Strategic Planning

2022 Business Processes & Plans – Day 6

Strategic Planning / January 8, 2022

Four Weeks to Supercharging Your Marketing to Increase Profits

It’s the end of the week and the end of the series. Hopefully, there were some key takeaways for you that will help get your business processes and plans in order. So for the final time, let’s review this week’s tips.

Day 1: FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION & BOOKKEEPING – Organizing and streamlining the financial record keeping can help you analyze, strategize, scale, and grow your business.

 

Day 2: AUTOMATE WITH SYSTEMS – Automating with systems streamlines the daily functions of your business and allows it to scale & grow. Automation just allows you to reallocate your time and focus on what you feel matters more.

Day 3: CREATING WORKFLOWS – Choosing the proper workflow and systems for your business can allow you to have the time to focus on your craft, while generating revenue for your business.

Day 4: TIPS FOR GOAL SETTING – Make time to set your goals. The key is to be strategic and take small steps to ensure you are always working on your goals.

 

Day 5: Practice setting boundaries. Honor them. Revisit, reevaluate, then reinforce having healthy boundaries.

 

So for the finale in this series, here are tips to supercharge your Marketing in four weeks.

 

If you want to be successful at online marketing there are several things you can do to increase your chances. The first is to sit down and think about everything that needs to be done in your business to make it a success. After product discovery and / or creation; marketing needs to be tops on that list. Marketing sometimes can be left to the wind. But, if you really want to be successful, you have to place a priority on it.

 

WEEK ONE – PLANNING AHEAD

One of the most important things you can do to ensure marketing success is to plan in advance what you will be marketing and the different ways in which you will do so for any given product or service. It’s not a “one and done” proposition. It takes a few weeks to get the message out and get people to answer your calls to action. They’ll need to see them in multiple ways. Create a separate plan for each product and marketing channel. 

 

WEEK TWO – EMAIL MARKETING

Arguably the most important way to earn money, practically on demand, is to build a healthy email list full of hungry prospects. Make it your goal to fill your list so that you can market your products and services repeatedly to your audience in a more direct way. Create ongoing campaigns for your autoresponder segmented by where, when and how a prospect signs up for your list. If you know in advance what you will write about on your blogs, social media and in email marketing, you’ll be more successful.

 

WEEK THREE – SMART PROMOTION TACTICS

You’ve likely read a lot about promotional tactics but some of what you read just doesn’t feel right. The fact is you don’t have to resort to sleazy tactics to succeed at earning money online. You can market your products with integrity and pride because all the products you create and find are exactly what you claim they are. No marketing “puffery” required. When you are proud of your products or services, you can promote them on social media, within blog posts, and in email and feel great about it. There is never a reason to feel guilty about making money from your products and services when they are of high quality.

 

WEEK FOUR – GETTING EXPOSURE

Even if your business is 100 percent online, getting exposure may require that you step outside of your comfort zone and start using other mediums such as social media postings, podcasts, online radio interviews, guest blogging, speaking engagements and more . You might also want to look into strategic joint ventures and/or pay per click advertising on Google or Facebook.

 

Planning out what you will do each week, then simply repeating it every time you have a new product or service will help you become more successful than you ever thought possible. If you play your cards right, the truth is, increasing your profits is simply a few weeks away.

 

Once again, I’m here to help you take the next step in your business journey and it all starts with strategy. Hopefully, this series has helped and if you have any questions, please reach out. For the new year and in recognition of 2022, mention code PCM to receive 22% off when you schedule a  Strategic Planning session with me. Click HERE to book your session today. In the meantime, for Strategic Success: Plan, Consult, & Manage!

2022 Business Processes & Plans – Day 5

Strategic Planning / January 8, 2022

It’s time for another recap of the previous four days.

 

Day 1: FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION & BOOKKEEPING – Organizing and streamlining the financial record keeping can help you analyze, strategize, scale, and grow your business.

Day 2: AUTOMATE WITH SYSTEMS – Automating with systems streamlines the daily functions of your business and allows it to scale & grow. Automation just allows you to reallocate your time and focus on what you feel matters more.

Day 3: CREATING WORKFLOWS – Choosing the proper workflow and systems for your business can allow you to have the time to focus on your craft, while generating revenue for your business.

Day 4: TIPS FOR GOAL SETTING – Make time to set your goals. The key is to be strategic and take small steps to ensure you are always working on your goals.

Now I would like to share with you about one of my favorite topics and tools: BOUNDARIES!

Intentionally taking time off to relax and regroup is a tool every entrepreneur needs to have in their toolkit. But this is necessary…very necessary! Doing can impact your mindset, performance, skills, and efficiency.  Rest and relaxation can enhance your ability to be more authentic, and drive better results in your business. Most people exhibit strenuous behaviors like overworking themselves, which can lead to a burnout. Setting relaxation time is just as important as finding that new client. The inability to rest and relax often stems from the lack of boundaries you’ve allowed. Boundaries are tricky. And sometimes, it can be scary. You may think that placing boundaries will offend others but having healthy boundaries can be very productive. Let’s explore some ways to have healthy boundaries and communicate them.

 

DETERMINE WHAT’S IMPORTANT

Make a list of things that are important to you and that you wish to no longer do. It could be something as simple as spending time with family or going out with friends. Many entrepreneurs often say they spend more time working their business than they did working on a job.  Anything that makes you uncomfortable is probably a boundary for you. List those things then eliminate the uncomfortability by creating boundaries to address them.

 

HOW MUCH IS YOUR TIME WORTH?

Have you ever walked into a busy doctor office for a same day appointment? No, they would have to fit you into their schedule to see you. You have to use the same attitude when it comes to your business. Your clients will respect your schedule based on their needs. The truth is that the most successful people have boundaries. Saying “no” and enforcing boundaries will show how valuable you are. It shows your time comes at a premium. This is not to say play games and pretend you’re unavailable. But as my business coach has often said, create more white space on your calendar. This gives you time to do work no one else can and allows for time to do the things that you WANT to do. Don’t feel ashamed of placing boundaries with your clients because it only shows that you are confident in your worth.

 

ENFORCE BOUNDARIES

Setting healthy boundaries can sometimes be difficult. Many times you are people-pleasing or fear offending a client. You have to start somewhere. Schedule your office hours. Block off time on your calendar. Set screen limits on your cell phone. Schedule ‘Do Not Disturb’ hours on your phone. Schedule family and meal times. Do these until it becomes second nature. It gets easier with repetition. Ask yourself if the situation is urgent or if it can wait.

 

BE FLEXIBLE

Do you have to have strict boundaries? Of course not! As my coach says, “you’re the boss of your life.” Being flexible sometimes is necessary. However, try to ensure these are one-off situations where boundaries can be easily reinforced. Always revisit, reevaluate and reinforce. And again, repetitive actions become habits. So keep reminding yourself that your well being comes first.

 

Practice setting boundaries. Honor them. Revisit then reevaluate, then reinforce your boundaries. In this case, done is better than none – even if it’s just one.

I’m here to help you take the next step in your business journey and it all starts with strategy. Because it’s a new year, mention code PCM to receive 22% off when you schedule a  Strategic Planning session with me. Click HERE to book your session today. In the meantime, for Strategic Success: Plan, Consult, & Manage!

2022 Business Processes & Plans – Day 4

Strategic Planning / January 8, 2022

 Lets review tips from the past three posts.

Day 1: FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION & BOOKKEEPING – Organizing and streamlining the financial record keeping can help you analyze, strategize, scale, and grow your business.

 

Day 2: AUTOMATE WITH SYSTEMS – Automating with systems streamlines the daily functions of your business and allows it to scale & grow. Automation just allows you to reallocate your time and focus on what you feel matters more.

Day 3: CREATING WORKFLOWS – Choosing the proper workflow and systems for your business can allow you to have the time to focus on your craft, while generating revenue for your business.

So, for the fourth post, let’s focus on Goal Setting.

In this New Year, we are completing goals. We have to be done with procrastination and staying in our heads. We need to rise above those pesky little nasty habits and get to work! The fastest and most efficient way to complete goals is just by taking the time to set them. Even if you only have a couple hours a week to dedicate to your goals, I promise you will see results! Happy results! The key to this is taking small steps to ensure you are always working on your goals. The time is now. Do not go another year living in your head and wasting time wishing. Here are some helpful tips for setting goals that will ensure you stay on track.

GET SPECIFIC

It’s important that you be honest with yourself and be specific about your desired results. Picture what the goal looks like when you’re finished. Entrepreneurs usually want to increase revenue each  year. As an example, you can set a goal that you want your business to increase revenue by 20%.

BE STRATEGIC

After you’ve become acquainted with whatever your goals are, now focus on what’s needed to accomplish them. This is Strategy. You will start with the end in mind and break each goal into smaller steps. The big picture will begin to form. These are good questions to ask yourself:

  1. How long would it take to complete this task?

  2. How will I accomplish this process?

  3. How do I measure my success?

  4. What does progress look like?

Finding a way to measure your progress can help you understand if the work you are putting into your task is beneficial in obtaining your goal. You can control how many times you advertise or market your service, but can you control the number of inquiries you receive? Gather the data and map out a plan to determine what action you can complete daily or weekly to get you closer to your goal.

COMMIT

This is the biggest step in this process. It’s imperative that you commit to your goal and put in the work! All your planning will be wasted if you don’t take action. Stick to your plan. Create systems and processes. Design a workflow. Set a reminder. Schedule time for yourself. Do it however it works for you, just do it!

Set goals. Be specific about your goals. Break them into smaller steps. Ask yourself clarifying questions. Commit to working your plan. Track your progress. Now turn around and list what has been accomplished! By the end of 2022, it will be more than you think.

As always, I’m here to help you take the next step in your business journey and it all starts with strategy. Because it’s a new year, mention code PCM to receive 22% off when you schedule a  Strategic Planning session with me. Click HERE to book your session today. In the meantime, for Strategic Success: Plan, Consult, & Manage!

 

2022 BUSINESS PROCESSES & PLANS, Day 3

Strategic Planning / January 7, 2022
Choosing the proper workflow and systems for your business can allow you to have the time to focus on your craft, while generating revenue for your business.

For Day 3, I want to share with you how creating workflows helps your business. But let’s review the previous two posts.

Day 1: FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION & BOOKKEEPING – Organizing and streamlining the financial record keeping can help you analyze, strategize, scale, and grow your business.

Day 2: AUTOMATE WITH SYSTEMS – Automating with systems streamlines the daily functions of your business and allows it to scale & grow. Automation just allows you to reallocate your time and focus on what you feel matters more.

Let’s continue!

Running a business by yourself can be tough. You can find yourself exhausted, depressed, and maybe even losing passion. Understanding that these feelings are normal, yet avoidable is the key to your success. Working with different companies has allowed me to understand the importance of workflows and systems. I’ve noticed that the most successful entrepreneurs prioritize running their business efficiently each month as well as focusing on the core activities. I’ve seen these individuals quickly outsource non-revenue generating tasks to focus on those  that will make them money. Choosing the proper workflow and systems for your business can allow you to have the time to focus on your craft, while generating revenue for your business. With that being said, I think it would appropriate for us to examine the best workflow and systems I’ve seen work for other companies to help you better understand the importance of these systems inside your business.

SALES

One of the main issues of working as a solopreneur or small business is that you get swamped with so many tasks, you forget to sell your product or service. I’ve seen it time and time again. However, it’s imperative for you to continue to find a way to focus on selling your services.. If you do not make more sales, you limit the amount of revenue you can make. Thus, your business growth halts. One way to beat that scenario is by making sure your workflow focuses on selling your product or service every day, regardless of the amount of work you must complete. Try blocking time on your scheduler, where you will focus on sales and business development. If you are more tech savvy, you can consider using different apps/websites to assist you with sales funnels. Ideally, you can always hire or outsource to a salesperson. The idea is to create a process or workflow to keep your sales process rolling which impacts revenue.

INITIAL INQUIRIES

What good is having a Sales workflow if inquiries are responded to? If there isn’t a  business process set up to respond to new inquiries, it can have a detrimental effect to the success of your business. To prevent this, automated responses can be set up to respond to inquiries. It’s like putting your business on autopilot. There are several ways you can do this.

1. Set up a business email which is dedicated to inquiries. An example is inquires@yourbusiness.com. Then you can set up the emails from this mailbox to have priority in your main inbox. This will cause all the inquiries to show as a priority and at the top of your emails so that they cannot be overlooked.

2. A very affordable but simple alternative is to use a CRM like Dubsado or Honeybook which can be set to automatically send a reply.

3. Hire a freelancer or contractor to respond to inquiries.

FEEDBACK

Have you ever worked on a project that involved constant feedback from a client? Having a workflow for this important step can be very helpful to ensure that every client sends their feedback. I’ve witnessed a lot of projects get pushed back by waiting on this important piece. In turn, your revenue takes a dive because the payment for the project is also pushed back. If you need clients to send feedback or files, again I recommend a CRM like Honeybook or Dubsado which would automate this process and make it easier and less time consuming. For more tech friendly freelancers, it’s easy to integrate these software to  trigger workflow responses by the number of days before a project starts, number of days before a payment, and the number of days before the project is completed. There are other helpful tools and resources that can help your business workflow in an automated way.

REFERRALS & TESTIMONIALS

Without a doubt, word of mouth is still the number 1 way to get clients. So, you want to create a workflow which will elevate your business AND bring in new clients; essentially, create a way for potential clients to get started with your company. Upon completion of work, always send an email asking your client for a testimonial or review. Another powerful way to make an impact is by asking your client if they know anyone who can benefit from services and skills. You can automate these responses in a workflow in CRM such as Dubsado or Honeybook. Or personalize them by making the phone calls yourself.

The key to a successful workflow is to identify where time is being wasted. Create workflows which will resolve these issues each time they arise. Once the kinks are all out of the workflow, you will see your business become more streamlined, automated,  and produce more revenue with less time or stress.

As always, I’m here to help you take the next step in your business journey and it all starts with strategy. Because it’s a new year, mention code PCM to receive 22% off when you schedule a  Strategic Planning session with me. Click HERE to book your session today. In the meantime, for Strategic Success: Plan, Consult, & Manage!

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