Strategies and Tactics for Women by Dr. Shannon Reece

I hope you’ve recovered from your turkey comma, and your pants aren’t feeling too tight after yesterday’s Thanksgiving food fest.  One big holiday down, one more that will be here before you know it.  The holiday season is in full swing, but that doesn’t mean that your business productivity should suffer.

This week I searched for the best tips to focus your efforts during the hectic holiday season, and get a jump on your preparation for the first quarter of the New Year.  Rather than fighting the tide of business owners who will be winding down as we approach the close of the year, your time can be spent streamlining your internal operations.

This weekly wrap up was designed to share the blogs, websites and/or businesswomen that I found particularly helpful this week.  So without further delay, here are my my top picks on the subject of business productivity during the holiday season.  I hope you find them as helpful and interesting as I did.


Top Blog Posts

How to Be Productive During the Holidays

When everyone else is checking out mentally or physically to enjoy the holidays, you can use the extra time to do some behind the scenes building within your company.  This article provides 11 ideas that you can incorporate to make the most of your down time, and be a step ahead of the competition when the holiday season ends.

Ten Tips for Effective Business Networking During the Holidays

If you can’t beat them, join them.  If you plan to be attending holiday gatherings, don’t forget to wear your networking hat.  Jason Jacobsohn, a networking expert, offers 10 tips you can use to make the most of your holiday networking opportunities to build existing relationships or create new connections.  The first tip is to attend some holiday parties, and his last tip is to have fun.  Doesn’t sound to bad, does it?

Friday Focus: Staying Productive at Work During the Holidays

There are a lot of interruptions during the holiday season with extra days off,  distractions, and the busyness of your personal life, making it even harder to maintain your focus during work hours.  But you still have deadlines, clients counting on you and an example to set with your employees.  So how do you find a way to enjoy what the holiday season brings and keep your head in the game?  This post suggests five strategies and some tough love to have your pumpkin pie and eat it to.

10 Social Media Tips to Market Your Business During the Holidays

The Digital Operative Blog posted a blog last year, on leveraging social media during the holidays, that was so entertaining I had to include it in this list.  With the exception of Tip #5, the other nine are tips you should keep in mind all year long when it comes to social media.  If nothing else, this post is going to get you into the Christmas spirit with references to gifts, Scrooge, elves, stockings, Rudolph and even Santa.  Enjoy!

Featured Site

This week I am pleased to feature OneForty, a site designed by Laura Fitton, that helps people find thousands of tools they can use to maximize their Twitter experience for business or life.  OneForty is a directory for Twitter tools, with an active community of users who offer reviews and comments to help you find the tools you need.  Find out what others are using by checking out the Toolkits section, ask a question or get great tips from their blog.

For more information, check out Cathy Ann Sauer’s article on the essence of OneForty.  You can follow Laura Fitton’s tweets by visiting @Pistachio and stay on the Twitter cutting edge.


Woman of Excellence Award

I am pleased to present this week’s Woman of Excellence Award to Nancy F. Clark, CEO of WomensMedia, a site dedicated to providing valuable, free information to empower, develop and motivate women in business.  Launched seven years ago with the help of her two friends, Dianne Schilling and Susanna Palomares, this site reaches more than 300,000 women world wide.  Articles center around the main topics of balance, money, leadership, business and personal growth.  In addition to her own blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, WomensMedia draws women leaders in business to share their expertise, because they have the desire to give back to women looking for information to excel in business.

WomensMedia is a vast library of resources for just about any challenge women face in business.  I am still working my way through the fabulous content.  You can find out more by following Nancy on Twitter @NancyFClark.

“Honor your talents and act like a woman—a smart woman—who knows how to jump over

business obstacles, even in heels.”
– Nancy Clark

In case you were wondering, I have no affiliate relationship with anyone I call to your attention on this blog.  This is simply my way of spreading the news about information and individuals I have found particularly helpful.

That wraps up this post.  Until next week, keep reading, keep learning, keep growing!