The lovely Neil from Milk Relief Soap recently asked me this great question:

“What’s the difference between a business plan, and a marketing plan?”

I see a lot of people getting caught up in this, and often their business plan is actually more of a marketing plan.

The two are very much related; however they’re not the same.  I’ve got a different opinion from most people on what a Business Plan is and what it’s purpose is.  If you’ve looked at the Two Hour Business Plan then you’ll see that I define a Business Plan as being about what your business does, not a financial plan to take to the bank (although that’s part of it).

A Business Plan is ‘about’ your business – who your target market is, what you do (core business), your business goals, an action plan.

A Marketing Plan is how you attract customers and sell your product in order to achieve those goals – blogging, advertising, networking, attraction and conversion.

In October last year I gave a talk at The Business Mums Network Pampering Day on Business Planning.  To illustrate how the Business Plan, Marketing Plan and Action Plan all fit together, have a look at this diagram.

Make sense?  Your Business Plan is what encapsulates your entire business activities and goals, what drives and directs your actions.  Your Marketing Plan is one aspect of that, which directs your monthly, weekly and daily actions towards achieving those business goals.

In some respects your Business Plan is the What, and the Marketing Plan is the How.

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Do you have a business question that you would like personally answered?  Email me and ask away!

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This one of my favourite posts that was originally published early last year.  Now updated and edited to be even more good-er.  Enjoy!

I was cleaning the shower the other day.  This is something I do regularly.  Once a year is regular, right? Just kidding – I clean it a lot more often than that.  While sloshing water around and scrubbing the tiles it occurred to me that cleaning the shower is in many ways like marketing your home business.

Read through and let me know what you think.

Firstly it needs to be done regularly. I once lived in a house where we thought the bottom half of the shower door and side was frosted glass, and that round bit on the floor was anti-slip coating.  About a week or so after moving in, I cleaned it.  Yes, it was ordinary clear glass underneath and plain tiled floor.  Yuck.

If you clean your shower regularly, it’s easy.  If you market your business regularly, it’s easy.  Consistency in small efforts is a lot easier and yields much greater rewards than neglecting it and having to put in hours of backbreaking, gut-wrenching work.  It’s much easier to keep up than to catch up.

If it’s done wrong you could end up with a greater mess. Sloshing buckets of water around may be great fun, watching it splash, however it has a tendency to, well, splash.  And go everywhere, generally all over the bathroom walls and floor – outside of the shower.   Or it just rinses the walls and floor and doesn’t actually clean anything.

You can spend as much money and time as you have on marketing, but if it’s not directed to the right people, if it’s not solving a problem for them, if it’s not compelling them to buy, then it’s a waste of time and money.  Know why you’re using a particular marketing tactic, do it right, be focused and see the benefits. Make sure you’re marketing to a niche and not a demographic.

Use the right tools and know why you’re using them. You wouldn’t go to clean the shower with the vacuum cleaner would you?  Or with a leaf rake?  Of course not, they’re tools for other tasks.  You go into the shower with some kind of cleaner, cloths to wipe, some way to rinse off the walls, bleach to clean the tiles if needed, maybe a squeegee.  You know precisely what you’re doing (cleaning the shower) and the appropriate tools that you need to do that.

This is where you need to know your target market intimately and thoroughly, inside and out.  Why do they buy?  Where and how do they buy?  What solution does your product provide?  How do you market specifically and directly to these people?  What medium do they use (online, magazines, forums) to find out about products and ask questions?  There’s no point putting an advertisement in the financial times newspaper if your target market loves parenting forums.  Don’t put money into any form of marketing just because someone says you should.  Know how it relates to your market and what result you expect from it.

It takes work and planning. You clean the walls before the floor.  Put bleach on the tiles (my apologies to the environmentalists here) and let it start working before you begin to scrub.  And no matter what product you put on the glass and tiles, it still needs some elbow grease to be spotlessly clean.  With cleaning, as with marketing, you need to plan the best order to do things.

You can’t sell a product and then tell the customer why they need it.  The customer needs to be educated about what it does and why they want it.  You, the business owner, need to make this happen.  Customers don’t come up and say “I want to buy this widget, what does it do?”.  Nuh uh.  Customers see your marketing, which tells them how your widget solves their problem and world peace at the same time.  And then they come to buy.

And lastly you need to be committed. If you just give the shower a quick swipe over with a dry cloth once a month  then you might think you can call it ‘cleaning the shower’.  But is it really?  If you put an ad in the cheapest magazine once a month, is it the ads fault that no one buys?  I have a friend who often tells me that she wishes she could have a profitable online business.  And then goes on to tell me how she’s not interested in writing blog posts, or going on forums, or spending money on upgrading her website.  She’s not committed to the process or the work required.  If your business isn’t profitable, or not as profitable as you’d like, check your own commitment and activity levels first.

What do you think?  Are you using the right tools in the right way to clean your shower as efficiently and effectively as possible?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I’d sent the business owner a message to say that I hadn’t appreciated the hard sell etc, and by the way, where had she gotten my contact details from? (my phone number isn’t on the website).  I was polite, just very clear that I wasn’t happy. This was her response, sent to me two weeks later (there’s a clue, it took her two weeks to respond):

Hi Melinda,
We had your details in the database from a previous contact you’d had with ‘her life partner’- when you were interested in commission only salespeople. The two of you had a conversation and that’s how your details ended up in there.

Uh no, she’s wrong: I’d filled out a free website audit and he’d called me about that, and to try and sell me on a seminar to improve my website. I said no to that one too.

You were rude to him also (after asking for his help).

Wrong again: filling out a free website program does not constitute asking for help in my book. And we’d ended up having a really good conversation, turned out we had a couple of mutual connections. So… I was rude to him and he was still happy to continue a conversation off-topic and talk for nearly an hour? I don’t think so.

Don’t worry – we apologised profusely to ‘salesperson’ (Who was very upset at how rude you were to her) for having left you on the database – and removed you immediately.

Seriously, if she’s that sensitive then she shouldn’t be in telephone sales. I didn’t swear at her or abuse her in any way, nor did I hang up on her. I did interrupt her and speak over the top of her and told her that I didn’t appreciate her manipulative sales questions. Rude? I’d say the rudeness was on her side as she refused to accept my ‘No’ and kept pushing the sale.

As for all of your other comments … I could write a book … and actually, probably will – but look at the end of the day it comes down to this:

‘salesperson’ did nothing wrong.

If you understood sales – even a little bit – you’d know that she did precisely what she should have done.

Right down to burning you.

Really? Since when has it been accepted marketing practice to ‘burn’ a contact? Since when is it good salesmanship to push the sale when the person has told you very clearly ‘No’ three times?

And if I don’t understand sales ‘even a little bit’ then how have I run a successful online business for six years then?

Because you are not now, nor will you ever be our client.

I don’t want to “keep in contact with people” on the off chance that one day, maybe they might want to buy something.

Ok, so if I don’t want to buy your very expensive course today, you don’t want me to be able to contact you to buy it in six months time? Wow. How many contacts is she losing because they don’t buy today, right now?

On top of which – we sell. On the phone. Every day. If you had stayed on our database you would have gotten more calls from more sales people who you would have upset being mean to.

Maybe you should spend a bit of time looking at your own obvious issues around sales, rather than attacking 23 year old girls who are doing their jobs.

Yes, I have issues around sales. I have serious issues around pushy hard-sell sales people who won’t take no for an answer.

Attacking 23 year old girls who are doing their job? Sorry, wrong again. I never ‘attacked’ her in any way. Definitely not picking up any guilt for that. Don’t try and make it my fault because I disagreed with your staff.

Good luck with everything.

Rest 100% assured that NO ONE from my company will EVER contact you again … even if you begged us to.

I think I was supposed to be sad and sorry that they’ll never contact me again. Really, that was the best news I’d had all week. And I don’t beg.

Feedback is a part of business

No one is too precious to receive feedback. And it’s not all going to be good. Get over it. If someone took the effort to let you know that (in their opinion) there was something lacking in your business then the least you can do is thank them for the effort they took to write.

Note that I didn’t say you had to agree with the feedback and tell them you’d make changes. You don’t have to agree with it, you just have to be nice about it. Put on your big girl panties and deal with it.

Get over your own issues around feedback. It’s not always going to be a nice pat on the back. That kind of sycophantic feedback won’t help you improve and grow. If you get a brickbat thrown at you then consider if there’s any truth in it. If there is then take it on board and use it to improve. If there’s not truth in it then simply ignore it.

Attempting to bully and score over the person who sent it just exposes your own issues. And it’s really bad PR when they write a blog post that is seen buy thousands of readers who could have been their customers….

We all need to market and sell our stuff, right? That’s the whole point of being in business. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to sell.

Sell something the right way and the person is happy they dealt with you and everyone is pleased by the whole transaction. Sell the wrong way – or try to – and it ends up a bun fight.

How Not to Cold Call

A few weeks ago I had the dubious pleasure of receiving a business cold call. By the time the call finished I was so angry I rang my husband at work to vent – the venting took longer than the call. (Hubby ended up being late for a meeting, and told his boss “She was way angrier than you, and I have to live with her” LOL)

Normally cold calls don’t bother me. We’re on the Do-Not-Call register so if we DO receive any cold calls it’s generally for my business. Usually it’s enough to tell the person very clearly “Nope, not interested, thanks for your time” and that’s the end of it. Not this call. Here’s how NOT to cold call someone:

The one thing they did right

They rang during the day. Ring me in the evening and you’ve got me offside from the second I pick up the phone. Business hours people, that’s what they’re for.

I love you forever, what’s your name?

The salesperson introduced herself and told me the name of the person she was calling for – I slightly know this business owner from a couple of forums that we’re both on. Her script, after the intro, went something like:

Our business helps other small businesses just like yours to grow and make more money. Tell me about your business, what do you do?

Huh? You rang me, you help businesses just like mine, but you don’t actually know what my business does?

Imagine you’re in a bar and a complete stranger comes up to you, takes you in his (or her) arms, looks into your eyes and says in complete seriousness “I love you and want to marry you, have kids with you and be together until we die. Oh, and what’s your name?”

You’d be like “Get away from me you freakin weirdo!”

That’s what this call was like. First you tell me your business is to help small businesses just like mine to grow – and then you ask me what my business is? If you don’t know what I do then how do you know that your business can help me?

Do some research. Look at my website – it’ll tell you. That’s what it’s there for (ok, one of the things). Or at least reword your script so it’s not so contradictory and doesn’t make me think you’re ignorant.

Pushy Pushy

I told the salesperson a very brief and general description of what I do. She suggested that I needed to narrow down my niche. I said it was a lot more focussed but my description would do for now. That didn’t please her at all. Did she really expect me to discuss my business in detail with a stranger who called me?

And then she started on her spiel. She was selling a course on creating info-products. I’d seen some details from the business owner on a forum, so I knew what she was talking about.

“No thanks, I’m not interested at the moment”

You know how in sales books they tell you that a ‘No’ is only an objection? Well, this person had been reading those books.

She began on the marketing questions that are designed so you either have to sound like a complete idiot to turn it down or you open the door for more selling. Her question was something along the lines of:

“Do you want to learn how to sell more effective and higher priced information products to your customers?”

Well, what am I supposed to say? “No, I like being broke and not selling anything” how stupid would that answer be? But if I say “Of course I do” then she’s got an open door to keep pushing the sale.

So I didn’t answer. I pointed out that it’s a typical marketing question designed to either open the door or make me look stupid, and I don’t appreciate being manipulated.  And said again “No, I’m not interested in this product”

The pushy got worse

I’m sure she took my ‘No’ as a personal challenge because she continued to try and sell to me. I ended up saying ‘No’ at least three times, very clearly. I told her “I’m not interested and I’m not your ideal client” and she kept on pushing to sell!

At this point I was interrupting her and talking over the top of her. Rude, yes, but it was the only way to let her know I wasn’t interested short of outright hanging up on her.

It ended when I told her (again) I wasn’t interested and was going to hang up. At that point she agreed I wasn’t their client and we said a rather terse goodbye.

Do unto others….

How many of us enjoy having someone disrespect us and ignore us when we tell them no? Who wants to get off a call feeling they’ve just been manipulated and sold something they didn’t really want? Why are these sales techniques still being taught?

A few years ago I read “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by John Cialdini. In it he discusses the brain conditioning and instinctive responses that we’re all wired with. Marketers hook into this brain wiring and structure their questions so we’ll give them the answer they want rather than look a fool.

Marketing or a Used Car Salesman?

Cold calling works – I won’t deny that. But at what ethical cost? Do you really want to sell to someone knowing that they bought because you twisted their responses? That’s why Naomi and Sonia created ‘Marketing for Nice People’ last year, because everyone is so fed up with the manipulative, sleazy sales techniques that are being used. (Marketing for Nice People is no longer available unfortunately, but if you’re looking for a marketing course try the Marketing 101 – great course!)

The point of marketing is to make the customer be panting to buy the product, to be standing there with their wallet in hand throwing money at you. Not because it’s the only way to get rid of you, but because they can see how that product is going to change their life forever and THEY MUST HAVE IT NOW!!!

Pt 1, the end

After the call, when I’d calmed down reasonably, I sent a message to the business owner to let her know that the call went badly and that I hadn’t appreciated being pushed and manipulated by a hard-selling salesperson. Tomorrow I’ll show you her response, and we’ll have a chat about receiving feedback. Let me just say, her reply was even more entertaining than the cold call!

I’m giving away one copy of this fantastic book by C.J. Hayden ‘Get Clients Now!’.  It was originally recommended to me by a friend who has a very successful business and I’m now following the recipe in this book – it’s amazingly effective and it works.

This book is an essential in any Work at Home Moms library and you can win it simply by leaving a comment below.

From the back cover:

If you’re ready to dramatically increase your client base, this brand new edition of Get Clients Now! is the one book you need.  Completely revised and featuring scores of tactics, tools and foolproof strategies customisable for any professional service business, this powerhouse book gives you a unique and proven 28-day program for locating, landing, and keeping new clients in greater numbers than you’ve ever dreamed possible.

You’ll learn: how to choose the right marketing tactics for your situation and personality; a foolproof method for diagnosing exactly what’s missing in your marketing and how to fix it; how to use Internet marketing techniques, including e-zines, SEO and blogging; hands-on approaches for replacing unproductive cold-calling with the power of relationship marketing; and much much more.

Please note that this book is for Service businesses rather than retail.

How to enter

Simply leave a comment below and tell me what you like most about SuperWAHM (or WAHM Biz Builder as we were).  The competition runs for four days.  On Saturday 16th I’ll draw a random number for the winner and post in the comments as well as email the winner.

I’m more than happy to post anywhere in the world, so Good luck!

And the winner is….. Stephanie, from Scratchpad Secretaries, comment #16

Yesterday we looked at why you need a Newsletter list and where to get one set up. Today we’re looking at how to use it.

Ok, I have an autoresponder, now what do I do with it?

That’s easy:

1. You get subscribers to sign up to your list; and

2. You email them.

Finding Subscribers

So where do your subscribers come from? Anywhere you can legally and ethically find them…

Signup box on your website – have it clear, easy to see when people land there. For best results, ask for simply their First Name and Email Address. That’s all, just those two pieces of information.

Free Offering – give people a free gift for giving you their contact details. Offer a free report or ebook, related to your business. DON’T give away free consultations or anything that requires an ongoing time commitment!

Stalls, markets – have a signup form for people who would like to be on your list. If you do this, make sure you add them to your list within 24 hours of the stall and email them immediately to welcome them. Don’t leave it for long because they’ll forget they filled in the form and will delete your email or mark it as spam.

Promote on FaceBook – If you’ve got a fan page on FaceBook then you can add a tab or box with your signup form in it. Remember to let your fans know about it when you put it up.

Competitions – run a competition where people have to sign up to your newsletter list to join in. Check with your local government for rules and regulations concerning competitions first though.

Ask people – when you meet people at networking functions etc, and they express an interest in what you do simply ask them if they would like to join your newsletter list.

Joint Ventures – run a promotion or competition with an another business, complementary to yours,

What do I email them about?

Anything that is relevant or interesting for your subscribers. Unless you’ve set up your list to be very clearly a Sales list – like our VIP list, where people are told when subscribing that they’ll receive sales offers and it’s not a newsletter list – then you need to send interesting content to your subscribers.

I’m not saying you can’t market to them, that’s the primary purpose of having a newsletter list, I’m saying that you need to send them information that is interesting. And bring in the sales content in a nice way, without beating them over the head with it.

- A new product you’re releasing
- Product of the month special deals
- Case studies and testimonials
- New and interesting uses for a product
- Developments and new findings relating to your core business
- What’s been happening in your business
- Profile a client
- Answer questions from clients (be careful of confidentiality issues, ask for permission first before using a clients name)
- Profile one of your staff members
- Articles to help your subscribers
- Subscriber only discounts
- ????

What else can you add to this list?

Questions or comments about Newsletters and ezines?  Please come and share your thoughts in the comments.

Over the last few weeks I’ve has several discussions with coaching clients regarding email lists, why they need them, how to collect names and how to use the list.

I’ve written about newsletter lists before, in The Money’s in Your Newsletter List and a guest post at IttyBiz on Putting the Permission Back into Marketing Take a few minutes and go read both those posts, then come back to this one.  Go ahead, we’ll wait for you….

Why do I need a newsletter list?

You need it so you can market to people, so you can contact them again after the initial meeting. Statistics show that it will take up to seven contacts before a person is ready to buy from you. If you’ve met someone who is interested in what you do, what’s the best way to contact them again? Your newsletter list.

But I already have a blog and RSS

Yes, yes, I know you do. So do I. And I also have a newsletter list  for our VIPs.  (Are you a VIP?  If you’re not already, go sign up now.  We both know you ARE important so go join the VIP list) What’s the difference between having a newsletter list and RSS?

People on your newsletter list have asked to be there because they’re interested in what you’re selling. Most people on your RSS list probably don’t read your feed regularly. (Sorry for the bad news, but it’s true) When people are busy – and we all are – feeds are one of the first things to be dropped.

People often sign up for RSS feed if they’re unsure whether they like the site’s content and direction.  They sign up to keep an eye on it without having to go back to the site.  People who sign up for your newsletter have proactively indicated that they’re definately  interested in hearing more from you. They’ve said they want to buy from you.

I have no idea how to set up a newsletter list

Autoresponders are brilliant. They take the hard work out of subscriptions, un-subscribers, setting up the list, emailing etc. Two of the best are MailChimp and Aweber. MailChimp is free up to 500 subscribers, Aweber is paid for.

Aweber has a higher delivery rate and more formatting options but is a a little harder to use (not much, just not quite as user friendly until you get used to it).  MailChimp’s pricing increases as you get more subscribers and if you send more emails each month, Aweber‘s pricing stays the same no matter how many subscribers you have or how many emails you send.   It’s your choice which option is best for your business.

Best-practice – Single or Double opt-in

All autoresponders should give you the option to have either single opt-in or double opt-in. Single opt-in is where a subscriber fills in their details in the form, clicks ‘submit’ and they’re on your list. Double opt-in is where they fill in their details and click ‘submit’, your autoresponder sends them a confirmation email and they have to click on the link to confirm their subscription.

Single opt-in is not complicate with the CAN-Spam Act, however it’s still widely used. Double opt-in has a lower confirmation rate, which is why so many people stick with single opt-in.

Double opt-in is the best practice. It’s the safest option to use and helps give your subscribers confidence that you’re not going to spam them. If you’re taking care of them from the beginning then you’ll likely continue to do so.

Part 2 on using Autoresponders and newsletters will follow tomorrow.

Is Cottage Industry dead?

Well, it’s not dead at the moment, in fact, in this current economic climate it’s flourishing. There’s a huge move towards home based businesses at the moment, with more and more people choosing to either set up a business on the side or full-time.

“Cottage Industry” is defined as – An industry where the creation of products and services is home-based, rather than factory-based. That pretty much defines every work at home mum that I know.

Please note that in the following when I say ‘cottage industry’ I’m referring specifically to the manufacturing side, not service businesses. Those will be a topic for another day!

If you’re a cottage industry and you’re manufacturing a product, you may do well to look at the evolution of cottage industry manufacturing and how it tends to evolve into large-scale manufacture.

Since the Industrial Revolution, there have always been cottage industries. Historically it was the women working at home in their spare time to earn ‘pin money’ (see – the first work at home moms!) and over time that developed into full businesses located in the home.

I can see a trend that has happened in the past, and looks to continue in the future in regard to the manufacturing aspect of cottage industry. And that trend concerns me.

Cottage industry tends to be started by people who see a need for a product that they can’t buy commercially – for example modern cloth nappies/diapers. Apologies to all the nappy/diaper-makers who read this – I’m just using you as an example however I can see this happening in most of the cottage industry manufacturing ventures.

Case in point: In the past, cloth nappies were only available as the old-fashioned terry squares and roughly 97% of the population used disposables. The only people who still used cloth were those who were either too poor to afford disposables or the environmentalists living on the fringe. However in the last ten years, there’s been a huge move back towards more convenient, more environmental, easier to use, great looking cloth diapers.

Originally, these were made 100% by a few mums working at home in a cottage industry setup at home. Cloth nappies were unusual. People needed to be educated in their use, their care and their benefits. Over the years the demand for cloth nappies has increased to the point there are now hundreds of WAHMs making and selling them, all over the world.  Supply has caught up with, if not exceeding, demand.

Nowadays, I know of at least three brands in Australia that are now being mass-manufactured overseas. And I can practically guarantee that if it’s happening here in Australia then it’s happening in the US and other countries.

Please note that this is not necessarily a bad thing. Mass-producing something that benefits people is good, however if you’re a work at home mum and this happens in your industry, you need to be aware of it and plan for it.

Historically, cottage industry begins a trend in a new product and builds it up until it is commonly accepted by the population at large, at which point it is picked up by commercial manufacturers.

What does this mean for work at home moms who are manufacturing items for sale?

I believe there will always be a market for one of a kind, unique, handmade articles, no matter how much the article is also made commercially. For example, I can buy a bar of commercial chemical-laden soap at the supermarket. Or I can buy cold-process, natural, REAL soap made by a work at home mum.

There are a couple of things you can do here, if you’re a work at home mom in manufacturing:

- Be an early adopter and be one of those who outsource and begin commercial production of the product. (please, do us all a favour and choose somewhere that follows fair-trade practices in their manufacturing and the way they treat their workers)

- Ensure your product is unique in some way. If you produce an item that is unique and individual then there will probably continue to be a market for it.

- Diversify your business. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, or all your faith in one product or product line. Look at expanding into new areas.

- Plan your exit strategy before you need it.

Whatever you do, don’t pretend it can’t happen in your industry.

It’s August. New month = new goals. As business owners we all have ‘business goals’ but how many of you have those goals written in an emotionally compelling way, and how often do you revisit them and think about those goals? If you’re like the majority of business owners, then the answer is ‘not much’.

A lot of the time, the reason we don’t revisit goals or think about them is because they’re too far off, too big and scary or too vague. We want to earn $150K, however we know that that is still a year or two away, and so our focus is distracted by the gap between then and now.

Tei over at Men With Pens wrote a post recently about setting stupid-small goals on the way to achieving the scarily huge stuff. Like getting just one more subscriber on your list, or being hired by just one person. That’s how far you may need to break down the big goals – not so scary you can’t do them, but not comfortable either.

The other thing about goals is that often they’re written down (you DO write your goals down, don’t you???) as a simple short statement. Now tell me, what’s compelling and interesting about a simple short statement? That short simple statement may well be a real goal, however if there’s no emotional involvement in it then you’re not going to achieve it.

We’ve all been given some great talents to help us achieve our goals. One of the best tools, that we all have and we all use to some degree or another, is our subconscious. (here’s where I go all Life Coach-ey on you, stay with me, it totally relates to your business) Within coaching circles the subconscious is mentioned a LOT within the context of Life Coaching, however it’s curiously absent in the business field. And that’s crazy, because it’s so important.

Most people have heard about SMART goals, which is an acronym for:

Specific
Measureable
Attainable
Realistic
Timed

I personally prefer a slightly more in-depth version, called SMARTIE goals, where the last two letters stand for Inspirational and Emotional. The more inspiration and emotion behind your goal, the stronger the drive will be for your subconscious to work towards achieving that goal.

Inspirational – In life we do things for one of three reasons; to avoid pain, to gain pleasure or because we are inspired and motivated. To be inspired is to be living your dreams, to be aligned with our own inner values and loves. You will be motivated towards that goal. Ask yourself “How attractive is that goal to me?” Your answer should be “very” and you should also be able to explain what it is about it that you find so attractive and inspirational.

Emotional – Emotion creates motion and action. Consider how your goal will make you feel, and write that down into your goal. Imagine feeling that you’ve achieved your goal, feel the sense of achievement, the pride in having done it, as well as how you will feel when you’ve got that goal.

It’s the beginning of August. What goals are you going to set, both bit and stupid-small, to achieve by the end of this month?

For me, I’m looking at taking on 2-3 new clients, writing out a current marketing plan, write and run a workshop here in Canberra (may not be run until Sep), and pre-launch an info product that I’ve been working on (want to get it at a discount? Sign up for our VIP list to be notified when it’s released).

All these goals tie into my bigger business goals, they’re all written in my diary with a short paragraph for each goal. Each one have been checked against the SMARTIE requirements. Each goal is looked at every workday morning to keep it fresh and motivated in my mind.

What are your goals for this month? Leave a comment and share your August goals with us!

Following on from Friday’s post on dealing with overwhelm, today we’re going to look at how you use your time. You see, Time cannot be managed, it can only be used.

Time is not alive, it does not act or react, feel emotions or breathe. Time simply is. It continues at the same rate for every person in the world, day after day. Although it can feel as though it does, time never speeds up or slows down. Time cannot be managed, it can only be used.

When we make the best use of our time, that’s when we say we are managing time well; however, the truth is that we’re actually managing ourselves.

So, you’re a mum. A wife. A business owner. You serve on committees, go to night school, worship at church, take time with friends, have hobbies and passions to follow, kids to look after, a house to keep presentable, friends and family to keep up with. How do you do everything and still run a business?

Remember the four D’s from last week? Do, Delay, Delegate or Drop? Before you can get to the 4D’s you need to take a good hard look at how much time you have.

I recently answered a question on a forum, where Christie, from Childhood 101, asked “I am just wondering how much time other blogging Mums put into managing their own blogs, reading and commenting on other blogs and social networking each day? I struggle to get maybe an hour during rest time and everything else is at night, so then poor DH misses out on us time and I have less time to read, knit, etc.”

Paraphrased, this was my answer:

“You need to look at how much time you have available and plan around that. All those activities I mentioned that I do {Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Blog commenting} are marketing or marketing related. You don’t have to do them all the time. While blogging is marketing, it’s generally not what gets you clients – believe it or not.

You’ll need to be very organised, and know exactly what you need to do. When your time is limited then business planning becomes even more important. Don’t waste any time on “Gee, I have 15 minutes, what should I do?” because you’ll do what’s fun and not what’s important.”

The first thing you need to look at is how much time you have available. Christie says she has around an hour during rest time. That’s only about five to seven hours a week, plus what she can find when her baby is in bed of an evening. My daughter is in school, so I have a lot more time available during the day, however because I’m at school two evenings a week I don’t get a lot of night time work done. Realistically, how much time do you have available on a regular basis?

Filling that time. When you’re starting out, a good rule of thumb, no matter how much time you have available, is to spend 80% of your time Marketing and 20% of your time on other work. Marketing is more important than blogging, than tweaking your website (unless that is the marketing), than anything else. Marketing will get you sales.

Plan your work so you’re working on the most important tasks first. I like to list my tasks under three headings;

i) Essential – these are the things that directly make me money. Marketing and product development mainly.

ii) Very Useful – tasks such as blogging. The things that help spread the word about your business, indirectly related to sales, readers and subscribers.

iii) Nice to Have – If I get time I’ll do with these tasks. Facebook comes under here (for me, because I don’t really use FB as a marketing tool right now). Checking the website for spelling errors. Looking for new forums to post on.

All your tasks should be planned out, so you know exactly what you need to be doing when. As I said to Christie on the forum, don’t waste your time wondering what to do. You should know what’s next. What is important today. What do I need to be working on now.

The other point I want to make here is tied in with prioritising and dropping tasks. Christie mentioned that she likes to read and knit in the evenings. The time is likely to come, as she transitions into becoming a work at home mom, that she’ll need to drop these. Her business will need to be a higher priority temporarily. There are always going to be times where your business requires every bit of time you can find and almost everything else has to take a backseat.

There’s nothing wrong with this on a temporary basis. (If it continues permanently then you need to look at what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. Contact me, I can help you!) However many business owners, particularly work at home moms, are unprepared for their business to take over their lives like this. It’s actually a fairly normal part of business, particularly in the early stages. The majority of work at home moms go through this. It can last for a week, or a month or two.

Be organised. Plan well in the beginning and you will get through it. Know what you need to do, know what your highest priority is. Use your time well.