Category: How-To Guides

In the words of Henry Ford, “I know half my advertising doesn’t work; I just don’t know which half.”
As small business owners, we face an overwhelming array of marketing options, with paid advertising being a common go-to method. However, the truth is that paid advertising can be a hit-or-miss approach, lacking guaranteed success. Fortunately, there is an alternative that can bring long-term value to your business: building high-quality referral relationships.
The Benefits of Referred Business
While I may be biased, there are several advantages that referred business holds over paid advertising. The foremost benefit is the level of trust that referred customers have in your business even before they meet you.
According to a Nielsen study, a staggering 84% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising. Imagine 84% of prospects already trusting your business before even knowing you!
This trust translates into a higher likelihood of conversion and loyalty among referred customers. They are more inclined to become paying customers and make repeat purchases, leading to increased customer lifetime value for your business.
In my own experience running a mattress store, referred clients consistently made purchases, spent significantly more, and the sales process was smoother as they were already familiar with our product and service.
Another compelling advantage of referred business is the cost savings it offers compared to paid advertising. Paid advertising can be expensive, and measuring its return on investment can be challenging. With referrals, the cost typically amounts to your time, occasional coffee or lunch meetings, and perhaps a thoughtful thank-you gift or card.
This investment is often much lower than the expenses associated with paid advertising. Moreover, since the referral comes from a trusted source, the chances of a successful sale are higher, requiring less effort to close the deal. This makes the time spent building relationships a valuable investment.
Referred customers are also more likely to share their positive experiences with others, generating additional referral business in the future. This creates a snowball

effect, where each referred customer brings in more referrals, resulting in a steady stream of new business.
Don’t forget to ask your referred customers for reviews, especially on platforms like Google, as this not only serves as passive referrals but also acts as social proof. You can leverage these reviews to show your referral partners that the people they send your way appreciate your business, further encouraging them to refer more clients.
A study by the Harvard Business Review revealed that referred customers have longer-lasting relationships and a higher lifetime value. This is due to their higher satisfaction with the products or services received, leading to a more reliable customer base.
Additionally, referred customers are more likely to refer others to your business, expanding your customer network even further. It’s a win-win situation where both your business and customers benefit, fostering growth and prosperity. The benefits of referred customers cannot be overstated, as they contribute to increased customer satisfaction, repeat business, and overall small business growth.
According to a study by the Wharton School of Business, referred customers tend to spend 16% more than non-referred customers. This is because they trust the business and are more willing to invest in products or services. Just imagine a 16% increase in sales simply by having customers who already know, like, and trust you, willing to spend more.
This aligns with my personal experience in the mattress business and echoes the sentiments shared by members of BNI, who consistently report receiving better referrals than those generated through other sources.
Building referral relationships, however, requires a genuine desire to help others. Referrals cannot be obtained simply by asking or expecting them to come to you. Your primary focus should be on assisting the other person, demonstrating your commitment to building
Written by Braith Bamkin

As a savvy business owner, you know that one of the ultimate keys to your success is the many men and women working behind the scenes every single day. These employees take pride in your company and work as hard as you do to ensure it remains profitable. Without their dedication and general know-how, you’d be a fish out of water. 

For better or worse though, eventually, even the very best employees are going to leave your business. Whether it is for an opportunity to take on more responsibility elsewhere or for retirement after years of faithful employment, it is necessary to plan for the possibility of their departure. Especially in the latter situation, planning accordingly for the retirement of key employees can help reduce the risk of brain drain in your business. 

Brain drain due to retirement can have profound impacts on the efficiency and general workflow in your organization. Understanding the potential risks of brain drain and making a plan to prepare for it can be critical in transitioning new employees into leading roles successfully. 

The Brain Drain Phenomena 

Baby boomers have long been the largest generational cohort in the U.S. workforce, but their numbers are quickly dwindling as many reach retirement age. For many companies, this can mean the loss of a great deal of institutional knowledge that has propelled the company forward for years. Many senior employees are so ingrained in their day-to-day work, neither they nor anyone working alongside them can really explain how much the company will lose without their experience. 

In many situations, the retirement of certain employees can leave a gap large enough that no one can really fill it without years of technical experience. In others, a lack of desire from younger generations to fill positions could be a lasting business problem. Take truck driving as an example; as older men who make up the prime demographic retire, younger generations are not filling those positions. 

The loss of many senior employees can greatly reduce productivity, especially if the position must be filled with a new person with limited experience. It can take years for someone new to learn the ropes and become as productive. For this reason, making a plan for when either you, the company owner, leaves or your long-term employees retire can really benefit your company and prevent brain drain. 

Making a Plan 

One of the best things you can do as a company owner is to come up with a long-term knowledge retention plan early on. This will help transition new employees into important roles and allow employees to knowledge dump on their way out. Doing so can help keep everything running as smoothly as possible. 

It is also beneficial to sit down and have conversations with employees who are likely to retire in the near future. Gain an understanding of where they are with their retirement plans. Although retirement brain drain is certainly a growing phenomena, there are also significant issues of the opposite kind — when older employees have failed to plan for retirement and, therefore, are remaining in positions well past 65. 

Older employees remaining in positions past normal retirement age can also have numerous negative consequences for your business, long-term. For instance, if you have a good training plan in place, younger employees will be trained and ready to enter these upper-level positions. If older employees refuse to leave in a normal timeframe, the lack of upward mobility can frustrate younger employees and cause them to leave the company — creating another training and knowledge loss expense. 

Combating Brain Drain

So, you’ve talked with your older employees and have a greater sense of when they are likely to retire. This gives you just enough time to put into place a plan for preparing younger employees to step up and take the reins in a, hopefully, seamless transition. There are numerous ways to avoid retirement brain drain out there — don’t be afraid to try a couple of options. 

Perhaps the best option is to develop a mentorship program that enables up and coming employees to work alongside older ones. Younger employees can learn the ins and outs of a certain position before becoming fully in charge of it, much like an apprentice learning a trade. Although this is a great way to promote a seamless transition, a mentorship program can be difficult to implement if there is a limited staffing budget and overlapping positions isn’t exactly feasible.

One way around this is to create a knowledge base. Essentially, this is a place where former employees can put how-to guides, tips, and suggestions that can be used like a job manual for newer employees. With the right type of structure and employee buy-in, this can be a great way to compile years of knowledge all in one place. However, it is completely dependent upon the ability of retiring employees to jot down this information in an understandable way and submit it. 

Retiring baby boomers are having and will continue to have a substantial impact on the job market. One of the biggest factors is the loss of institutional knowledge and efficiency. To prepare for this, it is important to communicate with older employees about retirement plans and begin working on a strategy to combat brain drain within your company.  

Are you ready to make a significant shift in your career path? If you’re considering jumping ship from your current job to find a new position, you’re not alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, median employee tenure was 4.3 years for men and 4.0 years for women. However, switching jobs comes with risk — and fears about financial turbulence have stopped many professionals from going after the career they want. Fortunately, there are preventive measures you can take to manage your money before you make that career shift. The chart below breaks down the average number of years that people are employed at certain ages. This chart implies the trend that people are more likely to change careers when they are younger. The reason for this can be attributed to the fact that it is easier to change careers when you are younger due to less financial responsibility. It may also be attributed to the fact that people become more satisfied with their career as they become more successful and experienced in their chosen field.   

Keep the following strategies in mind:

1. Keep tabs on your spending

Before you make the switch, consider the current state of your finances. How are your monthly expenses faring against your budget? If you’re spending unnecessarily, you can pivot that money flow into a savings account that functions as a financial cushion during your career shift. 

It’s important to know where your money is going each month, then set goals around your finances moving forward. If you don’t already keep close tabs on your spending, consider downloading a budgeting app or printing out a monthly financial calendar that you can use to set and track your money moves.

By keeping yourself accountable through actionable financial to-do lists, you can better avoid frivolous spending during times of transition. 

1. Understand the Financial Impact of the Switch

You need to be realistic about what a career change might mean for your wallet. Is the pay range at your planned position higher or lower than your current income? If the pay rate is lower, will you be able to maintain your current lifestyle? In addition, will your new job require further training or credentials? It’s important to factor in the cost of furthering your skillset in pursuit of your new career. Check out sites such as Salary.com to determine the average pay range for the position you’re pursuing, and do the math on how your expenses might change. 

1. Build a Rainy-Day Fund

If you don’t already have an emergency savings fund, it’s time to start one. Most financial experts recommend saving up at least three months of expenses; if you find that the job switch wasn’t the right one, you’ll still have money to fall back on. 

1. Supplement Your Income

If you’ll be dealing with a few weeks without a paycheck during your transition, or if your new role will pay less than your current, consider picking up a side hustle to supplement your income. The freelance market is booming, 36% of the population report that they’re involved in the gig economy. If you’re interested in supplementing your income, you can find freelance work through sites such as Upwork.com, GigGrabbers.com, or Fiverr.com. 

1. Don’t Touch Your Retirement Savings

Your retirement savings may begin to look very tempting, but don’t drain your account to finance your career change. Pulling your retirement savings out early means dealing with significant tax consequences, and you’ll also negatively impact your long-term retirement goals. 

Preparing your finances for a career change can ease the stress of a job overhaul. Keep the above tips in your arsenal and set yourself up for success in your professional and financial life.

How To Control A Massive To-Do List

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I have 10,000 balls up in the air, whilst conducting an orchestra of wasps in the middle of a hurricane…

We all let our to-do lists get the better of us at time to time. 

In this article I am going to share with you some strategies that I have used to get my to-do list under control, remove the overwhelm, and systemise my tasks to prevent future chaos from the same tasks currently clogging it up.

No Dollar, No List

When I have a massive list of stuff that needs doing, I personally prioritise my tasks like this:

1. Will it IMMEDIATELY make me money if I do this now?  If the answer is yes, I do that FIRST
2. Will this get a client contract or job (that is ALREADY paying me) finished? If the answer is yes, I do that second. 
3. Will it make me money in the short term if I do this now? If the answer is yes, I do that next.
4. Will it make me money in the long term future (not instantly).  If the answer is yes, I leave it for later.
5. Will this make me money at all?  If the answer is no, delete it completely. 

What Is Your Time Worth?

Before we can start deciding what to remove from our list, we need to get an idea of how much time we are wasting in the form of money.

Write down what your hourly rate is (or would be) if you charge out yourself to clients.

Audit Your Time

For The next 2 weeks, write down absolutely EVERYTHING that you do through the day by 15 minute intervals.  Eg:

7am-7:15am: Scrolled facebook

7:15am-7:30am: Replied to emails

This will start to give you a really good idea about how your are spending your time and will be very enlightening for you.  Please do this – it will amaze you when you see it in black and white and make the next steps in this article much clearer for you.

Pick ONE Thing

Many of us get scared about picking one goal, as we think we will sacrifice other opportunities if we narrow our focus to one thing.  But trying to catch two rabbits often results in us catching none.

Pick ONE major goal for the year – one thing, that should you achieve it, will knock down every other dream or goal that you have in some way. 

Make sure that every single activity you have written on your to-do list directly aligns to achieving that particular goal.  If it doesn’t, delete it.

Sarah’s Hierarchy of Filtering Your Tasks

Now that you have your tasks lists, let’s see what we can take off of our burden, lighten the load and have you only focusing on the high value tasks.

Time to audit everything, measure it next to our ‘hourly rate’ to see if each task is worth our personal time doing, or if it is in fact more profitable to hire someone else to do it.

For instance, if you have decided that you want your annual turnover to be $500,000 a year, then you need to be earning $240 an hour.

So why would you spend 8 hours mucking around with trying to make some posters for your event (wasting $1,920 of your time), that would have cost you only $20 for a freelancer to do for you?

You Can’t (and Shouldn’t) Do Everything 

This next stage is about getting realistic with what you are putting your time into and how you are managing your tasks.

For every single task in your list, you are now going to ask yourself the following questions in this order:

1.   Can you ELIMINATEit? If yes, then delete it.  If not, move to the next stage.
2.   Can you AUTOMATE it?  If yes, set up the automation.  If not, move to the next stage.
3.   Can you OUTSOURCEit?  If yes, find your contractors.  If not, then move to the next stage.
4.   Can you DELEGATEit?  If yes, delegate it.  If not, then move to the next stage.
5.   Are you SUREthat you are the ONLY person that can do this?  Are you absolutely POSITIVE that there is no other way of doing this?  If yes, then add it to your personal list.  If there is another way of doing it, do it the other way!

I will further extrapolate on each of these hierarchical stages now:

Eliminate

The next stage of systemising your business model is to then look at everything you do to sell, produce and deliver your product or service and then decide what can be eliminated.  sometimes we have steps we do not need, or options we give our customers that just cause confusion, or resources that are not required – even tasks we do ourselves that are not really required. 

Delete everything and anything that is not absolutely critical to the process. 

Just get rid of it.

Automate

Automation has been huge in my ability to take on more customers, create more consistent customer experiences and ultimately scale my business.

By using automation tools such as online order forms, online quote request forms, online payment forms, a customer record management system, automated email sequences and a combination of online apps, I have been able to replace people – including myself – in many parts of my business in a way that has significantly improved my customer experience.

By using technology instead of people, you can remove inconsistent operations, ensure that business is being taken care of 24/7, never have to worry about holidays, weekends, sick days, bad moods, pay rises or international time zones – not to mention, massively reduce your overheads.

Outsource

You may have identified parts of your business that require human input, skill and talent. 

But before defaulting to ‘if I want it done properly, then I should do it myself’; or ‘Oh no, now I have to train people in something I’m not amazing at myself’, first consider outsourcing.

There are freelancers, contractors, small businesses and companies who specialise in every type of skill you could imagine. 

People who have dedicated their entire lives, education, professions and business resources to that thing you need done and if you look around hard enough you will find people willing to work on an ‘as needs basis’, meaning that you get professional work done without the stress or the overheads.

Outsourcing means sending it to somebody else to do.

There are lots of ways to outsource. 

The cheapest ways are to find freelancers on sites such as Upwork.com, where people from every industry you could imagine, with every skill you could wish for, are there to offer you their services as required. 

You post your ‘job’ with a full description and a budget, and freelancers will bid against one another to get your post. 

You can also outsource to other businesses who may specialise their entire suite of services around that one thing that you need.

Outsourcing can be hard to find the right people and takes a little getting used to.  Like any form of ‘employment’, outsourcing requires you to know precisely what you want first, and then to implement a process of selection, onboarding and offboarding.

If you’re thinking ‘but i can’t afford it!;, remember how much you cost per hour.  I bet the money you are losing by doing it yourself is far more expensive than it would cost to get a contractor to do it, whilst you focus on income-generating and client-facing work. 

Start Small and Slow

Get freelancers to first do a trial job for you and get more than one to do the trial – pay them for the trial.  Base their skills on what they show you that they can do, not on what they say that they can do.

Secondly, when it comes to finding ‘experts’, make sure you check out a few things before you get fooled by any false claims.

• Experts have at least 5 years demonstrable experience in their area of expertise and can back that up with historical evidence, customer testimonials, a portfolio of work, published work. 
• They have qualifications and formal training in their area of expertise. 
• These days it’s also worth looking for a website and social media presence – if they can’t afford it or can’t be bothered with it, it tells me a lot about how seriously they take their business – and their customers’ business.

What Not To Outsource

Outsourcing has certainly changed my business, but make sure you do it in the right places with the right people.

Things I do NOT outsource are my social media (excluding advertising), or content creating such as blogs, books and courses – courses because that is my own area of expertise, but the others because these are your ‘voice’. 

The way you speak, write and communicate say everything about who you are and can only be uniquely you. 

Nobody else can capture your essence other than you. 

So my personal advice is that if you don’t like writing, don’t outsource it, instead learn how to get comfortable on camera and do videos that you can later get transcribed and edited by an outsourcer; or do audio recordings or use the Google Voice Recording tool to dictate out your written content through speech. 

But don’t ever give someone else the power to take your voice and your most powerful relationship building tool from you.

It is your voice that will attract those most like you, and therefore the ‘perfect match’ customers for your personality and style. 

Get someone else to ‘speak’ for you, and you’ll be attracting people that connect with ‘their’ voice, not yours – and that is not a good thing.

Believe in yourself, you are capable of learning every skill in the world.

However, for everything else – find a good collection of people who can do it for you.

Your life will never be the same when you master outsourcing, but ease into it with the same level of caution that you’d apply to employing a full time legal employee so that you don’t make any rash decisions on the wrong partners.

Delegate

Sometimes outsourcing is not an option. 

There could be an onsite requirement, a multidisciplinary team that need to be together or privacy and security issues that require an on-location, employee based delivery. 

In which case, before taking on any tasks yourself, first see if you can delegate it to someone else. 

If it is something that will need to be done more than once ever again in the foreseeable existence of your life, then take the time to write up some epic instructions for the task or role, and then take someone on and give them the opportunity to do their life’s best work through some good training.

ACTIVITY: Finalising Your Systems

Now that you understand each of the actions that you can apply to deal with each task, go back to your list of tasks and finish your ‘Task Audit’ that you started earlier in this section.

Make another column in your tasks list (processes and procedures list) against every item on your list and write one of the following letters based on what you can do with that task:

E: Eliminate

A: Automate

O: Outsource

D: Delegate

K: Keep Doing

Keep Doing

The final stage of the task filtering hierarchy, is the ‘keep doing’ stage.

This method may only be used if there is absolutely no way whatsoever that it can be done in any other of the ways listed in the previous stages.

This is stuff that only you can do, such as high level strategy planning, the ‘you’ specific client consults or flagship IP courses, workshops and public speaking.  

It could be writing your blog posts, writing books, filming your educational videos and sales videos as the ‘face’ of your business.  

Of course these are not the only things that could fall under you, but make sure that there really is no way that this could not be replicated.  Even sales calls can be outsourced.

When items fall into this stage of ‘you need to do it yourself’, then make sure that you are charging for it accordingly.

This is the highest end of the spectrum in my pricing model as you are exchanging your personal time as ‘done with you’ or ‘done for you’ and thus are top of the price range.

Remember your hourly rate?  This better be that, but multiplied by a lot.

Conclusion

If you are to be successful and scale your business, it is essential that you streamline, automate and eliminate everything that will hold you back.

Too many of us entrepreneurs and course creators waste our precious and highly valuable time on things that we really shouldn’t be doing.

Be BRUTAL with what you spend your time on – focusing only on income generating tasks that align to your ONE goal.

I hope you found this useful!

Contributor name: Sarah Cordiner

Contributor website: www.sarahcordiner.com

As a small business owner, it’s important to be mindful of your spending. Cutting costs is one way to help ensure the success of your business so you can expand into a major corporation like Black Tie Moving Here are some tips on how you can cut costs as a small business owner.

Review your business expenses and cut out anything that is unnecessary

The first step to cutting unnecessary business expenses is reviewing what you’re spending your money on. Take a close look at your past invoices and compare them to your budget. Are there any areas where you’re spending more than you had planned? If so, see if there are any cheaper alternatives. For example, if you’re spending a lot on office supplies, see if you can buy in bulk or find a cheaper supplier. Once you’ve identified areas where you can save, make a plan to cut those expenses.

Shop around for better deals on office supplies, insurance, and other services

Shopping around for the best deals on office supplies, insurance, and other services is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. As a business owner, it’s important to remember that even small savings from supplier negotiations can add up over time. Having the most suitable job supplies and services in place can make the difference between success and failure. Investing the time upfront in comparing prices, offers, and contracts from different sources can be well worth it in the long run – both for your bottom line and for your sanity! All businesses should spend time researching options regularly to get the most value for their money.

Make use of technology to save money – for example, using Skype for conference calls instead of renting a meeting room

In today’s modern times, it is easier than ever before to save money and increase productivity with the help of technology. Instead of renting a costly meeting room, why not make use of Skype, which allows you to have multi-party video calls for free? Aside from saving on real-world costs like rent, you can also reduce additional expenses such as gas for travel by conducting your meetings virtually. Have fun with your conference call – why not share documents over the web or even play games during break time from your home? The possibilities are endless when using technology to cut down on costs. Put those savings towards other important matters and increase efficiency into the bargain.

Consider hiring freelancers or virtual assistants instead of full-time employees

Hiring freelancers or virtual assistants can be an efficient and cost-effective way to accomplish work. Instead of investing in the traditional full-time employee model, companies may want to consider having employees that they onboard on an as-needed basis. This approach allows them to select tasks they need to be completed without having to bring someone into their fold as a permanent fixture. When appraising the cost of freelance labor, it doesn’t take long to realize that not only do you get more flexibility and scalability using this kind of model, but you also save resources such as office space, benefits, and training costs. Plus, both freelancers and virtual assistants often have much sought-after niche skill sets, which can open possibilities for organizations that had previously been out of reach or financially unfeasible. In short, utilizing freelance labor or virtual assistants is certainly worth considering for your business needs and goals.

Overall, reviewing your expenses is one of the best ways to save money in a business. Find areas where you can cut out costs and make use of technology instead of relying on outdated methods. With the right strategies and research, you should be able to save a significant amount of money for your business. It may seem overwhelming at first, but once you establish a routine for yourself, it can become so much easier. Be creative and shop around whenever possible – this could result in significant savings that you weren’t expecting. There are many ways to save money in any given business, from cutting back on supplies to getting better deals on services. Hopefully, this blog post gave you some insight into how you can save more money while running your business or organization!