Posts Tagged ‘marketing plan’

The other day I was discussing productivity and time management with one of my private platinum clients.  She’s a brand new client and after reading her application, I noticed that although she is quite busy she rarely gets anything accomplished.  This is the difference between activity in your business and accomplishment in your business.

As small business owners we need to be keenly focused on our ability to get things done and not just on keeping busy for busy sake.

When you are engaged in activity you are busy doing things all day long.  You may move from one project to the next busily working.  At the end of the day you feel that you worked your butt off.  This concept of activity can be seen in most corporations — especially where people are engaged in “meetings.”  You’ ve probably experienced this yourself if you have ever worked in a job.  Meetings where nothing gets done; that’s activity!

Accomplishment is something very different.  When you are focused on accomplishment, you are super attentive on a particular project or task and you complete it in the time allotted or until it is finished.

Unfortunately, accomplishment is rather rare, whether it be in the corporate arena or in a small business.  But those who accomplish stand out in the crowd; and those who stand out, succeed.

Those businesses that fail to accomplish will ultimately fail, or worse yet, will be nothing more than so many other businesses.  Frankly, they will be mediocre.

Here are three strategies that I use to keep “accomplishing” in my business:

1. Develop A Marketing Plan:  My marketing plan consists of my one-year strategy which is then broken down into quarterly objectives, monthly activities, weekly assignments and daily accomplishments.  I learned this technique years ago when I had to write treatment plans.  This is an effective way to get your plan into bite-size manageable action items that easily turn into accomplishments.

2. Schedule Everything:  This is such an effective system.  I schedule everything into my outlook calendar.  Those daily accomplishments that I was referring to above are scheduled into my calendar.  I work on those items first so that I’m always working on THE most important tasks each day.

3. Review and Repeat: At the end of each day, I review what I had on my plan and prepare for the next day.  Sometimes this means adding daily accomplishments to my schedule that were not completed on the previous day.  No matter what, I’m always focused and actively working on my plan.

4. The More You Get Done, The More Money You Make: When you are laser focused on what you want to accomplish and then actually accomplish it, you make more money.  If you are wasting time, are unfocused and have no clear plan of how you will market your business, then you won’t be making the money you desire each and every month.  It’s that simple.

If you’re thinking that this sounds complicated and time consuming, nothing could be farther from the truth.  Your business requires strategy and planning.  Remember the old saying, “Failing to plan means planning to fail.”  The success of your business is at stake.

This week while on a couple of different calls,  I noticed a theme that kept coming up for my  new clients.  They all seemed to be completely and utterly overwhelmed with everything that was on their plate.

It struck me that what was missing in their work lives was a serious plan and commitment to carving out the space and time to attend to their business.  So we addressed the issue head on.

Here are a couple of great tips to help you tackle the overwhelm and start getting a handle on developing your dream business:

1. Marketing Takes Time

Realize that it takes about 3 hours a day to market your business effectively.  I just heard a thump…was it you falling off your chair onto the floor?  You heard me right.  3 hours each day.  I know that this sounds like a lot and, well it is a lot but the rewards will be even better once you reach your goals.

Try waking up an hour earlier each day in order to work on your marketing plan and strategies.  Spend less time doing things that are not going to build your business.  No matter how you accomplish this realize that you MUST find the time in your schedule to build your business, market your business and attract all the clients you want into your business.  In essence, you must make this a top priority!

2.  Create A Plan and Stick To It

Once you carve out more time to work on the most important aspects of your business stick to the plan.  Stop allowing all the other stuff to creep into your schedule and take priority.

One of  my client’s told me she loved to garden.  I said, “great, you can only garden in the early evening and weekend.”  Work time is work time and you shouldn’t be doing laundry, cleaning the house, or any other chore you can think of when you should be devoting your time and attention to your business.

3.  Rid Yourself of Everything That Drains You

You need to have  a lot of energy to successfully create and grow a business.  Maybe  you are engaging with people, activities and responsibilities that suck the life out of you.  Evaluate your current circumstances and begin to eliminate these energy drains immediately.

If you volunteer and it is a painful process – give it up.  If you have a friend that complains all the time and you really don’t enjoy her company – stop seeing her.  Make the hard decisions and reinvest your new found time and energy into your business success.

4.  Realize That You Should Be Focused On 3 Things and 3 Things Only

You should be focused on:

• Work with clients – If you get a client you are working with them as you should be.
• Marketing the business – Without the marketing activities you won’t have a business.  So get busy marketing!
• Working on your mindset – Our mindsets often stand in the way of our progress.  Sign up for a teleclass or read a great book that will help you consistently work on the mindset issues that come up for you.  It will be one of the greatest things you can do to move your business forward.

Follow these tips  and you will find a great return on your investment by doing these simple, but effective strategies.

The other day I was discussing productivity and time management with one of my private platinum clients. She is a brand new client and after reading her application I noticed that although she is quite busy she rarely gets anything accomplished.  This is the difference between activity in your business and accomplishment in your business.

Read on to learn more about the differences and how you can get more done!

As small business owners we need to be keenly focused on our ability to get things done and not just on keeping busy for busy sake.

When you are engaged in activity you are busy doing things all day long.  You may move from one project to the next busily working.  At the end of the day you feel that you worked your butt off.  This concept of activity can be seen in most corporations especially where people are engaged in “meetings”.  You have probably experienced this yourself if you have ever worked in a job.  Meetings where nothing gets done; that’s activity!

Accomplishment is something very different.  When you are focused on accomplishment, you are super attentive on a particular project or task and you complete it in the time allotted or until it is finished.

Unfortunately, accomplishment is rather rare whether it be in the corporate arena or in a small business.  But those who accomplish stand out in the crowd; and those who stand out, succeed.

Those businesses that fail to accomplish will ultimately fail or worse yet will be nothing more than so many other businesses; frankly, they will be mediocre.

My 83 year old mother was reading my business card the other day.  She read it aloud…Rise Above Mediocrity…DARE To Be Phenomenal. She asked me what it meant.  I said, “Well, ma what does it mean to you?”  Her reply, “To be tops”!

Do you want to be mediocre or do you want to be “Tops”?

Here are four strategies that I use to keep “accomplishing” in my business:

1. Develop A Marketing Plan: My marketing plan consists of my one year strategy which is then broken down into quarterly objectives, monthly activities, weekly assignments and daily accomplishments.  I learned this technique years ago when I had to write treatment plans.  This is an effective way to get your plan into bite size manageable action items that easily turn into accomplishments.
2. Schedule Everything: This is such an effective system.  I schedule everything into my Outlook calendar.  Those daily accomplishments that I was referring to above are scheduled into my calendar.  I work on those items first so that I am always working on THE most important tasks each day.
3. Review and Repeat: At the end of each day I review what I had on my plan and prepare for the next day.  Sometimes this means adding daily accomplishments to my schedule that were not completed on the previous day.  No matter what I am always focused and actively working on my plan.
4. The More You Get Done, The More Money You Make: When you are laser focused on what you want to accomplish and then actually accomplish it, you make more money.  If you are wasting time, are unfocused and have no clear plan of how you will market your business then you won’t be making the money you desire each and every month.  It’s that simple.

If you are thinking that this sounds complicated and time consuming nothing could be farther from the truth.  Your business requires strategy and planning.  Remember the old saying, “Failing to plan means planning to fail.”  The success of your business is at stake.

Feel you need help developing your strategy?  This is what I do best and can help you tackle this issue head on!  To learn more about my programs or to schedule a no obligation Get To Know You session email me today!