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What is strategy and why is it important in your business?
Building a comprehensive marketing strategy can do wonders for saving time, maximizing ROI, and achieving business goals. This strategy doesn’t need to be overwhelming, it just needs to be intentional – linking your goals with aligned actions.
Not everything will work. But the more you’re able to define your audience, clarify your desired outcomes, establish clear goals, and refine your messaging, the more confident you’ll become in your efforts and decisions.
Opting out: Mindful ways to spend Black Friday as a business owner
If you’re overwhelmed at the prospect of crafting a Black Friday offer for your business or are feeling pressure to make unnecessary purchases, I’m here to invite you to step back, reflect on your intentions, say no, and prioritize what feels right for you.
Let’s take some time to review (and de-bunk) some of the misconceptions around Black Friday so you can reclaim your time, energy, and bank account.
How to avoid the trap of distracting ideas
As a business owner, you likely have lots of ideas. Some are worth the time and intention it takes to bring them to fruition, and others simply aren’t.
This is an important piece of self-awareness to have because the flood of ideas can be distracting when you have higher priorities that require your attention. Here's the process I use to test the viability of my ideas. Consider adopting this methodology in your own business to determine whether or not to take action on your ideas.
What is your definition of success in your business?
Financial performance has been ingrained in our culture as a key marker of success, often used as the standard for measuring or comparing our own business achievements. And while the bottom line in your business is important to some extent – it’s not everything.
Let’s explore some alternative success metrics that might inspire you and influence how you craft and grow your business moving forward.
Business growth beyond the bottom line
Growth is often referred to as an indicator of success; a way to gauge how your company is doing and to predict long-term sustainability.
For those of us who live in the solo, micro, or small business worlds though, the bottom line doesn't continually go up – nor should that be an expectation!
Instead, it's more important to find and embrace practices that align with and are suited to our values.
4 ways to streamline your discovery call process and optimize lead quality
Streamlining your processes as a business owner is an important part of building a sustainable business. One way to do so is by implementing an onboarding sequence that allows you to filter out potential clients who aren't a good fit before you start working with them; optimizing your customer journey and saving you time on discovery calls.
Here are a few ways to weed out clients who aren’t right for your business offerings.
Rest is critical: Here's how to boost your productivity and performance
As an employee you (generally) have set working hours, specific deliverables, and a certain number of holidays and sick days. You have a contract in place. You have someone holding you accountable to your personal working goals and company KPIs.
As an entrepreneur though, none of these systems, structures, rules, or guidelines around your work are in place. While that flexibility and freedom can be exciting and empowering, it’s also a lot of responsibility. And there’s an important distinction between enjoying your work and being productive in pursuit of a goal, and overworking to no end, toxic productivity, burnout, and exhaustion.
Passive income is a myth and we need to accept it as such
Passive income is the holy grail of business. Or so we're told by business and marketing experts alike. Except – it's not realistic and likely won't happen for you. If it worked, those sunny beaches would be full of passive income earners living it up.
Here’s the bottom line: it takes a lot of work to make money off of courses, books, or guides of any kind, even if you have a large and engaged audience.
Let’s review the bare minimum requirements for creating “passive income,” and what I’d suggest you prioritize instead.
Perspective shift: Why I stopped using charm pricing
Ever heard of charm pricing? Maybe you’ve even used it before? Full transparency, I used to. These days though, when you go to buy something from me it's a nice, round number until the tax gets added on.
When it comes to your business, and more specifically your pricing, you should be doing what works for you and not worrying about what anyone else says – including me (at least on the number at the end of your prices). That’s not to say your pricing shouldn’t be thoughtful and strategic. Pricing decisions should be built directly into your marketing and business plans.
But there are much more important considerations than the look and appearance of the number you choose.
Goal setting and planning your marketing for a new year
The New Year is around the corner which means it’s time to get planning.
While it’s never too late to start this process, you’re sure to feel a sense of relief if you tackle it early – giving yourself clarity on where you want to go and what you want to achieve.
Once you’ve developed a sense of your goals, it’s time to embed them into your business strategy for the year.
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