by Angela Taffs | Jan 29, 2018 | Business Success, Running a Business
TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS
It is far too easy when running your own business and trying to do everything yourself to find yourself feeling overwhelmed and crushed by the mountain of tasks demanding your attention. The accounts need updating, bills need paying, the marketing needs doing, quotes need chasing, meetings need to be booked and all of this before you even start on the core of producing your product or providing your service.
All too often small business owners find themselves working 15 hours a day, neglecting their family and eventually reaching burnout through sheer exhaustion.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. Once you accept that your to-do list will never be fully completed you can start to plan and prioritise the big things and let the small things go. You need to understand that time management is not about getting everything done. It is about figuring out how to get more of the right things done with the time you have.
So here are some tips:
Plan Your Day/Week/Month
If you’re going to be productive, you must create some sort of structure to your working day, week and month. Block specific times out in your diary for dealing with those tasks that keep getting pushed down the list but are too important to ignore completely. Block off the first Monday morning of every month to reconcile the accounts. Use the last Friday afternoon of each month to analyse your marketing and plan what you are going to do for the next month. Block out two hours midweek each week to follow up past contacts or quotes.
Treat these times blocks with the importance they deserve. Do not let other things push them out the way. You can plan this either in a paper diary or schedule on your online calendar, so you get a reminder. This will put you in a feeling of control and stop you worrying you are going to miss something.
Create lists
When structuring your day, week or month, create a list of things that need to be done.
A daily list should have no more than three key items that need to be achieved. This does not mean you have to stop working when these three items are completed but it will help ensure the top priority items get completed first. And you can choose a fun task from your monthly list when you have completed your daily tasks which will help keep you motivated.
Once you have completed your daily list, have a look at your weekly list and pick something else from there that needs completing. Do the same with your monthly list. If a particular task seems too huge, break it down into smaller chunks as mentioned before and create a number of subtasks to get it completed.
At the end of each day, prepare your list for the next day. If nothing urgent and important with an impending deadline shouts out at you, one trick I use is to put a red dot against each item on my weekly list as the days move forward. If I get to seven dots, I either put that item as a priority for the next day or make the decision the item is not really that important and delete it. You can always move it to an ongoing list if you wish and then put another colour dot against it for each week that goes by and use the same principle.
By sorting out your next working day the evening prior, it will help you to relax and sleep better by knowing your next day is all planned out.
Set out your working hours
When you run your own business, there may creep in the temptation to start a little earlier in the day or finish later. Whatever hours you want to work is up to you but set up a routine of working hours that suits you and your business.
Treat it like a business and start and finish at the same time each day. Ensure you take a lunch break for at least 20 minutes and get some fresh air in this time if you can. I promise you will be more productive by taking this short break than if you work through thinking you haven’t got time to stop.
By having set working hours you can focus more clearly on what needs to be completed by when rather than thinking you can do it later and ending up working into the late hours of the night.
Have the right tools
You need tools to keep track of what you must do. Trying to keep everything sorted in your head will result in failure and lead to massive stress.
- Calendars As mentioned above, by putting tasks into an online calendar which will send you a reminder when it is due, you remove the stress of trying to have to remember it.
- Emails If you have more than one email account, synchronise them into one place so that you don’t have to keep logging in and out of different accounts.
- Project Management Software Use task management software to organise your documents and keep a track of tasks pending and completed and how a project is progressing.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)If you only have a few clients, a simple spreadsheet may do but have a look at a simple CRM system such as Capsule. These help organise your clients, hold all their notes, emails and documents in one place and set your follow up tasks.
- Accountancy software Hate balancing the figures at the end of the month? Always get in a muddle? Try software solutions such as FreeAgent and Freshbooks that look after your invoicing and expenses and balance your figures with your online bank account. There is a small monthly cost for many software solutions, but these could be well worth the expense (approx. £19.99 pcm for FreeAgent) if it saves you hours of time and stress. It will take time to get your head around some of these systems, but start slowly and simply and you will soon end up wondering how you ever coped without them. And many systems integrate with each other, so you always have access to all your information in one place.
Baby Steps
Big tasks can seem so overwhelming that you just don’t know where to start. Think of the adage ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ The answer, one mouthful at a time. And it is the same with your work. Break it down into bite-size chunks or baby steps.
If you have a task that you think is going to take you hours to complete and think you just don’t have the time, set an alarm for just 15 minutes and make a start on it. You may just surprise yourself with how much you get done when the pressure is off to complete the task all in one go.
Focus on one task at a time
Multi-tasking is not always the best way of being productive and is when mistakes tend to happen. It can be far better to focus on one task at a time and get that over and done with. Turn off any distractions for important tasks such as your phone and close those social media tabs! Set your time and get going. It is far more therapeutic to see whole tasks being crossed off a list than just doing bits here and there with nothing ever getting fully done.
Outsource what you hate
Have a look at those tasks that are building up the red dots and still sitting on your list. Is there a pattern or any similarity between them? Mine is always the financial tasks. I love being creative and being with my clients. I hate sitting down number crunching and cross-referencing. So, go get someone else to do it for you. Someone with a passion for numbers can get my books up to date in a couple of hours where it would take me days to truly get to grips with it. Outsourcing things you hate may cost you a small amount of money, but this will make up for itself in getting those things done to free up your time doing what you love and making sales.
Prepare for emergencies.
Life rarely goes smoothly and the unexpected happens to put us off track when we least need it. You feel like you have everything under control and then your dog gets taken ill and must be rushed to the vet. You have a load of documents to print-ready for a workshop and your printer decides to stop working. The school phone because your child has been involved in an incident and you need to go and talk to their teacher.
So, have a contingency plan up your sleeve. Prepare for the ‘what if’s’. Just having an emergency plan in place will give you so much peace of mind. Try to keep a few hours free in your diary each week to plan for the unexpected. This will give you a few precious hours to help get yourself back on track with your tasks. And if you don’t need to use this time for an unexpected event, use it to either do a task you enjoy or even to take a couple of hours for yourself to relax and recharge.
Try these time management tips and see if you start to work more effectively.
by Angela Taffs | Jan 4, 2018 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
Here are my top 10 tips to make 2018 your best year yet
Be the best
Be the best version of yourself that you can be. Whatever you are doing give it your absolute best.
Dream big
Dream big and step outside your comfort zone to achieve your goals.
Prioritise
Focus on your priorities. Choose these wisely and focus on them above everything else.
Focus
Choose activities that will take you closer to your goals. Focus on money making activities not scattergun time wasters.
Eat that frog
Eat that frog! Whatever is important; do it first. Create a morning routine to get the important things done first before you turn on your phone or computer.
Visualise
Spend time every day visualising your dreams and goals. Have a vision board. Take a picture of this and keep in your purse. Keep looking at it. It’s powerful stuff!
Question yourself
Ask yourself daily “What can I do to make a positive difference today?” Then go do it.
Keep learning
Keep learning from the best. Read daily, listen to podcasts, follow those who have been there and done it. Spend 30 minutes each day soaking up positivity and focus from these people.
Look after yourself
Take time to relax all by yourself. Eat healthily. Exercise regularly. Get enough sleep. A healthy body and healthy mind will drive your forward more than anything else.
Make memories
Make memories, not money. Spend time with family and friends. Give them your undivided time. Life is short, and no amount of money will make up for missed moments.
by Angela Taffs | Nov 21, 2017 | Business Success
As members move through my Small Business Kit, it is so heartwarming to get testimonials constantly flooding in. And like anyone else, I am more than happy to shout out about them.
These include:
“Wow! I’m a few lessons into module one, and I can wholeheartedly agree or resonate with literally everything you have said Angie! It is amazing how ‘on my wavelength’ you are. I find myself getting excited to put my laptop on and get to work on the course – no more procrastinating. This week, I managed to make more money than I probably ever have in a single week (not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but very good for me!) and when I counted my takings this week I almost cried with happiness!”
“Oh my goodness this course is amazing only on Module 1 part 2! How things have changed! I think if I had done this course 6 months ago would have been totally different answers than today!!!
But on the flip side, a few ladies who had been members for a while have seen these testimonials in our private Facebook group and got thrown by them. They felt fed up, they were almost angry at these results other members were getting and they let themselves get disillusioned and decided to cancel their membership.
But why did they let themselves feel like this? No, they weren’t getting the same results and there was one clear reason why.
They didn’t actually put the course into action!!
Simples!!
A couple of them hadn’t even watched the pre-course homework that would have set them up for success! They had one person only to blame and that was them. And I seriously suspect that in 12 months’ time they won’t have moved forward with their business much at all and may well have given up.
So, lady, are you prepared to step up and take responsibility for your business success or are you waiting for that magic wand to appear and waft success and money out of thin air for you?
Don’t let anyone tell you that building a successful business is easy. It takes hard work. It takes dedication. It takes having to get up and show up and do the work when you least feel like it. It takes persistence and it takes consistency.
So if you sign up for a program and it doesn’t work for you, may I suggest you take a good hard look at why it didn’t work? Did you really give it 100% and action all the points you learned? Or did you skim a few bits, thought you would do them later and head off to the beach for the rest of the day?
Sometimes reality is harsh and it can hurt to take this criticism on the chin.
At the end of the day, your success is all down to you.
by Angela Taffs | Oct 16, 2017 | Business Success
When successful people aren’t what they seem!
One of the biggest reasons I see from other women when they are trying to build a business is a drop-in motivation and lack of energy and focus purely because they are comparing themselves to others and just don’t seem to be able to reach the dizzying heights of competitors that they seem constantly online.
Well, let me tell you something. Just this week I had an emergency call from the owner of a number of businesses. From the viewpoint of anybody looking in from the outside, this was a hugely successful person. They had a couple of very high-profile businesses. They drove the latest top-of-the-range car. They were constantly away on holiday and being seen at all the best parties.
I met with them to find out what they needed and they showed me their cash flow statement. It takes quite a bit to shock me these days as I’ve seen just about it all but I have to admit on this occasion I was surprised. They certainly had me fooled. I knew the person (or at least thought I did) but the reality behind the facade of this high-flying business person with super successful businesses was that whilst they were turning over just short of £2 million the profits were just £15,000! Yes, really!
I’ve written before about being very careful of believing the outside impression that can be created by others when the reality is a far cry from the truth. This comparisonitis can be a killer.
Many women building their own businesses that I work with feel they are not successful whilst they are showing profits in excess of £15,000. They would never even begin to compare their success with that of the business owners that I meet. But in reality, there are just as successful. What they don’t realise is that the cars, the holidays, the lifestyle etc are all being funded on credit.
Hopefully, I’ve given this particular business owner enough to work with to rectify the situation, but if you sit there at times wishing you could have the flash car when you pull up outside the school in your battered 13-year-old runaround, you wish you could have the holiday of a lifetime sitting on a beach sipping cocktails when all you get to do is take a long weekend on a camping trip, think again. Because you might just be in a better financial situation than that person you so aspire to be.
Remember, turnover is vanity, profit is sanity.
Stop. Be thankful for what you have and keep building on that. Don’t compare yourself to others unless you have access to both your bank balance and theirs.
by Angela Taffs | Oct 10, 2017 | Business Success, Sales and Marketing
How to make more sales at an exhibition with these ten simple tips, which won’t take too much time or trouble but could gain you significant income
This past weekend, I went to a wedding fair with my gorgeous daughter, who is getting married next year. Obviously, the venue was packed with both exhibitors and also with hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were ready, willing, and able to spend lots of money.
What became apparent very quickly was that although there were many vendors selling exactly the same thing, some were surrounded by loads of people chatting about the products and services, whilst others were standing completely on their own with no interaction with the public whatsoever.
But why was this? Why if two businesses selling practically the same thing were one taking multiple orders and the other absolutely nothing? I wanted to know, and as part of my never-ending research, I decided to stand back and watch. And this is what I found out.
The differences between the vendors making money and getting no business at all were blatantly obvious. My observations are below so that if you sell at a trade show, exhibition, craft fair or any other event and want to get those all-important sales rolling in, take heed of the points below.
1. Be welcoming and smile
Obvious really. But as I walked past so many stands, it was obvious that the vendors who looked happy and smiling and seemed to be enjoying the day were getting lots more interest than those who stood looking as if they had been dragged there with a gun to their head. Yes really! Some looked so miserable that I wondered if I ought to call the Samaritans for them! This was supposed to be a happy day for the brides to be. They didn’t want to go talk to someone who looked like they were bored out of their brains.
There was also one stand where the lady was constantly on her mobile phone. Once I spotted this, I thought I would keep an eye on her to see how long it was before she looked up. I was staggered. I watched as reams and reams of people walked past her stand and were completely ignored. This went on for well over 5 minutes. So, I decided to walk over to her stand and pretend to take an interest in it. I pointed out a few things to my daughter and spoke loudly enough to make it clear that we may be purchasing something. But do you know what? She didn’t lift her head! I honestly couldn’t believe it to the point that I was so stunned I stood and took a photo of her with her head still staring at the screen. She still didn’t look up. Now, I’m not sure whether she owned the business or was there to represent it, and I was very tempted to send this photo and my observations to the business owner, but my daughter has told me that would be cruel. I would welcome your thoughts on this. As a business owner, if I sent someone to represent my business, I would want to know if this was happening. My daughter sees it from the other side that I could lose someone’s job. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments
2. Start a conversation
The next thing I noticed was that the vendors getting interaction were also being proactive in getting people to their stand. They spoke to people as they walked past and asked a question. Many of the venue exhibitors asked if we had chosen a venue yet as we walked by. The cake makers asked if we would like to taste a new recipe. Photographers asked if we would like a free photo to remember the day by. This sparked a conversation. It wasn’t pushy or salesy. We were at an exhibition, for goodness sake, and were expecting to talk to people and for them to show us what they had available.
The vendors who were not getting any interaction were those who stood waiting for people to come to them and strike up a conversation. Wrong!!! The proactive vendors were getting all the business. If you’re too shy to get out and talk to people and engage with them, don’t bother setting up your stall. Either get someone else to do it for you or don’t bother exhibiting. So often, people buy people first, and this was the case with us. We intended to buy from a lady who was so jolly and happy that she brightened our day and stood out from everyone else.
3. Ask questions
When you do get somebody to come and speak with you, keep the conversation going by asking questions. The difference was staggering between those who simply asked, what date is your wedding, have you booked ‘xyz’ yet? and left it at that? and those who then went on to ask probing questions to find out more about my daughter and her wants and needs. The interactive vendors, such as a lovely cake maker we met, asked questions such as how many people are coming to your wedding, do you have any guests that are gluten intolerant, what’s your favourite cake type, and what your fiancé prefers. All these questions made my daughter feel that someone was genuinely taking an interest in what she wanted and also gave the cake maker all the information she needed to tailor the rest of the conversation around the specific needs and wants of my daughter.
4. Two ears, one mouth
Leading on from this, this cake maker also put into practice the art of knowing that she had two ears and one mouth and used them in those proportions. Basically, she listened more than she spoke. This was in direct contrast to an exhibitor who decided to real off a list of facts and figures about what they could offer, which was of no interest to us at all. This very quickly left us bored and disinterested and so we walked away. In all probability, that particular exhibitor was selling what we wanted, but as they took no interest in finding out our specific needs and would not stop talking, so we couldn’t get a word in edgeways, they lost our business.
Leading on from what I have been discussing above I want to give you a specific example. As we walked past an anti-ageing product exhibitor, they pounced on me and told me they had exactly what I needed in my life. The woman then proceeded to grab an eye cream and start to try to apply it to my face. She told me what awfully dark patches I had under my eyes and how many wrinkles I had got. She then told me that her 60-year-old mother was using this product, which it had worked miracles for. There are two key points here that I am now going to lead on to.
Image courtesy of http://www.bridetheweddingshow.co.uk
5. Sell what people want, not what you want to sell
Firstly, how did she know that dark patches and wrinkles were my main concern? If she had bothered to ask any questions, she may have found out that it was my dry skin that was more of a concern to me. It was obvious she had no interest in what I wanted to buy but only that she wanted to sell this particular product to me. Not a good move. If she had found out more about me it is possible (although highly unlikely when you read the next point) that I would have bought something from her that was suitable to my needs.
6. It’s not what you say, it’s not what you do, it’s how you make people feel
I’m not quite sure what this lady was trying to achieve, whether it was the fear factor that I was old and haggard and needed to stop this ageing process in its tracks, or whether she was genuinely concerned at how bad I looked. The result, though, was she made me feel so bad about myself, but I wanted to run away from her as fast as I could. Personally, I don’t think I look too bad, but obviously, this woman thought differently. She had also insulted me by implying from her comment that has 60-year-old mother used the product that I was of the same age. I didn’t bother to enlighten her that I am actually a full 10 years younger. So be careful with your choice of words and be very much aware app how you make people feel.
7. Know what you are selling
Well, you would think this one was obvious, really, but when we spoke to the man at the Limousine and transport section, he had no idea what was on offer. He asked if we had booked our transport, to which I replied no, but I didn’t think he could help as we weren’t after a Bentley or limousine but were looking for a Volkswagen camper van. He then said, “well we might have one”. “Ooh, I said” getting excited “do you?”. “Well, I don’t know. I think I heard someone talking in the office about one, but you’ll have to speak to them”. He proceeded to tell me that I would have to give them a call. Well, I didn’t really want to do that as the whole purpose of going to the exhibition was to get all the information we needed there and then, not to have to spend time scrolling through websites and making phone calls. But it got worse. He waved a leaflet under my nose and told me again I needed to make a phone call to the office. I asked to have a leaflet with the number on it to which he told me I couldn’t!
8. Have enough business cards and info leaflet
He told me that was his last leaflet so I couldn’t have it. He didn’t have a pen or paper to jot the number down, the name of the company or the website address. He didn’t have a business card. He said he had only taken a few leaflets. Honestly, folks, if you are going to any type of exhibition, you should be able to find out the likely footfall, so take enough business cards, flyers, brochures, etc, so you don’t run out. And if all expectations are exceeded and you do run out at least have a notebook and a pen to take details so you can send information on. This leads me to my next point.
9. Take email addresses
When attending an exhibition, yes, you are there to make sales on the day but also to create leads for future business. How are you going to keep in contact with all these people you meet and talk to if you don’t take any of their details? I really was amazed, quite possibly because I guess I’m the queen of follow-up, how many people, after we had expressed a strong interest in what they were selling, handed us a leaflet and told us to get in contact when we were ready. Let me tell you, when we returned home, we must have had a small rainforest of leaflets between us, and there is no way that we could remember which related to which person we have spoken to. So, the people that impressed us the most will quite possibly lose our business to someone else simply because they didn’t take our details.
It’s so simple to ask visitors to your stand for their email address so why not do it? We were more than willing to give an email address to those who asked for it. That’s what people expect when they go to shows. There were those that asked for our email address in exchange for entering us into a competition and there were also those who quite simply asked for our email address to send us a quote, such as the cake maker I mentioned earlier. We were more than happy to hand this information over. If you don’t take details from people, you don’t deserve to have their business in the future. There Is no way you are going to be able to contact them again. Don’t think they will remember you. They most likely won’t! And why should they have to follow up with you? You should be following up with them and standing out from the crowd. And this leads to my final point.
image courtesy of http://www.bridetheweddingshow.co.uk
10. Follow up
When someone has bothered to give you the email address and told you that they are happy for you to keep in contact, do just that! Keep in contact and follow up! It was whilst discussing the number of people who don’t bother to do any follow-up that my daughter told me a staggering fact. Two weeks previously, whilst I was away on holiday, she attended another wedding fair. She told me that she must have given out her email address nearly 50 times. But guess what? Only one person bothered to follow up with her! I was stunned when I heard this and had to get her to repeat it to me again as I honestly thought I had misheard. People had taken her email address, and yet only one had responded. Staggering!
But the one who had responded really shone out to her. Why? Because they responded the very same day. This impressed my daughter so much. By the time she had returned home in the evening there waiting for her was an email telling her how lovely it was for the owner of the business to have met with her that day. How did this make her feel? Going back to my point about it’s not what you say, it’s not what you do, it’s how you make people feel, she felt valued. She felt warm and fuzzy inside. She felt that someone had taken notice of her as a person and didn’t just treat her as a number. And as she said to me, that’s the lady I’m going to be buying from.
Let’s say the other 49 people, at some point, decide to get off their backsides and get in contact with her again. As she has already attended another exhibition, she is more than likely to have forgotten them so their efforts will be wasted. It really doesn’t take a lot to set up an email thanking people for attending your stand and for chatting with you and to send that out to everybody on the same day of the exhibition. This really could be the difference between getting so many more sales and losing out on significant business.
So, there we have it. My experience of attending a wedding fair and the observations I made of those making sales and those who didn’t. If you have any tips of your own or any stories that you would like to share, please put them in the comment below. I personally reply to every one.
P.S. I did a Facebook live on these points when I returned from the exhibition. If you would like to join in the conversation or simply watch the video hop on over and take a look.
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.
