I love the internet and all the amazing ways I can communicate with people. I especially love this blog and the opportunity to share business tips and help people  at a moment’s notice.  That’s the good part!

But what happens when the system goes bananas?  For the past couple weeks I have had a barrage or maybe a tank-full of spam e-mail notifications from my blog.  The spam comments were blocked but I still got these pesky e-mail notifications all day long.  Of course I could just hit delete, but  I really don’t like junk coming into my in-box. It irritates me.

I’m a writer and a people person, not a techy expert. I am reminded of the scene in in Baby Boom when  Diane Keaton is talking to the plumber guy  out in the freezing cold and he starts explaining why she has no water. She screams and says, “I don’t care about the reason, I just want to turn on the faucet and have water come out.”

Like Diane, I just wanted the spam to go away. People like me need people who are geeks and experts and will just be able to wave their magic wand and do it. That’s what my guy did. He is magnificent.

For those of you who want to know what he did, here is the scoop. He upgraded my Word Press to version 2.71, upgraded Akismet tool (which blocks spam)  and added SpamFree. Like magic the annoying e-mails have disappeared. To any techy person, this was no biggy, but to me it is huge as now I can focus on my business, my clients with their businesses and  do what I do  best without those distractions. Here are a few tips for small business owners like me.

•  Get someone good on your team who will be there when you need help.

•  Recognize that there is a solution to every problem.

•  Focus on the things you do best.

Picture this story. It’s Saturday morning. Your plan was to get up early and clean up your office and deal with all the left over stuff from the week.

Those piles of business cards you collected from networking events, miscellaneous papers that need filing, etc.  I suppose if you are an anal organizing type this won’t be your picture, but  I think most of you can relate.

You can imagine that good feeling of having everything wrapped up, tidied and completed before the new week begins. And then a wrench gets thrown in.

You wake up and just don’t feel inspired. You end up on your computer checking Facebook updates, reading Tweets, checking Craigslist for that perfect condo at the beach and your mess is still there. You look out the window and see a small square of sun and you think, “ok, as soon as I get everything done I’ll go out.” It reminds me a bit of being a kid and wanting to go out and play and mom saying, “after you clean your room.”  You try to convince her that you’ll clean it later after playing but she’s not convinced.

Ah, but you are the grown-up now and this means you can make your own rules. If you want to eat apple pie for dinner you can. So here are a few tips for breaking out of the Saturday morning slump.

1. First recognize that it is Saturday and if you’ve worked hard all week so give yourself a break.

2. Go out and do something fun first. When you come back you will feel much more energized.

3. Make a list of everything that you want to accomplish before Monday. Don’t make it too big as this is the weekend remember!

4. Visualize your office tidied up and all the little jobs done. Breath in that feeling and smile.

5. Have a nice cup of your favorite hot drink and write down everything you are grateful for. Feeling grateful will help you to change your attitude faster than anything.