As we start a new year, now is the perfect time to establish new habits and routines. In this blog, I will show you 5 routines all entrepreneurs need to build a successful business.
Building a business is tough, especially in the current economic climate. There are so many different ways to spend your time each day, and it is easy to lose focus. These five routines will 100% benefit you regardless of your business model or product/service.
1. Working On Your Mindset
In my experience, most issues small business owners face have nothing to do with their operations or strategy. Instead. they are linked to the business owner’s mindset.
Building a business is hard and sometimes damn right scary. There are often challenging situations you have yet to encounter, which can increase anxiety levels. Having a mindset routine gives you time to analyse these situations before they become overwhelming. That’s not to say this time will solve the problems immediately, but it will give you the space to view them in a less emotional way.
Consistently working on your mindset helps you develop the resilience needed to keep moving your business forward. The ability to keep showing up even when you have setbacks. The ability to constantly step outside your comfort zone to achieve your desired results.
Hence make it part of your weekly/daily routine to work on your mindset. This time could be spent with a coach, to give you accountability or just time out of your day to re-centre on your goals and mindset.
Further Reading
2. Networking
Networking can be, and for most small business owners, often is, their most powerful marketing tool. Especially with service-based businesses, you need to establish the ‘know, like and trust’ of prospective customers before they will purchase your services. The most effective way to establish a relationship with your target market is to get to know them and learn more about them. Networking gives you the ideal opportunity to talk one-to-one with your potential clients.
Networking is the fastest way to connect the know, like and trust factors since it helps you establish genuine relationships with potential customers or potential referral partners. Because networking does not just build one-on-one interaction but also helps to build trust by association.
Referrals have been the most successful way I have grown my business. BUT networking is not all about marketing your company; it’s also about finding like-minded people to support you in your entrepreneurial journey. We all need people around us who understand what it takes to build a business and can provide constructive feedback on improving your business.
Further Reading
3. Asking For Reviews
Having social proof can have a significant influence on potential buyers. Being able to show testimonials and tangible results from clients can put you ahead of your competitors. It’s a simple yet massive boost to your know, like and trust equation if someone else endorses your services.
So, make sure you have a system in your business that proactively asks for reviews and ensure you maximise the value of this social proof by sharing on your websites or social media channels.
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4. Understanding What Actions Generate Results
Put simply, are you spending the time in your business on things that bring results (usually money)?
Do you understand what is working and what isn’t working in attracting, converting and retaining clients?
It helps if you were tracking your results. The main figures to track, of course, are your finances. You should have a system to track revenue, cash flow and profit regularly.
You should also track your marketing. What is working, what isn’t, and how much each successful client acquisition costs you – because if it costs you more to acquire a customer than the profit you make, that is bad business. You also want to understand what products/services attract the most interest, this can be used to shape your future offerings.
It’s essential you also understand where you are using your time. After all, time is money, so you want to ensure you focus on revenue-generating activities – and potentially outsource anything else.
Your business will work best if you approach how you spend your time strategically. The first step is conducting a time audit of your current activities and then planning an adjusted activity schedule that focuses on your goals. This brings us to the final point …
5. Having (and using) A Project Management Tool.
I know I bang on a lot about this, but the sooner you start using a project management tool as part of your day-to-day work, the better!
It can be challenging to follow a strategy and recognise where your time is spent if you do not have anything in your business documented. However, once you do start documenting your processes, you need a centralised location to store those documents, processes and business strategies. That’s where a project management tool can help.
By using a project management tool, you will have a centralised location that stores, organises and even systemises the moving pieces of your business.
Building systems that make running your business a lot more manageable makes sense. It’s about simplifying, streamlining, organising, and ensuring you are taking action and moving towards your goals.
If you need help establishing any of these routines why not book a 30 minute consultation. We can chat about how I could support you in setting up systems, your networking activities or taking responsibility for your non-revenue generating tasks.