5 Tips to Grow Your Business Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

There’s nothing like owning your own business. There is the thrill of landing new clients; the joy of getting emails from those you work with who love the results they are getting. And then, there’s that rush you get when you look at your bank account balance and for once it doesn’t make you want to run back to bed and cry.  Owning your own business truly rocks!

A key component of building a successful business is continually working on it. We aren’t talking about doing everything it takes to keep the business operational—that’s working “in” your business. We’re talking about working “on” your business – planning, marketing, customer relations, selling, etc – focusing on the things you need to do whether you have zero customers or a million customers. You need to have a good handle on all aspects of your business and continually do more of the right things to keep it thriving. That doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself either. It seems like a tall order, but it’s not.

Here are our top 5 tips for growing your successful business:

1)    Market – Market - Market and then Market some more. Even when you have a full client base, don’t stop your PR and marketing efforts. So many businesses make this mistake. They market, get clients, stop marketing, lose clients, and then market again to regain those clients. This leads to the constant feeling of starting over. You have to look at what you did in the past and review it.  If it worked, then do it again. If it didn’t work, come up with something new, and implement that plan. Exhausting, isn’t it? Plus, people tend to forget about you if you aren’t always front and center. So develop a marketing plan that works for your business and continually keep it going. Every week add your marketing tasks to your to do list just as you do for your client work. Continually market your business and the results will absolutely come.
2)    Market correctly. Not only do you need to be marketing consistently, you also need to be doing it correctly so you reach your audience and they are compelled to contact you. One of the first things you need to do is ensure that you are marketing to your target audience. What is that, you say? What about this target audience? Exactly! You have no idea how many business owners we see that just market with no direction in mind. You absolutely have to know whom you want to focus on in your marketing. Those are the ones who will be buying from you and also will understand your value because they are looking for assistance in that area. So know exactly who your target audience is and market to them in the language they will best understand.
3)    Check your stats and measure your results. It’s important to know what marketing activities are working and what aren’t so you can do more of the right things.  How can you tell what’s working? Easy, ask clients where they found you. Check out your website stats and see where those potential clients are coming from. Or, simply add in verbiage to your marketing efforts so that when it comes back to you, you know exactly where it came from. For example, you do article marketing, in the bio include an email address that is specific to these articles. Then when someone contacts you, you know exactly where they found you.  (Yes, it’s that easy!) It’s not enough just to collect this information. You have to analyze it and take the necessary steps to adjust when things aren’t working. Or, maybe add a little more to an area that is working.
4)    Do More and Be More – When you give clients more than they ask for on a consistent basis, they continue to not only send you more work, but they tell others about you.  That’s how your business continues to thrive. Always do more and be more than your clients could ever imagine. In return, they will want to help you succeed, because you are always looking out for them.
5)    Hire Help.  Don’t do it alone. You never see the CEO of a company doing everything in their business, so why would you believe that you should be doing it all in your business.  Even though you can probably do the work, why do it? You should be focusing on what you do best. That’s the mark of a successful entrepreneur. They know to achieve top success they have to put the right team in place and have confidence in their team.

Lastly, if you ask most entrepreneurs what makes them a success, you most often hear, “I truly love what I do.”  That passion is what sets them apart.  Be passionate and follow the above steps. In doing so, we think you will start to see good things come your way. We can’t promise it will always be easy, but the knowledge you’ll gain about your business while using these tips to grow your business will give you a new sense of pride and much more confidence going forward. To your success!

Diana Ennen and Kelly Poelker are the co-authors of numerous books including Virtual Assistant - The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and accompanying Virtual Assistant - The Series Workbook, and Virtual Assistant - The Series: Working Virtually, A Guide to Working Remotely as an Employee.  Stop by their site for complete information on starting your own VA business http://www.vatheseries.com.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact.

Organized and Loving It.

Over the years, I’ve tried it all- different ways to get organized.  Trial and error.  Some worked, some didn’t.  I tried some of those fancy looking matching desk sets.  They looked beautiful and for some, I’m sure they are perfect.  But for me, they took up too much valuable space. Space I needed to proof my work, keep my reference books, or keep those essentials that I use on a regular basis.  For me, when I work I want everything within an arms reach and have the tools I need to complete my assignments within arms reach.

I have a corner desk and on it I have my computer, printer, fax, phone, etc.  Beside my desk I have a two-drawer filing cabinet.  This was possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever done to organize my business.  In it I have my files and supplies that I use on a daily or regular basis.  My clients’ stationery, clients’ files, file for my receipts, all personal correspondence, paper, folders, etc.  Whenever these files get bulky with client documents, I simply empty them into the main filing cabinet.  For example, my main clients that I’ve been working with for 15 years, their files in the main cabinet are quite large and it’s so nice to have the smaller file close by with just their recent correspondence.   Plus, when I need a folder, an order slip for my books, a copy of my stationery, it’s all right there.  AAAHHH, now that’s convenience.

Now for the receipts’ file.  I keep it monthly.  I simply at the beginning of the month, replace the file with the new month’s file.   That way, at tax time, I don’t have to go through a whole year’s receipts and divide it up then.  It’s all separated.     

Here are some other organizational tips you might find beneficial:

Mail—We have a round basket by a small table by the front door.  All incoming mail goes in there first.  Then when I have the opportunity to sort through it, I get it and put it in its appropriate place.  Always pitch anything you aren’t keeping   All business-related mail is sorted and put away immediately.  Anything that might need work done on it, is logged into my Daytimer and then put in the To Do Bin.

Desk—Your desk should have on it only those items that you use on a regular basis.  Look around.  What haven’t you used in the last month or two.  Start Dumping.  Find another spot for it.  But find the RIGHT space for it.

No Piling of Anything Allowed. This is one of those habits that can be so easy to get into.  Definitely one of the ones that I catch myself doing a lot!  But I stop myself now because I know it will just be brushed off to the side and forgotten.  Too often I miss something important and regret the piling blunder again.  You will be amazed how much more organized you will feel if you just don’t do this one thing.

Daytimer—Now this isn’t only for Time Management.  Your Daytimer can have a space for all your business cards, appointment cards, etc.   How great it is to have all these cards right in the same place. On the date of your appointment, you simply grab the card and off you go.    

Start the beginning of the day and the end of the day with a clean-up.  What a tremendous feeling that is.  When you are done with a project.  Away it goes.  Everything.  When you start the next project, out comes all the material you need. 

There’s nothing like the feeling of sitting down in the morning to a nice clean organized desk and office.  Once you feel this a couple of days, you want to experience this every day so you’ll take the appropriate steps to make it happen.

Diana Ennen is the author of numerous books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and accompanying Workbook, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com, Corel Word Perfect Office Ready, Virtual Assistant Solution Pack, and is president of Virtual Word Publishing http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and http://www.virtualassistantstartups.com. Free to reprint article as long as the bio remains intact.  Also, email us at diana@virtualwordpublishing.com for your free information on starting a business.

Tips for a Stress Free Holiday with Your Business

Here are my tips for a stress-free holiday! I'd love your tips as well, please comment away!

1) Let clients know well in advance your holiday schedule and try and stick with the same schedule if possible year after year. For example, I normally take the same days off each year so my clients know this and can work around it. What I find is that when I do this they know in advance so the few days before I take off I don't get tons of work.

2) Have a subcontractor who can help for a few hours. There's no better feeling than being out there shopping and knowing that the work is still being taken care of. You normally still make money on the work that your subcontractor does and it can alleviate so much stress.

3) Really focus and have a daily to do list. Also, keep track of the time you spend on tasks and write it down. During the holidays time flies by and we don't even realize where the days go. By staying focused you can get so much more accomplished. And with writing down your time, you can see that work is getting done. Watch your emails and only check them so many times a day (this will depend on the type of your business.) One small change can make a huge difference. For example, during the holidays you normally get tons of coupons, which you really want to check out. When you do though, you get sidetracked and don't focus as well. I set up in Outlook a rule so all coupons go into a folder first. That way I'm not tempted to look. And when I do look, all my coupons are together.

Thanks! Diana Ennen/ www.virtualwordpublishing.com

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