Month: August 2015

  • Is It Time to Outsource Parts of Your Business?

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    Online entrepreneurs and small business owners, it’s easy to get into the frame of mind that you have to do everything. Well I’m here to share a secret with you. YOU DON’T. I know you probably started with little to no money and built everything up on your own with little help. I can identify! I also know it’s hard to let go and to know when to do so. After all, it’s your baby, right?  But I’m here to tell you that there are some sure signs.

     

    You Have a Growing Business

     

    You’re finding that you do not have time to do everything, even if you want to. You’re running yourself ragged working 18 hours a day. Consider this, most brick and mortar business owners never once consider doing everything on their own. If someone opens a restaurant, they hire staff. Your business is no different. If you’ve outgrown your ability to keep up, it’s either sink or swim time, and if you want to swim you need to outsource and get help.

     

    You Need a Larger Profit

     

    You’ve worked as hard as you can on your own and now you’re maxed out. This is especially likely to happen for service businesses. You only have so many billable hours in a day. You have finite resources of time, like everyone else. But, if you bring on a contractor you can essentially duplicate yourself, thus increasing your profit.

     

    Things Are Falling through the CracksTasks You Hate

     

    You’re finding it harder and harder to meet deadlines, and you’re forgetting to do things that are important – even if they’re on your overfilled calendar (Am I striking a cord?). If you’ve missed more than one deadline in the last month, it’s time to seriously consider outsourcing some of the tasks so that you can get back on track with your business. Otherwise you’ll end up getting a bad reputation as someone who doesn’t meet their obligations. This could kill your business and it’s time to get real.

     

    You Hate Doing Certain Tasks

     

    Every business has tasks that aren’t enjoyable to do. However, a thing you find tedious and tend to put off through procrastination could be someone else’s money maker that they’re passionate about. If you can spend more time working in your genius then you’ll naturally increase your income. It will be worth it to you to pass on those tasks to someone else.

     

    You Don’t Have the Right Skill-Set

     

    I see people makes this mistake a lot. Face it, not everyone is good at everything. If you’re spending time doing tasks that you aren’t skilled at doing, you’re likely wasting a lot of billable hours. You might think it’s expensive to outsource things like web design but in truth the time you save by hiring an expert to do what you need done will pay off for you. Spend time doing what you’re an expert at, and let others do what they’re good at.

     

    You Want to Do Other Things

     

    You can do everything on your own but you’re wanting to spend more time with your family or devote more time to exercise or a hobby. You can essentially outsource most of your business to others by simply contracting with various people to take over each aspect of your business. You can become a manager of your business while letting others complete the needed tasks, so that you can do other things like go to the beach with family.

     

    You Need Time Off

     

    A family member needs you, or you’re simply tired because you’re working 18 hours a day. This is a sign that you need time off, and the only way you can have time off in your business and still bring in income is to outsource various tasks so that you have more free time. If you find that you have no free time at all, and can’t risk taking a day off to even go to the doctor, it’s time to outsource.

     

    You Can Make More Money Doing Something Else

     

    If your main money maker is coaching, you shouldn’t be spending time and effort on creating a new website. If your main money maker is speaking, you should not be wasting time on social media posting, sales page designs, etc… If you can pay someone 100 dollars an hour while you do something else and earn 300 dollars an hour, you’re still 200 dollars ahead, right?

     

    Outsourcing can be a hard choice to make, but it is a necessary choice to grow your business and truly create a business that works for your needs rather than you giving up your entire life for the business. The whole point in having a business is to have more money, time and freedom. It’s time to let go and let others help you.

     

    Can I HelpWanda Baader, is the owner of Strategize Your Success, a boutique marketing agency that serves entrepreneurs, small businesses a speakers.

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  • Should I Use Free or Paid Ads?

    AdvertisingAdvertising is a part of business, I know some people wish it wasn’t. Whether you are a small business, entrepreneur or a large company advertising of some sort will be necessary. It doesn’t matter if you are selling a product or a service you have to get the word out to the world somehow.

     

    There are many factors to consider when making this decision but only you will be able to know what is right for you. I’m not suggesting that you don’t get help if you don’t know what to do but ultimately your advertising has to represent you.

     

    Paid advertising depending on the type of advertising you use will determine the cost. Some advertising is quite extensive, resulting in more expense. This type of advertising is generally more suitable for larger companies.

     

    In most cases the cost of advertising will be more involved and reach a wider audience and a more specific market niche. This will include a diverse approach such as a mix of newspapers, television, web sites, social media and SEO. This can either be state, national or worldwide.

     

    Free advertising is more for those who are boot strapping or trying to sell an item or service to promote a small business. Free advertising does generally limit the area of where your advertisements will appear, but at the same time it is a very good start that you can eventually build on to as money and business allows. This smaller scale of advertising is generally limited to local or state wide coverage, or if you’re lucky it may include a few states and even a few web page mentions.

     

    With free ads, especially on web pages, social media or through mailing lists you may come across to salesy or spammy. Be sure to use the 80/20 rule. Promote only 20% of the time.

     

    Remember to provide great content to your subscribers so they keep wanting to read what you have to say and also try and entertain your audience. Lastly, be approachable by adding your personality to all you do.

     

    advertisingNext let’s look at a hybrid approach to advertising which many of my clients do. As they have grown their businesses they start to emulate some of the larger companies by incorporating a more diverse approach to their marketing budget by adding paid advertising. Of course the more niched you are the better this approach works. Knowing your demographic is also important.

     

    You may not have the dollars to reach a national audience but you may have the budget to reach a local target audience. For instance, if your business has a good following on Facebook you may try Facebook Ads. These ads can target a very specific audience and not cost you a lot of money to try.

     

    Another way to get your products out to the world is an affiliate program. I can’t spend a lot of time on this approach in this post (because it’s extensive) but many resourceful businesses have used this method. It is more of a hybrid approach because it does cost you money in paid commissions but it allows you to reach audiences that you may have never gotten in front of and you don’t pay unless something is sold.

     

    As you can see there are options available to you. One is expensive but reaches a wide market, one is a hybrid and can help you reach further than your local market and the other one is free but a little more limiting.

     

    Whichever one you chose make sure you have the resources and time to actually get it done. Advertising needs to be consistent for it to make a lasting impression on your target market. If you cannot be consistent than be sure to sub out the work to an assistant, VA or marketing agency.

     

     

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