Tips to help build your business...and more!

Twitter postings, blogs away, have you used LinkedIn today? SEO, PHP, LOL, MOTD, how many acronyms do we need? Facebook friends are on the go, read their posts and you'll soon know. MySpace, Ning, MeetUp and Tagged, post post post or you'll be nagged.  Clients, meetings, be in the know...sorry something has to go!

If something has to go in order to fit in everything on your to do list, please cut some of the time you use posting messages on social media.  I give myself a "Mental Pause" throughout my work day.  That is when I will sign on to one of my social media sites and catch up with a few posts and add a comment. No more than 5 minutes and I'm focused and back to work on my business at hand.

Here are six tips to help you build your business.

1. Be passionate and purposeful. Start out each day with a prayer, purpose and a plan. Give yourself little reminders on why you started your business and bring back the passion. 
2. Be mindful of time stealers.  Sure the lawn needs to be watered, the dog needs play time and ugh, did you see the dust on the living room furniture? If you worked outside of the house, these things would be scheduled for evening or weekends.  These are good "mental pause" items, take five minute breaks and dust the furniture, throw a load of laundry in, put something in the crock pot for dinner and then back to work!
3. Sell, promote and sell some more. We meet so many people who have a passion for what they want to do but really hate selling.  Part of owning and operating any business is making sure you get in front of your target market to sell your product or service.  "Build it and they will come," just doesn't work. Schedule in time each day to make calls, write letters and email prospective clients.  
4. Have a customer service policy. Whatever your business is, you have a customer and you need to be ready in case that customer is not happy.  Really, customer service is not a problem with a satisfied customer.  If you aren't sure what to do, look up a few customer service policies by using Google. Do not simply copy someone's customer service policy, write one that works for your business ethics.
5. Whatever you do, work at it as though you are working for the Lord, not mankind. Col. 3:23. When I discovered this verse, it changed my way of thinking.  I pray before I begin a client project and ask for guidance. If I have a challenge, I take it to prayer. If I work as though I work for the Lord, everything else falls into place.
6. Schedule family time. One of the problems with working from home is having your work in front of you 24/7.  Take time to enjoy your family and friends. Take the breaks you need to stay healthy and enjoy your life.  Your business will benefit from a healthy balanced lifestyle.

Blessings!
  

HELP...I've fallen into the Social Media Trap and I can't get up!!

We hear you! Every article you read today tells you that you MUST have a web presence. You MUST have a blog, and you MUST be connected with the social media sites. You MUST work your SEO and you simply have to spend money on pay per click advertising. Ok, so you want to be on top of the game and certainly want your business to grow, however, there is just one of you!

Don't fall into the Social Media Trap, it's a deep hole and there is no ladder to help you climb out. I was having fun the other day with my husband and mimicking my favorite speaker Beth Moore. In my best Beth Moore Texan accent (and of course poofing my hair for the Texas big hair look), I started spouting, "Do you blog, are you working SEO's, did you IM today, people stay with me. Are you on Facebook, Blogger, WordPress or Yahoo? Have you been Tagged, LinkedIn or friended on Friendster? Did you create new content for your web site, email blast your database all while listening to your iTunes or watching your YouTube videos? Come on now, I'm talking to you!" Of course this was all done in fun, but it is all relevant to every business today.

If you do not have a web presence today, you are missing your customer base. It doesn't matter what generation name you carry, below is a list to help you feel like you are in the know, you must be out there in some form.

2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1980-2000 - Millennials or Generation Y
1965-1979 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1925-1945 - Silent Generation
1900-1924 - G.I. Generation
The Population Reference Bureau provides an alternate listing and chronology of generational names in the United States.

1983-2001 - New Boomers
1965-1982 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1929-1945 - Lucky Few
1909-1928 - Good Warriors
1890-1908 - Hard Timers
1871-1889 - New Worlders
So now that I have presented you with the challenge, here is a tip for home-based business owners or small business owners with a limited staff.

Schedule your time, it is precious and you can't get it back. It is one resource that runs out and once it is gone, it can never be recaptured and is very costly if not used wisely.

Web Site, this is a must. You do not need all the bells and whistles that web developers love to sell. In fact, all of the Flash openings you see actually hurt web sites when they are ranked with the search engines. A brochure site is a great way to enter in to the World Wide Web (www).

Pick one social media site and stay away from the traps. Each social media site has bells and whistles, games and interactive content - they are trying to get you to "stick" to their site, or spend more time with them. Why? So they can sell to their advertisers of course. The more people who sign up and the more time you spend with them means more dollars to them. There is nothing wrong with that but you do not need to "spread the wealth" or spend too much time trying to keep up with the Jones, Smiths or any of your other friends on the sites. Pick one and spend a small amount of scheduled time on it daily or weekly.

Consider hiring a company to help you with the tasks listed above so you can spend time developing your clients and providing outstanding customer service.

Don't panic or feel you are being left behind. You can spend every second of every day learning the tools available to you on the internet and when you wake up the next day, you will already be behind the learning curve. New tools, applications and those wonderful acronyms are being developed as you sleep. Spend a little time each week for learning and relax - no one is on top of everything (and don't let those high priced marketers tell you any different).

We hope this article has brought a smile to your face, given you some information to help you with your business and let you have a sigh of relief knowing you are "ok" and doing just fine in this wonderful high speed internet world.

Blessings to your week and remember Colossians 3:23, "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people!"