Archive for November, 2010
Adventures in Business
Posted by: | Comments
Owning a business shouldn’t be that hard. Any mega-successful business owner could tell you that his or her success was easy. Not simple, but easy. When a business is right, things just work. Then why is it that you might be struggling in your business?
It’s all about adventure. When my family leaves the house for any extended reason, we say “Let the adventures begin.” What we mean is that there are unknowns ahead and that we are up to any challenge. We gather our best selves. We make sure that we respond to the twists and turns we inevitably encounter using our strengths and best attitude. Having the spirit of adventure always ensures a great experience.
Running a business is an adventure. The most important piece is that you explore your own mindset and attitude. What do you believe about your business and what it takes to grow it? How could you make it easier? Let’s take a quick trip through some of the most important ways to ensure that running your business is easy.
Be realistic. One of the most common business fantasies is that your business will blossom overnight if you can just find the magic key. While rapid growth can happen, it happens when it is connected to dedication, solid business fundamentals and a little luck. Be wary of your business fantasies. Learn about business and make sure that your plans are grounded in what’s doable rather than in your fantasy scenarios.
Be intentional. Don’t allow yourself to drift from plan to plan or even from tactic to tactic. Develop habits that will make a difference for your business by becoming comfortable with planning and discipline. Know what it is that you are building and how you intend to get there. When the inevitable obstacles appear on the path, be intentional about your goals and make the needed adjustments. Wandering can be adventurous but it rarely leads to a mega-successful business.
Be fierce. Use persistence to not give up. Fierceness is the knowledge deep within you that your business matters and that you can do what it takes to make it work. It’s that beautiful combination of hope, focus and flexible action that means you ARE going to get there. Nothing can stand in your way when you’re on your fierce adventure!
It’s time to let the easy attitude into YOUR business. What are you waiting for? Let the adventures begin!
PS – Today’s post is written from my heart. It’s what I have learned to be true for me about business and about life. I’d love to hear your reactions to it. Please let me know what your thoughts and feelings are about my philosophy by posting a reply.
3 Ways to Increase ROI Today
Posted by: | Comments
As a business owner seeking growth, there may be nothing more important to you than increasing your return on investment, ROI. The more you can get for your time, energy, money and efforts, the better off you are, right? Here are a few key ways to increase your ROI.
Leverage
Leverage means using a tool to gain an advantage. As a business owner you have several tools at your disposal which you can leverage into more. You can leverage:
- Business relationships and partnerships
- Current customer communications
- Knowledge and skills
- Marketing tactics
- Policies and procedures
For example, if you have an association with a graphic designer and you’re a writer, you can leverage your relationship and provide more services to your clients. You can leverage your partnership and cross promote. You can leverage your partnership into a referral reward system. There are many opportunities to leverage your current business relationships and partnerships.
Another example might be leveraging your current customer communications. Maybe you have an existing newsletter. You can use that newsletter to gain new prospects. For example, you could host a contest – announce it in the newsletter. For every subscriber who forwards their newsletter to five friends, they get an entry into the contest. This motivates current subscribers to spread the word about your business.
Data
Your current data and analytics are marvelous tools for increasing your return on investment. You can use this information to dig deep and determine what strategies are working and which ones are not. You can then use the information to fine tune and optimize the strategies that are working.
For example, if you’re spending a lot of money and energy on a PPC (pay-per-click) program, you can use your data to eliminate the ads that aren’t performing up to par. You can then use the data to create PPC ads that have a higher click-through and conversion rate.
Current assets
You already have a product or service portfolio and you also have a wealth of published content, right? These are assets. Your skills and knowledge may also be considered assets. You can use these to increase your return on investment.
For example, let’s say you wrote a 50 page report/ebook which you are giving away to boost your opt-in list subscribers. If you just stop there, you have not maximized your ROI. However, if you use that same report to create blog posts, articles, email messages, online courses Tweets and Facebook status updates, then you’re truly maximizing your assets.
Take a look around you. What can you leverage? What assets do you currently possess that can be utilized? What data are you collecting and are you using it to the best of your ability? There are opportunities all around you. Take a look, create a plan and take action!
