Using a Time Management Plan in a Social Media Company

Time Management Plan

Time Management Plan in a Social Media Company

This week I’m writing about using a Time Management Plan in a Social Media Company. This is an intentional plan for investing your time wisely by blocking high-value activities into a default calendar as appointments and holding yourself accountable for executing them on time.

I have been writing about some of my hero clients and how we are achieving significant results. We have 36 Coaching Modules, which are areas within your business that fall under the broad categories of growth, profits, and freedom. So, when we improve your performance, your business will run better.

Starr’s Social Media Company

I met Starr, owner of a social media company when I was coaching another business that she was associated with. Starr is a very outgoing person who has a large network of small business owners that she interacts with. But she was not able to monetize her work with them to any significant degree. She was also having a difficult time collecting some of her fees. She was “wearing all the hats” in her business, and this was preventing growth in her business. Starr and her husband plan to retire in the Caribbean Islands in the next few years after growing their nest egg.

Strategic Plan, Cash Gap Plan, Employee Acquisition Plan, Billing Process, Pricing, Time Management

Starr filled out our Business Coaching Scorecard and we identified several areas to work on. These included the Strategic Plan, Time Management, Cash Gap Plan, Employee Acquisition Plan, her billing process, and her pricing.

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Time Management Focus For Starr’s Social Media Company

With her Time Management Plan, we first identified where she was spending her time. I believe in the Pareto Principle that states that we get 80% of our results from 20% of our efforts. We conducted a time study and realized that she was spending way too much time on some tasks. These included collections, administrative tasks, and posting on social media on behalf of her clients. So, we decided that she needed to focus more on clients and sales. This way, she would need to delegate much of the posting work and automate her billing process. We also hired some team members to handle her postings.

Results For Starr’s Social Media Business

Her results with our Time Management Plan were rapid and significant. Here’s what Starr said:

“I am more focused, my office is organized, and my business has more than tripled. My business hours have decreased.”

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Congratulations Starr on your remarkable results in using a Time Management Plan in a Social Media Company! You are one of my business heroes and an inspiration to other business owners. You can view another case study using a team building system here.small business coach

Small Shop Ideas to Grow Your Business

Small Shop Ideas to Grow Your Business

So you have opened your shop and you are struggling. Join the crowd! Running a small business is not for the weak at heart. Many small businesses grow initially but then stagnate. However growing your small business is seen as a sign of achievement, accomplishment, and success. Below is a list of small shop ideas to grow your business.

The truth is that your small business is important not only to you but also to the community where you are located. Your impact is broader than you think. However, it is also true that when you have a small budget, it may be more difficult to reach your goals. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that it is impossible. What are some small shop ideas to grow your business?

7 Small Shop Ideas to Grow Your Business

Understanding that you have limited resources, here are the best 7 small shop ideas to grow your business:

#1: Network With Other Small Business Owners:

Small to medium size communities tend to have few businesses. Most small business owners know each other pretty well and they are used to helping each other out when needed. So, you want to join them.

All you need to do is to find them and partner with them. While not all of them may be open to the idea, there are others who still remember how they struggled when they opened their small shop and they give you a hand. When we started our first business we always told our “poor struggling business owner story” along with our dream or vision for our company. This endeared us to our clients and other local business owners.

When we talk about networking with other small business owners what we mean is to simply call them up and invite them to coffee or lunch. Attend local events. Or stop into their store when things are slow and introduce yourself.

#2: Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Social Media:

While you own a small shop and you may not even have a website, this doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of social media. Many small shops use a Facebook page as their website. Get your loyal customers to like your page and write five-star testimonials for you,

Social Media Can Payoff

Even though social media marketing involves some investment on your part(such as doing Facebook boosts), the good news is that it pays off when done right. After all, this is a powerful vehicle that can help you drive customers as well as increase awareness.

Please notice that you don’t need to have a presence on all social media networks. Just do some digging first and discover the ones that tend to work better for your industry. It’s better to do one form of marketing well until you get results from it before you move on to the next one.

#3: Do Some Public Speaking:

Many small shop owners tend to believe that public speaking can be a waste of time. However, this gives you a chance to show your small shop and talk directly to people.

Trade shows and conferences are a great place to meet people in your area and with different backgrounds. Besides speaking, you will also be able to hang around small business owners just like yourself and learn a couple of things while teaching others at the same time.

Public speaking is one of the things that can give you and your small shop credibility and authority. So, why waste this opportunity?

Being comfortable with performing in front of an audience and having advanced public speaking skills is crucial if they’re attending conferences and hoping to showcase their company. Consider using online resources and participating in training on public speaking skills that can help you improve your confidence and success in public speaking. Training designed to improve public speaking and presentation skills is a great way to receive constructive feedback prior to delivering any important presentations.

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#4: Engage With Local Organizations And Charities:

Helping charities and other nonprofits will connect you to successful business people who care and are helping the community. Doing good for others will also attract a lot of positive things to your side. While financial donations cost money, you can donate other things such as your time and your facility. Think about times when your business is slow and create offers to help during that time.

In case helping others isn’t motivating enough for you, think that you are also helping yourself and your small shop. After all, when you live and work in a small community, people will know that you are a giver and they will look at you as someone who is helping a local cause. Besides, charitable donations are tax-deductible.

#5: Get Personal With Your Customers:

One of the best ways to grow your small shop business is to get personal with your customers.

One of the main difficulties many small shop owners need to deal with is that they just can’t have more competitive prices. Make sure that you focus on quality, and then you can command higher prices. This involves not only the quality of the products or services that you are selling but also the quality of your service and how you handle customers.

Repeat customers are hard to get. Focusing on a more personal approach is one of the best ways to get them to come back for more.

#6: Make People Notice You:

If you recently opened your small shop and you are struggling, it’s time to consider whether you are marketing it enough or if you are simply opening your doors during the day.

One of the things that most new small shop owners think is that customers will come on their own. They think that customers will see that you have a door open for business and they will enter and buy multiple products or services. Unfortunately, things don’t quite work this way.

Ways to Make People Notice Your Business

Make sure that you hand out flyers, make cold calls, put ads on the local newspaper that you know people from your community reads. Attend networking events and referral groups. There are many different things you can do so people notice you.

#7: Establish Good Relationships With Your Suppliers:

Business relationships are important for all businesses. But they tend to be particularly important when we are talking about small shops.

The reality is that when you build good relationships with your suppliers, your community will have a good impression of you and, consequently, about your small shop. So, they will see it as a friendly place they can visit and they can even become loyal customers.

Thinking more about the short-term, when you have a good relationship with your suppliers, they can offer you some advantages like extending longer credit terms for you.

Conclusion

While growing a small shop is no easy task, there are many things you can do to grow it. These are just some of the small shop ideas to grow your business that you can implement. However, there are plenty more. Here are some tips on The Basics of Digital Marketing.

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Inbound Marketing : Is Your Business Missing the Boat?

Inbound Marketing

Let’s talk inbound marketing. It amazes me that many business owners are not harnessing the power of inbound marketing to generate sales and leads for their business. Inbound Marketing is marketing focusing on getting found by potential customers who are already looking for your service or product. Unlike most other forms of advertising it is most often not an interruption to what you are doing.

Inbound Marketing : Is Your Business Missing the Boat?

Inbound MarketingIncorporating Inbound Marketing is not as difficult as you might think! Here are a couple key components:

Blogs – There are many benefits to blogging. One of the primary benefits is that you are able to establish yourself as an expert in your field by sharing your knowledge through your blog.
Blogging can give you a real advantage over your competitors.

Let’s say my wife is looking for a new hair stylist. She would start her search online either via Facebook or Google. She may ask her friends on Facebook who they use or just search something like “Salon Greenville.” Out of the websites that she is referred to either by her Facebook friends or Google, if there is one that has a blog they will have a decided advantage. Why you ask? The hair stylist blog will consists of hair care and styling tips (Expertise) and depicts the personality of the stylist. We do business with people we know, like, and trust. The blog gives you the ability to build that relationship with your prospects and clients. Another advantage of the blog is that search engines love blogs. It adds more content (Keywords, Headlines, Links, etc) and search engine spiders will crawl your site more often if it is updated frequently.

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Advanced Tip Alert! – Add a call to action to your blog posts. Carrying over from the example I just used, let’s say Sally, the hair stylist, did a blog about how to care for color treated hair (not sure of the terminology hair pros use but I think that is right) and at the end of the post mentioned that thru the end of the month they are running a special on a special shampoo used on colored hair with a link to buy it form her online store. Cha- Ching!

Social Media – As I pointed out earlier, Facebook often acts as a referral source for many businesses. We trust the advice of our friends when seeking out products and services. So if my wife is referred to a stylist by one of her Facebook friends, she will be inclined (since she is already there) to see if they have a Facebook page. It would blow her mind if when she searched for the particular stylist and not only did they have a Facebook page, but today they where offering a free bottle of her favorite hair care product with the purchase of a cut and color. Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner! She would be out the door and on the way to the stylist at light speed.

These are a couple of the elements of inbound marketing that can be effective for your business. I think you can see how search engine optimization and a professionally designed and optimized website would also aid in your quest to grow your leads and sales. There are numerous other elements and strategies that are employed with inbound marketing including video, landing pages, and email marketing. If you need assistance with your inbound marketing reach out to one of our heroes. We would love to talk with you and discuss how we can help you grow your customer base.

Doug Greathouse is the creative mind behind SuperHero Marketing, a web design and internet marketing firm that specializes in working with small businesses and optimizing their websites as marketing tools. Doug believes each small business owner deserves to have the same high level service and options as the big guys, and is able to optimize websites to generate leads, traffic and growth to your small business. superheromarketing.net. 

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