Taking Care Of Business

They don't teach you to be an entrepreneur and "seize the day" in Harvard Business School or any other college for that matter. They teach you to run a big company but not how to start small and grow your business. Small companies need something different in the beginning. Small company are required to taking care of business with creativity.

What areas are most important to focus on: accounting, finance, marketing, management, strategy, organizational behavior, information technology, operations management, or something else? Yes you need the traditional information. However, you need more practical approaches to marketing - how do you do evaluate wants without a million dollar market research budget - how do you communicate with customers on a dime? Are you taking care of business?

As an entrepreneur you are going to be asked to do something that might go against your nature. You see, most people are terrified of anything "New." And they're afraid of anything they haven't done before. Plus they're leery of taking any kind of "leap of faith."That's why so many people are STUCK right where they are. They're STUCK in a job they hate, driving a car they don't like, living in a neighborhood they don't care for. They might not like their way of life, but change is SCARY! Being an entrepreneur is testing new ground; taking care of business on uncharted ground.

What if you make a mistake? What if you screw up? What if someone (God forbid) LAUGHS at you? Best to just put your head down and resign yourself to the life you have now, because ANYTHING else is scary, right? And what if...What if you DO try something new, and you LIKE it, and you're GOOD at it......now you're going to be KICKING yourselves for not having taken the chance SOONER! WOW! Is any of this stuff holding you back?

If you want to be an entrepreneur and run your own business it's time to get serious about making money online and offline. Follow these daily routines and watch your business and income skyrocket. You have to think outside the box everyday. You have to think creatively.
How can I do it on your budget? You can't outspend the competition but the difference in you and your competition is You! The little things you do to make your business spell excellence and that is what makes you stand out.

1. If you're working at home, leave your problems outside your work area. Stuff happens to everyone, but you have to leave it outside of work or you won't be effective and then everything gets worse. In a small business, you can't afford to let personal problems affect your work environment. It's OK in a large company because they have so many employees that take up the slack when one is not up to par.

I once had an employee that I had while running a small business and she was always bringing her problems to work. Her problems affected me. There was no buffer. I finally had to let her go and suggested she go to work for a large company. She did and it worked out much better for her. See being a small company is not for everybody. Being in business for yourself means you can be flexible but you still have to accomplish your work. Nobody is going to do it for you.

2. When you get to your designated area, do your "good morning" routine. It's important if you are working at home to designate an area that is "work". When I go to work and close the door, everyone in the family knows that I'm at work. So they don't bother me unless it's an emergency just like if I was working at a job. If the door is open, I have an open door policy. That's the time that I've finished the major stuff and now I'm finishing followup stuff or work plans, etc. The pets and family know they can come and sit on my lap or something while I finish. And sometimes it's a good reminder to me that my work is done and time to take a break. I've been working too long. After all, they are the reason I want to make money online. So I can spend time with them.

3. Daily know your inventory and your specials. Depending upon what you are doing to make money online, you need to know if you have product on hand. You need to know if you have a special running on one of your products. If there is a problem with any aspect of your business, you need to know. If your business is all online, check your links. Make sure all are working fine. It's better you find the problem quickly than it be broken for months and you have no idea why business is down. It takes just a few minutes each day to test and check it out!

4. Check your to do list. Your "to do's" and priorities you need to get done. Google has an online to do list that you can use. They have several different ones listed in Google gadgets. Choose the one that is best for you.

5. Review your goals, all of them. The quickest way to get what you want is to maintain your focus and work your plan. Goals get you there quick!

6. Next, go through your prospect file. Look through every list you have and set aside the people you need to follow up. If you check, it ensures a customer doesn't slip through the cracks and you miss out. Online prospects don't wait. That's the advantage of being online. Get back with the information that they wanted. Keep a list of them on file so you can followup even when the computer is down.

7. Follow-up with your sold customers. If you follow-up 5 a day x 25 working days in a month, you'll contact 125 a month. Plan how often you want to stay in touch with them. Don't spam but do keep in contact with them. You have to do the math with your business to know how many you need to contact daily. Five is a good start.

8. Look for new prospects. You should have a leads page that helps you capture new leads for your business. If you're not getting enough people in the "online door" if just like being offline. You have to go out and find them and point the way to your business. You do the math, how many do you need to get where you want to be. Be realistic. Start small like five or ten a day new leads and grow. If you have 5 new leads a day x 25 working days, that's 125 new prospects a month. If 10% convert, then that's 12 new customers a month. If you only convert 1% of the 125 then that is 1 new customer a month. You figure out your profit and multiply it by the number of new customers, is that the amount you want to make? Work smart.

9. Make sure you track everything you do each day. How many phone calls, how many actual contacts, how many emails, how many appointments, how many conversions, etc. If you are doing the activity to make your company grow, you will be making money online. If you are not doing the activity it will show and you'll be crying why aren't you making money online. Keep a graph of your daily activities so you can see a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly progress. In the beginning when funds are low it will help keep you on track of what you need to focus on. Later, if you slip off doing things, it will show you so you can get back on track.

10. Make sure you are doing the most productive thing possible right now. Or are you doing busy work to avoid doing productive work? Are you in business to work or to play? Remember work hard, play hard. Even if your work day is only two hours a day, make the most productive use of your time. No business is only 15 minutes a day. I've heard gurus say it "only takes me 15 minutes a day" Hogwash! It may take only 15 minutes to check on your business but it takes longer than that to run. Depending upon how much you want to make online, you will need to spend time promoting your business. You may spend 15 minutes eight times a day and it may be flexible but you have to take care of your business and part of that is doing the time to take care of your business.

11. Write the on a card and carry it with you. Read it often . . . "Am I doing the most productive thing possible right now? Am I taking care of business?"

I've tried to keep it simple. Simple makes it real. The goal is that you start making money online. Take care of business and you will be making money online. The secret is learning anything and everything you can about your business and the way you WANT it to run from those that are doing what you want to do and then just setting out and doing it.

Check it out!