Pet Care Tips During Fireworks

Dogs & Fireworks Pet Safety Tips AskARKlady

Need pet care tips during fireworks? ARKlady (Diana L Guerrero) shares animal expert tips on how to keep pet dogs safe during loud festivities.

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90 Day Year Reviews & Update

90 Day Year Reviews

Each year I do a review of the 90 Day Year to document and share my experiences. Below are the links to the previous blog posts about my experiences.

Outside of reopening periods, you won’t usually be able to access the videos or other resources but you can click here to get on the 90 Day Year Program wait list . If enrollment is open don’t miss the free business training videos or  click here to join the 90 Day Year.

90 Day Year Program Testimonials

The following testimonials are from business owners in all the different stages of business. Find the one that corresponds the best to where you are in your business. For 2017 you can get your entrepreneurial score or grab a download with some useful business info.

  1. 90 Day Year Testimonial 
  2. 90 Day Year Testimonial
  3. 90 Day Year Testimonial
  4. 90 Day Year Testimonial
  5. 90 Day Year Testimonial
  6. 90 Day Year Testimonial
  7. 90 Day Year Testimonial
  8. 90 Day Year Alumni Field Reports

Optimized Efforts Days 5-9

DianaLGuerrero -@TheArkLady #DivinelyOrchastratedLife Days 5-9Sometimes life gets in the way despite your best intentions but due to time constraints, I thought a less frequent update might be more appropriate…what do you think?

It might not be as exciting but once a week might be more reasonable and more conducive to getting things done versus reporting on it.

Having said that, remember that I live stream just about daily on my business page.

Right now I am working on a lot of different things and have to use care on my energy expenditures as well.

Yesterday I had a medical day and found that I was very tired at the end of the day.

Also, I made a food choice that was not the best and found that my inflammation was way up this am.

That could have been a double hit from food and toxin release–either way I feel the results today.

These are the sort of things that might be useful to disclose on how I bounce back from these hiccups when I begin sharing what I have learned about bouncing back during this recovery from toxic mold exposure.

However, I am getting off track so let me catch up on the updates through to today.

Thursday, May 4th

Coffee chats was something I began implementing this year. Since I am a slower start in the mornings than I used to be, it is a good way to connect while I move into my day.

One of the downsides of entrepreneurship is that is can be an isolating process. So, coffee chats are a way I combat that and create real connections with those I am connected with online.

Locally I have community locations where I meet up with people–because I do take breaks that get me outside.

Anyway, I connected with Fern, a person I have chatted with off and on for a few years.

I believe we can help each other out since we have complimentary skills but I also really like checking in to see what is happening in her life.

If you have heard the names, Ed Dale, Dan Raine, Frank Kern, Andy Jenkins…etc., we met during a time when those folks were offering test programs.

They were forming a mastermind and testing different online strategies and products.

What I have learned is that the best outcome from most of my beta testing experiences or program participation usually comes from the connections I make.

Anyway, Cinco de Mayo kept me busy with activities that brought in some moola but but that might also pan out into new project ideas.

Friday, May 5th

Although I am more chatty when I have just finished a day or am still reviewing the results the following morning, a shorter summary might be best for all involved!

The most significant outcome on Friday was a long conversation with somebody who has spent 30 years in an industry that I’m exploring.

She happens to have a lot of connections and has traveled the world because of it.

Sadly we could not meet up because she was heading out on a trip but we are going to reconnect sometime after the 15th.

Funny, the 15th seems to be some magical date because I’m reconnecting with quite a few people that I’ve met or that have reached out to me and that seems to be the week that they are available for follow ups to connect again.

The upside to daily life these days is that I am able to pivot faster than in the past.

This means having the ability to schedule and adapt to what is opening up but also setting limits so that I can make forward progress and take myself out of the hamster wheel that many people seem to be stuck on or in

One of the priorities in my life today is that I take the time for self-care.

Friday evenings are when I take time to immerse myself in practices that nurture me on different levels.

Yoga helped to reset my body and mind and then I took an hour to explore new art at a local opening.

My art adventure resulted in my meeting Ed Penniman who has an amazing story.

Touched by his artist’s statement, I shared a bit of my story and he thought that my DVO would be another story in itself.

Although I also enjoyed the works by Russian artists as well, his work felt like a sigh…and I am so glad we met and had some time to chat.
DianaLGuerrero -@TheArkLady #DivinelyOrchastratedLife Days 5-9

Saturday, May 6th

Over the weekend I had my head down working on some technical search engine optimization research and strategy for a local company.

It kept me inside for took long but I finally stopped working to take a break.

As many of you know, that usually means I am down by the sea, in this case I took the time to toddle over to Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station.

What happened at the ocean marine station was that I met shark fin and forensic expert Dr. Jenny Giles.

Excited over meeting someone in wildlife forensics (that is another interest) I knew that she would also appreciate Eugene Clark  a female scientist whose early work with sharks held my interest.

Chatting with Dr Jenny reminded me of some project ideas I put on the back burner.

One thing is for sure, I do NOT lack in ideas, simply need to verify those concepts before I jump in…that is a long story but the short version is that in the past I have jumped full on into projects that sucked time and energy without the big results I was seeking.

Hence, this is why I now am compiling a list and mapping out some test projects instead of jumping right in.

Of course, I also met up with two scientific illustrators–Kylie Duthie and Andrea Dingeldein.

Although scientific illustration has been around for ages, back when I was working with scientific illustrators it wasn’t something considered a solid way to make a living.

It’s nice to see how things have changed since college courses and programs now exist for that particular career focus.

Again, it brought up some ideas and I would love to explore some options with them…something else to add to the growing list.

Sunday, May 7th

On Sunday I spent most of the day indoors which was not the best choice since it was sunny out.

However, deadlines are looming and once the bulk of what I had scheduled was done, I finally got outside for an ocean path stroll.

Connecting with a couple of pals, the cold evening drove me inside the local theater.

Traditionally, Sundays are a day I take off to recharge so I am going to have to revisit my current scheduling obligations.

Monday, May 8th

Normally I map out on Monday and so I worked to create a more effective Journal so I could document and keep better notes about project ideas and progress.

On my way out to errands ran into a couple people that I haven’t seen in awhile which ended up burning about an hour.

As I looped back, my divinely orchestrated life had my path cross with someone I had been thinking of connecting with.

Christi was jogging past but stopped and explained that I had been on her mind as well!

We walked and talked before heading back to our days but not before committing to locking down a scheduled get together upon her return.

The rest of the day passed quickly. I have regular checkups that mean hours aways due to travel and appointment time.

In the DVO (divinely orchestrated life) I was given some additional information that is worth following up on–more on that later.

Tuesday, May 9th

Today was a slow start and after I finish this update I am heading outside for a stroll and maybe some errands.

I did a small bit of research this am and began some of the follow ups with the people I connected with last week.

One of the priorities is to go deeper into another project that has to be completed shortly.

Out of 11 things put on my list for the week yesterday, two are completed so a bit more effort and implementation needs to be happening.

A couple of other items got added but they were cleared right away.

Normally, when new items come in, they get scheduled if they are not in the queue.

However, once in a while if they can get cleared quickly–I’ll make an adjustment.

How about you? I’d love to hear about how you tackle processes and make progress.

Just a reminder, comments close in a day but you can continue the discussion with me on Facebook.

Tech and Derailment Day 4

DianaLGuerrero -@TheArkLady #DivinelyOrchastratedLife Day 4“There has been a change in plans…”

With that my afternoon was derailed and I accomplished about half what I would have if I had stayed on purpose with my head down plunking away on the computer.

The Most Productive Activity of the Day

So what was the most productive activity of the day?

Two discussions with other entrepreneurs because both were insightful and are resulting in collaborative benefits.

For one, I have a referral that will help both business owners–for the other, we have already collaborated on some livestream events but what I learned was that she has some crazy skill sets I didn’t know about until yesterday.

One of the benefits of real connections and conversations are discoveries of potential referrals or strategic alliances.

Although these things might not pan out right away, they certainly were valuable.

Communication & Clarity

One of the reasons I closed my business was that many of the clients I was working with were small businesses and entrepreneurs who had solid businesses but were not strategic. I had the wrong clients.

This meant that they often had a little bit of information and usually were not comfortable letting go of tasks to leverage their time more effectively.

Many were too focused on the minor details and wanted explanations that took valuable time away from actual implementation.

A good book to read if you want to learn more about this is the E-myth Revisited (Link to my Amazon store)

The other frustrating piece was, that in my role, it was not my job to educate and explain the nuances and complexities of integrated marketing–it was to get the phone to ring and get new customers, clients or patients through the door.

Anyway, my point is that I left context switching a while back so when I suddenly was thrust in the middle of it at a business–it felt chaotic.

You see, every time you make a shift, it drastically declines your productive and forward momentum.

The upside to that meeting? I set specific days of availability and clarified project priorities.

The downside? Being in the environment without my tools, with constant interruptions and multiple redirects reduced productivity greatly.

Of course this is just an observation and not my judgement call for the firm but it illustrated that my decision to not put myself in that environment was a better choice for the fastest and most productive results.

Perhaps I should share a bunch of resources? Let me know if that would be helpful…

Lessons Learned

Because I was up leveling my business relationships over the past three years my business was on a trajectory to success until I began to move from start up to ramp up after the first quarter of 2016.

I’ll talk about the impact of the 90 Day Year a bit more later. (See my first 90 Day Year review here to catch part of the journey and the business growth I experienced.)

What happened in 2016 was that the instability of the new software, the glitches and the extra time spent in mitigation to prevent further issues ended up being a good thing.

Why? Because when I found another group and jumped in to move forward with their software, my experience helped me make the decision to jump out quickly rather than invest and waste more time and money before the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Right now I see that my explorations are giving me additional experiences and better ability to make faster decisions as  I get better at discerning what I might actually invest more time and energy into.

Technology Aids

Although I really don’t want to continue to be a techy, I do have that skill set, and in my quest to find the best options for the local business I pondered how it is like card playing or gambling. (I talk about that in the livestream today jump over using the link at the end of this post.)

Google withholds data so you have to find other options to evaluate results more effectively.

Fortunately, I purchased software a few years ago that meant what would have taken hours and hours of deciphering and analyzing instead reduced the time down to a couple of days worth of research.

Now it is a matter of doing some verification and taking the time to create a hierarchy of terms for the best results.

Because I discovered that the online properties were missing some vital pieces, I anticipate seeing some great results in a short amount of time.

One of the discoveries I made in my research was that the designers failed to activate analytics on the backend–which is a horrible mistake because without the data to evaluate, how would they know what needed to change?

Day 5…

Although I am running a day behind on updates, I did have an early am coffee chat with another entrepreneur, I have a collaborative idea that I think could be mutually beneficial to us. Another follow up and something to test as I outline things.

Stay tuned…comments are open for a day so if you miss out, jump over to Facebook to continue the conversation.

Tech Hell & Other Business Disasters Day 3

Tech Hell & Other Business Disasters | #DivinelyOrchastratedLife Day 3“Thank God you decided to close your business. I think it is a good decision.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I’ve watched you hit your head against brick walls over and over again the past eight months. If I thought you hadn’t done the work or put in the effort I might say differently. It is clear you have put some thought into it and with all the hurdles and disasters you’ve faced, it really is a good decision and I’m excited for you.”

The above conversation was with my business accountability partner (Bonnie W) late last year. We’ve talked weekly about business growth, challenges, planning and brainstorming since January of 2015–we both respect each other but also know each other’s businesses as well as personal challenges and hurdles.

While the discussion did not make the decision feel any better, it was the additional validation I was seeking and, more importantly, it was from another entrepreneur in the trenches whose opinion and insights I value and trust.

OWW to WOW

However, my first feeling was not excitement but, “Oh crap–what am I going to do now?”

It was a bit daunting and scary–in fact, when I met with a bunch of other of my pals at a live business planning event in San Diego recently, they were excited too.

Seriously, entrepreneurs are an odd bunch…but they know that my decision was a solid one as well.

Strange as it may seem, sometimes throwing in the towel is a good decision.

In the past I would have pushed harder, dumped more money, time and effort into it.

However this time I decided to do something different.

At the end of the year all clients but one were terminated. I had termination agreements in place and new the last one would finish March 31, 2017.

Once I set things in motion, I moved from the moment of, “Oh crap!” into the, “what next?” phase of exploration.

Customer Excellence Does Matter

Entrepreneurship isn’t always a disaster, but it takes work and sometimes things break.

Today there is a trend of having customers or clients pay for a service or program before it is full ready.

In the past, beta testers have been invited in exchange for feedback and working out the bugs.

One of my odd skills is to find what is broken or hidden.

This is because I actively use or test something. Normally I get in and get out if the service is not a fit or isn’t something I find of value.

For instance, I got invited in to test Google Plus on day three. It was only geeks and I jumped out as it wasn’t a place for me or my clients…although I do use many of the Google products, it isn’t one I actively adopted.

Anyway, my point is that after spending thousands of dollars a year, licensing ALL of the new products my main developer has released since inception, the team rolled out broken software and I found that things were breaking almost hourly because the programmers did not good systems or strategies in place.

Despite promises, the customer support was not turning things around in 24 hours but as long as two weeks–if that.

I’d been one of the first agencies working with this company that is now ranking in the top Fortune 200. Now, I felt like a number instead of a valued customer.

The last straw was my asking for a courtesy 30 day extension on some of the software since it was so flawed–they said no and that I could pay more and they would be happy to give me access!

When No is a Bad Word

No is okay sometimes but in this case it lost them both my goodwill and business.

Customer acquisition is more costly than retention–and because my frustration level was so high and they declined a reasonable request, it signaled that it was time to jump.

A competitor in the same space had reached out to me with a new product and so I began shut down on the long standing products to test the new one.

Life got in the way but also–they were using the same model of developing and roll out before the product was ready to go.

Seriously, they need to stop it.

And yes, I jumped out right away. They were awesome about it.

What Happened Yesterday?

Okay, so now that you have part of my story on the shut down…what actually happened yesterday?

You may have caught my livestream where I was chatting about batching and hacking for productivity.

Wednesdays are consistently all about learning, research and chores.

Steve Dotto (I’m a patreon fan of his) did a live tech talk with some social marketing folks from Canada which shared some great tips.

A quick trip and walk in the sun was followed by a virtual meeting with other business gals as part of the beta testers of Melanie Duncan’s mastermind program.

It was good to chat with the other business folks and hear about their wins…which I can share another time, maybe in a livestream.

At the end of the call one of the members shared that she was excited to see how things were starting to come together for me.

Although the afternoon was supposed to be face-to-face introductions with the winery owning crowd in Carmel Valley by a group I am working for, it was derailed.

Long story short, the latter part of the day was not as productive as it would have been if I had stayed on my original plan.

Even so, clear communication helps to sort everything out and I anticipate the next few days to be fruitful.

Comments are only open for one day, if you miss adding yours, join me and catch additional content on my Facebook page.

 

Brain Dump Day 2

How Did This Happen?

DianaLGuerrero -@TheArkLady #DivinelyOrchastratedLife Day 2Now I need to tell you why I decided to close my business…but before I do, I need to share a little about my journey of late and how I came to start living a #DivinelyOrchastratedLife.

July 2009 my throat began to close and I knew that if I was unable to get help, I would die. In fact, life had become a nightmare. However, thinking back, the first symptoms started showing up not long after I moved into a home above a lake in a small mountain community in Southern California.

As my health continued to decline, I had to change my career focus and path. Day-to-day living was a struggle, my body systems began failing, my brain wasn’t working so well and then the man I thought loved me moved off.

Things. Just. Sucked.

So when the golden light filled the room and I had a choice to stay or leave, that was the moment the paramedic took the action that saved my life. I would later wonder why I stayed, because the past few years my life had been reduced to a miserable existence.

Barely able to work, unable to do the activities I had always loved, each day was a struggle. I know I am not alone, and although my story is a personal one, I will eventually share what I learned, and how I survived years of hell caused by exposure to mold and mycotoxins, so it will help others.

The #DVO started over three years ago when I left the toxic environment, I am still in health recovery and moving into wellness at a faster rate.

More on that later…

Day Two Summary

I am sharing short livestream videos over on Facebook (link below) and today I took the time to do a brain dump of all kinds of ideas and then did a listing of different types of projects that I might tackle.

It seemed to be a good idea to list some of the skill sets that I have.

Over the years I’ve done a lot of different things and thought it might help me with clarity. Having a lot of talent and experience can make the waters a bit muddy.

Anyway, I began outlining specific projects and bulleting some of the phases for at least one of the projects.

Next will be setting some goals and deadlines as well as prioritizing. However, I need to test a few things before going full out into them–so planning might take a bit of time but it will save time in the long run.

As usual, I had some serendipitous encounters, one of them resulted in meeting a tour company owner who wanted my card. I have already been recruited by one local company and find it interesting that my show performance and commercial license is opening new opportunities I would not have thought of.

Of course I did also have a couple of phone meetings and discussions. One resulted in this gem of a quote from my pal:

“I have found when I have just jumped that amazing things happen–better than I could have ever imagined” Lori B.

Another business discussion was with a creative who came to me about some marketing and to create some segments with talking points etc. A segment is used to help make interviews by the media go smoother–I have a great time creating them and these will be for radio and podcasts.

Another few hours were spent on another project doing SEO research for an online marketing project. Although I used to love doing that, and have solid skills for site structure SEO and many other technical online marketing skills, I discovered I really am not interested in it any more.

The upside to all of this was that I was able to spend time outside in the beautiful weather today enjoying the sunshine and wildlife.

I dictated letters using a speech-to-text feature on my mobile.  I am all for batching tasks and hacking, in this case I used Evernote. This made it super easy to get those done while I was strolling from one location to another. I also did some of this blog post with it–although I tend to like to write more than dictate here for some reason.

Tomorrow is another day–and I’ll be offline for most of the day but I hope to be able to update you with the events…using another batch and hack idea.

BTW comments are only open for a day here so if you missed sharing your feedback, please do pop over to Facebook to join the conversation and catch the livestreams.

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