Daydreaming and burnout have become daily occurrences. Whether it’s the drag of going to work on Monday, or the burning desire to hit 5 p.m. on a Friday, maxing out productivity throughout the day can be a challenge.  Let’s learn to max it out though by getting more done in less time with the tips below!

Plan First

As tempting as it might be to jump into your to-do list, most people are more productive when you plan out your day. The level of detail in  daily planners should range, depending on the tasks on your list. Plan enough to where you don’t feel stressed, wondering how you’ll get to everything on your to-do list.

Regular Breaks

Getting up and walking around the office is a great way to take a break from the screens we stare at all day.  Getting up, walking around the office and chatting with colleagues for 10-15 minutes can give you the boost you need to refocus and power through your to-do list while avoiding burnout.

Some scientists say that taking breaks every 90 minutes, kind of like our sleep cycle, can make a world of difference. Outside of walking around the office, if it’s an extra hectic day, center yourself and meditate in your office for 15-20 minutes as it has both mental and physical benefits that ultimately help improve the productivity. This can also help you refocus on what’s important, and process the distractions out of your mind.

Mute Alerts

One of the most tempting distractions in your office travels to work with you in your pocket. Phones love to beg for attention. Facebook updates, text messages, tweets from friends, all of these things prompt your phone to buzz and beep.  Keep your work environment silent and silence your phone.

Less Caffeine

Resisting the urge to chug coffee and Red Bull is tough on those days where just making it to the office on time seems like a victory.  Be mindful of the crashes that accompany caffeine chug-a-thons.  No more than 1 cup of coffee per hour would be best and if you want to get a little more technical, European Food Safety Authority recommends no more than 400mg of caffeine in a day.

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If you take these suggestions to heart and really own your office space, minimize distractions, take breaks and connect with your colleagues, you’ll find that your work will take less time and you’ll have a lot more fun doing it!

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Out of all the business found at our Blue Ash location, did you know we actually have THREE tattoo studios?  One studio is Jason Cline’s Prodigal Son Tattoo and he has just recently joined in being one of our awesome tenants!  Prodigal Son Tattoo is a small, private studio specializing in all styles of tattooing, but leans more towards traditional American and Japanese styles.

Getting Started:

So how did Jason get started?  He has been drawing all of his life and was initially interested in going into designing comic books.  Well, he started hanging around different shops in New Orleans and eventually began a friendship with a woman that had her own tattoo shop.  Over the next year, Jason started running errands for her studio and handling day-today-operations.  Eventually, he began doing his own tattoos!

Jason did have his own shops in New Orleans, but him and his partner recently decided to sell them.  This allowed for him to move to Blue Ash and be closer to his family.

Favorite Part:

One of Jason’s favorite parts about having his business Prodigal Son Tattoo is that he loves to meet people and get to know them.  Also, he gets to do cool art on clients. What could be more fun than having your own business where you get to do what you love!

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Lack of confidence can make you feel uncomfortable in all types of situations, even ones you heavily prepared for.  You don’t want your clients to feel that you are not confident with your business or else they won’t feel confident sharing information with you or letting you handle a part of their work/life.  There are ways to fake being confident and whenever you practice these enough then you will slowly become more and more confident in yourself.

Eye Contact

Whenever you are engaging in a conversation with an individual, make sure you continue to keep eye contact with them.  Not only does this make you seem genuinely interested in what they have to say, but it also makes you look like you know what you are talking about to confidently talk about the subject.

Continuously adverting your eyes will make you nervous and will you could look like you are not sure of what you are saying.

Pose Like A Super Hero

You read that right!  Put your hands on your hips and do the Superman pose.  This will trick your brain to be less stressed.  Make sure you look to the sky during your pose.  Why?  Because you are shooting for the stars!

Dress for Success

If you are wearing wrinkled clothing or something you feel that is unflattering for your body, then you won’t feel confident.  You will have it nagging in the back of your mind about if you look okay or not.  Find outfits that make you feel great and that will immediately change your attitude.

Slow and Clear Speech

Whenever you speak slowly and clearly, people can understand you better.  Talking too quietly or too fast can automatically make you seem nervous and it is hard for others to keep up with the conversation.  Also, avoid using “um” or “like” fillers.  Everyone is guilty of using filler words but anytime you find yourself about to use them just take a second to collect your thoughts.  It is better for you to leave a slight gap or silence in your sentence than saying “um” every other word.

Using these tips can make you not only look confident to other but they will make you feel confident in yourself.

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Failure is one of the hardest situations to get past, but everyone experiences it from time to time.  What really matters is if you let it set you back or you push through it.

Recognize:

The first step at getting through failure is that you need to recognize that it is a part of life.  You need to become comfortable that it will happen and accept it.  Children are usually reprimanded for failure and then they create habits like procrastination to avoid it as much as possible.  Stop avoiding it and know that with failure you can grow into so much more.

Own It:

You know when you make a mistake so you need to own up to it.  Take responsibility for your own actions and words.  By doing this you can also help strengthen your bond with clients because they will learn they can trust you.  It’s easier to push the blame off on someone else, but they will only hurt you AND that other person in the long run.

Acceptance:

Accept the failures that have happened.  You do not need to hold yourself back by dwelling on past mistakes.  Learn from those mistakes and grow from them, this will help your business grow with you.  Learn to accept those failure at the present instead of seeing it as an obstacle and then look at it as a challenge to practice your wits and skills.  By accepting you mistakes this way, it shows you will not surrender to failure.

Reflect:

Start asking questions and then answer them.  What caused this mistake? What could I have done differently?  What can I do next time?  Reflect back on the situation and figure out how to handle it if it were to happen again.  Come up with a plan and move on.  Once you reflect back, you don’t need to keep dwelling.  You need to learn what to do right next time.

Roar past failure and don’t surrender to it!

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One of the best part of what we do is helping people make their dream of starting a business come true.  Sometimes people get started with only an idea of what their business will be.  The Perfect Small Office is great to let new small business owners start small and work their way up at the pace they want.  One new business that is starting small, but has big plans for growing, is the DJ Service Agency.  They will have everything you will need when it comes to planning an event and they even work nationally in parts of Africa!  Their business is based on a concept from companies in London and Russia.

Services Offered:

Have a wedding, corporate event, or just a party coming up?  These are the guys to go to.  Hashim Williams is ready to provide it all and help you get in touch with everything you might need.  The DJ Service Agency has Dj’s, event planning, and photographers ready for any theme or type of  culture.  They even work one on one with clients to build music playlists to match your style and personality.

5 Year Plan:

Hashim said they are currently working on a 5 year plan to work on growing their business.  Their goal is to have a a store front location and have plenty of advertising to give recognition to what they do.  They also want to specialize in providing a wide range of colors for decorating.  They are still recruiting more DJ’s, event planners, and other businesses at this time.

The Perfect Small Office of Blue Ash is happy we can be a part of the start of this business.

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Email Marketing is a quick, simple, and direct way to connect with prospective and current clients.  Did you know emails actually have a higher amount of account than Facebook and Twitter?  It’s no wonder it is more effective that social media ads!  The amount of purchases that people make through email campaigns goes up by 10% every year.  It’s time for you to join the email bandwagon!

Check out these awesome infographics for more information on email marketing.

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