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Tag: solopreneur
Update profiles regularly when using social media for business
First of all, if you aren’t using social media for your business you probably could benefit from it. How to use social media for promoting your business is more complex than can be covered in one article, but watch for future articles explaining some of the benefits of using social media to promote your business. For starters, it’s mostly free of monetary cost and has a huge reach. No matter what your business is, your customers are probably hanging out somewhere on the social sites.
If you’ve been reading my articles or been in my community for any time, you probably know I love processes and systems. Any time you have to do a task over and over, it pays to create a simple system for doing it. Make sure to also include an automatic reminder so you don’t have to remember to do the task. I use this strategy for updating the profiles I use to promote my business.
I recommend you keep a simple, clickable list of the social media profiles you use for business, including any you use mainly for personal use and update (or at least review) them monthly. It should take under half an hour unless you have a very large number of profiles you are using for social media. If you aren’t in the habit of updating regularly, this may seem like a lot of updates. I hardly ever looked at my profiles when I first started using social media for business. It seemed like something to do once and then the goal was to provide regular content. Once I started checking monthly though, I was surprised at how often I changed my language, tag lines, current service array and activities. I’m learning constantly, so often I take a look and realize I haven’t put my newest bit of knowledge into a profile. Your profile is a really important piece of your social media strategy, so it’s important to keep improving it.
One month is a good interval to use for updating the social media profiles you use for business. It’s long enough that you’ll have a fresh outlook every time you look, and short enough that you won’t have information out of date for very long.
When using social media for your business, don’t treat your profiles like a one-time task – they are business asset and the first impression your new connections have of you.
Are you an introvert?
If so, come out of hiding and treat yourself right!
I read this article this morning on how to care for an introvert, and in addition to giving tips on how to care for an introvert, there’s great information introverts can use to care for themselves. Have a read and come back to the rest of the post.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/2696/
First of all, let me say that I am an introvert. If you know me in real life, that may be shocking because I’m social, have friends, love to talk and even love public speaking. But as pointed out in the article, there’s a lot of incorrect ideas about what an introvert is. I’m not shy, housebound or miserable. I am exactly like the introvert described in the article. When I do social things, I need lots of time by myself to recover. There’s a limit to how many social events I can do in a day or a weekend.
You can tie this into your business by making sure your business aligns with your natural, comfortable personality type. I love working one-on-one with people, but only have so much energy for that. I realized late last year that I was spending too much time working one-on-one with people, and now I’m leading group programs and working on information products as well as working with just a few one-on-one clients.
Does your current business work for your personality? If you are an introvert, are you draining yourself by spending too much time with people? If you are an extrovert, are you feeling like you’re missing out because you spend too much time working alone at home? Have you adjusted your business to a better mix for you? If so, tell me about it in the comments.
If you recognize yourself here and want to adjust your business accordingly, let’s talk! Click here to schedule a free strategy session.
Minimize non-productive work
What does “non-productive work” even mean? If I’m working, isn’t that by definition productive? After all, I have to be on Facebook for my business don’t I? I have to go to that cocktail party networking mixer right? How can I stay informed if I don’t read blogs? That’s work, not goofing around right?
Well, yes, those things are work. To a degree. That’s why I suggest minimizing that time, not eliminating it.
The trap with these types of activities is that they are fun. Who wouldn’t rather got to a mixer in a trendy bar than stay home and write articles, work on strategy, balance your checkbook or file that pile. The problem is that these activities, in many cases, don’t pay off well enough to invest massive time in them. But they are fun, so it’s tempting to spend too much time on them and justify it because after all it is work you know.
What’s the answer?
- Decide what you want from those efforts (leads, sales, contacts, traffic, etc) and see if you can find a way to get that. If not, give consideration to letting the activity go.
- Challenge any preconceived notions you have about things you “have to” do. If you really can’t let something go, figure out the minimum you need to do to sustain your business and come up with the fastest, lowest effort way to do that (I favor checklists).
- If you decide to hang onto an activity that doesn’t produce results, acknowledge that you are doing the activity primarily for fun. Enjoy it and celebrate the opportunity your business provides.
- While you are evaluating the effectiveness of your activities, try to set some numeric goals. For example, if you say you want leads from your networking activities, now many would make it worthwhile? How will you keep track? How many hours of networking effort are you willing to put in for each lead? Which events are the generating the most leads?
- If you choose to continue a low-results activity, make sure to pick the best of the available options. If you love social networking but don’t get much in the way of results from it, at least spend your time on the network where you get the most results.
What fun-but-not-productive activities are you considering modifying? Tell me about it in the comments. I’ll be sharing my big shift in this area soon!
Find an hour or more per week easily
Ok, here’s a quick tip that’s not strictly business.
I’ve known about home grocery delivery for years, but never tried it until today. I saved at least an hour and a half and a lot of energy. What could you do with an extra hour and a half and some extra energy every week?
Here’s the highlights:
- It was only $6.95 for the delivery, and the driver wouldn’t even take a tip.
- I was able to find a lot of the foods we eat, which is surprising because we keep a vegan household and don’t use many packaged foods. A partial list of what we got: almond milk, tofu, grapes, fresh tomatoes, cashews and canned beans.
- The driver puts the bagged groceries on your kitchen table. No lugging bag after bag from the car!
- The process was smooth and included options where you could specify your rules for substitutions. You could also make a request to the person picking your order.
- They did miss two items, but one quick call and my credit card was credited.
So, back to business. What could you do with an hour and a half per week that would make this pay for itself? Considering taxes and overhead, you’d need to gross something like $14 for example to make this worthwhile. Leave a note in the comments and tell me if you’ve ever used this service or plan to, and more importantly what you did with the time and energy you gained. If you’re a business owner who doesn’t have a way to make at least $14 in a newly-found hour and a half, let’s talk! Click the link below to schedule your free strategy session today!
Make use of holiday slow time, part 3
This is part 3 of a 3 part series. Click here for part 2.
The final idea I have to share about making use of a slow time in your business is to use the time to create processes and systems for things you do regularly. I’ve seen many business owners get caught up in reinventing the wheel for tasks they do all the time. My rule is this: the first time you do a repeating task, write down the steps you think you need to do in order to complete the task. As you do the work, adjust your list and add notes to help you next time. The second time you do it, work from your list and again improve it based on what you learned. By the third time, you should have a pretty solid process that continues to change over time as needed. The more you can systematize and document repeating tasks, the more efficient you’ll be at doing them. You’ll be less overwhelmed and it will be easier to start. Finally, if the time comes for you to hire some help, you’ll have a process in which to train the person not just an ill-defined result you want.
Don’t get stuck on making your processes perfect. Paper is fine to start with (and maybe for a long time after). Don’t worry too much about formatting or formality. This isn’t for your customers, it’s just to make you more efficient.
Here are some ideas on processes you might want to start with:
- sorting and filing paperwork
- bank, credit card and cash reconciliations
- data entry
- compiling your newsletter
- cleaning and maintenance
- opening and closing if applicable
Give it a try! Leave a comment if you have any other processes you can write up.
Make use of holiday slow time, part 2
This is the second of a 3-part series on how you can use your time if business is slow right now. Click here for part 1.
If your business is slow right now, it’s a great time to set up your files for 2011. For the next few months, most of us will be in transition with files – not quite ready to store 2010 but in need of places for 2011 paperwork. Start by finishing any filing you have right now. Any files you keep by year (bank records, vendor payments, utility bills, etc) should be pulled out and boxed for storage but not removed from your workspace yet. You’ll need those 2010 files as the last of 2010 paperwork dribbles in during early January and you’ll probably need them to file your 2010 taxes. Set up new files for 2011 using the same categories if they worked well for you in 2010. It’s a great feeling to be ready when those first few transactions of the new year happen and you are ready for them. Keep your 2010 files nearby in their boxes until you stop getting 2010 paperwork and your taxes are filed. At that time, it’s a good bet you won’t need them much so you are safe moving them to less convenient storage.
Click here for the last part in the series where I’ll give you one more really useful thing you can do right now if you aren’t serving as many customers as usual.
Is your business slow right now?
If so, you can use this time to help make 2011 a great year. By getting ready now, you can hit the ground running on that first day back to work after the new year and not waste any time figuring out what to do. You’ll want to work on both your big picture plan and some detail items as well.
Here are some ideas to help you do some planning for 2011 right now:
If you haven’t done any planning for 2011, aim for a simple plan since it’s already December 16. Next year, you can start earlier and be more detailed and complex. Start by looking at a calendar (electronic or paper) and write in all the big events you already know about, including both personal and professional. Some ideas to get you started: holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, yearly family events, school events, community events, business events, medical issues and big personal projects like home improvement.
Knowing these events and date ranges ahead of time will help you know when you may be less available to work or simply less productive. Schedule your major business projects around these events. Look at what you want to accomplish in the year and set some time frames. Consider what projects need to be done before others. Look at how you can use yearly events in your marketing – think “back to school sale” or “summer seminar.” Make sure to schedule prep and marketing time before any events or products you launch.
Planning can be done on a much greater scale, but doing just this much should give you a good overview of the year. Knowing the order in which things are happening will help you prioritize what needs to be done first, and will help you know where you are in your yearly journey.
Along with planning, you’ll want to set some numerical targets for the projects you are planning. If you are doing a list-building project, how many new subscribers do you hope to gain? If you are doing some SEO or traffic building, what numbers would tell you you’ve been successful? You don’t always need specific numbers – sometimes just an idea or a direction will do. If you have 500 subscribers now and more than that after your list building project then you know it worked to some degree. If you’re trying to save time on something, the hours spent should be going down.
In my next post, I’ll tell you about how you can prepare your space and files for the new year.
Go ahead, be awesome!
If you’ve chosen your solopreneur business well, you’re probably doing something you are awesome at. It’s really easy to overlook your own greatness because it comes naturally to you. In order to serve others, it’s important not to overlook your own gifts because they are the tools you use to best
serve others. One of my most deeply held beliefs is that we are all born with strengths and weaknesses, and by serving others with our strengths, the world benefits. We get a bad message from society about “having a big head” or “being conceited,” but that’s not what this is about. Those messages are about somebody thinking they are superior to others because of their gifts, which isn’t the same as acknowledging your gifts and using them to serve others. Innate in this belief system is the fact that others have gifts that are just as valuable as yours, and in fact somebody has natural aptitude in an area you don’t. (And isn’t that a beautiful thing?)
How is this important for solopreneurs? A belief in yourself, your knowledge and skills is critical to serving others well and with integrity. If you don’t believe in the value of what you offer, how can people who need you be sure enough to buy? Self-doubt might cause you to hold back in serving others or trying new ideas and therefore deny the world the benefit of your full effort. A wise teacher once told me “It’s not arrogant to acknowledge and use your gifts, it’s arrogant not to.”
So how do you gain confidence in what you offer? Here’s a few tips:
- Set up mastermind sessions with other professionals. When you see your business through someone else’s eyes, you might be surprised at how much other people value you. You’ll also probably find that others have the same lack of confidence, which helps you to see how common it is.
- Ask past clients for testimonials. When you read a heartfelt expression of gratitude for your efforts, you’ll see the value of what you do.
- Get coaching for yourself and/or your business. The fact that you are willing to invest money in your business is a powerful statement about the value of your business, and the right person will help you see your greatness, get absolutely comfortable with it and use it to do amazing things in the world.
- Review your files and make a list of your successes.
Welcome!
Hi and welcome to my site!
I wanted to start my blog by explaining why I love solopreneur businesses. I spent the first few years of my career working for corporate America, and by the time I escaped I was so miserable I never wanted anything to do with business again. I took a few months off to travel the USA, and then some temp work led to a small consulting practice. By then I was in LA, where there were loads of creative types needing business help.
I still hadn’t quite gotten the right mix of services in my practice though, and closed the practice to spend a few years working in a non-profit serving the clients of the facility. I began getting interested in blogging, social media and web 2.0 stuff in early 2008, and in January of 2009 I launched my own solopreneur business as a professional organizer. Over time, I niched down further and further until I was just providing time management and productivity consulting for entrepreneurs.
From that specialized practice came my current business combining business experience, strategic thinking and productivity. I did a lot of masterminding with trusted colleagues, past clients and people who would be ideal clients. What came out of it is that my mission is to help solopreneurs with the business side of their work so they can focus on bringing their unique gifts to the world. I believe that solopreneur businesses are going to be a powerful force in the post-recession economy, and I see the amazing, positive change they bring to the world. I want to be part of that, to help you create a solid business foundation so you can do your work in the world.