Canadian Small Business Women

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Emotional Entrepreneur – Set and get excited about your goals

The general idea of a goal is that the more specific the better. It may be true although, it can make it harder also. Let me explain.

You can say, I want to make a lot of money in my business to pay my bills and go on vacations once in a while. That sounds good and it’s not that specific. Does it make you feel good when you think about it? Or is it rather a safe way to set your goal so that you don’t feel disappointed or challenged by it?

In our previous blogs we’ve talked about focus, emotions, and vibration. So, as I apply that knowledge here I can tell you that if your vibration in general is one of abundance or joy, then you don’t need to be that specific on your goal with your words because what you are attracting is exactly that, joy and abundance.

However, it can be common that when we think (and feel) specifically about our business and our goals, including the very important aspect of money, our vibration can get wonky.

Here is where setting goals that make you feel excited, is very empowering.

 

Control or no control

Setting goals is a practice that has the intention of inspiring you, of motivating you, of getting you excited and fired up to work on your business.

In very general terms, there are two types of goals: The goals that you feel you have under control and the ones that you don’t know how to bring about hence, you need the help of the universe.

The goals that you feel you have under control are the ones that you know how to make them happen. For example, I will sell 3 packages and will get the $10,000 goal I want. Or, I will work 3 hours more this week to make my additional $1000 goal. You know what I am talking about, it is more of a math problem that you may feel like it’s under your control.

Then, we have the let-the-Universe-guide-me goal where you may have no idea how to go about it, or at least not the whole process but, usually these goals, can get you really excited.

I used to be a control freak (I’d like to think that I have been able to let go and trust more) so, the first kind of goals were my thing. Now, I still have those kinds of goals but I also allow myself to dream and visualize goals that I definitely need the universe’s input to manifest them. You may imagine that they are completely different experiences and the more we allow the universe to act in our behalf, the more we can see the world as one with unlimited possibilities.

 

Types of goals

In my world, there are 3 types of goals:

  • Emotional or spiritual goals
  • Physical goals
  • Mental goals

 

What?!

Yes, that many types of goals and we tend to focus primarily on the physical goals where we will receive the manifestations we are looking for, like money, clients, events, etc. Giving importance to the other two can make the experience of building your business that much better.

1- Emotional or spiritual goals:

To me, setting emotional goals is like the ground work you do before you build your “building”. It is as important, as anything else. As you set goals like, meditate daily, make my vibration/alignment a priority, make sure I feel good especially before I take action and, so on, you are setting yourself up for success. I don’t only mean success as in getting what you want. I mean it in a much bigger sense. I mean it in the sense that you will be one with your Inner-Being and in a conscious way you will get to enjoy the journey of creating your dream business while loving and taking care of yourself as a priority.

Not sure if you can see that it is a whole different view of it. You are not thinking I am alone and will work very hard to get it and let’s see what happens. Instead, you are aware that you are not alone, that you are guided and looked after and loved and what you want is a given then, you just get to trust and enjoy the process of creation and contributing with your inspired action.

You are taking the time to decide how you want to feel as you create your business. It is a very powerful goal! Who does that? Not that many people do and believe you me, it is one of the most important goals to make.

When you make the decision of how you want to feel as well, instead of just going around feeling reactive to the process and your interpretation of what’s happening, you are taking control of your vibration. Taking control of how you feel IS the name of the game!

Why? Because, as we spoke in our previous blogs, that way you are making sure you are in alignment with your Inner-Being and being whole. And now you see this is the reason why you know, and feel that you are not alone.

I am pretty sure you do know how you want to feel. For me, I have chosen to feel excited, to have my mind blown with surprises, to feel eager, to feel satisfied, to feel abundant, to feel creative, to feel like a creator, to feel the unconditional love for myself, to feel empowered, to feel inspired, to have tons of fun and more.

Does that sound appealing to you?

So, what are your emotional goals?

 

2- Physical goals:

Here we have all of those juicy goals we know very well. What are your income goals? Have you set your revenue goal after expenses and taxes? It is always good to know that number. Of course number of clients, events, your offerings, any courses you may provide but also some that you may take, etc.

I don’t think I need to go deep into this one since it seems to be the one we know and use the most.

 

3- Mental goals:

Your mental goals can be as simple as three decisions that I do my best to keep present in my everyday life:

  • Love yourself. As obvious as it may be, your inner-conversation has a lot to do with the way you feel moment by moment.
  • Have an attitude of appreciation. Look at your reality looking for what you like and appreciate, in you and your life and even in those people and experiences that cross your path.
  • Do your best to stay focused on your desires. But, important to remember, make sure that you stay focused on them in your mind in a way that makes you feel good. Aiming to feel good usually leads to assume the desire is already done.

All 3 types of goals are related. It is important to have goals (emotional and physical) in order to know how you want to feel (emotional) and then decide what to focus on (mental).

This brings me to the next topic: Why it is good to set goals.

Why it is good to set goals

Why do you want what you want? Not to justify it but to get excited about it. When you think of your next level of income or your next client, what is it that the experience will make you feel? Once you get to have it in your hands or in your reality, what is in there for you that you want to experience?

Will you feel empowered and abundant? Will you be super happy and confident?

As we go through the details of why we want what we want, we are becoming aware of what are some of our emotional goals, and we start to deliberately attract those desires (emotional and physical) by focusing on them while feeling good. We are giving ourselves the gifts of clarity and focus as we do this exercise alone.

Let’s remember that everything is created from the inside out. We cannot attract something that will make us feel empowered and abundant while we feel powerless and lacking/poor. We need to activate those feelings within us so that the attraction process begins guiding us to take inspired action to later receive what we want.

Another good reason to set goals, especially emotional goals, is that when the going gets tough, it is easier to be more general about what we want and focus on positive emotions rather than focusing on something we want and we don’t have. Evoking an emotion is simpler than fighting a reality that we don’t want in the moment. In those cases, having emotional goals helps us realign and improve how we feel to be able to continue moving forward.

Finally, I invite you to take note of all of the desires you want and actually manifest, not only the physical ones. When we become aware of emotional or even mental accomplishments, we are gaining momentum to allow more of our desires to come true.

 

Live intuitively,

Genoveva Vazquez

CPA, CGA, Self-love and Wealth Coach, Founder Intuitive Living Path

Genoveva Vazquez, founder of Intuitive Living Path is a former accountant transformed into a Self-Love and Wealth coach. Genoveva is very passionate about helping people fall in love with themselves and with their lives all over again. Since she went through that moment of “wanting to throw in the towel” she has lived her life knowing that there’s more to life that what is showing up for many of us. We do love ourselves, we do have power, we do create our lives, we just need to start it all from the inside out.

Email: info@intuitivelivingpath.com

Website: https://intuitivelivingpath.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenovevaVazquez.Coach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intuitive.living.path/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intuitive-living-path

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw9v_P9dCUJ_E0H0129Aslw

Your 2018 Year-End Review Guide

As 2018 draws to a close, now is the time to review and reflect on the past year. A year-end review is vital to ensuring your success in 2019. Why? One of the fundamental steps in building a strong brand and business is to collect data on how each of your business goals and objectives are performing.

December, being the last month of the year, is an ideal time to review what worked, what didn’t work, and how you can improve in the coming year.

Last Year’s Highs and Lows

Identify the high points and the low points of the year. Consider your costs, the time expense involved and whether the final outcome was worth it. You may find that there are high points that were too costly for your business in the long run, or you may discover low points that could have been successful with slight adjustments.

Review these periods carefully to gain a full understanding of how your customer or client-base responds to different marketing strategies. Were you able to achieve your objectives? Were there added benefits or problems that you did not foresee in the planning stages but are obvious now with some time to reflect on them?

Resolutions and Next Year’s Goals

Using the insights you have gained from reflecting on the successes and failures of this year, create new strategies for 2019. What you learned in 2018 will help you determine your business objectives for next year. You may decide to work on achieving goals that were not met in the past year, or you may instead choose to draw up entirely new milestones you would like to reach that are more reflective of your current situation.

Even if you decide to scale back certain parts of your business and reallocate your energy into other parts of your business, do not think of this as a failure. In fact, it is just smart business. As the world changes around you, make adaptation one of your top priorities.

New Year, New Strategies

The holiday season gives you a little bit of time to stop and catch your breath. Over the year you have probably come across new tools and strategies that you suspect may help improve your business. Take this time to explore new software, the latest developments in your industry, and fresh ways to connect with your target audience and grow customer loyalty.

 

Marly Broudie is the Founder of SocialEyes Communications – a digital marketing and business development firm based in Toronto, Ontario.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/socialeyescommunications

Twitter – https://twitter.com/socialeyescomm

LI – https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialeyes-communications/

Insta – https://www.instagram.com/socialeyescommunications/

2019 Marketing Strategy Planning Checklist

It’s year end. While for many that means a bit of a holiday break between Christmas and New Year’s as well as an end to the fiscal year, not enough business owners think about what it means for their marketing strategy. Year end is a great time for you to figure out what worked and what didn’t so you can set yourself up for success in 2019.

Here is a planning checklist to help you get your marketing strategy in order for 2019:

  • Market analysis: Start by identifying any trends that are driving growth in your industry. This will ensure you are keeping up with how your industry is shifting. Once you have identified how the industry is shifting, figure out what your competitors are up to with their marketing strategies and how your audience is responding to them.
  • Audit your brand: While you don’t need to go through a rebrand every year, you do need to make sure that your brand message is still relevant to your audience. It could be that you have changed your focus since the beginning of last year to follow industry trends, or perhaps you shifted your focus to cater to your audience’s changing needs.
  • Define your marketing goals: Before setting your goals for 2019, you need to identify whether you achieved your goals from last year. It’s the idea that you need to look back before looking forward. If you didn’t achieve your goals, figure out why and set more achievable goals for the upcoming year. If you did achieve your goals, make sure you are pushing yourself to go further in 2019. And remember to make your goals measurable so you can figure out when you are successful.
  • Set metrics: Once you have defined your marketing goals, you need to figure out how you will measure your success. If your goals were measurable, it’s a matter of selecting the appropriate metrics to track along the way. You also need to figure out how often you will prepare reports to measure your progress. At the very least, you should track your metrics once per month. If you are running an important tactic or trying something new, it might be good to do weekly check-ins.
  • Choose your tactics: Figure out how you will reach your target audience in 2019. It could be through things that are already in place, but perhaps you want to try something new. At this stage, think beyond your budget. You can include things on here that might be out of your budget now, but could be considered as future options.
  • Set your budget: Were you on budget in 2018? Perhaps there were things that cost more than you thought they would? Now that you can figure out the answers to those questions you can set your budget for your 2019 marketing strategy. Knowing what your goals are you should be able to pinpoint if there are areas you want to increase your spending. It’s important to be realistic about your marketing budget so you don’t spread yourself too thin, but you also want to give yourself enough of a budget to invest so you can achieve results that will allow you to grow.
  • Set your timeline: Prioritize your chosen tactics and select those that you can both afford to do and have time to do this year. Then create a timeline for the year of when you will use your chosen tactics. Basically, this is a snapshot of your overall marketing plan for the year.
  • Set milestones: Now that you have your overall plan in place and the timing of your marketing tactics, set smaller checkpoints along the way. This will help to keep you on track throughout the year. It will also indicate the steps needed to help you achieve your marketing goals.
  • Create your content strategy: Before developing a content strategy, you need to figure out how much you can handle. The idea is that you want to be consistent with the content you are putting out there. Your audience will come to expect certain things from you. Create an editorial calendar for your blogging and set up scheduling for your social media content.
  • Update your website: Year end is a great time for a content refresh on your website, especially if you have tweaked your brand messaging at all. You can also review the design of your website to make sure it is not out of date. It might just be time for a redesign!

A new year is a chance for you to start fresh for your marketing strategy, but you want to make sure you are starting off on the right foot.

Candace Huntly is Founder and Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take company and expert brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

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Time Sucker Alert: No Prioritization System

As you begin to plan for the year to come, I want you to be sure to take some time to plan out how exactly you are going to get it all done. I have spoken before about the biggest time sucker I see time and again. Now let me walk you through the biggest prioritization issue I see with my clients, working on the WRONG stuff, and what you can do about it.

 

How do I know what the right stuff is?

To answer that, I’m going to share with you the highlights of my Plan to Grow process.

  1. Have a business plan: You wouldn’t go on a road trip without a map complete with rest stops and check-ins all mapped out, and you shouldn’t do that with your business. Having a business plan allows you to layout where you want your business to go over a certain period of time (i.e five years). When you know where you are going, you can set goals and say yes or no to interrupters and shiny objects with confidence. And most importantly, you can stop spinning your wheels on things that aren’t serving you or your business.
  2. Set goals that are going to result in significant growth in your business: With a destination point all set out, you can start building backwards, setting goals and taking on the projects that are going to progressively move your business towards where to be years from now. For this, I usually use the SMART goal setting methodwith my business and my clients.
  3. Create a roadmap for your goals by breaking the goal down into small, manageable tasks: Once you’ve decided on the goals that you need to take on to move your business where you want it to go, it’s time to create a roadmap for each goal you’ve set. This involves breaking the goal down into small, manageable tasks through a process of starting at where you want to be and then work backwards, listing everything you are going to need to do to get to the end.
  4. Get real about your schedule: This means figuring out where your time is going and how much time you actually have. Why? So you’re managing your own expectations and not putting unrealistic demands on yourself. When you are deciding which goals to take on and assigning them timelines, you need to have a true understanding of all the other things vying for your time. Without that knowledge, you’re going to feel overwhelmed and overextended and nothing is really going to get done.
  5. Find someone to hold you accountable: There is nothing more powerful than having someone waiting for me to tell them about my progress to make sure I actually make some progress.

 

Why you need to put in this work:

When you don’t know where you are going to get the biggest return on your time investment, you end up spinning your wheels without even noticing it. It’s like throwing a bunch of spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. While it may be the easier  route, successful businesses just aren’t built that way. So as you begin to plan for the new year, be clear about what you want, what needs to be done to get you there, and how you’re going to do it.

Samantha King is a busy mompreneur and homeschooler with two young children and a couple of businesses at home. When Samantha’s daughter was diagnosed with autism, she had to learn how to keep her priorities aligned within her family, while operating her business at the same time. She is excited to share her knowledge to empower entrepreneurs by giving them the tools they need to do something they love while building sustainable, profitable businesses.  

Contact Samantha:

Tel: 416-885-6841

Email: samantha@fempirebuilders.com

Facebook: @FempireBuilders

Twitter: @FempireBuilders

Instagram: @Fempire_Builders

3 actions to take today to make the last quarter your best quarter yet

At the beginning of the year, we spend time dreaming, planning and goal setting for the coming year. If you’ve worked with me, you know that involves mapping out each of those goals and what it’s going to take for you to achieve them. You also know that we follow that up with assigning deadlines spread throughout the year in daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly increments.

It may sound like a lot of work at the outset, but it’s instrumental to the overall health of your business. It ensures that you always have a complete roadmap to refer back to and keep you on track as you go along your way balancing these goals with the demands in all the other areas of your life.

But even with all the planning and road mapping in the world, we all know that life can still creep up. New opportunities can present themselves that, while beneficial at the time, take you a smidge off course from your goals for this year. Detours may need to be called as an unexpected roadblock jumps into your path. These things happen!

And, knowing that these things happen, I encourage all of my clients to book a check-in with themselves and their business at the end of each quarter. By getting these sessions into your calendar in January, you are making a commitment to your business to check-in on your progress and make sure that the goals you’ve set happen.

So what do you do in this session? As we go into the last quarter of the year, here are the three steps I want you to take:

Check-in and assess where you are

The big question to answer here is: Where are you in relation to your plans for the year? How far have you come, or strayed, from the goals you set out to achieve in January?

  • Sales are the lifeline of our business: Are you at least 75% of the way towards your revenue targets? If you aren’t, do you have some solid sales initiatives in place to get you there? Are there any natural busy sales season for your industry that you are planning on capitalizing on this quarter? Without sales, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby, which is why this is a MUST area to check-in on during your session.
  • Spending time planning and taking on goals that will level up your business is critical to its growth and ongoing success: Where do you stand on these goals? Was this the year you were going to create an online course? How is that coming along? Maybe you wanted to implement systems to help you streamline the administrative side of your business. By this point in time, you should be executing the system you’ve designed, and thinking about what kinks need to be worked out in order to finalize.

 

Evaluate your efforts so far

This step is all about answering the questions: What have you been spending your time doing? What’s worked? What has fallen flat? What do you need to do more of or stop doing?

 

Plan for the rest of the year

Once you know where you’ve been, it’s time to make some hard choices. What do you have to do to get you to your goals for the year? Some of the answers may push you outside of your comfort zone, and maybe that’s why you’ve been reluctant to ask these questions. But the hard truth: is that by not asking, it’s likely you’ve been holding both you and your business back.

Take the answers to these questions and start outlining what your next steps need to be. Break those tasks down, map out the steps to complete them, and assign deadlines in daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly increments.

And, most importantly, do these two things: Put a system in place that works for you to consistently TRACK YOUR EFFORTS, and book time in your calendar to FREQUENTLY CHECK-IN on your progress.REMEMBER: You can’t change what you don’t know about or lose sight of. That’s why we track.


Samantha King is a busy mompreneur and homeschooler with two young children and a couple of businesses at home. When Samantha’s daughter was diagnosed with autism, she had to learn how to keep her priorities aligned within her family, while operating her business at the same time. She is excited to share her knowledge to empower entrepreneurs by giving them the tools they need to do something they love while building sustainable, profitable businesses.  

Contact Samantha:

Tel: 416-885-6841

Email: samantha@fempirebuilders.com

Facebook: @FempireBuilders

Twitter: @FempireBuilders

Instagram: @Fempire_Builders

Now’s the time to refresh your website

Now the weather is changing and we’re moving out of the gloom and cold of the winter season, we can feel the returning spring in our step and the sense of renewal that this new season brings. For most people it has us starting to refresh, renew and reset in many areas of our lives and spring cleaning is a right of passage at this time of year. An area that is often overlooked though (for several reasons) is your business website. What can you do to remove the stale and encourage the sale? You can take some time and refresh in a few of the areas shown here.

Start with a review: When was the last time you updated your website? It’s not a bad idea to refresh a couple of times a year to keep your content current and to keep things fresh. Take a walk through your site as a visitor, or a potential client. Is it easy to find the information you want to highlight? Does the content support your directive and speak to your ideal client’s pain points? With some focus here, you can improve the visitor experience, and that can really help.

Refresh your colour palette: If you have a branded colour palette have you been using it? You can freshen up the how visitors feel about your content by selecting images and photos that reflect your colour palette, when you update font colours for your headings, quotes, and pull-out text you can get a huge bang for your buck. Is it worth it? Yes. A simple change in this area can work wonders and give you a brand-new vibe within your chosen palette.

How’s your blog? If you’ve been a little lax about your blogging lately there’s great value in getting back in the swing. Your clients and potential clients can learn so much from what you have to offer, and blogging is a way to share that knowledge as you spread your word. As an entrepreneur or small business owner you will get love from search engines such as Google, Bing and others because they love fresh content. Remember, growing your blog doesn’t have to be about writing. There are different options to creating content for your blog – think video blogging, audio (podcasting), or having guest writers provide content for your blog.

Add a survey: You can encourage your visitors to interact with your site and you can learn from them at the same time! Choose a topic of interest and use one of the many survey tools out there to learn more. Looking for an easy to use survey tool? Consider Type Form for an elegant solution. There’s lots of options out there from the plain (Google forms) to the complicated and expensive. You can find a solution to meet your needs.

Set objectives for your website: Create your key objectives for your site, then work to meet them. For many website owners an important objective is to build your subscriber list. Make it easy to find and use your opt-in boxes by placing them strategically and make it valuable to the visitor to trade their email address for what you have to offer.

Ready for video (or audio)? Using either of these items on your website can make it so much more interesting, particularly in these days of mobile devices and short attention spans. It’s becoming easier and more affordable to use either or both options. You can do something as simple as adding a Facebook Live video to your website or add an audio file to your about page for better effect.

There are so many options you can bring to your website that can help clear the cobwebs and breathe fresh air into your content and your visitor experience and it doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming as these examples demonstrate. If you haven’t refreshed your website in the last year, where will you start to bring it into the same realm as your business strategy right now? Pick as least two things to refresh because it will make a difference to you and your visitors, and now is a great time to start!

 

Barbara Jemmott is the founder and business strategist at Your Entrepreneurial Spirit. Her 4-point YES to Customer Acquisition Program (C.A.P.) allows her to work her passion which is helping entrepreneurial women grow their audiences and income, online. She got here through her 20+ years of experience helping businesses understand and implement systems, strategies and procedures to increase productivity as well implement change and streamline operations. With experience and responsibilities to design, develop and deliver training for small to large technology training initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, she brings “Big Business” expertise to the small business space. Learn more about Your Entrepreneurial Spirit and the YES to Customer Acquisition Program at www.yourentrepreneurialspirit.com

 

Top 3 resolutions for business success this year

 

It’s the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year came so quickly. As part of this transition period for the business owner, it’s a great time to 3 identify business growth as goals are set for the upcoming year. Goals that outline hopes, plans and strategies towards more success. You’ll need all these resolutions to grow your business so what should they be? Here are the questions you’ll use to define your 3 resolutions:

You want to make more money this year. What’s your Money Resolution?

You want more new customers this year. What’s your People Resolution?

What will you do about your products and/or services this year. What’s your Product Resolution?

It’s all well and good to have hopes, dreams and plans, after all most of us hold personal (new years’ resolutions, anyone?) and business goals.  Before we get too deep in the weeds when we look at our business goals it would be wise to use high-level business growth categories where you can place the goals that support those categories.

These categories? They roll right back into to your Success Resolution. You can get the most effect by making sure these powerful categories support your:

  • Money growth category
  • People category
  • Products development category

Step #1 in creating your Success Resolution would be to:

Define the 3 main resolutions. State the amount you want to make or exceed this year. State your intentions as to what networking events, business organizations you intend to become part of to grow your prospect/customers when you provide your pain-relieving services and products. Are you going to add, remove or update any of your services or products this year? Specify these items here.

Step #2 in your Success Resolution would be to:

Define your Categories and explain how they contribute to the corresponding resolution.

Start with the statement “My XXX category contains:” Add your main headings here (eg: Promotion, Planning, etc)

Step #3 in your Success Resolution would be to:

Define your goals under the appropriate category. Each goal should follow the SMART strategy (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). Consider adding these beneficial properties to your SMART goal. An element of challenge to get you out of your comfort zone. Make it motivate you to move you to the next step on the path you’re taking. One last reminder: make it doable so you can safely follow through.

Consider these goals when making your plans:

Money goals

With your money resolution in mind, determine how you’re going to reach those goals. Are there items you will be adding or revising?

Promote your business – sometimes small businesses fail to properly prioritize this important activity. You will need to create your marketing plan or hire a marketing expert to take care of this task for you. If you are just starting out you can get started by finding low cost ways to promote your business. Remember the promotional opportunities you can access through your own website (it can serve you more appropriately with some review). Don’t overlook this resource!

Business planning (regular) – Make this a must do weekly activity. Doing this weekly means you are acting “in the moment” to understand what’s working and what’s not. Set aside time each week to reflect, adjust and look ahead. A suggestion might be to make this non-negotiable time in your business week.

Delegate weaknesses – It’s time to admit to those things you don’t do as well as your business needs, and to get help for those important areas of your business that can be better served by someone who is an expert in that area. It will serve you well to remember the adage. “Sell your strengths and buy your weaknesses.”

 

People goals

With your People resolution in mind, determine how you’re going to reach those goals.

Want new customers & prospects? When was the last time you reviewed your client avatars? Do you still interact with these identified customers where they are most likely to get together? Are there new avatars you can add that will open new doors for you?

Networking groups – Are there new ones you can investigate to help connect with your potential customers? Plan to attend their meetings for at least 3-6 months and add it to your calendar as “must-do” commitments.

Get out in your community and join causes you are passionate about. These are easy ways to grow goodwill as you give what you can. A side benefit is the goodwill shown to you and your business while you get to do something you love doing. Everyone wins with this strategy.

Use social media, email and your online presence to grow your connections. Serve value to your prospects the way they like to be served. When you take the time to plan out your online presence you grow an extra pair of hands that are focused on staying in contact with potential and current customers, making sure they received the message you intended.

Product goals

Do you have new products or services created or planned? You need to plan, develop, cost, promote and price your new offerings. What does this mean to your customer? Have you researched the need for this offering, and the pain point will it address? Proper planning in this area can refresh a service offering or successfully launch a new one. More products or services finely tuned to your customers will grow your bottom line exponentially and possibly lead the way to other opportunities, such as passive income. Are you ready to take advantage of something like this?

What’s working & what’s not

You may have a tired, ineffective product or service you’ve not had time to evaluate. It may even be costing you in terms of branding, perception or relevance – all things that impact the buying decisions your customers are looking to make. Take the time to review and eliminate any product or service that no longer serves either you or your market. Look to your data (including any sales figures/download rates, etc. that inform you of the effectiveness of this item. Keep your product goals front and centre as you determine what’s working (and you need to keep/update) vs what’s not working any more. Be clear on what you want to achieve in this area.

So, there you have it – your 3 New Years’ Resolutions for your business. Each one is key to the success of your business and will bring you closer to your goals. Now’s the time to make a real difference. Start with your Resolution, identify the proper Category, and then finally break it down to the S.M.A.R.T goals you’ve identified. Doing this will help you work your magic and achieve your resolutions in a build-it for success strategy. Can you do it? Of course, you can! It will be Happy New Year to you because you have resolutions you can keep!

 

Barbara Jemmott is the founder and business strategist at Your Entrepreneurial Spirit. Her 4-point YES to Customer Acquisition Program (C.A.P.) allows her to work her passion which is helping entrepreneurial women grow their audiences and income, online. She got here through her 20+ years of experience helping business understand and implement systems, strategies and procedures to increase productivity as well as implement change and streamline operations. With responsibilities designing, developing and training small to large technology training initiatives for Fortune 100 companies, she brings “Big Business” expertise to the small business space. Learn more about Your Entrepreneurial Spirit and the YES to Customer Acquisition Program at www.yourentrepreneurialspirit.com

 

 

Setting New Year’s Marketing Goals You Can Actually Accomplish

A new year means a fresh a start, right? When it comes to your business, December is a perfect time to strategize for the year ahead, especially for your marketing strategy. The problem is, it’s really hard to set marketing goals that make sense for your business while driving it forward to help you grow throughout the year.

Before you can strategize for the year ahead, it’s always best to look back to see what you have accomplished in the past year. Using simple metrics, you can track your progress. Reflect on what worked, what didn’t work, and what your best marketing moments were for the year. That will shape how you move forward in this process. You should always focus on whether your marketing strategy in the past year helped you reach your business objectives for the year. If it didn’t, then setting your goals for 2018 will be especially important.

To help you follow through, your marketing goals for 2018 should:

  • Reflect on your overall business objectives – you are building your business through marketing.
  • Be measurable – you won’t know if you have achieved your goal if you can’t measure it.

Here are a few goals to consider as you are preparing your 2018 marketing strategy.

Cut the fluff from your strategy

Build a solid strategic foundation by figuring out what’s working and what’s not. If something isn’t working, set it aside. You can always revisit a strategy later if the timing is better. By eliminating tactics that don’t work you’re freeing up resources (time and money) to invest in other tactics. Cutting things from your marketing strategy might be the easiest thing to accomplish because you are saving time and money rather than spending it!

Identify the time and budget resources you can allocate to other marketing projects throughout the year.

Engage daily on social media

Social media isn’t something you say you are going to do and then log in once per week. It takes commitment, but you should be engaging with your followers and potential follower on a daily basis. This is how you will build relationships with customers and potential customers online. If you can’t commit the time to social media (at least 15 minutes per day), consider hiring a third party to build your social media strategy. Your success depends largely on your ability to create dialogue among your community, and social media is a great way to connect with large numbers of people at once.

Make sure you track your increasing engagement through specific and measurable metrics such as brand mentions, retweets/shares, Likes, Review ratings, etc.

Drive traffic to your website

Your website should be an information hub for your brand, and if you are selling products on your website, then traffic is even more important. Customers should be able to navigate across your online channels easily, and all roads should lead back to your website. Post new content regularly to your social channels (ie. Blogs, product reviews) that links back to your website. If you are running a sale, change the link in your Instagram profile and drive people to that link in your promo posts.

Track metrics such as website traffic numbers and your click through rate.

Try something you haven’t tried before

It’s easy to get stuck in a marketing rut. Maybe you’re afraid of change, or perhaps you were just burnt out, but success usually lives outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes that means learning about something new or really getting to know what your audience likes. You will start to see business growth when you push your own personal boundaries as a business owner. This will also help to create new touchpoints for your customers to experience your brand. For example, if you have focused a lot of your energy on social media and digital marketing tactics, try something experiential to hit a targeted geographical group.

Make sure you choose metrics to measure the success of your new tactic. If it is successful, continue doing it, if not, there is no point in wasting the resources.

Your marketing goals for 2018 should make you feel a little uncomfortable, but they should also excite you. It is a good combination when you are building your strategy. Your audience will appreciate you taking the time to see your relationship with them through a fresh perspective and it gives you the opportunity to stay on your toes in business.

Candace Huntly is Founder and Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

Got Discipline?

I’ve decided that my word for 2017 is Discipline. It’s funny that once I chose the word, I kept hearing people talking about what an important role discipline plays in successfully achieving our goals in videos and blog posts. I decided to view this as a reinforcement of the need to be more disciplined in 2017.

A couple of months ago I read the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and it reminded me of the importance of starting our day off on the right foot. The book reminds us of one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:  Start with the end in mind. If we want to have a successful day, we need to start with focus, intention setting and a clear mind!

I know that as entrepreneurs, we often think we don’t have the time for morning rituals beyond getting up, taking care of hygiene and starting our day. I’ve heard it said the less time you think you have for meditation, the more of it you need. I think it’s the same for all of the routines mentioned in The Miracle Morning.

Having a morning routine doesn’t require 3 hours of your time. You get to choose how much or how little time you give to each part of the routine. When it comes to establishing new habits, it’s about consistency more than anything else. It’s not about whether you do 3 minutes of meditation or 30 minutes, the key is to start doing it! It’s the same for journaling, exercise, visualization and the other habits you know will help you start your day off on the right foot.

Most of us know what we need to do more of and less of in order to truly focus on our goals and make them happen. Unfortunately a lot of us are also equipped with a long list of excuses for why we haven’t started to do the things we need to do and stop doing the things that are holding us back. If this is part of your struggle, then you need to remind yourself of why achieving your goals is important to you. Is what your life will be like when you accomplish your goals worth enough to you to make the changes necessary?

Try not to think of discipline as restrictive or a chore. Think of it as one of the magical elements that helps us reach our goals with less drama and more ease! Where in your life or business will you be exercising more discipline?

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution. She has completed her first book,Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!

Connect:

www.embraceyourdestiny.ca

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestinythebook

www.twitter.com/sandradawes

5 Ways to Prepare for 2017

sandra

It’s hard to believe that there’s only about six weeks left in 2016! While many use this time heading into the holidays to wind things down in their business, I find it one of the busiest times of the year. For me, it’s the time to start working on the plan for the New Year as well as work with clients developing their own plans. Here are 5 ways to prepare for 2017:

  1. Celebrate your accomplishments

Taking the time to review the current year’s accomplishments is a great way to start the New Year. We often focus on the things that didn’t go according to plan or the mistakes made along the way. If we direct our energy on the negative we set ourselves up for more of the same. No matter how much went wrong this year, there are always things that went right. Find time to reflect on what those things are.

  1. Review what’s working and what isn’t

You know the saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The interesting thing is that many of us keep doing things the way we’ve always done them expecting that if we do more of it that the results will be different. When we don’t get the expected results, we find ourselves frustrated and disillusioned. Of course there are things that we’re doing that do work for us. We need to identify them and see how we can leverage them moving into the New Year.

  1. Identify required resources

We all need help of some sort to make our goals a reality. If things didn’t go according to plan, then it’s time to think about who or what you need in your business to get you where you want to be. What help our resources would have made life easier for you in 2016? Make a list of what you need and make a plan to obtain it.

  1. Set 1 or 2 primary goals

We often don’t achieve the things we wanted to in a year because we overestimate what can be done. We end up feeling overwhelmed with all the things we want to do and the result is that we do even less than we planned. Instead of having 10 goals that you want to achieve in 2017, pick one or two major goals that you want to focus on. Consider what goals if met, will make it easier to achieve other smaller goals. It’s all about finding that goose who lays the golden eggs!

  1. Schedule time off

All work and no play doesn’t just make us dull, it sets up fertile ground for burnout! Make sure that you schedule time away from your business or work so that you can relax and recharge. Achieving work/life balance doesn’t have to be mission impossible. Remember, you didn’t start your business to spend all your time working; you did it because you wanted freedom. Hard work does pay off, but we all need to take a step back so we can come back with fresh eyes and rested brains!

It’s never too late or too early to start planning your year. It’s important to give yourself the time to reflect on the year that has passed and consider what you want to achieve in the one coming. It’s about preparing a foundation to plant seeds that have no choice but to flourish. What are your plans for 2017?

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution. She has completed her first book,Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!

Connect:

www.embraceyourdestiny.ca

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestinythebook

www.twitter.com/sandradawes

Why Female Entrepreneurs Need To Stop Apologizing

CHuntly

It’s no secret that women in positions of power often have to get there on a different track than their male peers. In 2011, only 15.5 percent of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses were owned by women. And that number doesn’t include solopreneurs who are trying to make their way on their own. The majority of those female entrepreneurs also have no business growth goals. Even if they do have growth in mind, female-owned businesses in Canada have lower growth rates than male-owned businesses.

Why is that? Well, as female entrepreneurs, we’re constantly having to apologize for appearing too harsh, too soft, too emotional, too masculine, too feminine, too unstable, too… everything. Of course, there are also women who want to own a business while having a family. We are constantly accused of wanting to have it all, but who says we can’t have it all?

As a business owner, I am constantly keeping myself in check, re-reading emails dozens of times before hitting send even if it’s a routine invoice reminder, a quick question about a project I’m working on, and just generally worrying that I would offend someone or, horribly, someone doesn’t like me.

A lesson I am learning on a daily basis as an entrepreneur is that not everyone is going to like you or how you run your business. Rather than dwelling on those people, focus on people who appreciate you. To stand out, female entrepreneurs need to stand up and use our voices. It’s OK to have an opinion. It’s OK to have ideas that are better than those of your peers. And it is definitely OK to talk about why you are so great.

The reality is that all business owners, men and women, should conduct themselves with a certain sense of tact and business etiquette, but stop apologizing for wanting to be a successful, female business owner. Set high goals for yourself and do what you need to do to get there.

Candace Huntly is the Founder and Principal at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

Don’t Do Marketing & PR… Until you can answer these 5 questions

CHuntly

Marketing & Public Relations (AKA PR) should be an important part of your outreach strategy. After all, PR is defined as interacting with your public, and you need to do that to communicate your brand message to your audience. If you’re not trying to communicate with your audience, you are relying too heavily on the “if you build it they will come” strategy. In a world of social media and other online channels as well as all of the visual and informational bombardment on a day-to-day basis face-to-face, there is too much noise in the marketplace to wait for someone to notice you. You need to initiate the connection.

It can be tempting to jump on the first opportunity you see to get your brand “out there” without thinking too much beyond that you just want people to see you. However, just because it is the latest and greatest idea doesn’t mean it is the right one for your business.

You have a lot of options available to you when it comes to marketing and PR. The challenge for you as a small business owner is to pick the right options that will give you the highest return on your investment (of time AND money!).

Here are a few things you need to get straight before you jump on that latest and greatest idea you came across:

  1. What do you do? Be able to identify in detail what product or service you are selling.
  2. Who would be interested in what you have to offer? When you can answer this question, you will have identified your target audience.
  3. Why would your target audience want what you have to offer? This is an important step often skipped by entrepreneurs who are launching a business. You need to be able to articulate – in writing and when you are speaking to people – what makes your product/service so great. Along the same lines, identify what sets you apart from your competitors.
  4. Where does your target audience congregate? Do a bit of research to find out where they get their information from, what organizations they belong to, their social media habits, and what their buying habits are.
  5. What are your goals? Once you have identified who you are and who would be interested in what you have to offer, you need to set goals so you can identify what a successful marketing & PR campaign would look like for you. Is it sign ups? Website traffic? Awareness?

Once you have answered these five questions, you can sit down and use the information to decide what kind of marketing & PR strategy you should run. Your audience and your goals will dictate what channels you use to reach out and your product/service offering and differentiators will help you determine what type of content and messaging to use on each channel.

While it means you need to invest more time in the beginning to help set yourself on the right track, it is worth it in the long-term.

Candace Huntly is the Founder and Principal at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

Is Fear of Failure Holding You Back?

CHuntly

You have your fabulous business idea, you have your goals written out, and you have written a killer business plan. The next step can be the most daunting one when it comes to launching any business – you have to tell people about what it is you do.

Once you start marketing your business one of three things can happen:

  1. You are an “instant” hit – it looks like you are going to meet or surpass your goals.
  2. Nothing – no one seems interested in buying what you are selling, or perhaps you aren’t reaching them in the right ways.
  3. Your audience vocally doesn’t like what you are offering – this is pretty rare unless you have completely misread your audience.

Often, for an entrepreneur, the fear of failure can hold you back from putting together the best marketing strategy you can. You are afraid that if you put yourself out there completely you won’t be received well. The best way to get over your fears is strategic planning and focus.

I know what you are thinking…  I read this blog for THAT?! As simple as it might seem, the one thing that gets pushed aside is great planning. You may have a lot of great ideas for a marketing plan, but is it a full strategy? And do you have a plan to keep yourself on track?

Here are 5 things to consider to help get over the entrepreneurial fear hump and get your marketing strategy in order:

  1. Have you considered your target audience’s needs and behaviours? Your audience should always dictate how you market your business. For example, if you are targeting an audience that isn’t very tech-savvy, that Twitter Q&A you have planned is the wrong place to invest. You may want to consider more traditional tactics like direct mail or event-based marketing.
  2. Do your selected tactics fit within your overall business goals? It’s easy to get caught up with what your competitors are doing or the latest and greatest technology that is on the market, however you should take a step back and consider those goals and objectives in your business plan. If your goal is to become an industry leader in your field but you hadn’t considered a strong content marketing or PR plan, then you should reconsider your planning.
  3. Focus is your best friend. It is easy to look at all of the things you have to do and find smaller, less important tasks that you “just have to” complete first. While cleaning out your junk drawer in your desk can probably wait as well, I am talking about all of the things that can derail a great strategy. For example, you have set out to market your business on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but you heard about how neat Snapchat is and you thought you would “just set up” an account. Before you know it, you have spent half a day on something that you hadn’t planned on.
  4. Are you evaluating your strategy on a regular basis? Changing your original strategy isn’t a bad thing as long as it comes from a strategic evaluation of what is working and what isn’t. If you aren’t getting the traction you expected from Facebook, maybe you should consider a different social channel or focusing your time and resources into a different strategy altogether. It’s important to track the success of your efforts so you can look at your success over time and tweak your strategy as necessary.
  5. Are you trying to be an island? This is a huge cause of entrepreneurial fear (and failure). You may be the biggest champion of your own idea, however, sometimes it’s good to bring a third party in to look at your strategy with an unbiased eye. You don’t have to hire someone to do your entire strategy and execution for you (your budget might not allow for that!) but you can work with a consultant or coach to make sure you are on the right track. Your hesitation in starting your marketing outreach could stem from not feeling confident in your strategy and this will help with that.

As a business owner you should always give yourself enough space to take a step back, take a deep breath, and get back to the basics of what makes your business a business – your idea, your goals and objectives, your brand story, and your target audience. As long as you have a good foundation in the basics, you can approach everything else with confidence.

Candace Huntly is the Founder and Principal at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

5 signs success is on the way

sandra

Clients often come to me struggling to stay focused on their goals. They don’t feel like their making real progress on their goals and often feel like they’re spinning their wheels in mud. It’s easy to beat ourselves up about things – we can be our own worst critic at times. You might not be exactly where you want to be. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t making progress, or that the goal isn’t possible. Here are 5 signs you are making progress towards your goals:

  1. You’re taking daily action towards specific targets

This is really the only way you’re going to make any progress on your goals. If you have goals, but you’re not actually doing anything to make them happen, what are you waiting for? You can visualize and affirm all you want, but you actually have to get out there and do things if your goal is going to become a reality.

  1. You’re meeting the right people and connecting with the right resources

When you make the commitment to your goals, the universe conspires with you to make them a reality. I know this to be a fact. When you stop talking about what you want to do and actually start doing it, the right resources and connections will be made to take you to the next phase. The key with this is to keep an open mind and stay focused on the end goal rather than worrying about how it will all come together.

  1. You’ve encountered obstacles, and overcome them

When you can remain committed to your goal regardless of the challenges, you’re well on your way! Persistence pays off. When you want something bad enough, nothing can discourage you or make you believe that it isn’t possible. You’ve got the mental tenacity to make it to the finish line. This is one of the most important ingredients to anyone’s success!

  1. You’re constantly adjusting the plan

This one ties in with #2 and #3. When you have an open mind and the right people and resources are finding their way to you, you have more information that allows you to fine tune the plan. When you encounter obstacles in your plan, instead of giving up, you look for alternate paths to make your goal happen. When you’re monitoring your progress on a regular basis, adjustments happen naturally.

  1. You’re even more excited about the goal than when you started

As the light at the end of the tunnel begins to shine brighter, you’re bound to get even more excited about your goal. It’s moving from a simple idea to an actual reality! I don’t know about you, but it really doesn’t get any better than that! You know that the blood, sweat and tears were all worth it, and you’re not afraid if you have to give a little bit more to make it all happen. Ride that momentum to the finish line!

Any goal worth achieving takes time to unfold into reality. Little steps, daily action and a focused mindset are just a few of the tools that are going to bring you that much closer to realizing your dreams. Celebrate your accomplishments, keep an open mind, stay focused on the goal and watch the magic happen!

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution. She has completed her first book,Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!

Connect:

www.embraceyourdestiny.ca

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestinythebook

www.twitter.com/sandradawes

6 Tips for Managing Your Employees

Praveeni

Managing people is a tricky job, even for the most skilled business school grads and experienced professionals. Running a business and managing staff is more than just delegating tasks and supervising employees; it means you are accountable to both your clients and your staff.

Here are a few tips for managing people :

  1. Delegate work according to skill level and capability
    As an entrepreneur your staff is there to help you achieve your goals and grow your business. Being in charge is doesn’t give you the right to palm off tasks you don’t enjoy on your staff. You must delegate work according to your staff’s skill level and capabilities. Each member of your staff is unique and has different strengths and weaknesses;  it is your job to recognize their strengths. You need to get to know your staff and their capacities in the workplace. Remember to be fair in your delegation, resist the urge to pile work on your strongest staff members and delegate easier tasks to those who might be struggling. Make sure everyone has a fair share of responsibilities within their assigned roles.
  2. Hold weekly meetings
    Weekly meetings are a common practice in most workplaces as it gives co-workers and managers alike a chance to discuss progress, plan the coming week, and initiate new tasks. Make sure you get status updates on the work you’ve delegated and ensure the participation of all your employees in weekly meetings. This  will allow you to assess how employees are dealing with the workload and determine where changes need to be made.
  3. Schedule open door time
    The “Open door” policy isn’t always the best approach to increase productivity. As a business owner and manager you may need time alone in your office to work, brainstorm, meet tight deadlines, and sort out your thoughts. However, your employees will have questions and concerns to discuss with you, designating a time when you will be available to address these concerns is a great way of showing your concern and approachability. It’s a good idea to schedule “open door time” every day or at least 3 times a week; this way employees know they can talk to you about their concerns.  This practice is often adopted in academia where professors have “Office Hours” within which students can meet them to discuss grades, assignments etc.
  4. Exercise open and effective communication
    Open communication is the key to effective management. Bosses are often the bearers of good and bad news. Inform all employees at the same time. Some business owners feel that they should only share information with certain employees who they determine “need to know it” or for whom it is “relevant”. However this scenario often results in closed door meetings between bosses and just a few staff members, leaving other employees feeling left out, suspicious and anxious.  Engaging in closed door meetings of this sort is highly discouraged as it promotes division and suspicion. Of course some information needs to remain confidential but as a business owner you must be discrete about how you go about disclosing information to staff.
  5. Keep it professional
    Sometimes as a business owner it may be tempting to befriend your employees since you hired them and they work directly for you, but it’s important to keep it professional. You may be closer to certain members of your staff than others but attempt to maintain the same level of interaction with all employees. Avoid going out to lunch with  the same staff members every week or sitting next to the same people at meetings. This makes others feel like you’re playing favourites and will result in jealousy, competition, and workplace conflict as everyone wants to be close to “the boss”. You can engage in conversations with employees outside of working hours but remember to keep your composure.  Be polite and keep it professional, don’t get too personal.
  6.  Introduce team building initiatives
    Initiating team building activities is a good way to foster a collectivist environment within your business and make employees feel included and welcome. Introducing office outings such as a lunch out of the office will allow you to connect with your staff in a new environment and boost morale. If going out is not feasible, organizing a potluck or simply celebrating employee birthdays with a cake or dessert is a great way to promote interaction. As a business owner you need to make sure employees are team players working toward a common goal.

Praveeni Perera is the CEO and co-founder of Professional Edge Consulting a corporate training company based in Ottawa offering training and coaching services to clients around the world.  She can be reached via Website, Twitter, Facebook or her Blog.

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