Tag Archives: small business

Doing Business on a Budget

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After working with a few small businesses for so many years, I couldn’t help but noticing all the funny little ways each one had of trimming the fat from their budgets. Everyone had their own little system in place to save pennies and it was fun to try incorporate those practices into the way I run my own business.

That’s not to say that I’m stingy when it comes to spending some coin on my business, but when it comes to running a small enterprise I think there will always be moments where we find ourselves tempted to cut costs in order to run as efficiently and simply as possible. Here are some of my favorite ways to do it.

Make it work for you. It’s more important that you identify your own needs for running your business, instead of trying to adhere to someone else’s vision of what your business should look like. Not everyone’s list will look the same. Other things that people deem essential might differ from yours: you might consider a second phone line crucial; and others might scoff at the thought of using anything but email as their prime form of communication.

It’s important to figure out what your bottom line is so you know much (or how little) you can get by with in order for your business to function. If that means foregoing the idea of an office, or a fancy luncheon every day, so be it. You’d be surprised at how refreshing it can be to simplify your routine.

Get creative. Most people dream of having their own home office, but not everyone can afford to make that dream a reality- and not just due to budget constraints. Time, space, lifestyle- each one of these things reflect when, where and how you conduct your business. I’ve seen people with home offices with all of the latest state-of-the-art tech equipment, and I’ve met people who have conducted their business at the dining table after clearing off the dinner dishes. It’s worth exploring alternative ways to make your office hours and office setting work for you– it may be just what you need to cut costs and find a more efficient way of working.

Be realistic. Just because your vision of owning your own business involves going out for a fancy latté every day, it’s a luxury that entrepreneurs can’t always afford. While it would be nice to reward ourselves for our hard work with things like fancy coffees, special office supplies, or a complete office makeover, those things aren’t always possible when you’re first starting out, or if you’re trying to keep your operations small. As soon as you adjust your expectations for a glamorous freelancing lifestyle, the more satisfied you’ll be with your budget-friendly work style.

Of course, there’s always room for compromise– upgrading your regular office coffee maker to a Keurig or even an espresso machine may still be cheaper in the long-term than buying a fancy latté everyday. Or maybe you use your local Starbucks at your office, and the price of coffee counts towards your “rent”, in which case there’s plenty of room to save money on leasehold improvements!

Cutting costs where possible can be a satisfying and even refreshing way of making sure your business is running as cheaply and efficiently as possible. We often convince ourselves we need the latest gadgets, or the most expensive suits to succeed when the truth is that success is often directly correlated with the amount of work we put into something.

A final note: even the most ruthless of budgets should include at least a little room to be generous to ourselves as entrepreneurs. Running a small business is more like a lifestyle than a job, and when we structure our lives around working all the time, it’s important to have a reminder that your work is more than just about paying the bills. You deserve to have some fun!

Even if that means indulging at Starbucks once in a while.

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What are some of the creative ways you’ve come up with to save money while running your own business. Did you sacrifice an office? A phone line? How has this transformed the way you work? Send your stories to me at keepingbusyb@gmail.com or comment below.

5 Hidden Ways to Market Yourself

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Believe it or not, every day holds an opportunity to market yourself. If you own a small business, you may or may not be taking advantage of the following lesser-known marketing tactics:

  1. You send emails every day right? Have you been making your email signature work for you? (Do you even have an email signature?) It boosts your credibility and allows other people methods of getting in touch with you that they can in turn share with others. Every time your email is replied to or forwarded, that email signature is always going to be staring at them in the face. Make sure you include a catchy tag line- put out a call-to-action, a news item about your company or a particularly funny testimonial.
  2. I bet you’re on other forms of social media, too. Maybe you have a business account that you manage, but have you considered leveraging your own personal media to advertise your business? Include links to your website and/or other business accounts where possible. Flush out your social media profiles so people have a better idea of what you do for a living. Even better, apps like Facebook are now allowing people to link their personal profiles to their business pages by listing themselves as a team member.
  3. Many will disagree with me that in this paperless age that business cards have become a thing of the past. I say your business card is like a physical mini-version of your website: it lets people know who you are, what you do and how they can contact you. Giving people a physical reminder of the ways they can get in touch makes it easier for them (instead of walking away trying to remember your Instagram handle) and makes you more likely to stand out in their minds because you have a business card.
  4. I think a lot of people shiver when they hear this but it’s true: you must network. 90% of the business I’ve had has been for and through people I know. You don’t have to be a hardcore seller to do this. Just work on your interpersonal relationships- next time you go to a party, make a point of finding out what everyone does for a living. Sometimes just talking to someone about their job can reveal ways in which you might be able to fulfill a need, bridge a gap or boost performance for them. As soon as you’ve figured out how you can best help them, give them that business card! (See item 3.)
  5. This is the most painfully obvious way to market yourself and yet there’s very few people who take advantage of this trick: come up with a creative way of introducing yourself that gives people more insight into what you do specifically. Giving people just a job title is kind of boring and may not paint the whole picture of what you do for your business. “Hi, I’m B and I’m an accountant” is far less exciting than “Hi, I’m B and I solve financial problems for small businesses.” Don’t make it vague, but keep it intriguing- just enough so that whoever you’re talking to will be curious and want to find out more.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

The Timing’s the Thing

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This story starts off with a mistake: my own. I was working on a social media consultation for a client and during my analysis I noticed a lot of her posts weren’t getting many views. My advice to her was to change up the times of her posts to try and broaden her audience and I gave her a list of the best times to post to social media (according to my research).

Long story short: the project failed. Her views went down as did her engagement rates. I couldn’t figure out why her posts had gotten more attention. Obviously we were both unhappy with the results so I suggested she go back to doing what she was doing. Wouldn’t you know, her numbers went right back up again.

See, what I failed to take into consideration is that not all audiences are alike. The lifestyle, the income and the social status of your audience has to be taken into consideration when you decide what you’re going to post and when. Just because statistically speaking a lot of people look at Instagram before going to bed doesn’t mean that your specific audience engages in the same habit. In this particular instance, my client’s audience consisted of mostly of mothers who checked their Instagram while their kids were at school- that’s almost a 12-hour difference. Lesson learned: what applies to one audience doesn’t necessarily apply to the other.

Another factor I failed to take into consideration was that I was working on a previously established social media brand, which meant the audience was already used to reading posts at a certain time. Not sticking to a defined schedule meant people were missing out on what she was posting. In one case, the absence of posts at a certain time gave a reader the false impression the account was no longer active. (Huge fail.)

It may seem like an insignificant detail, but having a set posting schedule for your social marketing based on your audience’s media consumption habits actually does make a difference in your engagement rates. Not only that, it’s a reflection of your brand- it projects consistency, inspires confidence and reassures consumers, particularly if you have a pre-existing audience.

Social media can sometimes feel like trying to dance when you don’t know all of the moves. But like with any dance routine, as long as you get the timing right, you’re already halfway on your way.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

 

5 Truths for the Self-Employed

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When I transitioned from working full-time at an office to working for myself it was a bit of a shock. Even though I used to freelance many years ago, I still found myself stuck with certain beliefs that people have about the life of the self-employed. Here are some of the things that I had forgotten:
  1. You have no free time. I think everyone has this vision for themselves: you get up a leisurely pace, linger over coffee and maybe squeeze in a couple of hours of light work before having time to visit with friends or pursue hobbies. Not so! Working for yourself means not having the luxury of leaving your work at the office. You’re on 24/7 which can mean early mornings and long nights.
  2. But you still have to try to have a life. Just because you can work from home all of the time doesn’t mean you should. In fact, it may be harder to tear yourself away from your work when it’s there constantly in front of you. Sometimes I have to force myself to take breaks and I’m still trying to learn when to walk away from something when it’s “good enough”.
  3. You’re responsible for everything. When you work for yourself you are your own boss but you’re also an accountant, an administrator and your own HR department. Even if you’re fortunate enough to be able to farm tasks out to others, you’re still responsible for a heck of a lot more than you normally would in a traditional office setting.
  4. But you’re also responsible for everything else. Your real-life responsibilities are always going to be staring you in the face when you work from home. Chores, errands and other household tasks are going to have to be incorporated into your day somehow. (And if you’re wondering, yes I’ve responded to client emails between doing loads of laundry!)
  5. It can get kind of lonely. Being stuck in front of a computer isn’t really conducive to being social. Plus, without any colleagues around as built-in coffee companions I can sometimes go a whole day without talking to a real, live person.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

How to Build Your Online Cred…for Real

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Chances are if you run a small business then someone’s been looking for you on the internet. We live in a digital age where people like to research their options before making a decision and having greater access to companies via social media makes it easier then ever for a business to communicate to its customers.

But are you really using the internet to your advantage? That’s a point I make to a lot of clients who are hesitant about adapting social media into their marketing efforts. What they don’t realize is that the more of an online presence you have, the more credibility you have with your audiences.

That’s not to say that every company needs to get onboard with the latest social media platform. When creating your digital presence it’s always important to ask yourself who your customers are and where they’re consuming their media. Even if you already have a strong online presence, here are some things you may want to consider.

You have to have a website (or a website equivalent). Websites only work if they serve a purpose: for example, an esthetician client of mine needed one so that clients could find out more information about her services. On the other hand, a one-of-a-kind craft company I work with has such a high turnover of products that customers get most of their information- and buy most of their products- off of Instagram. Either way you’ve got to have some kind of main hub where potential customers or clients can find out more information about your company.

But If you have social media make sure you’re using it. Having one or two really great, active social media channels beats being spread too thin across many. You don’t have to post every day, but every 2-3 days is considered an active account.

Also, are you using social media to leverage your sales? Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram all offer tools for business that can help you sell merchandise to your social media audiences which eliminates the need for a website.

Make sure that people can find you in other ways. Let your Instagram followers know that you’re also on Pinterest. Maybe people who enjoy your blog want to be updated via Twitter. Just make sure that if you are hoping to attract audiences across multiple channels to make your content varied and interesting so people don’t get bored.

There are still other ways for people to find you online, even without social media. Even if you don’t have a bricks-and-mortar location it may be helpful to have a Google Business page so potential customers can find you more easily. Encourage satisfied clients to review on sites such as Yelp. Join an organization and make sure your business gets listed on their directory. Making sure your company name comes up in several different places increases visibility, boosts credibility and may even help with your SEO.

Building your company’s online reputation doesn’t have to be confined to building a website- in fact, your company may not need one at all! But by increasing your company’s digital presence and providing unique, relevant content across social media channels, you’re well on your way to building a company that appears professional, credible and on-the-ball.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

 

What I Would Have Done, Had I Been You

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KBB_bookmark_mugSometimes one of the biggest mistakes we make, both personally and professionally, is not taking our own advice.

It may seem like common sense to trust your own judgment but unfortunately when we’re neck-deep in situations ourselves, it’s hard to maintain the same kind of level-headed thinking that comes so easily when helping to solve a the problems of a colleague or friend. So what is a professional like you or me to do?

A woman I knew was guiding me through a difficult situation and I was getting frustrated that the answers were not coming easily. She asked me, “Well, what would you tell a client in a similar situation?”

I thought about it, told her what I would have recommended, and asked her again what she thought I should do. She smiled and said, “You already told me.”

Isn’t it funny how we have to step out of our own shoes in order to step back into them? When solving a problem in the workplace or at home, try asking yourself what advice you would give a friend or colleague in need. It’s a little like thinking outside of the box- it can take some time to get the hang of it, but the results are more often than not innovative, positive and rewarding.

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If you’re not going to take your own advice, at least take mine. Check out my business section for more posts filled with practical advice you can use RIGHT NOW in your own personal and professional lives. If I were you, I’d go read them all right now. Seriously.