Comments on: Managing "Busy-ness": The Shift

By: Monday Morning Productivity Jump Start « mensonblog

Monday Morning Productivity Jump Start « mensonblog — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:57:18 +0000

[...] complete this week. In order to move each of your top priorities forward, you have to take specific action steps to help you achieve them. What could you do this week for each of the items on your list to [...]

By: Monday Morning Productivity Jump Start

Monday Morning Productivity Jump Start — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:01:54 +0000

By: Managing “Busy-ness”: What Gives?

Managing “Busy-ness”: What Gives? — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:01:57 +0000

[...] Managing “Busy-ness”: The Shift [...]

By: Chris Brogan...

Chris Brogan... — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:08:37 +0000

And none of the other boys have visited yet. Yayyyy! : )

By: Amber Singleton Riviere

Amber Singleton Riviere — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:00:47 +0000

Exactly the concern I've had in recent months, Chris, not wanting to come off as a jerk, and I've actually heard comments like that about folks who have had to find a way to scale their work, and it's absolutely not that any of them want or intend to be jerks; there just comes a point when it's physically impossible to keep up with it all.

Thanks for the compliment, Chris, and for commenting! I really appreciate you sharing a little insight into your system.

By: Chris Brogan...

Chris Brogan... — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:50:41 +0000

I just seek new ways to be helpful, Simon, and I determined that answering messages all day wasn't as helpful as finding solutions to people's needs. : )

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:39:55 +0000

Thanks for explaining your system and the motivation behind it, Chris. Managing the balance between being personal and drowning in too much email (and other comms) is a tricky one, but especially so for people like yourself who've made it their business to build connections with others.

By: Chris Brogan...

Chris Brogan... — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:05:41 +0000

Oh, and I'm not sure whether the other boys on the list swing by and comment. But I'm a subscriber. : )

By: Chris Brogan...

Chris Brogan... — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:04:49 +0000

So, the contact form does a few things for me: it encourages specific actions which then lead to potential business. It also weeds out the "great post, dude" emails, which are wonderful, but I have to do other things to respond to them.

Yes, I have someone help me with contacts. Because I'm getting over 600 touches a day from email plus contacts, that would take 10 hours a day if I gave every message 1 minute of time (which, think about it, isn't much time per email). So, I offload some of it to my helpers, and then I get back in the game if they can't answer the questions, or if it's something personal.

Scaling is something most people don't run into until they hit a certain volume of contact. The moment that happens, I usually get this letter: "I used to think you were a jerk, but now I know you were just going through scaling issues."

Great post, as always, Amber. I like your work.