unique organizing style and develop organizing systems tailored to their individual work habits and life style.

Discover how to manage shifting priorities, time constraints, and juggle multiple projects by modifying behavior, learning effective planning skills, and knowing when and how to let go and say no. Become an effective and quick decision-maker.

The Details:

• Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2012
• Time: 6 – 8:30 pm
• Cost: $35 pp includes dinner and dessert. Cash Bar
• Location: Arturo’s 878 Route 6 Mahopac, NY
• Register: www.professiona​lwomenofputnam.​com

AND…

May 23, 2012 - Speaking for the Professional Women of Westchester County to share tips on how to be an Organized Professional Woman from 12-2 pm. Details to come at www.professionalwomenofwestchester.com

Click here to watch a short video on this topic.

There’s still “Time” to sign up for my upcoming course, Make Time for This! Effective Time Management through Pace University’s Professional Development Program. This event is open to the public, so come join me. Click here for details and to register.

Time is one of our most precious resources. Yet we battle daily to make the best use of it. This workshop addresses how to get more done in less time with less stress by maximizing your productivity and setting priorities. Learn to pinpoint where you need to take control. Improve your comprehension and focus and more effectively perform when juggling people, paper, and priorities.

Topics Include:

• Self-assessment
• Tools of time management (calendars/PDAs/daily planners)
• How to say no
• Project lists and to-do lists
• Conquering procrastination
• The myth of multi-tasking
• Dealing with interruptions.

The Details:

Date: Friday, May 11, 2012
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Pace University Midtown Center
551 Fifth Avenue at 45th
New York, NY
Tuition: $195 (includes all materials)

Click here for details and to register.

This is just a quick and friendly reminder that I will be “standing by” via Skype tomorrow ready to answer any productivity, life, business or career question you may have as part of Christine Marmoy’s Coaching Marathon. It will be just you and I for a few minutes addressing whatever challenge or issue you decide to ask about.

So if you want an ultra-laser coaching call, ring me up between 2-3 pm Eastern Time and we will “chat” for free!

But first, you must register!

Oh, and as a thank you for participating in the Coaching Marathon, I am gifting to you my 60-minute audio program, DECIDE to be Organized: An Empowering Process for Change. Just click through to my offer page and you can download the MP3 and start listening any time you want.

Hope to get a chance to “chat” with you tomorrow!

Warmly,

Lisa

Recently, I attended the annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), held in Baltimore, MD. I had the absolute pleasure of seeing and hearing the closing keynote speaker, Dan Thurmon. I first encountered Dan at the National Speakers Association (NSA) annual conference in Anaheim in July 2011, during which he was inducted into the NSA Hall of Fame. Dan is a performance artist and professional speaker who juggles, throws knives, and rides a unicycle on stage, all of which is very entertaining and exciting. Yet, his message is equally powerful. In fact, I was even more impressed with his ability to weave high-level content into his performance elements, which is not an easy accomplishment to pull off.

Dan’s keynote content was drawn from his latest book, Off Balance on Purpose. Two important meanings are intend ed. First, that we are most effective, productive and happy when embracing the “off balance” reality of life. And secondly, that we should intentionally choose to take action and initiate meaningful changes. While I have not read his book yet, I did love his message and the way he presented it to a group of productivity experts.

To be “productive” literally means to produce. Therefore, many of us tend to translate being productive to mean that we need to keep doing and going and producing, and all at the same time. However, this can cause a ton of stress in our lives and make the quality of what we are producing decrease. I am just as guilty of that as others. So it takes a brave person to realize that you can have it all, but just not at the same time!

As Dan was juggling, he explained to us that you must release one item in order to catch the ot her item. He is never actually holding more than one item that he is juggling at once! This was so powerful. It sometimes takes a visual exercise like this to snap us into realization.

In our own lives, we tend to want to do it all and right now. Yet, we then sacrifice the quality of our work, relationships, and life overall if we take on too much. We wind up doing a bunch of things at less than 100%, and then berate ourselves for not being able to keep up.

It takes a brave person to stop and say, “I can have it all… just not at the same time!” There is a time and a season for everything. Maybe this year is the year you work on your career transition. Maybe this month is the one to focus on cultivating a new hobby. Maybe this summer is the one when you (finally!) get organized. But if you try to get organized, embark on a career transition, and cultivate a new hobby all at the same time, while still juggling all of the other responsibilities in your life, you may fail miserably at all of them, or not enjoy any of them.

I admit that I am a go-getter! I like to stay busy, thrive on change, and am a life-long learner with an adventurous spirit. But I have had to make choices. I realize I cannot do everything, and certainly not at once. My Mom used to tease me that I should have been a cat, as it will take nine lives to do everything I want to do in this one life time. And that may be true. But I have much more awareness now that I can’t have it all at the same time, and I will drop a lot of balls I am juggling if I try to.

So I like Dan Thurmon’s message and plan to adopt it as my own. Juggle one thing at a time, continuing to release and catch, as you go. It is okay to be “off balance on purpose” in order to live a more fulfilling and, ironically, balanced life in the long run. Care to join me?

Bring order to your chaotic life with five fantastic organizational tools

By Guest Blogger, Jane Johnson

Picking up a few sophisticated scheduling apps is a must if you want to use your phone to become more productive in your day. Whether you are looking for a daily organizer, a task manager, or period tracker, the following five apps provide user-friendly scheduling functionality.

Download the following 5 calendar apps to put your life in order…

1. Remember the Milk (Free – for iPhone)

Dubbed the “Swiss Army knife of to-do list management” by Lifehacker.com, Remember the Milk is an app that enables users to take their to-do lists with them… anywhere they happen to be! This app will synch with your Outlook, iCal, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.  Complete tasks on the go as you search tasks and organize them by priority, due date, time estimate, lists, tags, and more. You can also coordinate tasks by location by viewing tasks near one another, and then planning a task route according to the most efficient way to get everything done.

2. Dropbox (Free – for Android)

It was just the other day that I realized that I couldn’t possibly live without Dropbox! This app allows me to save all of my photos, word documents, and videos from my smart phone—which then automatically backs them up on all of my computers and mobile devices (as well as the Dropbox website). Talk about safe keeping! Thanks to the Dropbox app, I’m able to take everything that matters to my life and my job on the go, and have instant access to it wherever I go.

3. Evernote (Free – for iPhone)

I just got back from a trip to Los Angeles, and thank goodness for the Evernote app. This app helped me seamlessly plan my very short 3 day trip, kept track of all my travel plans (including my flight e-tickets and passport), helped me organize and save my receipts so I could redeem them with my employer, and plan a daily itinerary that I could use to check off tasks as I completed them.  Thanks to Evernote I was able to organized, take notes and photos, and record voice reminders while I was at work and play during my trip.

4. Toodledo Pro ($1.99 – for BlackBerry)

Toodledo Pro is an app that simply improves productivity. This app allows users to organize tasks according to folders, tags, contexts, subtasks, and more—then search and sort through these same tasks using your preferred search method. And the great thing is that you can take Toodledo with you anywhere—via your mobile phone, on your laptop calendar, or integrated directly into your web browser. Plus, Toodledo makes collaboration effortless. It’s never been easier to work with a remote group of people on shared projects with collaboration tools that let you share documents, images, and project details, import existing tasks to delegate responsibilities among individuals, and import tasks from various sources into one central task management tool.

5. Dragon Dictation (Free – for iPhone)

The Dragon Dictation app allows users to speak and instantly record their thoughts, reminders, or notes to themselves via text or email. It’s a great tool for when you need to work hands-free (since dictation is 5-times faster than typing on a keyboard) and a lot safer if you’re operating a vehicle.  You can use this app for work or fun! For instance, easily dictate status updates directly to your Social Networking applications such as Facebook or Twitter. Dragon Dictation is available in various languages—including English, Spanish, German, etc.

Bio: Jane Johnson is a writer for GoingCellular, a popular site that provides cell phone related news, commentary, reviews on mobile service providers  and popular devices like the Android powered Samsung phones.

Have you ever wished you could just call somebody to get the answer you need right there on the spot?

Have you ever wanted to be able to talk to an expert just for a few minutes so you could get the ‘one’ tip you need to get over the sticking point for your growth?

Have you ever dreamed you could ask for help without worrying about how much it would cost?

Well, this is exactly what you are about to experience….keep reading, this might be just what you’ve been waiting for…

Get Your Burning Question Answered Once And For All!

Imagine…if you could…

1. Go from goals to results, the gold mine to transform clarity into focus into $$$ with Nadine Nicholson
2. Say No to scarcity and learn how to charge what you are worth with Miki Strong
3. Crack the secret codes of Facebook and transform it into an irresistible magnet with Toni Coleman Brown
4. Boost your productivity by improving your time, space, paper and workflow systems with ME!
5. Kick your Visibility to the roof, master the “Visibility Boom” strategy with Gina Bell
6. Make Money your best friend and attract more of it starting now with Agatha Kulesza
7. Double your referrals and your clientele and discover the power of up-selling with Lisa H. Riggi
8. Website Best Seller revealed, transform your site into a money machine with Mary-Ellen McAllister
9. Tame your Gremlins and tap into an abundance of time and money with Shelley Streit 
10. Leverage the power of others to Quantum Leap your Income with Christine Marmoy

This is exactly what my business friend, Christine Marmoy, will be sharing with 9 other experts, yours truly included, in a FREE Virtual Event LIKE NO OTHER!

This is not a traditional Telesummit, this is not a passive event… this event is for you…you get to go behind the wheel and discuss with us, privately. Yes, you read it right! Each day, 2 experts will be at your disposal for one hour, you’ll be able to ask your most burning questions on a one-to-one basis absolutely FREE!

My Coaching Hour is set for Tuesday, April 24th at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. You can call in and ask me anything — privately! For a few minutes, it will be just you and I on the line via Skype. It will be a jam-packed hour of laser coaching as I spend a few minutes with each person that calls in. So if you want to ask me a productivity, business, life or career quest ion, call in and ask away! BUT you must sign up first here.

Can’t make it for a call or what if…the expert you want to talk to is busy?

Not a problem, you’ll be able to write down your question and the expert will answer after her call, however, you’ll have to submit your question during her call time to get the answer. You can talk to one expert or to all of them, it’s entirely up to you.

This ‘Coaching Marathon’ Special Virtual Event will start on April 23rd!

Are you up for it? If so, join me here and LET’S TALK PRIVATELY ABOUT RESULTS…

Platinum Level Coaching is an

• Intensive
• Private
• Long-term program

…designed to deliver a high level of accountability, coaching, consulting, mentoring and support so you can get the answers you need to make powerful decisions and take action towards your goals and vision of success for your business.

As an entrepreneur, you may often find yourself feeling alone or isolated – unsure of who to turn to for advice on your confidential business questions and plans, feeling out-of-sync with friends and family members who have a J-O-B, and nervous about sharing too much with a colleague or competitor. You crave someone that can guide and support you, actually give you answers when you’re well has run dry, and co-create a business that is truly customized to you and your needs!

Platinum Level Coaching is what you need to support, inspire, and challenge you to create the business you dream about.

Clients that go Platinum choose that level because they find that the value that coaching brings to their business on a prolonged basis is well worth the investment, and they want a full access pass to me including email support, materials review, consistent coaching calls, accountability, joint ventures, tickets to live events, entry to my group coaching and mastermind programs, etc. (see below for specific details of each level). This is the closest you can get to having me as your business partner!

What can we work on during Platinum Level Coaching?

We can work on almost anything that you need assistance with in your business!

As a ten-year successful entrepreneur who has coached hundreds of business owners, I have the breadth and depth of knowledge and experience to assist you in many areas.

And with my Platinum Level Coaching clients, I pull back the curtain and let them peek inside by sharing my journey, lessons learned, tricks/tips/tools, and being open and honest about what has worked (and not worked!) for my own business and the many clients I have been privileged to work with.

How does Platinum Level Coaching work?

See the details here.