What Business Tool(s) Are You "Tackling"?
No matter what you choose to work on, you have to be sure you know what your vision is before you begin making additions or changes. You may go to a colleague whom you trust and respect or a business that specializes in visioning (as I did) to review your vision with you. Whether this review is paid for or free always do it.
1. WHAT IS YOUR VISION?Revisiting your vision is VERY helpful and necessary before you begin anything. This past year I felt "stuck". I took my old "Ideal Business" list that I'd written on December 11, 2002 to Judi Hughes at
Your Planning Partners to see what had changed for me since my strokes in 2005. Surprisingly very little!
She worked with me to revisit this vision and appraise not only my past but my present and what I want to have in the future.
This is helping me redo my website, write my blog posts and everything else.
2. REVIEW YOUR MARKETING PLAN.Notice that I didn't say "Write your marketing plan." I assume you have one :-)
Whether you have one or not, examine it again. What worked best for you and what didn't work at all? Then change it! Do you want to do something new? Add this to your plan and do it.
3. WRITE A CLIENT SURVEY.Write a survey to ask your clients what they REALLY want. You may be surprised or it may confirm what you already know and are doing.
You may have sent it out in June or July or you may be sending it in September. Do it before you start redoing your website or writing articles, newsletters or your blog.
4. REVIEW YOUR WEBSITE.Does your website meet the purpose you set for it - get new clients for you, grow your "list", get people to come back more than once to it, have people buy your products or services?
Redo some or all of it.
What are your keywords? Did you use the "right" ones for your website? Do they draw people to your site? Are they in your copy, too? Ask your web person what keywords s/he used and where s/he sent your website.
5. WRITE YOUR NEWSLETTER(S) Compose newsletters ahead of time. Summer or any time is perfect to write several of these at once so you're ready for when you find yourself very busy with your clients and unable to write them.
6. START A BLOG. Do you have one yet? Have you put off writing one because you don't think you know how to do one or don't need one?
If you already have one, and you haven't written for a while because you didn't have time or you procrastinated then write a "bunch" of posts ahead of time. I'm writing them as I think of them in Word and I copy one over to my blog as I need it (the best is to publish three blog posts per week).
7. WRITE ARTICLES. Write articles you may be using in print (a local newspaper) AND/ OR electronically.
There are many places to send your articles AND some of them even announce you've just done an article in your accounts at facebook, twitter and linked in. This is done by
Ezine Articles Are you going to a networking event and want to pass something out? Print the article. Are you speaking and want something to give out? Print the article.
8. LEARN/ CHOOSE SOCIAL MEDIALearn about not only about how to set up your LinkedIn, twitter or Facebook account but also which one works best for you and the type of business you have.
9. DESIGN AND WRITE A COURSE.Are you giving a course in the fall? Then you are probably writing this now. And remember that some of this content can become an article, too.
This could be either an in-person course or one given over the internet.
There are probably different projects you've set for yourself (such as writing a book - or at least starting it). These are only some of them. Remember that the text you write in one place like your newsletter article can be lengthened and used as a separate article. And one article could become several blog posts! RECYCLE TEXT, TOO!
Keep learning, and until next time.
Trudy