That Horrible Cash Gap in Business

2nd November 2020 By The ActionKnowHow Team

It’s a Stomach Churner – Lack of Cash Hurts

What do you have in place for ensuring clients all year around with predictable numbers of clients arriving each month in your business? Let us show you some of the winning systems we have used in our businesses to bring in work, of the right type and with certainty of income each month.

Products and Services

Variable income each month? Worried about the feast and famine in your business? One month it’s crazy busy and the next quiet as a mouse? Using products alongside your services to maximise your business potential can really help you to avoid the gaps in monthly revenues and we can show you how. As service providers ourselves we understand the importance of creating a product so you don’t swap time for cash in every transaction. This enables you to work at a higher level with your clients and attract only the best clients that suit your business.

Cash

The life blood of your business. Everything you plan for and do depends on being able to accurately forecast and repeat sales. We show you how to build repeat income streams, pitch for work and combine marketing and sales in every day activities by using tried and tested systems for income generation.

Working Hard

If you have a mindset that you are entitled to things easily you will build a barrier to income. It takes energy and effort and this is where our views differ greatly from the gurus out there who convince people. seduce them even, into thinking and very often paying for an easy-money business model. This is normally done by you using only their system or blue print at the centre of all you do. Let’s get real; seriously now, money for little work is just a dream and you are deluding yourself if you think otherwise.

The thing is, it’s not complex or difficult but nor is it easy as it needs you to focus on one thing and to devote loads of time, loads more time than you ever thought you would. So, if you are thinking you want a lifestyle business out of the gate with hardly any upfront work, then think again. It’s possible to build a business that operates without you doing all the work with customers, but it’s never out of the gate and you will work far longer hours initially than most 9-6 workers would ever consider to be reasonable.

Focus on Sales

Cashflow into your business will allow you to trade even if something bad or unexpected happens. Without cash it’s so much harder to contemplate. So all that you do, whether it be systematising your business, writing content or producing videos, needs to be about enhancing the customer experience, offering value and raising awareness so people want to buy from you. It’s never been easier to build up a relationship over time online and we truly are in the middle of the biggest most far-reaching business revolution since the early 1900s.

Business Apps We Loved

22nd October 2020 By The ActionKnowHow Team

The Business Apps We Loved

Let’s go retro! Technology was supposed to give us more freedom to do the things we want to, yet for years we’ve been tied to our desks by the fear of missing an important email that needs an immediate response and the dozen or so post-it notes that cling precariously to the edges of our screens.

It’s about time tech delivered on its promises and there are a few signs that it’s finally going to with a handful of apps that will help you to keep your busy schedule on track and your list of ‘things-to-do’ properly prioritised.

Clear is only available for iOS so far, but we’re sure an Android version (or copy) will follow soon. It’s a simple list of prioritised tasks that you can swipe away once completed. You set the priorities and the most important will sit at the top. You can create multiple lists and edit them as you go, so if you have a groceries list but forgot to include Udon noodles, simply open the app and add in what you missed.

If a priority changes, you can move things up or down the list as you wish.

The clean interface and simplicity of use are what appeals to us most of all.

IFTTT is a really simple but clever app that integrates a range of current technology devices to do things for you. For example, using GPS tracking it will know when you’re 10 minutes from home after a day in the office and will direct a NEST thermostat to turn on your heating. If it’s dark outside, you can walk into a lit house.

‘IFTTT’ stands for ‘If This Then That’, so takes its name from conditional programming in which an event is triggered by specific conditions being met. Yes, we do GeekSpeak.

This means that IFTTT will only sound your morning alarm on a workday and will delay your scheduled wake-up coffee brewing at weekends.

Pocket is a must for anyone easily distracted by the trail of things connected to other things online. It’s also very useful for research on a particular topic, collecting all of the information you find into one place for you to view as a consolidated collection when you have the time to spend on it.

Pocket sits on your phone or tablet, waiting for you to drop stuff into it. That can be videos, articles, blogs or almost anything else – everything you put into Pocket is downloaded so you don’t even need a connection to view it.

RescueTime offers a solution to those who feel that their productivity isn’t as high as it should be. It tracks the time you spend on your computer and measures how productive you are throughout the day. Being able to spot a pattern of low productivity at certain times enables you to make an informed decision to go off and do something else for a while because you’re not going to achieve much in the next hour. Go for a walk or do something that doesn’t involve you sitting at your desk just because you feel that you should be there.

It also provides weekly tracking for you to see whether what you’ve done differently has had a positive or negative impact on your productivity.

Basecamp is a great tool to boost collaborative productivity. The interface may take a little time to get used to, but once you get into it you’ll wonder how you ever did anything that involves others without it. As a business app we score this one very highly.

Basecamp enables you to set up a project, invite other members to it and assign tasks to them. You can upload files and make them available to those who need access to them and To-Do Lists will help to keep things on track. As someone completes a task on a list they simply check a box and you’ll be able to see who did what and when.

As with all things tech-related we think five at a time is plenty to be going on with. We loved these business apps in 2015 but no longer use 1, 3 and 5 in 2021. See our blog next week for the reasons why!

Pinterest Gets All Commercial

14th October 2020 By The ActionKnowHow Team

Pinterest Goes Commercial

There was never any doubt that the capitalisation of Pinterest would necessitate it becoming monetised through using more than advertising revenue and June 2015 saw the emergence of buttons enabling viewers to buy off the page.

Why?

Pinterest intended to build its catalogue of buyables, must-have items and lovely things through carefully chosen partners and, given its’ popularity with women with disposable income, great success was predicted. Buying in the moment is offered across all social platforms now and how can you maximise those views on your channels?

A Man With A Plan At Pinterest

The programme was being led by Tim Kendall, who previously worked at Facebook implementing the platform’s advertising structure before moving to Tumblr to do pretty much the same thing.

Kendall, as General Manager of Monetization, said that he was inspired by The Sharper Image, an American catalogue and retail outlet which was at its peak before the emergence of the World Wide Web.

The Sharper Image originally sold off-mainstream consumer electronics and had sufficient market clout to enable special arrangements to be made with manufacturers, creating models of products that were exclusive to the retail giant.

Premier League and Aspirational Market Place?

How deep Kendall’s inspiration goes is unknown, but with Pinterest currently valued at $11bn in 2015 and now $37 billion in 2020 there may be scope for ‘Exclusively from Pinterest’ to be added to some of the ‘Buy’ buttons.

The company is naturally protective of its image and reputation to the extent that merchants aspiring to sell through the platform have to meet fairly strict criteria before approval will be given.

How easy is it to buy from you and your business right now?

Must Have More Research

9th October 2020 By The ActionKnowHow Team

Must have more research?

Do you think you need to canvas loads more opinions to get the right answer on what you want to do in your business? Feel reassured by research but always wondering if you have made the right decision? We know, when talking to some clients, that they have serious self doubts and almost anything they need to make a decision on is sent off for comments via forums, Facebook, Twitter and email to lots of people. Shall I buy this piece of equipment, does this work for anyone else, how about if I do this?

Learn the Power of One

If you find yourself asking loads of people and waiting for lots of answers before making your move its time to take a hard look at why you are doing this. It’s a form, for many of us, of procrastination. You are putting off the decision by kidding yourself you need research and in the process you are wasting time and effort you should be using to take the step needed, the action you need to push your business forward. The thing is real research is systematic and not for decisions on your business, it’s hard wired into your plan at to what areas need research, not done on the hoof every time you hit a rough spot or are grappling with spending $5 on Fiverr.com! Learn the power of one, develop your true North, have faith in your ideas and abilities and measure what you do.

Stop! You need to be able to make decisions

Seriously? You don’t need to build a committee around yourself to spend some money from your business, you need to learn how to make decisions, be able to prove the benefit of spending or doing something in line with your business plans. And there is the rub, running a business without a plan, without a strategy, leads you to woolly-minded thinking and daft decisions. Everything you see and come across for sale, on offer or could be business related starts to appeal, you wonder if this or that is the magic bullet and when it’s not, well, that’s where the self-doubt comes in and you turn to others for advice, help and reasons to follow the thoughts cropping up in your mind every 5 minutes.

Plan for action and tools to help

With a business plan you can chunk it all down to actions per month, per week and per day, that leaves less room for running scared and asking lots of other people about things you need to make decisions on yourself. You end up with just one big question you can answer each time, ‘Does this thing, action or person add value and get me where I have planned to be?’ Yes or No – the answer is clear. If No, decision made and move on; if Yes then you can look at financing the spend (if there is one) or just take the action needed.

Business can be a bit lonely

The truth is that business is a lonely master at times; don’t mistake opinions and helpful suggestions from friends as solid commercial advice. You need to find your own inner compass or your stress levels will rise and you will soon not have a business to be talking about. If being alone and working through things yourself is a problem then either get over it or seriously consider whether running a business is for you. If you would not pay the person for giving you business advice stop listening to them offering their input for free!

Tools, Tips and Free Help

For more tips and help sign up to our free newsletters and subscribe to this blog. We are running a number of free webinars this year so by signing up to our free resources you will have access to all we do and be able to select what will be most helpful. Of course, we would love to see you in our business help clubs and programmes but understand you will need to get to know us first. It’s only really when stuff starts working for you that you realise the magic can happen.

The Art of Doing Less

5th October 2020 By The ActionKnowHow Team

The Art of Doing Less to Achieve More

Ever found yourself missing a family event or working late just to keep up with the tasks you have to do in your business?

If the answer is yes then this blog is for you. You see, all of us think at some time in our working life that doing loads HAS to the be the answer to success, less = no work, more activity = more cash, right? Well I think it’s fundamentally flawed thinking. As a fairly old (almost 60) ex lawyer I remember when we used to be paid by the word, minute and hour, our worth was measured in the hours we billed and how much of that billing hit the firm’s bank account ie not disputed or a bad debt.

You are worth more than cash

That is not how we measure ourselves of course, nor is it, in 2020, an enlightened way to run a business when this year has taken the whole world and shaken it up and our personal and business lives with it. Working yourself into the ground burning both ends of the day and not feeling worthy unless you are in front of your PC tapping out more work is a big fat horrible danger signal that your life has got seriously out of kilter.

The way law firm partners thought when I worked in a traditional practice was how much could we flog the staff to earn this month? Do you know how many hours a lawyer works to bill 6 or 7 hours each day? Normally around 10-11 hours. Hardly a shock that by early 2000 (when we did a sharp exit) we saw many lawyers buying camper vans and heading for the hills.

Unprecedented levels of burn out across all professions

This is not just about lawyers though, you can insert any professional title in there and its the same, our internet obsession and the change of business to be 24/7 or at least operate always 7 days a week via a 12 hour day have changed the rules. We are not clear – I think – on what is expected of us any longer or how to manage the new way of working which means we can work any time without it being all of our time. That is my big question and one I have asked myself repeatedly, I have some but not all of the answers, my life is a journey but I can share what I have learned so far and what is working for me.

Examine your thinking

You need to look at doing things better and handling less using a higher brain function ie thinking and evaluating what to do, so its done once and right so you are not reacting and just processing your ‘to do’ list. Your ‘to do’ list also never ends, it just gets longer with more stuff being added daily. Sounds like you? Think again!

Another way

If you have a long ‘to do’ list and are spending your day worrying about fitting it all in and constantly being given or adding new tasks its time to rearrange your thinking. I use a project book, one of those split into coloured sections so I can use a colour coding for each project area I am working on plus a master board, nothing fancy just an A3 drawing block with all the projects in a big mind map on one page so I can check what is important and what is moving/slipping or needs attention.

For each project I colour code the name so I know a green one is live and underway, a red one is in trouble and needs my attention and the blue one is pending ie I am waiting on for someone else to make progress, violet ones are dreams ie ideas I may or may not revisit but they sure as hell are not having any time now devoted to them so they are on paper but have no flesh or time devoted to them now.

My green, blue and red projects have space in my project book, a page for each project tasks with my main aim written at the top. All of these plans and lists have scheduled time in the diary. If it’s not scheduled it does not happen. This stops reactivity, burn out and stuff getting missed. It also allows me to plan my time accurately around home life, my beloved husband, friends and dogs are always going to come first and have time devoted to them.

Oh yeah, how does that work when the sh*t hits the fan then?

Sh*t happens, ill-health strikes without warning, I went out one Saturday afternoon, fell over and spent over 3 years recovering from a traumatic leg injury needing major surgery and twice weekly physio. I did not miss one day off work, did not lose one client and earned more money the year I was injured than I had done at any time in the last 5 before it. I was super organised, and the schedule enabled others to take over some of my tasks easily without the fuss a disorganised working life can bring. Now in 2020, another type of illness in my family grounded everything to a standstill and I needed to change everything about the way in which I had worked for over 30 years. This sort of framework enables you to do or delegate without the need for full engagement at those times when you are under par or lacking physical and/or emotional energy.

Will you fall off the wagon periodically even if you adopt these systems? Of course, but done regularly and getting you the results you want will make them easier to get back into when something unexpected happens. Fancy some support in getting this sort of plan in your life? Email support@actionknowhow.com for details of courses and programs that would help you sort out your framework and paint a better picture for living in your life and business.