 Should have. Could have. Would have. My business is up and running phew! I work with many start-ups and small businesses owners. I love the passion, but I also recognize what may not work. What does work is goal setting. #sorryNotsorry. It has to be done. This week's blog post is about setting up a plan to put you on the track to achieving progress in your business in year one and can also be used for the business owner who is looking for techniques to focus and attain new goals. Create A 3 Month / 6 Month / 1 year business plan Many business owners get caught up in the trap of "preparing" to launch their business. I call it a trap because often the launch gets pushed back because "It's not the perfect time." perhaps your website is delayed, your business cards are not perfect, one of your product items are not ready.  One of my 6 month goals was to start attending networking events. Check! Before you start your business: List out your launch date as the hard date (the must do) and then list out your tasks to be completed in order to launch. Now work backwards. Where do you want to be in 1 year? • Is it about the amount of clients you wish to have? • Your take home or how a total of products or services sold? • Is it that you want to leave the day job and do your dream job full-time? Write It Down! 3 months Where do you want to be? This is where you write down and no more than 2 action items for your business that will take you to the next level of where you would like to be at the end of 3 months. They could be: • setting up your social media profiles and sharing posts that will assist you to your goals of more page views, email list building, sales on your site or leads. • Attending a certain number of Networking events to connect with the right people and allow you build the right connections. • Listing out everyone that you meet that inquired about your business, or that you connected with at an event and studying why did a sale go through with some and why it it did not go through with others. This allows you to work towards being able to point out who your target customer is sooner than later. 6 Months Where do you want to be? This is where you write down and no more than 2 action items for your business that will take you to the next level of where you would like to be at the end of 6 months. They could be: • A website rebrand. Now that you have been in business for 3 months you are a bit wiser. You know exactly who your target customer is and are more clear on how to reach them. • You want to have more visitors going back to your site as opposed to staying on your social media platforms. Social media is like the blind date. They like you... Now it's time to get them to get them to your home for the romantic dinner. • Start a blog. This adds current content to your website and shows your site visitors that you are definitely open for business. It is also great for your SEO. Google loves fresh content! • Rethink how you connect with leads. Can you stream line your process and meet them via Zoom, Skype or Facebook face to face chat? Now I have not listed a 9 month plan. At this point the this is the perfect opportunity to revisit the goals that you have listed and are working on. Do they need some tweaking? Do you have to pivot a little to get back on track? Are they moving you towards the one year goal? Is there a goal that should be dropped? Maybe it is not working. As you build your business, you do find at times that something is not working or not as important. And that is OK. There is no shame in this. It's is awesome if you can spot this and be big enough to move your attention elsewhere. You can add another goal as long as it is not one that distracts and it helps you to the next level at the end of the year. Or you can just lighten the load and focus only on the current goals. I hope you found value in this post. I myself am working on a Service Launch for January 2018. If you click this link you will be the first to know about it in January. It is under wraps but as a thank you for joining my list you will be sent an exclusive Promo Code a month before launch. So are you a start-up or established business? What are some of the action items that you will be doing to get you to the next level? Please share in the comments below! 
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 As a Social Media and Digital Strategist, it is my goal to empower you to use online strategies to increase your presence, engagement, and sales to take your brand to the next level. I accomplish this through results driven social media. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? What I share for your business through social media is directly connected with your business goals. From increased page views, to list building, to sales - your online strategy will allow you to leverage your business online. Plans start with scheduled posts, growing your followers (who will engage and support your brand) to branded images, Ad design and more. And let's not forget. I will always provide you with analytics and insights reporting. Read more and see which plan suits you! LITE - All the basics for starting a new business
PLUS - Everything you need for a growing business Develop a Digital Strategy to achieve measurable business goals
  At first I considered this to be a set back. Initially I was ecstatic that more leads were coming my way. Unfortunately, many of them were falling through. Not once have I ever felt like giving up. I was just at a loss as to what I was doing wrong. I discovered the problem. I was thinking small. I came across a podcast featuring Sales Coach Melinda Chen. She helps female entrepreneurs sell to big clients. Melinda shared a conversation she had with an executive who noticed she was always contacting smaller clients. He asked her, "... How are you ever going to sell to big clients if you're surrounding yourself with small clients?" Light bulb! Honestly, I know my fees are extremely competitive, but as long as I only focused on the start-up business owner my prices would be considered too high. This week my strategy has changed. My mantra is now "Think Big". I have been following Melinda's blog and here are some positive and uplifting facts I've learned: - Big companies are actually easier to deal with than small companies. They have the ability to maintain long-term relationships with you. - You don't have to be a conglomerate before selling to larger companies. - You don't have to have big bucks to advertise your business. Some of the ways you can market your company? Content Creation, social media, PPC to name a few. This week I have started a Business Page on LinkedIn. Research says that in terms of business social media, this is one of the better platforms to be on. Also I will be investing in ads on LinkedIn and in order to do so you have to have a business page. I have developed a routine to blog at least once per week, and then share my content. I have created an ad budget and changed who I now market to.I have timelines and goals. I want to to work smarter not harder. It's time to think big. Are you a small business thinking big? How did you change your strategy?  |
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