Whether you’re an entrepreneurial veteran or a boss babe newbie, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, disenchanted, or flat out exhausted by your business. If you are feeling that way, it’s probably time to make a change (or two!). Here are five tiny things you can do right now to help your brand and yourself!
Automate Whatever You Can
You have the same number of hours in a day as Beyonce? …but Beyonce has a lot more help. Help yourself by setting up systems and programs that will allow you to automate various aspects of your business (thereby giving you back more time and getting you one step closer to Beyonce status). There are tools to automate invoicing, workflows, emails, new client onboarding, meeting scheduling, and just about anything in between. Personally, I use Zapier, IFTTT, Dubsado (more on this below!), Boomerang for Gmail, and Quickbooks Online, Asana, and FloDesk to name a few. Set it and forget it!
Do a Time Audit
For one week, write down every single thing that you do and how much time you spend doing it. Get very specific too. Don’t just record “emails” but note whether you were responding to new client inquiries, taking care of issues with current ones, or simply deleting coupons from the dozens of stores whose email lists you’ve subscribed to. Mark my words – at the end of that week, you’ll be floored at how much time you devote to some things. I did a time audit a few years ago and it was the kick in the pants I needed to finally hire a virtual assistant. I found I was spending way too much time on everyday, operational tasks that were not helping me to grow my business or up my revenue stream. Analyze the results and make some changes to give yourself back some of your most precious commodity!
Bulk Schedule Social Media Content
Raise your hand if you have ever panicked because you realized it was 8 p.m. and you still hadn’t posted to Instagram that day. ?♀️ Raise it again if you’ve doubly panicked because you had no idea what to post so you ended up not posting at all. ?♀️ ?♀️ Social media does not have to induce this much anxiety! End the posting paralysis by devoting an hour or two every week to bulk schedule your content for the upcoming week or longer. While this may seem more time consuming or difficult than posting on the fly, I promise it isn’t. Scheduling in advance allows you to be much more strategic and intentional with your content, plan out a beautifully curated feed (if that’s your thing), and ensure you are posting on a consistent basis.
Invest in a CRM
I’m all about working smarter, not harder. Two years ago, I invested in Dubsado and it changed? my? life?. It has allowed me to automate and streamline submissions, emails, invoicing, contracts, workflows, payments, and more. There is absolutely no way I could juggle 200+ clients annually without it. Prior to Dubsado, I was managing these aspects of my business manually and wasting so much precious time doing it. A customer relationship management (CRM) system will allow you to better serve your current clients while easily attracting and onboarding new ones. You’ll look like you have your ish together even if you really don’t!
Create Your Ideal Client Avatar
It’s virtually impossible to attract your ideal client if you don’t know what he/she/they are like. Give life to this imaginary customer of yours by creating an ideal client avatar (ICA). Ask yourself simple questions about them like what their age and socioeconomic status are, what they do for a living, and what they do in their spare time. Dive even deeper by determining answers to more complex questions like where they spend their money, where they spend their time online, and what their biggest struggles and pain points are. By carefully constructing a profile for your ideal client, you get to know him/her/them better, which means you can understand and speak to them more effectively.
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