Well, here we are, we've just passed the halfway mark for 2012! It's hard to believe that fall is once again just around the corner. Kids will be starting school here in just over two weeks and summer activities will be winding down. So where are you in your life? In your business? Are you accomplishing what you had hoped to this year? Did you have a plan?Goals? Intentions? Are you following them or just muddling through?
I don't know how it was where you live, but here in Indiana it was SO hot and dry most of the summer that I know I didn't get out and do most of the things that I love to do. I guess that I have better cram a whole lot of kayaking, bike riding and other outdoor activities with the kids into the fall and pray for beautiful weather! I also haven't been blogging weekly, but I hope to get back to that. I have three blogs so if I get at least 1 post on each per week, I will be happy.
Fall always brings a lot to blog about with holidays and seasonal business cylces changing. My new favorite thing this year has been Pinterest. If you haven't taken time to check it out, and you are the least bit creative, then I suggest you take a minute (or 3 hours)! Dare I say it's like crack for the creative mind?! It's also an amazing free advertising vehicle. For example, if I want to advertise my photography business cmdimages.com, I can pin a picture from my website under a category or on one of my boards and before you know it others are pinning it to their boards, it's coming up in searches under the category I used and has potential exposure to hundreds of thousands of people. Not only that but by clicking on the picture (pin) it takes the person back to my website! Viola, free advertising! I love it!
One of my great passions is children. Right now I am working with a Pre School, helping them to grow and expand their business. It's been great! When I come here I always feel energized! I have truly enjoyed coming to this school every day. The kids here are so funny and have such great personalities that you can't possibley walk in the door in a bad mood. If you do, you won't be there long before you're laughing with amazement about how smart these kids are! Anyways, back to expanding their business. This includes a move into a new larger building. Yay for them! Pinterest has been a great to go to for ideas on style and decor of the new building, design & organization of storage space, and there are lots of great ideas for crafts and learning activities. It's great resource for teachers to come up with new fresh ideas for their curriculum, there are some great blogs. I continue to be amazed at the level of creativity, great ideas, and beautiful images I see every time I get on to look. I could spend hours pinning to my boards! Once again, many hours lost online-but they were far more enjoyable than when I'm trying to get things accomplished online and the hours are sucked away before I know it.
Well, I hope that you have had a productive & prosperous Spring and Summer. It's time to get planning for the next season of your business. Is it coming into your busy time or slow time? Start thinking now about how you can maximize your business either way! If you're busy how can you be more efficient? If you're slow, what could you add to your business to make it better through the slow period? Are you using all of the online tools, resources and social networking to get yourself and your business out there? I admit that I myself have been lacking in this area. I have been focused on other things and other people's businesses. It's time for me to get back on the ball! Time to clarify my intentions and goals and get moving!
Have questions? Want some ideas for your business? Send me an email or comment on a post. I would love to hear from you!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Christine
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Time Lost online...
I continue to be amazed at how quickly time flies by when you are online trying to get something done. I am just learning more about Website Optimization, and Search Engine Optimixation (SEO) and how it all works. I have been reading articles on how to make my websites more prominent on all of the search engines and so on. As I read and find suggestions or links to to go to for more information, or click here to add your URL, I go to the link and try to follow the instructions to make it happen. Sometimes with great success and sometimes with much frustration but always with the hours flying by and feeling like I didn't get the things accomplished that I really wanted to!
Yes this was on my list of 6 things to do today, though I am not sure if I can cross it off as completed or not!? I swear it was just 10:30 when I was starting this project and here we are at 2:45 and I have decided it's time to move on to other more pressing items on my list. I guess I will move it back down to the bottom of the list and keep it as a continuous work in progress.
For those of you looking to learn more on this subject, here is the link to a Blog that I found an extremely helpful article on for Sept. 12th called "Hurray! Google Loves Me...and can love you too!" http://bookmakingblog.blogspot.com/
OK my friends this is it for today!
Yes this was on my list of 6 things to do today, though I am not sure if I can cross it off as completed or not!? I swear it was just 10:30 when I was starting this project and here we are at 2:45 and I have decided it's time to move on to other more pressing items on my list. I guess I will move it back down to the bottom of the list and keep it as a continuous work in progress.
For those of you looking to learn more on this subject, here is the link to a Blog that I found an extremely helpful article on for Sept. 12th called "Hurray! Google Loves Me...and can love you too!" http://bookmakingblog.blogspot.com/
OK my friends this is it for today!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Just Another Day..or Is It?
Is it just another day? Are you waking up and just getting through the day or are you waking up with purpose and intention ready to charge forward? OK, I have had several cups of coffee. In all seriousness though the biggest part of being successful in anything that you choose to do is having a focus or plan and being purposeful in what you do every day. Latel,y a line from a movie keeps popping into my head. I'm sure someone other that Will Smith came up with it, but he used it in the move Hitch and I can't help thinking about how true it is when it comes to being successful in life and in business. The line is this, "Start everyday as if it were on purpose". What does that mean? It means wake up, take a minute to lay there and think about your intention for the day, tell yourself it's going to be a great day, a successful day, maybe tell yourself something specific that you are going to accomplish, then get up and get going. You have now set a purpose for your day. You will be surprised at how little time this takes each morning and the affect it has on your mindset once you get up and moving. You suddenly have a little more energy to get going.
I have been practicing this a lot recently. I spend some time reading before bed each night and when I get sleepy I tell myself "Tomorrow is going to be a great, productive day! I am going to wake up ready to make things happen." Most mornings I wake up and that is the first thing that comes to mind and I lay there for a minute and decide what I want to accomplish for the day. And of course sometimes I hit the snooze button over and over, but even then when I finally do wake up I take a moment to focus on my day and what I will accomplish.
If you're not waking up with intention or purpose then how can you measure whether or not your day was successful? We all have an end goal in mind either personally or professionally, maybe it's earning more money, growing our business, taking a vacation or cleaning out the garage. My question to you is what will you do today to move yourself closer to that goal? You shouldn't have to think to hard about it but you should be doing something everyday to get there, otherwise it will always be a someday goal.
My recommendation to help you move things along is this: Each morning when you wake up, maybe while your drinking your coffee, make a list. The list should be no longer than 6 items, and it should be written in order of importance. Things that need to get done to accomplish your goal(s). You must start on the first item and you cannot move to the second item until the first has been completed. Keep the list in your pocket, on your smart phone, wherever works best for you to be able t look at it often. Sometimes you will be able to move through your whole list in one day and sometimes you will get one thing done and that's it. You will carry your list over to the next day and move each item up the list and add something new to the bottom. Staying focused is the key to moving forward! You will be amazed at how quickly you reach your goal when you add a little focused effort everyday.
That's all for today. I hope that I have given you some food for thought. Have a happy and productive day!
I have been practicing this a lot recently. I spend some time reading before bed each night and when I get sleepy I tell myself "Tomorrow is going to be a great, productive day! I am going to wake up ready to make things happen." Most mornings I wake up and that is the first thing that comes to mind and I lay there for a minute and decide what I want to accomplish for the day. And of course sometimes I hit the snooze button over and over, but even then when I finally do wake up I take a moment to focus on my day and what I will accomplish.
If you're not waking up with intention or purpose then how can you measure whether or not your day was successful? We all have an end goal in mind either personally or professionally, maybe it's earning more money, growing our business, taking a vacation or cleaning out the garage. My question to you is what will you do today to move yourself closer to that goal? You shouldn't have to think to hard about it but you should be doing something everyday to get there, otherwise it will always be a someday goal.
My recommendation to help you move things along is this: Each morning when you wake up, maybe while your drinking your coffee, make a list. The list should be no longer than 6 items, and it should be written in order of importance. Things that need to get done to accomplish your goal(s). You must start on the first item and you cannot move to the second item until the first has been completed. Keep the list in your pocket, on your smart phone, wherever works best for you to be able t look at it often. Sometimes you will be able to move through your whole list in one day and sometimes you will get one thing done and that's it. You will carry your list over to the next day and move each item up the list and add something new to the bottom. Staying focused is the key to moving forward! You will be amazed at how quickly you reach your goal when you add a little focused effort everyday.
That's all for today. I hope that I have given you some food for thought. Have a happy and productive day!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
It's a BRAND NEW DAY!
Today is a new day and no matter how great or horrible your business did yesterday, today is a new day with new opportunities!
So what will you do to grow your business today?
I am constantly amazed by the things I see and learn from small business owners. Some are trying to do too much and are losing focus and some really aren't doing enough to expand and grow their business. Most of the time it comes down to two things; not enough time (or time not spent productively) and needing more hands. Very occasionally I meet a small business owner who has just hit a comfort slump and is just not doing anything, business is good enough to get by, the owner seems to be OK with mediocre and just hasn't taken any initiative to move it forward.
So where are you in all of this? Hopefully not in the last category, but if you are congratulations for recognizing that and coming here to try to make a change! If you feel like you are trying to do too much, you probably are. It might be time to sit down and re-evaluate your plan. What is important? What is the message/direction you are trying to go, and where are you with that today? What are your strengths? Most business owners are great at their core business, but lack some strength in the finance or business development area. Oobviously you have some business sense or you wouldn't have gotten your business off the ground. But a truly savvy business owner knows that they are most successful when they allow someone else to take over the areas where they are weaker. Sales, marketing and business development are a full time job for any small business. Especially in these digital days of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, websites, blogs, email campaigns, Linked in, and then there is actual networking events! It makes me tired just to think about it all! But when you meet someone and tell them about your business, what the first thing they ask you? Do you have a website? Well, do you? Are you on facebook? Almost everyone has a website and almost everyone has the "follow me" or "like me" icon for Facebook and/or Twitter.
This is where people like me come in. I make it my job to update your website, create your Facebook page so people can become fans, you can post special offers, etc. I will be your twitterbug, create your Linked in account and help you fill it full of contacts, brief you about networking events worth your time in your area and more. After all, if people don't know about your business then how can you drive new customers in your door or to your website and make money? We put together a marketing plan for your business and decide the most effective way to get your business exposure with the biggest bang for your buck! Do you have time to do all that yourself? Do you want to? For those of you who answered no to both of those questions I invite you to get in touch with me. For those of you still not willing to loosen up the purse strings and let someone else help..well you can subscribe to the blog and try to keep up :)
One of the biggest mistakes I see small business owners make on a daily basis is confusing advertising for an expense rather than an investment. You know getting customers costs money right? But in the same breath those very same customers are extremely valuable to your business right? So ask yourself, how much is one customer worth? Are they a repeat customer? (if not you better be asking yourself why!) Now how much are they worth? Do they refer others to you? How much are they worth now? So now tell me why you consider your advertising, marketing and promotions as expense? Sounds to me like investing money on any of those things could be very valuable to you! I don't know who said it first but it's true, You must spend money to make money.
Now, I'm not saying by any stretch that you should just throw money out there and see what works. Have a plan or get with someone to come up with a plan, make educated decisions, take some risks, and ALWAYS measure your results. There are many vehicles out there today that allow you to get great exposure for little or no money and there are some that cost a little more that are well worth it.
Well that's all I have for you today! Remember every day is a new opportunity, so make the best of it, and ask yourself; How will I move my business forward today?
So what will you do to grow your business today?
I am constantly amazed by the things I see and learn from small business owners. Some are trying to do too much and are losing focus and some really aren't doing enough to expand and grow their business. Most of the time it comes down to two things; not enough time (or time not spent productively) and needing more hands. Very occasionally I meet a small business owner who has just hit a comfort slump and is just not doing anything, business is good enough to get by, the owner seems to be OK with mediocre and just hasn't taken any initiative to move it forward.
So where are you in all of this? Hopefully not in the last category, but if you are congratulations for recognizing that and coming here to try to make a change! If you feel like you are trying to do too much, you probably are. It might be time to sit down and re-evaluate your plan. What is important? What is the message/direction you are trying to go, and where are you with that today? What are your strengths? Most business owners are great at their core business, but lack some strength in the finance or business development area. Oobviously you have some business sense or you wouldn't have gotten your business off the ground. But a truly savvy business owner knows that they are most successful when they allow someone else to take over the areas where they are weaker. Sales, marketing and business development are a full time job for any small business. Especially in these digital days of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, websites, blogs, email campaigns, Linked in, and then there is actual networking events! It makes me tired just to think about it all! But when you meet someone and tell them about your business, what the first thing they ask you? Do you have a website? Well, do you? Are you on facebook? Almost everyone has a website and almost everyone has the "follow me" or "like me" icon for Facebook and/or Twitter.
This is where people like me come in. I make it my job to update your website, create your Facebook page so people can become fans, you can post special offers, etc. I will be your twitterbug, create your Linked in account and help you fill it full of contacts, brief you about networking events worth your time in your area and more. After all, if people don't know about your business then how can you drive new customers in your door or to your website and make money? We put together a marketing plan for your business and decide the most effective way to get your business exposure with the biggest bang for your buck! Do you have time to do all that yourself? Do you want to? For those of you who answered no to both of those questions I invite you to get in touch with me. For those of you still not willing to loosen up the purse strings and let someone else help..well you can subscribe to the blog and try to keep up :)
One of the biggest mistakes I see small business owners make on a daily basis is confusing advertising for an expense rather than an investment. You know getting customers costs money right? But in the same breath those very same customers are extremely valuable to your business right? So ask yourself, how much is one customer worth? Are they a repeat customer? (if not you better be asking yourself why!) Now how much are they worth? Do they refer others to you? How much are they worth now? So now tell me why you consider your advertising, marketing and promotions as expense? Sounds to me like investing money on any of those things could be very valuable to you! I don't know who said it first but it's true, You must spend money to make money.
Now, I'm not saying by any stretch that you should just throw money out there and see what works. Have a plan or get with someone to come up with a plan, make educated decisions, take some risks, and ALWAYS measure your results. There are many vehicles out there today that allow you to get great exposure for little or no money and there are some that cost a little more that are well worth it.
Well that's all I have for you today! Remember every day is a new opportunity, so make the best of it, and ask yourself; How will I move my business forward today?
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