As a small business owner and entrepreneur, there are a few critical tasks you can turn into a daily habit to keep your business moving in a forward, positive direction to make money.You wear many hats, whether just starting out or having years of experience. Some of those ‘hats’ can be delegated to others, but there are things that you must do yourself. Creating a habit of doing these 5 things every day, some for just a few minutes, will help you grow your business alongside your dreams and passions.
1. Plan for the future a few minutes each day. Let’s assume your best product line has stopped selling. What direction will you take your company next? Do you have a new income stream you want to add? This is the time for day dreaming and writing notes to prepare for the future. You don’t have to take action on these items, but you do need to think about them daily in order to bring out those golden visions and ideas.
2. Work on your marketing in some aspect every day to gain new customers. If your prospective customers don’t know about you, they can’t buy from you. Put some effort into getting your message out every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
3. Work on closing a sale every day. Whether you’re doing this online, on the telephone, through the mail or face-to-face, you need to be selling every day. Without the close of a sale, there is no business. This isn’t something you can delegate 100%, even if you have a sales force. You need to be out there.
4. Develop or strengthen your business network. You need to join a business network, whether it’s online or not, or a combination of both. This is where you can help others and they can help you – it’s a two-way street. A business network is a great place to get customers through referrals and give back customers through your referrals. “I’m an introvert and hate networking,” you say. So am I but I conquered the fear. Read all about how I did it in “A Business Networking Field Guide for Introverts!”
5. Contact your current customers. Don’t ever forget about the people that have already purchased from you. These are your best customers. They already like what you what have to sell and they don’t cost you anything to acquire. Your current customers need to know what you have to offer and they need to know that you are still alive and kicking. They won’t seek you out. You must go to them.