1. I finish when I say I’m going to be finished. If it looks like I may not meet a deadline, I talk to the client immediately.

2. I keep up with my profession. If something new is happening, I want to know about it.

3. I treat my clients the way I would want to be treated.

Bad Habits:

1. Web surfing – I can do this for hours!

2. Email checking – I think I’m addicted.

3. Trying to take on too much. When I do, it makes it really tough to follow my good habits!

Good Habits
1. I am organized.
2. I am dedicated to good customer service. I am always willing to go the extra mile for my clients.
3. I clear my desk at the end of the day. I hate loose ends.

Bad Habits
1. I over analyze a problem which takes time I don’t have.
2. I am very impatient.
3. I don’t smell the roses!

3 bad habits:
1. I drag my heels on completely converting to QB. I still have a lot of paper to round up every year at tax time.
2. When researching a design I’ll get distracted by all the other images in the book or the surrounding books.
3. I keep buying trim books even though I don’t sell that much. It’s just great eye candy.

On the same note, I recently downloaded a program called GoalPro which not only helps you set your goals but it scolds and nags if you don’t set enough tasks and objectives to get to your goals or if you don’t do them when you say you will. It’s a bit annoying, but it has kept me thinking about the goals, even when I’m doing something else. We all need a little nudge sometimes. Thanks, Mary, for the nudge!

Now, for the easy part – 3 bad habits!
1. Too much time on the computer and email. (Mary, I think I need to follow your lead and only check email 2x per day – maybe 3!)
2. I like to sleep in!
3. When I’m in the middle of a big job, most everything else gets put on the back burner and my office becomes a mess.

My 3 best habits are:
1. I always respond to clients very quickly, returning calls and emails promptly.
2. I work very hard to meet (and exceed) client expectations – referrals are everything, and there is nothing better than a happy client!
3. I like to find and support new businesses, sources, vendors, etc. so that I have lots of great new ideas and products to utilize on client projects; they love getting excited about something they have never seen before and incorporating it into their projects.

The 3 things I can work on and improve (this could be a very long list!):
1) Setting up better habits after I return from a clients (like you said, Mary!): I often pile up the fabric books, etc. that I took to the client’s home…it seems I am continually cleaning and rearranging my office – it could be more efficient (and larger!)
2) While my forms and systems are pretty good, they could be more uniform and sequential: I need to break down and buy Quick Quotes!
3) Culling files and previous project info: I like to hold on to it and have it at my fingertips, when the reality is they could be stored and still be readily accessible. Then I would have more room for new client info/product info/current projects!

Okay, you are making me create new projects and I am realizing that these are not difficult projects to tackle and would make my day-to-day life easier and more efficient. (I guess that was your point, right? If so, you were successful!)

Susan

3 habits I need to improve
1.Get proposals to clients quicker
2.Spend less time surfing the web
3.Get better at giving out business cards.