You’re going to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Congratulations! You have a great idea. You have the components you need to get started, but do you have everything your new endeavor truly needs to be a success? We are going to talk about what 4 things your start-up needs to set you up for success.
As a business coach Rex Richard takes a methodical approach to strategies for success that help ensure success for the long-term, not just a flash in the pan approach.
What 4 Things Does Your Start-Up Need
This is a short list of items you need, should research and have in place before you open your virtual doors.
Time and opportunity are of the essence. This means that if you have a great idea or can help address the pain points of your ideal customer – get it to market. Seize the opportunity. Take the risk. Pivot and learn as you grow.
SEO and blogging and your website matter. You need a website. How will you reach customers if they can’t find you online? Don’t rely just on social media platforms to share your message and reach customers. If your social media page gets shut down (remember the recent presidential election) how will you reach your audience? Your blog and website are your own ground – don’t build your business on rented aka social media pages you don’t own. Spend time thinking about your SEO strategy, your keywords, the key phrases for your website and business and how you will incorporate them into your blogging strategy and your website content.
Marketing on social media. Yes, we just mentioned that you don’t want to build your biz on rented social media ground BUT you can certainly make use of the power – free to use – to share the content you’re putting up on your blog and website. Just don’t use social media exclusively.
Know how you will get paid. If you are going to sell a product or service and someone wants to buy it… how will they? Do you have an online invoicing platform? Can they pay you directly into your bank account or Paypal or Venmo? Don’t make it difficult for someone to buy from your site – they won’t come back and complete the transaction if it’s not quick and easy.
Don’t get hung up on the technology, but don’t put it off. Move forward and build your foundation as you go. Don’t let an opportunity pass you by. Contact Rex Richard for business coaching and entrepreneurial start up tips.
Challenges were thrown at employees when they were asked to uproot their in office lives and become work-from-home employees. Many of them didn’t have any space they could dedicate to an office. Factor in, too that not only were they working from home, but their significant other or roommates and children were there, too? Is your home working space working? If not, make some changes today.
Now that you have had a year to look at your work space with a critical eye, how are you faring? What needs to change? Do you need to reconfigure your living space? Do you need to work in your car – believe me, people have been doing Zooms there to get away from the in-house noise.
Because of COVID-19 close to 70% of CEOs are planning to downsize their office spaces and allow employees to continue to work from home. It’s a win for them as they save on rents, but if you’re already struggling to get work done now is the time to make sure your workspace feeds your productivity.
Is Your Home Workspace Working?
You need to find your own space. It’s not ideal to work at the kitchen table all day then have to pack up your entire “office” at the end of the day then unpack it again the next day to start work. Even if you have to find a corner of a living room or bedroom or anywhere you can place a desk and your computer, keyboard, mouse, anything you need to perform your work.
Make yourself and your office feel professional. Get dressed. Put on pants, brush your hair and teeth and greet the day ready to work. Don’t let your desk become a dumping ground for clean laundry in need of folding – claim your workspace and hold it sacred.
Look behind you. If you’re on zoom a lot – and who isn’t – look behind you. What do your co workers or clients see when they’re talking to you. Invest in a screen or something to make your view professional.
Decorate your office space in a way that makes you happy. Your favorite coffee cup as a pen holder, photos of your family and furbabies… whatever makes work more enjoyable.
Get up and get moving. It’s easy to sit all day when you’re working from home. When you’re at the office, chances are you get up and move around a bit more than you might at home. Set a timer and get up and do a few jumping jacks or take a walk every hour.
Stay connected with friends and family. We know you’re going to be on zooms all day long and the last thing you want to do is another zoom even if it’s with friends and family. We urge you to stay connected though – your mental health will thank you.
Business owners and entrepreneurs who succeed typically have a different mindset than those who don’t take the change on starting a business and those who fail. Do you have business owner traits? It’s kind of an ethereal idea, but your mindset will help feed your success.
Let’s get some of these phrases out of your thinking.
Do You Have Business Owner Traits?
I don’t need help. I can make sales, write blog posts, collect on invoices, take care of my finances, etc. etc. etc. Every entrepreneur needs help. Whether you’re a solopreneur or are surrounded by like-minded individuals or hire a business coach, having a sounding board or a team makes the work easier.
You think you know it all and now that you’re a business owner you stop learning. Keep learning. Keep taking classes. Keep working with a mentor or someone outside of your industry.
Diminishing the success of others. If someone is a success, congratulate them. Don’t say, “well, they had a lucky break.” Look at what they did and notice their innovation and work ethic – luck rarely builds businesses.
Laying blame. It’s easy as a business owner to blame a lower level employee or a vendor for a mistake. As a business owner, though, ultimately it is your mistake to correct. Apologize, make it right then put procedures in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough. Do you want a surgeon who is “good enough?” Do you want to go to a restaurant where the wait staff is “good enough” at cleaning up after the patron before you? Don’t give a customer – with whom you want a long term relationship – good enough. Give them your best. Every time.
Do you notice yourself in any of those phrases or mindsets? If so, it’s time to change your thinking and get an entrepreneurial mindset for success!
Contact Rex Richard to discuss your business and your plans for growth.
Is your business relevant? Did your business thrive or suffer during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic? As we saw some businesses — restaurants suffered. Other businesses — online shopping and delivery and food delivery — thrived. If 2020 taught us nothing it’s that we need to pivot and stay flexible. We have put together this list of 5 ways to keep your business relevant.
Rex Richard works with business owners, many in the pool industry (and this is a thriving industry because of the pandemic!) to help them grow and thrive. To stay relevant you need to stay top of mind and front of mind. But how?
5 Ways To Keep Your Business Relevant
Here are ways in which we have found to help our clients keep their eyes on the prize — continued entrepreneurship while remaining true to themselves and their business mission and vision.
Believe in yourself. You need to believe in yourself, your business and the goods or services you provide because if you don’t, why would a client?
Work through fear. We know that every day can bring fear with it, but you need to face it down and push through. Will you fail? You might? Should you give up? Not if you want to be an entrepreneur. Get up. Dust yourself off. Figure out what happened. Start again.
Just make a decision. If you keep weighing the pros and cons (and yes, you do need to do that) too long you will be weighed down with the emotional stress of not having made a decision. When you procrastinate you kill your motivation.
Be true to your word and be ethical in all your dealings. If your reputation suffers it will be difficult, if not impossible to rebound. Know what boundaries you won’t cross. Never waver in your ethics.
Take care of your physical and mental health. Take breaks. Eat well. Get out and enjoy nature. Take time to be with friends and family.
What can your business do to remain on top? Did you suffer during the pandemic and are you still trying to recover? Reach out. We can help.
When Rex Richard talks with business owners and swimming pool business owners in particular they ask, “is blogging still a viable marketing tactic?” and Rex and the professionals at Peak Dynamics, say yes. They say “yes” with the caveat that you need to have a strategy behind blogging – as you do with any marketing tactic you’re attempting.
We realize the internet is loud and gets louder every day. You will have to shout to be heard and that is okay – especially if you have a unique niche and a unique voice and a unique way to talk about the same old same old.
Is Blogging Still A Viable Marketing Tactic?
We discovered there are more than 70 million posts – new posts – going live on WordPress alone every single month. Wow! That is a lot of new content and what can you do to stand out? It’s all about community!
Blogging and your website can influence sales
Blogging regularly will help you come up in a search by potential clients
Blogging regularly helps you be seen as a thought leader
How can you use blogging as part of your overall marketing strategy?
Blog regularly
Blog with a purpose
Blog to answer the questions your potential customers are asking
Share your blog content on your social media platforms and in your enewsletters
Use keywords for SEO but don’t keyword stuff. If you don’t know what your keywords are, or should be, reach out to us.
Make the content easy to read. Use bullet points, subheads and images.
Have a call to action in each post. Click here. Read this. Contact us. Download our ebook, etc.
Repurpose your blogs into videos or podcasts
Be and blog consistently.
Are you blogging? Is it helping with your search results? Are you sharing your blogs on your social sites? If you want more bang for your blogging buck, contact us.
Do you have testimonials on your website? Have you asked for recommendations on your LinkedIn page. Will you recommend me? These four words seem like they’d be easy to say, but many entrepreneurs find they can’t get them out. It’s not easy to ask someone to help you toot your own horn BUT you need to.
Chances are, none of your potential referral partners or those from whom you will ask for a recommendation will be someone you’re not sure about. Start asking for recommendations from people you know will be happy to do so. The more you ask, the easier it will get.
Will You Recommend Me?
Why do referrals matter? Because they show another potential client that you know your stuff, that you have clients and that they are happy with you. That carries a lot of weight.
How can you ask for a testimonial? Here are some ways:
Take a deep breath and ask. It’s that easy. If a potential referral partner or person you’re asking to recommend you asks for input on what you’re looking for, help them out. If you loved how I did XYZ would you mind writing a testimonial or recommendation for me?
Make it easy for them to do that. Remember, they may never have been asked before and might not know where to start, help them out.
When should you ask for one? Right after you’ve completed a job. Right after you’ve finished a project. Immediately.
Quid pro quo. Ask for a testimonial and return the favor. If you write one for a client, it may prompt them to say, “Hey, let me do that for you as well.”
Ask for testimonials. IfIf you’re not asking you won’t receive. When, and how, will you ask?
