Having a home based business can be tricky with balancing your home and family life as well as all the interruptions you can get while working at the kitchen table. Today we are going to talk about how to work your business LIKE a business!
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The nice thing about a home business is that you can fit it into the cracks and around the life you already have. You can be snuggling a sick kiddo on the couch while you text team members and post photos from your phone into your sales group. You can do a live Facebook video in the carpool pickup lane at school and showcase jewelry and get sales while you are waiting or you can run a Facebook party while supervising 8-twelve year olds at a slumber party!
I LOVE that I can be a mom AND run a successful, growing online business. BUT, one of the things I see SO often is that in the chaos that can sometimes be life, we forget to post. We forget to connect with our customers and team. I’m guilty of this exact thing! So here are a few tips to make sure that you are running your business like a business!
1- Have business hours. Set up a time each week that customers can drop by, shop and/or grab jewelry that they have ordered. This makes it so they are working around your schedule and not the other way around. Plus, its kinda like a set night where they know your jewelry is out so they can shop. This will increase your sales and make it so you aren’t chasing people all over town to deliver their jewelry.
Have a night where you party. I’ve shared before that I do online parties on Wednesday evenings. My husband has a commitment every Wednesday night and so I know I will need to be home with my kiddos. Instead of taking the night off, I figured I might as well party it up. Yes, it’s a little crazy with all my littles running around, but I am still taking advantage of the time that I have to work my biz.
If home parties are your thing, decide on days/times that work for you and then mark those out on your calendar – I usually sit down with my hubby and we choose dates together. That way he knows when he is on deck for all the kid-chauffeuring and I know when he will be there. I won’t have to stress about finding a sitter and my hostesses have some great dates to choose from!
The biggest thing with these is find what works for you!! Just know that you NEED to have “business hours”. This is a business and even if you are working from home, business hours help others know when you are open and you can work it into your schedule.
2- Touch your business every day. I know how life gets, but if you commit to touch your business everyday, you will find a way to squeeze it in. I recommend trying to do something in each of the main areas of my business. For me, that is:
- My customers
- My team
- Potential team members
- invoices
- orders out
I know this SEEMS like a lot, but even if I only spend 5 minutes spread out during the day on each of these things, that’s only 25 minutes. That really isn’t a whole lot of time.
Think of it this way – the things that you focus on and spend time on are going to grow. They will expand. They will. It’s like an unwritten law of the universe. If you are only spending a few minutes once or twice a week on your business, are you telling the universe you are serious about your business? Are you sending the message that you want to grow and expand? That you want to become and Elite leader?
If you have more time to work your business, that’s great, but be sure that you are touching your business a little bit every day.
3- Don’t be a paper pusher. This is me to a T. I like to organize, create flow charts and folders. The school and office supply aisles at Walmart is my happy place. Seriously. It took me a long time to realize that the time I thought I was working I was actually shuffling papers around. Moving things from one place to another. I felt GREAT when I looked at my accomplishments, but my business wasn’t growing and I couldn’t figure out why.
Finally, at a training meeting, the speaker asked what my “Income Producing Activities” (IPA’s) were. That stumped me and then sent me into some serious reflection. The things I was NEEDING to do for my business weren’t the things that I was actually doing. Is it bad to be organized? Nope. Just don’t make the same mistake I did and shuffle papers, create graphics, make charts and tracking forms, etc. and count that as time that you are working your business. That is organizing. So make time for that and then WORK your business.
4- Wear your uniform. When you have a job, there is a dress code or uniform that you need to wear. Some dress codes are more strict than others but they are there. Brands, companies and organizations want you to be able to quickly and easily locate and recognize their employees. Think of Hooters, Walmart, Target, Olive Garden, doctors offices, or McDonalds. You can pretty quickly tell who works as these places and who does not.
You want that same kind of recognition for you and your business. YOU are the jewelry lady (or man). If you aren’t wearing any of what you tell, people might assume you aren’t in business anymore. You want your friends and customers to know that you are rockin’ your business and that you love your product too!
And, when you are out running errands, if you are wearing your jewelry and someone complements you on it, give them your card and a free piece of jewelry. You just found a new customer!
So wear your uniform. Be a walking, talking display case!
5- Be professional but be human. This is a difficult combo to master. You want people to know that you work from home, but you don’t want to do a live video with your dishes piled high in the sink and your kids beating on each other in the background. Let your personality shine through in your videos and posts. Let people get to know you – take a peek into your personal life. Don’t get on to your sales group and rant about something political or about who made it to the Superbowl. Keep things professional too.
I add personality into my Live Facebook videos by starting out with a corny joke. My customers seem to like it and have even started messaging me with jokes I should use! It keeps things light and makes me laugh (which is never a bad thing). Share a little about yourself to help them see the person behind the business but remember that this is a glimpse, a taste – not the entire kitchen.
I’m sure I could go on and on about different things that you should do to treat your business more like a business, but to me, these are the most important.
Call Challenge:
Pick one thing from show today that really resonated with you. Implement it into your business today, right now!