Being a small business owner can be rewarding and humbling. Here are a few tips I picked up from a print publication I get at home. I thought they were worth passing along. They will have you working smarter, not working more!
Stay Informed - take time to peruse your industry's journals, print publications, forums, blogs,Twitter, etc. The better you know it and the upcoming trends, the better you'll know what your customers want. Use your street smarts when you're looking at online material...much of it is nothing but someone else's opinion. And be careful with this - it can be a HUGE time sucker; set aside a small amount of time (daily or weekly) to dedicate to this and then move on.
Feed Your Relationships - Networking with colleagues, vendors and others that are important to your business is important relationship development. Be an active participant, be giving and honest. The golden rule applies here - do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Do Your Best and Leave The Rest - be wise about leveraging the experience of others and delegate what you can. Yes, sometimes you will wear all the hats, but at some point it really isn't going to be better for your bottom line to be scrubbing the toilets!
Put Systems in Place and Have a Backup - one of the biggest time savers is having processes for the regular things you do. If you document them well, then you have a great training tool for delegating the task to someone else. If you use your computer to run your business....have a backup offsite. That way when your computer crashes you aren't stuck.
Renew - make time for you! You are pulled in many directions. You need to take time away from your business to think clearly and let all your ideas come together. Running your business is just a means to an end. Give your brain a break from constantly thinking it. It is a great stress reliever and it will help you maintain some balance.
Ciao, Paula
MarketYourBizOnline.com
PaulaBonelli.com
Technorati Tags: small business owners, time management, business development
Stay Informed - take time to peruse your industry's journals, print publications, forums, blogs,Twitter, etc. The better you know it and the upcoming trends, the better you'll know what your customers want. Use your street smarts when you're looking at online material...much of it is nothing but someone else's opinion. And be careful with this - it can be a HUGE time sucker; set aside a small amount of time (daily or weekly) to dedicate to this and then move on.
Feed Your Relationships - Networking with colleagues, vendors and others that are important to your business is important relationship development. Be an active participant, be giving and honest. The golden rule applies here - do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Do Your Best and Leave The Rest - be wise about leveraging the experience of others and delegate what you can. Yes, sometimes you will wear all the hats, but at some point it really isn't going to be better for your bottom line to be scrubbing the toilets!
Put Systems in Place and Have a Backup - one of the biggest time savers is having processes for the regular things you do. If you document them well, then you have a great training tool for delegating the task to someone else. If you use your computer to run your business....have a backup offsite. That way when your computer crashes you aren't stuck.
Renew - make time for you! You are pulled in many directions. You need to take time away from your business to think clearly and let all your ideas come together. Running your business is just a means to an end. Give your brain a break from constantly thinking it. It is a great stress reliever and it will help you maintain some balance.
Ciao, Paula
MarketYourBizOnline.com
PaulaBonelli.com
Technorati Tags: small business owners, time management, business development
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