What to do when you get distracted by bright shiny objects

by Angela Taffs | Sep 24, 2017 | Business Success, Running a Business, Starting a Business

Do you suffer Bright Shiny Object syndrome?

You know the feeling. You are in the middle of something, maybe doing some research on a project you are working on. And then you see it. First a little twinkle out the corner of your eye. And then it turns into this wonderful bright shiny object that simply demands your attention.

Sound familiar?

We’ve all been there. And this Bright Shiny Object is the best thing since sliced bread. Until ….. you see another one. Oh, what to do. So many shiny things to chase after!!!!

Now, these distractions can be just for a few minutes. Even in this situation, you are going to lose so much time trying to refocus on what you were originally working on. But the worst case is when this takes you down a new track and you leave your old plans unfinished.

The danger point is that you keep chasing new things and never actually complete anything. Therefore, you never get the results you set out to achieve and so the vicious cycle of chasing another BSO continues.

Here are my three top tips to help deal with the distractions.

Determine your end goal

Firstly, what is your end goal? Keep looking at your plan and make sure that everything you do takes you towards to your goal, not away from it. It is too easy to get side tracked and led astray so by referring to your plan on a regular basis you can make sure you keep on track and focused on what you ultimately want to achieve.

Yes, you are bound to get caught up with other ideas as you grow your business, but if you keep stopping and starting something new, you will never get anything finished. You will end up confusing yourself and ultimately, your clients!!

Commit the bright shiny object to paper

Whenever you have a new idea pop up, write it down. Have an ideas book or board. Pop everything on here. And then sit on it!! Wait for a few days at least and then come back to it. Does it still look so attractive? Are you still fired up by it? Is it going to take you closer to your end goal or is just a distraction?

Make a date in your diary

If you decide you still want to go ahead with it, don’t start until you have finished what you were working on before this new idea came up. Your old idea will have been important enough for you to start on, so make sure you complete that first. You may just find that when you have completed what you were already working on, you have found yet another bright shiny object and so your last idea has lost its attraction.

Focus on one thing at a time, do it, and do it well. Then you can move on to the next.

Do you suffer from BSO syndrome? Share with me in the comments below.

How To Grow Your List Without A Big Budget

by Angela Taffs | Sep 11, 2017 | Sales and Marketing

Are you struggling to grow your email list and don’t have a big budget for Facebook ads or other marketing?

Read on for a few ideas on how to grow your list without a big budget.

Create a freebie

Create a freebie and promote through your social media channels in exchange for an email address. Add this email address to your list for future newsletters.

Write a blog

Start a blog. Provide interesting, valuable content and then have a sign-up form at the bottom. If people love what they are reading they will happily sign up to read future articles.

Put a sign up on your website

Have a sign-up form on your website. And not just one. You could have one at the top of your web page, at the bottom, on the sidebar or as a pop-up. Make it interesting and engaging.

Run a promotion

Run a promotion or online contest which people have to give their email to take part in. If you attend events/trade shows etc, run a competition for the day. Gather email addresses to be entered into the competition.

Have a sign-up button on your Facebook business page

Easy to do and if people like what you are posting they may well be happy to join your mailing list.

Use Video

Use video to engage with your audience and then invite them to join your mailing list at the end.

Host a webinar

Host a webinar on a subject close to your ideal client’s hearts. To be able to join the webinar they will have to give their email address.

Ask!

Put out posts asking your social media followers to join your mailing list. It’s surprising how well this simple action can work.

Have a subscriber-only area on your website

Offer special promotions or access to a secret part of your website in exchange for an email. The secret part of your website could have resources only available to subscribers.

Run a survey

This gives you valuable market research information and lets people know they will receive a thank you such as a freebie or entry into a draw to win a prize for leaving their email address

How To Grow Your Facebook Numbers On Your Business Page

by Angela Taffs | Sep 10, 2017 | Sales and Marketing

Do you get frustrated when trying to grow the number of fans and followers on your Facebook business page? Do you keep putting out posts but just hear the sound of the tumbleweed floating by?

Here are my top tips to grow your Facebook numbers on your business page.

Send an invite to contacts

Email all contacts and send out a newsletter letting them know about your page and asking them to join. Don’t forget to put the link to your page to make it easy for them to find it. I’ve seen so many emails saying ‘come like my page’ and no info on what the page is called or a link to it. Yes, really!!

Ask friends to share

Put a post out on your own personal page inviting people to like your business page and to share it with anyone who may be interested in it.

Link to your page from your personal profile

On your personal profile make sure you have a link to your business page. When posting in other groups etc, people may be interested to see what you do. If they go to your personal profile and you have your business page set as your workplace, it makes it easy for them to find your page and like it.

Put a link on your website

On your website, make sure you have a prominent link to your Facebook page and ask your readers to come follow you for updates.

Put links on all marketing material

Put a link to your Facebook page on all your marketing material such as business cards, email footers, blog posts etc. Make it easy for people to find you.

Create interesting, interactive posts

Create posts to gain interaction. Use unique images, create videos (especially live ones), ask questions, get people to choose their favourite ‘something’ from a choice you give them. Look at other posts from businesses similar to yours and see what types are getting the most interaction.

Don’t sell, sell, sell

Don’t just promote your business. The majority of your posts at the moment relate back to something you are offering as a service. Facebook will reduce the reach of promotional posts as I wrote in a recent article. Have a read for how to increase your reach.

Run a competition

Create a competition. Now a word of warning here. This is a great way of getting likes but some of these are not going to be your ideal client as there are so many people out there who will enter any competition going. It’s still a way to get a buzz going about your business. You can either run a competition for something very specific to your business such as a free c.v. review or one of the best that I ran was to buy a lottery ticket. I then said that anyone who liked the page and posted their favourite number in the comments below would get a share of the winnings if the ticket won.

Like and share other content

Like and share other posts that are complementary to your business. You can like these posts as your business page rather than by your personal profile. This helps raise awareness and in many cases, the owner of the page who posts you have liked will come and like your own page. As they are a complementary business this helps you get in front of their audience that may have your ideal client in.

Tag complementary businesses

Also, when sharing an article from another page, or talking about something linked to another business page, tag that page in your post. When you tag another page, the fans of that page will get to see your post which will gain interest in your own page.

Check your cover photo

Finally, make sure you cover photo is clear what your page is about. Try to look at your page objectively as an outsider, what would they think it was about? Ask a few people what they think. If your cover photo relays the correct message and makes it clear this is what you do, you are more likely to attract the people you want to work with. If it gives the wrong message, people will scan it and move on elsewhere.

Do you have any tips of your own? Share in the comments below and feel free to include a link to your Facebook page so readers can take a look.

P.S. Would you like help planning your social media to help increase your reach to gain more clients and make more money? Join my member’s club for a step-by-step guide. You’ll love it and start to get the results you want. Find out more here.

How to get new ideas for blog posts

by Angela Taffs | Sep 4, 2017 | Sales and Marketing

Do you ever get stuck when trying to come up with new ideas for blog posts or your latest newsletter? Here is a simple way to never run short of ideas.

Ask questions!

Yes, it’s that simple!

Recently, I was wondering what new things to write about so I asked the simple question in my Facebook group, ‘What is the biggest challenge you are facing in your business at the moment?’

I got so many responses that I easily came up with headings for loads of blog posts. These included:

Getting distracted by too many ideas

How to keep focused
How to create the right workspace
How to make the transition from a day job to being self-employed
How to grow numbers on a Facebook business page
How to create the right type of social media posts for my clientele
How to grow a list without a budget

Now I had my headings. And of course, I wrote an answer back to everyone who had replied with a challenge they were facing. So there was the core content for my blog article. I then expanded on this with some links to further resources, templates etc and wrote my blog. I then went back to each person, thanked them for their feedback and sent them the link to the full blog that I had written on how to solve their challenge. A win-win situation.

Go think of a question for your audience. Go think of a list of questions. Then post these one at a time (perhaps once per week) and see what response you get. When your audience realise they are going to get help and value from answering your questions, they will soon become far more eager to answer in the future. And of course, this is building relationships and trust that will help lead your audience to buy from you when the time is right.

Here are a few ideas for questions:

What is your biggest challenge when (insert problem your business helps with)
How badly on a scale of one to ten do you want to (insert problem you can solve)
What frustrates you most about (insert problem your ideal client has)
What would you like to know more about (insert solution your business helps with)
If there is one thing you would love to do, but can because of (insert problem your ideal client has) what would it be?

Do you have any favourite questions you would like to share? Please let me know in the comments below.

How to deal with the frustration of copycats

by Angela Taffs | Jul 15, 2017 | Business Success

Copycats and how to deal with the pesky creatures

On various occasions, I get a call for help from someone who has discovered that another person has started to copy their own content. And here is what I advise when faced with this upsetting situation.

Firstly, whilst incredibly frustrating, don’t fall into the trap of becoming so consumed with this person that you take your eye off your own business. This will be giving her a wholly unfair advantage if you start to let things slip at your end because you are so enraged and obsessed with what they are doing. You will be walking straight into their trap. Acknowledge what they are up to and then ….. ignore them!

Yes, easier said than done I know but if you don’t, the situation will eat away at you and cause you no end of stress and sleepless nights.

If they are directly copying work that you have copyrighted or are using your trade name etc, you can go through the legal channels to get them to stop. However, if they are just taking your ideas and using for their own business, there is nothing you can do to stop them. And to be perfectly honest, how original are your ideas? There is rarely a new idea out there these days. Everything tends to be a variation of something that has been done before.

Focus on YOUR business and YOUR customers

What you need to be doing is focusing on YOUR business and YOUR customers.

If this other person has to copy your ideas, they are going to seriously struggle in the long term when the harsh realities of running a business kick in. If they are so short of their own ideas and have no imagination, they will just be a poor imitation of you.

And there is only one you. And that is the one everyone loves. They are NOT you and never can be. Your work has your personality and vibrancy injected into it. This other person cannot physically have this. Some people may prefer their style of working and some will prefer yours. That’s life!

Keep in contact with your own customers. Keep talking to them, finding out what they love and what they would like to see more of. Keep building those relationships so if your customers see her work, they will still come back to you.

Don’t waste any more of your energy on this person. Use all your energy for continuing to focus on building your own fabulous business.

And at the end of the day, be flattered. People are obviously sitting up, taking notice and talking about you or otherwise you wouldn’t have attracted this attention.

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