At a meeting earlier today I asked a client why she was doing things in a certain way. She replied that she had to do things like that. I went deeper and asked her why to which she didn't really have an answer.
It's a pretty hard thing to get your head around but when you run a business, it's your business - no one elses and you say what goes. When you run your own business, you really do start each day with a blank piece of paper and it's up to you how you fill it.
Yes, there may be consequences if you don't do things, but make sure before you agree to any task or put any job down on your to-do list that you're 100% happy with it. If you're not, all that will happen is that it will stay on your to-do list and not get done. You'll put it off week after week until eventually it doesn't have to be done anymore.
Remember, it's your business. You say how it's run and what's ok and what's not. That means if you want to go out for a walk at 2pm in the afternoon, you can and if you don't want to take on a particular client you don't have to.
After all, that's why you started this business isn't it? To have freedom and enjoy life. Make sure you do!
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
How to do business effectively while on the move
I don’t know about you, but there have been days when I’ve been out and about and not been near the office once. On days like this, it’s difficult to get any work done let alone any marketing.
So, what can you do? Here are my top tips to do business effectively when you’re on the move.
1) Plan in advance – how often have you had to rush because you needed petrol and didn’t get it before? Or, had to get up early to print out materials that you needed for the day? Yes – me too! But, if you plan in advance and do these things before the day you know you’re going to be out, you’ll find your life is much smoother.
2) Use Technology – there are so many things out there now to help us organise our lives better, so why not use them? Blackberrys and IPhones are fantastic for managing your emails and Notebooks are great for travelling with – they’re so much lighter than laptops and are often free if you sign up for mobile broadband. I got a new Notebook recently for just £20 a month!
3) Use a call minding company – manage any phone calls you receive while you’re out and about by using a call answering service. They will answer your calls in your company name and will send any messages to your emails or by text to you. People far appreciate speaking to a human being rather than an answering machine, making you look more professional too. We use Professional Call Minders who are fantastic.
4) Scale down your workload - much as we’d like to get everything done if you’re out working, your time will be limited. Recognise this and scale back your workload accordingly – sounds obvious, but we very often don’t do this leaving us feeling stressed because we haven’t done as much as we would like.
5) Outsource tasks – if outsourcing tasks is an option for you, it is definitely something that’s worth doing to help you manage work while you’re out of the office. If you can outsource to a company or an individual, you’ll have confidence that the work is being done even if you’re not there to do it.
6) Set up systems – ultimately if you can set up systems in your business meaning that marketing and work get done while you’re not there. This can of course, include outsourcing tasks. A simple example of a system is to use a programme that sends people who visit your website emails to help you build a relationship with them. Start by looking at everything you do in your business and see if you can set up a system to streamline things. You will speed up your tasks and eventually your business will operate efficiently even if you’re not there.
While it’s hard to manage everything when you’re out of the office, setting up system and using the tools that are available to manage things will help you to feel less stressed and make sure things still get done.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice to small businesses on their marketing and to people setting up in business.
So, what can you do? Here are my top tips to do business effectively when you’re on the move.
1) Plan in advance – how often have you had to rush because you needed petrol and didn’t get it before? Or, had to get up early to print out materials that you needed for the day? Yes – me too! But, if you plan in advance and do these things before the day you know you’re going to be out, you’ll find your life is much smoother.
2) Use Technology – there are so many things out there now to help us organise our lives better, so why not use them? Blackberrys and IPhones are fantastic for managing your emails and Notebooks are great for travelling with – they’re so much lighter than laptops and are often free if you sign up for mobile broadband. I got a new Notebook recently for just £20 a month!
3) Use a call minding company – manage any phone calls you receive while you’re out and about by using a call answering service. They will answer your calls in your company name and will send any messages to your emails or by text to you. People far appreciate speaking to a human being rather than an answering machine, making you look more professional too. We use Professional Call Minders who are fantastic.
4) Scale down your workload - much as we’d like to get everything done if you’re out working, your time will be limited. Recognise this and scale back your workload accordingly – sounds obvious, but we very often don’t do this leaving us feeling stressed because we haven’t done as much as we would like.
5) Outsource tasks – if outsourcing tasks is an option for you, it is definitely something that’s worth doing to help you manage work while you’re out of the office. If you can outsource to a company or an individual, you’ll have confidence that the work is being done even if you’re not there to do it.
6) Set up systems – ultimately if you can set up systems in your business meaning that marketing and work get done while you’re not there. This can of course, include outsourcing tasks. A simple example of a system is to use a programme that sends people who visit your website emails to help you build a relationship with them. Start by looking at everything you do in your business and see if you can set up a system to streamline things. You will speed up your tasks and eventually your business will operate efficiently even if you’re not there.
While it’s hard to manage everything when you’re out of the office, setting up system and using the tools that are available to manage things will help you to feel less stressed and make sure things still get done.
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice to small businesses on their marketing and to people setting up in business.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Do people read?
You know I keep bleating on about why you have to keep repeating your message, not just tell people what it is once - well the reason for this is because people DON'T read.
Let me give you an example - I've just run a free call on Using Articles to Promote your Business. I sent out several emails to the people who were registered and in those and the promotional material put that if they couldn't make the call, not to worry as it would be available as a recording after the call.
And yet, I've lost count of the number of emails I've received telling me that people couldn't make the call and would a recording be available!
If you want people to pay attention to things you need to keep repeating your message, explain things in a different order and highlight different areas just so you hopefully catch the eye of whoever is reading your info. It has to literally hit them in the face otherwise people will just ignore it.
I think next time I do a call, I will put this bit in the subject header - made a mental note!
Let me give you an example - I've just run a free call on Using Articles to Promote your Business. I sent out several emails to the people who were registered and in those and the promotional material put that if they couldn't make the call, not to worry as it would be available as a recording after the call.
And yet, I've lost count of the number of emails I've received telling me that people couldn't make the call and would a recording be available!
If you want people to pay attention to things you need to keep repeating your message, explain things in a different order and highlight different areas just so you hopefully catch the eye of whoever is reading your info. It has to literally hit them in the face otherwise people will just ignore it.
I think next time I do a call, I will put this bit in the subject header - made a mental note!
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Just what is an autoresponder?
The word ‘Autoresponders’ has been used more and more over the last few months and pretty much all of us have now experienced them even if you don’t yet realise it.
But just what is an autoresponder and why should you think about using one in your business?
Well, let me explain.
The simplest form of an autoresponder is when you send a message to someone and you immediately receive an email back that tells you that person is out of office. This email will have been sent automatically (no human response was required) and it will have responded to you – hence the name autoresponder.
You will have also probably seen an autoresponder if you’ve purchased products off of a website. Take Amazon for example or Ebay. If you’ve purchased something from Amazon or made a bid on Ebay, the chances are high that you will have immediately received an email from the company confirming your purchase or your bid.
And you may have seen autoresponders at work if you’ve subscribed to a newsletter from a website. In most cases now, you will have immediately receive an email from the company concerned welcoming you to the website with a copy of the newsletter.
Now, trust me when I say that a human is not sitting there at all times of the day or night responding to messages that come in from a website or order confirmations – these emails are sent automatically from you by a computer programme that has been specifically written for this purpose.
But, why should you care? What has this got to do with your business?
Now (hopefully) you’ve got your head around what an autoresponder is, I want you just to think for a minute about the power of autoresponders and how they can help your business.
Imagine that while you’re on holiday, a potential customer visits your website. On your website, you have a mechanism to allow someone to subscribe to receive some top tips about your product or service. The potential customer is interested in what you do and then signs up to receive these.
These tips are sent to the customer automatically while you’re relaxing on your holiday. Over the next few days, the customer receives more tips and helpful information all while you’re soaking up the sun on the beach. By the time you come back, the customer has been so impressed with all the free information that they’ve been receiving that they’ve placed an order for your products or services.
Now ok, there is a bit of work required here – you’ll need to write the tips and useful information in advance and put them into a series of emails that the customer receives over the next few days or weeks. But, once you’ve done that, a potential customer will receive this series of emails over time from you even while you’re asleep.
And it will happen with every new customer without you even thinking about it. You’ll be perceived as being helpful and useful and you’ll be building a relationship with your potential customer while massively reducing the time you take on this activity.
You can even set up a series of emails so that everytime a customer purchases a product or service from you, they get emails automatically to encourage them to purchase more from you.
I’m only giving you a brief introduction to autoresponders here, but the power of them for building a relationship with your customers and reducing the amount of time you spend doing your marketing is immense.
So, where do you go to get an autoresponder? Well, there are a number of packages already out there including Constant Contact, 1ShoppingCart and theautoresponder to mention but a few. Have a look at them and see whether they are for you.
But for now, just consider the benefits that autoresponders could make to your business – if you understand that, you can definitely take your business to the next level – automatically!
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice to small businesses on their marketing and to people starting up in business.
But just what is an autoresponder and why should you think about using one in your business?
Well, let me explain.
The simplest form of an autoresponder is when you send a message to someone and you immediately receive an email back that tells you that person is out of office. This email will have been sent automatically (no human response was required) and it will have responded to you – hence the name autoresponder.
You will have also probably seen an autoresponder if you’ve purchased products off of a website. Take Amazon for example or Ebay. If you’ve purchased something from Amazon or made a bid on Ebay, the chances are high that you will have immediately received an email from the company confirming your purchase or your bid.
And you may have seen autoresponders at work if you’ve subscribed to a newsletter from a website. In most cases now, you will have immediately receive an email from the company concerned welcoming you to the website with a copy of the newsletter.
Now, trust me when I say that a human is not sitting there at all times of the day or night responding to messages that come in from a website or order confirmations – these emails are sent automatically from you by a computer programme that has been specifically written for this purpose.
But, why should you care? What has this got to do with your business?
Now (hopefully) you’ve got your head around what an autoresponder is, I want you just to think for a minute about the power of autoresponders and how they can help your business.
Imagine that while you’re on holiday, a potential customer visits your website. On your website, you have a mechanism to allow someone to subscribe to receive some top tips about your product or service. The potential customer is interested in what you do and then signs up to receive these.
These tips are sent to the customer automatically while you’re relaxing on your holiday. Over the next few days, the customer receives more tips and helpful information all while you’re soaking up the sun on the beach. By the time you come back, the customer has been so impressed with all the free information that they’ve been receiving that they’ve placed an order for your products or services.
Now ok, there is a bit of work required here – you’ll need to write the tips and useful information in advance and put them into a series of emails that the customer receives over the next few days or weeks. But, once you’ve done that, a potential customer will receive this series of emails over time from you even while you’re asleep.
And it will happen with every new customer without you even thinking about it. You’ll be perceived as being helpful and useful and you’ll be building a relationship with your potential customer while massively reducing the time you take on this activity.
You can even set up a series of emails so that everytime a customer purchases a product or service from you, they get emails automatically to encourage them to purchase more from you.
I’m only giving you a brief introduction to autoresponders here, but the power of them for building a relationship with your customers and reducing the amount of time you spend doing your marketing is immense.
So, where do you go to get an autoresponder? Well, there are a number of packages already out there including Constant Contact, 1ShoppingCart and theautoresponder to mention but a few. Have a look at them and see whether they are for you.
But for now, just consider the benefits that autoresponders could make to your business – if you understand that, you can definitely take your business to the next level – automatically!
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice to small businesses on their marketing and to people starting up in business.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
What are you running a business for?
Last week, I was sent an article (thank you to the person who sent this to me by the way) which was on the subject of "What are you running a business for?" - in other words if you're putting in all this hard work and can't go off and enjoy yourself occasionally, what's the point?
Reading through the article made me realise that what I'd written on my earlier blogs over the last couple of weeks might have been misconstrued. You see, I'm actually very clear on what I'm running a business for and what I want to get out of it.
Up until fairly recently, what I wanted to do was get the business to a point where it was established and to where it could start to run without me necessarily being there. We've now done that and the next phase is to put structures in place to support it over the next 5-10 years so that the business grows; we can provide service and quality to more people and so that the business is not reliant on me.
As we enter this new phase, it's presenting its own challenges and I am being tested and I'm writing about my experiences because a) we are all human and b) I hope my experiences will be useful to others going through the same situation.
But, I haven't lost sight of why I'm running the business or what I want out of it for me personally or what the end goal for the business is - although it may seem like it at times. Knowing why you're doing things and what you're running a business for is a vital question - but to take time off and go out for lunch etc occasionally is often not the prime reason for everyone. Without a doubt for me, it's much more than that!
Reading through the article made me realise that what I'd written on my earlier blogs over the last couple of weeks might have been misconstrued. You see, I'm actually very clear on what I'm running a business for and what I want to get out of it.
Up until fairly recently, what I wanted to do was get the business to a point where it was established and to where it could start to run without me necessarily being there. We've now done that and the next phase is to put structures in place to support it over the next 5-10 years so that the business grows; we can provide service and quality to more people and so that the business is not reliant on me.
As we enter this new phase, it's presenting its own challenges and I am being tested and I'm writing about my experiences because a) we are all human and b) I hope my experiences will be useful to others going through the same situation.
But, I haven't lost sight of why I'm running the business or what I want out of it for me personally or what the end goal for the business is - although it may seem like it at times. Knowing why you're doing things and what you're running a business for is a vital question - but to take time off and go out for lunch etc occasionally is often not the prime reason for everyone. Without a doubt for me, it's much more than that!
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Is it a good idea to have some time off from your business?
Yesterday, I went out to lunch - which was lovely by the way and I really enjoyed it. That's the second time in three weeks that I've done this, but it's unusual for me and I think I've only done this twice since the business started.
Yes, sure I've gone out for business lunches and met clients etc, but going out for lunch for pleasure during work hours is completely alien to me.
What's worse is I didn't do any work when I came back either (shock, horror)!
And do you know what - I didn't feel any guilt at all. I've worked incredibly hard this year and have decided it's now high time to start treating myself. Not every day, but every couple of weeks or so - especially when I've worked hard.
I read an article recently about taking time off to recover BEFORE you start on a major project and maybe the author was right - I feel much better this morning and ready to get cracking.
It's easy to feel guilty about taking time off when you're supposed to be working, but if you deserve it, don't! I guarantee it will make you feel better and more motivated and you'll want to do more work as a result.
Yes, sure I've gone out for business lunches and met clients etc, but going out for lunch for pleasure during work hours is completely alien to me.
What's worse is I didn't do any work when I came back either (shock, horror)!
And do you know what - I didn't feel any guilt at all. I've worked incredibly hard this year and have decided it's now high time to start treating myself. Not every day, but every couple of weeks or so - especially when I've worked hard.
I read an article recently about taking time off to recover BEFORE you start on a major project and maybe the author was right - I feel much better this morning and ready to get cracking.
It's easy to feel guilty about taking time off when you're supposed to be working, but if you deserve it, don't! I guarantee it will make you feel better and more motivated and you'll want to do more work as a result.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Tell me what questions you want answered...
Thanks for signing up for our free call on "Using articles to promote your business" - if you haven't signed up yet, you can do so by going to: http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/articlecall.htm
For you to get the most out of this call, I'll be trying to answer as many of your questions about writing articles to promote your business as I can.
If you'd like to ask a question, just leave a comment on this blog and I'll make sure I cover it during the call. Don't worry, you can stay anonymous if you like - just indicate this in your comment below.
Thanks and I look forward to you joining me on the call on Tuesday 3rd November between 2pm and 3pm GMT.
For you to get the most out of this call, I'll be trying to answer as many of your questions about writing articles to promote your business as I can.
If you'd like to ask a question, just leave a comment on this blog and I'll make sure I cover it during the call. Don't worry, you can stay anonymous if you like - just indicate this in your comment below.
Thanks and I look forward to you joining me on the call on Tuesday 3rd November between 2pm and 3pm GMT.
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