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You are here: Home / Archives for life as your own boss

Focus

10th March 2018 By The Actionistas

I Can’t Stop Buying Marketing Tools

This was a plea for help straight into my inbox. A client who has a thriving coaching business was working with us on our strategic programme. She was very clear on who she helped and what she did for her clients and, together, we worked on a marketing strategy which led a month by month plan.

On target but not happy

She was on target but she had started to seek out marketing tools to speed up the process and found that the new tools she was buying were taking up more and more of her time. Her outgoings on tools had risen by 50% and, compared with her previous outsourced marketing, she was now doing it all herself with these tools and spending more time and more money than she had previously. Her learning curve was increasing with each tool she bought and she was overwhelmed.

DIY more expensive? How does that work?

‘How does it work, Sue?’ she asked, ‘How come doing it yourself costs more and I am knackered all the time?’. It doesn’t have to be that way and you certainly don’t need to be paying for lots of tools to do marketing. Those of us spending an hour or so each day every day often find we get the same results as those of us dedicating full days to the same task. It’s all about focus. What had happened was that this client, in buying tools to save time, had become addicted to the tools and had lost sight of the process needed. So we stripped it all back to the basics.

Start with the end in mind

Emails

If you want to regularly communicate with your coaching clients you have a couple of things to sort out first; lists segmented to communicate relevant messages normally means, initially, three lists: historic clients, current clients and lapsed clients (stopped coaching work, on a break, off plan). Then you need an email service; Mailchimp, Aweber (check out your suppliers’ GDPR compliance before signing up) and Mailing Manager all work well and are all low in cost. You do not need Infusionsoft to send regular emails, so just keep it simple and get it done. Add in a layer of complexity of use (like Infusionsoft) for simple routine emails and you get stuck – when you get stuck your mind will put it off the priority list and a month, then two, then three will go by without using that tool. Use the tools for your stripped-back purpose and, if you don’t need all or most of their features, terminate that contract. Get your processes in place and select the simplest system to fit them that you can. Don’t get seduced by the nice to have shiny stuff or the features not needed by your process. Make life easier for yourself. Take out and get rid of the stuff causing you pain and anxiety.

Social Media

Stick with the plan; regular relevant content and list-building doesn’t need loads of complex data-mining software or expensive monthly contracts just to be told how big brands are selling peas via Twitter. Software for scheduling can cost up to £285 or so per month, but why not use the very stable and easy to use Hootsuite or Sendible? Get the tool to fit your business and the job you want it to do, work out your best 1 or 2 social media channels and work those babies harder than a Victorian chimney sweep.

PPC

My lovely client was spending loads on all sorts of software in this category, doing keyword and trending analysis; she was so busy analysing that often the actual advertising work was being placed on a back burner. She was spending less than £100 per month on PPC and over £150 a month on the tools to monitor it – we had a laugh about that one! Hours were used in working out what potential coaching clients were reading and searching for, when an email to her historic and current clients with a survey link in it would have been better for her, more accurate and focused on what she needed to do next and use up much less of her time. She is doing that now instead.

Summer clean up

So, after going through the list of contracts with her and working out which could be ditched and when (contract terms review time) we sorted out a clean plan for the rest of the year with a saving of over £3500 across the next 5 months. We worked on a marketing activity plan around content and scheduled newsletters with some back-copies of newsletter content being put into eBooks and set up some landing pages for the eBooks to feed traffic to. Time spent per week previously being driven by tools’ requirements = 12 hours now reduced to less than 1 hour per day. Happier business owner and more directed marketing to those clients who are likely to buy from her again and who now have more reason to get in touch.

So many times we get sidetracked by shiny and don’t realise how far we are along the wrong path. What’s driving you down a blind alley this month? Do tell, either on here or on social media. Don’t get me started on membership site plug-ins and themes, if ever there was a way to burn hours for me that was it. More on this next month (April 2018)when I share with you why I chose an eLearning theme rather than a membership site.

Are you getting stuck in your business growth? Call us today for a chat or arrange a breakthrough session.

 

Filed Under: Taking Action Tagged With: female boss, inspire and influence, life as your own boss, women leaders

Could You Work From Home?

10th October 2016 By The ActionKnowHow Team

The Challenges of Working from Home

 

We’ve all seen those work at home business ads which are posted on social media sites. They promise the dream-working lifestyle and the fantastic income, all this whilst working when you want in your own environment. The reality of being your own boss is not like the adverts and it is challenging to ‘earn what you want, when you want.’

 

However, more people are now working from home, they have become tired of the workplace policies and the hours that don’t fit in with the childcare arrangements. Though, what people don’t realise from the promotional advertisements, is that to work from home is both challenging and highly rewarding.

 

The Challenges of Working from Home

 

Managing your workload – We’re all used to the work commute, but now that you’re working from home you no longer have to set the alarm for 6am to make it to your desk for 8am! Working from home sounds like a big plus when thinking of that scenario, but it’s easy to sit in your office area only to allow yourself to be distracted for hours on end. No longer are you working for 8 hours a day but instead you’re now working a flexible schedule and you can shift your work schedule until tomorrow. Eventually, you’ll come to realise that you don’t manage time well!

 

You can prevent this nightmare non-productive scenario by setting your own business hours and ensuring that you stick to them. Not only will a schedule make you more productive but it will also fulfil the reasons why you wanted to work at home in the first place – flexible hours for example.

 

Set Your Goals – It is easy to get into the trap of setting short-term goals where you work the bare minimum to meet the revenue you want. When working from home try to set ambitious targets as you should be seeking to earn as much as you can within a reasonable work schedule. Working the bare minimum could potentially lead to financial disaster, so earn more and save for those rainy days when you’re ill or most of your clients are taking holidays.

 

The mundane jobs still exist – We’ve all had those jobs where we sit for hours on end doing tedious administrative work. If you think that working for yourself means you can disregard these tasks then think again! In fact, you’ll probably end up doing more administrative work than you ever did at your old job. So don’t forget the basics, the tax returns, the invoices to clients and paying your bills. You have to be earning to outsource some of the grunt work so the sooner you set your default position to maximum earning potential the better.

 

Avoid the nightmare ‘overload week of admin’ scenario and schedule a certain amount of time each day for the mundane administrative roles. Complete it every day and make it part of your routine.

 

Remember……

 

There is nothing quite like being your own boss! Working from home has many benefits but just as many pitfalls. So don’t be suckered into the adverts without planning and thinking this is right for you. Becoming self-employed means your job role expands, so get your planner out and remember you’re no longer working from 9 till 5 and, if you struggle with time management in a salaried job, it will be ten times worse when working at home.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: life as your own boss, work life balance, working from home

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