8 Business Managment Tips I Learned in 8 Years in Business
Hello My Charmed Ones!
If you are reading this post, you likely desire to run a successful online business, and I want to help you in all the ways that I can to do it. After all, this month is my 8th year running my business full time by myself- so I think I have some valuable insight to share with those of you who are just starting out or are having a hard time getting your effort to pay off.
1. Set annual goals for your business: Yes, your business needs goals and I don’t just mean setting the vague goal of starting your own business. In order to see progress with anything in life you need clear expectations for what you are trying to accomplish and reliable measures you can use to track your progress. So, get specific about what you want to achieve in your business this year and break out those goals into quarterly milestones and monthly objectives. It doesn’t matter that we are like a third of the way through the year, you can set your goals at any time and either map out the next 12 months of plans or the rest of the year. Trust me when I say, what you track you improve, this applies to business in a major way.
2. Learn how to do everything in your business before you hire it out: I know online business owners are often encouraged to outsource work on their business and that is a valid strategy to use, however, I believe you need to know how to do everything first and you should have the experience of doing it yourself so that you are a more capable judge of who would do that work better than you if and when you begin hiring it out. Something that is very prevalent online is small business owners who are just getting started are targeting businesses like yours to help you- however, sometimes it’s hard to know who has experience and can get your results vs someone who just started their business as well. The best way to prevent yourself from hiring someone who isn’t qualified is to get yourself knowledge and experience yourself so you have a general understanding of what the process is for whatever you are trying to hire out.
3. Build multiple streams of income: I know the concept of multiple streams of income may overwhelm some of you, but you need to at least begin to think about, plan for and implement multiple income streams as soon as you can. Of course, focus on one income stream at a time, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket in your business because it’s very common for businesses to have a seasonality and you could do really well one month and then see a stream of income dry down to a trickle the next. So think about how you can diversity your products, your services and alternate streams of revenue, like affiliate, ad income or sponsorships to future proof your business.
4. Understand that there is a lot of great business advice out there but you can’t follow it all or you will get overwhelmed and give up: First of all, I want to be clear that I believe no matter what your business idea is, there is a unique strategy out there for you to use and find success, but the same thing goes for every other business in the world as well. So, you need to be very discerning when you research and choose to use business advice because not all advice works for all businesses, and it’s important that you commit to using a strategy for a good period of time before judging if it works. I know we would all love a get rich quick strategy for marketing our business, but it just doesn’t exist. And if you keep chasing information to find what is better, you will be on that hamster wheel of trying new strategies for a long time, never seeing results for all the work you do. When it comes to building anything, if you change the strategy in the middle of doing the work you are going to have to start from square one each time you change, so get clear on your direction and stick to a strategy that makes sense to you and works to your skills, needs and desires.
5. Create a typical weekly and daily default schedule: Nothing is a bigger waste of time for your business than showing up to work each day and having to decide what you need to work on in the moment. Instead, you can save yourself so much time and effort if you create a typical weekly and daily default schedule for yourself. Map out the business activities you do on a regular basis, determine a schedule for when you will work on them across the week, or even month, and stick to it. This tip goes hand in hand with theming your workdays and block scheduling time to complete work on your business. When you already know what you will be working on each day, you can organize your materials for work and get down to tasks so much quicker.
6. Work on your mindset by practicing positive affirmations and self-talk: Mindset is one of the single greatest determining factors of success for any business owner, and I know first hand how challenging business can be if your mindset is not in the right place. Evaluate the way you talk to yourself about your business dream and vision to decide if your own self-talk is sabotaging your success and use affirmations to change the way you talk to yourself. There is a quote I love that sums this up that goes “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Essentially, if you keep telling yourself you can’t run your business or a strategy won’t work, or tell yourself you are stupid or lazy- you are going to embody those negative words. But if you talk to yourself like someone you love, tell yourself you believe in what you are doing and become a cheerleader for yourself in your own head, then you are going to succeed beyond expectation. So, what do you choose? Tearing yourself down, or building yourself up?
7. Simplify other areas of your life: Running your own business is one of those objectives that just takes a lot of time, energy and focus to make happen. It’s not that running a business is hard per se, I believe the fundamentals of business are actually quite simple once you understand them, but its an effort that requires a level of focus and organization most of us has never experienced before. So, if you want to have the time and energy to build your business swiftly and successfully, it would be prudent to simplify other areas of your life to the greatest extent that you can to conserve resources for your business. The action steps on this are going to look different for each of us, but think about how you can eliminate things in your life that aren’t serving you, and how you can get help from people in your life so you have less obligations that would take energy away from your business.
8. Understand you will never know it all, but you do know enough to figure out how to succeed: So many aspiring business owners hold themselves back from making real substantial progress on their business idea because they believe they don’t know enough to really get started. So they get stuck in the research cycle, learning as much as they can, waiting for the moment they feel ready to execute. Let me tell you this right now, you will never know it all, and you will never know enough that you feel ready to start. You are going to have to take action before you are ready because you will never be ready. Trust that you know enough to get started and then let real life experience guide you. I would take real experience doing work in my business over learning based on research any day because there is a major difference between learning the theory and putting that theory into practice. You will never know it all, but that’s okay because you can’t do it all in your business anyway. As long as you know enough to know a specific action to take, you know enough to figure out how to succeed.
So, how are you feeling now? I hope you feel a lot more inspired and encouraged to start going after the business you desire to create so like me, you can build a career doing the work you love and know is needed in this world.
And if you are ready to take action, I have a free PDF workbook called the Start Your Money Making Business
Start Your Money Making Business!
Hey Small Business Owner!
Everyday hundreds of great, creative, and innovative new online businesses are formed around the world, and then close their doors after a matter of weeks or months due to a lack of clear purpose or profit.
That does NOT have to be your business story!
After 8 years running an online business myself and working with hundreds of women in my community to get their business visions off the ground, I know first hand what it takes to lay the right foundation for a business that reflects your passions and fills your bank account.
Let me guide you through some simple activities that will help clarify your business vision and work you through early stage market research so you can move forward with confidence knowing that you have laid the foundation for a Money Making Business!
Watch the Video on YouTube
Let me know in the comments which of these tips was the most impactful for you to hear, I’d love to know what you gained from this article so please do share.
xoxo,
