For a small business owner, taking a vacation often depends on staying ahead of clients’ needs. You can’t afford to let things slip or have radio silence reign in your absence. I’ve always found that clients appreciate an entrepreneur who makes every effort to maintain continuous service no matter what time of year it is. However, that doesn’t have to mean skipping your vacation(s)! Some clients are wonderful, and understand that everyone needs a break now and then. Others may have (unrealistically) high expectations and not want to see any break in the service they receive from your business. You…
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Product launches are exciting for small business owners, whether they’re for a new webinar, e-book, online course, or physical product. Seeing the results of your labor being used and appreciated by dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of people, is extremely satisfying! However, it’s also a lot of work to get to the point of launch, especially if you’re doing everything on your own. [Tweet “Make a big deal about your launch! Think Facebook ads and online promotions to mark the occasion.”] Have you ever looked at other entrepreneurs and wondered how they get new products ready to launch so quickly?…
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For a small business, building up a large mailing list of people interested in your products and services is one of the best marketing tactics you can invest your time in. An email list can consist of current and previous clients, but the majority of it should be made up of prospective clients. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of reaching a targeted audience, because potential clients will only sign up if they’re interested in something you’re offering. [Tweet “For small businesses, email marketing is a high-impact, low-cost way of getting your message heard.”] I know when…
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Well, we’ve almost made it through another year! I hope it was as good for your business as it was for mine, although I have some great suggestions if you didn’t meet all of your business goals this past year. The perfect time is coming up, in the lull between holiday gatherings and the new year starting in earnest, for you to take some steps for envisioning your next year in business. [Tweet “Come up with concrete plans and goals to make the New Year, your best year yet!”] One of the key practices you should adopt if you want…
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Do you have the right team in place to support your business? Your goals probably involve the growth of your business, taking on new clients, expanding your services or product line, tackling more and larger projects, etc. No small business owner wants to get stuck in a rut or have their business stagnate. However, growth means more work. A lot of small business owners view hiring an additional person to work on their business as a scary prospect. They worry about paying a salary, whether their need for support will remain consistent enough to warrant the commitment of a new…
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Planning ahead of time is one of the most important skills for a business owner to develop, because the success of any small business depends on how well it flows. Unfortunately, most people are only good at planning a day or two in advance, or for the very long term—setting goals for the year or beyond. It is merging the two, and sticking to a plan for the week or month where most people get tripped up in their calendaring and organization. Successfully planning ahead and maintaining business flow becomes even more difficult around the holidays, where clients and collaborators…
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The holidays are fast approaching, Halloween is a little over a week away! Like many other entrepreneurs and small business owners, I’m sure you’re looking forward to them. After all, who doesn’t love spending time with family, enjoying the change of season, and attending celebrations and holiday dinners? Unfortunately, this is often also a busy time for small businesses, and all the extra workload can keep you from enjoying your holidays. Entrepreneurs, especially those working solo and/or from a home office, need to carefully protect their work-life balance. Do you need a vacation or some time working fewer hours in order…
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As the leaves begin to fall and we enter the last quarter of the calendar year, planning for the following one should be on your mind. Before the holidays eat up all your extra time and your client work doubles as the year comes to a close, you should spend some time thinking about how to improve your business’ online presence in the upcoming year. Early autumn is the perfect time to put together both an editorial and social media marketing calendar for 2017. Here are some reasons why these simple organizational tools can help grow your business next year. Editorial…
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One of the best reasons to partner with a virtual assistant is the growth potential it gives your small business; that growth in turn drives your income up substantially. Think of how much time you will be able to spend on bringing in new paying clients instead of doing the “busy work” of running a business. It’s a pretty simple calculation: when a virtual assistant is doing half of your work each day, you can double your efforts on the parts of your business that matter most. I know this first hand! As a virtual assistant who was always busy helping…
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