Take a step back and examine your business

You are a busy person right? Most people are. Few people would stand up and say they have nothing to do. The big question is though, all this work you are doing, is it helping you? Is it developing your business or is it just simple tasks that need to be done?

Are you spending all day replying to emails, processing orders, ordering office supplies, packing boxes? If you are, then it sounds like your business is doing quite well. You are obviously getting a decent amount of business. Enough to keep you busy at least.

So the business is busy – what is the problem?

Well whilst things are going well, your business can not grow like this. You are focusing on the short term. As an entrepreneur you need to be able to take yourself out of the business and look at the bigger picture. You need to focus on the long term growth of the business.

A good way of realizing this is to write down a detailed account of your daily activities for a week, or maybe even a month. Then work out just how much time you are dedicating to growing the business. This type of activity can include streamlining processes, new business development and company strategy. I think you will find you are actually neglecting this type of activity and getting swamped by the day to day. If you step back and think about this, you could employ someone to do this allowing you to focus on growing the picture.

This is a very common problem whereby entrepreneurs struggle to give up control in their business. It is normal to fear giving up control, and to start with no one will be able to do the job as well as you. You need to train people to do these tasks and in time, if you hire the right person they will grow into the role and before you know it, will become indispensable. Once you do not have to worry about the day to day you will free up time to focus on the business as a whole.

The first thing you should look for are inefficient processes. What are you doing which could be done much more easily and save time and money? Almost every business has processes which need to be streamlined but no one has had the time to look into it. We tend to fall into routines, and many people like routine in their life. Wheninefficient processes become routine, they can go unnoticed. Break free of routines. It will be hard to start with, but you will be glad you did later.

The next step is to revise your strategy and tactics. You need a clear growth plan outlining what your goals are and how you will achieve them. What is currently limiting your growth? Knowing this will allow you to adjust accordingly.

This information is really little more than common sense to those who understand it. The truth is that most entrepreneurs fail, and the reason is that they get too caught up on the day to day working in their business, as opposed to working on their business. There is a big difference.

How long do you spend working on your business a week? Do you struggle to give up control?

Top tips for dealing with technical problems

1 Make many friends

How many times have you been told it is not what you know but who you know? We all hit technical difficulties at some point. Even the most seasoned IT pro does. It is impossible to know everything so it is essential to network and make valuable contacts who you can call on. You could just make friends with one tech guru, but everyone is busy, and you need to think ahead. How many times can you call on someone for favours? Can I offer them something of equal value in return? You should always pay your contacts for any services, even if they do not ask for payment. Let them know you value their time.

2 Investigate the problem

So your having technical issues. Do not just give up immediately and call in back up. Phoning a contact, and just saying “it is broken” is very unhelpful and does not let them assess how much time they will need to dedicate to you. If you let them know exactly what the issue is then they could help you on the spot over the phone, or know to bring spares etc. A quick search online using the error message or describing the nature of your problem can often provide valuable answers. Many experts write excellent solutions and post them free of charge online. Take advantage of this.

3 Invest in support

If you have no one who works in the business who can troubleshoot your IT problems, then it is probably wise to invest in an IT support contract. Almost all business’ are reliant upon IT in this day and age and it can be tragic when systems go down. Whilst IT support contracts may seem pricey, think of the lost revenue and time wasted when your IT systems are not working. Really it is a no brainer. Relying on favours from contacts is not the way to go. When it is a favour you have little control and it is hard to demand urgent service and even harder to ask for compensation when the work done causes further damage. Keep business relationships as formal as possible
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4 Learn from your mistakes

If you do have a technical problem, do not just get it fixed. Make sure you are fully aware of what the problem was, what caused it and how it was fixed. This way next time you will be able to either fix it yourself or know exactly what needs to be done. Providing this information will often lead to a considerably less expensive repair bill. Having a good idea of your support history can help save time and money by enabling you to predict what equipment needs replacing, and what is reliable.

Conclusion 

Ask any IT guy and they will have no end of stories about people forgetting to plug something in, or not turning a machine on. Please do not be another one of these stories and make sure you have at least tried the basics. You want your contacts to value your relationship, and not regret ever meeting you. Be respectful of their time.

Do you have an IT guy or several? Is your relationship more about taking than giving?

Do not make yours just another newsletter

If you are interested in marketing in general, and more specifically online marketing, then you will know all about email newsletters. They are invaluable and people have made a name for themselves from selling through their email lists. Having a newsletter is literally a list of potential leads, which you can contact quickly and easily with very little effort and have a good conversion rate. This is the theory at least. Is this the reality though? The answer is of course no.

Why you should have a newsletter
Lets recap quickly the reasons you should have a newsletter. Firstly, to inform your subscribers of new products, and special offers. This is the main and often only reason for most businesses. It is also a great way to let people know about changes in the company, any issues such as product recalls, and to offer some industry news. It gives you the opportunity to build a relationship and therefore trust.

So the question your all thinking about is – if everyone else’s newsletters are doing all these marvelous things and bringing in a constant stream of sales, why is mine not? The simple answer is that almost every business offers some form of newsletter, and yours is simply just another newsletter. Imagine this – if every product we buy has a newsletter, we will end up with inboxes flooded by newsletters. It is simply not feasible to expect people to read every newsletter.

Getting people to read your newsletter
How can I make people read my newsletter? Getting people to subscribe to your newsletter is a big step. They have made a commitment and shown some trust in you. Now you need to reinforce that and make sure you give them a reason to keep on reading. We set ourselves apart quite simply by offering value. The key is to make your newsletter a lot more than a sales pitch. People do not like being sold to, but they do like buying.

Some guidelines to follow:

• Form a relationship with your readers by letting them know more about you or your company.

• Offer free information and products to your subscribers.

• They are subscribed because they are interested in your product, so by all means let them know about them. Let them know about industry news and developments.

There are no rules or guidelines for newsletter format. Some may prefer to release a regular newsletter perhaps monthly, or even weekly, letting people know what is going on. Others may only send out newsletters when they have something to say. Both are fine. Just make sure you have a good balance between keeping your subscribers informed and interested, and overloading them with information and cluttering their inboxes. Your subscribers are willing to give you some of their time, but not all of it. Be respectful and aware of this and you will do well.

There is no doubt newsletters are very useful tools and should be part of your sales process. How do you make your newsletters stand out? What reasons are you giving people to keep reading?

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