Strategic Business Tips from Kim Beasley

Posts Tagged ‘Business Makeover’

Yesterday was the final blog post for my business makeover. Now I’m going to begin the process of converting my blog posts into a book. I’ll be sharing about my book writing process along with other spicy details about my upcoming series throughout the rest of this month.

I’m so excited that I accomplished my goal of blogging for 21-days about my business makeover because it helped me to create a new habit of blogging everyday. This stuff really does work that if you do something for 21 days then you can make it into a habit. I used to dread blogging on a consistent basis but in the last 21 days, I have come to enjoy it.

What I’ve learned during my business makeover has changed my way of doing business drastically. I now know that as I make these changes that it will cause my business to grow dramatically. Here are some of the things I learned over the span of 21 days.

• Allow a mentor to help me improve my business
• Hire a virtual team who will support my business vision
• Use a Mind map to develop business plan
• Control my time regarding social networking
• Get in control of my calendar schedule
• Being centered and focused in my business is important

I also excited about all the comments that so many shared during my 21-day business makeover. One of the great things I’m going to do in my book, is include the comments along with crediting each commenter with a link to their website. If you learned something during this process, please feel free to share. Thanks all for your support and suggestions! Watch for more details about the book that will soon be released.

Recently I experienced unplanned downtime due to Internet outage which affected my ability to do business, receive/send email or even communicate via my social media outlets. I faced reality that I didn’t have a backup plan in case something like this happened. I didn’t have emergency procedures in place so that I wouldn’t have to go without Internet access.

So my first plan of action while I was down was to create an emergency backup plan in case this happened again. I began by looking for alternative solutions that I could have in place just in case my access was limited again. Below is a list of what I determined:

• Locate alternative external sources where I could gain access to the Internet freely (i.e., library or food establishments  with Internet access)
• Obtain information from cell phone company on how I can use my cell phone with my computer to access the Internet
• The old tried and true method, have emergency dial-up access numbers just in case neither of the above worked

Having this plan in place will definitely be beneficial if I have Internet access problems again. Do you have an emergency plan in place just in case you loose your main source of access to the Internet? Please share your ideas on what you have included in your emergency plan.

In order for business owners to be easily recognizable, one must make sure that clients and potential clients can tell who we are, what we do and how we can help them reach their goals. This means that a common look must resonate from our website, to our media packages and also our online presence outside of our website. This is termed as your branding and according to Wikipedia.org,

A brand is a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer; more specifically, it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme that convey the essence of a company, product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.

During my business makeover, I have been reviewing how my brand is perceived and I realized that it wasn’t consistent. So I began to compile how I am currently communicating my products and services so that I can rebrand or recreate my branding plan (which is termed as brand management). In going through this process, I have identified key areas that are important to keep in mind while conducting brand management.

• Refine brand so that it will appeal to your ideal client base
• Be prepare to make drastic changes if you have to so that you can reach your clients
• Prepare a plan of implementation that will create a consistent brand (logos, banners, website, etc.)
• Be wise when recreating your brand and research what appeals to your ideal client base (colors, images, content, etc.)
• Make you test it on a few people before releasing to the masses
• Have fun recreating your brand

I am having fun with my brand management because I feel that I will continue to streamline my business and move closer to my goal of having a successful business makeover. Have you branded your business yet? Do you have additional ideas that would be helpful to someone who is in the process of rebranding their business? Please feel free to share or ask questions.

On a day when I am discussing “Me” time, I actually started my day off with “me” time. It is a Saturday morning and I decided to sleep in an extra couple of hours. I enjoyed the extra rest and being able to take my time on a day where I might busily run around doing errands.

“Me” time should be very important to business owners because it allows you to rejuvenate and refresh. Although I spoken about “me” time briefly in this series, I decided that it would be a good idea to expand on it today.

If you are constantly going and not breaking for “me” time you can stress yourself and maybe have a negative impact on your business. I say this from personal experience because I learned the hard way when I crashed and burned during an important time with my business a few years ago.

It was growing tremedously fast and I was trying to be super woman by taking on too many projects. I was burning the candle at both ends of the candle (going to bed late and rising early to work on projects). After doing this for an extended time, I literally started making mistakes and getting fuzzy about project details which wasn’t good at all. I ended up having to take a break from my business so that I could recuperate thoroughly.

If I had been working smart, I would have spaced out my projects better and allowed myself more “me” time. Some of the things I learned from this experience are the following:

• “Me” time is not only important for me personally but for my business also.
• Space out projects so that I don’t get overwhelmed.
• Outsource to contractors those tasks that someone else can handle so that I can manage my projects better.
• Plan my project on a schedule so that I’m not overwhelmed.

I encourage all business owners to remember to take “me” time so that you and your business can stay healthy. Do you have special things that you do during your “me” time so that you don’t become overwhelmed? Please feel free to share.

I’m excited to talk about business processes because I have over 15 years of experience as a technical project manager while working in Corporate America. The importance of having business processes in place is vital because they help create an organized environment. Having an organized environment can help you be more successful.

So what can be considered a business process? Good Question! According to Wikipedia.org, a business process is “a collection of interrelated tasks, which accomplish a particular goal”. In other words, it’s when you pre-determine which tasks work well together to create a seamless way to achieve what you want to do in your business.

In my business, I have many business processes in place that help me to create a seamless environment. During my business makeover, I have been able to refine my processes and become more efficient. Below is an example of a refined business process.

• Old way (calendar): receive appointment request, then open calendar & review to see open slots, determine where the appointment could be placed then notify the appointee about the time and date
• New way (calendar): receive appointment request, forward to my Business Coordinator, who schedules on my Google calendar (which automatically updates my Outlook calendar) & notifies appointee about upcoming appointment
• Advantage: by allowing my Business Coordinator to manage my calendar it frees me from worrying about how to arrange things and also it allows me to dedicate more time to my clients

By me implementing this simple business process improvement, it put time back onto my calendar that I could invest in other areas of my business. One practice that is also good for business owners is to set aside time occasionally to review your processes to see if they can be improved.

Do you have business processes that you need to refine? Have you recently refined your business processes and have a success story? Please feel free to share.