What is the most neglected part of workflow and business strategy development?
In my experience, I’ve seen a variety of mistakes from overcomplicating the system, integrating too many assumptions, not documenting the intent or justification for decisions. But there is one area that is a sure-fire way to sabotage your ability to deliver:
Continue reading “Creating Boundaries to Improve Your Workflow”
We all get by with a little help from our friends, but when it comes to hiring guidance for our businesses, we want to make sure that help is worth the investment. There are a lot of options out there and if you aren’t careful, you may not get what you’re actually looking for, especially if you confuse a coach with a consultant (or vice versa.)
So let’s start there.
Continue reading “Business Coach vs Consultant: Which is right for you?”
Okay – raise of hands… how many of you have been told that the way to get ahead in your business is to automate as much as possible?
I can’t tell you how many people are shocked to hear that, as a systems expert, I still do quite a bit of work manually. Sound like a contradiction? Not if you zoom out a little.
Automation is a great way to share the burden of your workload with tools and apps. However, unless done thoughtfully, too much automation can cause some serious problems for you. There’s a sneaky little trap hiding in automation and if you aren’t looking for it, you’ll end up in a pretty big hole.
Continue reading “3 Ways Automation Can Hurt Your Business”
One of the biggest mistakes a business owner can make is believing they can do it all. While entrepreneurs can (and often do) wear a lot of hats, there are great risks in believing and attempting to run your business by yourself.
Sure, you could do research on all the tax codes and piece together something that sounds like a good contract. You could build automations through multiple apps and grind yourself into the ground executing all your day-to-day tasks and business development.
Or…
You could hire an expert to help you. And trust me, the experts are far more affordable than you think.
If you’re ready to offload some work or fill knowledge gaps in your business, here are the top three contractors I recommend you start with.
Continue reading “3 Services to Contract for Your Business”
Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been at it for a while, running a business can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to consider – legal concerns, tracking financials, and getting all the work done.
In the beginning, we all start out doing the best we can. We go from day-to-day fielding emails, doing our best to stay on top of our task list, and hoping we’re piecing everything together correctly.
But then it happens. We start to grow. We have more than we can handle and we start drowning. We know there’s a better way to do things and the idea of bringing in some help is more stressful than we could have imagined.
There is a way to do it better – no matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey.
Continue reading “Essential Systems for Entrepreneurs”
Whether you’re running your business solo or have hired help, doing too much manual work can feel like a grind. I mean, how many times have you thought, “Ugh, this again?” Manual work is just that… work. The tasks never go away or get easier if we continue to do them from scratch every time.
Another unfortunate byproduct of manual work is the increased possibility of making errors – especially if we’re working too fast or are buried in work.
Utilizing automations can save you time, headaches, and mistakes when used thoughtfully. But where do you start? I suggest starting with these five simple automations.
Continue reading “5 Ways to Build Automation into Your Business”
There comes a point in every business owner’s journey where they think, “Why is this so frustrating?”
Running our own businesses isn’t quite as enjoyable as we had hoped, and putting financial stress aside, we seem to be struggling day in and day out. We’re buried in emails. We can’t seem to stay on top of things. We’re constantly doing sales and marketing.
So our knee-jerk response follows one of two paths. Either we think “I’m simply not good at [insert skill here]” or “This is just what the hustle is all about.”
Regardless of which camp you fall in, you may be wrong.
Take a closer look at where you’re struggling with your business. How many of your struggles, in one way or another, link back to your customers? I’m willing to bet more than you would initially think and this means it’s time to address issues in your client experience.
There are three clear signs that it’s time to redesign your client experience, so you have happier customers, and doing business actually gets easier.
Continue reading “Top 3 Signs You Need to Redesign Your Client Experience”
I could write you a thesis about why customer and client service should be one of your top concerns. Instead, I’m going to boil it down to one succinct line.
We all want to make money and have repeat customers. We want to live off referrals instead of sinking money into online ads and robust marketing systems. We want to see a return on our effort and spend the majority of our time focusing on what we love.
You can easily get there by designing exceptional client experiences that consistently deliver exceptional results. Just start with the 3 E’s.
Continue reading “The 3 E’s of Exceptional Service”
I wish I read more.
I think this a few times a week as I try to balance all the aspects of my life. I love reading and probably fall above average for my reading time, but still… I wish I read more.
Turns out, I’m not not alone. According to this article, Reading More is one of the Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions made by well-wishers. Whether we want to read more for professional or personal reasons, somehow we seem to be falling short of our desire.
How do we fix that?
Well, I have seven tips to increase your reading consumption without overwhelming your schedule.
Continue reading “7 Tips for Reading More”
Creating new habits is a struggle for almost every person on the planet. Have you ever met anyone who said, “I wanted to do this…and so I did. Boom! I’m perfect.”? No? Neither have I.
If you are this unicorn, I’d love to meet you!
For the rest of us, habit building is a constant cycle of start, joy, frustration, stopping, and restarting. Even if the new habit is small, like a skincare routine. Why?!
Well, because you’re rewiring your brain, that’s why! If changing or creating new habits was easy, we’d all be perfectly fit, kind, organized, productive, skilled, fabulous people.
However, there are two main reasons we fail on the path of creating or changing habits:
Let’s explore this a little more.
Continue reading “The Art of Creating New Habits that Stick”