Author : Nancy Fraser
Life just gets busier and busier. There are more and more things vying for your attention. Traffic gets heavier, lineups at stores get longer, and the ultimate result is that as an already stretched Entrepreneur you have less time to do what you need to, to be successful.Do you wonder how you can change that? This week a budding entrepreneur I have been working with called to let me know of her success. She made enough money this month to alleviate her worries about paying the bills in November. It was a first for her. Initially her worry was, "Can I make money at this?" She is now in the second stage of business start-up, the "Oh my gosh, what happens if this really takes off? How will I deal with success?" stage.Is each piece of business you conduct really new? Is it a slightly different version of the previous work or the work before that? Every client may be different in how they process information and interact with you, but you ask for the same kind of actions/information from each one. You need them to be accountable and must develop ways to make that easy to manage.A curse of the self-employed is the desire to innovate and have fresh challenges all of the time. This often leads to a lack of systems and organization in business. The irony is that if you don't take the time to set up systems, you will have less time to innovate and will spend more time repeating the same activities. The frustration of this will drive you out of business more quickly than a lack of cash flow.As you conduct business, write down the steps from first client contact to completed outcome. Evaluate how the process worked. What would have made it easier, more successful for you? Ask yourself if you can repeat your success by doing the same thing again and if so, then put the steps into place in your systems. If there were some really difficult and uncomfortable times in the process, ask yourself what could you have done to make it easier? How could you control the outcome and interaction better?Often, we assume that customers understand how things work or what their goal is in doing business with us. Don't assume, ask, and if you aren't in control of your part of the process, then you are letting a customer who may or may not understand how things work, run your business…usually to both your and the customers the detriment.Simple systems can make a big difference. Rather than telling a customer, "Sure, we'll get it done right away" and then stressing over the payment. It's more effective to say, "Our policy is no work without a deposit. No exceptions." Give them their payment options and let them make the choice. Let them feel in control of the process but you set the guidelines.Nancy is President of Nota Bene Consulting. For over 20 years, she has worked with business owners to improve their marketing and advertising results. If your results are less than stellar, contact Nancy and her team to work with you to ramp up your results.
http://www.notable-marketing.com, http://www.logo-design-tips.comCopyright © 2006 Nancy Fraser President, Nota Bene Consulting
All rights reserved.
Keyword : entrepreneur, business organization, Nancy Fraser, Nota Bene Consulting, business management
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