Are you sentimental about Valentine's Day? Do you get a little misty-eyed when you think about spending time with a sweetheart? Or maybe it’s the romantic dinner, the cards and the flowers? You know - the whole mushy thing?

Or are you the more pragmatic type? Do you see the holiday as a money-maker for the greeting card guys, and are mostly excited to see the chocolate go on sale February 15th?

If you’re a business owner, it pays to be a little bit of both.

No matter what business you’re in, whether you know it or not, you’re also in the business of learning. Even if you’re an experienced pro who’s ‘been there, done that and have the t-shirt to prove it’, there are still plenty of things you might not know. And even if you did somehow know everything about your chosen industry, things change. 

Why go?

Now that you’ve survived the holidays, you’re probably happy to see the back end of all the glitter, confetti and other holiday trappings that have bombarded your senses over the past few months. It’s time to get back to business as usual, right?

Well, not so fast...

Well, it is only a few days until we inaugurate Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. I don’t know where you stand, but I think that it going to be great having Mr. Trump as our President. Only time will tell. But let’s not waste it!

However, regardless of your feelings about President-elect Trump, I think that we can all agree that there will some significant changes from the past administration. We should have a much more pro-business atmosphere in this country with less pressure from the government on businesses. The way that this may be felt the most is the promised corporate and personal tax cuts.

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In just a few days, it will be time to watch the ball drop. Will you be in Times Square this year? I’ve heard it’s exciting and chaotic with the crowds. I’m generally a homebody when it comes to New Year’s Eve, preferring to watch the ball drop on TV and eat Chinese food washed down with a glass of champagne.

The next day I’m always inspired to think about the coming year and what it might bring or, rather, what I can make happen. The challenge of the future inspires my creative thinking process and gets my juices flowing.

We wouldn't want to let the holidays go by without giving you some tips on how to make the most of this beautiful season. So without further ado:

• Take some time each day to disconnect from the internet and connect with your loved ones.
• Pick a day and declare it a snow day! Take a break from everything. (And if there really is snow, make a snowman!)
• Don't forget to cozy up to a fire. If there's no fireplace to be had, there's always a video!

You may have heard a friend talking about meditating and being mindful, and perhaps dismissed the topic, believing it to be some new-age stuff involving crystals and chanting and what-not. Mindfulness and meditation are about freeing your head of mindless chatter and becoming more focused and relaxed. If you’re having trouble sleeping, find yourself easily stressed, or are having problems getting your work done because you're easily distracted, meditation could help.

Meditation can take many forms, such as concentrating on emptying the mind completely. Mindfulness is simply a form of meditation. It means existing in the present. Many driving mishaps happen because we are thinking of other things, while being mindful means we are focused on the task at hand. Other thoughts may come into our head, but we let them go and concentrate on what we are doing.

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There are many good reasons for having more than one Infusionsoft application in your business. We’ll talk about some of them.

I can hear you now, “I can barely maintain my one app!” I get it! We are always dealing with several apps at a time for our clients and sometimes it feels like there is always something to do or some tweak to make over here or over there.

If you’ve ever done any sort of swimming, you know the difference between diving and a belly flop. With a dive, you punch crisply through the surface of the water. With a belly flop, there is that painful, gut-wrenching slap when you (or hopefully some other braver soul) find out that water doesn’t yield nearly as much as you thought. The reason for the difference is that water has a surprisingly high surface tension, and by spreading yourself out, as in a belly flop, there’s not enough momentum at any one point to overcome that surface tension.

You can spread yourself too thinly with your business too, and find that the beginning of the year has turned into one painful belly flop.

 “To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.”

 -Winston Churchill

In the modern world of business, things seem to change about as fast as the cloud patterns on one of those time-lapse photography segments. With that in mind, what changes are trending on Twitter that may affect your business for 2017?

The crowds have departed after the celebration, and the street crews are working to clean up the confetti. Elsewhere people are waking up and getting ready for their day, some bright-eyed and alert, others still shaking off the effects of last night’s New Year’s Eve party. 

It’s the first day of 2017!  Are you ready for it?

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