Being a small business owner often means wearing a number of different hats. How many of you act as the CEO, the general manager, the accountant, the salesperson, the computer technician, the secretary, the receptionist, etc.?
Many entrepreneurs try to chase too many targets at once and end up overwhelmed rather than focusing on their business. They spend all their energy carrying out daily tasks leaving little time for the most important part of their business - their own business!
To avoid this, spend some time focusing on your business and decide which strategies will be most helpful in developing your own marketing plan. In order to grow and succeed in your business, you first need to have a crystal clear idea of what you want to do and where you want to go. In other words, have you defined your objectives? And more importantly, have you put them in writing?
This was actually a new concept for me. In the French culture they are not used to doing this and when I tried to teach it to some of my French clients, they just thought I was nuts! But I understand why because it took me a while before I decided to give it a try. My thoughts were that I had always managed to get what I wanted without the need to write my objectives down. But since so many people here were already applying this concept to their business, I decided not to be stubborn and give it a go too.
Wow! Since I have been using this concept everything has moved so much faster!
Writing my objectives on a weekly basis and being very specific in each area of my business has given me the opportunity to create strategic alliances with other entrepreneurs, triple my database, double my revenue last year and write a book. I am now also working on numbers of new projects with people who I could never have expected to meet or work with just a couple of years ago.
Now my big dreams are a reality!
I love the way people do business in the US. I don’t know if you realize it but you are very lucky. You have all the tools to succeed, but do you use them?
When you write your objectives on a weekly or monthly basis it makes you actually work on them and act faster. If you are not specific and just say, “I will have money, or I will have more clients,” then yes, these things will come, but the question is ‘when’? You don’t have any deadline to accomplish them! But if you decide that by May 30th you will have 6 new clients, you will then do something in order to get those clients instead of praying or waiting to see if this will happen.
In my last networking event, I asked my members, “What are your goals for the next 30 days?” Some answered without hesitation while others had to think about it. And somebody told me, “Thanks Prince for reminding me that I need to work on my goals, I had actually forgotten about it”.
I found that the best way of incorporating time for your objectives and marketing plan into your schedule is to set up an appointment with yourself. And whatever happens, even if there is a client emergency, never cancel this appointment with yourself.
Make a decision that once a month or once a week you will spend an hour or two working on your business, focusing on: strategies to get more clients, new products or services to offer, special campaigns to make more sales and writing articles to post on your newsletter, newspapers or ezine directories to promote your business. The more links you get, the more traffic you will receive on your website (by the way, do you have a website? If not this should be one of your objectives for the next 30 days). Do you have a newsletter? This is the easiest and cheapest way to communicate on a regular basis with your clients and prospects, in order to promote and grow your business. This can be another objective for the next 30 days.
Take the time to plan strategies that will help to grow your business. Consider yourself as your most important client. Do for yourself what you do for your clients. Your business needs all your attention, all your energy and all your dedication. Your future and your success depend on it.
If you need help with organizing your ideas or working on your marketing plan, join my boot-camp starting on May 3rd. And just as I have done for my previous clients, I will help you to save a great deal of time and money.
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