Category: Entrepreneurs

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Entrepreneurs

Your 2013 Mid-Year Check-In — 5 Steps to End 2013 With a Bang Rather Than a Whimper

With 2013 half over, it’s time to pause, take a breath, and see if you’re on track with your goals.

 

This is an essential part of running a successful business — taking structured time throughout the year to work ON your biz and make sure the path you’re on is, in fact, the path you want to be on.

 

Don’t do this and you’re just asking to build a biz that doesn’t serve you (not to mention waking up one more morning and realizing your actual results are nowhere near what you want them to be).

 

We don’t want that to happen to you so let’s get started with your Mid-Year Check-In.

 

Now there are a lot of ways to do this, I’ll share some steps I use and you can modify or implement to make it work for you.

 

1. Block off time in your calendar. Maybe it’s a couple of hours, maybe it’s a full day, but it’s important to make this commitment to yourself.

 

2. Gather the necessary documents. You’ll need your marketing calendar and your revenue report, plus you’ll need the goals and plan you put together at the beginning of 2013. (What? You didn’t write down your goals or put a plan together for 2013? Well let’s put that aside for now — but know we’ll be coming back to that in another article.)

 

3. Take some time to analyze where your biz is right now. Now this is NOT about judging yourself or your biz, all you’re doing is taking a realistic picture of where your biz is at this moment. And I also want you to review your initial 2013 goals and plans.(If you have them — if you don’t, I suspect you have some hazy idea in your head where you wanted to be in your biz at this point in 2013 so take some time to write that down just so you have something to compare.)

 

Where are you on track? Where are you off track? The places where you’re off track, was there a time this year where things were clicking and then they stopped? And how off track are you?

 

And for all the places where you’re on track — give yourself a big congratulations!

 

4. Okay so now that you know where you are and how that compares to where you wanted to go, now it’s time to look at the rest of the year. Do you want to continue on the same path? Do you want to change paths? Did you lose the path and you need to retrace your steps to get back on the path?

 

This might be a good place to do a little journaling or maybe some meditation or some other sort of inner check in to decide what you want the rest of your year to look like.

 

5. Put your plan together. Get out all your calendars — your meeting calendar and your marketing/promo calendar — and actually put your plan to paper. This is CRUCIAL — successful people have WRITTEN plans and goals and you are FAR more likely to actually achieve your goals if they’re written down. (And this isn’t just me saying it — there’s an actual study out there about it.)

 

And I have 2 bonus tips — first make sure you give yourself a pat on the back — this is FANTASTIC you did this for yourself. And don’t forget to start working your plan (a plan is great but now it’s time to actually implement).

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Entrepreneurs

3 Tips for Being a Successful Entrepreneur in the 21st Century

great-entrepreneurs

Ask anyone who has started their own business how they got to where they are, and there’s a strong chance that “hard work and determination” will be mentioned. While just about anyone can become an entrepreneur, it takes a certain mindset in order to truly make it in today’s business climate. After all, more new businesses sink than swim these days, and those that survive often do so because they’ve tapped into a niche market.

No one ever said that entrepreneurship was easy. If you make the right decisions and keep a clear head on your shoulders, however, it can be a lot of fun. Succeeding in the 21st century is all about learning how to use the tools that you have at your disposal and implementing proper time-management skills.

With a little bit of hard work and determination, you’ll be on your way towards finding success in business as an entrepreneur.

Focus On Your Vision

There are plenty of people in the professional sector who will tell you that even if you have a strong interest in your vision, you’ll need to adapt in order to meet the needs of your clientele. While there is certainly some truth to this, sentiments such as this often discourage entrepreneurs from taking the leaps necessary to getting where they want to in business. If you have a clear vision, stick to it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve your goals, especially if you believe in your business plan. The difference between entrepreneurs who sink and those that swim is that the latter category is typically filled with people who stick with what they believe in, even in the face of controversy and hardship. Consider the story of Jeff Bartel of FPL Group – his foward-thinking mindset landed him Leadership Florida’s “Distinguished Member” award in 2009, and he wouldn’t have likely gained this without following his own path.

Take on a Business Partner

Many entrepreneurs consider themselves to be control freaks, taking every aspect of the business into their own hands whenever possible. While there are some benefits to this approach, it’s also a very quick path towards burnout. Entrepreneurs, after all, aren’t necessarily equipped to handle both the financial and operational sides of a business. If you are more operationally-minded, you might want to hire someone to deal specifically with the business’s finances. Taking on a business partner often means sacrificing pay for yourself, but since it can also increase your chances of building a successful business, it’s more than worth considering.

Don’t Waste Any Time

Time is everything for entrepreneurs. Just because the Internet has made it easier than before to own and operate a business doesn’t mean you can sleep til noon an expect to find success. A good idea can be a great start, but that’s all it is – a beginning. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort to get your business off the ground and keep it afloat, and the more you can get done in a single day, the better off you’ll be. Strive to put in at least 8 hours of work each day, and don’t hesitate to burn the midnight oil when the situation calls for it. You might find yourself a bit over-worked at first, but it’ll just make things easier for you down the road.

There’s never been a better time to become an entrepreneur than now.  Just remember – stick to your vision, consider taking on a little help and develop a strong work ethic!

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

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Entrepreneurs

Are You Working Yourself Out of Your Business?

I admit it.

 

I’m a recovering workaholic/perfectionist, not to mention having delusions of superhero syndrome.

 

I know I’ll never be cured. But I can at least work on controlling it.

 

I also know I’m not alone. Plenty of entrepreneurs and small business owners suffer from this same condition. (In fact, it’s so prevalent I’m thinking about starting a recovery group for this.)

 

Do you suffer from workaholic/perfectionism/superhero syndrome? Take this short quiz to find out.

 

1. You think working all the time, including nights and weekends, is a sign of:

A. Success

B. Insanity

C. Just one of the sacrifices you have to make when you own your own business

 

 

2. Your to-do list resembles:

A. War and Peace (actually, War and Peace might be shorter)

B. No more then 5 tasks per day

C. It’s pretty long, but that’s okay. You know if you buckle down and REALLY focus, you can get everything done. (Of course, you never have, but that’s besides the point.)

 

 

3. The last time you took a vacation was:

A. Vacation? Who needs a vacation? Vacations are for wussies.

B. A couple of months ago and it was fabulous.

C. You’re too afraid to be gone for more then a couple of days, especially if you don’t have your laptop and can check in every day. What if something happens? A new client calls? You could lose the business. Or some crisis might come up and there wouldn’t be anyone to take care of it. It’s just too risky to leave, better to stick around.

 

 

4. You believe:

A. People who don’t work very hard yet still are making mon^ey are pretty lucky (and also pretty lazy).

B. Being successful also means having a life (and having time to enjoy it).

C. The only way to be successful is to work longer and harder then anyone else. (After all, when you’re not working you’re not making money. So how can you be successful if you’re not working?)

 

 

5. Taking time for yourself is:

A. A luxury for only rich (or lazy) people.

B. Something you make a priority each and every day.

C. Nice in theory but unrealistic in practice. After all, your clients have to come first. They’re the ones paying the bills.

 

 

Scoring: Well, let’s just say you know who you are.

 

As entrepreneurs and small business owners, I think one of our biggest challenges is balance. How much time to spend on our business? On our families? Ourselves? And how do we fit it all into the only 24 hours we have?

 

For me, this has been one of the most challenging lessons. I grew up in Wisconsin, the heart of workaholic-ism. That Midwest work ethic can put people into the ground faster than anything else out there, I think.

 

I grew up equating hard work with success – if you wanted to be successful, you better be prepared to work your tail off. So when I started my business, I immediately put that ethic into play. If I could get all my work done during the week, there must be something wrong. I must not have enough clients. And I must not be successful enough.

 

But when you combined my workaholic nature with my perfectionism, that’s when things started to get out of control. There was ALWAYS something I should be doing for my business. Therefore, it was difficult to justify taking ANY time off for myself. Worse yet, I had a little voice in the back of my mind that would say things like if I wasn’t working, then I’m being lazy or procrastinating or something.

 

And, since my husband grew up in the same state with the same work ethic, he supported my need to be working all the time. Plus, he worked equally as hard himself.

 

So what was the outcome of all this? I burned out.

 

My burnout took place in 2003. After I recovered, I realized I had to start doing things differently or I would end up right back where I was again (burned out and unable to help anyone, much less myself). And since I still wanted to help people and I was still passionate about marketing and copywriting, I realized I would have to learn how to run my business differently if I was going to stay in business.

 

That was really the catalyst for me to change both myself and my business. I had to change a lot of things, including my mindset. It also has made me realize I have to value taking time off for me. If I don’t value it, it won’t happen.

 

Basically it comes down to this — as entrepreneurs and small business owners, we are our business. Even if we have a team to support us (which I sincerely hope all of you do) how far we can grow and take our business ultimately rests on our shoulders. And if those shoulders are slumped over, exhausted from overwork and poor health and lack of sleep and loss of passion for what we do, then that’s going to ultimately affect how far our businesses will grow.

 

It’s that simple.

 

 

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Entrepreneurs

Build Your Business the EY Way

 

As is always the case in business, connections are everything. As a small business owner, getting advice and inspiration from established, successful entrepreneurs is essential. 

Business owners nearly always say, “invest, invest, invest.” They mean it.

In order to build your business properly, you have to have one eye on the future at all times. This doesn’t mean getting so far-fetched in your faith of what you can accomplish with your business (which is likely more than you think anyways) that you let daily operations run amuck, but that you are able to focus on expansion and the betterment of your enterprise. 

As a boss, you can’t get bogged down by the little daily issues which will be innumerable and ceaseless.

John Ferraro EY is an example of someone who knew how to invest wisely and from that was able to earn his title of Global Chief Operating Officer of Ernst and Young. Ferraro’s strategy is like that of McDonald’s, but on a globally less threatening scale–get everywhere and make good business connections.

When you think about it, it’s the type of approach you might take in your own life with personal relationships. The more diverse and numerable the connections, the more well-rounded and flexible you’ll be in your trajectory. 

You don’t just want friends who like Jack London, hiking trips, and microbrews, but ones who find astrology a little too accurate, are addicted to frozen yogurt, and can write epic poems at a moment’s notice. All about the diversity. 

Diversity is what helps you grow and expand your notions of what’s available, what’s possible, and what’s needed in the world.

Since I was a senior in high school and first learned of the Stock Market in economics, I’ve learned to diversify investments. It’s good to have your hand in multiple honey pots because, as well all know, things are shifty when it comes to financial markets.

It’s really a matter of being smart and thinking not only about the future, but what may go right in the market or terribly wrong if you don’t have rainy day funds at your disposal. 

You have to be open to changes and willing to grow as the world does. Nothing is the same from one day to the next and looking to someone who holds that same approach, as Ferraro does, will only make you more resilient to the inevitable declines and rough spots of running a business. 

Revitalize your plans every once in a while by reaching out in ways you didn’t plan on doing before. As wonderful and brilliant as you are, you’re limited to your specific experiences without an infusion of creativity and external stimulation. 

Seek out that stimulation instead of waiting for blockages in growth. Invest time and energy in people, businesses, and methods that speak to you, challenge you, make you better just for having been in their vicinity. Make it your mission to spark your own interest in what you’re doing rather than waiting for others to find you to be a guide. 

What does this mean, exactly?

Well, if you’re an insurance company, try your hand at investments for the rapidly developing field of wireless health. If you’re a marketing company, add a social media little to your portfolio.

Read up on what others are doing and use it as an impetus for new projects and projections. Go to conferences, watch TED talks, follow trends on CNN’s financial page. Get out there and seek the wealth of information that’s available to help you see how you can improve.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

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Entrepreneurs

3 Little-Known Biz Benefits to Writing & Publishing a Book

There’s a lot of excellent reasons to take the time to write and publish a book. Having authored a book gives you instant credibility as an expert, which immediately sets you apart from everyone else in your field, helps fill your pipeline with perfect clients and gives you a reason to raise your rates. Plus books make great giveaways and client gifts, which is another fabulous way to use them.

But there are also a few other reasons to author a book you may not have thought of. Here are 3 to keep in mind as you decide if it’s time to get that book written in between everything else on that to-do list:

* Book readers tend to be better clients. Even though you’re probably not going to get rich selling a $15 book, the people who take the time to read your book will be more likely to buy your other products and programs AND spend more money overall with you (either by buying multiple programs or just investing in the higher-priced programs). So if you have a good backend set up (and what I mean by that is if you have other products or programs to sell them) writing a book is the perfect way to position yourself and your ideal client to get them into your sales funnel.

* Kindle rocks! Okay this may not be so little-known anymore, but the reality is with all the options out there with Kindle and ebooks in general, you have more ways to get your books into your ideal clients hands than ever before and if you position a lead generating opt in correctly inside your book (and what I mean by that is offering more free resources if they go to a page on your website and enter their name and email address to get the download) you’re going to have a way to capture leads from folks who are truly interested in taking what you teach to a deeper level (which of course will lead to more sales).

Something else to consider — as an author you’ll have a presence on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, which in some cases is better than a presence on Google. Think about it — if someone is searching for resources on Google, they’re probably looking for something free. If they’re searching for resources on Amazon then they’re looking for something to buy — which means those are the buyers, not the looky loos.

* What about your ideal clients who aren’t book readers? Well you can also turn your book into an audio book, which means you’ll reach another segment of your ideal clients. Now if they really aren’t book readers (or book listeners) at all, just the sheer fact you’ve written a book will still add to your credibility and expert status with them.

* And a bonus tip — for many entrepreneurs, one of the big reasons why you went into business for yourself in the first place was because you wanted to make a difference in the world. What better way to spread your message and get your gifts out there is by writing and publishing a book? Think about your book as a little messenger — spreading your message and transformation everywhere it goes. Now isn’t THAT a great reason to finally sit down and finish that book?