It’s Thanksgiving week, which means it’s a good time to focus on the things in our lives that we’re grateful for. Owning and running a small business can sometimes be challenging or draining, but there are so many wonderful things about it that make the trials worthwhile. I always try to remember to think on all the parts of running my own business that fill me with gratitude and appreciation for the work I do and the people I work with. Especially around holiday time, when the themes of thankfulness and love are so prevalent, I find it makes me happy…
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Do you know how to listen well as a business owner? Really, I’m not asking this facetiously; a lot of people don’t actually have well-developed listening skills, and that can hold them back in the world of small business ownership. Communication is the key to running a successful business, and listening should be the bulk of your communication! In a world of constant distractions, where we’ve been taught to multi-task as often as possible, many people have difficulty keeping their attention focused on a single conversation for any length of time. This can be a huge source of miscommunication between…
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Clients are the heart of your business, and you can’t afford to take them for granted. Without your clients, your business wouldn’t exist, so you always need to be considerate of their needs and appreciative for their patronage. The benefit to showing clients your appreciation is that it builds a strong connection with them, encouraging return business and making it more likely that they will refer others to you. Good client care is fundamental to the success of every business! While there are actions you can take year-round to let clients know how much you appreciate their business, the holidays…
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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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It doesn’t matter what industry you work in; challenging clients are something every entrepreneur will need to deal with at one point or another. (I am lucky, all of my clients are pretty darn wonderful!) It can be frustrating when a client assumes you can read their mind, or changes their expectations on a daily basis. This can especially become a challenge when you only interact with clients online, with no chance to meet face-to-face. Having run a virtual business for years now, I’m very well versed in working well with clients via online means. Even before I owned a virtual…
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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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One of the biggest challenges facing small business owners is staying organized and finding a system that works for them to keep all those projects under control. Without some kind of organizational system in place, deadlines get forgotten, clients feel neglected, and it’s easy to waste time on less important tasks. The solution to all of these problems is to use a project management software—it helps you by dividing up tasks by client and project, setting deadlines, and providing reminders about work that needs to be finished. Modern project management systems are usually web-based, with mobile or desktop applications available.…
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For an entrepreneur working with a virtual team to run a small business, communication is the single most important factor determining whether things run smoothly. It is absolutely critical to be able to communicate with your team members in an instant as things come up during the course of a work day. When there is seamless communication between your team members, you can set a more productive pace and get more accomplished. Email and phone calls have their uses, but for instantaneous communication, there is a popular new tool, called Slack. Slack is a platform for team communication that can be…
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Being an entrepreneur and a parent is always a balancing act! I know this well. my business and my son both turned fifteen this summer. Yesterday was the first day of his sophomore year, so finding my work/life balance just got real! Since most businesses start booming again in the fall (mine included), the best way to handle this change of season and workload is to alter the way you work. If you want to be around for dinner, to help with homework, and be there to listen to your kids talk about their day at school, getting up early might…
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