Are you looking to build your business online but tired of spending countless hours on Google and in Forums?
Do you keep telling yourself you are so close? Just one more website, one more forum, you know the answer is just around the corner. It’s time to get off the endless Google search merry-go-round and start taking action in your business.
In this webinar, we will show you how to get started online with the Core 4 essentials tools to getting setup, found, connected and paid.
Sandy Sidhu is the founder of SidekickPM where she uses her12 years experience working in the tech industry to support entrepreneurs with the techy aspects of starting and running an online business.
Tennille Hopper is the founder and creative director of Pretty Little Pixels. She works with solo to small businesses to design and develop beautiful brands and custom WordPress websites.
Sign-up if you are ready to say goodbye to countless hours of searching and frustration and learn which tools are an absolute must to get your online business started right.
When: It’s happening Friday May 31st
9:30 AM Pacific
12:30 PM Eastern
Make sure to register and then show up at least 15 minutes early, spaces are limited.
MYTH—Systems are only for big established businesses.
FACT—Small businesses also need systems.
One of the main reasons we start our own businesses is to experience more freedom—freedom to be in charge of our schedule, go at our own pace and not have anyone boss us around. However, we often become slaves to our mounting to-do list, which seem impossible to manage.
Systems allow us to reclaim that freedom. They take the guesswork out of what needs to be done and how to go about doing it. Overwhelm and burnout become things of the past. A flawless flow becomes your reality.
So many of us mistakenly believe that systems force us into small boxes, prevent our creative juices from flowing, or block our ability to perform in innovative ways.
The reality is that there’s very little room for creativity when you’re constantly interrupted by incoming email, panicking about missing a deadline, or freaking out when you forget key details about a proposal you sent to a client.
Systems give us the mental and physical space we need in order to get into our “zone of genius” and create. They bring us sanity. They allow us to breath. They free up our time.
MYTH—Systems are a waste of time.
FACT—Systems eliminate waste.
Creating systems is an art more than a science. It takes time to design ones that work best for our own business. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs think it’s a waste of time to concentrate on developing them because they don’t see a direct correlation between systems and business revenues.
When we start a business, all our efforts go towards generating profits, so we tend to concentrate exclusively on bringing in more clients and servicing them.
What is not visible to the naked eye is how much we waste by not having systems in place. Spending 30 minutes looking for misplaced passwords, website addresses or old client proposals adds up to 3 hours at the end of the week, 168 hours by the end of the year and nearly $17,000 if your hourly rate is $100/hour.
You can also lose customers due to missed messages in piles of unread e-mails, unsuccessful product offerings due to neglected testimonials, or failed launches due to poor planning.
Your turn:
Leave a comment below and share what type of system you can implement in your business right now to help you save time and money.
Natasha was the winner of the Thrive Hive Operation: Opt-in Challenge. If you haven’t already be sure to check out and opt-in to her offering over at SystemsRock.
About Natasha aka SystemsChick
Natasha Vorompiova is the founder of Systems Rock where she breaks the stereotype that systems are just for big enterprises and put damaging constraints on creative spirits. Her unique approach nourishes the creativity of entrepreneurs while helping them establish the essential foundational systems that will enable their businesses to truly flourish. Grab your FREE copy of ‘Systems Chick’s Guide to Transforming Busyness Into Business’ at SystemsRock.
Back when I first started my freelancing business, I remember all I could think of was landing my first customers and I was always on the lookout for how I could offer my services.
I’ve liked to think I’ve since improved my techniques but did learn some valuable lessons:
Three things to keep in mind when looking for potential customers
1. Patience needs to be your new BFF
Not everyone operates on your schedule. Do you find yourself constantly checking your email? Or second-guessing yourself and whether they will pick you? I know the feeling. Trust me, that was me. But you have to just let it go once you’ve put it out there and realize that not everyone will respond to their email 5 minutes after you sent it. Chill out.
2. LISTEN with BIG EARS.
Identify problems and then talk about solutions. Don’t just offer your services. Often people don’t speak the same ‘technical’ language as you do. You might be talking about social media and they may not realize that blogging is one aspect of it. Start listening and see how what you offer can help solve a problem.
3. Hang out in different watering holes.
And put yourself out there. Are you constantly talking to the people who already know about what you do and offer a similar type of service? You’re getting caught in the echo chamber! And that ain’t going to put food on the table. It makes you feel good about what you do but people in your existing industry are probably not the people you are going after as customers.
Put yourself out there and think of areas that could use your type of service. For example, talking to other social media enthusiasts about social media is most likely not going to get you any work. But maybe heading over to a yoga forum or another industry where they are just dying for your expertise, you will get noticed. Try different things. In my case, I experimented with giving some of my time away for free on a network for entrepreneurial women and not necessarily a place where I was competing with hundreds of other people offering services like mine.
What have you tried? What worked or could use improvement? Let me know in the comments below!
Do you feel like you are always creating new content to spread the word about your work?
And once you finish something it’s time to start the process all over and it feels like a never-ending hamster wheel of content creation?
Madness, right?
This came up in one of my entrepreneur groups recently and a lively discussion was had about all the various ways we can do more with our existing content and not have to start from scratch each time. Hat tip to Colleen from ClericalPlusVA for summarizing it with:
“Repurpose, Baby!”
Sometimes we think we have to start from scratch each time and let’s face it, most of us are not in the business of content creation but use it as a method to share our ideas, spread the word about the awesomeness that we do and connect with more awesome people. Right?
So before you jump back on to the content creation hamster wheel take a brief step off and see how you can easily turn your existing content into different formats. This also gives you an opportunity to explore other platforms that you normally may not spend time on.
So I bring you:
13 Ways To Create Spin-Off Content From Existing Content
Webinars/Powerpoints
Do you do webinars or give in person talks?
Why not take that webinar and create the resulting “spin-off” content:
6. Video Specific Pinterest board: Create a specific board on Pinterest to share your video interviews
7. Create Image Quotes
Create image quotes from key points in your interview which you could then share on Facebook and Pinterest! Not to worry if you aren’t a graphic designer. Watch this short video where I show you how to easily create image quotes for Pinterest and Facebook.
and create a board on Pinterest to share these quotes:
9. Create Tweetables: from Blog Posts, Interviews
Click to Tweet: Opportunities for relationship building are all around us: http://bit.ly/12YC6bt @womengamechange via @SandySidhu
10. Create a specific category on your blog for a series of posts making it easy to find. Take it a step further and create an image that you can showcase in a sidebar widget. Hat tip to Nicole Longstreath of The Wardrobe Code for this gem!
Whether you are just about to launch your first blog, ebook or webinar or you are seasoned entrepreneur; I think you’ll benefit from these quotes taken from the Unstoppable Entrepreneur interviews I did this past year.
On Getting Started and Making It Happen
Thinking and doing are two different things. Until you actually put it out there..it’s just an idea! Do the work. Watch the complete interview with Natalie Sisson, the Suitcase Entrepreneur, where she shares her stellar product launch tips.
Hope will only get you so far! Watch my interview with Benny Hsu of Get Busy Living, where he shares how he went from hoping to doing and launched an awesome app that netted him $30K in the first month. If that’s not taking action..I don’t know what is!
Caroline Ceniza-Levine of Six Figure Start, talks about the importance of starting and adjusting as you go. Put the shortest path between you and earning your first dollars and get out there and talk to people. Figure out what you can do on your own in the beginning and be prepared to learn!
Too often we get caught in all the glamorous stuff in our business..you know what I’m talking about: branding, biz cards and we kinda overlook the ‘under the hood’ stuff..like, what is this business all about? Find your why! Watch the complete interview with Nailah Blades of Polka Dot Coaching.
On a similar note, you need to find the balance between loving what you do and getting paid for it..If it’s all love and no cashola, then there may be a slight problem. Check out my interview with rad Kickstart Kitchen girls where we talked about kickstarting your business with a solid plan and accountability and lotsa other fun stuff.
On Staying Creative and Incorporating New Habits
Taking a break to detach and reconnect to our creative selves is so crucial. Watch my interview with Angela Horn of Balance and Life, where we discuss the importance of finding balance as an entrepreneur.
Click to Tweet: Unleash your creativity with a #digital #sabbatical @angelagayehorn http://bit.ly/UWEXKE via @SandySidhu
