When business slowed down, I could no longer justify the $1,000 a month janitorial services expense. I called the owner of the janitorial service to give him the bad news.

I was surprised by his reaction: “But I just bought a new house!?” It wasn’t so much the content of the statement as it was the shock and indignation clearly evident in his tone of voice that got my attention.

It was as if he felt he had a right to my business.

I don’t know how he’s fared since that last conversation; but, I learned two lessons from it: don’t put all your eggs in one basket – and – don’t be surprised when some of those eggs hatch little birdies that fly away.

1. If you’re a marketing manager, keep testing new markets and marketing methods.
2. If you’re a telemarketing manager, try to have at least 3 or more agents on your project. Keep testing new telemarketing script ideas.
3. If you’re a work at home telemarketing professional, have at least 3 or 4 sources of projects.

Remember, you don’t have a right to your customers. You do, however, have a right to have multiple customers. Exercise it.

The software allows for quick, multivariate analysis of a dozen factors or more- making for as many as 4 million variations! It tracks time-in-script, conversion rates for up to three outcomes, and much more.

Well, after having tweaked all the bells and whistles, we started our calls. On the project was one of my more experienced agents with over 20 years of B2B telemarketing experience.

The first thing he did was to short-circuit my split-testing plans by zeroing in on what he felt was the best message. Getting positive response after positive response, he just ran with it.

At first I was annoyed; but, then it occurred to me that the whole point of split testing is to find a message that gets attention and brings about action. All that had happened here was that my agent found the winner right off the bat- saving us time and obviating the need for split testing altogether.

The message here is to not allow yourself to be trapped by plans and theory- or fancy tools. Thinking out of the box takes different forms and if your best laid plans are laid to waste- for the better- then rejoice and take advantage of the situation.

What I mean by that is that they slowly stop communicating on instant messaging, put less and less calling time in, and eventually, well… just fade away.

If you find yourself beginning to avoid your virtual employer (me!?), take a hard look at what’s happening in your project and take action to fix any problems.

Instead of just fading away, be open about it and opt out of the project if you don’t think you can overcome your difficulties. Your employer will respect you for being honest and will appreciate that you gave them early enough notice so they could find some way to pick up the slack for you.

This way you don’t burn any bridges. If you need a reference some day or a chance at a new project, you’ll have someone to turn to.

2 of them worked for the same agency (it’s name starts with a “J”). Both of them went for a month or more without getting paid. Then they got all kinds of excuses. Then they were asked to be patient. Then ignored.

Yet another was asked to take on all kinds of administrative tasks in addition to their calling time- without pay.

While I would hear stories like this from time to time before, they are becoming more frequent; perhaps a sign of the times?

If you are getting started in telemarketing from home, be forewarned. Try to connect with team members as early as possible and find those that have been with the company for more than a few weeks so you can ask them about pay.

The lack of will-power to exercise, for instance, is really your genetic heritage that may have allowed your ancestors to survive long winters or long stretches without food.

Three or four thousand extra calories stored may have meant the difference between having the energy to hunt for a few more days versus giving up and dying.

How to overcome this barrier to exercise?

2-Step Program To Motivation

First, acknowledge the lack of willpower as a physical reality, not a psychological shortcoming. Why carry the baggage of guilt? Feelings of guilt lead to depression and further lack of motivation or extremes of “bad” behavior.

Second, rather than fight the imperative to save calories head-on, a battle that no one ever wins, take a page from Sun-Tzu and use a flanking maneuver.

Consider that the ultimate goal (“Way” in Sun-Tzu’s language) is health, not necessarily leanness. Studies show that humans with some padding (fat) but good lifestyle habits are healthier, happier, and survive health crises much better than lean-exercise fanatics.

Increase your calorie intake! – however, and this is a BIG “however,” only as a reward for accomplishing your exercise goal. The increase doesn’t have to be big and I’m not talking about adding new or additional junk food to your diet.

If you already eat junk food and candy during the course of the day, make these (or a portion thereof) rewards for your exercise. To add calories, try to add more satisfying items such as fruit, whole-grain bread sandwiches, nuts (in small quantities), and etceteras.

On days that you do not exercise, drop your calorie intake and quantities of guilty pleasures (junk foods, candies, and whatever you consider a “guilty pleasure”).

This way you enlist your body’s natural desire for calories as an alley in your health quest. Over time, your body will make the connection between food pleasures and exercise and you will begin to feel urges to exercise.

Presto, motivation!

For example, if you normally eat a large breakfast, cut your breakfast calories by 30% or more reserving the rest as reward for completing your first 12-minute exercise session. In fact, ADD to the calories by including extra fruit or healthy food items.

What your are engaging in here is a game of behavioral conditioning with a minimal use of punishment (slight calorie reduction during “off” days) and maximal use of reward (increased calories and guilty pleasures associated with exercise).

Going To The Next Level

What pleasures motivate you? Use these as rewards for exercising.

Next to food, sex is second in line as a major human motivator. When offered the choice of sex or food, a starving person will almost always choose food. Since most of us in the U.S. have no shortage of food (a recent study found we waste about 40% of all food we buy annually), can you think of any ways to use your biological imperative (the need to reproduce) as a reward for exercising?

If your significant other is your main (or sole) source of food and sex rewards, enlist his/her help in setting up a reward system that supports your exercise program and long-term goal of health.

Viva!

DISCLAIMER: These are just my thoughts. I’m not a nutritionist, physical therapist, physical trainer, medical Dr., or in any way qualified to dispense advice on this topic! Always consult a doctor before trying anything new.

I’m a big proponent of the 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s Principle. I always look for applications of this principle in all aspects of life.

Could it be that 80% of the benefits of exercise come from only 20% of your exercise efforts? Do you really need to slog it out for 1 hour three times a week?

Working from home gives you great flexibility in determining how often and how long you exercise. How best to take advantage of this freedom?

Time

The human body stores about 1 hour’s worth of glycogen (energy source for strenuous physical activity). So, it’s no wonder that most people default to 1-hour workout sessions or less (in my experience).

Working with 60 minutes as our baseline, using the 80/20 rule would stipulate that about 12 minutes of exercise should be sufficient to get the majority of the health benefits.

Once you’ve identified where your maximal gains are located, the next step is to eliminate the wasted time and invest all you can in the 20% to grow your returns exponentially.

Applying this logic to exercise, my conclusion is the ideal workout schedule is to work out for 12 minutes at a time as many times a day as you can.

If I recall correctly, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes for the glycogen store to replenish itself. Therefore, you should try to engage in a 12 minute workout every sixty minutes.

With 24 hours in the day, does this mean we should work out over 4 hours a day (23 X 12 minute workouts)? I think not!

Using the 80/20 rule again yields about 5 exercise sessions (24 hrs X 20% – remember, we always only want the effective 20%).

The ideal workout schedule is now 12 minutes of exercise 5 times a day. A total of 1 hour of exercise daily.

Does it matter which 5 hours of of the day? I would say use those five hours where you’re sitting on your derrier in front of the computer or watching TV. The idea is keep your body from going into whatever damaging state it enters after more than an hour of no physical exertion.

Intensity

Research shows that major and lasting physiological changes are initiated during short bouts of high-intensity exercise. In fact, there is now a big trend toward Interval Training. Just Google “interval training” and you will find plenty or research and articles that support this notion.

Our 12 minutes of exercise needs to be intense.

Type

The exercise needs to get the lungs, heart, and major muscle groups involved. As long as the exercise meets these conditions, it’s pretty much a matter of personal choice and ability.

My preferences are jumping jacks, squats, jump rope, push ups. Other than jump rope, these exercises require no equipment- eliminating some of the reasons to weasel out of working out.

If you do want to use a treadmill or other equipment, check Smooth Fitness for promotions.

Frequency + Intensity + Type + Time = F I T T

Could I find anything to support my theory?

Sure enough!

A recent article on ScienceDaily published by medical researchers showed that if you spend most of your time sedentary (think work-at-home), then even working out 3 or 4 times a week for an hour at a time will not overcome the long term effects of being sedentary!

Their conclusion was that short bouts of exercise every hour was key to staying healthy! (I’ll be darned if I can’ t locate the article again- I’ll post the link to it when I find it). They proved this by comparing the results of two test groups, one doing the frequent daily exercises and the other the usual 1-hour grinds 3x a week but mostly sedentary otherwise. The ones that did the frequent exercises had far more significant and sustained changes in their body chemistry and physical conditioning.

Add to that the recent U.S. Surgeon General’s increase from 30 minutes to 60 minutes in recommended daily exercise to maintain health, and I feel I’m on pretty solid ground.

DISCLAIMER: These are just my thoughts. I’m not a nutritionist, physical therapist, physical trainer, medical Dr., or in any way qualified to dispense advice on this topic! Always consult a doctor before trying anything new.