I had the pleasure of showing a team the features of their new CRM software. Have I lost you yet with how boring that sentence is? Fortunately the reality was far from boring.

To me�� the CRM system is a plugin to a Joomla website. There are some bits I can configure & some bits I can�t (especially as I�m not the Joomla site admin nor do I ever ever want to be.
To the business owner�� the system means no more monthly fees to a Cloud CRM system. This one off purchase will last her for at least 3 years and will handle the growth she is expecting. It�s also one place to see how her sales pipeline is looking & to get instant access to the conversations had with & information that�s been provided to her customers & prospective customers.
To the team members�� this is a �central console�, one place to get a picture of what they have on the go and what others are working on too.

Last week, on three separate occasions, I was given feedback by people I admire. Two of those were part of a formal assessment process. One came out of the blue. I respect the skills, opinions & experience of all three people. And I was glowing.

�Exemplary� �A style that�s yours � don�t ever change it� �Have you considered contacting this publication�

To say I was on Cloud 9 is an understatement. And then, in that same week, I had an opportunity to speak into a few people�s lives. An opportunity to sow some seeds of encouragement, build some people up, cheer for them on the sidelines. Not to give advice, not to solve anything, but just to reassure.

This post is going to be short & sweet, as a grocery list is staring at me & the school pickup is also looming. Being self-employed means sneaking into the supermarket BEFORE pickup, so as not to drag two kids through it afterwards & it take ten times longer. But hey, if Seth Godin can write short daily posts, so can I (just don�t expect them daily)!

A business expert once said �do your filing once, each week�. Another business expert said �never handle a piece of paper more than 3 times�. I tried the former, and ended up with a pile called �Filing� that NEVER got emptied, no matter how much I tried to convince myself that it was the perfect Friday job with some great music playing loudly.

When the QLD Government announced that solar power users would be paid for power that they generate, don�t use and feed back into the grid, I didn�t give it much thought. Our power bills were slightly higher than the average, running a business from home and having computers on 24�7, but the cost of a solar system was way beyond our budget. But then, we did the numbers.

We were going to be significantly better off if we drew-down on our mortgage to pay for our solar system. Our mortgage payments wouldn�t rise any higher than we were already paying plus we�d have free power & feed in payments. So, we took the plunge and invested in a 5.5kw system. We love it to bits, especially when our power bill arrives each quarter, in credit.

Social media lit up with the news � Angelina Jolie had written her story about having a double mastectomy.
Journalists clambered to find a local source with the same story, to air a piece on the evening news that was a little more relevant than just retelling Hollywood news. They were quick to label �the Jolie Effect� � where thousands of women will now consider this procedure if they find that they too carry a defective gene because they are now aware that it�s a viable option.

Yup, that�s a big heart on my sleeve title right there. It may even come as a surprise to my loving husband who was standing right next to me. Gotta love sunglasses.

My daughter is 7. Cross country running (or any running or even walking for that matter) is not her favourite thing. She takes after her mother like that. But she loves to dance. I have no idea where that came from. So we went along to support her, cheer her on as she faced a 750m running race with all of the other Yr 2 girls.

Personal finances � there�s an interesting topic for you.

My wonderful melancholic detailed husband has a magical budget spreadsheet that magically shows us earning more than we spend. Problem is, his lovely wife has no visibility of that when she is actually spending. And I�m not saying I�m a reckless spender at all, but my shopping volume is based on the bank account balance on that day, not any budget or forecast.

1. Delete Candy Crush. It�s a time-wasting distraction.
2. Social media is very anti-social. It�s ok to embrace a community of like-minded people in cyberspace, but not at the expense of the people who are actually in the same room with you.
3. Use Facebook & Twitter for sharing life moments with and engaging people, not for living every moment alongside.
4. Your phone has the ability to turn the data connection off. Use it.
5. Fresh air is underrated. Go outside more.
6. Campfires are hypnotic, calming & warming.
7. BE WHERE YOU ARE.
8. Live your life with purpose & a plan, but roll with the punches too.
9. Stop just wishing.
10. Play with your kids.
11. Food is fuel.

-SCuffy

I can�t say that today was the best & the worst of days. I�ve had better (read: wedding day, birth of two healthy girls etc), so it wasn�t really a red letter day in that respect. And I�ve had worse (money, rental stress, money, dog dying, money), so it wasn�t really a day to cry either. But it certainly did ride a roller coaster. I�m hoping this is a sign that it ended happily & I got off the ride safely, because I�m here writing a blog post & listening to Florence + The Machine (MTV Unplugged 2012) in glorious Logitech quality.

We have a client who uses Unleashed Software for inventory management and invoicing. It integrates with Xero. They called us today to say that their company logo was appearing on some but not all of their computers, which are a mix of Macs & PCs in different locations & countries.

Wary of the old �Quicktime & Myob� trick, that was the first thing we asked them. The second thing we asked gave us the answer though � in the instances where the logo was not showing up, they were using Google Chrome to access the system. Once they launched Internet Explorer instead, the logo appeared fine.