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So many people say that now isn’t the best time to be in small business because of the economy or the amount of competition but I completely disagree. Many great brands have been built during recessionary times and now, more than ever, there are doors that are opening every day for you. Here are five reasons why you should dig in and make your business great, NOW:
A few months ago I asked you if you could have just one thing to move your business forward, what would it be? What small business strategies do you see working to help move you forward in your business? And I challenged you to come up with a plan on how to get there because it’s not going to fall into your lap. I haven’t seen any fairy godmothers in my lifetime yet!
I notice the big brands don’t do it. But a lot of small businesses certaintly do. And frankly, I think of it is SPAM and I immediately delete it. It drives me further away from your brand and devalues what you’ve invested in.
This weekend I went shopping with a friend at several locally-owned home furnishing stores around my neighborhood. In retrospect, one experience truly stood out in contrast to another.
This morning my daughter said, “Mommy, I hate Mondays.” She was nestled in her bed under 4 snuggly blankets. I really think she meant to say was that she didn’t want to get out of bed. I know that sometimes on Mondays it can feel so overwhelming because we leave the chaotic and fun weekend for the piles of work that we left for ourselves last week. I am so motivated today because I have absolutely nothing on my calendar! I have several huge deadlines that I need to crank out and I am super excited to be alone with my brain all day!
We took my father about 3.5 hours North to Chicago last week for some advanced tests on his heart. As we are from a smaller city, my entire family and I have been completely impressed with the service and care my father has received at a big city hospital. We rose at 2:30 am last week to get him to his 7 am appointment.
As I sat at the shampoo bowl last night at the salon, listening to my hair stylist / fellow small business owner nearly break down in tears describing how a client had treated her, it occurred to me how many of us let our clients bully us. My stylist has a full calendar.
I read an interesting stat yesterday that said 70% of people with assets of $5 million or more are on Facebook! What used to be a tool for college kids has become a way for people young and old to connect, stay in touch, research brands, get discounts and more. There are a lot of ways to prospect using Facebook (personal pages, branded Fan pages, paid advertising, public events, etc) and most small businesses I know would like a share of those $5 million clients. Facebook is introducing more free tools to help you reach new clients. One of the newest is Facebook groups.
You’d love to market your business, or maybe you know you need to, but you just don’t have time. It’s that monkey on your back. Instead of marketing, you’re too busy invoicing, doing paperwork, manning the phones, answering email and well just running your business and juggling it all.
Here’s a challenge.
Spend a week (or even just a few days) writing down how you spend your time. I did this experiment for a week and it blew me away how many times I’m distracted and how many things I do in my day-to-day work that DON’T MAKE MY COMPANY MONEY!
I visit a lot of small business owner’s websites. Sometimes because I’m looking to do business with them, but sometimes because I’m doing research. One thing I find that is lacking in most sites, is the ‘about you’ section.
You pop into Facebook and see some new images of a good client. The problem….you didn’t take them. And worse, they are pretty good. It can feel like you’ve been cheated on. How do you get over it and move on as a photography business owner? If this has happened to...
One of the questions that I’m asked most often is, “Sarah...why don’t you sell digital files to your clients?” My answer to that question is that I’m not in the CD-selling business. It’s not a sustainable business model for me, as a portrait photographer, to sell...
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