Every successful business needs a driven leader that’s going to direct their team to greatness. But without the skills to do so, you’re going to have a very hard time. While some people are born with the skills to lead, there are a lot of things that you can learn to become a better leader - both in your work and your life. Leading yourself, your family, and your community are just as important (if not more so) as leading at work.
No matter what you're up to, there’s always room to better yourself. Being open to learning is an essential skill that everyone should have.
I'm not talking "high vibes only" (ick!). Instead, I'm asking you to be aware of workplace morale - whether you're a team of one or a team of many. An environment of empowerment necessary if you’re going to keep people motivated to get their work done efficiently. If everyone’s spirits are low while they work, the job is much more difficult and miserable. Being able to live and work in a space where it's easier to keep your own spirits high will have an effect on the rest of your team.
There are going to be times when it’s hard to keep your cool, but as the leader, you have the responsibility to maintain the morale.
Sometimes you have to take a page out of another person’s book, and that means accepting that you’re not perfect in your role. Whether you're learning from guys like Charles Zsebik on Medium, or reading the classics on leadership, a good leader knows learning is a lifelong activity in the pursuit of excellence.
As mentioned before, being in the role of the leader, there are going to be times when things get tough. Deadlines failed ventures, all of these things are stressful - not many people would blame you for having a negative attitude. However, you need to be able to maintain your demeanor if you want to keep people working to their best standards.
The more you know about your team, the better you can use them to their best abilities. In a diverse work group it pays to know the strengths and challenges of your team. Finding the right role fit for each person matters. Tools like the Creative Freedom Entrepreneur Type Assessment can help you learn more about how your folks are best wired to work. Then, you can set them on tasks that are a better fit for their unique strengths and challenges. And if you have a situation where you've got a square peg in a round hole, just realize it will be more draining for them to do that work. Be sure to bake in some extra time for recovery after difficult or demanding assignments.
These may seem like obvious ideas, but they are all too often overlooked - especially in smaller organizations. Create an environment of empowerment for yourself, be a role model to your team, and make it easier on yourself and them by finding the right people for the right roles. That can go a long way toward making your life easier as a leader AND being seen in a better light by the members of your organization.
There are a lot of things that go into being a successful entrepreneur. Time management. Organizational skills. Being able to make confident decisions under pressure. Your self-improvement work never really ends. Someone once said that entrepreneurship is one of the toughest personal development programs in the world, and I don't think they were wrong.
While it seems a little obvious to work on your so-called "weaknesses", most of the time it's actually better to stay in your zone of excellence and continue to refine your life and work there. But sometimes, when we get stuck, we need to look at those challenge areas in order to break through an old pattern or habit and continue to progress. Here are a few places to look:
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Making a plan and setting aside consistent time to work on improving yourself both mentally and physically is a simple place to start. It can be anything from reading self-help books or blogs, working out, meditating, or attending workshops and seminars. What helps you grow as a person will likely also help you grow as an entrepreneur. Remember: when you're a solopreneur, problems in your business often create problems in your life and vice versa. When you are consistently working on becoming a better version of yourself, it will show in your life and work.
If you want to focus on personal growth, there are a few key areas you should concentrate on. When I work with my clients to help them build annual plans, we talk about fitness in terms of what's in the container (that is, your body) and what's being contained within that container (your energy, spirit, etc.). Things like this:
– Mental Health: Make sure to take care of your mental health! Entrepreneurship can be a very stressful journey, so it is essential to find ways to relax and de-stress. What does your mind need to feel nourished, fulfilled, and challenged appropriately?
– Physical Health: Just as important as mental health is physical health! When you are physically healthy and have lots of energy, it will show in your work. What are you doing to help keep your container healthy and well so it can hold all your awesomeness for years to come?
– Emotional Intelligence: One of the most essential skills for entrepreneurs is emotional intelligence. This means being able to understand and navigate your emotions, as well as those of others. This may look like planning time away, deepening your connections with others, or letting go of some relationships in order to set, and honor your boundaries.
Another great way to better yourself as an entrepreneur is to focus on education. This doesn’t necessarily mean going back to school, although that is an option. There are plenty of other ways to continue learning and growing as a business person. You can read blogs and books on entrepreneurship, attend seminars workshops for business owners. You can do courses specifically to hone your craft, get a specialty certification (AtHomePrep is one example) or to improve your business skills. You can even turn your car into a mobile classroom by listening to business podcasts. The important thing is that you are regularly learning new things and growing your knowledge base. In business, if you're not learning, you're falling behind.
This isn't just an invitation to read or take classes. Education comes in a variety of ways:
These are just a few ways you can better yourself as an entrepreneur. If you want to be successful in business, it is essential to focus on personal growth, education, and expanding your horizons through connecting with others. Need some support? Depending on where you're at in business, the Creative Freedom Incubator or my Star Power program may be exactly what you're looking for. Both are open for enrollment and have limited capacity. You can also dip your toe into an upcoming workshop to learn more!
As a small business owner, it’s important to make sure you are always in good standing. This can be difficult to do sometimes, especially if you are just starting out. However, there are some things you can do to help ensure your business stays in good standing.
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One way to stay in good standing is to make sure that all of your paperwork is up to date. This includes things like your business license and permits. If you are not sure if something is up to date, it is always better to check with your local authorities and keep accurate and up-to-date financial records.
This means tracking all income and expenses, as well as maintaining accurate bank statements.
Another way is to keep up with your taxes. This means filing your tax returns on time and paying any taxes that you owe. If you're having trouble with your taxes, it is a good idea to talk to a tax professional.
Financial stability is key to ensuring the long-term success of any business, so it is important to stay on top of your finances from the very beginning.
Another way to help your small business stay in good standing is to develop strong relationships with your vendors and suppliers. Building a rapport with the people you do business with can go a long way towards ensuring that they continue to work with you on favorable terms. It is also important to be prompt with payments or you can use a collection agency for small business and make sure to communicate clearly about any changes or delays in order to maintain a good relationship.
It is definitely helpful to have a solid business plan in place. This document can serve as a roadmap for your business, outlining your goals and objectives and detailing how you intend to achieve them. Having a clear plan of action can help keep you focused and on track and can also be useful for convincing potential investors or lenders to support your business.
You should also try to keep your customers happy. This means providing good customer service and keeping your prices fair. If you're having trouble with unhappy customers, it's a good idea to talk to them and see what you can do to improve the situation.
You should always be on the lookout for new business opportunities. This can help you expand your business and bring in new revenue. If you're unsure where to look for new business opportunities, it's a good idea to talk to other small business owners or attend networking events.
Finally, always be prepared for the worst. Have a plan in place in case something goes wrong. This includes having insurance and backup plans. By being prepared, you can help ensure your small business stays in good standing no matter what.
Your target audience and your existing customers are the people that you should be thinking about the most, always. They are the ones who are going to keep your business going, and they are the ones that you need to be focusing on as much as you can. This isn’t to say that other demographics aren’t important because of course they are, but there is something special about these two particular groups of people. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the things that you can do to keep the attention of your target audience and existing customers. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more.
Email Marketing
First, you might want to consider email marketing. At times, people are going to push your business to the back of their minds when they no longer think that they need you. The problem with this is that at the back of their minds is not where you want to be, so you have to remind them that you are right here, waiting to give them what they need. Email marketing is a fantastic way to do this, as long as it doesn’t look spammy. As long as you are not sending them a million emails in a week, and your emails aren’t full of spam, then this can be a helpful tactic.
Too many companies make the mistake of sending out emails that contain no useful information in them, and nothing that is going to grab attention. This is where you’re going to lose people, so you’ve got to make sure that any email you send out is relevant.
Create A Community
Another thing that you are going to need to put your focus on is creating a community within your existing customers. You want to make it something that potential customers want to be a part of, and existing customers love being a part of. Once you have established a community online, you can start to look into things like how to create an app for your online community so that they have a special place they can all go to find information on your business. It might not seem like something that is worth your time to do, but let us ask you how many big companies that you know of that don’t have apps? None.
Post On Social Media
Social media is an important part of any business now that we are living in the age of technology. Pretty much everyone is on social media now, and those that don't, know people that are so they get the latest through them anyway. As such, you should ensure that your business has pages on all of the main platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn at the very least. You might even want to include things like TikTok to give your posts some variety.
All of these pages need to be active with posts being made frequently, and engagement from your business with your customers. You want to make them feel as though they are special to the company. This is a big task to do though, so we do recommend that you hire someone to manage all social media as their main task.
New Marketing Campaigns
The final thing that we want to address is that you should be launching new marketing campaigns, but don’t go over the top with it. Of course, people like to see new things from your business, but if you have only recently launched a campaign and then you are trying to throw another one at people, it’s going to get confusing.
Also, before you launch ANYTHING, you need to make sure that it has been run through a focus group. They are there to ensure that you don’t put out anything that won’t land well, or anything that might offend anyone, so they are essential to the process. Too many businesses seem to think that they don’t need them, and that’s a mistake they will pay the price for.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you are going to need to do if you want to keep the attention of your target audience and your existing customers. It’s important that you take the time to plan ahead so that you know what your next move is well in advance. The last thing that you want to do is get left behind, and lose all your customers, as well as existing customers to a company that markets better. We wish you the very best of luck with this, and hope that it proves successful.
Before you think about all the tricky aspects of starting a company, you need to conjure up an idea.
What is the best possible business idea you can think of?
Well…there’s no such thing as a business idea that is the best of the best. You will not be able to find one particular idea that is a cut above the rest. Why? Because the secret to finding a good business idea lies in this one simple tip:
That's one of the key pieces of the Star Power Framework. Maybe you're a Linear Creative and starting a tax business might be a good fit. However, just because you're great at numbers doesn't mean you'll like the work of interfacing with people and the high-pressure environment of tax season.
Playing to your strengths means that you focus on the things you are good at while finding the right audience fit for what you have to offer. With that in mind, how can you conjure up a business idea around your strengths?
To start, you need to find what you are good at. Sit down, think about your interests and talents, then make a list of the things you believe you excel at. Honestly, this list can include anything and everything that comes to your mind. Perhaps you’re great at content creation, you have a passion for fitness, you love knitting - the possibilities are endless and they all depend on your strengths.
Next, you need to go through this list and look at all of your strengths. Choose each one and try to think of a business opportunity that revolves around it. For example, maybe you’re excellent at content creation and you love writing. You could start a business offering freelance content writing services to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Or, you can start a blog and turn that into a business through monetization.
Figure out which of your strengths are most likely to result in a good business idea. You may find that some of the things you love doing just won’t be viable businesses. Ask your network for input on what they'd buy - or if they know other people who might buy it. DON'T ask them if they like it. That's a cop-out question. Just because they like it doesn't mean it will sell well enough for you to make a career out of it.
After you’ve chosen your business idea, you need to start planning. Create a business plan that involves all the different steps you’ll pass through to go from the idea stage all the way to opening your business. Depending on the idea, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months/years.
Just like that, you have found the best business idea possible - for you. It’s an idea that plays to your strengths, meaning you feel more than competent going forwards. Clarity, confidence, and courage to act will help you go far. If you are confident and creating a business around a key strength of yours, you will have an easier time trying to stand out in your industry.
Your business performance is one of the most crucial aspects of running a successful company. But, you know you cannot be present all of the time. You may have meetings with investors or new clients. You may simply need to take a vacation to help you realign your focus and get back to your best. As your pride and joy, you need your business to continue to perform well while you are away, and you will need to put others in charge during your absence. This means you must trust your team, but how can you be certain they will meet your expectations?
You will never be able to trust your team if you hire the wrong people. When considering how to rely on employees in your absence, think back to how your hurting process will affect this. A strong hiring process will identify the most suitable candidates for the role, and you may even be able to find those who are management material early on.
Failing to outline an effective hiring process can lead to staffing issues that could negatively impact your business. The likes of Jonathan Sears SC have plenty of useful advice on how to mitigate understaffing and how this will could hurt your business by hiring the wrong candidates.
Your team should be able to get on with their duties without much supervision. Still, they may feel this way because they know you are there to help if they encounter a problem. In your absence, this safety net is gone, which could affect their confidence.
Before departing, make sure to provide concise communication about expectations and requirements. You can hold a team meeting to discuss this and also send an email outlining what everyone needs to do. Don’t get too complicated, as this could cause miscommunications which may lead to issues.
Managers can also put management responsibilities on a member of the team who they trust. This person could be one of the potential successors you have outlined for the business, and they may have already proved their leadership skills beforehand.
By delegating your management duties, you give an employee the chance to show you what they can do. This can motivate them and give them a reason to push themselves to ensure the team follows your recommendations.
Accountability is always essential in business, so ask your team to document their actions. This will give you a thorough outline of what happened while you were away.
This may seem a little too Big Brother, but this isn’t the purpose. Instead, it helps you see how the team managed without you, and it could prove that you can trust them to complete their tasks, which can give you more confidence in your employees.
As much as you want to be in the office as much as possible, it is not doable, and spending too much time working can impact your mental health, which will affect your creativity. You should feel confident if you ever need to be away from the office, so consider these tips to ensure your team continues to flourish even in your absence.
Identifying the biggest risks in your business can help you prevent disaster before it strikes. I'm not just talking about natural disasters or social crises like a pandemic or military invasion, either. Often we can't see those things coming, even though they're always a possibility.
External factors aren't the only things that can affect your company’s growth and success. Sometimes, the biggest (and most likely) risks occur inside your organization. Things like time-wasting, poor employee training or customer service, or focusing on the wrong thing can set a company back months, if not years!
If left unchecked, these issues can have catastrophic consequences for your enterprise. Sure, you could fall behind competitors, but you could also lose the high-quality customers and talent that helped make your company what it is today. A regular business audit can help you catch these issues before they become problems in your company.
Streamlining business processes is one of the most effective ways for you to improve your company. Rather than rely on old-fashioned approaches, such as physical documents or manual activities, look to automation as much as you can to execute your processes. Things like an online scheduling tool or CRM for managing customer data are a great place to start.
Keep your process docs up to date, too. Use the cloud to store your process documents so that they can be updated by anyone in the company at any time. A central repository means everyone has the most up-to-date version of your process documentation.
Similarly, organizing your information and projects is a superb way to improve your business. File cabinets are useful, but I'm talking about all the stuff you have collecting digital dust. No matter what you do, you may have a server full of scattered documents, images, and reports that are impossible to find.
Using programs or apps that archive files and folders will make a significant improvement. Now, you don’t need to spend hours pouring through the folder you were certain contained specific information, and instead, you can find it in an instant. You can also use this archive to maximize server space, which will accelerate your system and make everything quicker and more efficient.
This may seem obvious, but I often find folks spending money they don't need to in the early stages of their business. It's can be tricky to balance your budget and know which areas of your business require the most financial attention. It is just as important to make every penny count, too. There is a chance that your business is paying for services or subscriptions that you do not use, so go through your financials and identify everything.
You might find you are paying too much for items you don’t use, especially things like stationery, office furniture, and other items that are quickly becoming (mostly) irrelevant in an office setting. Your business may have evolved significantly over the last two years, also. If you have embraced remote working over office-based work, consider whether you need office space, and even if you do, does it need to be as big as it is? Chaotics often have what I call "champagne wishes and Kool-Aid money". Yes, we want to have nice things, but if the business can't financially support having those things, you really need to think twice about spending that money.
Employee performance (including your own!) is a strong indicator of how successful your business is and how successful it will be in the future. It’s always beneficial to check in with employees and team members (both at the office and remote) so you can get an idea of their thoughts and feelings regarding their professional development and their role in the company.
Ambitious professionals are always looking for ways to improve their skills and take on more responsibility. If they feel they are spinning their wheels, they won’t have the drive to push themselves. They may even feel like their efforts go unnoticed and may be considering a move away from your organization. Get feedback from employees and make a change that could benefit your whole organization.
All businesses will have areas for change, but you’ll never be able to make these changes if you don’t first identify them. You can get an idea of these changes from employee feedback, and they might highlight pointless meetings or similar issues that contribute to significant time drains.
Your organizational setup is not perfect, and just because you have done things one way forever doesn’t mean you won’t find any benefit if you adjust it. Implementing changes does not always go down well, but if enough people believe it is the right thing to do, others will soon forget how it was done previously, and you can look forward to the next stage for your business.
Your creative well is something you will need to draw from at times if you want to make a statement. Look at what your competitors are doing and consider how you can improve their approach to attract new customers and bring more eyes to your product or service.
Digital marketing typically involves social media or email campaigns, but everyone does this. If you want to experience the success you expect, you need to look at doing something more. This doesn’t mean abandoning digital marketing altogether, at the moment, it will always have a purpose. But this is not the only way to market your company or share content. Experiences are a useful way to garner attention, especially if you are trying to enter new markets. Make a splash with something unique, and you will get the attention you need.
Did you know that poor customer service wastes $75 billion annually across all industries? This is a significant and even terrifying figure to look at, which is why your business must get it right the first time. Many businesses pride themselves on excellent customer service at first, but soon become complacent once they become the most recognized name in their industry. They know they offer convenience and so customers will return even after a bad experience.
Believing that the customers will always come back is not sustainable, though. You must get your customer service right the first time to ensure they have a positive experience when working with you. Of course, mistakes are bound to be made along the way, but if you can find out where these mistakes are made most often, you can take steps towards reducing them as much as possible.
There is no such thing as the perfect company, and you shouldn’t expect perfection. Still, getting closer to perfect is possible. While you may think everything is going well, it could always be better. Carrying out a business audit will highlight the areas for improvement and allow you to consider alternatives that will put your company in a strong position to succeed and thrive in your industry. You don't have to do everything at once, but doing SOMETHING will help move the needle in your favor.
It can be a huge blow to your ego when your business isn't performing the way it used to (or the way you think it should). Sometimes there's an obvious external reason (pandemic, anyone?). Sometimes it's not so obvious.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything that you can do. Take heart! Here are a few suggestions to turn around the performance of your business.
Admit that you don't know everything. There are things you don't know you don't know and things you KNOW you don't know. I don't know much about Facebook ads - and I know I don't know much about them. But there are other issues in business I've still not faced, so I don't even know they are a thing!
Some times you have to give way to others who know more, have more experience, and can guide you to make more confident decisions. You don't hire a plumber to do brain surgery, right? Maybe you need an accountant who knows what book value is to help you as you prepare for an IPO. Or maybe you need a marketing pro who understands how to attract your target audience to your business. There comes a time in every business when you need experienced and dedicated professionals to help.
Here at Creative Freedom HQ, I hold regular meetings with each of my team members to make sure we're all on the same page, and to ensure that the right people are focused on the right things inside our company. While I don't have employees, and don't do employee reviews, per se. I've done them in the past when I did have an employee.
Reviews help everyone know what the expectations are and whether or not folks are meeting those expectations. It gives you a chance to head problems off earlier and recognize your team members for a job well done. Many employees want that kind of feedback and some find recognition as important as compensation. Keep that in mind when you're building out your support team.
If you want to fix the problem, you have got to find the root of the issue. You can’t just go around putting random solutions in place in the hopes that one of them will fix it. While you might get lucky once or twice, you won’t know what the problem is, so if it happens again, you still won’t know what to do. Identify where things are going wrong so that you can take the correct steps, and do this by going through your business with a fine tooth comb. You will find it, we guarantee you, it just might take a while.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it's a place to start. There are plenty of solutions that can work, you just have to experiment to find your groove. Ultimately, that's part of business: experiment and see what works, iterate, and do it again.
Launching a business is just the beginning of things. Like launching a rocket into space, you can't just take off and trust things will be okay. You need to keep things running smoothly, course correct and keep it on track to reach your destination. In business, that "destination" can be a moving target, so it's even more important to manage it successfully.
Your brand reputation is a key piece of that, as your business grows. It's one of the best ways to build credibility and generate more interest from paying customers. A great brand can set rates higher than the average and people gladly pay it. Don't believe me? Look at Starbucks and Apple. No one was going to pay those prices for what they offer... until someone did!
If you're looking to bolster your brand, then it's important to do what you can to stand out in meaningful ways. It's also important to focus on excellence to become a market leader. Wanting to become a market leader is not the same as actually becoming one, and making confident decisions goes a long way in this. Here are some ideas to help boost your brand right now.
Hiring creative thinkers is a great way of being able to make your company stand out and grow over the year. A recent article from the Harvard Business School highlights the importance of creativity in business. Your team (even if it's just freelancers right now) needs to be thinking differently if you want to be remarkable. That doesn't mean every idea will be a winner, but giving creative thinkers and talented individuals who think outside the box room to experiment often leads to exciting and innovative developments that help you stand out.
You have to try to think about keeping your focus on innovation as a modern company. The best way of being able to stand out and improve your brand is to try to innovate as much as you can. This means you have to make sure you consider some of the best ways of approaching business with a difference. Standing out and thinking about your unique selling point is one of the best ways of achieving success. And you need to try to put innovation front and center when you are trying to bolster your brand and make the key choices moving forward.
Providing a great customer experience is one of the best things that you can do when looking to improve your company. There are a lot of things that you should be looking to improve upon and the best way to do this is to make sure you focus on providing a great customer experience (this agency offers some ideas). People like to feel valued by businesses, and this means that your company should be focused on trying to provide the ultimate experience. Put yourself in the customer's shoes and think about how you can enhance things for them, and make their dealings with your business more enjoyable and exciting.
There are plenty of ways to boost your brand reputation. It's not a nice-to-have; it's an imperative if you want to be memorable and stay on the radar of your Raving Fans.
Streamlining your business processes doesn't happen overnight, and it might take some time to get it right. What is essential is that you understand there are plenty of benefits to be had once these workflows are improved.
There are a couple of important places to improve and streamline your business processes. In the meantime, here are some quick ways to make that happen.
Before you start making any changes, you need to assess all current workflows and processes. This will give you a better idea and understanding of what you need to do and the areas that could be hugely improved by streamlining.
You might be surprised just how many workflow processes you have within your business daily. But what you can do is make a ranked list of which one of the most important and which ones are the least important. This will give you the best idea of where you can start with your streamlining.
Where can you make simple streamlining changes?
Almost all businesses can benefit from outsourcing. You can outsource your entire IT support, marketing, and social media.
When outsourcing is done, you can help your business run more efficiently and grow steadily.
Outsourcing can assist small businesses to have easy to manage finances. It can also aid in containing the rising operational expenditures of specific departments inside larger corporations.
If you think a part of your business could be more efficient, define the need and intended objectives, then look into possible solutions.
Gone are the days but all of your finances for your business should be handled personally. There are many different options for creating invoices dealing with your accounts payable and more. Companies like OnPay Solutions can help you manage many of your financial processes.
We don't often consider paper usage is slow in any process; however, reducing your paper usage is one of the fastest ways to streamline your business. Paperwork can pile up quickly, increasing waiting times for your customers and internal requirements.
Take a look at what information you have on the paperwork and why it's needed. Could that paperwork have been created in a digital file? Is the paperwork important for the current job?
The easiest way to reduce your paper usage is to employ a document management solution. This can help put all of the information at your employees' fingertips at all times.
Document management systems usually have an easy-to-use platform that is simple to train all of your staff. This means that no matter what device they use, they will have access to the documentation they need.
Do you need to travel back and forth between the office on your home? Or do you need to see all of your clients face-to-face? Often it is more convenient and much more efficient to have an online zoom or Microsoft teams meeting. So long as you list all the points you want to cover, this can be the fastest way to have a high-quality meeting.
